Jonah is quite the cautionary tale. As much a whiny child-man as he was a prophet of God, Jonah is the epitome of contradiction. Jonah's proclivity to always worry about the wrong thing kept him from seeing the awesome grace of God for the beautiful gift it was to the people of Nineveh.

Home is supposed to be the one safe place you can count on, the place to let down your guard and be your complete yourself. So, why then, is going home so difficult?

Luke's Martha has gotten a bad rap for being a gracious host in her own home. Jesus's admonition to be less like Martha and more like Mary flies in the face of what we might consider good hospitality. In defense of Martha, let's consider how she made her special guest feel at home.

The Christian life is a journey of faith but just exactly where are we going on that journey? And how will we know when we get there? We are on our way somewhere, but we're not there yet. Are we almost home?

Abram was called out by God, called away from his generational homestead and sent on a migration of faith. Equipped with God's seemingly laughable promise of a new land and a great nation of descendants, Abram - already elderly - sets out in pursuit of a seemingly impossible future.

Where can we go to get away from God? If the Psalmist is right, nowhere; everywhere we turn we will surely encounter God. Sometimes that idea of an inescapable God feels like a blessing and other times a curse. How might we relate to a God whose presence covers the vastness of all the created order?

When Peter saw Jesus walking on water, he jumped out of the boat to join him, but quickly sank. Jesus saved him from the waters and said to him "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" What might the words of Jesus speak into our own lives today?

Wily and crafty Jacob, who is no stranger to running away when things get tough, encounters the Holy in a most unusual way. He can either do his usual letting go or he can stand his ground and stay in the difficulty. What he chooses to do not only changes him, but changes the course for all God's chosen people. Like Jacob, if we choose to hold on to God in the midst of holy encounters, we too will be changed.