I’ve been pondering theology for so long in search of the true formula so that every little, tiny eventuality can have a very clear and sure answer dogmatically true and orthodox. Many theologians believe this can be achieved. I don’t know that it can. Better put, I’m not smart enough to arrive there on my own. I pore over the Scriptures every single day of my life and I absolutely believe in the inherent power of the Word of God. But then there are the layers.

Layers upon layers of culture and thinking and tweaking. When one goes back and follows the line of Christian thought and life since the time of Jesus the road invariably leads to Church Councils at which point the collision of differing points of view are debated and an outcome of what is supposed to be true thought emerges.

I was as shocked as anyone when Facebook and Twitter exploded with the news in Boston. The wall to wall coverage has made the bombing as viral as it could possibly be. It’s gruesome, it’s violent and it shakes us. Badly. As we watch the story unfold in real time it makes us feel vulnerable.

It shakes our sense of security and even in our own homes we can feel weak and exposed.

There’s been a piece of me wanting to write this and another piece avoiding it. Controversial people or subjects kind of muddy up what I do every day which is read the Daily Audio Bible and react to the Scriptures and nothing was more controversial in the religious world for a season than Rob Bell’s last book, Love Wins.

The irony is that when I finally sat down to read this piece of so-called heresy I shrugged my shoulders and thought, "Interesting questions." I didn't walk away thinking Universalistic thoughts or that poor Rob had just gone to the dark side even though I didn't personally agree with every word in the book.

Lloyd Bustard is the pastor of World Worship Church in Charlotte, NC but how he got there is an incredibly compelling story of perseverance and a steadfast desire for the will of God. This interview will encourage everyone who is finding it difficult to keep walking when it feels like the sludge of life is quicksand.

Nothing worth fighting for comes without a fight. How has this been true in your life? What are you contending for right now as you reach for God's will?

We like grace and mercy don’t we? A lot. We like it because we need it. A lot. But a lot of the time we don’t like to give it back. Often we want to receive grace and mercy for ourselves while applying rigid behavioral constructs for the world around us. We need to be able to make mistakes and learn from them while having some sort of rules that we can understand. Theology provides this anchor. It gives a framework or a foundation for us to build our doctrines from and from there we have some sort of basis for what we can and cannot do.

But your theology or doctrine cannot save you when your world falls apart. Anymore than your nicely built house can save you in an F5 tornado.

Michael Hyatt is the former chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers who now spends his time writing, speaking and consulting. His blog, michaelhyatt.com is one of the most popular on the internet and he’s one of the foremost voices in leadership development. His latest book, Platform : Get Noticed In A Noisy World is a New York Times Bestseller. Here is a video of a few minutes we were able to share together recently.

Have you read any of Michael's work? What did you think?

Yesterday as I was completing a speaking engagement in Galveston, TX I was asked the question, “Do you have any theological issues with traveling and speaking in so many different kinds of churches?” I answered the question but ended up thinking about it a lot more over the following hours. It’s the season of Lent and we observed Ash Wednesday last week and that brought about a fair amount of discussion about false teaching and the traditions of men.

The truth is that, in the Body of Christ, I'd sort of thought we'd moved past some of that. I thought I was pretty well tuned into what is going on in churchland these days since I'm in a lot of them around the world. And maybe we are well beyond it but don't know it.