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Our new summer message series kicks off this week combining three things many of us love: summer, road trips and biographies. This summer we’ll take a long look at the life and teachings of the Apostle Paul, perhaps the most influential man in history who wasn’t named ‘Jesus.’ Paul, also known as Saul of Tarsus – the traveler, the evangelist and the teacher – “The Apostle.” This week we look at two moments that started his journey – moments that became movements.

Last week, we looked at verses 16 and 18 in 2 Corinthians 4, seeing that one key to walking through the valleys of life is a daily renewal of our relationship with God to help us “fix our gaze” on him. This week, we finish the series by unpacking verse 17 – but that gives us a bit of a problem. Actually, it brings up two problems as we consider “our present troubles”: First, it really doesn’t seem like “our present troubles are small.” Doesn’t that diminish and disregard our very really pain? And second, what, exactly, is “the glory” that is promised that will “vastly outweigh” the troubles that are crushing me now? And is that glory actually satisfying? We wrap up by considering 3 gifts found in valleys.

The valley is a place of paradox for the follower of Jesus. There we realize that “the way down is the way up,” and that the valleys – the low and hard places in our lives – are where we most often feel the presence of God and his love most strongly. To do so, we must “fix our gaze on the things we cannot see.”