Crossway has begun to publish The Complete Works of John Owen and Westminster Books has the first volume (of 40!) on sale now.

There are at least a couple of Kindle deals to look at.
What Your Nativity Really Means
Pierce Taylor Hibbs considers “our little, neat, illuminated manger scenes. Such a precious thing: the coming of God in the flesh to two happy, carefree parents, just enjoying the stars on a Bethlehem night. Too bad that image doesn’t seem to fall off the pages of Luke’s Gospel. In truth, that nativity scene means a whole lot more than you think. It’s a deep portrayal of tragedy, shrouding a light that should spark us to even greater worship than any comfortable manger scene could conjure up.”
Was Christmas Like This?
This article is similar—an imaginative but perhaps more faithful telling of the story we have all read so many times. “The thing is, the Bible doesn’t actually give a lot of detail about the first Christmas and so we have filled in some details through tradition, sentiment and a misreading of what the Bible actually does so.”
Recapturing our awe of the incarnation
And then there’s this from Aaron Armstrong who considers “the problem that we all face: we can fall prey to familiarity. Boredom, even. I find this happens a lot at Christmas, especially when we’ve tried to use or reuse Advent reading plans. We become so familiar with them that we lose our sense of wonder.”
Essendon apologizes to Andrew Thorburn
This is good news from Down Under. “Religious freedom received an early Christmas present this year with Essendon Football Club today issuing an apology to Andrew Thorburn.”
An Apologia regarding the Lawsuit against SSU Officials
Meanwhile, Nicholas Meriwether tells why he filed “a lawsuit against officials at Shawnee State University for violation of my First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and religion, as well as for other freedoms.”
It Wasn’t Supposed To Be Like This
“The bang of the heavy front door as Louie came home from work each day broke the silence of a hushed house where serious illness had taken up residence. His days were busy at the barber shop and hardware store he co-owned with his older brother but there was no falling away of tensions as he entered their house. Cancer had ravaged his wife’s body and she had been gravely ill for some time, although she was not yet 44.”

Flashback: On Following Mediocre Leaders
How do we follow mediocre leaders? After all, we will spend much of our lives doing exactly that. While we may wish we’ll be called to follow the few who are great, the law of averages makes it far more likely we’ll be called to follow the many who are not-so-great.

No pastor can give to others what he himself has not received. —Harold Senkbeil

Blessings to you today, my friends.

(Yesterday on the blog: Christmas Hope for the Broken-Hearted)
The Sunset, the Symphony, and the Gift
Darla poignantly describes the discovery, misuse, and (eventually) proper use of a wonderful gift. “I was eight or nine when I received the gift and discovered that I could make music. I wasn’t just listening or singing along. I was making it. With my hands, I could bring forth sounds that evoked … something. I couldn’t put words to it then.”
A Certain Kind of Evangelical Christian
I don’t often link to Twitter, but thought I’d make an exception for this thread from Michael Clary. It begins like this: “There once was a certain kind of evangelical Christian I felt free to make fun of. I was pastoring a fast growing church in an urban environment, and a spirit of elitism had infected us. No one would correct me on it because they made fun of them too.”
‘Though He Slay Me’
John Piper comments on a key verse from the book of Job. “The first thing to say is that I love the truth — and it is the truth, spoken from God’s own mouth — that God, in his absolute ownership and sovereignty over all life, appoints the time and the kind of every death of every person on this planet. And this fact of God’s right to give and to take life is not a reason to reject him, but a reason to hope in him.”
Can Cancer Be God’s Servant? What I Saw in My Wife’s Last Four Years
On a somewhat similar note, Randy Alcorn reflects on cancer being God’s servant in the death of his wife. “By saying sickness comes only from Satan and the fall, not from God, we disconnect Him from our suffering and His deeper purposes. God is sovereign. He never permits or uses evil arbitrarily; everything He does flows from His wisdom and ultimately serves both His holiness and love.”
Survey on Singleness and the Church
My friend Lisa is writing a book on singleness and asking for people (both married and single) to help her out by completing a questionnaire.
No, Christmas Is NOT Pagan (Video)
Tim from Red Pen Logic takes on the so-common claim that Christmas is just built upon pagan rituals.
Flashback: Our Lust Is Furious and Our Greed Limitless
If you have ever wanted a taste of Calvin’s Institutes but without committing to the whole thing, you may want to try reading A Little Book on the Christian Life.

Discontent never made a rough path smoother, a heavy burden lighter, a bitter cup less bitter, a dark way brighter, a sore sorrow less sore. It only makes matters worse. —J.R. Miller

The tree is trimmed and decorated and glowing with lights. The gifts are wrapped and tied with bows and arranged carefully beneath. The stockings are hung by the fire and bulging with trinkets and surprises and sweet delicacies. The table is set and waiting for a great feast to be laid out upon it. Christmas has come again—again with all its joys, with all its pleasures, with all its precious traditions.

But look again, look more carefully, look and see that there are fewer gifts than there were in years past. There is one less stocking than there was before. The table has been set with one less place. When the family gathers to celebrate this year, there will be one member who will not be gathering with the rest, one person who will not be home for Christmas, one person who will be sorely missed.
(Note: I was asked to prepare this devotional for Devotionals Daily, but thought I’d share it here as well.)
This will be the reality for so many families this season, so many families who have had to bid farewell to one of their own. And never do those losses stand out so starkly, never do they cut so deep, never do they cause so much pain as during the holidays, as during times of celebration. For holidays are about gathering with the ones we love, spending time with the ones God has given us, observing the season together.
This will be the reality for my family this Christmas, for just a couple of years ago, the Lord saw fit to call one of us to himself. Nick was seemingly healthy and well, thriving in life and preparing himself for marriage and pastoral ministry, when he very suddenly collapsed and died and was gone. Christmas has never been the same. Christmas never will be the same, never can be the same, for our little fellowship has been shattered, our little family has suffered a grievous loss, our little home circle has been broken.
My mind sometimes drifts back to the evening we learned the news that broke our hearts and changed our lives. My mind sometimes drifts back to the thought that flashed through it in that moment when my entire world was rocked: God knows what it is to have a son and God knows what it is to lose a son. And this thought reminds me today that even though Christmas is the day when the pain of my loss is particularly sharp, it is also the day when my hope is particularly strong. For without Christmas I would be despondent, but because of Christmas I have the greatest of all hopes.
The wonder of the Christian faith, the miracle that we celebrate every Christmas, is that God became man. The Son of God who had existed from all eternity, the God who had been present at the creation of the world, the God who holds together all things by the word of his power, took on flesh and was born as a weak, helpless, crying baby. He grew up surrounded by the chaos and sin of this world, he proclaimed the glorious message God had given him, and at the end of it all, he was crucified and died. The Father witnessed the death of his beloved Son.
But that is not the whole story, of course, for death could not hold him! Death could not keep back the one who lived a sinless life and died an atoning death. He left the tomb and ascended to heaven and now prepares a place for each of us who have loved him and believed in his name and received his forgiveness. 
In order to save us, Christ had to die for us. And in order to die for us, Christ had to live for us. And in order to live for us, Christ had to be born for us. It is at Christmas that we tell the beginning of the story of his incarnation, at Christmas that we celebrate his birth, at Christmas that we mark the dawning of hope. For when Christ was born on Christmas morning, hope was born with him—the hope that our loved ones are not lost forever, but merely separated from us for a time, the hope that though we may grieve for a while, sorrow will at last give way to a joy beyond all we’ve known or even imagined. Our hope and our confidence is rooted and grounded in this day.
I wish Nick could be in our home this year to celebrate Christmas with us. But I know God has called him to a different home, a higher home, what I know to be a better home. And if Nick is experiencing nothing but happiness, as I truly believe he is, why would I spend the day in nothing but sadness? Why should I mourn as he rejoices? And so as we gather to celebrate Christmas, we’ll pause for at least a time to turn our hearts away from this home and instead fix them on the home above, the home where there is a much greater celebration, the home where Nick dwells with his Savior. We will fix our hearts on the time when all our tears will be dried and the time when the circle that has been broken will be fully and finally restored. And then we will return to celebrating the wonder of that baby in a manger, for this is the day when he was born—the day when hope was born.

Good morning. Grace and peace to you.

Today’s Kindle deals include a good selection (as is the case with most Mondays).
(Yesterday on the blog: To Do His Will)
Melchizedek’s Loins
This is an enjoyable reflection on a fascinating biblical character.
He Gives What He Demands
Glenna Marshall spent some time in Proverbs this year and considers some of what she learned.
Permanent Disqualifications from Pastoral Ministry (Video)
“Can something permanently disqualify someone from pastoral ministry? In this episode, Hershael York talks about the process of redemption and repentance within ministry…”
An Encouragement to Young Husbands
“A good friend recently got married and I was invited to his bachelor party, which in true Kentucky style consisted of shooting clay pigeons with shotguns (‘shootin’ skeet’), grilling meat, and a very large bonfire. While eating our steak and porkchops, the rest of us there – all married – were asked to share some marital wisdom with the groom-to-be.” This is good and helpful advice.
Who Were the Magi, and Why Did They Worship Jesus? (Matthew 2)
Daniel Doriani answers the questions.
Let Immanuel Deliver Comfort to Hurting Hearts This Christmas
Paul Tautges: “Christmas is wonderful! However, for some in our churches, it can be a very painful time of year—when memories bring the losses of the previous year (or years) to the forefront of their minds, provoking additional heartache. Therefore, one of the most helpful ways we can minister grace to hurting hearts this month is by reminding them of one of our Savior’s most precious names: Immanuel.”
Flashback: 10 Ideas and 10 Tips for Family Devotions
A new year is just about upon us, and as it dawns, we have a new opportunity to lead our families in devotions. Whether you’ve been utterly consistent or mightily struggling, here are 10 ideas and 10 tips that may help as you consider the year to come.

Hell is not a problem. The absence of hell would be a problem. Hell is the affirmation that God is a God of justice, of fairness, of dealing with humans in a way that is right. —Dane Ortlund

We are not naturally inclined to do the will of God. To the contrary, until God intervenes, we take joy in contradicting and disobeying him. But once God saves us we come to understand the pleasure of carrying out his commands and submitting ourselves to his will. And that’s what F.B. Meyer reflects on in this sweet passage.

God is love; to do his will is to scatter love in handfuls of blessing on a weary world.
God is light; to do his will is to tread a path that shines more and more unto the perfect day.
God is life; to do his will is to eat of the Tree of Life, and live forever, and to drink deep draughts of the more abundant life which Jesus gives.
God is the God of hope; to do his will is to be full of all joy and peace, and to abound in hope.
God is the God of all comfort; to do his will is to be comforted in all our tribulation by the tender love of a mother.
God is the God of peace; to do his will is to learn the secret inner calm, which no storm can reach, no tempest ruffle.
God is the God of truth; to do his will is to be on the winning side, and to be assured of the time when he will bring out our righteousness as the light, and our judgment as the noonday.

May you enjoy the Lord’s rich blessings as you serve and worship him this weekend.

My gratitude goes to Burke Care for sponsoring the blog this week to invite you to schedule a session with their certified biblical counselors.
Today’s Kindle deals include some newer books and some older ones.
(Yesterday on the blog: My Top Books of 2022)
Was Jesus Really Born of a Virgin?
“For many people, the question of whether or not a virgin can give birth is in the same category as questions about whether or not pigs can fly or time can be reversed or the sun can be stopped from shining. But in each of these circumstances, we must remember that all it takes for these ‘supernatural’ events to be possible is for a ‘supernatural’ God to exist.” Guy Richard explains.
2023 Reading Challenge
Visual Theology has its annual reading challenge ready to go. (Click here for the poster.)
Annual Reading Challenge for Kids and Teens
And while we’re on the subject of reading challenges, Redeemer Reader also has theirs ready to go. It is designed for kids.
Silent Nights
“One December evening, while home alone eating dinner, I suddenly became aware of how quiet the house was. I hadn’t been by myself much for 25 years because I had four kids, a husband, and a dog to fill my home with noise and activity. But my kids were grown, my youngest was away at college, my husband was on a business trip, and our dog had recently passed away. And although I had experienced quiet moments before, this silence seemed different – louder and longer. It had a new quality I hadn’t sensed before – a permanence. It rattled me a little bit.”
The Church’s Ministries
If you’d like to do some good reading over the weekend, the new issue of the 9Marks Journal is available and it covers “The Church’s Ministries.”
Bell Curve of Life

This article reflects on those well-known words of Job: “Naked I was born from my mother’s womb and naked I will return.”

The longer you wait to confess, the more likely it becomes that you never will… Sin is a cancer—it must be rooted out as quickly as possible before it spreads. —Garrett Kell

May you enjoy the Lord’s rich blessings as you serve and worship him this weekend.

My gratitude goes to Burke Care for sponsoring the blog this week to invite you to schedule a session with their certified biblical counselors.
Today’s Kindle deals include some newer books and some older ones.
(Yesterday on the blog: My Top Books of 2022)
Was Jesus Really Born of a Virgin?
“For many people, the question of whether or not a virgin can give birth is in the same category as questions about whether or not pigs can fly or time can be reversed or the sun can be stopped from shining. But in each of these circumstances, we must remember that all it takes for these ‘supernatural’ events to be possible is for a ‘supernatural’ God to exist.” Guy Richard explains.
2023 Reading Challenge
Visual Theology has its annual reading challenge ready to go. (Click here for the poster.)
Annual Reading Challenge for Kids and Teens
And while we’re on the subject of reading challenges, Redeemer Reader also has theirs ready to go. It is designed for kids.
Silent Nights
“One December evening, while home alone eating dinner, I suddenly became aware of how quiet the house was. I hadn’t been by myself much for 25 years because I had four kids, a husband, and a dog to fill my home with noise and activity. But my kids were grown, my youngest was away at college, my husband was on a business trip, and our dog had recently passed away. And although I had experienced quiet moments before, this silence seemed different – louder and longer. It had a new quality I hadn’t sensed before – a permanence. It rattled me a little bit.”
The Church’s Ministries
If you’d like to do some good reading over the weekend, the new issue of the 9Marks Journal is available and it covers “The Church’s Ministries.”
Bell Curve of Life

This article reflects on those well-known words of Job: “Naked I was born from my mother’s womb and naked I will return.”

The longer you wait to confess, the more likely it becomes that you never will… Sin is a cancer—it must be rooted out as quickly as possible before it spreads. —Garrett Kell

May you enjoy the Lord’s rich blessings as you serve and worship him this weekend.

My gratitude goes to Burke Care for sponsoring the blog this week to invite you to schedule a session with their certified biblical counselors.
Today’s Kindle deals include some newer books and some older ones.
(Yesterday on the blog: My Top Books of 2022)
Was Jesus Really Born of a Virgin?
“For many people, the question of whether or not a virgin can give birth is in the same category as questions about whether or not pigs can fly or time can be reversed or the sun can be stopped from shining. But in each of these circumstances, we must remember that all it takes for these ‘supernatural’ events to be possible is for a ‘supernatural’ God to exist.” Guy Richard explains.
2023 Reading Challenge
Visual Theology has its annual reading challenge ready to go. (Click here for the poster.)
Annual Reading Challenge for Kids and Teens
And while we’re on the subject of reading challenges, Redeemer Reader also has theirs ready to go. It is designed for kids.
Silent Nights
“One December evening, while home alone eating dinner, I suddenly became aware of how quiet the house was. I hadn’t been by myself much for 25 years because I had four kids, a husband, and a dog to fill my home with noise and activity. But my kids were grown, my youngest was away at college, my husband was on a business trip, and our dog had recently passed away. And although I had experienced quiet moments before, this silence seemed different – louder and longer. It had a new quality I hadn’t sensed before – a permanence. It rattled me a little bit.”
The Church’s Ministries
If you’d like to do some good reading over the weekend, the new issue of the 9Marks Journal is available and it covers “The Church’s Ministries.”
Bell Curve of Life

This article reflects on those well-known words of Job: “Naked I was born from my mother’s womb and naked I will return.”

The longer you wait to confess, the more likely it becomes that you never will… Sin is a cancer—it must be rooted out as quickly as possible before it spreads. —Garrett Kell

As another year draws to a close, I wanted to take some time to consider the books I read in 2022 and to assemble a list of my top picks. Apart from the first book, which I consider the best I read this year, the rest are in no particular order. In each case I’ve included a brief excerpt from my review. (You can read all of my book reviews here.)

You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News by Kelly Kapic. You know as well as I do that you are a finite being. Yet you know as well as I do that at times you fight against your finitude, you battle against your inevitable limits and boundaries as if they are a problem to be overcome or even a sin to be repented of. Yet what if your limits are not a bug but a feature of your humanity? What if these limitations are God’s gift and, therefore, good and worthy of embrace? These are the questions Kapic considers in this book. The answers are rooted in Scripture and tremendously encouraging. Best of all, it frees us to be who and what God created us to be–people who are little, limited, finite, and deeply loved. (Buy it at Amazon or Westminster Books | read my review)
The Air We Breathe: How We All Came to Believe in Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality by Glen Scrivener. In the West today we are witnessing an attempt to “dechristianize” our society—to identify and destroy the influence of Christianity wherever it exists. The goal, of course, is to create a society that is post-Jesus and, therefore, post-Christian. Christian sexual morals are now said to be bigotry, Christian understandings of marriage and family are now said to be oppressive, Christian notions of justice are now said to be discriminatory. On and on it goes and over time this seek-and-destroy mission is transforming society around us. But there is a strange irony to all of this—an irony few people are willing to understand or acknowledge: the very tools people use to criticize Christianity are tools they owe to Christianity. This is the fascinating subject of Scrivener’s book. (Buy it at Amazon or Westminster Books | read my review)
The Men We Need: God’s Purpose for the Manly Man, the Avid Indoorsman, or Any Man Willing to Show Up by Brant Hansen. This is one of two books I read this year that deals with masculinity. And though I’m certain this has always been a crucial subject for Christian men, it must be particularly crucial right now when the society around us is both disparaging and seeking to overthrow all notions of masculinity. The Men We Need is not one of those books—those trite and cheesy books for men that focuses on a clichéd version of masculinity bound to a particular culture and a bygone century. Hansen isn’t advocating a form of masculinity that depends on swinging hammers, wrestling bears, or distributing swords. In fact, he says he’s not even capable of writing that book because “I don’t even hunt. I play the accordion. … I’m an avid indoorsman. I own puppets.” He advocates something far better, far purer, and far more biblical. (Buy it at Amazon | read my review)
Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution by Carl Trueman. Whatever else is true of the modern, Western world, this much is beyond dispute: It is not what it used to be. We have entered into a new world that is very different from the one that came before, a new world that in many ways feels so very strange. Many of us feel like immigrants who have inadvertently found ourselves in a new world and are learning to adapt to its new rules, its new norms, its new mores. Many of us are struggling to do so. Carl Trueman has studied the origins of these changes and written about them first in The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self and then in this more reader-friendly work. (Buy it at Amazon or Westminster Books | read my review)
Pure: Why the Bible’s Plan for Sexuality Isn’t Outdated, Irrelevant, or Oppressive by Dean Inserra. Do you remember the purity movement? Or perhaps it’s better to ask this: How could you possibly forget the purity movement? Though in many ways its aims were noble—sexual purity among teens and young adults—its methods were more than a little suspect and, in the long run, often even harmful. Dean Inserra witnessed this movement as an evangelical teen and this book is his analysis and response. It is a good and helpful book that insightfully analyzes the shortcomings of the purity movement and offers a much better, much more compelling, and much more biblically-grounded vision for singleness, dating, marriage, and sex. (Buy it at Amazon or Westminster Books | read my review)
Embracing Complementarianism: Turning Biblical Convictions into Positive Church Culture by Graham Beynon & Jane Tooher. My convictions of gender roles in church and family align with complementarianism—the view that God, while creating men and women equal in value and dignity, has ordained a kind of complementarity between them so that in the home and church men are to take a position of Christ-like leadership. But while I find the Bible leading me to complementarian convictions in a relatively straightforward way, what has been far more difficult is working out exactly what this looks like in real life. That’s the subject of this book, to promote a complentarianism that is faithful to God’s Word, that celebrates both the distinction and equality of the genders, and that frees both men and women to serve in all the ways God permits and invites them to. (Buy it at Amazon or Westminster Books | read my review)
The Manual: Getting Masculinity Right by Al Stewart. This is the second book on masculinity I read this year. It is well-documented that masculinity has fallen on hard times. In fact, when we hear it spoken of at all, it is most often with the word “toxic” preceding it. If not that, it is presenting a new form of masculinity that looks suspiciously like femininity. Society has many ways of disparaging masculinity but almost no good or healthy vision for it. Little wonder, then, that men are confused about what it means to be a man, to be manly, to be masculine. Into this void steps Stewart with his attempt to bring his self-described “crusty-old-bloke perspectives.” And, better, his drawn-from-the-Bible and good-old-fashioned-common-sense perspectives. It’s well worth a read. (Buy it at Amazon or Westminster Books | read my review)
Powerful Leaders?: When Church Leadership Goes Wrong And How to Prevent It by Marcus Honeysett. Over the past few years we have witnessed quite a number of leadership failures within the church. We have learned of pastors who have used their position to enrich themselves, to use their prominence to run roughshod over others, to use their prestige to feed their flesh. Some of these failures have been shocking, some almost expected. Some of these failures have been public, some very quiet. But each of them has, in its own way, been grievous and harmful. Each of them shows that, at times, leadership can go tragically wrong. Honeycutt’s book is about what happens when leadership goes wrong and how to prevent it. (Buy it at Amazon | read my review)
Retractions: Cultivating Humility After Humiliation by Pat Nemmers. We all have a few memories that cause us to cringe, memories of things we did or things we said that leave shame flooding our minds and little trickles of sweat running down our foreheads. Embarrassing things. Awkward things. Shameful things. Sinful things. Most of us do our best to push these memories away, to do all we can to get them out of our minds. But what if they can actually provide valuable lessons for our own lives and those of other people? Pat Nemmers’ book is meant to help us embrace these memories so we can allow them to grow in humility and serve others. (Buy it at Amazon | read my review)
Turnaround: The Remarkable Story of an Institutional Transformation and the 10 Essential Principles and Practices that Made It Happen by Jason Allen. For the past 10 years, since he was 35 years old, Allen has been the president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He took on the position at a time when the seminary was in grave peril—it was mired in controversy, burdened with debt, and financially upside-down. Its campus facilities were in a state of disrepair and its faculty undistinguished. Little wonder, then, that there was talk of closing it down. Today, though, MBTS is a thriving and world-class institution that is financially solvent, that has strong campus morale, that features some lovely new buildings, and that is the envy of many other seminaries. Under Allen’s leadership and through God’s kind providence it has experienced a significant turnaround—a turnaround that he uses to illustrate principles of Christian leadership. (Buy it at Amazon | read my review)

Grace and peace to you, my friends.

Logos has kicked off their annual 12 Days of Logos event and, as always, there are some good deals to be had.
Christian Word of the Year: Winsome
Stephen McAlpine considers a word that showed up a lot this year. “It’s everywhere you look at the moment. So please step forward ‘winsome’ and take a bow. You’ve been over-used, over-realised, under-appreciated, over-stated, undered and overed, and whatever else can happen to a poor old lonesome winsome word in these topsy turvy times.”
The Case for Taking Video Games Seriously
I think Patrick Miller makes a good case here. “Mainstream Christian discourse rarely moves past this single note. Critical engagement with games is largely absent in major Christian publications. Moreover, writing seriously about games is a credibility killer. While few look askance when a critic describes a Terrence Malick film as ‘cinematic wisdom literature,’ a serious video game review results in awkward looks.”
A Letter to My Old Self
Blake writes a letter to his old self—probably quite a helpful exercise.
20 Questions a Husband Should Ask His Wife About Their Kids
If you’re the kind who likes to consider things very deliberately and formally, this list of questions may appeal and generate some good discussion.
Having Biblical expectations of our work
“Many people have started to reassess their work this year; it has become known as the Great Resignation. After the impact of COVID led to many working from home, then part-time in an office, it has given people time to think. And, on reflection, many people discovered that they were dissatisfied with their work.” Simon reflects on this and says it reveals something important about our hearts.
Deus absconditus
“‘Silence is violence,’ we are told—to not speak on a particular issue is to perpetrate violence against those affected by it. If that is true, how then do we cope with the silence of God? In the midst of our pain and our struggle, is his silence an act of violence against his people?”
Flashback: Faith Children’s Village: A Ministry You Should Know
Faith Children’s Village in Kitwe, Zambia, exists to lead children into a relationship with Jesus Christ and disciple them to be Christ-like in actions and attitudes and to equip each child with life skills that will allow them to become productive Christian citizens.

We will generally find that when we cry out in distress, he doesn’t remove us from our suffering, but brings brothers and sisters from our church family into our troubles, to carry us when we’re too weak to stand up ourselves. —Richard Coekin