Meeting grief without fixing it: the delayed-trip story
A host tells a story about his family running late for the kids' commitments, being detoured two hours, and learning later that the delay kept them out of the path of tornadoes. He uses it to show how 'why did this happen' questions need empathy before explanation: fallen world, a God we don't fully understand but trust — those are true answers, but they don't meet someone standing in the middle of something terrible. The point: God weeps in that situation too, so mourn with people before defending Him.
More on Grief
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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
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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
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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
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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