I believe for God not to allow pain to happen in the world is for Him to extract free will from the world.

My parents, they were good, godly people, but they never said, You need to write.

Jesus spoke to those who had turned their backs on history. He spoke to those who had blatantly ignored sign after sign, servant after servant.

He came, not as a flash of light or as an unapproachable conqueror, but as one whose first cries were heard by a peasant girl and a sleepy carpenter. God tapped humanity on its collective shoulder, "Pardon me," he said, and eternity interrupted time, divinity interrupted carnality, and heaven interrupted the earth in the form of a baby. Christianity was born in one big heavenly interruption.

God's love supply is never empty.

You present a challenge to Satan's plan. You carry something of God within you, something noble and holy, something the world needs - wisdom, kindness, mercy, skill. If Satan can neutralize you, he can mute your influence.

There is a canyon of difference between doing your best to glorify God and doing whatever it takes to glorify yourself. The quest for excellence is a mark of maturity. The quest for power is childish.