Wonderful essay. I've earmarked it for possible use as a devotional reading in my Stephen Ministry group, if that's okay with you.

One thing that irritates me to n end is when people have been praying desperately for a healing, the person dies, and the "prayer warriors" say, "God answered! He expeienced the ultimate healing!" My first rebellious and totally unreligious thought is, "Why didn't we just pray for his death, then?"