Warrenton United Methodist Church
Sep 20, 2026 · 26 min · 9 segments
Send us Fan Mail In Jonah, we see a God who is gracious, compassionate, and committed to changing hearts, including our own. Pastor Ashley reminds…
So I want to first start by telling you a story that this pastor and author tells.
His name is Kent Hughes.
And he tells this story about one of his wife's friends.
She and her family, her husband and kids, they were missionaries.
And After an unusually tiring stint of service, you know, one of those seasons of ministry that just wore them out in every way, they took a sabbatical from the mission field.
And this lady, the friend of the pastor's wife, she was so excited.
For the first time, and you know, you all know this kind of excitement.
For the first time, she was going to have a place of her own.
She wasn't going to be relegated to whatever the lodging was where they were serving.
She was going to have a place of her own.
It was a new, large townhouse.
With a patio.
Come on, you know how excited we get
about a patio.
I got a deck that I was real pumped about.
And they created a little fire pit area for us.
I mean, I'm telling you, I really relate.
I was pumped.
So was she.
She was getting a patio and she knew that this was going to be her happy place.
And so it was the focus of all of her decorating as she was thinking about moving into this place of her very own.
Her patio, her sanctuary.
And so there they were in their new home on sabbatical and just really ready to soak up the season of restoration and recovery and getting fired up again for ministry.
And after a few months, they got some new neighbors who moved in.
And the best word to describe these new neighbors, at least in church, is coarse.
So I want to first start by telling you a story that this pastor and author tells.
His name is Kent Hughes.
And he tells this story about one of his wife's friends.
She and her family, her husband and kids, they were missionaries.
And After an unusually tiring stint of service, you know, one of those seasons of ministry that just wore them out in every way, they took a sabbatical from the mission field.
And this lady, the friend of the pastor's wife, she was so excited.
For the first time, and you know, you all know this kind of excitement.
For the first time, she was going to have a place of her own.
She wasn't going to be relegated to whatever the lodging was where they were serving.
She was going to have a place of her own.
It was a new, large townhouse.
With a patio.
Come on, you know how excited we get
about a patio.
I got a deck that I was real pumped about.
And they created a little fire pit area for us.
I mean, I'm telling you, I really relate.
I was pumped.
So was she.
She was getting a patio and she knew that this was going to be her happy place.
And so it was the focus of all of her decorating as she was thinking about moving into this place of her very own.
Her patio, her sanctuary.
And so there they were in their new home on sabbatical and just really ready to soak up the season of restoration and recovery and getting fired up again for ministry.
And after a few months, they got some new neighbors who moved in.
And the best word to describe these new neighbors, at least in church, is coarse.
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