I’ve been doing a bit of exploring on Joe’s blog Felix Hominum, which still exists, although it’s been a long time since anything was written on it.
On Thursday I referred to Joe’s last post. Here is one of his first posts, written in 2004.
Just a quick note to let you know that the phrase “God doesn’t give you anything you can’t handle” should be banned for all time from every conversation. It is a favorite response when you run across someone who is facing an unexpected (or anticipated) difficulty or crisis of some sort.
I first came across this phrase in great quantity a few years ago. During the time we were expecting Sarah Joy, and during the time immediately after her birth, well-meaning folks who discovered she had a serious heart defect and also has Down Syndrome used this phrase over and over again to try to be “pastoral”.
The intentions I am sure were good, but the phrase is less than helpful.
Read the rest here. Again, please do.