Good evening, friends!

Today we open one of the most famous books in the entire Bible but not for the reason most people think.

Jonah isn’t really a story about a giant fish.

It’s the story of a giant God.

A God who pursues people when they run.

A God whose mercy is bigger than rebellion.

A God whose patience is greater than our stubbornness.

And ultimately…

A God who points us directly to Jesus.

Today we walk through:

📖 Jonah Chapter 1

📖 Jonah Chapter 2

📖 Jonah Chapters 3 & 4

We’ll talk about running from God…

Finding Him in the darkest places…

Why mercy is so difficult for us…

And why Jesus is still calling people home today.

If you’ve ever felt like you’ve wandered too far…

This episode is for you.

After a few busy days getting camp ready for another summer of ministry, we’re back and today we’re opening the shortest book in the entire Old Testament: Obadiah.

It may only be twenty-one verses long, but it asks one of the biggest questions in all of Scripture:

Where does real strength actually come from?

Pride tells us we’ve got this.

Jesus reminds us we never have to do life alone.

In today’s episode we explore:

📖 Obadiah 1–4

📖 Obadiah 10–15

📖 Obadiah 17–21

📖 Pride versus humility

📖 Why real strength is found in Jesus

📖 What authentic humility looks like

📖 How Obadiah points us directly to Christ

Real strength isn’t found in ourselves.

Real strength is found in Jesus.

🎙️ The Wooden Cricket Podcast

Today we’re diving into the little Old Testament book of Amos.

A book that asks one uncomfortable but incredibly important question:

If we really belong to God…

Does our everyday life actually reflect Him?

Amos reminds us that genuine faith isn’t about putting on a religious performance.

It’s about allowing Jesus to transform our hearts, our words, our actions, and the ordinary moments of everyday life.

In today’s episode we explore:

📖 Amos 5:14–15

📖 Amos 5:21–24

📖 Amos 9:11–15

📖 Genuine faith

📖 Empty religion versus transformed hearts

📖 Why everyday obedience matters

📖 How Amos points directly to Jesus

Following Jesus isn’t just something we believe.

It’s someone we become more like.

🎙️ The Wooden Cricket Podcast

Today we’re diving into the book of Joel.

A short book with a huge message.

At first glance, Joel looks like a story about devastation, loss, and destruction.

But underneath it all is a powerful promise:

Restoration.

A God who restores broken things.

A God who restores hope.

A God who restores people.

A God who pours out His Spirit.

In today’s episode we explore:

📖 Joel 1:1-12

📖 Joel 2:12-13

📖 Joel 2:25-29

📖 Repentance and restoration

📖 God’s promise to redeem what’s been lost

📖 The outpouring of the Holy Spirit

📖 Why Joel points directly to Jesus

No situation is beyond His reach.

No heart is beyond His reach.

No life is beyond His reach.

🎙️ The Wooden Cricket Podcast

Today we’re diving into one of the most emotional books in the entire Bible: Hosea.

A book about wandering.

A book about faithfulness.

A book about a God who keeps loving people even when they make it difficult.

But more than anything, it’s a book that points us directly toward Jesus.

In today’s episode we explore:

📖 Hosea 1:1-11

📖 Hosea 6:6

📖 Hosea 11:1-4

📖 God’s relentless love

📖 Religion versus relationship

📖 Why God keeps pursuing people

📖 The heart of the Father

📖 How Hosea points directly to Jesus

The cross is not proof that God stopped loving us.

The cross is proof that He never stopped.

🎙️ The Wooden Cricket Podcast

Today we’re diving into one of the most famous books in the entire Bible: Daniel.

A book filled with lions, kings, dreams, miracles, and incredible acts of faith.

But beneath all those famous stories is something even bigger:

Faithfulness.

Trusting God when life gets difficult.

Trusting God when the pressure is on.

Trusting God when you don’t have all the answers.

In today’s episode we explore:

📖 Daniel 1:8-20

📖 Daniel 6:16-23

📖 Daniel 7:13-14

📖 Faith under pressure

📖 The Lion’s Den

📖 Trusting God through uncertainty

📖 Camp stories and answered prayers

📖 How Daniel points directly to Jesus

Faith isn’t having all the answers.

Faith is trusting the One who does.

🎙️ The Wooden Cricket Podcast

Today we’re diving into one of the most fascinating books in the entire Bible: Ezekiel.

A book filled with incredible visions.

Powerful imagery.

Dry bones.

New hearts.

And a God who specializes in bringing life where everybody else sees death.

In today’s episode we explore:

📖 Ezekiel 1:4-28

📖 Ezekiel 36:26

📖 Ezekiel 37:1-14

📖 The greatness of God

📖 Listening to God’s voice

📖 The promise of a new heart

📖 The Valley of Dry Bones

📖 How Ezekiel points directly to Jesus

The question God asks Ezekiel still echoes today:

“Can these bones live?”

And the answer is found in Jesus.

🎙️ The Wooden Cricket Podcast

Today we’re diving into one of the most emotional books in the entire Bible: Lamentations.

A book written from the middle of grief.

The middle of loss.

The middle of heartbreak.

And yet somehow, right in the middle of all that pain, we discover one of the greatest declarations of hope in all of Scripture.

In today’s episode we explore:

📖 Lamentations 1:1-5

📖 Lamentations 3:22-23

📖 Lamentations 3:31-33

📖 Grief and faith

📖 Loss and regret

📖 God’s faithfulness in difficult seasons

📖 Why Christians still grieve

📖 Why Jesus gets the final word

Faith doesn’t eliminate human emotion.

Faith changes who we bring those emotions to.

And because of Jesus, grief doesn’t get the final word.

🎙️ The Wooden Cricket Podcast

Today we’re diving into the book of Jeremiah.

A prophet called by God.

A man who loved people deeply.

A man who carried a burden for a nation drifting further and further away from the Lord.

And a man who discovered that God’s Word had become like a fire in his bones.

In today’s episode we explore:

📖 Jeremiah 1:4-10

📖 Jeremiah 20:9

📖 Jeremiah 29:11

📖 Doing the right thing when it isn’t popular

📖 Perseverance through difficult seasons

📖 God’s calling on ordinary people

📖 The danger of staying silent about Jesus

📖 The fire that comes from a transformed life

If Jesus really is who He says He is…

If He really died for our sins…

If He really rose from the dead…

Then how could we stay quiet?

🎙️ The Wooden Cricket Podcast

Today we’re diving into one of the most powerful books in the entire Bible: Isaiah.

A book filled with prophecy.

Warnings.

Hope.

Promises.

And some of the clearest pictures of Jesus found anywhere in the Old Testament.

In today’s episode we explore:

📖 Isaiah 6:1-8

📖 Isaiah 9:6-7

📖 Isaiah 53:3-6

📖 The holiness of God

📖 Isaiah’s incredible calling

📖 The danger of distraction

📖 The coming Messiah

📖 The suffering servant

📖 How Isaiah points directly to Jesus

Hundreds of years before Bethlehem.

Hundreds of years before Calvary.

Hundreds of years before the empty tomb.

Isaiah was already pointing people toward Jesus.

And at the center of it all is one of the most powerful responses in Scripture:

“Here am I. Send me.”

🎙️ The Wooden Cricket Podcast