up, there's just nothing we can do to influence god.
god in jesus has made god's decision...and it is for us. yes, we can run. but we can't change the fact that god loves us, that god in fact loves the whole world more than we can imagine.
yes this is good news. the best news, but first it's hard. hard because we're not in control. hard because it's not up to us. hard because every time we hear how much god loves us we also know that we had nothing to do with it, cannot influence it, and therefore are out control.
on the other hand, precisely because we are not in 