We look at the Genesis story of creation: many call it a useless myth, and say that we need to focus on the real, scientific way in which we came into existence. We see that there is tremendous truth in the Creation Story, and that in it we see the most critical facts about why we exist and what we are meant to do on this planet. We discover that the myth is truth.

(THIS IS A REPOST. THE ORIGINAL SOUND FILE BECAME CORRUPTED.)

I once had a student in one of my university courses come to my office after not having done any work all semester. Without asking if anything was wrong, I launched into a professorial lecture about how he should have been doing what I told him to do if he wanted a decent grade, and no, I would not give him an incomplete. He would fail. He broke down sobbing - and I learned that something very bad was indeed wrong in his life. We look at the parable of the man who insists on sitting at the seat of honor at a banquet. We look at what it means to live by one of the core beliefs of being a Christian, and that is to be humble.

I once drove to Mexico with my half-Brazilian father. When we drove back over the border, he discovered that he had forgotten to take an ID with him - and of course, he looked like a Mexican. In this podcast, we look at the task of building our church today. We realize that we are judged in very superficial ways - as I was afraid my father would be. We are seen as ignorant and hurtful. They see our church as coming to an end, with no revival possible. But God has a much longer and deeper view of reality...

When I was in kindergarten I decided one day to hitchhike to school. I stood on the sidewalk with my thumb out. Quickly, someone did indeed pick me up. We look at God's grace and how it can protect us, both spiritually and physically. We consider the issue of what our role is in God being able to use his grace to keep us from harm and to limit evil in this world.

I once spoke with a woman who was dying from heavily metastasized cancer. She was worried that she would miss her daughter's wedding. I talked to her about the wedding that really matters, the one that both she and her daughter would be at - the wedding from the parable Jesus told. In this parable, the wedding stands for the final judgement. We look at the way Christians need to be confident that they will get an invitation to this wedding and that they will be honored guests.

I had an aunt who owned a pet ocelot. One night, a man with a gun tried to rob her. That ocelot loved my aunt beyond anything in the world. The ocelot bit off the robber's forearm. God is that kind of protector for us. We do not have to earn that protection with good works. Our faith is enough to ensure that God will always be with us. We look at a couple of the letters of Paul to see just what God's grace - that unearned grace, given through faith alone - can do to transform us.

We look at one of the biggest complaints about the Bible: the brutal massacre of the Canaan people, ordered by God. We take a historical perspective on the Bible, when, by whom, and how it was written. We consider the Canaan story in this historical context. We also look at a buddy of mine who got shot by a farmer with a shotgun. Our goal is to figure out not just the reason for this violent story, but also who we, as Christians are today.

We look at a major issue in our society today: the insistence that people are either our allies, that they completely buy into our priorities and stand side by side with us as soldiers - or they must be considered enemies. We consider a man whom I knew as a boy, a man who married a woman with 7 young children. This man did not live that way. He looked for the good in people. He looked to improve himself. He was a man of faith who walked in the Kingdom of God, and was not trapped in the Kingdom of this world.