PAIN SUFFERING AND DANGER

As Christians of all kinds, how do we deal with issues of believing in God, despite going through staggering pain, suffering, and disability?  Guided by his own experiences of the way in which pain and suffering can become disability, Baker-Fletcher writes from the position of one grounded in his actual crippling experiences of agony. Sometimes we must learn to live with pain and suffering. To help us to reflect on our own disabling experiences he includes a section of theological reflection technically called a theodicy, however even that is in the service of helping Christians to live out lives of action and engagement. Some theological reflections try to give us answers to explain our pain, but many are just plain dangerous. Actually, we must face the difficult choice of exuding Gods love to everyone, or merely wasting away. We can choose to work toward fulfilling our destiny as called to minister to all kinds of people, or not. We choose not to let overcoming obstacles to overcome us because we cannot help but to be living witnesses of Gods healing love for everyone.  Garth Kasimu Baker-Fletcher is a Harvard Divinity School educated writer, teacher, preacher, and Gospel singer. He has written six previous books on issues as different as dealing with