Sharehello my blogging friends,
over the next few weeks I’ll be posting my thoughts from our bible study series “Unusual Encounters: Conversations with Jesus” over on www.hopewomen.com. I’m leaving my first post here, so for the two of you 
who read both blogs, I’m sorry for the overlap. Hope you enjoy it and find these conversations as intriguing as I do.
-Nicole
Three Men.
An unusual encounter.
Lives changed forever.
He Calls.
When John and Andrew, followers of John the Baptist, approached Jesus near the shores of the Jordan, the first thing he asked them was “What do you want?” Isn’t this the question of all our hearts? What do you want? Do you know? Do you find yourself pursuing pleasure, peace or purpose but always coming up wanting? If the answer is yes, then Jesus’ response to these two men is his same response to you: “come and see.”
Jesus invites us to come and see who He is and what he can offer to our lives. It probably isn’t the answer as you envisioned. But it will be richer, fuller and more life-giving than you can imagine.
He Names.
We don’t know what happened with Andrew, John and Jesus that first evening they spent together. But we do know that they were changed, and willing to go wherever He would lead.
The next morning, Andrew rushes off to share the news with his brother Simon. When Jesus sees Simon, he renames him. He says to him, “You are Simon…but you will be called Peter.” The history of these names is like comparing a hurricane and a mountain. One is an unpredictable tempest. The other is a strong fortress. I wonder if Simon’s brother Andrew snickered when he thought of what Jesus was really saying. “I’d like to see that,” he may have thought. Or maybe Andrew had already realized that the path his and Simon’s was taking—this man they were following—really could change them, mold them, and transform them into something worth living—and dying—for.
He Claims.
When Jesus claims us, He knows just who we are today, full of pride and fear, worries and weakness. But he also knows who we can be for Him. Who does Jesus know you as? And who is he making you to be? The whisper of the spirit for me is this: You are Nicole. But you will be called patient. What’s the Lord saying to you this week?
This week we’ll be listening in on a very peculiar conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus from John 3. We’ll meet you there on Thursday!
