Never Tell Someone They're Wrong

Tell them that you're hurt. I wish people confronted me more often. As a writer, I say lots of things hoping to generate learning and understanding through lively discussion. I don't try to hurt anyone, but I do try to provoke. Unfortunately, sometimes the two go together. I only know this because someone told me. A few months ago, I wrote about what I believed were some terrible reasons for becoming a Christian. One of those reasons was hope. And with my usual blanket-sized polemic, I generalized everyone in need of hope as a wishy-washy Christian running from difficulty rather than learning from it. That's when I heard from the mom who had just lost her 7-year-old daughter to cancer. Admittedly, compassion was never my strong suit, but having a little girl of my own brought this lady's pain home for me. She was hurt and angry because, for years, she watched her precious one suffer and, for years, she hoped for a miracle--only to have it ripped away by the God sh