When Pete Absolon, the Rocky Mountain director of NOLS, set out for a climb in Wyoming’s Wind River Range last summer, life couldn’t have been better. A deadly mistake by another man ended it all in an instant. An sobering story of tragedy, sovereignty, grace and forgiveness.

On this anniversary of the tragedy of 9/11, it’s good to remind ourselves of the sovereignty of God. John Piper’s excellent piece on The Supremacy of God in an Age of Terror written on Sep 11th, 2005 is sobering food for thought and reflection.

’The mission of our church is that we exist to spread a passion of the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. When we say that, we do not mean: “except in calamities,” “except in war,” “except when Al Qaeda blows up a building or a train,” “except when cancer takes a mom or a child is born with profound disabilities.” There are no “except” clauses in our mission statement.’

This is truly a remarkable testimony of a brother who has sweetly tasted the all-satisfying excellency of the sovereignty of God in the midst of lifelong, bitter suffering. To the natural man, this just does not make sense, but to those who treasure Christ, it is an exclamation point–a very convicting and God-entranced exclamation point.

Last night I took a break from the new book on the deity of Christ and plowed through the first chapter of NT Wright’s book on Evil and the Justice of God. Wow. Really good stuff. (With each additional book of NT Wright that I read, my estimation of him rises.)

*** WARNING: Some details within this article may be upsetting due to the graphic nature of its content. ***

The Oxford English Dictionary defines terrorism as “organized intimidation of a government or a community” and a terrorist as “anyone who attempts to further his views by a system of coercive intimidation.” When one force is substantially militarily weaker than another and no match on the field of battle, terrorism is a historically favorite tactic. As the Chinese military strategist Sun T’zu said over 2,000 years ago: “Kill one, frighten 10,000.”

Michael Patton has a powerful story showing life is sometimes tough for a Christian. Sometimes God moves spectacularly and sometimes He seems distant and His ways incomprehensible.

BTW - Michael’s mother is now incapacitated by a stroke and requires full-time care. Lift Michael and his family up in prayer.

Sometimes it’s very difficult to make sense of suffering and tradegy - i.e., the recent school bus accident here in Huntsville where several students lost their lives. This seemingly senseless tragedy reminded me another tragedy I had seen depicted in the powerful movie “To End All Wars” (http://www.toendallwarsmovie.com/).

If you have not seen this movie, get the DVD. It is the true story of four Allied POWs who endure harsh treatment at the hands of their Japanese captors during World War II while being forced to build a railroad through the Burmese jungle, and ultimately find true freedom by forgiving their enemies. Caution: this movie is not for children. Rated R for language and intense scenes of suffering.