Munger Place Church - Dallas, Texas

Christianity is not a crutch. The gospel is honest about how hard life is at times. Sometimes we really are in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. But, we can learn to face the bad things without fear. We just need to practice the paradox. Scripture: Psalm 23:4, Romans 8:15-16. References: “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain Jim Collins on the so-called “Stockdale Paradox, referring to Admiral James Stockdale (from “Good to Great”): "I never lost faith in the end of the story, I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade." When Collins asked who didn't make it out of Vietnam, Stockdale replied: "Oh, that's easy, the optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, 'We're going to be out by Christmas.' And Christm