You're listening to the Allender Center podcast with Dr. Dan Allender. This week, Dan

focuses on the catastrophic nature of the flooding in Houston. How do people respond when a

catastrophe like this invades their lives? How can we respond in a meaningful way to those who

are experiencing this tragedy?

Dan explores these questions and more as he begins a series of podcast episodes that focuses

on our response to difficult stories.

To our friends and family in Houston and the greater Houston area, we send our love,

our prayers, and our resources. We'll be with

you in the months and days ahead as you seek to rebuild and heal.

Last night before I went to bed, I was on CNN watching Houston early this morning as I arose, I went back to CNN and watched what is transpiring in Houston.

And the focus of this podcast really is on the catastrophic, calamitous heartache that Houston is suffering.

In the broader sense of what I want to begin to consider is how we engage catastrophic stories. How we engage stories as a whole, but how we engage those that are

beyond our capacity to comprehend the depth, breadth of human suffering, loss, heartache. How do we come to those in a way that we bring the goodness

of God into that?

Unspeakable.

Unspeakable heartache.

I noticed as I've, I've dear friends in Houston. I've been privileged to be at

Ecclesia church a number of times to do conferences as well as to preach.

Chris C. is just a dear friend, and there are many dear, dear friends of ours,

Diana, Jason, Lisa, many others whom I can't keep them out of my mind and the scenes of that watery world.

So one of the things that I think is so very important to engage for those,

and I'll speak about those who are outside of the direct suffering, and then if you are in Houston or know of people who are in Houston, you are more in the

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