Hi, welcome to Redeem the Commute. I’m Ryan, your host for the daily challenges.  This week’s topic is part of our series called EPIC where we’ve been exploring how Jesus is found throughout the Old Testament part of the Bible. We’re reading some epic old stories from the Old Testament, some of which you might have heard before, some of which might be new to you. But our hope is that in each of them we’ll see how they’re part of one big epic story: the story of the Bible, the story of the world, God’s story.

Our daily challenges are meant to help you explore what it means to follow Jesus, even if you don’t have a lot of time. That’s why we have a rhythm that keeps us in sync, even if we’re not a community that meets together in person regularly. This means every Monday we introduce the week’s idea. Every Tuesday we study it in the Bible. Every Wednesday we see how that challenges and transforms our thinking on the topic. Thursdays we try to apply and live it out. Friday is a day for prayer and reflection before we take a rest on Saturday, and Sundays we meet together with other Christians in community.

Occasionally I will go door to door.  No, I’m not there to ask if people have found Jesus, but to share about events like a neighbourhood party, or our Easter Egg hunt this past weekend, or our new church.

I always try to be respectful of those No Soliciting signs you see on people’s doors.

I think I know why they do this, too.  We get visited regularly by these door to door marketers.  When we first moved, I realized they must make friends with realtors who will share lists of closing dates, because we were flooded with people wanting to sign us up for security systems, hot water heaters or duct cleaning…and they all knew we’d just moved.

Twice in the last month we’ve had the same company, try to enter our home claiming they need to inspect our furnace or hot water heater, when they have no business with us.  They make it sound like they are our supplier already, or like the government sent them, so they can get in the door and sell us something we don’t need.  Use all kinds of deceitful tactics, one of the most frustrating being that after all our refusals to enter our house, they pretend they’ve heard nothing and just ask if they can take their shoes off at the door.

Argh.  Well, you get the point.  Dealing with pushy salespeople at your door is frustrating, enough that some people want to avoid it altogether by posting a sign saying no solicitors, which keeps away the Girl Guide cookies as well as the hot water scams.

But what if you could keep death away?  That would definitely be worth it, right?  We’ll explore a story this week, where God’s people were told how to keep certain death away from their homes.

Question: If you could keep something away with a sign on your door, what would it be?