Hi, welcome to Redeem the Commute. I’m Ryan, your host for the daily challenges.  This week’s topic is part of our series called EPIC where we’ve been exploring how Jesus is found throughout the Old Testament part of the Bible. We’re reading some epic old stories from the Old Testament, some of which you might have heard before, some of which might be new to you. But our hope is that in each of them we’ll see how they’re part of one big epic story: the story of the Bible, the story of the world, God’s story.

Our daily challenges are meant to help you explore what it means to follow Jesus, even if you don’t have a lot of time. That’s why we have a rhythm that keeps us in sync, even if we’re not a community that meets together in person regularly. This means every Monday we introduce the week’s idea. Every Tuesday we study it in the Bible. Every Wednesday we see how that challenges and transforms our thinking on the topic. Thursdays we try to apply and live it out. Friday is a day for prayer and reflection before we take a rest on Saturday, and Sundays we meet together with other Christians in community.

A photo went viral last week showing an ER doctor crying after the unexpected death of a 19 year old.  This was striking because so often, doctors hide their raw emotion and grief in the name of professionalism.

This doctor went outside and slumped against a wall and finally let it all out.  Probably not for every case, but in the expected death of a child, few people can remain emotionless and stoic.

This has caused a flood of doctors, nurses, paramedics and other professionals to share their own stories, usually relating to children dying, where they’ve struggled with how to contain or release their emotions as professionals.  When I was first asked to conduct a funeral for a child, I faced the same challenges – how do I help people, when it’s so hard for me, too?

There is something about the death of a child.  It’s one of the few things that might cut through the most violent, hateful, hardened heart.

And that is, unfortunately, the only thing that could get through to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt who refused to release the nation of Israel from slavery.  We’ll read that story tomorrow.

However, if you want to see the picture or read some of the stories arising from it, you can find it here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/doctors-share-their-personal-stories-of-grief-after-this-heartbreaking-image-goes-viral-10122512.html

Question: Have you grieved the death of a child or young person?

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• Are you meeting just once a week with your discussion group?  You can find all of this week’s discussion material in our Weekly Study Guide