Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13 ESV). Something extraordinary happens to ordinary people when they spend time with Jesus. When Peter, the former fisherman, stood before a council of

“Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.” (2 Samuel 23:24, 39 ESV). The mention of Uriah the Hittite appears at the end of a glorious roll call of David’s mighty men known as the Thirty. They were his most trusted warriors, the ones who fought fiercely

“The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me; his word is on my tongue (2 Samuel 23:2 ESV). Davids last words began with the assertion that the Spirit of the Lord had spoken by him. He had an awareness that the multitude of psalms he had written were really from God. They were not merely

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth (Psalm 121:1-2 ESV). Psalm 121 is one of the fifteen Psalms of Ascent, so named because they were written to be sung by pilgrims traveling up to Jerusalem to worship

Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written (John 21:25 ESV). John wrote his gospel account so that its readers might hear and believe. Yet he was aware that there

“Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and outran the Cushite.” (2 Samuel 18:23 ESV). “Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.” (John 20:4 ESV). In both the Old and New Testament readings today, men ran a race with urgent news tied to

When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and went off home to his own city. He set his house in order and hanged himself (2 Samuel 17:23 ESV). The story of Davids betrayal by Ahithophel foreshadows that of Jesus by Judas. Once a trusted counselor of King David, Ahithophel

“But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, barefoot and with his head covered (2 Samuel 15:30 ESV). When David heard that his son Absalom sought to overthrow him as king, he fled from Jerusalem going East up the slope of the Mount of Olives. As he climbed

“Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, ‘Whom do you seek?’”(John 18:4 ESV). This moment in John 18 is stunning in its clarity and courage. Jesus is not caught off guard. He knows exactly what is about to unfold—the betrayal, the arrest, the denial, the trials, the

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (John