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 God Is… where we’re trying to learn about God’s character and nature through some key stories in the Bible.

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. We have a rhythm that keeps us in sync, even if we’re not a community that meets together in person regularly. 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 others in community.

A few weeks ago, I got a message out of the blue from an old friend.  She simply said, “Hey Ryan,  I was chatting with a friend last night and we both agreed that if Redeemer was on the west side of the city that we’d make that our church home.”

This encouragement came at precisely the right moment, when fall planning at Redeemer was in full swing, and I was discouraged about the task ahead, and not a lot of volunteer or staff support.

It’s happened a few times in my life, when someone sends me a surprise message of encouragement at just the right moment, when I’m about to embark on something difficult.

This is something God did for the Israelites as they were about to enter the land they’d been promised.

Question: Share a story of surprise encouragement – who encouraged you, and when?  How did it help?