“More to the Story: Ruth” (July 17, 2016)

from Ruth 4:13-22

Almost as an intermission between the story of Israel’s judges and the beginning of the time of her kings is the brief account of a woman named Ruth.

While this may not only seem like a strange placement for such a story, but also a curious addition to what we hold as Scripture, it is one of the most beautiful pictures of faithfulness we have in all of the Bible.

Not only does Ruth paint for us a picture of what undying faithfulness looks like, but challenges in the attention and compassion we give to those around us.

In the midst of your every day coming and going, triumphs and even struggles, are you paying attention to the lives of the hurting around you…and are you willing to enter in to them?

w/ Vern Collins

“Expectations: Things Will Change” (December 6, 2015)

from Zephaniah 3:14-20/Luke 1:46-55

Advent is about expectation…the expectation that God will continue to fulfill His promises.  And if God is still fulfilling His promises then isn’t God still acting…and if God is acting, then things will change?  Right?

Right.  The problem is we don’t often see it.  We look for change in our lives, but don’t see it, we expect our circumstances to improve, but aren’t seeing any thing different…so if God is acting, why aren’t things changing?  The question, perhaps, is not whether or not things are changing, but, “are you looking for change in the right place?”

w/ Vern Collins

“Expectations: God Will Act” (November 29, 2015)

from Jeremiah 33:14-16

The season of Advent is about waiting, it is about expectation, it is about hope…the hope that things will change, the hope that this is not all there is, the hope that God will act.

Whether it’s something in your life you’re dealing with, or the state of this world we live in…holding on to such hope can seem foolish…

And yet maybe that’s exactly what is needed…a bit more foolishness…a deeper investment in the hope that God will act…because God has been faithful to act before.

w/ Vern Collins