Repurposed with Purpose

     John 4 presents a curious picture. The disciples find Jesus talking to a woman at Jacob's well. John tells us that, " Just then his disciples returned  and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” (John 4:27).      The fact that Jesus is talking to a woman should give a pause. Proper Jewish men did not talk to strange women. My mother-in-law relates this story well.  As she was traveling to Israel on a plane in 2011, she found herself mistakenly in the seat of an Orthodox Jewish man.  This Orthodox Jewish man found himself in a conundrum.  He could not simply ask her to move. She was a strange woman.  He instead had to relay the fact that my mother-in-law accidentally took his seat to one of his female family members. She then relayed that information to my mother-in-law. My mother-in-law politely moved.     What Jesus did is actually wor...

      Today, I am working on a word search called "Create Your Visions." It's from a Bob Ross coloring and activity book for adults.  Some words in it are "inspire, creation, creativity, imagine, dream, vision." The term, "desire," is not, however, one of those words. Nevertheless, desire is at the heart of the creative process. We desire to inspire others. We want to create. Our dreams flow from our hearts.  So desire is the foundation for the creative process. The words, "inspire, dream, imagine, etc" follow from our internal desires.       As I thought about what it means to be a creative person, Psalm 37 came to mind. Psalm 37:4 is a call to dream and vision alongside God. The psalmist proclaims, "T ake delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."       In our culture, we often think that God does not want us to desire. Perhaps this misconception of God stems from the prevalence of Eastern phil...