I’m so thankful to Children’s Hunger Fund for once again sponsoring the blog to tell you about some of their remarkable programs. “Our mission,” they want you to know, “is to deliver hope to suffering children by equipping local churches for gospel-centered mercy ministry.”

You will find a few new Kindle deals.
(Yesterday on the blog: The Toxic War on Masculinity)
Gain Is Godliness, or Godliness Is Gain?
“What do you need right now? What would make you genuinely, blissfully, permanently happy if you just had it right now? Ultimately, the answers to that question fall into one of just two categories: either ‘gain is godliness’ or ‘godliness is gain.’” Justin explains the difference.
Jesus Will Return to Put the World Right
He will, indeed. And what a day that will be.
FAQ: Will We Ever See God the Father?
This question is asked quite often, I find.
The Origin of Satan
Where did Satan come from, anyway?
Gratitude Multiplies When We Return It to God
“God gives us hundreds of reasons to be grateful every hour—and if you think I’m exaggerating, ask Him to make you aware of His gracious provisions surrounding you. Developing the habit and discipline of gratitude results in greater praise to God and greater happiness for ourselves.”
Pastors, Brace Yourselves for Another Election Year
With another election looming in the not-too-distant future, Trevin counsels pastors to avoid two extreme reactions.
Flashback: Is Your Church Christian or Christianish?
There is nothing in all the world as precious as a truly Christian church. There is nothing in all the world as dangerous as one that is merely Christianish. Choose your church well.

When our lives are united to Christ through faith, we have the assurance that our best days are always ahead of us and never behind us. —Scott Sauls

This week’s Free Stuff Friday is sponsored by Children’s Hunger Fund. They have three book bundles for giveaway, featuring titles that have influenced CHF’s ministry and will hopefully encourage you and your family. Each giveaway package will also include hand-selected items from the Children’s Hunger Fund store. The giveaway will close on May 7 at noon EST.

 Mission Drift by Peter Greer
Too often, as Christian organizations grow, the gospel often becomes cursory, expendable, or even forgotten. Again and again, leaders have watched their ministries, businesses, and nonprofits professionalize, expand, and lose sight of their original goals. Even churches can stray from their calling.
In Mission Drift, Chris Horst, Anna Haggard, and Peter Greer provide the tools leaders need to keep their organizations “mission true” or get back on track. Supported by research and filled with compelling anecdotes, Mission Drift identifies organizations that exhibit intentional, long-term commitment to Christ in contrast to those that have wandered away from their core beliefs. Discover what you can do to prevent drift or get back on track and how to protect what matters most.
George Muller of Bristol by A.T. Pierson
George Muller was living proof that God can be known intimately, that He is a faithful companion, and that prayer yields miraculous results. This classic biography tells of George Muller’s dependence on prayer and how his compassionate concern for orphans in Bristol, England, shaped decades of missionary and social endeavors throughout the world.
Emblems of the Infinite King by J. Ryan Lister, illustrated by Anthony M. Benedetto
In an imaginative journey through the grand story of the universe, this book introduces kids ages 10+ to God’s radiant beauty using the main categories of systematic theology: God, humanity, sin, Christ, the Holy Spirit, salvation, the church, and last things.
Full of captivating illustrated “emblems” meant to symbolize key facets of Christian doctrine, this unique book seeks to bring theological truths from words to life. The creative design combined with rich theology will challenge young readers to search God’s Word for important answers to big questions about themselves, God, and the gospel.
All you need to do to enter the drawing is drop your name and email address in the form below.
Giveaway Rules
You may enter one time. When you enter, you permit Children’s Hunger Fund to send you marketing emails. The winners will be notified via email. The giveaway closes on Sunday, May 7 at noon EST.

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If there is any word used to describe masculinity in our day, any adjective commonly used to modify it, it is almost invariably “toxic.” We hear almost nothing of positive masculinity or healthy masculinity. But we hear endlessly of its toxicity. It would not be wrong to conclude that society really has no vision for a masculinity that is noble and good (unless it is essentially indistinguishable from femininity). It would not be wrong to conclude that society considers masculinity one of the great problems that human progress must overcome.

Nancy Pearcey has many thoughts on this subject and her response is the cleverly titled The Toxic War on Masculinity. For her great concern is not the toxicity of masculinity itself, but the toxicity of the war against it.
It’s not like Pearcey is writing from some Utopia in which she has only ever seen positive examples of masculinity in action. To the contrary, she grew up in a home with a father who was cruel to his family. She was subjected to an extremely harmful form of masculinity that was abusive toward her and her siblings. It was largely because of the contrast between her dad in public (moral, upright, religious) and her dad in private (cruel, unjust, violent) that she abandoned her religious upbringing when she was a teen, turning instead of the writings of the feminist movement. It was only when she stumbled upon L’Abri and the ministry of Francis Schaeffer that she recommitted to the Christian faith and began the long process of healing.
Through Christian eyes, she was able to see the issues with the feminism that had once been attractive to her. And with those same Christian eyes she was able to see that abuse exists within the church and is sometimes even tolerated by it. But now she could look to Scripture to see that the problem is not with masculinity itself, but with its distorted forms. What God has created is good and must be celebrated. But it must also be fostered and protected, not allowed to be twisted and perverted.
Her book is an attempt to understand the God-given pattern for men and to define a truly healthy masculinity. But it goes beyond that to consider how Western culture lost its vision for a healthy masculinity and to propose how it can be recovered. Taking a “show, don’t tell” approach, she blends history and sociology with personal stories and outside examples. It makes for a powerful and compelling package.
In the book’s first part, she dispels some false assumptions to show that while most people believe that conservative Christian men are patriarchal and domineering, studies continue to disprove this. To the contrary, Christian men who are truly committed to their faith (in contrast to those who attend church merely out of tradition or for the sake of appearances) have very low rates of divorce and domestic violence. She takes this as proof that the Christian message has power to help men thrive as husbands and fathers.
In the second part, which constitutes the bulk of the book’s content, she examines notions of masculinity and how they have changed over time. She travels through major periods of history to show how society changed the ways men function in the world, workplace, church, and home. She explains how a biblical understanding of masculinity was slowly but surely replaced by a secular one.
In part three, she shows that many people who claim to be Christians, but who are only nominally so, exhibit some of the worst and most toxic behaviors of all. These nominal people skew the statistics to make people think Christianity itself produces a toxic form of masculinity when, in reality, that tends to be men who embrace terms like headship and submission, but who understand them through a secular lens of power and control. Then, at the end of it all, she suggests some ways forward—some solutions to the crisis of masculinity within the church.
It makes for a compelling book and one that serves its purpose. Well-researched and exhaustively documented, well-written and endorsed by a diverse collection of authors, I expect that it will be widely-read and that it will help spark many good conversations within the Christian world. Best of all, I hope it will help provide a positive, hopeful, biblical vision for masculinity.
Publishers are sometimes known to change the release dates for their books. I read The Toxic War on Masculinity with the understanding that it was to be released at the end of April. It wasn’t until I had read it and begun to write a review that I saw its release date had been changed to June. That means that the manuscript is still prone to change, and hence I have not quoted from it or interacted with it too deeply. So for the time being, I will leave you with this overview and hope that it interests you. And that perhaps it will convince you to pre-order the book so you can read it for yourself.
Buy from Amazon

Good morning from Copenhagen, Denmark. I’m spending a day here on my way to Norway where I’ll be preaching at a local church and enjoying some scenery over the next few days.

I recently enjoyed being a guest on the Spurgeon Maniacs podcast, which you can listen to here.
How to Have the Mind of Christ
“It is all very well to say that being ‘worthy of the gospel of Christ’ means being restored to the image of God so that we begin to reflect the character of the Lord Jesus. But what does that mean?” Who would you rather have explain this than Sinclair Ferguson?
The Problem with the Trilemma
“We’re an age that likes shortcuts. We want ‘three simple steps to get rich’ and ‘eating this one vegetable will make you lose weight.’ That goes for what passes as discourse in our society, too. We don’t want nuance or careful reasoning. What’s popular is ‘this one argument will own [the other party]’ and ‘watch this Christian/skeptic destroy skeptics/Christians.’”
Why the surge in LGBT identity deserves a closer look
A recent report proclaimed that around a quarter of Millennials identify as one of the letters in the omnipresent, ever-lengthening acronym that begins with LGBT. This article explains why that number should be taken with a grain of salt. I am inclined to agree with the main conclusion, though certainly not with some of the other applications and takeaways.
When a Good God Seems Far From Good
Sarah Walton: “Have you ever stood before a spiritual fork in the road? One where you know the ‘godly answer’ to your painful circumstances, but there seems to be an impenetrable wall that stands between your head and your heart? It’s the tension between knowing something to be true but struggling to believe it when the evidence seems stacked against it.”
Polygamy
Does the Bible condone polygamy (as some like to charge)? Obviously not, as Mitch explains in this article.
What does it mean to be winsomely Reformed? (Video)
Michael Kruger considers what it means to be winsomely Reformed.
Flashback: We Always Glean Among the Sheaves
We are not left to glean for hope in barren fields, not left trying to pick up the scraps of his mercy when others have already taken the best of it. Always we gather into our arms the abundance of his mercy, the overflow of his grace.

Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the souls you can, in every place you can, at all the times you can, with all the zeal you can, every time you can. —John Wesley

Today’s a big day—the day Michaela finishes up high school. And just like that, our family is done with high school forever.

There are several new Kindle deals today.
(Yesterday on the blog: Behind-the-Scenes: Christian Publishing)
Brothers, We Can Do Better
Erik Raymond: “Recently, the priority and practice of expository preaching have been recovered. I praise God for this development. At the same time, I’m concerned that our expositional reformation hasn’t gone far enough.”
“That’s Just Your Interpretation”
Kevin DeYoung considers issues of biblical interpretation. “In our day, that debate is not a technical theological controversy about popes, councils, and the magisterium. But the question is just as important because an implicit denial of the clarity of Scripture goes hand in hand with the diminishment of the study of Scripture.”
Knowing is Superior to Uncertainty
“In our society, to say that you actually know something is considered prideful, narrow-minded, and completely ignorant. The proper thing, says society, is to be a little uncertain about things. You can’t know everything, so you shouldn’t claim to know anything. Well, I just need to say this out loud: Knowing is superior to uncertainty.”
What can we learn from the ministry of J. Gresham Machen? (Video)
Robert Godfrey provides just a bit of an introduction to a key Christian figure from the early twentieth century.
The Power of Encouragement
“She started her statement casually, ‘I’m sure you’ve heard this a million times before, but…’ and then she raised my spirits with a thoughtful encouragement about how my co-lead pastor (Greg) and I complement each other as preachers. And no, I had never heard that encouragement quite that way before.” Few things cost less but accomplish more than a bit of well-timed encouragement!
Thankful God Is Not a Stranger
“In my early Christian life, when something negative happened, I’d be shaken. I wonder if this was happening because I’d done something wrong. I’d feel that God was far away. I knew He loved me, but I didn’t feel so loved. I’d ponder all the ‘what ifs,’ which would shake me up even more.”
Flashback: 6 Very Good Reasons to Consider Your Short Little Life
Our lives are short. They are, in the words of the author of Ecclesiastes, little more than vapor, dust blow by the wind. Yet the very thought that could dismay or depress you, can also motivate you. Here are some blessings that will be yours when you pause to consider your short little life.

Every sorrow borne in simple faith is helping others bear their sorrows. Every burden victoriously carried is helping men and women to be braver. —George Herbert Morrison

I have given behind-the-scenes looks at book endorsements and conference speaking and thought I’d wrap up this little series with a look at publishing. I’m familiar only with Christian books so will keep my comments focused on that small corner of a much larger industry. From my perspective, here’s a look at how Christian publishing works.

Agents
Most authors are represented by a literary agent. This is an individual who represents authors to publishers in return for a percentage of the profits (typically around 15%). Authors will usually sign an exclusive contract with a particular agent for a set period of time. This contract means they can only write books for which that agent has represented them. Some publishers prefer not to work with agents (typically smaller ones) while others will only work with agents (typically larger ones). At their best, agents add a lot of value to the publishing industry by matching authors with the best publishers for their books and by helping authors get the best terms from the publishers. They also suggest ideas and topics to authors, help shape proposals, provide advice on contracts, and may even be involved in suggesting strategies for marketing, and so on.
There are a lot of good and credible agents and agencies. Unfortunately there are some poor ones as well who will take advantage of prospective authors. Authors should do their homework and, if approached by an agent, ask for references. (Please don’t ask me to refer you to an agent as I cannot and will not do that!)
Many publishers will accept proposals from authors who are not represented by agents, but typically this process takes longer and has a lower chance of success. The exception, of course, is when the author has a personal relationship with someone within the publishing company. As always, a lot comes down to who you know.
Money
Some Christian publishers are businesses and some are ministries. But in either case, they need to at least break even. This means there are almost always financial terms involved with the publication of a book. There are generally two major negotiable financial components to a contract. The first is the royalty and the second is the advance.
The royalty is the percentage of the book’s sale price that the author will receive. This is based on the wholesale rather than the retail price, so usually around half of what you might pay in the store. Often there are gradations so that royalties on the first X copies are fairly low, but then they increase as more copies sell. (X might be 10,000 for a small book or 100,000 for a major book.) An average royalty on a softcover or hardcover book might be 20% or so. When you consider that most Christian books sell fewer than 10,000 copies, yet take months to write, you can see that very few people can make a living as a Christian author.
The advance is the amount the author will be paid before the publication of the book—often one part of the advance when the contract is signed and the remaining portion when the manuscript is complete and accepted by the publisher. It is important to note that this is actually an advance against royalties which means that the author will receive no royalty payments until he has “paid back” the advance through royalties the book has earned. A first-time Christian author might get an advance of $5,000, though some publishers do not offer them at all. A major Christian author might get many multiples of that.
Of course there can be a host of other factors that are written into contracts—film rights for works of fiction, different rates for audiobooks depending on whether the author reads it or turns it over to a hired professional, foreign translation rates, future paperback editions, and so on.
One way to understand publishing is to see at it as a balancing of risk, with two parties each wanting the other to accept the higher risk. Authors have to invest a lot of effort in writing a book that may not earn back their investment in time, effort, and expertise. Publishers have to invest a lot of effort in acquiring, editing, and printing a book that may not earn back their financial investment. Hence authors will push for a high advance and high royalty while publishers will push low.
Some authors write books on behalf of their ministries and have the proceeds absorbed by them. Others write books personally and keep the proceeds as income.
Most publishers send royalty reports (and potentially royalty payments) either semi-annually or quarterly. The reports are generally long, printed statements that include how many books have been sold in all the various formats and at all the various price breaks. These are notoriously difficult to decipher and, even after all these years, I still struggle to make sense of them.
Authors
There was a time when publishers would be heavily invested in helping authors grow their “platform”—their reach to the people who might be interested in reading their book. Today, though, publishers tend to expect authors to already have a significant platform, often measured in social media followers, conference appearances, church attendees, or other metrics. This reduces the risk for publishers as they integrate authors. However, it makes it more difficult for lesser-known authors to get a proposal accepted. It’s far easier for a poor writer with a large platform to get a contract than for a great writer with a small one. That is unfortunate on the one hand, but also perhaps not surprising since publishers are (generally) not charities.
Publishers
There are quite a number of Christian publishers and each tends to have their niche, though there is a fair bit of overlap between them.
Some are independent while others are owned by massive mainstream publishing houses. Some will only publish authors who write from a particular theological perspective while others will publish authors who write from nearly any theological perspective. Some have large marketing and publicity departments while others have none at all. Wise authors and agents get to know the options so they can know where their books may fit the best.
Self Publishing
There was a time when self-publishing was considered vain—a way to get your name on the cover of a book without going through the accepted process of publication. I don’t think there is the same stigma today, especially after so many books in both the mainstream and Christian markets were initially rejected by publishers, were then self-published, and went on to be bestsellers. That said, the standard process does add a lot of value and many authors will struggle to make their self-published books reach the same levels of quality in editing, design, layout, marketing, and so on. The advantage of self-publishing, of course, is that the author can move as quickly as he likes, avoid all the gatekeepers, and make a higher percentage of profit per copy sold. Companies like Amazon make it easier than ever to self-publish and to have books available for purchase through the world’s largest marketplace. The entire industry has changed a lot in the past couple of decades and there is undoubtedly much more change to come.
Process
The process of publishing a nonfiction Christian book will usually go something like this.
An author will present an idea to an agent and they will begin to co-create a proposal. The proposal will usually include a thorough description of the book, a table of contents, and a chapter or two of writing. Most publishers prefer not to receive a complete manuscript as they like to help shape the book from its formative stages.
When that proposal is in good shape, the agent will send it to acquisitions editors at the publishers he deems to be the best fit for the project. The acquisitions editors will read the proposal and either reject it immediately or take it to an internal committee that makes decisions together. If they are interested in publishing the book, they will send a proposal to the agent who will in turn present it to the author. That proposal will usually include financial terms as well as a description of how the book will be published (e.g. hardcover or softcover, page count, quality of paper, and so on). Publishers will sometimes ask authors to sign contracts for multiple books at once and will generally offer them better terms if they do so.
Once the contract has been agreed upon and signed, the author will have a set period of time to submit the manuscript. That will often be about a year. In that time he will have access to the acquisitions editor to share ideas, receive feedback, and so on. That said, writing is a solitary and often lonely process that mostly sees the author sitting alone staring at a screen while desperately searching for reasons to procrastinate.
When the author is finished with the manuscript, he will send it to the acquisitions editor who will do a thorough edit, focusing on the ideas, the flow, and the wording. He will then send back a Word document with hundreds or even thousands of suggested changes, some of which may be minor and some of which may take weeks of work. The author will often have a month or so to respond to those changes. When that has been done, the acquisitions editor will send it to a second-level editor who will continue the work of shaping it. It will then often go to a third person who will look carefully for typos, errors in punctuation, and consistency with the appropriate style guide. Some books will also receive a theological edit by a trusted theologian. At this point it will be sent to potential endorsers so they can read it and write their blurbs.
When all that is done and the manuscript is considered complete, the book will enter into a design phase during which the text will be laid out in book form, the fonts will be chosen, and the page layout will be finalized. The title and cover will usually be finalized somewhere in this timeframe and added to catalogs and other advance marketing material. Eventually it will all be sent to a printer (often overseas) who will print the book and ship it to the warehouse from where it will be distributed.
Finally, perhaps a year after the author submits the manuscript to the editor, the book will be formally released. The author will usually assign a publicist to the book and his job is to arrange interviews, media appearances, and perhaps conference speaking. There will often be a lot of these immediately before and after the release date, and they will then slowly tail off.
The process generally moves quite slowly and very methodically. But it is proven and effective and results in the books you have come to know and love.

May the Lord be with you and bless you today.

Over at Westminster Books they are offering a deal on the new ESV Teen Study Bible.
The Man with the Longest-Term Vision Wins: 5 Lessons for Christians from the Life of Elon Musk
Reagan considers some lessons from the life of Elon Musk. “When I look at the inspiring, yet ultimately misguided, aspirations of people like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos I can’t help but wonder at the impact believers might have if we rediscovered the long-term mindset that God intended for us. We ought to have a much longer-term view than anyone. Not because we hope mankind’s salvation will be found in space colonies, but because we know it is found through faith in Jesus Christ.”
Honour the king!
For the first time in most of our lifetimes, many people are having to consider what it means to have a new king crowned and what it might mean to honor him and even to swear allegiance to him. “The command isn’t qualified. God doesn’t say ‘honour the king [when he’s honourable]’. He doesn’t say, ‘honour the king [if you happen to like him]’, or ‘honour the king, [as long as you’re a royalist]’. Wherever you fall on the political spectrum, I can say confidently on the authority of Scripture: it’s God will for us that we honour the king.
The Coronation: Do We Need To Swear An Oath Of Allegiance To King Charles III?
“From a Christian perspective, if you are British there is no need to swear allegiance to the new King because we already owe him our allegiance. The New Testament teaches us that our civic rulers are established by the sovereignty of God, whether they be monarchs, presidents, or Prime Ministers. As British citizens, we were providentially born in this realm at this moment of history (Acts 17v26) and Charles III is our King. Our citizenship of the Kingdom of Heaven does not cancel out our citizenship of this earthly kingdom, although it does relativise the claims that it has on us.”
The Real Threat of TikTok
Chris Explains that the real threat of TikTok might not be exactly what so many think it is.
How Was the Pronunciation of God’s Name Lost?
“It’s important to recognize right up front that we simply do not know with absolute certainty how God’s name was originally pronounced. The common English pronunciation of ‘Yahweh’ is an educated guess, but we’ll never know for sure how it sounded when God spoke it to Moses.”
Pray for Gospel Boldness
“Paul is arguably the greatest theologian who ever lived. He wrote the Scriptures that help us understand our salvation. Not only that, but he was also the greatest missionary who ever lived. He relentlessly proclaimed the gospel all over the Roman Empire, even when it required suffering.” And yet…
Flashback: What a Morning That Will Be!
Precious Lord Jesus! Cause me morning by morning, while upon earth, to awaken with sweet thoughts of you. Let the close of night, and the opening of the day, be with your dear name in my heart, on my thoughts, and on my lips.

We lose nothing worth keeping when we leave behind the body, as a dress not fitted for home, where we are going. —Alexander Maclaren

This month Logos is offering up to 25% off on base packages. And then, of course, they have a selection of free and discounted books.

There are once again some new Kindle deals today.
(Yesterday on the blog: Let Him Do What Seems Good To Him)
Midlife and the Striver’s Curse
I appreciate some of the observations in this article about midlife. “While there is some debate on when midlife occurs, I’m going to suggest that it begins sometime between ages thirty-five to forty-five. This season is revealing to me where I have unknowingly believed some lies. While always susceptible to them, they have a tendency to creep up with intensity in midlife.”
5 Things You Should Know about Assurance
This is a strong article about assurance. I am especially glad to see where Bob Godfrey began it—with election.
The Song That Sustains Creation
“It was at this point that the picture of God creating the universe with His voice became more than just a metaphor to me. Two decades of research into superconductivity and quantum computation have only deepened and confirmed this picture for me. Everything really is made up of waves, and if those waves ceased to oscillate, if all the quantum mechanical motion were to cease, then so would the existence of those atoms.”
What’s the Big Deal with Worship?
“What does gathered worship do?  It declares that this world is a lie.” Peter Mead explains how and why.
David Livingstone Brought the Gospel to My Country
Confex Makhalira celebrates David Livingstone for being the one who first brought the gospel to his country of Malawi. “A lot could be said about the man, but on this day—the 150th anniversary of his death—I want to reflect on his work as a missionary.”
Young People, Church Membership Isn’t Optional
Jared and Becky Wilson: “One of the most concerning developments in church life over the last twenty-five years or so has been the virtual disappearance of young adults. Even kids who grow up in church, attending weekly with their families, participating in youth group and other programs, tend to drop out of church when they leave home at a rate of nearly 70 percent. That’s a lot of church kids suddenly deciding church isn’t for them!”
Flashback: Advance! One Key Pursuit for Young Christians
The teens and 20s are not the time to live a whole life but to prepare for a whole life. In these years, young Christians need to prepare themselves for the rest of life by laying a foundation of godly character that will sustain them for the many years to come.

Let us be more bothered by our sin than our suffering. —Burk Parsons

This week the blog is sponsored by Children’s Hunger Fund (CHF), a nonprofit seeking to “deliver hope to suffering children by equipping local churches for gospel-centered mercy ministry.” Serving in the United States and 29 other countries, CHF seeks to help the local church reach suffering children and families in their communities with both physical help and spiritual hope found only in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Lupe Gomez distinctly remembers what it was like to receive the gift of food as a kid.
One of eight siblings, growing up in the ‘80s, Lupe told us a story about when his elementary school had a food drive.
He remembers telling his mom about it and asking her if he could take a can of corn or beans to the food drive.
“She opened the cupboard, and there wasn’t much in there,” Lupe shared. “But she gave me a can of corn.”
Caption: Lupe and Julie Gomez at Children’s Hunger Fund
Lupe took that can of corn to his school for the food drive and gave it away to children in need.
“A week later, this big truck comes to my house with food for us,” Lupe shared. “I gave a can and I got boxes of food. It just came right back to me, and it was just amazing, but I don’t know what happened.”
Now, almost 40 years later, Lupe understands why he received those boxes of food. Even though Children’s Hunger Fund wasn’t the one that provided it, that generous gift motivates him to volunteer at CHF almost every week.
“I volunteer two hours at a time, but I could be here for three days. It feels amazing and it just makes you want to get involved more,” Lupe said.
Lupe volunteers with his wife, Julie, and they enjoy filling the boxes of food called Food Paks that will be delivered into the hands of suffering children by a pastor or church volunteer.
“I feel a sense of peace knowing that what we are doing is special and I tell everyone about it,” Julie said. “Everyone is just so welcoming, loving, and caring!”
Reflecting on the gift of food he had received as a kid, Lupe shared: “Hope—it’s everything.”
Even though he didn’t understand where that gift of food first came from, now, looking back, he understands. “The heavenly Father was looking out for us.”
About 30 miles away, on a warm afternoon in June, two small children sit enjoying some applesauce. The snack came from a Food Pak delivered that morning by a volunteer from a local church.
Sitting around a small table, Araceli converses in broken Spanish with the volunteer.
Araceli is one of many immigrants from Michoacán, Mexico who have settled in rural Fillmore, California. Like others in her community, Araceli speaks Tarasco, a dialect spoken by the people of Michoacán. Tarasco is classified as a language isolate, unrelated to any other known languages, including Spanish. Because of this, Araceli has difficulty communicating with anyone outside of her small community.

Caption: Araceli and her son with a Food Pak from Children’s Hunger Fund
Communication is even difficult with her own children. Attending school in the US for several years, Araceli’s two teenage daughters speak English and have little interest in speaking their mother’s native dialect. Because of this, Araceli has lost a lot of her authority over her children, simply because they cannot communicate. Her three-year-old son and her two-year-old granddaughter speak Tarasco, but both will be learning English when they begin school in a few years.
Prior to the pandemic, Araceli was invited to a women’s Bible study at Sembradores Church. Through this relationship with her local church and the home deliveries of food, Araceli has heard the gospel message and made a declaration of faith.
Recognizing the need in Fillmore for someone who speaks Tarasco, Pastor José Luis Paz of Sembradores Church has made it his mission to identify someone in the community who will be able to bridge the communication gap between the church and the Tarascan community in Fillmore.
If it weren’t for the faithfulness of volunteers like Lupe and Julia and church volunteers and pastors like the ones visiting Araceli, the ministry of CHF would not work. God is using His people all over the world to bring healing and hope to children and families who are suffering, and we are so thankful that He allows us to help provide the resources to make that ministry possible.
There are so many ways you can get involved with CHF and help further the mission to deliver hope to suffering children. Find out more here!
Make sure you sign up for our email newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to keep up to date with the amazing things God is doing in the lives of suffering children.

I have often thought that people who desire a modern-day gift of prophecy ought to be careful what they wish for. After all, the biblical prophets were often asked to speak words that immediately brought about their own persecution or even death. And even if they did not suffer to quite that degree, they were often asked to speak words that brought sorrow more than hope and alarm more than encouragement. The calling to be a prophet was the calling to speak difficult words and to suffer terrible consequences.

Samuel was just a young lad when God tasked him with being the bearer of bad tidings. God gave Samuel knowledge of events that would soon come to pass and it fell to him to tell old Eli the news—news so bad that “the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.” Samuel had to tell Eli that God had said “I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them” (1 Samuel 3:11-13). Eli may have been a good priest and a good mentor, but he was a poor father who had allowed his sons to desecrate the holy things of God.
Samuel dutifully told Eli everything that God had revealed. He hid nothing from him. He told him that God was going to punish his family for their blasphemy, that there was nothing the two evil sons could do to atone for their transgressions. Their sin was so great and their hearts so hard that the punishment of death was both fitting and necessary. God had decreed it, and it would come to pass.
There are any number of ways that Eli could have responded to this announcement. But he responded in the best way possible. “It is the Lord,” he said. “Let him do what seems good to him” (1 Samuel 3:18). Having received the most agonizing news, he responded in faith, he responded in confidence, he responded in submission. He responded in a way that ought to inspire us today.
In our lives it tends to be providence that reveals difficult tidings. Rather than sending prophets to tell us about events in advance, we learn in the moment through the unfolding of the mysteries of God’s will. And we ought to receive the tidings of God through his providence just as humbly as Eli received the tidings of God through his prophet. We ought to receive it with every bit as deep a submission to God’s sovereignty and with every bit as great a confidence in his goodness.
Eli did not lash out at the prophet, at the one God had called to be the bearer of this news. And we must not lash out at providence, for prophets and providence alike simply reveal the will of God.
Eli did not accuse the God who had assigned this most difficult of all providences, for he had deep trust in his character. And we must similarly trust in God’s character and refuse to accuse him of doing wrong or even doing anything less than what best serves his purposes and advances his cause. It is when we trust in his character that we can trust in what he permits and in what he decrees. For his will cannot be separated from his nature, the goodness of his providence from the goodness of his character. We must conclude that if God is good, his will is good, even when we struggle to see it.
Eli did not raise his fist to the heavens, but rather bowed his knee to God. And in just that way, we must not raise a cry of accusation against God, but rather lift a song of praise—even if it is bewildered and broken-hearted praise. We love to praise his name in the light, but by God’s grace we can also praise his name in the darkness. We love to sing songs of rejoicing, but by God’s grace we can also sing songs of lament. For both honor him and bring glory to his name.
Eli’s words, Eli’s actions, Eli’s attitude at the revelation of God’s prophet ought to be ours at the revelation of God’s providence. Though his heart must have been shattered and grieved, Eli loved God and trusted him. Though our hearts may be shattered and grieved, we too must love and trust him. For he is the God who does whatever he pleases, and the God for whom whatever he pleases is good. Of him we must always say, “It is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him.”