Geocaching Scripture Josh McDonald

Let's look at one of the childhood classics: Daniel looking a little nervous, circled by hungry lions showing off their teeth and rib cages. This story, and many like it, are often dismissed early on as ahistorical – the narrative resonates, but there's no history behind it. But let's look closer. Let's look at Ancient Near Eastern history and the lion hunts staged by rulers, just like King Darius. Again, the history is waiting for us, and plays an important role in our faith. This and an informative discussion about flannel-graph.

Jesus goes back to his hometown. The people have trouble with the paradigm shift of who Jesus was to Who Jesus actually is: "We've known you since small times." We talk about our own personal trouble with this paradigm shift, and how it's hard to see things from a God's eye view. That and apparently Rick wasn't very good at kickball..? 

Tell my brothers to go to Galilee. Jesus gives some very simple directions after the extremely unsimple event of the resurrection. Yet the disciples can't quite figure out how to follow. Fear? Disbelief? Disobedience? Yep, probably all those. We'll look at this extremely slow trip to Galilee in our latest episode.

Have you ever been in a really bad storm? The kind where you wonder if the house might blow away or a flood might carry you off? The disciples were in the midst of a brutal storm that night and they go to find the one guy who's supposed to be in charge – and He's taking a nap! Let's dig into this story, and the delicious details throughout and see if we can't figure out why Jesus was – apparently – snoozing on the job.

We look at the story within a story of Mark 5 – the raising of Jairus's daughter and the woman with the issue of blood. The detail that connects them is the number 12. Mark seems to draw an analogy between this woman lost to her community and this girl lost to life. "You are a daughter" – Jesus speaks these life-altering words of resurrection and restoration. Tune in.

We kick off season five with a discussion of a political slogan that sneaked into some of Paul's writing. Against the iron backdrop of the Roman Empire, Paul reminds us of the kingdom that will have no end. In his encouraging letter to the community in Thessalonica, Paul talks with them about the great final "Day of the Lord" in which no political structure will stand, and he parodies a Roman slogan in the process. We also briefly reflect on the political slogans we remember through the years.