Jesus saves us from anonymity...

Zach Force...when you think the name, you think a lot of things?

He is a T-High grad, a great drummer, a good son, Eagle Scout, intern, friend...he hates musicals, has both ears pierced and desperately wants a Tatoo. I might have made that last one up...not sure.

But where does he find his identity?

Zach taught youth group tonight. It was good to have him back at CPCC for a night. He taught on Matthew 4, and Jesus calling the disciples. He showed how Jesus gives us and identity that saves us from being no one. It was really good. He connected well to the students and challenged them to get involved in ministry now, a point that I haven't impressed on the high schoolers like I have the jr. highers. Identity is the biggest problem that teens face. Who are they...where do they fit in? These are questions that haunt every aspect of their lives. Zach showed them where to look and who to go to in order to receive your identity! He did an excellent job.

A couple things were evident tonight:

1. Zach is a great teacher and a great guy...NCC should feel very lucky.

2. Sometimes the things you most dread turn out to be the best times. Both times I arrived at the church today, I spent 30 minutes working up the courage to come into the building. Part of the difficulty with working in a church, is when you begin to dread your workplace, where do you go. You can't avoid church. Each time that I forced myself in here, I became refreshed. These kids really make it fun to do my job.


The youth band started off the night with their rendition of "Take it all" a song done by Hillsong. It went well...they have really grown together as a group. It is a blessing not to have to lead worship...since I lack the ability and know how. The kids have also expressed the blessing of not having to hear me sing.

Side note:

Played some home run derby on Monday with some high school kids. I pitched a while, now my arm feels like its gonna fall off. Tyler Ward hit 12 out...I think his girlfriend beat him though.

Why can't I grow up? Do I want to?

My 9 months at Central Park, have been hands-off easy. No major problems to speak of.

It is a frightening realization to know that you are in over your head. Situations arise where there is nothing to say. Sitting in a hospital room, around a family that has given you support and care for the last 9 months, watching them suffer and grieve...what can you possibly say?

I have read the books on suffering: The Problem of Pain, Where is God when it hurts?, Disappointment with God. Gotta be honest: the books mean nothing in that room. A couple of the girls were crying...once a girl starts crying, I become worthless. I had nothing to say.

I felt like I froze. I don't know what I would have said. I don't know what I could have said.

One of my goals for this blog was to inform parents about the youth ministry; the other was to allow a place for other youth workers learn, comment, and grow, based on my own downfalls. I wanted a place like this during college, where I could read the exploits of other youth pastors, and see the ins and outs of youth ministry. I found myself in that place where advice would have come in handy.

Its times like these that I envy Jesus. He always seemed to know what to say. When hurting people came to him, he never had to call for a line. Paul advises us in Romans to "mourn with those who mourn." I wonder if he ever froze in his own ministry. Job's friends set with him in an ash heap for a week without saying anything.

Concerning the emotions involved in the last 24 hours, I don't know what the appropriate response was. I think the way of Job's friends is a good way to go...plus it doesn't get you in much trouble.

I walked back to my car with a couple people. My nature came out and stupidity flowed forth. The lack of serious response flowed from within me. At what point in time are emotions easy to show? Sometime I will grow enough to face emotions without sarcasm, a reason that I gave one of my girls as to why a guy she knew wasn't showing much emotion.

HUH?

The Gospel with working gloves

At 7.00 a.m. on Saturday morning, Aaron Jones and his family led some of the guys in the youth group to Chapman, Kansas, site of the Kansas Auto Racing Museum and the path of an F4 tornado. About a week and a half ago, the town of Chapman was hit with a large tornado at around 10.00 at night.

Destruction was everywhere. If you look at this picture of the Chapman Elementary School, the missing wall in the middle top is the two second grade class rooms. From the looks of it, the tornado took a swath down the middle of the north side of the town. A lot of the new construction on the far north side of town was untouched. The older part of the town, north of the main business district (and I use the term "business district" very lightly). In the midst of town, the Salvation Army and the local churches set up feeding stations. The Methodist Church from Chapman fed us cheddar brats, and the Salvation army fed us Chicken ala King.

Our job consisted mostly of sorting through piles of rubble. We seperated construction materials from vegitation, and metal from housing debris. It was a mess. There were a few trees left standing, but they had no branches on them. Throughout the day we spent most of our time on two great big piles of rubble. We also hauled a lot of the piles to the road for FEMA to pick up later.

At one point in time in the morning, the guys found a Bible in one of the piles. It was completely untouched.

I don't think any of us shared the gospel with any one...we didn't preach the word, or hand out pamphlets; however, the gospel did put on working gloves that day. It was hard and tiring work, but the kingdom was furthered.

The guys did a great job.

Thanks Aaron for organizing it, and to the Hildebrandts for allowing us to use their van.

The Issues facing our kids...

It is utterly amazing the lengths that some will go to in order to be loved. Undoubtedly by now you have heard about the pregnancy outbreak amongst the teenage girls at Gloucester High School in Massachusetts (article here). The outcries have taken the expected routes: "Media has glorified teenage motherhood via the Spears girl"; "Birth control needs to be more accessible"; "the sex ed classes weren't taught well enough"; "there needs to be a closer womens health facility(the nearest one is 20 miles away)."

The school authorities want to take a biological solution, offering contraceptives to students without parental consent. The parents want to hand out more knowledge. The girls want attention; and former students/now mothers want programs.

What do they need?

One girl named Ireland who is now 18 offered this explanation to explain the pregnancies: "They're excited to finally have someone love them unconditionally." Meaning their babies will love them, trust them, and depend on them. The unconditional love and acceptance of another human is what they crave...and they like much of society, have considered love to be a drastic measure that only surrounds dire circumstances. When love is not found, it is sought elsewhere, in this case through babies.

The lengths that some will go to in order to find love.

Sometimes we hear the problems our kids are facing and quietly relive the simplistic days of our own youth. The next time you sit and listen to your kids, quietly imagine the pressure and problems that they currently face.

Listen more, talk less.

Isolation and Ice Cream

Ian left youth group tonight 75 cents richer, and all of us left with a little less appreciation of the intelligence that he claims to posses. We had ice cream for snack. Mrs. Keen provided ice cream and cones for all the students. Whitney dripped some onto the front patio of the Church. Jason posed a quarter to anyone who would take a lick of it. Ian was the only taker (as he usually is with most of our dares). How did he get 75 cents you ask; the camera wasn't ready on the first two licks. The third lick provided the photo opportunity that we so desired. Three licks, at a quarter apiece, you do the math.

Since it would be negligent and irresponsible of me to allow the kids to eat ice cream all youth group, we had a short lesson on Isolation. Jesus saves us from isolation by placing us in this community of faith where we are all useful and all cared for. Looking at Acts 4 it says that there was no needy people among them. The church cares for each other, emotionally, relationally, and economically.

The lesson went all right...the games too. we played chicken ball. The girls scored a 6 point goal to win it. The boys were mad. The fact there was no 6 point goal prior to that point is irrelevant. Oh well.

Highlights of the night:

Ian's escapade.

I got to play in the youth band...good times.

Ice cream was good.

Jayme's Goodbye

"When you look at a plate of ham and eggs, you think sure the chicken was involved, but the pig was committed." -- unknown

Jayme is didn't want to be an egg, so he became the ham. Alright, the metaphor breaks down there (I assure that the choosing of animals in this metaphor was purely coincidental and was not a shot at Jayme's profession). Jayme took off today. After the impromptu press conference (story here http://www.ktka.com/news/2008/jun/16/officer_rides_nephew/) and a shaky embrace with his wife, he rode into the sunset. He left the Police Station this morning at 11.15 a.m. He was followed by Toby (his brother) in his Ride Support Truck. Here are some of the pictures I took. He does a good job of updating his blog (www.rideforgranton.blogspot.com) so be sure to check that out. You can order this shirt on there and send donations as well.

If you don't know Jayme, he is a bike patrolman with the Topeka Police Department. His nephew has some health issues. So Jayme is riding his bike to Bolivar, Missouri in order to raise money to help with medical expenses.

Just in case you think he is just a soft heart, I assure that his soft heart is surrounded by a lot of big muscles...I saw him tackle a guy once.

Pedal fast Jayme.

Rodeo and Religion...

It has been a long and busy day.

I found myself with a predicament this morning. When I was in college, I was an active attender of Risen Ranch Cowboy Church in Carthage, Missouri. I started goin' cause Lucas Littles told me too, but once I got there it was a good time. While I was there I was able to meet a lot of good guys, that really shaped who I am now. One guy, Johnny Clem, really took time out to talk to me and discuss stuff. The guy trains horses for a living, but has one of the clearest outlooks on ministry that I have ever heard. This morning, as part of the State High School Finals Rodeo, they brought in a singer from Dallas. She was awesome. She sang and spoke from horseback. As she sang her last song, "I pledge of Allegiance to the Lamb", the great Ray Boltz song, she stood up on top of her saddle. It was great to see all the competitors there and their families. There were probably 200 cowboys there...then our 8 kids. I (and Tricia) took our Sunday school classes to Cowboy Church for Sunday school. I think that was the closest many of them had ever been to a horse.

After returning to Central Park, I headed back to the State Finals. This time I had a tag-along. Trey went with me. He had never been to a rodeo. He had three high points: 1) the bull riding 2) getting to talk to the state Runner up Team Roper: Ryan Domer...he was pretty impressed to be standing that close to a guy who was actually competing, 3) his rainbow snow cone that he got in the middle of the goat tying. Good stuff. I think he had a good time.

As for youth group...I led worship. Three songs, half heartedly sung well off key. Nuff said. Afterward we talked about how Jesus saves us from Isolation. We looked a David's isolation in Psalm 8 and 142. They took notes on the feelings that David expressed in these Psalms as I read them out loud. Now they have homework. Psalms has some really cool names for God. "Rescuer" "Provider" "Refuge" They are to find a verse that describes God that goes along with all the feelings they wrote down. We'll see.

We headed to Sonic to play some volleyball...the court was rained out. So we went to Target. Each pair of students was challenged to buy the weirdest thing they could find under 3 dollars. I stood at the front with my Church credit card as teams came up with their weird gifts: ties; medicines; band aides; microphones; baby food. It was interesting.

It was a good night. I was pretty happy with how it went, even though I spent the whole day/weekend at the Rodeo.

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

CSI: Miami might be the worst TV show of all time. Does that guy ever say anything like it isn't earth shattering news.

Jayme Green starts his bike ride tomorrow: Pedal fast Jayme.

I really wished I was able to fight this weekend...

High School Rodeo

To the untrained eye, I took the day off. But to those who understand the intricacies of youth ministry, I worked my tail off. Honestly, my work output for the day fell somewhere between these two extremes.

I went to the State High School Finals Rodeo today. They had a show at 12.30 and one at 7.00. The first one was highlighted by Colin and Ryan Domer (two Seaman guys) finishing first in the team roping. I don't know either guy very well, but they seem like quality people. Ramsey, Ireland, and CJ went with me.

FUNNY IRELAND COMMENTS OF THE DAY:
-"I guess I really don't need a horse, I'll just take a cowboy instead." She planned out her life during the slow parts of the rodeo, bringing me more comic material than I will ever really know what to do with.
-"How do I become a Rodeo Queen...do I have to be able to ride a horse?"

The 7.00 p.m. show was a good one too. I took Gage. It was his first rodeo. I don't really know if he liked it, but I had a good time.

I was kind of disappointed I didn't get to fight. I really would like to fight at some of these high school events. I learned in Joplin how big of an out reach that is. I took my stuff hoping someone wouldn't show...my stuff slept in the car all day though. O Well.

I'm taking my Sunday School class to Cowboy Church on Sunday though. That should be awesome.

Boredom with ADD

"It is amazing how God uses our mistakes and our decisions to bring us to where we are now."

Jayme Green told me this during our lunch today at Jersey Mikes. We had a pretty good lunch. He told me the story of how he and Meagan met, we talked about his upcoming bike ride to raise funds for his nephew Granton, and we discussed church relations prior to the Franco-Prussian War. We didn't discuss the third one, but the other two are completely legit. If I had lunch with Matt Bevens the third one would have made an appearance. 2 things became evident about Jayme from this meeting: 1) He is a popular guy, one of Jersey Mikes favorite customer 2) the guy has some wisdom.

Tonight's lesson was on boredom again. Once again we started by discussing our most boring experience and the things we do to discontinue the monotony. Then we played my favorite boredom stopping game: the dot game. Boys vs. Girls. Once again the guys were outdone, by a smarter, more gifted, group of girls. It was an inevitable outcome. The game was really decided well before it began.

My lesson was a lot of open ended questions, which were misidentified by the students as rhetorical. Needless to say, the main point was that Jesus doesn't want us to be bored in our faith. Something felt amiss. Call it lack of logical thinking, call it misapplied time: what ever it was our lesson gave the kids a new boring experience. That is probably melodramatic.

Highlights from the lesson:

Girls won the game.

Ian Keen made up a new word.

Aaron Jones, Jason Hildebrandt, Stacy Rexer, and Tricia Martens make this youth group a worthwhile experience even for me.

No one was hurt in our after party in the parking lot. The Trashcan game, football, and dodge ball were unhindered by injury.

Cool thing: Gage Casey is almost done with Pilgrims Progress, a book that I had trouble getting through as a college freshman.

Last Cool thing: High School State Finals Rodeo is here this week...a possible trip to Cowboy Church for Sunday school is in the future

"Our failures are known, our successes are not"

Al Pacino said it best when he was addressing a new class of CIA recruits: "Our failures are known, our successes are not." He may as well be addressing the Church. For every psychopath out there holding a sign proclaiming God's hatred for people; there is ten more who are leading a crafts table at a small VBS. Which one will get their picture in the paper? For every pastor that is caught in scandal; there are ten more that are little league coaches or volunteering at a community center. Which will get the news paper write up?

I guess you could chalk it up to a society that is looking for dirt. We want the negative. We would much rather hear stories about the inevitability of a gas price hike, a scandal in a public office, or just another homicide. Society grasps hold with white knuckle grip to the reality that our hopeless conditions are only worsening. So society is not really to blame, because we look for the negative in all conditions. The purpose of this writing is not to place blame; but to give you a glimpse of the depth to which our failures go.

I saw how deep it goes tonight. I have seen it for a number of years now.

Growing up I attended a church here in North Topeka. I had been attending for about 6 years when I left for college. During my freshman year at Ozark, I received a letter describing a situation concerning my home church. Seems that there had been some misunderstandings amongst some of the leadership and some of the congregation. Without going into details, some were asked to leave the Church. It was pretty rough on me. Suddenly, my graduating class was split in half. Some left, some stayed. From then on, my relationship with a lot of the church was lost. Some of my best friends and I were divided along the lines that none of us were involved in making. Luckily, since then I have been able to reconstruct many of those relationships, some are still very distant.

I spent many hours discussing the whole situation with a couple men that I really admire: Mark Moore; Phil Maddux; and Jon Kehrer. In C.S. Lewis' classic book, the Screwtape Letters, Wormwood advises his nephew that the Church can be a very good hindrance to accepting of the faith. I would not go that far in this situation, but the Church could be taken to that extreme.

Recently there has been a death of a family friend. I was over talking to the family tonight. The conversation turned to this situation. The family in the midst of grieving, spoke of this situation. Friends still mention it. My family still attends the church, but there has been a questioning in their minds still 5 1/2 years later. Our CPCC basketball camp brought back a couple guys from the church and reunited them, which lead the conversation back to it.

The greatest problem comes in the reputation amongst the community. Some in the community have expressed concern to me. "Are you from that church that kicks people out?" People who have never graced the presence of a pew, have heard more about this church than anything that goes on inside one. Some have heard more about the outfall of this situation, than have heard about gospel.

Our failures are known, our successes are not.

Boredom...thy name is Christianity?

How can the mundane become majestic?

Our summer series kicked off tonight. The overall theme sounds like it was stolen from a children's VBS; but it holds the summer together. Jesus: The Guardian.

There are so many things that Jesus saves us from...we will look at a couple things that his work of protection takes care of. Things like worry; isolation; boredom; doubt; and sin. Later on this summer Aaron Jones will teach us how Jesus saves us from worry, and Travis McKinley will teach us how Jesus saves us from ourselves.

We started the night by sharing the most boring times of our lives, and the best way we found to deal with that boredom. Our absentee member, Aleesha, posted a list that were some of her favorite ways to deal with it (you can see that here).

Tonight's lesson was on Jesus saving us from boredom. As Christians, there are times when our life reaches that point where it is meaningless ritual and common place habit. Church on Sunday, the 2 minute prayer before bed, the occasional chapter read: these are the things that makes up a life of faith.

I can't help but envy the life of the apostles. Miraculous things seemed to be a common place. Jesus hawking a loogie in a guys face in John 9, Paul's handkerchiefs healing people in Acts 19, Peter walking on water in Matthew 14; these are news worthy events that happened to the followers of Jesus, and made up their church bulletins and filled their doughnut talk time. How the mundane became majestic. What fills our time now? What makes news these days in the life of church goers?

Lack of parking spaces, luke warm coffee, catching up on the week. What has happened? I'm convinced that if we are bored, it is because we have not allowed ourselves to see whats happening. I challenged the students who felt bored in their faith to look at two things: Creation and others. Looking at creation will remind us of the power that God has and the majesty that he has. The second thing to look at is the lives around you. It is amazing to hear how God has worked and is working in those around. I am reminded of Phil and Elizabeth who are in North Africa as missionaries and the stories they tell. I recall my conversations with Dee Bowden these last couple weeks, and how God is working in a man that is already so close to him. I hear stories from our students at Jr. High Camp and how God is doing things in their life. In hearing these things I think back to the oral traditions of Israel and the campfire talks that Moses must have had about God's working, and I feel close to the life that I envy.

After youth group, we went to my house and watched "Enchanted." Most of you know of my infatuation with Carrie Underwood. Her song in that movie inspires me. In her music video she is actually animated as a Disney princess, thus combining two of my favorite things. Most of the guys played a nasty game of ultimate Frisbee in the mud hole that is my front yard. We came back filthy, but it was a great game.

Day Camp and Carrie Underwood

I've spent the last week trying to make up for the last couple. Jr. High camp kind of took it out of me. This week has kind of been a make up week for me. I did get the opportunity to do some really cool stuff this week. A1C camp would probably top that list. I wasn't really invited; I followed the food. My eyes were opened to the rigors of diabetes. I was seeing kids as young as six, poke themselves in the finger 5 times during the afternoon to check their blood sugars. Some kids there had had the disease since they were two. To see kids eating healthy during snack time, and watching them check the carbs in each of their snack items was something that I had never seen. Most of the kids were very concerned with my own diet. Pushy kids.

I was also blessed to get to hang out with some really cool people this week. Trish Greer ran the camp and did a great job. Trisha Martens also helped. Pam did a lot of the food stuff. I also met a Washburn nursing student named Jessica, who had an uncanny resemblance to Carrie Underwood. It was really tough to see camp end. Seriously, really tough.

Some Random thoughts...

I just got done watching "the Cowboys" a great John Wayne film. I cant help but think I was born 150 years too late.

I had a milk shake today. It was chocolate; however, there were little pockets of resistance that tasted like strawberry and vanilla. It was really annoying.

Day 5 at the Maddock household, still I can't seem to force my self to bring more than one day of clothes over at a time.

Before the stoics of our day...

Fresh off of our week of Jr. High Camp, our jr. high group got together again...this time under less stressful, and better rested circumstances. The night started out with a video that has become a craze to our youth group. At Jr. High Camp, Cody Waterman sang his praises about this video that has not only changed the spiritual depth of our meetings, but our view of vegetables as well. If you get a chance, click here to see the video. It really gives you the opportunity to think through a lot of different things. It certainly makes you think about proper nutrition, and the way you treat your friends.

The youth band led worship tonight. If you are unfamiliar with CPCC youth group, you should know that our youth services are led in worship by our youth band, that is made up, entirely, of high schoolers and jr. highers. Tonight Dillon sang and was backed up by Elena and Eric. Dillon also played acoustic guitar, along with Jake on electric, Trevor on drums. Cory was forced to play bass, because Aleesha decided not to be a team player and took off to Alaska (tear). They played well tonight. Dillon does a great job leading, for only his third or fourth time.

Tonight's lesson was on influencing your friends. We talked about this the last night of camp, but I wanted to rehash it for all of them. In Acts 17, Paul gives us a glimpse of how to share the gospel with unbelievers. The first thing I wanted them to understand, was Paul going to where the people are. We talked last Thursday about how this society is the most interconnected society in the world, but we are the most isolated. We can find ourselves hiding behind so many things, keeping our self so busy, that we never get out to meet anyone. This is something that I struggle with. I spend 98% of my time around church people. Some of our kids have that same problem. Paul went where people were and shared the gospel there,

The second thing Paul's speech in Athens shows us is an affinity to allow the gospel to spill out of daily life. Paul is walking around Athens only to find statues to unknown gods. He simply shows them this unknown god is the God that he knows. His method seems much like Jesus' in the gospels. His teaching was prompted much by what was going on around him. Paul grabs their attention and then cuts the gospel loose. He doesn't sugar coat it or beat it to death. He says what he has to say and then moves on. One thing that often frightens us is the fear that a question would arise that we do not know the answer too. I told them it was OK not to know all the answers. That really didn't seem to assuage their fears.

Finally, the speech before the Aeropagus in Acts 17 shows us event he best planned testimonies and presentations will have those walk away in anger. Some did come to Christ. Some did not. How we deal with those downfalls is critical. We have to understand that it is not our fault. Some will not understand, some will not listen. I finished with the parable of the Sower. Our attempts will end with the same results. Some will come to fruition, others will not.

After the lesson we played some killer dodge ball. For Beetlejuice's size, she is a heck of a dodge ball player. We also ate some ice cream sandwiches. I love summer time youth groups. Ice cream, hanging out side, trips to the pool, and kids to hang out with during the day.

After a week and a half of not partaking of one of the most glorious things known to man...one of the most painful fasts that I have ever been on was broke. I ate Taco Bell for the first time in almost 2 weeks. There were some mixed emotions and some tears were shed. But it was the best tasting Taco Bell ever.

What would Dr. House say to Job?

Dr. Greg House prides himself on being one of the best diagnosticians alive (FOX Mondays at 8 ct). He considers himself a great doctor, who has never had a case he can’t solve (although 3 people have died on his watch). What would happen if a self proclaimed atheist comes into contact with a broken man.

Dr. House always writes the symptoms on his white board (which always places room for a race joke with Foreman). So let’s go to the board.

Symptoms

Painful sores from head to toe (2.7; 7.5)

Disfigurement (2.12)

Afflicted by bad dreams and terrifying visions (7.13-14)

Deep rings around eyes (16.16)

Eyes were dim; weakness; skin and bones; no teeth (17.7; 19.20)

Bad breath (19.17)

Gnawing pain (30.17)

Skin peeling; turning black (30.28, 30a)

Fever (30.30b)

Job is in pretty bad shape: boils so bad that he scrapes himself with broken pottery (2.8), his best friends couldn’t even recognize him (2.12), and people spit at him and are appalled at his presence (17.6-8). This is a beaten and dejected man, who finds himself at the end of his rope. On top of all this he has a nagging wife (not really a symptom but still worth mentioning, see 2.9). All of these symptoms are because of Satan’s second visit to God in chapter 2.

What exactly are we looking at…obviously his body is shutting down. His body is dying. His skin is peeling and turning black. Blood flow is being shut down to his extremities. This causes extreme pain, which could even point toward a leprous condition which seems to be indicated by his living amongst the ashes. His dwelling alone in a nasty place could be because of his condition.

The symptom of bad breath could be anything from Job forgetting to brush his teeth to a symptom presenting because of a larger problem. Should his gnawing pain happen in his abdomen, it would be simple to assume that his bad breath is simply the effect of his abdomen dying. Literally speaking, he is rotting on the inside.

If we really wanted to combine a couple more symptoms: we could look at the deep rings around his eyes because of the lack of sleep that he is getting. He says that he is terrified at night by visions and dreams: could be night terrors. This also explains the weak eyes and the overall weakness that he distributes. Night terrors take place in stage 4 of sleep (the phase of sleep just prior to the REM cycle, where dreams occur). Night terror victims suddenly wake up sweating during this stage four sleep, thus preventing them from entering the REM cycle. During a study in which college students (they are the ones who most badly need the money, hence their willingness to volunteer) were awakened just as their body entered the REM sleep cycle. The study found that it was in REM sleep that the body really took care of itself and re-energized itself. Job obviously isn't getting the refresher that the REM cycle provides.

Ockham’s Razor is a theory that the simplest solution for a set of conditions is usually right. If this is true then we should be able to account for most of Job’s conditions with as few underlying ailments as possible. So with a couple ailments we have accounted for all of Job’s symptoms.

The same argument could be made for me, that Job made to his friends in Job 13.4: “You are worthless physicians, all of you!” But the overall statement can be made that Job is feeling this on every level. There is no way to hide his darkening skin. He feels the constant pain of his inner organs rotting. He finds no solace in sleep. Psychologically, he is worn out, isolated, and alone. His psyche and physiology is completely haywire.

But to what end; what was the purpose in Job’s suffering? The entire book of Job is centered on the question of love? In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Upon finishing creation, he made man in his own image. That image contained characteristics, personality, and overall understanding. God has the capacity for sacrificial love; but does man? There are a lot of things in life that are based on performance. Is man's love the same?

Satan comes to God in chapter 1 and proclaims God has babied Job. Satan charges Job with love based on performance. God has blessed Job; thus the reason for Job’s devotion, according to Satan.

However, the book of Job shows that man is capable of the same sacrificial love that God is capable of. Job shows that whatever the circumstances, man is capable of love. Job shows the ability of man to give love no matter the conditions. No matter the pain, agony, and soreness, man is still able to love without knowing all the answers. Aren’t you glad that Jesus was able to do that as well?