During today's conversational back porch theology, we're going to explore the theological

concept of theotacy, which is defined as the vindication of divine goodness and providence

in view of the existence of evil.

In other words, our creative redeemer is good and he does good, even when our lives are

anything but.

I once had a surgeon tell me I was a bad patient because I tried to gut it out instead

of being honest about the pain I was experiencing.

He said my stubborn refusal to admit how much I hurt reflected my lack of trust and his

competence as a healer.

Here I was thinking it was heroic of me to hang tough when all I'd done was put distance

between myself and the kind doctor whose main goal was to mitigate my pain.

What would it look like to actually admit our ache, trust in God's goodness and lean

into his presence even when it feels like our hearts and pieces?

We're about to dive deep into that question as well as glean some profound wisdom from

our resident theologian, Dr. Jim Howard.

So please grab a cup of coffee in your Bible unless you're driving or deboning fish, of course,

and come hang out on the porch with us.

I can't believe this is episode number 13 first teenage year.

I know it's almost like we need to do something naughty and instead we're doing something

hard.

We are.

Today's hard.

...