My Christian friend lamented that she wanted to help her sister–let’s call her Mary–as Mary struggled with the consequences of a whole series of bad decisions. She couldn’t. She wanted to, but she couldn’t.

Mary wanted to know if becoming a Christian would take her fear away, and my friend–let’s call her Debbie–couldn’t answer. She had the same fears Mary did.

Then Mary asked about being at peace. Again, Debbie had to admit she didn’t have much inner peace either. She felt peaceful when everything went smoothly, but trouble always trumped peace. Why, Debbie asked me, didn’t she experience the “peace that passes understanding”–the peace in the storm–that the Bible talks about?

Now, you need to know that Debbie is a very good person. Good wife. Good mother. Good employee. Good church member. She tries hard to be the best she can be.

Which describes many people called Christians.

I gave Debbie the answer. Let’s talk about that next time.