Placed

Born at the edge of the hill country, Samson is called from birth to be a judge for Israel. Yet he’s constantly looking across the Sorek Valley to the Coastal Plain, heading the exact opposite direction of his calling. His failures as a leader in Israel hurt many people.

But the fact that Samson’s story is included in Scripture can give us hope. The God of Samson doesn’t call us to protect his reputation but instead invites us into the courageous work of repentance.

Visit kelsagraybill.com to see photos of the Sorek Valley, the Shephelah, and the Coastal Plain. You can also download a beautiful watercolor map and view the show notes.

In the tightly-knit Hill Country of Judah lies Bethlehem, and it's here that God will knit Naomi back together. Ruth's solidarity with her mother-in-law shatters the narrative of bitterness and inspires Boaz to also stand beside them.

Ruth provides us a picture of God-with-us: the loyal love that is chasing us down in whatever dark places we find ourselves. It also inspires us to stand in solidarity with others in their dark hours, carrying them to God's presence as well.

Visit kelsagraybill.com to view photos of the Hill Country of Judah, download the show notes, and locate Moab and Bethlehem on a beautiful watercolor map.

Jezreel means “God sows,” and it’s in the Jezreel Valley where God creatively sows victory. He uses the most underestimated and overlooked people and places in his plan of redemption: two women, Deborah and Jael, a vulnerable position on the battlefield, and a tent peg.

The Jezreel Valley reminds us that we serve a God of limitless creativity. He is not bound by our limited resources. Instead, the God who used the cross to work salvation is using the difficult and vulnerable parts of our stories to work restoration.

Visit kelsagraybill.com to download a beautiful watercolor map, see photos of the Jezreel Valley and Mount Tabor, and view the show notes.

Shechem: it’s a bookend telling the story of God’s faithfulness. At Shechem, God promised the highway land of Canaan to Abram and Sarai’s descendants. Now God brings their great-great-grandkids back to Shechem to hear the echoes of his faithfulness bouncing off Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal.

This week’s episode calls us to listen for God’s faithfulness in our own lives. To invite friends to speak it over us during the seasons when we struggle to believe it. To lament and cry out when we can’t see it. We’re in the middle of the greatest bookend story of all time, and one day we’ll look back at the story of his faithfulness.

Visit kelsagraybill.com to see photos of Mount Gerizim, Mount Ebal, and Shechem. You can also download a beautiful watercolor map and read the show notes on the Suzerain-Vassal Treaty.

They made it! Israel finally enters the highway land of Canaan by crossing the Jordan River. In Hebrew, the word Jordan means down. Ironically, it’s at this lowest point on earth that God elevates Joshua as the new leader and welcomes the people home.

The Jordan River crossing teaches us to walk down trusting that God can redeem our rock-bottom places. Here we learn to surrender our vision in exchange for a redemptive vision. Our God turns barriers into doorways. The Jordan is our invitation to a holy imagination.

Visit kelsagraybill.com to see photos of the Jordan River today, download a beautiful watercolor map of today's episode, or read the show notes.

The desert is a place of blinding heat and little moisture. In this episode, we’ll explore how the desert exposes Israel’s neediness in two parallel scenes where they cry out to Moses for water. We’ll also look behind the scenes to consider how God is using the landscape of the desert to call Israel into deeper faith in his provision.

What if the desert isn’t a rejection or a lesson but instead a place to kindle a deeper relationship with God? What if the very terrain that magnifies our neediness and triggers a scarcity mindset is an invitation to know God’s provision more deeply?

Visit kelsagraybill.com to download a beautiful water color map of today's episode and find the show notes.

Mountains are places of making. Both Moses and the nation of Israel have mountain top experiences on the same mountain—Mount Sinai. And in both cases, God’s fiery glory shapes and creates them on the mountain top, as a Potter shaping his clay.

But what happens when they hike back down? This week we’ll consider what it looks like to live life on a journey between mountains en route to the ultimate mountain of making.

You can download a map and show notes at kelsagraybill.com.

Moses and his family take on the might of Egypt in three watery confrontations, exposing pharaoh’s powerlessness over the Nile and revealing the ultimate authority over the Nile.

Moses and his family show us how to call those in power to accountability, confronting the abuse of power, as well as how to take the vulnerable seriously, as we serve a God who identifies himself with the needy.

You can download a map and show notes at https://www.kelsagraybill.com/

Jacob, branded from birth as an over-reacher, over-reaches for his brother's position and is forced to flee the highway land of Canaan. But God in his grace meets Jacob at both his exit from Canaan and his re-entry.

God meets us, too, on the thresholds of life, no matter what we're running from or returning to. He's ready to hear who we are and remind us who his grace is forming us to be.

You can download a map and the show notes at kelsagraybill.com.

We'll follow Abram and Sarai as they leave their self-sufficient home in the river valley of Mesopotamia and move to the highway land of Canaan. Their courageous faith inspires us to also go without knowing as we know the One who goes with us.