Floods. Wars. Storms. Suffering. Death. Pain. Loneliness. What ever happened to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? We read about the mayhem. We see images on television and social media. We experience the struggle of death, grief and loss ourselves. It’s almost like we are living in a world that is not right! We don’t have to live in Gaza or Ukraine to experience the tension of war because the whole earth is a warzone. The bombs and bullets and destruction take different forms but we’re all experiencing the conflict one way or another. There are spiritual forces at work. There are people bent on evil. There are false teachers that have come to steal, kill and destroy. We read about unspeakable acts of evil in the Bible and realize that things have not changed too much in thousands of years. If God is as loving and powerful as we often say, why doesn’t He step in and do something? Simple answers to that question abound. Christians (and pagans) have a dictionary of cliches and solutions. The problem of suffering, death and pain in relation to God’s character is quite complex. Our response to the complexity can be simple but not if we are trying to answer all the questions. The questions can lead to despair or faith, hope and love. We’ll explore this subject with the latter as our goal on Sunday.