Recent Articles on Health and Welfare

We are creatures of many dimensions – physical, emotional, spiritual, and psychological, among others. While, for the most part, our parts work together pretty well, it is an unavoidable fact that we occasionally (or chronically) run down and meet difficulties maintaining normal function. How does resurrection power transform the way one approaches his or her wounds and afflictions, and how does Christian hope affect perseverance in the midst of abject personal suffering? The Christian believes that Christ has brought healing to his or her deepest, most fatal sickness – sin – by bearing the righteous wrath of God on the cross. How ought the Christian live in the age between the inauguration of the kingdom of heaven and its final consummation, when all imperfections and sickness will be wiped away?



The Christian Glutton

 Gluttony-square

I wonder if Jesus would count calories.

They say the Messiah of the world understands all our human sins. God became man, subjected himself to every fleshly temptation, felt the darkness that tugs in our moments of shame, knew what it meant to be born into waywardness. But he alone fought sin and won. He was perfect. He was holy. He was God in human form, divine mystery as that is, and He never stumbled or fell.

Hands and Feet

 francis-kissing-leper

The thought lingered in my mind: these legs should be amputated. And it wasn’t because I thought it would make his life better. It was because it would make things easier for us: the visiting nurses, the vascular surgeon, the doctors, myself. I wanted those amputations to make things easier for everyone. I wanted to sacrifice those legs to lessen the overall burden of suffering in this world.

Assurance amidst an Uncertain World

 

The quintessential American goal is the pursuit of happiness—a difficult and elusive objective, especially amid the current global, national, local and personal turmoil in which we find ourselves, but nonetheless, we continue the quest for bliss and joy, again, as individuals, communities, a country and a world. Now, consider an old saying: “Human life cannot avoid the pattern of birth, aging, sickness, and death.” Does this adage not ring painfully true today? Can we truly be happy while in bondage to such a terrible cycle?

Responding to a Mother’s Schizophrenia

 

My mother is schizophrenic…Year after year, day after day, she struggles, our family helpless as we watch her suffer. If God truly loves me, why doesn’t He heal my mother?

Love, Joy, and Horror

 

Why couldn’t I continue scrapbooking or using knives in the kitchen? Because I was afraid of hurting our 2-​​month old baby. Deliberately.