Geographist

Have you ever flipped through one of those baby name books?  When my wife was expecting each one of our daughters, we would spend some time looking at tons of names and tried to come up with something that would sound nice, be a bit original, and have a strong meaning.  Do you know what Jesus' name actually means?  "Jehovah is salvation".  Why do you think His name mattered, to Him and to us?  This week we look at where the name came from and what that would mean for Christ. Our Story With God, Episode 22

What does your name mean?  Do you have a nickname?  What about Jesus?  Isaiah gives us many descriptions about how He would be known: wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, and prince of peace.  But did Jesus want to be known a certain way?  Yes!  He made that clear by what He called Himself most often.  Why does that matter to us? Our Story With God, Episode 21

We've reached the 20th week of our study, and I'd like to thank each of you who take the time to listen each week.  I hope you're getting as much out of this as I have. This week we're going to start looking at some of the aspects of Jesus that the Old Testament has been telling us about ahead of time.  Last week we saw how Jesus was born, but now we look at whether that was really the beginning.  John 1 tells us that Jesus was there at the beginning - what does that actually mean?  And what has He done?  Our Story With God, Episode 20

God's personal entrance into the creation He made was nothing short of incredible, but Scriptures indicate that not everyone was ready.  Only a few people seemed to have picked up their invitations and showed up to witness such a great event.  For many, the expectation of the Messiah was not enough to impact daily life.  For the first small groups who encountered Jesus, however, it was a momentous occasion.  Emmanuel had come!  Our Story With God, Episode 19

This week, we turn the page.  Was the Old Testament the story of how God's initial plan didn't work out?  No!  But so often, we don't fully realize what was being said until after a prophecy is fulfilled.  This is how God broke His silence - He enters our world to perfect a shattered relationship, just as He'd been telling us from the beginning.  When we broke our agreement with God, He fixed it by accepting the penalty for our faithlessness.  The next several weeks will focus on how Jesus was the answer to everything the Old Testament had set in place. Our Story With God, Episode 18

We've made it to the end of the Old Testament with the words of Malachi urging God's people to honor Him in their daily lives and worship.  And then there is silence.  For 400 years, there is no prophecy and the are no visions.  Life goes on, the Temple is busy, and Jerusalem falls under the control of various kingdoms.  Interestingly, many prophecies are fulfilled during this time (reference Daniel 2 and 7).  But the children of Israel may be left wondering if their faith has anything to compare with the wisdom of the Greeks or the might of the Romans. As we're about to see, however, all of history has been setting the stage for this moment.  The God who exists outside of time is nevertheless very interested in timing.  And now is when the main character is preparing to be revealed. Our Story With God, Episode 17

As we prepare to remember and celebrate all that Christ has done on our behalf, consider these prophetic words - written approximately 1,000 years before Jesus' crucifixion. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far from my deliverance and from my words of groaning?  Everyone who sees me mocks me; they sneer and shake their heads:  “He relies on the Lord ; let him save him; let the Lord rescue him, since he takes pleasure in him.”  I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed; my heart is like wax, melting within me.  My strength is dried up like baked clay; my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You put me into the dust of death.  For dogs have surrounded me; a gang of evildoers has closed in on me; they pierced my hands and my feet.  I can count all my bones; people look and stare at me.  They divided my garments among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing.  All the ends of the earth will remember...

Once the devastation of Jerusalem was over and the pain of exile had run its course, the remaining sons and daughters of Israel had to learn something new about their God.  He'd proven that He could conquer kingdoms and protect His people, but what about when everything has been destroyed?  He had promised "hope and a future" - could He provide?  And once they were able to return to Jerusalem, how would they live?  Daniel showed the way through prayer and repentance.  The returning exiles committed to proper worship by building a new altar.  Men like Ezra and Nehemiah led the people, while prophets like Haggai and Zechariah continued speaking God's Word.  The people began to find a new normal with the Lord that never changed. Our Story With God, Episode 16

What happens when the worst thing that could happen actually happens?  Have you ever been stuck in a situation from which the was literally no way out?  Most of us have never dealt with the kind of hardship that the Jewish survivors experienced once Jerusalem was destroyed and a life of exile began.  And yet, just like Joseph had so many years before, many of them stayed committed to God during the worst times and He honored their faithfulness.  This week we'll look at the exile stories of Jeremiah, Daniel and his friends, and Mordecai and Hadassah.  What sustained them, and what can that teach us? Our Story With God, Episode 15

In 722 BC, the capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the armies of Assyria. In 586 BC, the walls of Jerusalem in the southern kingdom of Judah were breached by the Babylonians.  King Zedekiah was captured as he attempted to escape, and was taken roughly 200 miles north to the city of Riblah, where his sons were executed and he was blinded before being taken to Babylon in chains. This map shows the historical locations of the major cities involved, compared to modern political boundaries - Assur and Samaria in blue (representing the fall of Israel), and Jerusalem, Babylon, and Riblah in red (representing the fall of Judah).

After hundreds of years of ruling themselves (sometimes well, but most of the time poorly), the children of Israel were conquered by invading armies.  Israel to the north was the first to fail, as Assyria marched against them in 722 BC.  Then Judah was destroyed by Babylon in 586 BC.  The city of Jerusalem was torn down and burnt, including the magnificent Temple of Solomon.  Why did this happen?  Was God not strong enough to protect His people?  Were His promises to Abraham and David no longer valid?  Or were these the consequences of the warnings God had been sending all along? Our Story With God, Episode 14

Can you tell the future or predict what will come?  Whenever most people hear the word "prophecy" that's what they think of.  But throughout the Old Testament, prophets were the ones who had a special job of telling God's people what He needed them to hear.  Remember that a barrier of sin existed that kept us away from God, but He would continually stretch across the divide to speak with us.  Being a prophet wasn't an easy job, and we look at some of their crazy stories.  What sustained them when these men and women took a stand for heaven with the whole world against them? Our Story With God, Episode 13

We've looked at leadership for several weeks, but now let's look at something else that set the children of Israel apart: worship.  After leaving Egypt, they were specifically prohibited from worshipping the way the surrounding nations did.  God spent time telling Moses on Mount Sinai exactly what He expected.  Worship began at the Tabernacle and eventually transferred to the Temple under Solomon, but at times without the necessary furnishings (the altar, the veil, etc.) the Jewish faith could not be properly practiced.  Nevertheless, God's standards for how to be approached by sinful mankind have never been relaxed. Our Story With God, Episode 12

Decisions, decisions.  We all have them in life.  Solomon ran across an interesting one when he became king: God gave him a chance to ask for something.  What would you want?  By asking for wisdom, Solomon pleaded God and also received wealth and success over his enemies.  But as promising as this beginning was, his end showed that his heart wasn't fully devoted to God.  Each successive ruler had to decide whether God's commands were important, and that single choice determined if his reign was successful or not.  Each king was measured, as we all are, not by the financial or political success they achieved, but by how faithful they were to their Lord. Our Story With God, Episode 11

The last judge of the Israelites was probably the greatest among them.  Samuel was not only judge but also priest and prophet - raised in the tabernacle by Eli the high priest.  He judged the people for many years, but had the same fatal flaw as his mentor: neither Eli nor Samuel raised their sons to know and respect God and His commands.  And so the Israelites made a fateful decision: "Give us a king!"  They decided to become just like everyone else around them (including many of the same people God told them to remove from their land in the first place).  The first two kings offer us an amazing contrast in what qualities make a proper ruler: Saul and David. Our Story With God, Episode 10

Moses led Israel for 40 years, from Egypt to the edge of the Promised Land, but he was not allowed to bring his people in to take over their new territory.  If this leader, through whom God had delivered Israel, wasn't going to be in charge, then who was?  And if his authority and leadership was challenged repeatedly, how would the people trust and follow a new leader?  This week we look at Joshua and the early judges that led a very unique form of government for the Hebrew nation.  God provided all of the benefits to these individuals, but a downward spiral began to take shape: when there was comfort and ease, God's chosen people were quick to forget His provision and ignore His commands. Our Story With God, Episode 9

God's plagues against Egypt had crushed the country that had oppressed His people.  The Passover became a solemn ceremony to symbolize God's protection of Israel, as the people of Egypt suffer death and loss.  Pharoah can no longer fight, and he orders Moses to take the people away.  Later he will try to go get them and his entire army will drown at the Red Sea. God took everything away from Egypt, but now He needs to take care of a nation of slaves.  The complain about everything - no water, no food, not the right kind of food, etc.  Moses takes them to the place it all began for him: Mount Sinai.  Now God, always continuing to reveal Himself, begins to instruct and mold Israel into His people. Our Story With God, Episode 8

First of all, I'd like to say thank you to everyone who checks out the blog each week.  I saw that there have been over 500 views so far, which is pretty cool.  I hope you're getting some good stuff from it!  Let me know if you have any requests, either in the comments or via the contract form. This week, we start looking at the plagues that God unleashed on Egypt.  He needed to show the Hebrews that His faithfulness and strength were enough to depend upon.  He also judged the Egyptians and punished them accordingly.  Just as He had during creation and during the lifetimes of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) He works in steps to continually reveal Himself to His people. Our Story With God, Episode 7

After Joseph rose to power in Egypt and brought his family there to live, the clock started on the 400 years of oppression that God foretold.  The offspring of Israel had originally been honored by Pharaoh, but after several generations they were feared because of their increasing numbers.  The Egyptians enslaved them and made a law that Hebrew baby boys were to be killed.  In the midst of this terrible situation we are introduced to Moses, who will be a man without a people for most of his life.  God selects him to lead Abraham's descendants to the land He had promised them...but first, Moses has to face an ugly past. Our Story With God, Episode 6

Welcome back for a new week, and now we're ready to start a new month as well!  God made a covenant with Abraham, but it wasn't until the birth of Isaac that he had any tangible proof that God was fulfilling His promises.  One of those guarantees was that his offspring would be oppressed in a foreign land for 400 years.  That turned out to be Egypt.  In this episode we look at how the family grew and see that each generation, while they had many problems, continued to worship God.  The dysfunction among them unfortunately caused division and pain, but at last Joseph brought his entire family to Egypt to save them from famine (forgiving the brothers who had been so cruel to him).  God's story continues to march forward exactly as He said. Our Story With God, Episode 5

Hello to all my viewers!  I've put together a quick visual of Abram's (later Abraham's) travels throughout his life.  Take a look and let me know what I can do to make this more useful for you.  Making maps is what I do to pay the bills, so happy to customize these as needed.  The labels are fairly small in the animation (especially when viewing on a mobile) so I'm also including some images to help you out as well. Our Story With God: Abraham's Travels (Vimeo)

Once the flood waters receded, mankind once again began to populate the world.  At first, a group of them decided to settle together in the plain of Shinar (what we'd call Mesopotamia) and build a tower - Babel.  God prevented them from finishing, but enough people stayed in this region to build several large cities.  Among these was Ur.  For some reason, God called one man from this place - Abram.  An older man with a substantial amount of herds, servants, and other material goods, the one thing he lacked was a child.  Without the benefit of a Bible or other knowledge of God, he nevertheless did what he was told and believed God in everything He said.  Abram had good moments (building altars, following instruction) and bad (lying about his wife, having a child with a servant) but God chose this man to establish a covenant - he made promises as the stronger party, asking nothing in return from the vassal.  Through God's faithfulness to Abram, the ...

It's a story everyone seems to know - Noah built the ark to save his family and two of every living creature from the coming flood.  Sin had taken a terrible toll on humanity, to the point where judgment was coming.  But what does God want to show about Himself?  And how does this point ahead and give us hope, several thousand years later? Our Story With God: Episode 3

After God finished the work of creation and called it "very good", what happened?  Why (and how) did a breach in our relationship form?  The refusal of humanity to follow a single rule introduced sin - the lawless rejection of God - into the equation.  It's a sad twist in the story, but is critical to understand before we can fully appreciate the solution that God provides.  For some extra thought exercises, look at the difference between God's rule and Eve's explanation.  How long do you think the two were in the Garden of Eden before being removed?  Send me comments, I'd love to hear from you!  Our Story With God: Episode 2

The Geographist (me) spent a little time with the Christian Truther (my brother, Kevin) on his channel.  Give this link a click and subscribe to his channel for some great content! Christian Truther interview

Happy New Year!  What better way to start the year than by diving into the beginning of God's Word - the start of our story?  With the story of creation, God begins to share His nature and methods with us.  Each step in the process makes sense as He creates order from nothingness.  To Him, time means nothing (it's merely a piece of creation itself) but thinking is everything.  Let's start our journey! Our Story With God: Episode 1