Hi friend.

It’s Monday.

I should start your week with something encouraging, something thoughtful, something wise. I should point you to some words from God, processed through a writer, and available to us in scripture.

As I’m writing, I’ve got some fragments of a story from Jeremiah written somewhere in my notes. About how he told people that God had plans for people and that the plans apparently included 70 years still in exile. Which meant that most of the people Jeremiah was writing to were going to die in exile. Which isn’t exactly cheery in the way we usually apply these words: “For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”

Though, you know, as I think about that whole letter, Jeremiah starts by talking about settling in and planting gardens and having families and working for the good of the city, for the good of Babylon, the conqueror, the disruptor.

There is the assurance in this letter that God’s plans are not constrained by death, and God’s directions feel counter-intuitive. To be content in the middle of crisis.

But, of course, that’s not exactly encouraging. Right? To start today thinking about this feeling of exile, of not being home, of being adrift, of our plans lasting longer than we live.

We want the story to end happily ever Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the story will still be going. And may not feel happy.

So here’s what I have today. In a letter to a people, God declared those words. They may not be universal in their application. But God is, as Jesus affirmed, with us always, even to the end of the age.

And that’s a hope and a future that is helpful.

Thanks for stopping by.

Jon