Jacob’s Wages: The Cost of Trying Too Hard
There’s a pattern in Jacob’s story, the grandson of Abraham. It’s one that chased me until it brought me to an end. “Grace is not opposed to effort, it is…
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abraham
6 posts
The Violent Absurdity of Faith
Throwback from February 15, 2017, and updated on 5/10/2026. Over eight years, a lot of things have changed…and a lot has not. Faith is often thought of as an all-in or…
Not Just a Davidic King: The Flight ofJesus & Jeroboam To Egypt
🔒 Patreon Content If you're a patron, log in at the bottom of the page or side menu (on mobile). This is part of the Patreon archive. Patrons get access to…
Leaving Our Fathers & Mothers: A Dilemma of Fear and Faith
At the end of Genesis 2, right before the shrewd serpent enters the next chapter, it states, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast…
Rediscovering the Matriarch: Sarah’s Legacy
We humans love simplicity. We reduce intricate complexities to black and white, ignoring the intricate complexities of nature and reducing the supernatural to a set of rules that would make a great board game. We do the same thing with the Bible - we paint over the whole with whatever flavor we wish to taste. The joint nature of Abraham's blessing often escapes notice. We often let Sarah play a background role in Abraham's story. But God didn't relegate her to the sidelines. He told Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her" (Genesis 17:15-16). The promise was for both. Also, God told Abraham that he could not call him "my" princess anymore. She is a princess, with or without Abraham.
Jacob’s Legacy: Fatherhood, Faith, And Forgiveness
Jacob's family has drama and issues. We can forget that these stories are about humans and that it was messy and not so cleanly scripted as we read them. Jacob was selfish and his family was a crap show. When his favorite son falls prey to the children Jacob fathered, Jacob's lifelong pursuit has born its fruit. He now swam in the wake of the mess he made.
