Where is God when it Hurts?

I started reading Philip Yancey's "Where is God when it Hurts?" this morning on my way to work. The very first paragraph in Chapter One captured me immediately:

"I feel helpless around people in great pain. Helpless, and also guilty. I stand beside them, watching facial features contort and listening to the sighs and moans, deeply aware of the huge gulf between us. I cannot penetrate their suffering, I can only watch. Whatever I attempt to say seems weak and stiff, as if I'd memorised the lines for a school play."

Philip Yancey is my favourite Christian writer, and for good reasons. He always approaches sensitive and difficult topics from a very practical perspective, with honest sharing of his life experience. He does extensive research - not just in the library or on the Internet for theories and analysis, but by speaking to real people with real issues, which makes his books a lot more human and touching. Reading his books is like a walk in the park, except that you leave the park with a stronger biblical faith without realising it.