Dr Paul Allen

When the storms of life come upon me suddenly, I immediately ask, “Why is this happening to me?” That is followed shortly by “How can I get this to stop?” As the trial rages on I ask, “What’s going to happen to me? When will it end? Where can I find the cause to keep this from happening again?” Questions such as “ Why? ” and “How?” are questions we all ask in the face of hardship and trial. I don’t know about you, but my first response to such questions usually involves searching for the answer. I tend to do what the rest of our society does when faced with a problem: I google it, search blogs and pins, or look for the latest self-help book. If that doesn’t work, I will worry and fret and then maybe find something to distract me like shopping, eating, or watching TV Yet Scripture shows us a different response. It shows us that we can bring these and all our questions to God . The psalmist had hard questions about life, just like we do. He too wanted to know why difficult things...

Cover of David and Bathsheba It’s never been easier to watch movies , and lots of them. Netflix , which leads the race as the top online streaming service, provides more than 10,000 movie options for its 40 million subscribers — and it’s flanked by formidable competitors like Hulu Plus , Redbox , and Amazon Prime . Considering the sheer crowd on this track, and each one’s continued efforts to specialize its features, the movie industry doesn’t appear to be slowing down. Add to this online surge the weekly box office numbers, and one thing is clear: a lot of us are watching a lot of movies. And let’s face it, they’re not all good movies. In fact, many of them are bad. And I mean bad in every sense — poor storylines, debaucherous scenes, shaky acting — there are plenty of ways it could go wrong. Which means, there are plenty of ways to ruin your evening by watching a movie. Therefore, we should think carefully before devoting hours of our lives to the screen, whether at home or in ...