hesed

well, i must admit that these days, blogging is more a tool of procrastination than anything else. like right now, i should be researching for my master's thesis that's due at the end of the semester. but instead, here i am. i'm pretty excited about our new blog header -- much thanks to jessi, who is friends with my blog friend leigh and also my friend staci bacon:) my favorite part of the design is the 4 africas going across and how they represent our journey. and if you can't read the verse around the border, it comes from one of my favorite passages in the bible: "we know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies." (romans 8:22-23)

OK, and onto the real reason i wanted to write...hesed. hesed is the hebrew word for lovingkindness. our pastor has been talking about it the last few weeks at church as he's been preaching through ruth. he made an incredibly powerful analogy to demonstrate the meaning of hesed. when it's winter time and his children get out of the bathtub shivering, he always puts a warm towel on top of them. the towel provides warmth and comfort to the children, but the towel itself gets nothing in return; instead, the towel actually becomes wet and cold even as it helps the children become warm. this is hesed. it is what ruth showed naomi when she went into the fields to glean, compromising her own dignity and security. and it is what jesus did for the world -- first, when he left the glories of heaven to dwell among humans on earth and second, when he went to the cross. like a towel for a shivering child in winter, jesus laid himself over us, taking all of our despair, sin, and brokenness in exchange for hope and redemption. so this week, i'm wondering how i'm going to show hesed. whose towel am i going to be?