Week 2: Chapters 4–7 — The Crisis and the Operating Room

1.Colton's appendix had been ruptured for at least five days before surgery. The Burpos had taken him to doctors who initially misdiagnosed him. Have you ever felt that God seemed absent or slow during a crisis? How do you reconcile that feeling with belief in a caring God?

2.While Colton is in surgery, Todd finds an empty hospital chapel and erupts at God — angry, raw, and demanding. He writes that he felt he had given his life to God's service and now God seemed to be taking his son. What do you think of Todd's honesty with God in that moment? Is that kind of prayer faithful or faithless — or both?

3.At the same time Todd is yelling at God in the chapel, Sonja is in another part of the hospital sending prayer requests by email to hundreds of people. Two very different responses to the same crisis. Which response feels more natural to you, and what does that reveal about your own spiritual temperament?