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Type One Confessional: God, a Pastor, and a Girl with Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 Diabetes is a monster.By such monsters, faith is tested.But God is there. He is listening. He is acting.He can be trusted.
At its core, Type One Confessional explores in narrative form the struggle to reconcile God's love in times of crisis. In particular, Reverend Thoma speaks directly to the unexpected and life-altering calamity of his seven-year-old daughter’s diagnosis with what is often an overwhelming disease—one that is both difficult to manage, and if left untreated, is more than deadly. Thoma does this in a semi-fictional way—that is, each of the events included in the volume is true, and yet, even though the back-and-forth engagements between the Creator and one of His pastors are fictionalized, the content within arises from the Word of God—the place where God’s voice is heard clearly and where He meets each human being with the promise of His love in the midst of the darkness of uncertainty.
“Pastor Thoma welcomes us into the fray. He invites us, adeptly, into some pretty expressive dialogues with God, and as he does this, we are reminded that through faith in Jesus, nothing is ever too big. From upheaval to anger to acceptance, Thoma shows us that while God has unique plans for every individual, through the work of Christ, a wonderful plan has already unfolded that is universal in scope and beneficial for all. Also, as you receive all of this from these conversations, you may even discover—as I did—a special reassurance in knowing that even pastors get angry with God, but also that God understands the frustrations of His people, and regardless of the circumstances, He is working to keep us in the faith and not push us away.”
—Eric Hipple, Former Quarterback for the Detroit Lions and author of Real Men Do Cry
“If your path is uncertain and chocked full of sorrows, pick up this book and read it. You simply must meet this fretting father and his faithful God. You'll discover that you are not alone. Thoma understands. More importantly, his Lord does, too.”
—Rev. Dr. Peter J. Scaer, Associate Professor of Exegetical Theology, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and author of The Lukan Passion and the Praiseworthy Death
At its core, Type One Confessional explores in narrative form the struggle to reconcile God's love in times of crisis. In particular, Reverend Thoma speaks directly to the unexpected and life-altering calamity of his seven-year-old daughter’s diagnosis with what is often an overwhelming disease—one that is both difficult to manage, and if left untreated, is more than deadly. Thoma does this in a semi-fictional way—that is, each of the events included in the volume is true, and yet, even though the back-and-forth engagements between the Creator and one of His pastors are fictionalized, the content within arises from the Word of God—the place where God’s voice is heard clearly and where He meets each human being with the promise of His love in the midst of the darkness of uncertainty.
“Pastor Thoma welcomes us into the fray. He invites us, adeptly, into some pretty expressive dialogues with God, and as he does this, we are reminded that through faith in Jesus, nothing is ever too big. From upheaval to anger to acceptance, Thoma shows us that while God has unique plans for every individual, through the work of Christ, a wonderful plan has already unfolded that is universal in scope and beneficial for all. Also, as you receive all of this from these conversations, you may even discover—as I did—a special reassurance in knowing that even pastors get angry with God, but also that God understands the frustrations of His people, and regardless of the circumstances, He is working to keep us in the faith and not push us away.”
—Eric Hipple, Former Quarterback for the Detroit Lions and author of Real Men Do Cry
“If your path is uncertain and chocked full of sorrows, pick up this book and read it. You simply must meet this fretting father and his faithful God. You'll discover that you are not alone. Thoma understands. More importantly, his Lord does, too.”
—Rev. Dr. Peter J. Scaer, Associate Professor of Exegetical Theology, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and author of The Lukan Passion and the Praiseworthy Death
126 pages, Paperback
Published June 2, 2017
1 person is currently reading
8 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Ian Thoma
24 books20 followersREVEREND CHRISTOPHER I. THOMA is a husband, father, and Lutheran pastor in Michigan. He is allergic to sharks, has a 4th-degree black belt in Monopoly, is bored by scary movies, and drives a Jeep Wrangler he pretends is the Millennium Falcon.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 26, 2021
A compassionate and raw look at the struggle of faith in suffering, and how God in Christ joins us in that struggle, guides us, and gives us Hope. Highly recommend.
January 25, 2022
He remembers it vividly. He writes you into the day, the hour, the min, when all such ticking’s of the clock froze, and in a muffled and concussive sound, he heard that his daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Everything changed. Time stopped. Then quickly it started again. But now in a hellish nightmare of the fright and finitude of human life. A father’s lament courses through these pages. She’s only seven years old. She’s just a little girl with big dreams, a life yet to be written on the countless blank pages we call, “day.” One would think, he’s a pastor, he’s built for this. He’s got all the right words, ready to be spoken at the precise moment they are needed to take all the pain and suffering away. But you would be wrong. Dead wrong. Like the suffering clerics of old, he wonders just as intently as to why, and for what purpose has this cruel disease inhabited the body of his daughter, torn his family’s heart out with a fierce and merciless grip, all under the guise of that mysterious yet often touted word, “allowance.”
So, this father takes to the pen to write his grievances to God. And as God has promised, He listens with all ears. He even listens to the cries of those He has yoked with His stole, put a staff in their hand to tend His sheep, and to love them with same reckless love. He reads between the lines, and though knowing exactly what to say, He waits for the perfect moment, the passage of time covered in the audibleness of His worded love, the movements and actions of His creatures, to show this brokenhearted father that He has and is piecing life back together perfectly in His Son.
So, this book isn’t just the sighing’s and groanings of an anxiety ridden father. It’s equally, if not more, the salving speech of God in His incarnational and visceral compassion to those whom life has taken an unexpected and tragic turn. This isn’t misery loves company. This is misery crying out for mercy, for hope. And getting it.
There is a refreshing simplicity yet fathomless depth to the begging of this father and his sessions with God. These sessions, like so many others, are not on therapist’s couch. They fall squarely on the crucible of life, unvarnished, void of human justification and it’s bumbling words, and chalk full of God’s justification in the midst of death by inches or numbers. A father’s honesty is met with God’s honest truth: His Son. And in this Son, God speaks, He nudges and hones in the ear of those deaf and consumed by the criminy of it all, that in the Son’s gifts life is wrestled from death. He uses a daughter to teach a father, and a father to teach a daughter the profound depth of grace and mercy. He uses a beloved sheep to crystalize the comforting and calming peace that the Gospel brings to harried and worn out shepherds. And He uses a family of God and their diabetic cross to teach the families of God, that they are holy people because they are surrounded by the holy things of God by which He obtained by the very cross He bore.
There are many “ah ha” moments in the book. Far too many to recount. But if you linger in this book, hearing this father’s lament, and even more hearing how this wise and compassionate God responds, you are likely to receive a peace you didn’t think possible. Where you once thought life was over, in the word God to this father, you are brought to the recognition that life is not merely a span of time, but rather a person. Life is the God who became flesh, and having died and rose again, you are dressed in His perfect body and are gifted eternity in the heavenly places. Given this gift, you might even find yourself rejoicing in your sufferings. And though in this broken life you see through a dark glass dimly, you nonetheless glimpse the works of God being displayed, even in a seven-year old girl diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.
This book has changed me. As I read it, I inwardly noticed this happening, as my ears heard out loud the words my mouth was speaking. I am confident this is only the tip of the iceberg. So, as this father, his daughter, and their God talk, I remain an eager eavesdropper on their conversations. I invite you to pull up a chair next to me, a dram of whisky if you’re so inclined, and do some eavesdropping yourself. You won’t regret it.
So, this father takes to the pen to write his grievances to God. And as God has promised, He listens with all ears. He even listens to the cries of those He has yoked with His stole, put a staff in their hand to tend His sheep, and to love them with same reckless love. He reads between the lines, and though knowing exactly what to say, He waits for the perfect moment, the passage of time covered in the audibleness of His worded love, the movements and actions of His creatures, to show this brokenhearted father that He has and is piecing life back together perfectly in His Son.
So, this book isn’t just the sighing’s and groanings of an anxiety ridden father. It’s equally, if not more, the salving speech of God in His incarnational and visceral compassion to those whom life has taken an unexpected and tragic turn. This isn’t misery loves company. This is misery crying out for mercy, for hope. And getting it.
There is a refreshing simplicity yet fathomless depth to the begging of this father and his sessions with God. These sessions, like so many others, are not on therapist’s couch. They fall squarely on the crucible of life, unvarnished, void of human justification and it’s bumbling words, and chalk full of God’s justification in the midst of death by inches or numbers. A father’s honesty is met with God’s honest truth: His Son. And in this Son, God speaks, He nudges and hones in the ear of those deaf and consumed by the criminy of it all, that in the Son’s gifts life is wrestled from death. He uses a daughter to teach a father, and a father to teach a daughter the profound depth of grace and mercy. He uses a beloved sheep to crystalize the comforting and calming peace that the Gospel brings to harried and worn out shepherds. And He uses a family of God and their diabetic cross to teach the families of God, that they are holy people because they are surrounded by the holy things of God by which He obtained by the very cross He bore.
There are many “ah ha” moments in the book. Far too many to recount. But if you linger in this book, hearing this father’s lament, and even more hearing how this wise and compassionate God responds, you are likely to receive a peace you didn’t think possible. Where you once thought life was over, in the word God to this father, you are brought to the recognition that life is not merely a span of time, but rather a person. Life is the God who became flesh, and having died and rose again, you are dressed in His perfect body and are gifted eternity in the heavenly places. Given this gift, you might even find yourself rejoicing in your sufferings. And though in this broken life you see through a dark glass dimly, you nonetheless glimpse the works of God being displayed, even in a seven-year old girl diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.
This book has changed me. As I read it, I inwardly noticed this happening, as my ears heard out loud the words my mouth was speaking. I am confident this is only the tip of the iceberg. So, as this father, his daughter, and their God talk, I remain an eager eavesdropper on their conversations. I invite you to pull up a chair next to me, a dram of whisky if you’re so inclined, and do some eavesdropping yourself. You won’t regret it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews