What Good Is God
In Search of a Faith That Matters

by Philip Yancey

Philip Yancey's new book What Good Is God? takes a look at people's faith when the most horrible things happen to them.

The author, who had gone through a crisis of his own when he had an accident that nearly killed him, visits sites where the people face doubts about their faith because of events that are so horrible to understand.

Two of the most striking visits are the the author's visit to Virgina two weeks after the campus massacre and the visit to Green Lake and the professional sex workers.

The Virgina Tech was especially poignant. After reading this and other sections, the reader will, like the participants at Virgina Tech, get an added sense that, yes, God is good and in control. The reader gets the strong impression that the participants got a needed boost of faith in spite of events that had unfolded in their lives.

One particular event that must have been helpful was when a Columbine survivor expressed faith in spite of being nearly killed in that tragedy.

Yancey does not have all the answers because none of us know the reason terrible things happen, but we come away with the idea that if it is from God, it is meant for good.

As you read each section and shudder at the pain and suffering, remember but for the grace of God there go I.