When I sit in my house and look up at the old curved ceiling, I remember the first time I saw this place—25 years ago. An older woman was selling the home after many years of raising her children and building her memories here. She was moving in with her son, as keeping up with the house had become too much. She had been a widow for several years, and I, a much younger widow at the time, was searching for my first home.

The house was dated, and I couldn’t see past the wallpaper and shag-carpeted floors. I had already fallen in love with another home, but it was sold before I could even place a bid.

As I was driving away with my friend, complaining about everything I didn’t like, she said, “This old house has good bones. Everything else you can make your own.”

She was right—I did, and I have come to love the old bones of this old house.

In a strange and beautiful way, that’s what the Holy Spirit was doing through Paul’s preaching in the book of Acts. God chose to move from a static temple in Jerusalem to the dynamic, living movement of dwelling within each person who invited Him in. The gospel message was simple: God wants to dwell in you. He wants to take your house of old bones and make it His own—full of beauty, forgiveness, love, and goodness.

We often think we have nothing to offer, but He always sees what can be.

Come this Sunday and we will explore together what being a missionary means and how the work of the Holy Spirit transforms.

Camille