Randy Wray’s Blog

After about a week and a half of negotiations we have reached an agreement to purchase a house.  It seems the second house was the charm, though for a while it looked like we might have to move on to choice # 3.  This house is in need of complete updating so we will get to add those personalized touches.  The icing on the cake, and largely the reason we were interested in the house, is the lot size is almost 1/2 of an acre.  Now we begin the wonderful process of escrow.

I’ve been asked to speak for the Sacramento area-wide gathering of churches in two weeks.  Those of you in ministry know the drill.  A speaker is needed at the last minute so they ask the new guy in the area because he’ll want to make a good impression on everyone. 

My assigned topic is "A Word To The World" which is actually given me some difficulty on two levels. 

Difficulty # 1 - I can think of quite a few words . . . Redemption . . . Grace . . . Hope . . . Forgiveness. 

Difficulty # 2 - Because of the nature of the service, and the churches involved, I’ve been asked not to say anything controversial.   I know what some of you are thinking . . . "Good luck with that."

It’s harder than you might think.  When the word forgiveness came to my mind it was in the context of asking the world to forgive us, as those who believe in God, for the ways in which we’ve failed to be Christ to them.

Right now I’m leaning towards the word being Jesus and focusing more on the way we’ve communicated that word.

What are your thoughts?