I am once again grateful to Children’s Hunger Fund for sponsoring the blog this week. “Across the US and in 29 countries around the world, faithful pastors and church volunteers from Children’s Hunger Fund church partners have dedicated their time to serving children and families in desperate situations.”

(Yesterday on the blog: The Gospel of Jesus)
Political Life Begins in the Church
Patrick Schreiner has an important article about the church’s primary (though not necessarily sole) political witness to the world.
Trusting God with The I-Don’t-Knows
“A mysterious curtain hangs just beyond this immediate present moment shielding our gaze from endless I-Don’t-Knows. Those I-Don’t-Knows are numerous, quite humbling, and often painful.”
Moses, the Mountain, and a Mass of Email
“Christians and non-Christians alike constantly talk about the need for ‘self-care’ these days. I wonder if farmers, working 80 hours a week in 1950s America, thought about ‘self-care.’ That is a rhetorical question.” Of course it is!
Once More, Church and Culture
There is a lot to ponder in this long article about the relationship of church and culture. “To ask about the church’s place in society while living in Christendom is redundant. The question answers itself. The question is genuinely new, however, when posed after Christendom.”
Freedom from the Burden of People Pleasing
Susan Narjala: “As a child, I learned to colour inside the lines. I do not mean just in art class, but that nature and nurture moulded me into a rule-follower.” She goes on to discuss how we can find freedom from people pleasing.
Could AI replace my pastor?
“The latest iteration of the chat bot can apparently produce sermons. You tell it your passage, how many points you want and point and shoot and away it goes. What you end up will be grammatically correct and may read well, though I think it comes across as a bit sterile. But to think that it is a sermon is to think wrongly about what preaching is.”

Just as evangelicals will fight their own individual sin as they keep in step with the Spirit, so we must fight the collective sin of allowing anything but the gospel to be the cause of our unity. —Michael Reeves

I am grateful to 21Five for sponsoring the blog this week. 21Five is a new Christian bookstore meant to resource Canadians with great books. I’m all for that!
Today’s Kindle deals include a few books that are worth considering.
(Yesterday on the blog: New and Notable Christian Books for April 2024)

This is such a neat little video—well worth watching.

Serena Wang introduces a term that could be quite helpful: soft discipleship.

I expect many parents are having to talk to their teens about Taylor Swift’s new album. Cara Ray offers some tips. “Taylor Swift and I have a complicated relationship. She doesn’t know it, but we do.”

I have heard so many variations of this question. And this is an excellent response to it.

Jonathan Noyes: “Suffering is a part of reality that we generally try to avoid. However, I’ve learned three important things about embracing suffering that have completely changed how I relate to God and deepened my relationship with him.”

Casey McCall: “I must admit that I don’t think about the Roman Empire that often. I do find myself, however, thinking about another era of history daily: the rise of the Nazis in Germany from 1920 to 1945. I want to understand how an entire nation, including most of the Christian church, came to embrace an ideology that so openly espoused racial hatred and ultimately murdered over six million Jews.”

From the moment of our salvation he begins to conform us to the image of his Son, to pare away whatever is earthly until there is nothing left but that which is heavenly.

He who boasts of being perfect is perfect in folly.
—Charles Spurgeon

It has been about 8 months since the release of my book Seasons of Sorrow: The Pain of Loss and the Comfort of God. And it has been an encouraging time. I wanted to share a few updates and pieces of information that may be of interest to you.

Perhaps the greatest encouragement has come from grieving families who have gotten in touch to share how the book has been meaningful to them. Subsequent to that has been people who have found comfort in the book as they have endured other losses than the loss of a child. To my surprise and delight, I have also heard some very credible accounts of people coming to faith while reading the book. A number of people have asked me whether it would be appropriate for non-Christians to read and it seems that, at least in some cases, the Lord is using it to draw people to himself.
FamilyLife Today Interview
Earlier this year Aileen and I flew down to Orlando to record a couple of episodes of FamilyLife Today with Dave and Ann Wilson. This was the first time since Nick’s funeral that Aileen has spoken publicly, and I think she did very well in providing a mother’s perspective on grief and loss. I’m really proud of her! Those episodes have just been released and you can listen to them at the FamilyLife site, on YouTube, or through your favorite podcast app (e.g. Apple Podcast, Spotify).

Awards
Seasons of Sorrow was nominated by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association for a Christian Book Award in the biography & memoir category. (The ECPA is an organization that works with Christian publishers and booksellers to track sales, distribute awards, and so on.) It was a blessing and honor to learn that Seasons of Sorrow won. It had also previously been named the Counseling Book of the Year by the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors. This, too, was a blessing to me.
Spanish Edition
The Spanish edition, Estaciones de aflicción: El dolor de la pérdida y el consuelo de Dios, is due to be released on August 8. A bilingual friend has read both editions and assures me it is a good and faithful translation. I have had a number of people contact me about other languages and have directed them to the publisher in the hope that we will see further translated editions in the future.
Extra Resources
I wanted to remind you that there are a few extra resources available to go along with the book.

A Letter to Parents – This is a letter I have prepared addressed to parents who have lost a child. If you plan to give bereaved parents a copy of Seasons of Sorrow, you may like to print this and include it with the book.
Application Questions & Group Study Guide – This free guide is for people who are reading it individually and wish to consider application questions and for groups who are reading it together and looking for a reading plan as well as discussion questions.
Helpful Things To Say To Grieving Parents – If you are walking through the loss of a child with a friend or family member, this article will help you know how you can best serve them in their darkest hour.

Thanks to all who have purchased and/or read the book, and perhaps especially to those who have given it to a grieving friend in the hope that it would provide at least a little glimmer of light in their time of darkness. May God use it all for his glory.