I dropped a glass casserole lid on my tile kitchen floor the other day. It shattered into a host of small pieces. I'm still finding pieces of glass here and there. There's a difference between being broken and shattered. Shattered seem so irreparable. In Blanca's song "Shattered" she reminds us that the task of putting the shattered pieces back together is not too big for God.

Scripture offers many examples of shattered lives that God touches. We'll look at one example together this week.

In this episode, I discuss:

• Taking a B.I.T.E. out of Scripture - this week's Bible Interaction Tool Exercises include:
  • Reading in context
  • Make observations
  • Ask questions
  • Consult a map
  • Remembering the people described in the Bible were real
  • Consult section headings
  • Read in a variety of translations
  • Make a list
  • Define words
• The 30 Day Music Challenge
• How we can comfort others because of our own experiences - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
• The daily practice of being washed in the Word as an act of worship - Ephesians 5:26-27
• The story of the widow of Nain - Luke 7:11-17
• Asking questions like, "Soon after what?" and "Where did he come from?"
• Looking up the towns mentioned in God's Word on a map...or even Google earth (after all, they are real places, and many still exist today)
• Picturing the crowd with Jesus and the crowd with the widow
• Defining a bier while considering the funeral customs of the day
• Making a list of the people depicted in this short story
• REALLY looking at the widow of Nain and considering the shattered pieces of her story
• Coming face to face with how Jesus RESPONDED
  • He saw her
  • He had compassion for her
  • He spoke to her
  • He came up to the bier
  • He touched the bier
  • He spoke to the dead man
  • He gave him to his mother
• The Japanese art of Kintsugi - Lifegate Article

Weekly Challenge

Read Luke 7 for yourself. You might even take the challenge of reading in context — reading chapters 6 through 8 for yourself. Take a close look at Jesus in these stories. Identify the characteristics of your Savior that you may have glossed over in the past. Interact with the Word! Make observations, write them in lists, look up words you don’t understand, and enjoy your time being washed with the water of the Word.