This morning I was trying to think of something to write about. Sometimes there just isn’t anything to say. At those moments in my life, I feel a call to pray and listen to God.

I checked out the news today and heard about the plane that crashed in Butte, Montana. There were 14 people on the flight–7 children–and no one survived. You can watch a news report of the crash here though the exact number dead was later changed from 17 to 14.

Would you take a minute to write a one-sentence prayer saying what you would like God to do for the family and relatives of the people killed in the crash? They could really use your prayers right now. Here’s mine.

“God, I want you to give the family and friends who lost their loved ones Your peace, the peace You gave the disciples after You lost Your Son died.”

Something seemed different about her the past few weeks. She was usually upbeat and funny, but she had changed. I picked up on it a time or two, but dismissed it as the usual teenage drama. I remember when I was a teen–way back in the stone age. One day I would be cool with you and the next I didn’t know you. Looking back now, I owe several really nice adults an apology–starting with my parents.

An adult friend of Mary, the teenager mentioned above, pulled me aside and told me what was going on with her. She was having problems at home–big problems. Mary’s mother didn’t approve of her coming to our church and getting involved in the services and teen activities. As Mary would later tell me, “My Mom always tells me to do positive stuff, to do something positive with my life. But now that I am, she hates me!” To be quite honest, her raw emotion caught me a little off guard. She really wanted to talk, so I just listened.

“There have always been problems in my family,” she continued softly with her face draped in sadness, “because me and my oldest sister have a different father from my younger brothers and sisters. My mom has a problem with us because she hates our father and she kinda takes it out on us. I can’t do nothing right for her. When she and her current husband go out, they take the others and leave us.” Mary’s hurt was palpable. You could feel it just sitting close to her. She wasn’t done, either. She started to break down the issue that’s really gotten her in deep drama with her Mama.

“I like coming to this church. My family goes to another church, but I don’t feel welcome there. When I come here, I feel welcome. People here don’t look at you funny, if they haven’t seen you for awhile, or if you’re struggling with something. The people here are not all decked out in jewelry and stuff. Everything’s just on point here, and I like that. It’s different here.”

I’ve been in youth ministry for a minute now, and I’ve never heard a teen make a statement like that about church–especially the church I attend. While some people have all kinds of problems with our church–all churches have problems–Mary had found something good, and she was willing to do whatever it took keep on coming. Her mother told her that if she kept coming to our church, she would kicked her out of the house. Yet, the next week, there was Mary–albeit, a bit sad. At 17, she had decided to take a stand. Nothing was going to stop her from getting to the place where she could meet God.

Mary is a lot like another woman in the Bible. You’ll find her in St. Matthew’s gospel, chapter 15, verses 21-28. She had a real serious problem. She was a Gentile (a non-Jew) and her daughter was demon-possessed. Can you say, uh, problems? “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!” she cried to Jesus. But the very next verse says, “He answered her not a word” (verse 23). Now that’s a “diss.”

Hadn’t Jesus come to help messed up people? Yep, but wait. The story gets weirder. When Jesus did speak to her, He told her that he had been sent to find and save the lost sheep from the house of Israel. Translation? His mission was first to get the Jewish nation back on track (Matt.10:5,6). It wasn’t that Jesus hated other people. God had made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants who were called Jews, and Jesus was sent to re-establish that covenant first. In the process of doing so–through his life, death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven–he would save all people. But, Jesus first appeal was to the lost Jews.

Turning to the woman, Jesus leveled another harsh saying. “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs” (verse 26). OUCH! The woman was unfased by Jesus’ words, though. “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master’s table!” (Verse 27). Her daughter was sick, and she wasn’t about to let Jesus off the hook that easy. Jesus then said, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire” (verse 28). She was willing to take whatever help Jesus could give, the crumbs of blessing that feel from the Master’s table. She had to help her!

Sometimes it’s tough to get to God, and even when we get there we don’t always like the answers or non-answers we get. Like my friend Mary, and the widow in Matthew, don’t let that throw you off the trail. Keep on pressing until God hears your prayers and answers them. What might seem to you at the time like a God diss may only be a test of your faith.

My friend Mary is caught in a difficult situation, but she believes that if she keeps pouring out her heart to God, that if she keeps pressing her way into His presence, her situation will change. She’s refuses to give up her faith in God. Don’t you give yours up either.

As grizzly stories go, this one was pretty bad. On October 5 authorities in San Bernadino, CA discovered that an unemployed father of three had murdered his entire family because he was upset over the state of his finances. He methodically shot his wife, three sons, and his mother-in-law before turning the gun on himself. It was a sad ending to several beautiful lives.

The father, Karthik Rajaram, left two suicide notes and a will. In the notes he described the financial pressure he was under because he had lost his job. Although the family lived in a gorgeous gated community in the foothills of the Santa Susanna mountains, they didn’t own the house. All that glittered wasn’t gold.

In the suicide notes, the father felt that things had gotten so bad that he was left with only two choices. He could kill himself, in which case his family would suffer emotionally–because of his loss–and financially, because he was the only person who worked in the home. Choice number 2: Kill everyone, including himself. That way, no one suffers. Somehow, the financial box he was in had stolen every other choice from him, save two.

It’s easy to dismiss this guy as nut-job who should’ve known that he had more options than to kill himself or his family. But if you live long enough, circumstances in life just might put you in a place where you can see only few options. I haven’t been around that long, but I’ve been there a few times.

Several years ago I remember being profiled and stopped by a police officer who proceeded to rip out the dashboard of my car in search of drugs. I had been married less than a week and my new bride was with me. He patted me down and started moving to do the same to her when I said to him like, “You’re not gonna touch my wife.” He called for back-up and few more officers came, including a female who checked my wife. I felt more powerless that night than I had at any point in my life before. He had no right to stop us. He embarrassed us, just because he could. That night I felt like I had one choice, and that was to hunt down that officer and kill him. I’m ashamed to say it, but that’s how I felt.

Even though I felt like doing the unthinkable, I knew I had other options. I knew even then that my “struggle [was] not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). Translation? The stuff that happened to me had a lot to do with an evil force led by Satan, bent on doing me harm (1 Peter 5:8).

If Satan can make you feel totally hopeless and powerless to change your situation, he’s got you right where he wants you. Then, he can streamline your choices and push you in the direction of making the wrong one. But I’ve got some bad news for him, which is great news for you and me. God is so into powerlessness!

In 2 Corinthians 12:10 Paul, a servant of Jesus, wrote: “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Wait, did this guy just say that he “delights” in trials? Only fools do that, right? When you read 2 Corinthians 12 altogether, you discover that this guy had a really bad problem that he begged God to take from his life, but God refused. Instead, God told Him “My grace is sufficient (enough) for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (verse 5).

God was telling Paul, bring the problem to Me. I’ll help you deal with it, because I’m much stronger than you. You can try to fix it yourself, but it wont work. You have another choice, and that’s to let me help you. Paul got so good at handing over his problems to God that he took pleasure in doing so. He (delighted) in the process. Why? Because He had faith that God would see him through.

Do you feel caught? Are you running out of options? Tell God about your problem, ask for His help, and then trust Him.