Matthew 2:13-15

Matthew 2:13-15 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  I was on a trip with a friend once when we decided to take a 'short cut'.  Many hours later, the road we thought led back to the highway ended up  in a driveway of a family who was not happy to see us.  Needless to say, we got out of there quickly.
  Life takes its twists and turns.  Who would have predicted that the Messiah would return to Egypt for safety, so many years after the Israelites fled centuries of slavery in Egypt and sought freedom in the Promised Land?  Egypt was a place from which to flee, and yet God redeems it in a way.
  Life changes over the years.  Things that we once believed were negative turn out to be blessings in disguise.  Pain heals and scars remind us of our strength and the grace of God and the gift of community.  Some things remain painful memories, while others point to the sustaining love of God.  Life takes its twists and turns, and God turns our weeping into laughter and our mourning into dancing.  May we trust in the God who offers redemption and grace to cover our sins.