Um. What?

Ok, don’t get me wrong, there’s already a lot of stuff in the Bible – but sometimes I wish there were just a little more. Like today.  I’d really love to know what happened between verse 2 (“Take your son, your only son – yes, Isaac, whom you love so much – and go to [...]

Ishmael – YELLOW

Ishmael comes up very little in the Bible, and yet, in what does come up, he’s an amazingly interesting character: -conceived in strange circumstances -abandoned by his father, and nearly by his mother -saved in the wilderness by God -destined to be the father of a great nation -and (not in today’s reading, but) despite [...]

Welcome to Sodom!

“That evening the two angels came to the entrance of the city of Sodom, and Lot was sitting there as they arrived.”  Yep – remember Lot? nephew of Abraham? Suddenly we understand why Abraham was so concerned about the fate of Sodom. But as we noted yesterday, God has a plan already. God knows that [...]

The joker

The first time I realized that Scripture could be funny, it was this reading. I was sitting in church hearing my father read it from the pulpit, and he put just enough feeling into it that you could really hear how Abraham was kind of tentative and kind of humble and yet still assertive and [...]

Strange visitors

Have you ever seen this picture? It’s one of the very most famous icons ever made, for a lot of reasons, most of which are too technical for this post. But one of the big reasons people love it is because people see so many different things in it. If you want to just look [...]

Helping God

From the time we left the garden, God let us in on the work of creation.  God worked through Adam and Eve to care for the earth; he used Noah to build the ark so he could save people and animals from the flood.  And God has promised to bless the whole world through Abraham.  [...]

When you wish upon a star…

Abram really, really wanted a son.  He wanted one so much that it seemed like none of the other blessings God had given him, or even could give him, would matter at all, if he didn’t have a son.  He starts to sound pretty desperate about it. But even in that desperation, Abram counts on [...]

Father Abraham

We’re starting into one of the Really Big Important stories of the Bible here – the story of Abraham and his family.  More than half the world’s population traces their heritage back to these guys (Jews, Muslims, and Christians).  And it all starts here… with another promise. “All the families of the earth will be [...]