I have returned from some time in Columbus, Ohio at the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).. Mary Michael and I rented a house with another couple in a neighborhood called Short North. This afforded us about a half mile walk each day to and from the convention center. I told our roommates for the week that Short North could best be described as “high rollers, hipsters, and homeless.”The diversity in people who lived, worked, and played in the neighborhood was both refreshing and challenging. It is interesting to walk to a church gathering and walk past a number of homeless people on your walk. A lot goes on in both your heart and your head. It’s one thing to spend time singing and praying for justice and a whole other thing to be confronted with issues of justice just moments later As I prepare to preach on the Good Samaritan this weekend, I have been thinking about the brothers and sisters I saw each day in Columbus living on the streets. I am thinking about what makes me so different from them? What circumstances did they encounter that led them to the streets? Could those circumstances have found me? I suspect I have more in common with them than I would be comfortable admitting. Perhaps at the end of the day, what Jesus wants us to know is that there is not much difference between the Good Samaritian on the road in the parable and the person in the ditch. Our best lessons of faith are often learned not from the road, but from the side of the road, in the ditch. I look forward to concluding our Stories That Changed the World Series this Sunday at 9 and 11:15 am with this well-known parable that continues to challenge us today. I hope you will invite someone to experience God’s grace with you. Grace and peace, Danny