Losing the Life of Our Dreams: A Christian View of Suffering by M. Craig Barnes, senior pastor of National Presbyterian church, Washington, DC. He is the author of Yearning: Living Between How It Is and How It Ought to Be; and When God Interrupts: Finding New Life through Unwanted Change.  Barnes observes that "suffering is a part of our lives" and yet we almost believe we have a "RIGHT, to live without this suffering because it is preventing us from being whole."  Barnes looks at Created Limitations; Rehearsing Identity; the Use for Suffering; and the Choice.  Jul/Aug 1996 Theology Matters p. 1

The Terrible Necessity of Tribulation: C.S. Lewis on Human Suffering by James R. Edwards, PCUSA minister and chairman of the Religion and Philosophy Department at Jamestown College, Jamestown, ND.  Edwards observes, "God's job is not simply to keep his creatures happy or contented; he wills to see them changed, ultimately into his own likeness."  Edwards continues, "When we suffer we often accuse God of too little love.  the truth is actually the reverse; our pain in such instances is the result of a 'love that will not let us go,' to quote the hymnist."  Jul/Aug 1996 Theology Matters  p. 4

Baptized into Christ's Death by Shirley Smith, pastor of Mt.. Horeb and White Plains PCUSA churches.  Smith writes, "Only the mystery of the cross can shed light on the darkness of human suffering.  It is Jesus Christ's birth , life, ministry, death and Resurrection that gives to our lives the meaning we so long for." Jul/Aug 1996 Theology Matters  p. 7