“Tell me and I forget.  Teach me and I remember.  Involve me and I learn.”   Benjamin Franklin

Rioting… uproar… commotion… once again, a mob ran Paul out of town.  After two years in Ephesus, he said a powerful good-bye to the church elders.  What would you say to someone if you knew it was the last time you’d see them?  Paul didn’t waste a syllable!  (We imagine tears too).

Why’d he leave?  He was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem because the Spirit told him to go – and even though the Spirit also kept warning him of jail and other trouble once he got there.  (Spoiler alert: the Spirit was right!  Stay tuned for “Trials of Hope” and “Shipwreck”)

But Ephesus had Problems – enough to make him send Timothy there with power, influence, and instructions: two letters we now know as 1st & 2nd Timothy.  Paul hit the hard subjects: slavery, welfare, and women in the church.  But he also encouraged them, called his friends by name, and urged Timothy to fight for truth in the Ephesian church… a call we must still answer today!