THE CHALLENGE OF PAIN:  "In all stages of life, prenatal to death, we experience pain. Discomfort from any traumatic encounter may occur daily, occasionally, or even continuously for some of us. There are times when we may think, I have had my share of suffering why more. . .I have come to accept pain as a challenge. . ." (Chapter Eleven)

PAIN IS UNIVERSAL: “I went to the Rwandan refugee camps. . . a place without hope . . . I met . . .this woman . . . crying and pleading with people to find her family, (she) had collected around her eight little orphans . . . (she) looked like a mother hen with a whole bunch of chicks . . . Then I saw a little boy, about twelve years old. I bent down and looked in his face. I don't think he even saw me. His body was there, but his mind was withdrawn into a protective shell. They said he had seen his parents hacked to pieces in front of his eyes. Not just killed, but when their bodies were on the ground they were cut to pieces . . . ” (Chapter One)

DEATH — A HORRIBLE PAIN: “Brad (my son) is dead . . . The day of the funeral was beautiful . . . As we came out of the small chapel . . . I saw four small airplanes coming from a distance, and they flew directly overhead . . . one of the small planes dipped its wings, broke formation and flew off in another direction. . . all alone. . .” (Chapter Eight)

HELP DURING DEATH: Friends, neighbors and churches help by their thoughtful deeds at this stressful time of sorrow; however, it took a little boy to really help during death for one family:

“. . . “This thoughtful little boy wrote to Santa. . . (It) was printed in the local newspaper. . . He wanted to buy a doll (for his friend, “Joy”, who was in a car accident and lost her mother. . . his family could not afford . . . he got a letter . . . cash was enclosed for the exact cost of the doll he wanted to buy for ‘Joy.’ This precious boy was only one of many generous people who touched our hearts. . .” (Chapter Eight)

HEAVEN IS A REAL PLACE: After a friend's daughter was killed in an accident, ‘Mary’ wrote:

“. . . “Several years before ‘Betty’ died, she called me wanting to know how she could be sure she was a Christian. I told her . . . the plan of salvation . . . to ask Jesus to forgive her of her sins, to believe that God raised Him from the dead and she would be saved, and for her to read this in Romans 10:9-10. What a blessed, comforting and joyful truth to know that someday I will be with her in heaven!. . .” (Chapter Eight)

PETS HELP PEOPLE: It is a well known medical fact that pets help people, and that pets are a great therapeutic agent. They also give help during death in their loving, comforting ways.

“. . . “I was privileged to see a person‘s life transformed through the love of my poodles. Her grief after the loss and shock of her husband's suicide was so great she was institutionalized . . . On her visits home . . . spending time with them, (my poodles) she was able to overcome the shock of her grief and be discharged from the institution 
. . .” (Chapter Fourteen)

LOVE ENDURES PAIN: “. . . occasionally when there was reference to Alzheimer's on TV, she would muse aloud, ‘I wonder if I'll ever have that?’ It did not seem painful for her, but it was a slow dying for me to watch the vibrant, creative, articulate person I knew and loved, gradually dimming out . . . ” (Chapter Two)

SPIRITUAL SEARCH is born within the soul of every human being because our Creator made man in His own image (Genesis 1:27) As St. Augustine of Hippo said: “Our hearts were made for you, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in you.” (Chapter Three)

“. . . “That inner turmoil and longing desire to worship a supreme being has found people worshipping the sun, hand-carved idols, animals, or whatever their ancestors worshipped . . . ” (Chapter Ten)

Therefore, we have a longing desire to worship the Supreme Being, and that real peace and real joy is only found in the Almighty One.

A mother somewhere in Asia wrote about her spiritual search for wisdom and help:

“. . . “My two youngest daughters were my pride and joy. They were responsible, truthful, and received excellent grades in school . . . one fact bothered me. One of the girls attracted undesirable boys . . . He became abusive, and he dragged her across a soccer field! . . . The girls went to college. I remember inadvertently seeing my daughter's phone bill. It was $360 for one month, and we were scrimping to send her to college! . . . I tried to be patient . . . She finally admitted that some aspects of her relationship with the boyfriend did not reflect obedience.

“. . . “She decided to send him a ‘talking cassette,’ telling him her feelings. His cassette response, ‘Glad to hear you want to break up. I was wanting to break up anyway.’ She was devastated . . .

“. . .““Then the long slow process of healing began. She had been on prescription drugs for suicidal impulses and now asked to be slowly taken off. She experienced new peace . . . went back to the Christian college and graduated with a master of arts in missions . . . My greatest pain became a spiritual triumph!” (Chapter Three)
   

SPIRITUAL CROSSROADS: often in the spiritual arena, we come to spiritual crossroads. This arena refers specifically to a group of people who gather to worship; their desire is to satisfy the inborn hunger and thirst of a restless spirit. Spiritual pain can be devastating.

A man met these spiritual crossroads and wrote his story for my book:

“. . . "The most crucial pain that I have ever felt was inflicted on me by God's people. . . I was raised in a Christian home . . . My parents had me in church every Sunday . . . (Later in his life) Trying to prove my manhood, I started using pornographic materials . . . caused me to live a life of Jekyll and Hyde . . . the nagging history of my life kept me from being close to my wife and children. I tried to fill that gap with alcohol and pornography . . . the small Baptist church that we attended called a new pastor. This man was young and full of energy . . . I sang in the choir, helped ‘pack a pew’ and even sat in the second row after the church choir sang . . .

“. . . “I was elected deacon in the church. This proved to be one of the toughest things that I had faced . . . Being a deacon exposed me to a lot of things that were not seen by most members of the church . . . For the most part, the church was led by three or four old church families . . . My wife came home day after day crying . . . They (some of the church people) said things to make her life as miserable as possible . . . Both our children were shunned by their previous friends . . . My family received council from several pastors . . . We found a loving and growing church nearby and open love that allowed the Spirit of God to minister to me and my family in a very real and personal way . . .” (Chapter Ten)

We all come to spiritual crossroads. When we focus our lives upon God, His love will flood our lives and flow into the lives of others. We are the church and act as representatives of that church. Remember the saying. “You may be the only Bible that some people I'll ever read.”

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