Hurting,
Helping, Healing
by James R. Kok
God's people have always asked questions in the face of suffering - both their own suffering and the suffering of others they love. Jim Kok answers them. Not with explanations. Not with reasoned theological arguments. He answers them as a pastor who has been on the front lines of the human experience. He knows that the right response to "Why me?" is often "Lo, I will be with you, even to the end of the world."

Jim Kok's replies - they are more replies than answers - belong to the wisdom tradition. For example, he understands the reality of denial, that emotional anesthetic that cushions us from the full impact of our pain. There are times when facing reality is too much; it would destroy us. So God gives us the grace of partial understanding and of partial answers, necessary for temporary survival.

The wisdom in this book knows the peculiarities of pain. In their suffering some people turn from their godlessness to their Savior. For some suffering ripens service. Some take the way of bitterness. Some know all the answers to suffering and never benefit from it.


Jim Kok knows that no answer can finally settle the voice of the skeptic within us. In the sidebars of many pages the inner voice that questions God, the voice that wrestles God to the ground, echoes the voice of faith: "Is it really true?" "Are you really there, God?" "Do you really care?"

This is not a book of easy answers. Jim Kok struggles in pain but also in faith and comes finally to embrace God. Rather, he comes finally to find God embracing him.

To order a copy, contact:

      Care and Kindness Ministries
      10073 Valley View St, #429
      Cerritos, CA 90630

      or order directly from Amazon.com

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