I have two things on my mind as I step to preach a little bit this morning.  One, my team, Arkansas Razorbacks are playing in the SEC championship today.  I am in Vol territory.  I am in Commodore territory. I know this.  But it relates to our passage.  Which is connecting to God through suffering.  If you are an Arkansas Razorback fan you sign up for it every single year.  My dad and I have tickets and we are going. Which leads me to my second thought, an elder in the church told me no one ever complained of a short sermon.  So I’m not going to short you, but I do have a game to get to downtown.

CS Lewis said God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience but shouts in our pain.  Its his mega phone to rouse a deaf world.  And we want to be at Fourth, a church that helps every person young and old build a thoughtful resilient faith that stands firm when the storms of life come our way.  What happens when the things we most often build our lives on.  Our accomplishments, family, our money, a good job, marriage, and our health.  What happens when those things are taken away from us?  Or our dreams of how they would turn out are shattered by the storms of life.

How do we hold onto God when feels like he may have let go of us?  What do we do when he seems silent in our sufferings?  What do we do when all we have is that haunting question.  Why?  I’ve heard over the years Christians struggle with questions like “why would a loving all powerful God allow sufferings?”  When my health crisis hit, my friend says “God never gives us more than we can handle?”

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