When a gunman opened fire at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007, killing 33, the nation turned its attention to Blacksburg, Va. Jim Pace, co-pastor of New Life Christian Fellowship, found himself suddenly thrust into the spotlight, answering questions from media personalities such as Larry King and Anderson Cooper on why God allowed the tragedy to happen.

Pace remembers this experience as well as the nature of God in Should We Fire God?: Finding Hope in God When We Don't Understand (978-0-446-54614-0, $19.99, FaithWords), which includes a foreword by Rick Warren.

Pace launches from the tragedy to address common questions Christians and non-believers have about why suffering exists and why it seems God doesn't intervene—a subject increasingly relevant in light of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the Indian Ocean tsunamis and the recent earthquake in Haiti.

"The really sticky issues for me have always dealt with why a God who claims to be capable, loving and aware could allow such suffering to occur for so long," he writes. "Difficult questions about God's job performance come at us in the midst of lives that are raging at full speed, and I believe God would honestly like to interact with us about them."

Pace, who serves in the Ecclesia Network, a group of churches that aim to learn from the emerging church, writes that moments of suffering should be used to draw closer, not farther away from God.

"I do not know when people will be over what happened here in Blacksburg or other terrible events that we have witnessed in the past and will no doubt see in the future. What I do know is that as we walk through our present with events like this in our past, we learn to turn our hearts to God and not away."

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