Making Sense Out of Suffering

I got to thinking about suffering this morning. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because Holy Week is about to start, or maybe it's just one of those random thoughts that just kind of bubbles to the surface every so often. Whatever the reason, I went to my shelf of influential books--you know, the few books that have changed my life (I hope everyone has a shelf like that)--and I took down the one book that was able to help me get through the darkest period of my life. A few years ago our daughter became frighteningly sick (you can read her story here), and I suddenly found myself facing the most inexplicable of phenomena: the suffering of an innocent. My five-year-old daughter was sick and I wanted to know why. It was then that I chanced across Peter Kreeft's Making Sense Out of Suffering. That single book helped me make it through all the pain, anger and doubt. It didn't provide quick and easy answers, which is one reason I trusted it. As Westley says in The Princess Bride, "Life is pain...Anyone who says otherwise is selling something." Kreeft's book gave me the mind-set I needed to navigate through the pain, the questions and the despair. Anyway, I thought someone out there might need a book like this today so that's why I'm writing this. Peter Kreeft changed my life, and maybe he can help you. As he himself says, "This book is for everyone who has wept and wondered. That includes everyone who has ever been born."

Read This Book and Get Out of Debt

My wife and I bought Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover about eight months ago and it's proving to be one of the best investments we've ever made. Using Dave's philosophy we've been able to almost completely eliminate our debt. In three more months we will be totally debt-free except for our home mortgage. Dave's approach is not simply a system, it's a philosophy--a change in the way we think about money and debt. And it works. The book is very easy to read, and is padded with all the personal stories you come to expect in a book like this, but these stories are actually motivating and encouraging. A great side effect of reading The Total Money Makeover is that my wife and I haven't been as stressed out about money, even though it's been tight as we pay down our debt. It's a great book, and the philosophy really works--at least it's working for us. Thanks to the SQPN network for letting us know about it--it has changed our lives.