This is my first blog. I was inspired by someone very close to me (my fiance, Lindsay) to start my own. I see her having way too much fun saying what she wants and calling people out for me not to join in. If you enjoy truth spoken brutally then you may want to follow Lindsay's blog (www.lindzmo.blogspot.com). Before I even start I would like to caution you. If you are expecting charm, eloquence, intellect, and/or humor in my writing I'm not sure that you will find it. What you will find is someone who has too short a temper with Christian leaders and teachers (I don't know them personally) and I tend to be fairly graceless towards them. I'm also very jaded by the Christian church, mostly the bible belt, and the Christian music industry. You will experience quite a bit of the hostility I have towards those two things from time to time. I promise to do all I can to keep unfair opinions to myself. If you get offended easily then I will apologize in advance. In those times I pray you see past my words to my heart.

I have been reading books on suffering the past week. I've also listened to sermons, lectures, and have spent a lot of time thinking about suffering and evil. I'm sure that all of this has been initiated by what natural disasters, mostly Haiti, we have seen lately. The American culture has also been unsettled (if that word is even strong enough) by the seemingly premature deaths of celebrities. Some of them weren't even premature, we were just shocked by them. All of this has caused me to wonder how the problem of evil gets worked out. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe this is just the way things are. My reading so far has consisted of these three books. "Evil and the Justice of God" by N.T. Wright and by C.S. Lewis "The Problem of Pain" and "A Grief Observed". I'm currently reading "How Long Oh Lord!" by D.A. Carson. In fact I started it just this evening. That will, I'm sure, be the majority of what comes out here.

In light of current events and the state of the world, I feel it necessary for those who are believers in Jesus, the savior of souls, to understand evil. Not that we will but we must try so that when, not if, we encounter evil and suffering our faith is not torn asunder though our lives may be. Being the Church of Christ, the chosen Israel, our hope lies in things we do not yet see or understand. Our mission on this earth though, while we are here, is to usher in a kingdom among the horrors we have ourselves caused and continue to cause.