1 Chronicles 8: Stay With Me.

Can you imagine what it must have been like to come back to a place you’d only heard stories about—if that—and suddenly be told, this is where you’re from? There would be no real feeling of connection until you heard a name that brought some sense of familiarity, something that tied you into the larger story.

Reading another chapter filled with names I don’t recognize, I can’t help but think about sitting through a banquet or award ceremony, bored, disengaged. Most of the names mean nothing until one sparks a connection—a family member, a colleague, a friend. That connection changes everything. Suddenly it matters. Im paying attention!

That’s how these chapters in Chronicles have felt for me: a little disengaging, hard to connect with, until suddenly a name like Saul jumps out. Saul, from the line of Benjamin. I recognized it immediately, and in that moment, I was more engaged. The story felt closer and a bit like okay maybe tthis Is for me!

Here’s the truth though: no matter how long we’ve been reading the Bible—or if we’ve barely cracked it open—we are already connected in this story. Deeply connected. Whether we feel it or not, we belong. Keep reading, keep listening and learning from others. Keep praying and inviting the Holy Spirit to make this story so personal for you. You ARE connected. You are deeply connected. We have a heritage and a history because of Jesus. We are sons and daughters of the King, invited into His story of redemption.

I love knowing and feeling that because it means my story matters. Your story matters. We’re not outsiders trying to earn a place—we already belong. The meaning will come, keep hanging in there!