I have always felt Christians should be as accurate as they can be in everything they say. This applies whether you have three university degrees or whether you barely got out of high school. It’s not a matter of education, it’s a matter of truth.

Are you in trouble? The most important thing to know is that God has a plan. Our trials are not random events outside of his control. Where the enemy has attacked us and caused us harm and pain, we need to know how to work with God in it. What is he teaching us?

Not even the disciples understood what Jesus was saying when he talked about dying and rising on the third day. That’s why Calvary was such a bitter end to all their hopes.

Please tell me I’m not the only person this has happened to!

I was due to take a zoom call and the guy I was talking to had even reminded me a couple hours before. Then distraction hit. I was trying to finish my income tax return, got lost in the detail and missed the call. Thankfully he’s a merciful man and we’ll be able make up the call later.

“Blessed is the one who remains steadfast under trial.” I don’t know about you, but James is one of those letters that never stops making me feel uncomfortable.

Trial is a very strong word, often translated tribulation. In the Bible it almost always refers to the troubles of this present age, not to a mysterious (and in my opinion imaginary) future event. In the midst of trial, James further tells us, we are to “count it all joy.” Somehow we are supposed to find peace in the midst of trouble. I don’t like it, but the truth is that’s usually where we grow. Why? Because that’s where we find God and dig ourselves deeper into him. The grace of God comes to us as we call upon him in our distress