In this fallen world, Christians are not called to a life where all choices lead to comfort or safety. We are called to a life of commitment to the One who loves us enough to die for us. The Bible often tells us this commitment will mean trouble and pain.

The outward man is perishing; the inward man is being renewed daily. •?The light affliction is today's problems; the eternal glory is tomorrow's promise. The things that are seen are temporary; the things that are not seen are eternal.

We think we are in the land of the living going to the land of the dying. But really we are in the land of the dying, going to the land of the living.

The Bible assures us that a morning will dawn bright and glorious someday. All the sorrow and sadness and difficulty we've known in the darkened skies of life will vanish. The Lord will return for us at the daybreak of eternity, and there will be no more weeping, no more pain or suffering, no more broken hearts. There will be no more valleys plunging away from the peaks. He will dry every tear, and there will be joy in that great morning.

To Judeans the cross was perhaps the most hated symbol of Roman rule. The deadly silhouette had scarred too many hilltops, signifying the most ignoble of deaths, a lingering torment that carried shame for all who witnessed it. And yet here it was, portraying a hope that transcended their worries and fears. Merely looking at this bit of carved wood lifted Linux beyond himself, carried upon a promise as strong as it was eternal.

Your error is that you think this world is the reality. In truth, eternity is the reality and this life is but a shadow, a place to develop our character and grow more like Jesus.

His eyes widened. "You mean the symbol we use for peace began as a hate symbol against Christianity?" She nodded. "It was a visual representation of the way Nero crucified Christians upside down.

Do you know what hurts so very much? It's love. Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked that means pain. There are two things we can do when this happens. We can kill that love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel.

We must be so careful that we do not refuse the cross that the Lord has given us to carry. Let us remember that our present sufferings serve to prepare us for entering into the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.

When we've lost a friend, when a dream has failed, when we seem to have nothing left in the world to make life beautiful—that's when God says, You're richer than you think.

We knew that in spite of daily mounting risks we had no choice but to move forward. This was evil's hour: we could not run away from it. Perhaps only when human effort had done its best and failed, would God's power alone be free to work.

Jesus can turn loss into glory.