The poet, James Thurber, once said, “All men must learn before they die, what they are running from and to and why.”

We catch up with our hero, Jacob, today on the muddy banks of the Jabbok River. Twenty years have passed since he left Bethel where God promised to go with him and guide him through all his days. In this productive period of Jacob’s life, he accumulates a couple of wives, eleven children, a host of servants, and a wealth of cattle, sheep, and camels. He has left his father-in-law, Laban. He is preparing to meet his estranged brother, Esau. As night comes, Jacob separates himself from people and possessions, and enters a life and death struggle for purpose and meaning.

Anybody here who has walked through a dark night of the soul, ever been afraid to turn their face toward h…