Wayfarer

Wendy and finally returned last night from what was supposed to have been a six-day trip that began with a client event and ended with a visit to see our kids and granddaughter in South Carolina. What it became is eight days of the worst air travel I’ve experienced in over 30 years of regular business travel. A chapter-a-day podcast from Numbers 21. The text version may always be found and shared...

I have been raised and rooted among strong, soulful women, and so I have an appreciation for what Miriam brought. I feel it in my bones. I’ve heard her song in lullabies, in choir lofts, at kitchen tables over coffee. Miriam isn’t just a character in the Great Story—she's in the women who shaped me, the women who continue shaping the man I am today. A chapter-a-day podcast from Numbers 20. The...

Today on my chapter-a-day journey I come upon one of the most paradoxical and profound mysteries in the entire Great Story: the mystery of the red heifer. A chapter-a-day podcast from Numbers 19. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

Salt was a prescribed by God as part of every sacrifice and offering. It was used in the making of the incense used at part of the rituals in the traveling tent Temple. Salt was also used as a binding agent when making covenants. God is making  salt  an important metaphor regarding preservation, holiness, seasoning, covenant, and sacrifice. A chapter-a-day podcast from Numbers 18. The text version...

When God began talking to the Hebrews about His dwelling among them, He boiled things down into very simple terms:  life  and  death. A chapter-a-day podcast from Numbers 17. The text version may be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

In the quiet this morning, I can’t help but think about the businesses, organizations, and churches in which I’ve encountered the very same dysfunctions, envies, jealousies, critical spirits, and self-seeking demands that Moses and Aaron encountered in today’s chapter. A chapter-a-day podcast from Numbers 16. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

There is something telling about the way individuals respond to their circumstances in light of the words, actions, and/or behavior of others. A chapter-a-day podcast from Numbers 15. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

In the quiet this morning, I find God’s Spirit reminding me of all the ways that Jesus called me to live by faith, not fear. A chapter-a-day podcast from Numbers 14. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

In The Godfather it was an Irish orphan named Tom Hagen. In Yellowstone, it’s an orphan named Rip who becomes the right-hand man that John Dutton can depend on to fix things. The theme of "the adopted one" is much older. It’s ancient, and it has a deep spiritual context throughout the Great Story. A chapter-a-day podcast from Numbers 13. The text version may always be found and shared at...

At the heart of the story in today’s chapter is the fact that we human beings can be envious, jealous, catty, and downright mean to one another. A chapter-a-day podcast from Numbers 12. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

Along my life journey, I’ve come to observe that adults have similar emotional meltdowns as toddlers, we’re just more sophisticated at it. A chapter-a-day podcast from Numbers 11. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

There’s just something about the sound of a trumpet. A chapter-a-day podcast from Numbers 10. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

I’ve discovered across my entire life journey that being a disciple of Jesus means learning to perceive, discern, and follow God’s flow. A chapter-a-day podcast from Numbers 9. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

In the tradition I was raised, the Reverend of our church was treated as a special class of spiritual person. Everything in the pomp and pageantry of the “high church” tradition wordlessly affirmed that he was spiritually upper-class compared to us every day working class sinners in the pews. A chapter-a-day podcast from Numbers 8. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.c...

It’s chapters like today’s where many a New Year’s resolution to read the entire Bible hit the wall. A chapter-a-day podcast from Numbers 7. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

Along this life journey I’ve learned that there are times to dedicate myself to taking things to another level. A chapter-a-day podcast from Numbers 6. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

Milo is seven and is an explosive bundle of unbridled, kinetic, little-boy energy. Underneath the exterior of all that normal physical energy lies one of the softest, most genuinely open hearts I've ever experienced in a boy his age. He is a boy. He is maturing. It takes time. A chapter-day podcast from Numbers 5. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

What struck me as I read is that God designated  different colors  of cloth for  different items  of the Tabernacle. Why? Because  colors  have  meaning . A chapter-a-day podcast from Numbers 4. The text version (and the portraits Tom talks about in today’s podcast) can be found at tomvanderwell.com.

Despite the Hebrews of “Numbers" being a people and a time that is strange to me, I see echoes of my own stories and experiences on this life journey. That is where I typically find applicable lessons. A chapter-a-day podcast from Numbers 3. The text version may be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

I find it meaningful that the first thing we find God doing at the beginning of the Story is turning chaos to order. A chapter-a-day podcast from Numbers 2. The text version can always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

We are wandering through a fallen world filled with evil, sin, and tragedy. Jesus guaranteed His followers that we would face many kinds of troubles. He said that the world would hate us the way it hated Him. I can bank on that. Which leads me to ask: How prepared am I? A chapter-a-day podcast from Numbers 1. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

I have so many young people in my life, my family, and my circles of influence whom I love deeply. My desire for them is not to be mired in anxiety, but to experience the “peace of God, which transcends all understanding." A chapter-a-day podcast from Philippians 4. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

Over the past few years, Wendy and I have discovered a difference in the way we perceive and approach life. As we have dug into it, it’s allowed us to learn about ourselves and to better understand one another. It has to do with our orientation to time. A chapter-a-day podcast from Philippians 3. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .

One of the things that I’ve experienced on this chapter-a-day journey, and through my perpetual meditations on the Great Story, is that I have come to realize that entire sections of the Story that I once dismissed or largely ignored are essential to understanding the entirety of the Story itself, as well as the story God is authoring in me. A chapter-a-day podcast from Philippians 2. The text ver...

There has been a trend of late on social media. Generation Z has been “trauma bragging.” A chapter-a-day podcast from Philippians 1. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com .