The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; – Acts 16:34a

All of Granny’s possessions are slowly flowing out to the family. Aunt Susie, after a busy day of packing, found the VHS movie recordings. Granny often used the VHS timer to tape movies and watch later. So Aunt Susie popped Vertigo into the old player. With 20 minutes remaining the movie stopped. Granny never gave the timer extra time.

This conjured all kinds of stories. Granny would mail Aunt Karil, in Gaum where Uncle Lionel was stationed, weekly Knots Landing episodes. Ladies from the base gathered at her house to watch the latest episode… you know how that story ended, even as the ladies don’t know how Knots Landing’s ended! (“Mom, you can just tape over the tape!”, my dad would holler, but Granny never wanted to waste anything).

Before the family gathered for our meal, Chandler set out to deliver 221 meals to the community. Our first stop was a house on Vivion (Granny spelled her name with an “a”, but it still brought her to mind). The house was in disrepair. The porch was full of items, including strange things like a pack of toilet paper. We ran just one meal up to the door. An older woman answered, thankful to see us. We drove away happy to give, but sad she was alone.

As our family gathered, my sister, Audrey, began the meal with the story of Paul and Silas singing in jail (Acts 16:16-40). The walls shook, the chains fell away, the gates swung open. But Paul and Silas stay in prison… they stay to tell the jailer that this is not the end. There is still more to the story. And that is the moment we are living in right now. Things are not right, but our freedom from pain and sadness is already recorded. We just have to wait for God to bring us the last twenty minutes.

The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household. – Acts 16:34

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This Sunday begins Advent, a month to prepare our hearts for Christmas (and Jesus’s Advent, “arrival”). During the month we will unwrap the names of Jesus in Isaiah 9:6. I hope you will consider joining us at 10:30 in person or streaming live on Facebook and Youtube.