Wayfarer

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 text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

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 may always be found and shared at tomvandewell.com.

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 tomvanderwell.com.

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.com.

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 version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

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.

In today's chapter, Paul reminds me that it is The Influencer, and the kingdoms of the world over which he currently has dominion, that I struggle with daily. A chapter-a-day podcast from Ephesians 6. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

The message from Paul's perpetual crossing at Conjunction Junction is simple, yet profound. A chapter-a-day podcast from Ephesians 5. The text version may always be found at tomvanderwell.com.

It's summer, and here at Vander Well Manor my annual pursuit to develop a green thumb is in full swing! A chapter-a-day podcast from Ephesians 4. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

It's one thing to know Jesus as in having a basic understanding of who Jesus is, His teachings, and what is believed about Him. It is another thing to know the love of Jesus intimately like the intimacy that happens when you have sex with your spouse. A chapter-a-day podcast from Ephesians 3. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.Tom's interview with Dr. Bob Laurent.

Paul tells the believers in Ephesus that they are part of a much larger Story than they ever realized. Just like Lucy hiding in an old wardrobe and suddenly finding herself standing by a lamppost in the snow. A chapter-a-day podcast from Ephesians 2. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

There is always an opportunity to know one another better. A chapter-a-day podcast from Ephesians 1. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.Click here for the message Tom references in today's podcast.

One of the things I've observed along my journey is that many people are wholly dismissive of the Great Story because its contents contain bits that are uncomfortable and politically incorrect to modern sensibilities and ideologies. I consider this tragic and it makes me sad. A chapter-a-day podcast from Colossians 4. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

As Wendy and I have rediscovered the joy of truly dwelling at home, it provided a really powerful metaphor in the quiet this morning for what Paul is getting at as he uses this particular phrase. A chapter-a-day podcast from Colossians 3. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

As a disciple of Jesus, I believe that if I diminish Jesus the Christ in any way, I've lost connection to the head and have become decapitated from the Truth. A chapter-a-day podcast from Colossians 2. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

As I meditated on four things Paul mentions in today's chapter, I thought to myself what a simple checklist they were to do my own spiritual health assessment. A chapter-a-day podcast from Colossians 1. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

The thing that I love about the story of Philemon is that it perfectly illustrates the way of Jesus. A chapter-a-day podcast from Philemon 1. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

Did you know...?” The voice asked on the other end of the phone. Then spewed a long litany of salacious and slanderous allegations regarding someone on my team. A chapter-a-day podcast from 2 Corinthians 13. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

Along my life journey I have observed that we humans beings are given to a desire for everything to be easy and pain-free. We want to be healthy and wealthy our entire lives. A chapter-a-day podcast from 2 Corinthians 12. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

If I ever lose sight of this simple reality, then I've completely lost the thread of what it means to be His disciple. A chapter-a-day podcast from 2 Corinthians 11. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

Occasionally, I have found myself in old-fashioned pissing contests prompted by individuals who have questioned my motives, credentials, authority, and sincerity. The Apostle Paul was constantly experiencing identical struggles. A chapter-a-day podcast from 2 Corinthians 10. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

I have a tat on my right bicep referencing Psalm 112 because the right arm is a metaphor of blessing, and the bicep is a metaphor of strength. It reminds me daily that my strength is in being a man blessed by God, which requires me to be generous. A chapter-a-day podcast from 2 Corinthians 9. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

I confess that I was not a generous person as a young man. Generosity has been something that has grown within me as I have grown and matured in God's Spirit. A chapter-a-day podcast from 2 Corinthians 8. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

The world could use some sorrow that leads to positive change. A chapter-a-day podcast from 2 Corinthians 7. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

My experiences and observations along this life journey are that there are sheep and goats in every denomination and every local church. A chapter-a-day podcast from 2 Corinthians 6. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

I think it might be very possible that as my physical hearing dulls my spiritual hearing becomes more sharpened. A chapter-a-day podcast from 2 Corinthians 5. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

Outwardly, it would appear that the emerging generation are outwardly blessed with affluence, education, technology, safety, security, and health in ways and in levels that no generation before them has ever experienced. Nevertheless, they are inwardly wasting away.A chapter-a-day podcast from 2 Corinthians 4. The text version may be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

In today's chapter, Paul uses a simple but beautiful metaphor as he tells the believers in Corinth that they themselves are Paul's “letter of recommendation.” A chapter-a-day podcast from 2 Corinthians 3. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

As I read today's chapter, I thought about my mother's letters. It's amazing to me that people forget that the “book” that we know as 2 Corinthians is not a book at all. It's a letter.A chapter-a-day podcast from 2 Corinthians 2. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

As I experience God's grace, comfort, peace, joy, and faithfulness through difficult seasons, I am equipped and called to help others do the same. A chapter-a-day podcast from 2 Corinthians 1. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

I can't help but to consider that Jesus told me that I have the same choice that He was given. A chapter-a-day podcast from Matthew 28. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

In my thoughts, words, actions, and relationships, I don't want to mindlessly be just another example of how the world works. A chapter-a-day podcast from Matthew 27. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

I think of Jesus' death and resurrection much like graduation in our culture. It is a rite of passage out of childhood and into spiritual adulthood. A chapter-a-day podcast from Matthew 26. The text version may be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.