In our sermon series using texts from Genesis with the theme “Family Matters,” today’s story is the familiar dream of Jacob of the ladder reaching to heaven with messengers moving up and down. In the stories of Jacob so far, he has been climbing his own ladder, but at this point he is fleeing for his life and is thus sliding down a chute. At this low point, God appears. God works with people as they are, not with just people who are good or perfect. We live in a time when we are facing the past – not just the good but the bad. And we have a God who comes down to have us dream dreams that are bigger than we are.