Have you ever heard of Josh McDowell? 
He’s written 125 books and spoken to more people on more college campuses 
than anybody else in the world!
Did you know there is a movie about his life titled Undaunted? 
It was released five years ago in 2012 (and was well rated, IMDb 7.1), 
although somehow I missed this precious documentary when it first came out. 
The tagline says it traces Josh McDowell’s journey
through childhood disbelief to faith, 
but I think the truly monumental impact of the movie 
concerns surviving a childhood of sexual abuse, parental alcoholism and obesity, 
and all the terrors and traumas that come
from living in such a terribly dysfunctional family.
Alan and I were both touched and amazed that this elderly man (almost an “icon” of the Christian faith) would be so transparent about his childhood and all the heartaches he endured…hurts that drove him away from believing that in such a terrible world, a real God could exist. 
Josh McDowell came to faith in college after attempting to discredit Christianity and then realizing that the evidence for God’s existence was greater than the evidence against believing in a creator God. 
However, as Josh explains in the movie, what really brought him to faith in Christ was experiencing the love of God. It wasn’t just a head thing. It was a faith thing, born of the Holy Spirit but felt in his heart and soul too. 
I wonder, do you find it hard to believe in God because you had such a horrible childhood? Do you think “God” is like your father…someone who would abuse you and whom you’d never ever want to be around if you could help it?
God is a God of love and mercy, and He can do miraculous things in your life if you’ll let him! Good things! Rescusing things. He can redeem and reconcile! 
If you’re not sure, I wish you’d watch this inspiring true story and hear about the beautiful things that happened in Josh McDowell’s life after he opened his heart to God’s healing touch! Truly, God—our Father—is the God of Light and Love!
“And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people” (Matthew 9:35).
We have someone attending our Sunday school class who appears normal…unless you try to talk to him. Sometimes I see him look my way, like he’d like to talk, but if I approach him or try to engage him, even in light conversation, he doesn’t respond and will look away. I assume he’s autistic, and I’m still trying to figure out how to connect with him, but after a year, I haven’t broken through. Do you have anyone in your life space like this? If you do, and you’ve been able to connect, please share any advice!! For one thing, when our class starts up again for the fall semester this Sunday, I’m going to try something new I just learned about this summer! 
Recently, I saw a really inspiring docudrama about Owen Suskind. 
Life Animated (2016, PG, IMDb 7.5) shares the Suskind family’s story. 
Their father was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, 
and Owen was the second son born into a warm and wonderful home. 
Owen seemed normal for the first couple of years, but then suddenly he began to regress, stopped communicating, and developed strange behavior patterns. 
The Suskind’s ideal home was turned upside down in a heartbreaking search for understanding what had happened. Owen was eventually diagnosed as autistic. 
The rest of the movie traces the heartaches and challenges of trying to learn how to communicate with their son. 
Probably every child’s journey is quite unique, 
but Owen loved Disney animated classics, 
and the family eventually learned how to use pictures of scenes from the movies to communicate emotions… love, joy, grief, kindness, and kinship. 
Life Animated follows Owen’s journey from childhood to adulthood, 
educational achievements, and even touching on the topics of romance, hoped-for marriage, and learning how to cope with the limitations and disappointments of autism. 
In many ways, Owen’s story is a wonderful story of success and triumph over trials. Today, Owen is able to give lectures and offer suggestions and ideas for other autistic young people. 
Life Animated made me cry and rejoice. 
Why can’t Owen (and millions of people for so many different reasons) just enjoy a normal life like the rest of us? Why do so many people suffer and have to live with broken dreams? In all the heartaches of life, I console myself by remembering that life on earth is not the end, it’s only the beginning…a place to develop character and find grace. To find the end of ourselves and the beginning of God. To lose our lives so we’ll find eternal life. God is good. He can be trusted.
A blog follower from India asked what’s happening with the rain in America, so I thought maybe this would be a good day to share what’s going on with Hurricane Harvey. So far, it’s the biggest rainstorm in continental U.S. history, and it’s still raining, so we have no clue what’s yet to come. Hurricane Harvey started as a tropical wave off the coast of Africa on August 13, 2017, made landfall on August 26 at Rockport, Texas as a Class 4 hurricane, went back out to sea and has returned again this morning. Hurricane Harvey has unleashed over 50 inches of rain east of Houston, and it’s still raining this morning. The record so far is 51.9 inches near Mont Belvieu, TX (40 miles east of Houston). The downpour also caused one key reservoir to spill over, which has led to the largest flood in Houston’s history. Although isolated areas of Hawaii have had more rain, the overall effect of Harvey has had no rivals in American history, dropping about 3 feet of rain over most of the Houston region—some estimated 9 trillion gallons of water!— which affects more than five million people. According to the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin, the probability for such a storm is about one per thousand years! Last Sunday morning, the National Weather Service tweeted: “This event is unprecedented & all impacts are unknown & beyond anything experienced.”
Job is often thought to be the oldest book in the Bible. Have you ever read it? It’s full of flowery speeches about why men suffer, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson called it “the greatest poem of ancient and modern times.” Job is also listed as one of the twenty-five righteous prophets in the Quran, so his fame extends throughout the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim worlds. 
What I love best about Job is that we know from the beginning Job’s suffering was not because he was evil. In fact, he was one of the world’s most upright men! Although it’s true we usually think of people as prospering if they are honest and work hard, from Job we learn that this is not always the case, and that some of the finest and best people suffer despite having sterling character. 
In the end, God proclaims that He alone is the all-wise, all-knowing One, and Job’s mouth is stopped. But, during his trial, Job receives a revelation so beautiful that Handel incorporated some of it into his timeless oratorio, Messiah: “
The Bible advises us to live with compassion and respect toward all men. We have no idea what their lives have been like. Great advice, don’t you think?
Anyway, my son Jon brought home about 2,500 photos from his trip white-water rafting on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, and as I was thinking about what he’d learned and the beauty of this unique area, the words of Job 38 came to me. I thought they might be perfect paired with some of God’s creative magnificence and mystery, as recorded by Jon in July:
1
and answer thou me. 
declare, if thou hast understanding. 
or who hath stretched the line upon it? 
or who laid the corner stone thereof; 
when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? 
and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it, 
and caused the dayspring to know his place; 
that the wicked might be shaken out of it? 
and the high arm shall be broken. 
or hast thou walked in the search of the depth? 
or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death? 
and as for darkness, where is the place thereof, 
or because the number of thy days is great? 
or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, 
wherein there is no man; 
and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth? 
and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? 
canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? 
they wander for lack of meat.” 
This eloquent reminder of human limitation goes on for several more chapters, but chapter 42 records Job’s response: “T
That’s where I’m at. I have surrendered to God’s ineffable wisdom
As Job said, “Thou he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15).
“We’ve left our house in Spokane and are moving to a department (apartment) in Chicago,” Amélie confided soberly. Moving is NO FUN! I was just Amélie’s age (5) when our family moved from Indiana to Michigan, and I was heart broken, particularly because I wasn’t sure how I’d find my way back home so I could marry my boyfriend (also 5) when we grew up. It was the summer of 1956, and “Que Sera, Sera” was playing on radios everywhere! “Whatever will be will be.” 
Somehow, I found the words comforting and remember singing them to myself as I explored our new home in East Lansing. Little people feel things with every bit as much passion as adults! In an effort to soothe the kids, Jon gave us all a little slide show of their home and friends from Spokane, and I think it might have helped Amélie in her efforts to process everything, but poor little Sophie (3) burst into gales of inconsolable tears. 
Jon and Linda have been doing everything they can to ease the way, but there’s no doubt about it: Moving is tremendously unsettling! Yes, it’s fun to spend some time with Nana and Grandpa, and yes, it will be fun to spend some time in Germany and visit with Gerlinde’s family, but leaving all their friends and moving from their lovely home out west into Chicago—one of America’s biggest (and scariest) cities—is paramount to panic! 
Are you facing a move? I think it’s good to get in touch with our feelings during transitions, but I also think it’s important to track our thoughts. We shouldn’t just listen to ourselves, we should talk to ourselves too…speaking truths into our lives to give us courage, such as Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the 
God loves us. He is doing a good work in us to make us more like Himself! Rather than being fearful about the future, let’s ask God for the grace to claim Isaiah 26:3, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” 
P.S.—
I suppose there’s no one alive who hasn’t experienced a season of heartbreak at some point. Isn’t it a universal part of each human tapestry? Every person who has loved deeply has had to cope with loss. It might not be as traumatic as losing a child or experiencing divorce. It could be something as natural as losing an aged parent or parting with your adult children when they move out of your home for the joy of marriage, or to transfer locations in order to further their career.
Have you seen Lion? It’s a heart-rending biographical drama adapted from the non-fiction book, A Long Way Home. 
Lion premiered last fall at the Toronto Film Festival, is PG-13, and has an 8.1 IMDb rating. 
If you’ve been adopted or have adopted…if you’re a foster parent or have grown up in an orphanage, Lion will break your heart, but it might also help heal some of the pain that haunts most people who’ve grown up without knowing their biological parents. 
The story begins back in 1986, where little five-year-old “Saroo,” lives in Khandwa, India with his mother, older brother, and younger sister. 
Saroo and his brother steal coal from trains to trade for food, 
but one night Saroo is so tired that he falls asleep at the train station rather than helping his brother. 
Through a series of misadventures, Saroo ends up lost on the streets of Calcutta, many hundreds of miles from home. 
In fact, he doesn’t know the name of his hometown…or even his full name! 
He survives many frightening episodes before a kindly man helps him get to an orphanage, where he learns some English and is later adopted by a couple in Hobart, Tasmania. 
The story picks up again nearly 25 years later, when Saroo, as a young adult, sets out in search of his lost family. 
Although I wouldn’t recommend the movie for children (at least until you’ve viewed it first), it is a very moving account that brought out a visceral response in me…I felt the horror of lostness, the fear of strange adults, the hunger, the loneliness, the pain…the relief…the deep, lasting grief. I came away feeling like I’d experienced a tiny taste of what it might be like for the millions of children abroad—and at home—who’ve grown up without the loving support of their parents. 
I’ll never meet someone who has been orphaned now without feeling more compassionate toward them. It’s one of those movies that has a lasting impact.
“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this,
