I finished a book over the weekend – Sara Paretsky\u2019s Dead Land. I enjoyed this fast-paced, often humorous mystery with interesting characters and an ending in which the heroes came out on top and the villains got their comeuppance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In general that\u2019s why I often turn to mysteries when events of the world are stressful. The endings are usually satisfying. All the pieces to the puzzle are finally explained. Motivations become clear. There is little nuance. The good people win and the bad ones are defeated. Readers are united as we root for the detective who inevitably saves the day. (Though I wonder why some of these detectives don\u2019t move since their neighborhoods seem to have unidentified bodies show up so often.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Real life does not wrap up quite so neatly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The psalmists experienced this…and were frustrated by it. \u201cWhy, God?\u201d they asked over and over. And God never really answers. God simply makes a promise: I am with you. I love you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May we hold onto that promise of God during these times. And in the meantime, if you\u2019re looking for something that wraps up a little more neatly than real life, I can recommend some great mystery authors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Christ,
Pastor Jen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I finished a book over the weekend – Sara Paretsky\u2019s Dead Land. I enjoyed this fast-paced, often humorous mystery with interesting characters and an ending in which the heroes came out on top and the villains got their comeuppance. In general that\u2019s why I often turn to mysteries when events of the world are stressful. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2291,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pastors-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n