Comfort in suffering: presence over cliches
- What distinguishes wisdom from intelligence?
The hosts and guest push past the platitudes: Michael talks about being paralyzed four years ago without really grieving it, then being dumped in January by a woman he expected to marry — and realizing he'd built a false 'happy paralyzed guy' self on unrecognized pride. The room lands on wisdom vs intelligence: the same true words are wisdom inside a trusted relationship and pompous intelligence without one, and sometimes the right move is presence and silence rather than a verse.
More on Grief
-
Holy Spirit experience: healing, cessationism, and testing the spirits
- Is there a normative experience of the Holy Spirit in the world today?
The central hard question: is there a normative experience of the Holy Spirit in the world today, and what does it mean for a follower of Jesus?
From No. 593 · Do You Hear What I Hear
-
Dear LFTP 3: Mom's false teeth
- What should the family do with their late mother's false teeth?
Mike reads the letter: the family found their late mother's false teeth — creepy to keep, wrong to discard?
From No. 590 · Theodore Franco
-
Dear LFTP: should I attend my murdered niece's funeral?
- Should I attend my murdered niece's funeral after thirty years of family estrangement?
Mike reads a letter from a woman estranged from her brother's family for thirty years whose niece was murdered by her husband in a murder-suicide.
From No. 587 · Coffee After Sunday
-
Dear LFTP: AA member who witnessed a life-support withdrawal
- How do I come to terms with accidentally witnessing a fellow AA member's life-support withdrawal?
An AA member writes that while visiting a hospitalized fellow member with cookies, he arrived at the exact moment doctors withdrew life support and witnessed the family's raw grief; he now fears he intruded and caused harm.
From No. 568 · Like Jesus