It is engraved on many tombstones, inscribed in many cards, expressed in many obituaries: He died too soon. She was taken before her time.

Of all the mysteries in this universe, few are more perplexing than the mystery of God’s sovereignty over life and death. Why do some live to so advanced an age while others barely live at all? Why are some who display such promise taken before they can deploy their gifts? Why does God call some early to heaven who surely could have done so much good on earth? Why God, we ask? Why?
I’m quite sure that June is the best of the year here in Southern Ontario. The spring rains have given way to spring sun. The perennials that laid dormant through the long winter have burst out of the warming ground and the annuals that awaited the final frost have now been planted and begun to thrive. Yet because we have not yet reached the summer’s full heat, the grass is still unwithered and the lawns unscorched. The world is resplendent with every hue of green, every shade of red, yellow, and blue.
No one in this neighborhood gives more attention to her garden than Aileen. Her garden is her studio, her canvas, her gallery. She has designed it purposefully and tends to it carefully.
Some of the flowers in her garden sprang up when there was still snow on the ground. They bloomed quickly and beautifully, a foretaste of warmer days to come. And then they faded and were gone for another year. Some of the flowers waited until there was a long succession of warm afternoons before they began to stir and to push their shoots above the ground. And some of the flowers have yet to be seen as they await even warmer days, perhaps late in the summer or even early in the autumn. When the rest of the plants have already waned, these will provide a final splash of color before the snows return.
Whether these flowers bloom early or late, whether their blossoms last for a few days or for the whole summer, they each have their purpose, for they have each been planted by the hand of an expert gardener. This is true even of the ones that make only the earliest or only the briefest appearance. Their beauty is no less beautiful because of its brevity. Their role is no less important because they are the first to fade. In fact, we treasure those flowers all the more, for we know that our enjoyment will be short-lived.
The most beautiful gardens are the ones that are planned with the greatest skill and tended with the greatest care. And if we should give such attention and commit so much love to something as simple as a garden, shouldn’t we trust God to give even greater attention and even greater care to people crafted by his hand and made in his image? Shouldn’t we trust him to number the length of their days? Shouldn’t we trust him to know whether their purpose is to bloom for days or for decades? Shouldn’t we trust him to know how and when each will best display divine beauty?
The early flowers in our garden are every bit as beautiful as the late flowers, the ones that bloom for a day as wondrous as the ones that bloom for a summer. They are every bit as precious in our eyes, and surely in God’s as well. And so, too, the human beings that appear to die too soon or who seem to be taken before their time. These too can only have been planned to perfection by the mind of God. These, too, can only have fulfilled the purpose he assigned to them. These too, are precious in his sight.

The God of love and peace be with you today.

(Yesterday on the blog: Flowers Springing Up in the Rain)
The Joys and Challenges of Small Church Ministry
I enjoyed Jeff’s celebration of the joys (and challenges) of ministering in a small town.
What would we be missing if our Bibles lacked the book of Galatians?
I can’t imagine being asked this question off-the-cuff–or answering as well as Derek Thomas does here.
The Transgender Fantasy
Andrew T. Walker: “Pastors have no shortage of issues that they are called up to address in their ministries. The pressure to be an expert on every new issue can be daunting when thinking about everything else on the pastor’s plate. Most pastors need fewer burdens, not more. But when issues of what it means to be human surface — and this is at the center of the debate over transgenderism — it’s important that pastors seek to bring the full counsel of God’s word to bear on the issue at hand.”
Stricter Standards Do Not Always Equal Legalism
Barbara offers an important corrective here: Christians who hold to stricter standards (in, for example, the way they dress) are not necessarily succumbing to legalism.
3 Things to Pray for those Hurting, Suffering and Grieving
Ken Irungu (aka Ken in Kenya): “We all know someone who is hurting, who is suffering or is grieving, don’t we? We promise to pray for them, but at times, we do not know how and what to pray for them. Sometimes all we pray for them is that God would minimize their pain and suffering. But there’s more we can pray for these dear ones, as we clearly see from scriptures.”
Extravagance
“A few weeks ago, NASA released some of the first photos from the James Webb telescope from 932,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) above the earth. Have you been as captivated by those pictures as I am?”
Flashback: Four Sources of Discord in Your Church
In Paul’s letter to Titus he offers four sources of discord and warns us to avoid them (“But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.”). Here, for your consideration, are four sources of disunity that may just exist in your church.

We don’t treat prayer like breathing. We treat it like prescription medication meant to rid us of an infection. Once the infection is gone, so is the frequency and fervency of our prayers. —John Onwuchekwa

I’m very thankful for the recent rise of the Christian documentary. Over the past few years we’ve been treated to quite a number of excellent productions that focus on key Christian characters, on important topics, and even on the whole sweep of Christian history. We are blessed to have access to this bounty of riches.

New to the field is Revival: The Work of God. Directed by Dan Pugh, written and presented by Jeremy Walker, and backed by Reformation Heritage Books, this film documents the history of revival. Better said, it documents the history of true revival, for the term is used in ways that are precise and imprecise, ways that speak of an unusual act of God and ways that speak of methods manufactured by men.
What is revival, or true revival? Revival is a supernatural, unexpected, deeply desired work of the Holy Spirit in which God’s people hunger for his Word and long for his glory. It is accompanied by an unusual sense of the presence of God, a deep awareness of sin, an overwhelming joy at forgiveness, and a passion to reach the lost. Though such revivals are rare, they have happened at a number of points in history and have often been carefully documented by those privileged to have experienced them.
Revival is essentially a journey through church history that pauses at a number of the incidents of revival to consider what happened and what we can learn from it. Though the film does offer passing reference to the early church, the Waldensians of the 12th century, the Lollards of the 14th century, and the Hussites of the 15th, it really begins with the Reformation, itself a revival, and then proceeds forward from there.
As the film progresses, Walker travels to each of the key locations, often filming in the very churches or buildings where revival broke out. Meanwhile, a good number of pastors and historians offer their own thoughts on the particular events or the subject as a whole. These guests include Geoff Thomas, Ian Hamilton, Joel Beeke, Sinclair Ferguson, Steven Lawson, Stuart Olyott, and a number of others.
There are many good takeaways from the film, though perhaps the two that stand out to me are the sovereign work of God in creating revival and the link between revival and suffering. To the first point, it is clear that revivals occur when God deems them good and necessary, not when mere humans do. Though we can and should cry out for revival, we need to be aware that they are rare and sovereignly-ordained. We should never attempt to manufacture them by our own efforts. And then while it is good to long for revival, we need to be aware that they are often accompanied by suffering, for God often purifies the church by suffering even as he blesses it with an awakening. Hence to plead with God for revival may also be to invite him to allow the church to endure a season of hardship. For that reason we ought to be aware what we are praying for when we pray that God would act in this particular way.
Revival: The Work of God is a good and helpful and well-made film. I might wish it looked at revivals beyond Europe and the United States, but, having been involved in a documentary project, I understand there are often constraints related to budget or even historical evidence. There is much we can learn from the history of revival and, hence, much we can learn from this film. I’m thankful to those who made it and am glad to commend it.