Lessons Learned from... the Road to Emmaus

Scripture Reference: Luke 24:13-27

Earlier today, I was reading through Luke 24 and found myself fascinated by the wording of the passage about the Road to Emmaus. There are so many great things to learn from this piece of history.

Right before two of Jesus’s disciples were traveling by foot to a village named Emmaus, they had learned that Jesus was not in the tomb he’d been buried in three days prior, but was said by an angel to be risen. As they journeyed, “they talked together of all these things which had happened” (Luke 24:14 NKJ).

“While they conversed and reasoned, … Jesus Himself drew near and went with them” (Luke 24:15).

Okay, so how amazing would it be to have the Risen Lord just come up and start walking with you as you traveled down the road? I think I’d be shocked and fascinated that He’d choose to walk with me, of all people, but I’d be honored too, definitely.

If I knew Who He was.

The thing is, these two disciples didn’t know.

Lessons Learned from... Ruth (Part 1)

The previous article in this series was Part 1 about Naomi. This current article (Part 1 on Ruth) builds upon that one but does carry its own lessons learned.

Scripture Reference: Ruth 1

We first meet Ruth when it’s told that she married one of Naomi’s two sons (Ruth 1:4). She was married for about ten years, verse 4 says, but we aren’t given any emotions for that time. Was Ruth happy, content, dissatisfied or anything in between? We have not a clue.

The next verse tells us that her husband and brother-in-law both perish. The focus in this verse is upon Naomi, but I must wonder what heartache Ruth and her sister-in-law (by marriage), Orpah, must have experienced as well. To have their husbands, their security stripped from them so suddenly surely knocked them into a spurt of insecurity and lack of confidence in their futures. What an unsettling time!

Lessons Learned From... Jairus

Welcome to the Lessons Learned blog series! I gave an introduction to this series in its previous installment (located on Writing to Inspire; link to follow this article), and Hannah gave me a beautiful intro over here.

Let's just dive right into the goods, shall we?

Scripture Reference: Mark 5:21-43

Further Reading: Matthew 9:18-26; Luke 8:40-56

What does faith look like in the midst of a parent’s worst nightmare?

When Jairus’s twelve-year-old daughter lay dying, he chose to leave her side to seek help from Jesus, Who had recently performed many miracles and healed a plethora of people. Considering Jairus was “one of the rulers of the synagogue” (Mark 5:22), it may have been a tough choice from where he stood in the community. Synagogue leaders would have been expected to be knowledgeable about the Old Testament as well as the Jewish rules and customs. To admit that he had no answers as to how to help his own child might have been a blow to his human pride. Yet, he not only sought out Jesus but also “fell at His feet and begged Him earnestly” (Mark 5:22-23) to save his daughter’s life. The setting aside of pride made way for a beautiful display of sincere humility. Jairus didn’t care what the multitude of onlookers thought of one of their religious leaders begging on his knees on the dusty road; he only wanted his daughter to live.

Introduction to Andrea’s work: Blog link

A Note from Andrea and Hannah

This is a quick mid-week announcement about Andrea Cox, who is my co-conspirator in this blogging endeavor, and who will be sharing some of the posts via her blog Writing to Inspire as an introduction of the sorts of posts we’ll be featuring here and of her ongoing series that will fluctuate between her blog and this one.  She posts on Monday mornings there and her series here will run the first Sunday of each month for the near future.  Head on over and check it out to get the first taste of what is going to be shared on this blog on March 3!

Head over to this post to start Andrea's series at the beginning!