Jeremy Hoover

We know, as Christians, that we're called to follow Jesus. But two temptations exist: to seek comfort in our experience or to control our experience. Rather than following Christ where he leads us--sometimes through suffering and rejection--we water down his teaching to make it comfortable for us or we control it by setting parameters for what it means to follow Jesus.

Jesus criticizes both. To those who want comfort, he tells the parable of the rich fool to teach that we need to continually be open to God and his leading, wherever it takes us. To those who seek to control (as evidenced by their ability to "forecast" the weather), Jesus teaches that we need to trust him.

We do this by "interpreting the times." This means being watchful, aware, alert, and awake to the movement of the Spirit within us so we're available to answer Jesus' call when we hear it. This is the same Spirit who sends us out into the world to give freely to others just as we were freely given to. Do you hear him calling?