We all want answers, and it would be great if things were spelled out for us. But that isn’t very often how it goes.

I come from a long line of Type A personalities. Some of them were tyrants, unable to rein in the need to dominate and orchestrate every aspect of their lives—and their families’ lives. Others in my genetic circle took personal development to heart and got to work on letting go and letting God, which is the primary task of faith.

“Don’t let this throw you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you?

I don’t know how any of us got anywhere before our phones told us how to get there. I said this recently to a co-worker—a woman much younger than me—and she said, “Oh, we used Mapquest on our computers and printed out the directions, remember?”

At the time I probably thought of him as a party pooper, but now I’m grateful to Don. I was in high school, and a bunch of my friends and I were scheming to pull a prank on a guy in our class who was often the butt of our jokes. We were telling ourselves that it was all in good fun. But it wouldn’t have been much fun for the guy at whom we were aiming our joke.

Tyrell had recently separated from his wife, and she and his daughter were going to spend Thanksgiving with her family. His family lived out of state and he didn’t have Friday off, so he was going to spend Thanksgiving alone and very sad.

We moved out of our family house, where I had spent my entire life, during the summer before I left for the college seminary. It really was the only home that I knew.

In the words of today's scripture, we are "chosen and precious in the sight of God." We pray for the forgiveness and strength we need to be called the people of God.

Do not be ashamed to serve others for the love of Jesus Christ and to seem poor in this world.