Psalm 23, opening with thanks for a staff member protected in a car accident two days earlier — the shepherd who is present in the valley.
Acts 14, and a lesson in what to do when you get stoned: get up and go back to work the next day.
Acts 14:1-7. There is always a plot afoot — the enemy moves whenever God's work does, and Paul keeps going anyway.
Acts 13 and the turn to the Gentiles: rejected in the synagogue, Paul and Barnabas shake the dust from their feet and the word spreads through the whole region.
Paul and Barnabas on Cyprus, and the confrontation with Elymas the sorcerer who tried to turn the proconsul from the faith.
Acts 13:1-3. The church at Antioch is worshipping and fasting when the Spirit sets Barnabas and Saul apart, and the first missionary journey begins.