On the very first page of his book The Road Less Traveled, psychiatrist Scott Peck tells us something we know is true, but wish were not true, when he says, "Life is difficult."1 Life is hard, and no matter how much we wish that life was easy, our wishing doesn't change it. Life is hard, and it is full of heartache.

Just this past week I received a mailing from a Christian organization that does mission work in Latin America. The director was sharing his troubles with the readers. The agency began the summer with a $40,000 deficit, and he was facing cancer surgery. By the end of the summer, he was getting his strength back, but they were $45,000 in the red.

Because he was facing seven weeks of radiation, the director decided to take a couple days off and get out of town. On the trip out …