My father served in the Pacific in World War II as a Marine and the leader of a combat unit. We look at three stories of resurrection, of rising from spiritual death: the return of the exiles from Babylon, the rise of Christ after death, and the growth of the Christian church in very recent times. We also look at how my sister serving as a foreign exchange student healed my father and allowed him to rise again.

We look at the traditional view of Holy Week, from the triumphant entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, to the gruesome crucifixion, to the glorious resurrection. We note that low point between the ride into the Holy City and the rise of Jesus from death. But we consider a somewhat different view - that the crucifixion does not break the joy from Palm Sunday to Easter. We look at Jesus' last words on the cross and how they have been traditionally very misinterpreted. We see that things are different than we have viewed them in the past. We also look at an encounter I had as a kid with a family riding donkeys, and how we can see this as a lesson about why Jesus chose to ride a seemingly humble, if not ridiculous, animal into the city of his forefathers.

I once spoke with a highly educated physicist who was a psychiatric patient. We call her Annie. She talked to me about the Newtonian misconception of gravity as a force, when it really has more to do with the bending of spacetime. We consider the biblical story of the invasion of Canaan, and the evidence to counter and to defend the validity of this story. We then get back to the bending of spacetime - and we see that there is something very deep we can learn about advancing our faith.

I once saw John Wayne in a fancy mens store. I was a boy, and was with an older volunteer who was buying clothing for a kid whose family had no assets. We look at her bold behavior. We consider several passages from the Bible that all tell us how we should behave when living out our faith. We see that this volunteer, this older woman, truly followed the instructions of God as she approached John Wayne.

A very successful man who was in the hospital in great pain reminded me of an important Bible passage about humility: the apparent Creed that we think Paul inserted into his letter to the believers at Philippi. We consider Creeds in general, like the Apostles and the Nicene, and then look at this beautiful, rhythmic passage of Paul's. We then consider why Paul's poem might be a much better Christian Creed for today.

Years ago, when I had an as-yet untreated corneal disease, I had very limited vision. I once accidentally stepped into a coffee cart line in a hospital lobby, and without meaning to, cut off a number of people. I got yelled at loudly - and felt both angry and embarrassed when the woman who yelled at me didn't seem to care that I couldn't see well. We look at a few quotes, from Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and Ecclesiastes, that have to do with how we treat others, how God looks after us, and our duty to take care of other people - and to see things from their perspective. There was another, very real reason why I had no business being unhappy with this woman.

When I was a boy, the cross on the top of my church was covered with gold leaf. We consider the First Temple, Solomon's Temple, which King David declared "will not be for man". We consider an amazing vision of the Prophet Ezekiel: a valley of dried and disconnected bones rising up and reforming the lost people of God. We consider the result of the gold leaf being put on the cross of my childhood church by a person who was honoring himself and not God - and the greater issue of God speaking to us, sometimes very dramatically and sometimes very quietly.

My wife and I once saw a side-dump trunk tip over and completely bury and crush a car - with a man still inside. It seemed like the perfect example showing that we can die at any time. We look at the Lord's Prayer, its text from the Gospels, what it really meant (as opposed to what we might think it means), and we consider how it relates to us today. We look at the Lord's Prayer as the perfect prayer to offer at any time we are in need - and to offer every single day.