John Markum

Praise through the Pain

You ever feel like you do the right thing, and yet bad things happen anyway?! It’s like “Karma” got drunk and punished the wrong person. No good deed goes unpunished – that was a phrase I heard growing up from other adults expressing this exact frustration. The Apostle Paul had to know that feeling too. […]

Quit saying you’re praying

I’ll pray for you. It’s the “proper” response in American church culture whenever someone shares something with you about their struggle. It really sounds nice. And I believe it’s almost always offered with the purest intentions. But it tends to have as little sincerity as “bless you!” does whenever someone sneezes. Because of this, when […]

What I don’t pray for…

It’s an election year… good times, amiright?! No, of course not. We’re all miserable and wondering how this circus is going to end in November. I’ve got countless people in my life who know Christ as I do, that are praying that this is somehow the end of times, and Jesus is going to come […]

The phrase no pain, no gain has been a mantra for athletes and fitness junkies for years. And what they understand about physical pain needs to be broadened to a much more general use in all of our lives. Pain hurts. That's the whole problem. No one enjoys it, and if someone does, we rightfully

The Premium of Pain