He told me of a day he had awoken sick in his heart, sick in his soul. He didn’t know what to think, he didn’t know what to do, he didn’t know what to believe. After all those years of marriage, all those years of joy, all those years of living life together, his wife had gone to heaven and he had been left on earth. Though days and weeks had passed, still he was in the depths of despair.

He told how he had laid in bed for longer than usual that morning, remembering the years of her decline, the years in which illness had been an unwelcome but constant presence in their home. He thought of how weak she had become and how tired she had been—tired in body, tired in mind, tired in spirit. He thought of how, as she had approached heaven, she had gained an even deeper assessment of her own sinfulness, and an even deeper sorrow for it. The light of heaven, drawing closer in her mind, had given her such clarity. He thought of how often they had wept together—wept for what had been and for what would never be. He thought of her final day, her final words, her final breath.
Desperate to escape the turmoil of his thoughts, he got up, got dressed, and drove to a nearby park where he began to hike a familiar trail. He needed to be alone, but not alone—to be in nature where the heavens declare the glory of God and the mountains proclaim divine majesty. That trail led through deep woods and then up a long, slow incline. Little rocks skittered beneath his feet and great slabs of stone loomed to either side. Then, just before the trail began to loop back and return the way it came, it led to the cusp of a canyon cut like a deep gash across the landscape.
He told how for a time—it could have been moments and it could have been hours—he stood at the edge of the canyon, gazing into its depths, his mind still disquieted, his heart still downcast. And then, almost at a whim, he lifted his voice and shouted into the void, “Will you never be sick again?” And a moment later, first far in the distance and then closer and closer, the echo returned, resounding from rock to rock and crag to crag: “Never—sick—again!”
He shouted again, this time his voice just a little louder, “Will you never be tired again?” “Never—tired—again!” came the reply.
“Will you never weep again?” “Never—weep—again!”
“Will you never sin again?” “Never—sin—again!”
Mustering all the strength that remained, he shouted one more time, “Will you never die again?” And once more the echo returned from the canyon below: “Never—die—again.”
And as the echo faded for the final time, he was aware that the voice that had reached his ear was his own. But he was aware as well that the voice had spoken truth, that the voice had preached to his heart. For he knew that the echo of the canyon was the echo of heaven.

Inspired by the sermons of De Witt Talmage.

Happy Victoria Day to my fellow Canadians. I hope you enjoy your day off!

Today’s Kindle deals include a list of titles from Crossway.
(Yesterday on the blog: Vultures Are Always the First to Smell Carrion)
After Roe: What’s Our Job Now?
Here’s George Grant in Tabletalk: “Circumstances change. Laws, courts, and administrations come and go. Elections raise up and cast down the mighty. Popular opinion waxes and wanes. But through it all, the callings and responsibilities of Christians in this poor, fallen world remain the same.”
The Sermon That Divided America
It has been 100 years since Fosdick preached his most famous sermon. Obbie Tyler Todd gives the background on it here. “To say that Harry Emerson Fosdick’s sermon ‘Shall the Fundamentalists Win?’ (1922) ignited the fundamentalist-modernist controversy requires a bit of qualification. In truth, the lines had been drawn for at least a decade.”
Harry Emerson Fosdick and the Spirit of American Liberalism
Kevin DeYoung has a good article on it as well. It’s hard to overstate just how important a sermon it was. “On May 21, 1922, Harry Emerson Fosdick took to the pulpit of Old First—the historic First Presbyterian Church (est. 1716) located on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan—to deliver what would be his most famous sermon.”
A Letter to Special Needs Mothers
I expect someone out there could use this encouragement.
My Relationship Status with My Emotions? It’s Complicated.
“Recently I woke up in the night feeling terrible, like I had sinned in some great way. Over the course of my life I’m sure I’ve had this experience dozens of times, maybe hundreds. How do I make sense of that? Where did that emotion, that feeling come from?”
Died: Fred Carter, Little-Known Black Artist Behind Chick Tracts
CT has a fascinating obituary for Fred Carter, the artist behind many of the Chick tracts. “Carter—an African American artist who drew gospel tracts, evangelical comic books, and Black Sunday school curricula—died on May 9 at the age of 83. He was the close collaborator of Jack Chick, pioneer of the popular evangelistic cartoons known as Chick Tracts. According to Christian Comics International, more than half of Chick Tracts were drawn by Carter.”
Flashback: Embrace Your Purpose
God saves you to sanctify you, to restore you to the life he intended for you before you gave yourself to sin.

No one who murmurs under God’s chastening hand, is ever made better by it. —J.R. Miller

The Lord be with you and bless you today.

The Pilgrim’s Progress
Derek Thomas has written a brief guide to Pilgrim’s Progress. “Many, like C.H. Spurgeon, may boast of having read Pilgrim’s Progress many times, but what might a first-time reader expect?”
Consider Yourself Dead to Sin
“We have already given too much of our lives doing things godless people do. It is time we consider ourselves dead to sin (Romans 6:11).” Doug considers how and why.
Counting Down
“All the rumors are true: time speeds up. I still feel like I used to feel thirty years ago. I don’t know where the time went. I hang around people a generation below me and I think I’m the same age as them, although they never make the same mistake with me.”
20 Jazz Masterpieces You Should Hear
If you’re new to jazz (or still trying to appreciate it, as I am) you may benefit from this introduction by William Edgar.
What Questions Do You Have about Your Faith?
Lauren Whitman considers the kinds of questions we may have about our faith.
Even the Darkness
Meredith Beatty: “It doesn’t matter how you find your way into darkness. You may be suffering with chronic pain. You may have succumbed to the same sin over and over and now realize you’ve backed yourself into a dark corner with no conceivable way out. You may just be under a heavy cloud of despair, unsure where it’s come from. Whatever it is, wherever it’s come from, you can take courage that God sees your situation from a different perspective.”
Flashback: A Few Humble Suggestions for Reformed Worship Services
I want to offer a few humble suggestions to pastors or others involved in planning services that may serve to add an element of freshness to a service, but without adding elements that are desperate, distracting, or flat-out ridiculous.

The world has always measured greatness by the standard a person receives, not by what he gives. But Jesus radically reverses our fallen logic. —Matt Smethurst