Someday when I have more time ... If only I were more qualified ... I’d like to but I just can’t afford it ... It’s easy to focus on what’s lacking, what’s standing in the way of what needs doing. To focus on the deficit between what you’ve got and what you need. What difference could it make if you were to shift the focus to what’s actually right there in your hand?

If you could turn back time ... If you could have a do-over ... If there was one split-second decision you look back on and cringe — one choice you wish you could make all over again ... What would it be? Many of us have that regret that comes to mind, that thing we wish we’d never said or done. That defining moment we’re sure disqualifies us from the future as we’d like it to look. Is there any way to recover?

When you feel lost and alone ... When it seems like life is tangled and overgrown and there’s no way forward ... When you look in the mirror and don’t like the person you see — don’t even know who that person is ... Is there a way to break through? A way back to who you’re really meant to be?

Every day we make all kinds of decisions, weighing one option versus another ... Performing endless cost-benefit analyses. Deciding what it’s worth to us. Sometimes we can have our cake and eat it too ... But sometimes choosing one thing means giving up another. Choosing well is not without its cost.

There are those things we hope for ... Wish for ... Long for ... Things we’re powerless to bring about ourselves — though we’d give all we have if it would make any difference. Things we lack in ways that seem to limit us, own us, define us. Healing. Wholeness — inside or out. But what if it were possible after all? What if all we needed to do was ... ask?

Sometimes it’s personality ... Sometimes it’s circumstances ... Sometimes it’s past decisions ... Sometimes all you need is to know you’re seen. Look around you ... Who do you see? Who sees you?

We all need to know we’re loved. And we’re wired to love those who love us in return. We can even love people who don’t love us back. But what about people we can only describe as enemies ... Whose actions and attitudes hurt us? Surely we’re not expected to love these people. But if we don’t ... then who will?

Life has a way of pushing back ... Of forcing you to decide what you really believe — what you really mean when you say you believe. Because sometimes you know what you’ve said you believe, but then life pushes back. Things get bumpy, and believing may not seem to make sense. And you find yourself wondering ... Did I miss something? Do I believe?

What we believe is shaped by so many factors — our family of origin, life experiences, even our education and the resources available to us. But belief requires a choice, a decision — a step toward something, and away from something. So, how does that decision around what we believe impact decisions that follow? Does what we believe ultimately shape how we live?

Life is full of questions, isn’t it? Simple ... Deep ... Tragic. Questions can shape our day or alter our life — whether we’re asking them or answering them. A good question can generate a lot more questions ... Can make us wonder who we are ... What we really want ... And which answer informs which. Join us this summer as we explore some of the many questions Jesus asked through the gospels.