http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=4631&view=post&articleid=Its-that-moment-when&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Friday, October 3, 2014 • Randy Kilgore • General
We cannot adequately explain the hardest moments of our lives. We cannot soothe all the sorrows that regularly beset us, or the sorrows of those whom God has placed around us. We cannot wave a magic wand and fix the distresses we see besieging those we love, those we work with, those we know. In our hardest moments, our best efforts are feeble...our best words are hollow. But...
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=4631&view=post&articleid=80279&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Monday, June 25, 2012 • Randy Kilgore • Suffering
We cannot adequately explain the hardest moments of our lives. We cannot soothe all the sorrows that regularly beset us, or the sorrows of those whom God has placed around us. We cannot wave a magic wand and fix the distresses we see besieging those we love, those we work with, those we know. In our hardest moments, our best efforts are feeble...our best words are hollow.
Except...
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=4631&view=post&articleid=78129&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Friday, February 3, 2012 • Randy Kilgore • Hope
Francis lived his entire life focused on eternity. He plowed fields, painted barns, pounded pulpits, preached Jesus, and lived life as fully as any man I've ever known, but he did it all with his eyes on Jesus. Because he did, he could hold the hands of a dying friend and tell them it would be better soon. He could comfort the poor and suffering, and give hope to the hopeless, all because He knew the One who could fix it in the end.
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=4631&view=post&articleid=72052&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Monday, January 31, 2011 • Randy Kilgore • Work as service to God
"We were created to be careful keepers of the place where God puts us, whether that place is ten square feet of assembly line or ten square feet of cubicle or ten thousand square feet of a manufacturing facility. We were also created to enjoy the work we do because we're doing it alongside God."...
..."As Christians, our problems begin when we think we're smarter than God. When we think old rules (the Bible) don't work in new cultures. When we think getting our share of the pie comes before making sure everyone else has enough. When we think the world exists to make us comfortable, happy, and prosperous."...
..."On this side of heaven we work to fix the things our sinful natures broke. We work to fix lives physically, emotionally and spiritually. We work to fix Creation environmentally, economically and spiritually. We work to fix ourselves and our families and the tiny place where God has us laboring."
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=4631&view=post&articleid=67386&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Monday, June 14, 2010 • Randy Kilgore • Emotional Needs
He meant well, this pastor trying to ease the pain of a stranger, but he was too young to have learned the "dos" and "don'ts" of comfort-giving. So this particular patient shifted in his bed uncomfortably while the pastor tried to teach him that other people had troubles worse than his, so "he should draw comfort from that, at least."
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=4631&view=post&articleid=53907&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Friday, February 6, 2009 • • Active faith
Over the past thirty days, American culture has turned a corner, shifting what was once an inexorable, uncomfortably rapid slide away from the God into a stampede. While it isn't fair to lay this shift on President Obama's shoulders, it is his election which has emboldened those who are responsible for the stampede.
America was clearly tired of how the country was being managed, and the shift from Republican to Democratic leadership was their way of telling their leaders they wanted change. But the change the American people demanded with their vote was not a repudiation of Christianity and it was not an invitation to throw out the principles which were used to build this country. In fact, it was a call to return to those principles.
Unfortunately, nobody is listening. (Click through on the title to read more.)
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=4631&view=post&articleid=46477&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Wednesday, May 28, 2008 • • General
Likely you've been there many times before; perhaps you're there even now. Ahead of you are the very things you've longed for, worked for, and even sacrificed a part of yourselves to reach: The joy of the closed deal, the lure of the dream job, the freedom of not having money woes anymore. Or maybe those things are more personal; maybe what you see before you is the comfort of the perfect mate, the settled joy of that dream home, or even just the end to all those lonely or loveless hours.
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=4631&view=post&articleid=22955&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Tuesday, May 30, 2006 • • General
On September 4th, 1967, a Marine platoon stationed in Quang Tin province was in danger of being overrun by a force five times greater than itself. Hearing this, Navy chaplain Father Vincent Capodanno raced from headquarters to the site of the battle to be with his men. As the battle raged, the Marines would give ground, re-take it, give ground, and then re-take it. This meant the dead and wounded were often located in the deadly crossfire of no-man's land between the two armies. This was Father C's parish that day. Racing from soldier to soldier, he offered last rites to the dead and dying, and medical care to the wounded. Early in the battle, he suffered a bullet wound to his right hand. Still he moved from soldier to soldier, caring and comforting as best he could...
