But all who wander are not lost.

Jesus taught the people, saying: “Take notice of what you are hearing.” Mark 4:24

I hope the book of Ruth affects you the way a trip to the Grand Canyon might. How do you apply the Grand Canyon? Of course, you don’t apply the Grand Canyon–you are stunned by its beauty. You stop talking as you let it fill your soul. You are silent as your soul expands. You sense that you don’t have enough capacity to capture the beauty.

​One of the oddest things about deep suffering is that the sun comes up in the morning. Life limps along. We have to hang in there with the story that God has permitted in our lives. As we endure, as we keep showing up for life when it makes no sense, we learn to love, and God shows up too.

Hesed, His steadfast love, a one-way love, a stubborn love. Your response to the other person is entirely independent of how that person has treated you. Love like this is unbalanced, uneven. There is nothing fair about this kind of love. But commitment-love lies at the heart of Christianity. It is Jesus’ love for us at the cross, and it is our love for one another. We rightly sense that death is at the center of love.

When feelings are the standard, we are left adrift on a turbulent sea. But with hesed love, you don’t allow your spirit to pull away. You move towards the other person; you don’t allow an ugly space to grow. –Paul Miller, A Loving Life

So one of the very cool things was that Manuel wanted to watch dawn rise over the Canyon. We had endured a sort of awkward and not-enough-blankets dozing in the car by the side of the road night in Nicole’s big old Cadillac and even before the tiniest hint of light had started to edge the horizon we stumbled along a trail to the very edge.

And waited in silence. Awake. Eyes open.

And the Monday night ladies have started a new book. And in each of our lives there is some of that darkest-before-dawn aching limping forward, in hope of the resurrection love. And we don’t really understand what it will look like, and maybe there is a little doubt mixed in as well, that keeps us from recognizing Him as He comforts us outside of the tomb of smashed expectations.

His lovingkindness. Hesed, His steadfast love, a one-way love, a stubborn love.

And one more morning before dawn I pray the prayer of hope and strength and courage.

Make us strong and courageous to do the new thing, because You are not the God of I was but You are the God I am and You are doing a new thing and that thing is unfolding right now in us. We will be strong and courageous and we will not be afraid, and we will not be discouraged, for You are the Lord our God & You will be with us where we go, so we take the next step which may feel like a leap of faith but our best mode of transportation through anything is always a leap of faith. –Ann Voskamp

And this morning’s wonder watching was through Arroyo Chico under bulbous pregnant-with-rain clouds shaded with silvers of every hue. The creosote were so bursting with flowers and fluffy pods that I could barely breathe. It was too dark to see the compass point mountains so I wandered around and around under yellow-drenched waterfalls of palo verdes and paid attention past the prickly pears and chollas. And pretty much the moment I stepped back through the front door the clouds let loose and birthed.

I might have to take the bus to school.

O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to His disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of my faith, that I may behold Him in all His redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The morning sun filters in through the palm fronds.

Call to Worship Blessed be God, because He has not rejected my prayer or removed His steadfast love from me! Psalm 66:20

Contemplation The hesed of God is a combination of strength in action, fierce commitment, and tender emotional care. God is a mighty warrior, a faithful husband, and a wise Father. This is love that David remembers and trusts in his time of need. This is how he can begin with “How long?” and end with “my heart shall rejoice.” The goal of deliverance is always worship. May the love of God fill us up and turn our complaints into a prayer of faith and a song of praise.

What does the love of God look like?

In front of the Vineyard, nestled against a corner wall there is a large blue ceramic fountain filled with and surrounded by an odd, mismatched pile of rocks. And each one has a story. Each one was held up in front of the congregation, held up high as a very solid reminder of He Who Will Not Fail. And much as the splashing St. Francis fountain greets me new every morning, so does His faithful lovingkindness, His hesed.

I will trust in You.

Let the weak say I am strong in the strength of the LORD.

I will trust in You.

Fill my heart with songs of deliverance whenever I am afraid.

I will trust in You.

His lovingkindness, O how free!

And if, in the process, any of you does not know how to meet any particular problem he has only to ask God—who gives generously to all men without making them feel foolish or guilty—and he may be quite sure that the necessary wisdom will be given him. James 1:5 (J. B. Phillips)

I have to remember that the accuser is Satan.

One of my childhood Sunday School stories was about Jesus standing by the Judgment Seat, and as my sins were highlighted and listed in full detail, Jesus would say, “I died for that one. I died for that one too. Look, I died for each of these sins. Every one.” And while this is true, it made God seem Big and Dark and With a Furrowed Disgusted Brow Pointing His Finger at Me.

But God so loved me that He sent His only Son. He is the One who justifies. Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And His love is not weak and small like my human love. Because He is love. It is His very nature and essence and it is big enough for anything.

Even my foolishness and guilt.

But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds that we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy,

Lovingkindness. Which doesn’t make it through human spellcheck. Because it is all about Him, a word He is.

In general, one may identify three basic meanings of hesed, and these three meanings always interact -- strength, steadfastness, and love. Any understanding of hesed that fails to suggest all three inevitably loses some of its richness. Love by itself easily becomes sentimentalized or universalized apart from the covenant. Yet strength or steadfastness suggests only the fulfillment of a legal (or similar) obligation. Hesed refers primarily to mutual and reciprocal rights and obligations between the parties of a relationship. But hesed is not only a matter of obligation but is also of generosity. It is not only a matter of loyalty, but also of mercy. Hesed implies personal involvement and commitment in a relationship beyond the rule of law.