Well, many emails we get are dark emails from people who are looking for any glimmer of hope that they can get.

And in the case today, it's in the form of an email from an anonymous man.

Pastor John, hello, I'm 65, disabled, and struggling to cope with immense loss and family trials over the past 18 months.

I've entered the deaths of my mother, sister-in-law, uncle, brother-in-law, and even my dog,

all within the short span of time.

As an only child, these losses have deeply affected my mental and emotional health.

On top of this, my 22-year-old grandson, who was once very active in the church and knew the Bible well, is now identifying as a transgender woman.

While I've tried to be as accepting as I can, I've made it clear I cannot affirm his identity as female because I believe God doesn't make mistakes.

This has strained our relationship.

He now refuses to come to family gatherings unless I

acknowledge him as a woman. I feel overwhelmed by these trials and I'm not sure how much more I can

bear. I remain constant in prayer and I'm grateful for the support of your podcast, which has been a

lifeline. How can I navigate these challenges while honoring God and showing love to my grandson

without compromising

my convictions? How do I find the strength to endure the grief and the struggles that I'm facing?

This 65-year-old man, or friend, I feel like he's a friend, makes so clear for us the inevitable reality that as we grow older,

we not only face our own death, but we increasingly face the death of people we love.

We tend to be aware of the fact that age makes us more conscious of our mortality, but we tend to be less conscious of the fact that age makes us vulnerable to the mortality of others.

And that's what our friend is largely drawing our attention to.

It isn't his own death that has made him so discouraged.

It's the loss of four precious people, and he's even his dog.

So to the degree that our relationships are meaningful to us, those losses are like amputations.

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