I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while. At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. - Romans 15:24-25 (ESV)

Have you ever had a trip that didn't go like you expected? You had grand plans. Every detail was mapped out. Reservations were made and confirmed. But in the middle your plan suddenly took a detour. Maybe it was an accident. Maybe someone lost the reservation. Maybe the money wasn't there for the trip. How did you respond? How did it turn out? What did you learn?

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. - Romans 15:5-6 (ESV)

We tend to have our list of really bad sins. We are careful to avoid those. Often we don't even want to talk about them, but if we do talk about them, we point them out in others and in our world to gawk at their failure.

. . . and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written,

    "Those who have never been told of him will see,
        and those who have never heard will understand." - Romans 15:20-21 (ESV)

Do you know what the 10-40 window is? Have you ever heard of 'unreached' or 'unengaged' people groups? Did you know that there are whole groups of people in the world that have never heard the gospel or the name of Christ? Did you know that they aren't just in some remote jungle somewhere?

Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. - Romans 14:13 (ESV)

One of the persistent problems in church is self-righteousness. We easily recognize that in the New Testament. The Pharisees are the easily despised villains of the gospels. They go around spending time looking religious and looking down on those that don't, but they are driven by position, power, and pride.

For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. - Romans 15:8-9

Reading the Bible, especially the Old Testament, can be odd. The majority of the story is about the Jews and their struggle to follow God. As Gentiles sometimes we don't know how we connect to the story. Is God even interested in us? Or are we just some kind of afterthought?

Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face. This will be my salvation, that the godless shall not come before him. - Job 13:15-16 (ESV)

So today is Friday the 13th. It's the day that no one is supposed to feel lucky. Fortunately, for you our family celebrated it a week early, so none of you have anything to worry about. It's been quite a week around here...

Seriously if we believe God, we know that He is the one who rules over everything including both the universal story and our personal one. In the trenches of life, that is often hard to see and harder to understand. Awful things happen to us. Evil things are done. Life falls apart. Permanent damage is done. How do we try to understand this? What do we do when the pieces of life don't fit?