Suffer-less Christianity: A House of Cards part 2

So now that we are back from our crazy weekend, I wanted to comment on Scott's Blog. (you'll have to come back tomorrow or the next day to hear about our weekend).

As I've thought about some of the things that Scott wrote when it comes to suffering...one of the things I kept coming back to was the question, what is my concept of suffering? Do I have one at all?

I often think back to a warm afternoon walking through the streets in Bosnia where I and several other students came across a dumpster of very bad smelling trash and being stunned to see a young girl, not more than 4 years old, poke her head out of the dumpster her hands filled with random scraps and broken housewares. Still to this day I'm not sure I have a word to describe the emotions that paralyzed my soul in seeing this child.

Suffering. Most of us westerners would probably label this child's situation as that. Yet, how does one come to grips with the enormous smile that erupted from her face? How does one justify the joy and laugher coming from her mouth as she jumped out to embrace us and pulled us towards the local church as if we were indeed the ones suffering?

I feel Scott is right. We do not have a framework for suffering in the West whether that the normal suffering that life chooses to dish out or the suffering that as Christians we can choose to take hold of.

There is something to be said about discovering the joy of Christ in suffering. The joy that comes through the weight of prayer, the joy that comes in seeing others benefit from the above and beyond sacrifice of time or money, the joy that comes in seeing God provide enough, the joy in the recognition that even in suffering, God does not fail or turn away.

Lord, how would you have me glorify you today in suffering for your name?