On a climate neutral night, under a non-descript sky, a baby was born. Elizabeth Jean-Ann Rocke is preceded in birth by about 10 billion people, but she's a unique specimen nonetheless. She was given her mother and grandmothers middle names.

So, my life is now lots of fun...need more coffee...need more sleep...need more time to hold baby and wife...

...there was a blogger. He was a fairly active blogger. He wrote about radical theology, drinking too much chai, and sundry other topics. Then one blogger met another blogger. And then they both died. Well, the bloggers died...or at least, that is the best we can ascertain given that there appears to be no signs of life from either of them.

Now, we might venture to suggest that they are lost in a world of osculation, or that they had abducted by aliens. However, the first would be an understatement, and the second is too far fetched. So, we are left with no recourse but to declare them deceased...

Seriously, besides working a TON over the holidays, and having a cute wife who happens to be 6 months pregnant, and getting precious little sleep, and trying to stay in touch with non-bloggers (like family! gasp!), I am left with little time for blogging...but don't think I'm complaining!

I haven't had a ton of time to think, and what thinking I have been able to do most likely involved food...(dang, I'm thinking now that I should go back and be a chef...), so I won't bore you with the details of how the hollandaise and the bulletin got mixed up inside a laptop...wait...oh shoot. I think I need some coffee...

My wife and I are going to Milwaukee for a get away weekend before EJA or Too show up...it should be fun! She doesn't know it yet, but I have planned a few surprises. I just know she will be thrilled to go to Sunday's Packer game...I got such a great deal on the tickets! They were only $20,543.12 after my employee discount...and he said he would hold onto the wedding ring until I have enough money to pay him back. She LOVES sitting outside in -2 degree weather and screaming until she is hoarse while beer and peanuts are showered on her from all directions...

Okay, I'm kidding. I entertained thoughts of buying tickets only long enough to find out that BAD seats are going for $440...to start! Sorry getteright, the 'Boys are going to be in Mexico this weekend...with Jessica Simpson.

Well, later chaps. I'm off to watch a funny movie with my little wifey...

Oh yeah, and the sweet thrill of being right! My sister and I have insisted for years that we watched a movie a couple times about a boy who falls down and wakes up years later, knowing nothing about what happened to him AND being friends with an alien...our Mom and Dad said we were crazy...BUT Family Video Saved The Day! The title? Flight of the Navigator. (Yeah, I could have drawn that out and made it more dramatic, but my wife is waiting...)

I've had to think about something I didn't want to recently—the past. It wasn't that bad. I was sad over the circumstances that brought back the memories...friends and family dealing with similar circumstances. One asked me what to do. I thought I would share my answers:

When Christians Hurt Other Christians, Particularly You, And You Don't Think You Can Take Anymore

1. Question: Am I where God wants me?
When I was in a difficult situation, perhaps nothing gave me strength to carry on like knowing I was in the place God wanted me. Of course, sometimes, we can tell ourselves that we ARE in the right place when we are not. And sometimes, we WERE in the right place, but God doesn't mean for us to stay there any longer. But if we are  where God wants us now, we can rest in the promise that His Grace will see us through the situation.

2. Remember: They are just like us!
Sometimes, we dwell on the hurt and wrong, and we cannot see or understand how those who have hurt us can possibly feel hurt or wronged by us! It's impossible, we say. They just twist everything we said or did. But it isn't impossible at all: They are people. They are controlled largely by the characteristics that define the human race. They view us in the way we view them: through the lenses of emotion and instinct. Most significantly, they, like us, are sinners. Sinners who must be transformed in the likeness of Christ.

Consider the response of Jesus to pain. Though beaten, pierced, and bleeding, He did not decry his wrongs. He didn't take time to feel wounded, as well He might. Rather, he prayed for them, that they might be forgiven for they were ignorant of what they did. Ignorant? you ask. Yes, that is what Christ said. But, surely they must have known they were killing a man. True. But they did not know the pain and anguish they were causing the Godhead.

Human are like that. They might realize that what they are doing is causing pain, like one who feels it their duty to correct our perceived errors. But they do not fathom what kind of pain it is—not the pain of wounded pride, but the heartrending cry of the falsely-accused.

3. Pray: Avoid the Root of Bitterness!
I have been hurt. Badly. I have been so hurt that the sight of my assailant would fill my mind with murderous thoughts, my eyes with tears, and my teeth with grit. I wanted to hate them. But I could not because I forced myself to pray for them. I cannot hate a man I intercede for. I can detest him, but when I intercede for him at the Throne of God, I realize that in God's eyes, I deserve no better than the worst curse I might hurl upon him. So I don't curse. I find it hard to bless, but I can pray for his hurts. No human is without them. Perhaps it is a sick child, a dying parent, or a inner struggle. Whatever it is, in praying for those hurts, God eased my own.

4. Think: What Is God Doing In This?
We can forgive. We can seek counsel. We can try to grind it out. We can force ourselves to not grow bitter. We can pray for those who hurt us. We can even be reconciled to those who have wronged us. But is all these things, we may still be blinded by pain unabated. Why? Perhaps it is because we fail to ask the BIG question. The BIG question in life is not "Why?" or "How?" Not "Why did God let this happen?" or "How could they have hurt me so?". Rather the BIG question is "What? What is God doing in this?" He is making you more like His Son. That is God's design and promise. (Romans 8:29)

The pain may never vanish. The wounds may never lose their scars. The relationships may never be fully mended. God's promise is not that "it will all work out in the end." He didn't mean we will come through unscathed. It means that at the end of it, we will be more like Jesus. We will understand how a crucified man can agonize for a murderous crowd and how bloody hands can give faith to a doubting man.