The first sunny Sunday in September after my birth, Mom and Dad trundled me off to the church my father pastored in Dayton, Ohio. They started a habit I’ve kept my entire life. I married a minister. I teach Sunday school, and I play the piano in morning worship. But I was 31 years old before I truly believed God loved me. Why? I developed an orphan heart. I saw God not as a loving father an—“Abba, Daddy”…
“It hurts so good!” This common expression highlights the contrast between pain and pleasure. Most people are hard-wired to avoid pain at any cost. But sometimes that which causes pain is also productive. A pastor I know left behind a little black binder with notes he made during more than 50 years of ministry. At a denominational conference in 1959 (the Ohio Yearly Meeting of Friends, a.k.a. Quakers) he wrote this quote from Paul Rees, the speaker: “There…