Wanted to type something profound today and just don't have it in me, so I thought I'd pass along some others who are speaking better than I.

Doug Groothuis over at Culture Watch: Thoughts of a Constructive Curmudgeon writes one awesome post after another. His most recent on suffering ties in well with some of the themes I've explored this last week in The Practice of the Practical Gospel and The Purposefully Wayward Servant Syndrome.

A Slice of Infinity asks why there are so few worship songs written today that seek to find God in the midst of suffering. Very good question and perhaps a reflection of the American Church's revulsion for anything but party time.

Popping the balloon of complacent discipleship, Dallas Willard ponders the fire insurance religion we've made out of the Gospel and wonders if that insurance even exists. Again, nice tie-in to my previous posts this week.

I pray that everyone who reads this will take the opportunity this weekend to draw alongside someone who stumbled or who is torn by suffering. Take them out to lunch or dinner and pay for their meal. Just listen to them and let them talk. More than ever, we need each other now and in the days to come. Be the Church.