January 1, 2026
Compelling: Managing Three Key Emotions of Leadership Succession
Over time I learned that, while emotions shouldn’t be the dominant voice in my life, understanding them is a wise choice for my life.
Articles for tag: Grief
December 23, 2025
Grandma’s House
Trevor Littleton recalls Christmas visits to his grandma's house, how a child adopted his grandma's name, & how we have been adopted as God's children.
September 10, 2023
How to Help a Friend Grieving a Suicide Loss
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 48,183 Americans ended their lives by suicide in 2021, a figure that has increased by about 35 percent since 2000. . . . Here are seven ways to help those grieving a suicide death. . . .
July 1, 2023
Pushing Back Darkness
How the Lord Has Shaped and Refined Me Through My Wife’s Tragic Death
April 6, 2023
Easter Meditation 4: Mary, the Mother of Jesus
In his fourth of six devotions in the week leading up to Easter, former editor Mark A. Taylor shares thoughts about the anguish that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, suffered . . . "Overwhelmed by Grief" (John 19:25-27).
March 1, 2023
The Gift I Need the Most
By Jerry Harris It was October 21, 1999, my 40th birthday. That’s the birthday when many people start thinking they’re heading over the hill and begin contemplating their own mortality. Well, I was definitely contemplating mortality . . . just not my own. That was the day we buried my father. We headed to the same spot where we had buried my mom five years earlier. The family had picked out an oak casket for my dad, and it was heavy for the pallbearers. I was officiating and walking in front of the casket when I saw my brother buckle
December 13, 2021
Hear the Bells Again
mas Day 1863 was not joyful for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. On that day, he was concerned his eldest son would not survive surgery after being shot while serving as a soldier in the Union Army. . . .
February 2, 2017
Divine Encounters, Good Good-byes, Genes Seen
By LeRoy Lawson What”s in a Phrase? Pausing Where Scripture Gives You Pause Marilyn Chandler McEntyre Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014 A Faithful Farewell: Living Your Last Chapter with Love Marilyn Chandler McEntyre Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015 A Long Letting Go: Meditations on Losing Someone You Love Marilyn Chandler McEntyre Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015 The Gene: An Intimate History Siddhartha Mukherjee New York: Scribner, 2016 When I learned of Marilyn McEntyre”s 2014 book What”s in a Phrase? I had to add it to my “must read” list. Earlier I had read her Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies. Her purpose in
July 19, 2016
An Interview with Mike Cope
Mike Cope, director of outreach at Pepperdine University, talks with Editor Mark Taylor about how he has coped with profound loss in his life, and how we can, too. See this exclusive interview from the 2016 North American Christian Church here.
February 12, 2016
My Theology and My Approach to Pain
By Mandy Smith There are many ways we can horrify our dentists. I horrified mine last month by saying, “It”s OK if I have to live with the pain.” It was unthinkable for him, but in spite of his best efforts, I”m still left with a dull ache when I bite into an apple. I”m OK with that. We have become intolerant of pain””physical, emotional, and spiritual. Does that deny the opportunity God sees in pain? As a pastor, I often walk with people along the edge of emotional and spiritual pain. As they see it coming, it”s natural to
February 3, 2016
Grief: A Solitary Journey
By Jim Tune It was a gray, cold, miserable February day when my father died rather suddenly after a few days of hospitalization for respiratory problems. This month marks five years since his death on February 5, 2011. I miss him and still grieve his loss. It”s a different kind of grief now””not so raw or hard-edged. I miss him on holidays when we celebrated family traditions and rituals. And the February anniversary can still be difficult. It”s possible that the short, dark days of our Canadian winter contribute to my sense of melancholy. Nonetheless, arriving at the five-year mark
December 22, 2015
We Do Not Suffer Alone
By Mark A. Taylor Death intrudes into thousands of lives every day. But to each individual losing someone close, death seems like a singular experience. I remember the comment of a good friend whose dad died decades ago. He returned to his job after several days grieving with his family and found everything there decidedly unchanged. “Everyone”s just doing what they usually do, working on their own tasks as if nothing has happened,” he said. Here he was, trying to cope with his life that had been upended. But everyone around him, it seemed, was getting along just fine. This
September 16, 2015
Just Breathe
By Jim Tune Breathe on me, Breath of God, Until my heart is pure, Until with Thee I will one will, To do and to endure. “”Edwin Hatch, from the hymn “Breathe on Me, Breath of God” Job reaches the limits of his ability to endure. He plunks himself down, ruined, infected, septic. He has lost everything: his children, livestock, livelihood, house, and now his health. He is abandoned on the ash heap, scraping his wounds with the sharp-edged fragments of clay pots. Job is dying: physically, emotionally, and spiritually. In the valley of the shadow of death, but
July 22, 2015
Sweet Sorrow
By Jim Tune One of my favorite books (and I like the movie, too) is the classic The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Czech writer Milan Kundera. In his book, the heroine, Teresa, struggles to be at peace with life when it”s not heavy, when it”s too much lightness, sunshine, and seemingly carefree””when it”s devoid of the anxieties that hint at darkness and mortality. She feels the constant need for gravitas, for some heaviness that says life is more than simply the present flourishing of health and comfort. For her, lightness equals superficiality. Most of us prefer sunshine over shadow,
April 17, 2015
Helping Through the Hurt
By Susan Lawrence “Let me know if I can do anything to help.” We commonly extend the offer with a genuine desire to help. However, many times, people don”t know what they need, or they”re hesitant to ask. Through many difficult deaths and trials among our church family, I”ve learned a few things that help. Reach out to others even when they”re not reaching out. “¢ Simply be present. You don”t need to have the perfect words. You don”t need to have answers to every question. Sit with someone. Hold a hand. Give a hug through the sobs. “¢ Be
April 11, 2015
Way Better
By Steve Wyatt You probably wouldn”t have liked the man I once was””though you might”ve been impressed by my résumé. I certainly was! I sang my first solo at 6, taught a seventh-grade Bible class at 15, preached my first sermon at 16, and was a youth pastor at 19. I served as senior pastor of a multistaff church at 23, and wrote two books by my early 30s while leading a church of 200 to more than 3,500! And all God”s people said . . . ? Big whoop. Back in my former life, I was on most short
March 31, 2015
Resurrection Promise, Hope in Our Pain
By Mark A. Taylor Some preachers choose Mary as the subject for a Christmas sermon, but I”m guessing we”ve never heard an Easter sermon about the mother of Jesus. There”s good reason for this, I suppose, because Scripture barely mentions her in one crucifixion account, and omits her by name altogether in the resurrection stories. But the certain fact that she was there when Jesus died (John 19:25-27) is enough for painters and storytellers and moviemakers to include her, watching and weeping, in their crucifixion portrayals. The Scripture doesn”t describe her anguish or her tears, but we have no trouble
March 6, 2015
Getting Ready for Easter: Madison Park Christian Church, Quincy, IL
Good Friday Prayer Walk By Chuck Sackett, preaching minister, Madison Park Christian Church, Quincy, Illinois A few years ago we decided to do something completely different for Good Friday. Instead of a traditional service, we did a prayer walk. It started in the lobby, moved down the hall to the next large space, into the fellowship hall, through the worship space (we have removable seating), and ended in a large classroom. Each room was a new prayer station. It started with a place for prayer and symbolic washing, then an opportunity to take the Lord”s Supper. The fellowship hall was
November 25, 2014
How to Cope with Grief at the Holidays
By Mark A. Taylor In the wake of several deaths close to my family in recent months, I”m especially sensitive to the grief some friends are facing this holiday season. And I”m grateful for one way my church offers to help. Late in November every year, our seniors ministry conducts a service of remembrance for families whose deceased loved one attended our congregation. It”s a simple service, with hymns and Scripture. But the unique touch is the Christmas tree in one corner of the chapel. Beside the tree are boxes of white ornaments, each bearing a different name, handwritten in
November 28, 2013
When It”s Hard to Give Thanks
By Sam E. Stone Two men were walking through a field when they spotted an enraged bull. Instantly they started running for the nearest fence. The bull was in hot pursuit. Terrified, one shouted to the other, “Pray, John. We”re in for it!” “I can”t,” his friend yelled back. “I”ve never prayed in public in all my life!” “You”ve got to!” his friend implored. “The bull”s gaining on us!” “OK,” panted John. “I”ll pray the only prayer I know””the one my mom taught me at the table: “˜O Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly thankful.””
