Monthly Archives: April 2025

Chapter-a-Day

“I Want to See”

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“I Want to See!” (CaD Matt 20) – Wayfarer

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Matthew 20:16 (NIV)

Jesus is making His way to Jerusalem. Just a few weeks ago, followers of Jesus around the world just finished our annual memorial of the events that are about to transpire in Matthew’s version of The Jesus Story. Jesus well knows what is about to happen.

What struck me as I meditated on today’s chapter is the connection between the events. Jesus has just finished talking to the eagle scout, who walked away sad and chose not to follow Jesus because he was unwilling to do the one thing Jesus’ said was keeping him from entering Life. Peter points out that he and the boys had left everything to follow Jesus, which Jesus commends sharing that there will eventually be a special place in heaven for them in the end, at the “renewal of all things.”

I have to keep this in mind as we enter into today’s chapter and remember that the chapters and verses of Matthew’s version of the story were added hundreds of years after it was written. When Matthew penned these episodes, they all flowed together. Jesus is talking about who enters Life, who gets it, and who doesn’t. He utters His famous line “many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” He’s talking about the economy and spiritual principles of God’s Kingdom, which operate differently than the kingdoms of this world.

To illustrate this, Jesus tells the parable at the beginning of today’s chapter. A vineyard owner hires workers to work in his vineyard throughout the course of the day. At the end of the day, they each receive the same pay. This has those who’d been working before sunset furious and crying out for union representation. But the landowner points out that they had agreed to the terms, it was his money to do with what he wanted, and the truth of the matter was that they were envious of those to whom he’d been generous. Jesus then repeats “many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” The parable is an illustration of this spiritual principle, which relates back to what has just transpired.

The eagle scout chose out of God’s Kingdom economics. The disciples had chosen in.

But, they still don’t get it.

To double down on the lesson, Jesus now predicts His suffering, persecution, and death for the third time (and once again, Matthew the Quirk finds and shares the conspicuous number three). Jesus came not to set up an earthly kingdom, but to bring an eternally spiritual kingdom to earth. In the economics of God’s Kingdom, the one who gives receives, the one who is last will be first, the one who sacrifices His life will find it, and the one who dies will be born again to new life.

Just then, James and John’s mother sees an opportunity. Jesus has just mentioned that in the end, at the renewal of all things, in God’s Kingdom The Twelve will have special places of honor and a special role. She wants to make sure her boys have a special position within the special places of honor and the special roles Jesus is talking about. She pulls her boys up with her to speak to Jesus.

Jesus asks what she wants. She tells Him she wants her boys to have the positions of honor on Jesus’ left and right. She wants her boys to be first among the first. She is their union representation trying to make sure they get what she thinks they have earned, and in so doing she will have the honor of knowing her boys have positions of prominence that afford her to brag about them to all the other Jewish mothers.

She still doesn’t get it. She is spiritually blind to the very thing Jesus has been trying to say. The Father will do as He pleases with His rewards just like the vineyard owner in the parable. The economy of God’s kingdom is based on the way of the cross. You have to lay down your life in order to find it. For the record, James will be executed by Herod Agrippa. John will escape martyrdom, but not suffering. He will suffer the fate of the nations of Judah and Israel, living out his earthly journey in exile.

Matthew ends this string of episodes with Jesus healing two blind men. Ironically, Jesus asks them the same question He asked the mother of James and John: “What do you want me to do for you?”

“We want to see!” they answered.

Jesus gives them their physical sight which starkly contrasts the stubborn spiritual blindness of the disciples (and, in the case of James and John, their mother).

Today, I complete my 59th lap around the sun. In the quiet I hear God’s Spirit whisper to my spirit the same question He asked of the wife of Zebedee. The same question He asked the two blind men.

“Happy birthday, Tom. What do you want me to do for you?”

The answer is obvious. I want to see, Lord! I want spiritual sight.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Jesus and the Eagle Scout

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Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

“Which ones?” he inquired.

Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Matthew 19:16-22 (NIV)

This week I am prepping for a series of three messages I’ll give over the next three Sundays. One of the keys to the kick-off message this Sunday is not something that Jesus said, but what He chose to omit.

As I meditated on the episode between Jesus and the young man in today’s chapter, it occurred to me that it is an example of a lesson being in what was left out. History has dubbed this young man as the “rich young ruler,” but I think “eagle scout” is a more apt moniker. Yes, he was a wealthy eagle scout, but the young man had it in his head that God’s Kingdom is a meritocracy, and he had an his sash was packed with every possible merit badge. His question was “What good thing (singular) must I do to get eternal life?” The young man was a perfectionist driven mad by the possibility that there was one merit badge he was missing from his eagle scout sash.

When Jesus proclaims a list of commandments, He lists five of Moses’ Top Ten commandments, and one commandment that didn’t make Moses’ Top Ten but that Jesus elevated to the “essential two.” He conspicuously does not mention “don’t lust (e.g. covet) for what you don’t have.” When the eagle scout mentions that he has all of the merit badges Jesus has mentioned, Jesus gets right to the heart of the matter. “If you want to be perfect,” Jesus begins, using a word that translates “complete” and/or “whole.” Jesus then tells the man he’s going to have to experience the discomfort of lacking everything. In order to find that nagging one thing keeping him from meritorious perfection, the man is going to have to pawn his entire sash of merit badges along with everything else that he earned, gained, and valued in this life.

I’m reminded this morning of James’ words to the followers of Jesus who had lost everything and been scattered to the four winds because of persecution:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4 (NIV)

James uses the same word (e.g. the Greek word teleios) that his brother used with the eagle scout. Being perfect, mature, spiritually whole, and spiritually complete demands the discomfort of losing what makes one most comfortable in this world.

In the quiet this morning, I’m equally reminded of an observation I’ve had on this earthly journey. People always want to generalize when human beings are complex beings of infinitely different sorts. The thing that made the meritorious eagle scout most comfortable may not be the same thing that makes me most comfortable. Jesus was pushing past the commandments to get the eagle scout to the spiritual principle to which the commandments were trying to lead. It’s the same principle He’d been teaching all along. Following Jesus is the way of the cross. The way of the cross is not a path of meritorious acquisition. It is a a path of total surrender.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Recitation and Relationships

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Recitation and Relationships (CaD Matt 18) – Wayfarer

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Matthew 18:35 (NIV)

Every week our local gathering of Jesus’ followers says The Lord’s Prayer together. As we do, Wendy and I tend to paraphrase the traditional language a bit on our own. I think it’s funny and fascinating that the institutional church chooses to update the wording of certain things (music, translation of the Bible, the wording of the Apostle’s Creed, and etc.) but not others. Please don’t read what I’m not writing. I don’t think there’s anything particularly wrong or right. It’s the kind of ecclesiastical hair-splitting that have, for too long, gotten people’s undies in a bunch and caused more harm than good.

I see both sides of traditional words and phrasing for well-worn passages. Sometimes the traditional, yet out-of-date, wording is like a comfy old sweatshirt that wraps you in the warmth and comfort of something familiar which has been with you and seen you through long stretches of life’s journey. On the other hand, I have often found that as I press into new and unfamiliar stretches of life’s journey, I am challenged to address new and extraordinary circumstances that require me to find new layers of wisdom in traditional thoughts and meditations.

And, as the Bard famously said, “there’s the rub.”

I know, personally, that when I recite the same words over and over and over again, they begin to lose their potency. I’m just going through the motions. So, I tend to do what I was taught as I studied acting. You take the memorized line of a script and play with it, emphasizing a different word or phrase with increased inflection with each subsequent recitation. As I am fond of saying, metaphors are layered with meaning, and often as I emphasize and change my inflection with different words in the oft repeated sentence, it makes me consider different ways of considering the same words or phrases.

One of the phrases of The Lord’s Prayer that has taken on increased meaning for me as I have practiced this is: “and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” This is a request with a stated acknowledgement of reciprocal relational responsibility. I’m asking God to forgive my sins, while acknowledging that I can only expect to be forgiven to the degree I am willing to forgive those who have wronged me.

In today’s chapter, Jesus unpacks this uncomfortable spiritual principle in a parable. A king has a servant who owes him a thousand dollars he has never been able to pay. Upon the pleading of the indebted servant, the king mercifully forgives the debt. This same man exits the kings chamber and runs into a fellow servant who owes him ten bucks. He goes postal on the dude, demanding the ten-spot without even considering the weight of debt from which he’d just been graciously and mercifully freed. The king finds out about the hypocrisy, hauls the ungrateful servant into his court and had him tortured until he paid every cent he was owed.

Now comes the intense and uncomfortable part. Jesus follows up this parable by stating quite directly: “This is how my heavenly Father will treat you, Tom, unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Ouch. Hello, sobering Monday morning meditation. When I recited those famous words with my fellow followers yesterday, there’s potent spiritual punch lurking behind the well-worn words. Forgive me God, just as I have forgiven those who’ve sinned against me. Wait a minute. Maybe there are some heart and relationship matters I should have addressed before I showed up in my Sunday best to go through the religious motions.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself entering another work week thinking about my relational realities in light of my religious recitations. If there’s a disconnect between the two, then the latter was an impotent ritual. That’s the thing about a cozy old sweatshirt. If it becomes threadbare and filled with holes, it has lost its ability to accomplish the original purpose.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Mountains of Meaning

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Mountains of Meaning (CaD Matt 17) – Wayfarer

After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
Matthew 17:1 (NIV)

I have recently been slowly making my way through a series of podcasts by The Bible Project on the theme of mountains in the Great Story. It’s been a fascinating study, as it is yet another metaphorical theme that runs throughout in ways I’ve never seen or understood until now. In fact, the Garden of Eden in Genesis and the Holy City at the end of Revelation are both on mountains. Mountains are revealed as metaphorical thin places where heaven and earth meet. Mountains are full of meaning.

In today’s chapter we come across one of the most strange and mystical episodes of Jesus’ Story. He takes His inner circle of three disciples (Peter, James, and John) and goes us “a high mountain.” There, He is transfigured and the trinity of disciples are allowed to see Jesus revealed in His glory. A cloud descends and from the cloud the voice of God speaks. Moses and Elijah appear and have a conversation with Jesus.

If you have a moment, I urge you to quickly read Exodus 24. It is the story of Moses going up Mount Sinai to receive the Law from God. It has all the same elements. God descends in a cloud, and when Moses returns in chapter 34, his face is so radiant with God’s glory that he has to cover his face so that people can look at him.The two are connected. In Exodus, God is making a covenant with the Hebrew people. He is giving Moses His Law and to the same Hebrew people He will send His prophets. “The Law and Prophets” were how God spoke to His people. Now, Jesus stands on the high mountain. A new covenant is being born that Jesus even said is a “fulfillment” of everything that has come before a la the Law (represented by Moses) and the Prophets (represented by Elijah).

The mountain of transfiguration is Sinai 2.0. In our recent chapter-a-day trek through Leviticus I regularly made the point that the Law was God’s instruction manual for humanity in the toddler stages of civilization. Humanity is now at an age of accountability. The black-and-white paternal rules for which there was a reward-and-punishment paradigm that we use with toddlers is now evolved into the more mature understanding of spiritual principles (think Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7) that a young adult is given as he or she leaves the nest and begins living independently as a responsible adult who must face the consequences of their own willful actions and decisions.

History has moved forward. Humanity has moved forward. The Great Story is moving into a new chapter. This new chapter, however, is not fully understood without the context of the mountain of Eden, mount Sinai, the Law, the Prophets, and the ultimate destination of the eternal Holy City on the “high mountain” in a new heaven and new Earth at the climactic end of the Great Story. It’s all connected. The strange and mystical story of the mountain of Transfiguration in today’s chapter is an important link in the metaphorical mountain chain tying the entire Story together.

So, in the quiet this morning, I find myself ending another work week meditating on my own story in context with the Great Story. Next week on Wednesday I’ll celebrate my 59th trip around the sun. I’ll enter my sixth decade on this life journey. A new chapter.

As I meditate on Elijah’s presence and conversation with Jesus on the mountain of Transfiguration, I can’t help but think about his story. He experienced an incredible victory on Mount Carmel, but then ended his journey in depression, defeat, and being dismissed by God on Mount Sinai, the very mountain that launched Moses into a successful new chapter of his life journey. I don’t know what this new chapter of my earthly journey looks like, but I know I would rather be launched like Moses into a powerful and purposeful new chapter than be depressed and dismissed like Elijah. I’m thinking that I have a role to play in how things ultimately pan out. That’s a good conversation for Wendy and me to have as we celebrate my birthday and the birthdays of friends this weekend.

Enjoy your weekend, my friend. Lord willing, I’ll see you back here on Monday.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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He Walked Away

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He Walked Away (CaD Matt 16) – Wayfarer

A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.
Matthew 16:4 (NIV)

Early in my life I worked for many years in Christian bookstores hawking Christian books, music, and decorative trinkets. Along the line, I had the opportunity to observe how the Christian publishing, recording, and marketing world worked. In those days, Colorado Springs, Colorado was the hotbed of Christian organizations. In recent years, Nashville has become the hub for the hottest Christian authors, podcasters, and recording artists. It is a business. I learned that there is a way the game is played. For a period of time I had a cheap seat from where I got to observe it.

Along my chapter-a-day journey over the years, I’ve learned that spiritual lessons are found in Jesus’ actions as well as His words.

In yesterday’s post, I noted that the “big dogs” from Jerusalem had been dispatched to check out Jesus. Jerusalem was the Colorado Springs or Nashville of Judaism in that day. Jerusalem was a “Who’s Who” of the powerful movers and shakers in the Jewish establishment. Jerusalem had the best teachers, like a famous dude named Gamaliel. In fact, among Gamaliel’s prize students is an up-and-coming young prospect named Saul of Tarsus. Saul is from a wealthy and prominent Greek family who are Roman citizens. Impressive. Jerusalem is where it’s at for anyone wanting to be anyone as a famous teacher in Judaism.

Jesus wasn’t there. Jesus chose to focus His ministry in rural areas around the Sea of Galilee. He only went to Jerusalem on pilgrimages during festivals. His disciples weren’t well-educated, wealthy, or impressive. But Jesus was making big waves in the backwaters of Galilee, so the powerful establishment had to send a scouting party to check Him out. Yesterday they criticized Jesus for not toeing the line of tradition. He called them hypocrites.

In today’s chapter, they purposefully “test” Jesus. After-all, the word that had reached Jerusalem was all about Jesus performing miracles, healing the sick, and raising the dead. They came for The Show. The corporate execs back at the Home Office expect a full report on whether this podunk preacher is the real deal. Do they fast-track Him for stardom and offer Him a contract? Is He a threat that needs to be dealt with? They have an establishment to run and it runs a certain way.

So, the scouts “test” Jesus and ask for a “sign.” They want to see a miracle. They want to know if the stories are true. They have reports to file. The moguls back at the Temple will demand an accounting.

Jesus simply refuses. He walks away.

Later in the chapter, Jesus asks His disciples what “everyone” is saying about Him. The boys report that some were saying He was John the Baptist risen from the dead (that was Herod’s view). Others said that He was Elijah returned to earth (Elijah had been taken up to heaven in a tornado, and Malachi famously prophesied his return someday). Notice that John the Baptist seemed to have more PR “cred” with the masses and the establishment than Jesus at this point. Jesus was still, in many ways, a complete unknown.

Jesus tells his rag-tag group of nobody disciples to be wary and critical of the big dogs from Jerusalem, their establishment, and the games they play for power, prestige, wealth, and influence. God’s ways are not their ways. They want a “show,” Jesus said, but the only show He’s going to give them is to spend three days in the grave (like Jonah in the belly of a fish) and then showing up very much alive.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself once again blown away by the contrast Jesus purposefully created by what He did, where He hung out, who He chose as His disciples, and the kingdom of religion of His day. He was anti-establishment. He consciously chose to ignore those who could hand Him popularity, fame, and a whole new market for His teaching and miraculous ministry tours. In yesterday’s chapter, when the Big Dogs showed up, Jesus took His disciples and went north, further away from Jerusalem to Tyre and Sidon, a non-Jewish region full of heathens where the Jews would never follow.

The further I get in my life journey, the more convinced I’ve become that God’s plans and purposes don’t look anything like what the world tells me I should be chasing after. Jesus’ response to the power brokers of His day was to ignore, walk away, and then remind His followers that being His disciple was not a path to riches and fame, but humility, suffering, and death.

Am I willing to follow Jesus as He simply ignores the world and walks away?

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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Traditions: Serious and Silly

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Traditions: Serious and Silly (CaD Matt 15) – Wayfarer

Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
Matthew 15:1-2 (NIV)

Traditions are a funny thing.

On one hand, I am a lover of history and so it easy for me to wax nostalgic about certain traditions. I can find incredible meaning and a depth of emotion within them. I can’t hear a horn blowing Taps without tearing up.

On the other hand, my individualist nature rebels when people take traditions too seriously.

In today’s chapter, there is an undercurrent that is easily lost on the casual reader. Matthew is careful to point out that some teachers of the law came from Jerusalem to inspect Jesus. Jerusalem was the home office. These officials were the big dogs sent to check up on all the rumors about an the upstart preacher who was #trending in flyover country by the Sea of Galilee.

The first thing that the grand inquisitors notice is that Jesus and His followers don’t follow the tradition of ceremonially washing their hands before they eat. This is a serious tradition that continues to this day. When I had the honor or visiting Jerusalem and enjoying a Sabbath feast at the King David hotel, there was a sink right there in the dining room for people to ceremonially wash their hands before the meal.

Traditions die hard.

Jesus pokes back at the inquisition, pointing out that they are rabid about the “tradition” of ceremonially washing their hands before a meal while completely ignoring God’s command to honor their parents if they can profit from it.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I mentioned in a recent post that I like hats. Growing up, I was forever getting in trouble with my father for wearing my hat at the dinner table. I always thought this odd because my friend Chef Alex is required to wear a hat around food to avoid hair falling into it. So the chef must wear a hat around the food but if I wear a hat at the table I’m offending people.

Even a year or so ago I stopped at my local church to pray during the lunch hour during our local gathering’s regularly scheduled Thursday prayer time. One of the sisters who serves by praying over people came by to ask if she could pray for me, which was kind of her. She, however, asked me to remove my hat as she was offended I would wear it inside the church. But, when I was in Jerusalem and attended synagogue or approached the Wailing Wall I was required to cover my head.

People are silly about traditions.

Jesus makes this point in today’s chapter though I have observed that it never gets much airplay on Sunday mornings. Poking at people’s sacred cows is a bit like poking a stick at a rabid dog. I’m not the sick one, but I’m probably going to get bit and I have to ask myself if it’s really worth it. When my sister asked me to remove my hat before she would pray over me I respectfully honored her request, though everything inside of me wanted to press her as to why she was offended. She probably would have quoted Paul’s letter to the believers in Corinth in which he says that, “Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head.” But he follows that up by stating, “But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head.” I noticed that my sister was not wearing a head covering.

Perhaps I should have offered her my hat.

I also noticed that Paul wrote to believers in four different letters to “greet one another with a holy kiss.” My prayer sister didn’t so much as pucker her lips as she asked me to remove my hat, dangit.

People are silly about traditions.

In the quiet this morning, I love the fact that Jesus poked the big dogs from Jerusalem regarding their rabid hypocrisy when it came to their traditions. Less than a week after Good Friday, I’m equally reminded that these same rabid, big dogs will quite literally kill Him for it.

People get very serious about their traditions.

As a disciple of Jesus, I personally prefer to care more about the heart issues Jesus was concerned about and less about human traditions that make little or no sense in the grand scheme of things. But, that’s just me.

“Down, Cujo. Down!”

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
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“Why Do We Pray Before Meals?”

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“Why Do We Pray Before Meals?” (CaD Matt 14) – Wayfarer

And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
Matthew 14:19-20 (NIV)

“Why do we pray before meals?” Wendy asked me yesterday morning after I had prayed before breakfast.

It was a simple enough question. There are so many things in life that we do because they are habitual or traditional. We rarely stop to ask “Why?”

The question came back to mind as I read the chapter this morning. Jesus famously feeds a hungry crowd of 5,000 followers with just a handful of bread loaves and a couple of fish. Yet, there is so much more to this story than the surface event. It even addresses Wendy’s question.

We are blessed to live in the most affluent empire in human history during the most affluent age in human history. Never in the history of humanity has the simple human need for food been so abundantly satiated on our planet. I’m not saying that there aren’t places and people in the world who are struggling for their “daily bread,” but never in history has that number been so small. That is just the facts. Not only that, but here in America we have long struggled with the opposite problem. Food is so abundantly available that we have a problem with obesity.

Yet, for the crowds following Jesus to an isolated place to hear Him preach, and for God’s people leaving slavery in Egypt and wandering into the wilderness, the need for food simply to survive was critically real. And, this episode in today’s chapter is connected to the story of the Hebrews in the wilderness. It’s connected to the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught His followers to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread.”

For the Hebrews in the wilderness, God provided a miraculous bread from heaven called “manna.” Every morning when they woke up the manna covered the ground like dew. It was always just enough for that day, and if someone collected more than they needed for themselves and their family that day it would grow horribly rotten.

The spiritual lesson of manna, and of the loaves and fish, is profound in its simplicity: Trust God for what you need each and every day.

When I began work for our company, Intelligentics, back in 1994 it was unlike any job I’d ever held. No one in our company, including the founder and owner, has ever drawn a salary. Every person gets paid by the amount of time we charge clients within projects. Which means if we don’t have any clients or projects then no one gets paid. Our founder set up the business this way to mirror the spiritual principle of daily bread.

For over 30 years I have never had the simple assurance of next month’s paycheck or how much it would be.

God has always provided for our needs despite the fact that across the 30-plus years there have been months of proverbial feast and famine. Nevertheless, like the story of the loaves and fish in today’s chapter, there has always been “leftovers” in the end.

As I meditated on this simple life lesson in the quiet this morning, Holy Spirit raised within my memory one of my favorite verses in the entire Great Story. It comes from the time of the Hebrews in the wilderness as God is instructing them in their new way of life. The hard reality of slavery is that your Master has the responsibility of protecting and providing for his investment with housing and food, meager as it might be. Wandering in the wilderness is a very different reality. Freedom required faith that God would provide. And when God did provide, Moses instructed God’s people:

“When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.”
Deuteronomy 8:10 (NIV)

I love the fact that Jesus not only provided a filet-o-fish feast, but Matthew was careful to record that everyone “ate and was satisfied.” Matthew the Quirk was also careful to record the numbers like the math geek he was. Five loaves and two fish feed 5,000 with twelve baskets full of leftovers (that’s one basket for every one of the twelve tribes of Hebrews wandering in the wilderness back in Deuteronomy.

Matthew was also careful to record that Jesus “broke the bread,” giving us the colloquialism that we still use today for gathering together with friends or loved ones for a meal. Jesus also “gave thanks” in anticipation of God’s provision for the “daily bread” God was about to provide. While Matthew doesn’t say it specifically, I know for certain that everyone was obediently obeying Deuteronomy 8:10 and praising God after the fish feast was over that day.

So, there’s the answer to Wendy’s question. We pray before meals because it’s the spiritual pattern God wove into our daily lives. Trust God each and every day for my daily bread. Thank Him for His provision as I break my bread. Praise Him each time I am satiated and there are leftovers.

When I begin to trust and depend on myself for my daily bread, I’ve completely lost the plot.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!

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Soil and Spirit, Weather and Weeds

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Soil and Spirit, Weather and Weeds (CaD Matt 13) – Wayfarer

Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
Matthew 13:8 (NIV)

Happy Easter! It is spring and here in Iowa the landscape is quickly changing from the dull neutral tones of gray, beige, and deep brown that dominate the death of winter into vibrant and lush green of new life and a rainbow of blossoms that it brings. Here in Pella, the tulip beds are in full bloom and our annual Tulip Time festival is just ten days away.

In today’s chapter, Jesus famously teaches the crowds in parables, and the subject of His parables are all about soil, seeds, and weeds. This got me thinking a bit about the spiritual parable of my own experiences this season…

I’ve already mowed my lawn a couple of times. It was 10 years ago that Wendy and I moved into our newly constructed house. The company we hired to do our lawn was one of the more difficult contractors we worked with in the process. The soil on our property wasn’t the greatest and we had loads of black dirt brought in to supplement it. Even so, the yard was not grated well, and the soil was not spread well. The result has been a decade of trouble and hard work. Every spring as I break out the lawn mower and begin working the lawn I confess feeling a bit embittered regarding how much better and easier it would be if the soil had been done well, and done right, from the beginning.

Meanwhile, inside the house I’ve been experimenting with one of those countertop herb gardens advertised online. I have confessed many times in these posts/podcasts to my brown thumbs and lack of ability to successfully garden, even while living my entire life on the richest, most productive farmland on the face of the earth. I’m happy to say that my tiny little herb garden has been highly productive despite the multiple mistakes I’ve made getting started. I’ve been supplementing my dinner salads with Romain lettuce from countertop. Our supply of fresh Basil is slowly growing, and I’ve got plenty of fresh mint growing to mix some Mojitos to enjoy on the back patio this summer.

One of the things I’ve noticed about my little countertop herb garden has been both the soil, which I’ve never seen anything like it in my life, and the watering system which is genius in allowing the soil to soak up what the plants need without drowning them and takes my human incompetence and lack of disciplined attention out of the equation.

Which has me thinking about Jesus’ parable in the quiet this morning. The difference between the 25% of seeds that became productive and fruitful plants in Jesus’ parable and the 75% of seeds who didn’t make it was the quality of the soil. Which has me thinking about my contrasting experiences with my lawn and my countertop herb garden. The profoundly simple question Jesus’ parable, and my experience, leads to is: “What is the quality of the spiritual soil of my heart, mind, and life?”

As I meditated on Jesus’ parable, I realized that there are both things that I control and things that are out of my control with regard to the spiritual cultivation of my heart and mind. I don’t completely control the weather of life, the circumstances around me, or even the weeds that might have been sown to my right or left and are flourishing to my perpetual aggravation. I do, however, control the inflows of what I draw into my eyes, my ears, my heart, my mind, and my body. I control my time and my energy expenditure. I can push my spiritual roots deeper where springs of Living Water can nourish me, or I can simply choose to soak up the shallow and toxic run-off this world ceaselessly sheds from its surface.

The words of the Serenity Prayer came to me as I pushed my roots deeper this morning:

Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.

Or, in other words:

Lord, help me to be the best spiritual soil I can be for Your Word to take root that my life might be as fruitful and productive as possible today. Grant me patience, grace, and peace amidst the weeds and weather of this world that I do not control. And give me wisdom to know the difference.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!

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The Latest: Holiday & Winter 2024-2025

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It seems that my “Latest” posts have, of late, gone from being a quarterly/seasonal thing to a semi-annual thing. Yikes! So much to catch up on.

It was a momentous winter that began with the sale of our family’s “Playhouse” on Lake of the Ozarks. It became crystal clear to Wendy and me this past year that it was time. After 25 years in the family, and over 15 years as stewards of this thin place, we sold it to our friends Randy and Melissa from Pella. We know they will only make it better and continue to both be blessed and bless others with it as we have attempted to do these many years. Our friends Eric and Amy were gracious to drive down with us and help pack up the final load. So many memories got packed up in those boxes. We also took the opportunity to visit a couple of our favorite haunts: The Tavern at Trails End and The Branding Iron. Thank God Eric worked or United Van Lines back when he was working his way through school. I don’t know how we got it all in load!

Late fall and the holidays were special, as always. We got to enjoy football, friends, and family. We celebrated Milo’s 7th birthday with the VLs and Papa Dean. Milo especially loved having light saber fights with the VL boys, which meant that Papa enjoyed a respite from Milo’s incessant desire for “Jedi training.” Wendy and I had friends over for an en-joy-able dinner to celebrate her birthday. Our friends Matthew and Sarah treated us to dinner and an evening with C.S. Lewis in Des Moines.

We were sad that Madison, G, and MJ were unable to make the journey from South Carolina to join us for Christmas this year, but we had plenty of family including my dad, two siblings, niece Emma, as well as Taylor’s crew. I introduced Sylvie and Milo to the joy of bellying up to the bar at Vander Well Pub for a Shirley Temple. That’s become a highlight of any and every visit to Papa and Yaya’s house. We were also blessed to have a bunch of Wendy’s siblings home for Christmas at the Halls, including Suzanna and her two wee ones.

New Year’s Eve weekend began with the annual Vikings-Packers family smackdown with our nephew Sam and his burgeoning crew. So fun to have niece Emma join us again this year. It’s always fun when the Vikings win the big rivalry! 😉

New Year’s Eve itself was uneventful this year as Wendy and I delayed celebration of our 19th wedding anniversary for the early February cruise we’d been planning for almost two years.

Late last summer I was asked to step back into leadership at Union Street Players, Pella’s Community Theatre. This is my twelfth term as President. Wendy and I haven’t really been involved for the past 6-8 years. The organization is facing multiple challenges including the moving and setting up of our Costume Shop to a new location which has been a monumental task.

The challenges haven’t always been a lot of fun, but what was a lot of fun was getting back on stage in a show for the first time since 2016. I got to play Major Metcalf in Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap which is one of the most legendary shows in stage history. It’s been running continuously on London’s West End for over 70 years and 70,000 performances, and Wendy and I got to see it in London the last time we were there. Rehearsals began in early January, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience with both cast and crew. It was fun to be back on stage with old theatre comrades as well as sharing the stage with some talented young actors.

When Wendy and I were engaged 20 years ago, we planned a honeymoon in New Orleans. Neither of us had been to NOLA and we were really looking forward to it. Then came hurricane Katrina which blew away our honeymoon plans along with everything else. We shifted our honeymoon to San Antonio and vowed that someday we’d make it to New Orleans.

A couple of years ago, Wendy found an incredible deal on a cruise leaving out of the Port of New Orleans. We figured it would be a fun way to celebrate our 20th Anniversary a little early. So, we planned a week in NOLA followed by a seven-day cruise to the southern Caribbean.

What we DIDN’T plan on when Wendy booked the trip almost two years before was that the SUPER BOWL would be in New Orleans the DAY AFTER our cruise pulled out of port. When our time share couldn’t guarantee us a room on the night before the ship left port we thought, “No problem! We’ll just get a hotel room that night.” We then found there was only ONE hotel with a room available in New Orleans that night and it was charging well-over $1000 a night. “WHAT?!” So, we ended up driving an hour outside of New Orleans for the final night of our week in NOLA and then got to fight the Super Bowl crowds and parade to get to our ship. Happy to say we made it.

We enjoyed NOLA, though both Wendy and I both agreed that we can check it off the bucket list. Neither of us feel a need to return. The highlights were the World War II museum which is a must-see for anyone who loves history. We breezed through it in one day, though I could have easily spent three days taking it all in. We also love, Love, LOVED Preservation Hall. We also enjoyed Schnitzel’s on Bourbon Street and felt compelled to stop at Lefitte’s Blacksmith Shop which is tabbed as the oldest pub in America, dating to the 1700s. That still can’t hold a candle to the Brazen Head in Dublin that was serving pints during Crusades, but still fun. Yes, the beignets at Cafe Du Monde were the bomb, and I got a selfie with the Oscar-Meyer wiener mobile which I can check off my bucket list, as well!

As we were walking down Bourbon Street early one afternoon we happened upon the Lombardi Trophy that was being photographed and videotaped for promotional purposes before the Super Bowl. Nabbed a selfie. Probably the closest I’ll ever get to it. It was also sobering to spend a few minutes at the impromptu street memorial for those killed by a terrorist in the wee hours this past New Year’s Day.

One of the unexpected surprises was finding out that the subject of one of Wendy’s favorite artworks (it hangs in our dining room) is actually in New Orleans. We didn’t know that until we saw some paintings of it inside a local artists’ venue. One of the only “weeping angel” monuments in the world is inside a private family mausoleum in one of NOLA’s famed above ground cemeteries. We found it, and while the mausoleum was locked, we were able to peer inside and take a photo.

The cruise was also the highlight of our vacay. Wendy and I absolutely love cruising, and we are content to simply enjoy being at sea, in our state room, and on our room’s verandah. The only time either of us got off the ship on the seven-day excursion was when I disembarked in Porto Costa Maya for a tour of some Mayan ruins, which had been a bucket list item for me since World History class in high school.

We returned home to enjoy the first Spring in 15+ years that we weren’t feeling the responsibility of getting down to the lake and getting the Playhouse ready and stocked for a busy summer season. We’ve enjoyed dinners with friends, time with family, having Milo and Sylvie spend weekends with us, and working on home projects at Vander Well Manor that we’ve been putting off for far too long. Our Sunday Evening “neighborhood” has enjoyed watching Bad Sisters together and is now enjoying Season 2 of 1923. I got to go flying a few weeks ago with our friend Eric and enjoy a gorgeous spring afternoon in Iowa which was a real treat.

The family is all doing well.

My dad celebrated his 88th birthday in March. Not bad for someone who was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma over ten years ago and was told he might not make it more than another three or four years. His stained-glass work continues to be in demand and keeps him busy. He’s even taken some painting classes in his retirement community. We love having him in worship with us on Sundays and having him bring us some of his fresh baked goods.

Grandkids continue to grow like weeds and we enjoy every moment we get with them. We’re looking forward to enjoying Pella Tulip Time this year as we’ve handed-off our annual roles as Pella’s founding couple. We get to just enjoy the annual festival without responsibilities this year.

Chapter-a-Day

Amidst the Conflict

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Amidst the Conflict (CaD Matt 12) – Wayfarer

“Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”
Matthew 12:32 (NIV)

My heart is heavy and sad this morning. I have recently found myself in the midst of many conflicts. I don’t like conflict. I confess that I don’t do it particularly well. I happen to be married to an Enneagram Type 8 for whom conflict is a form of intimacy. I, as an Enneagram Type 4, find that conflict triggers my deep sense of shame. It means we’ve had to learn some creative dance moves when it comes to conflict.

The conflict I’ve been experiencing lately is not with Wendy, however. It’s not really even with me. It’s within a human system of which I’m a part. Members of that system are drowning in negativity toward others. When I have to be around it I’m left feeling like my soul is soiled. It’s like I crave a spiritual and emotional shower. Even if I take one, I’m left with an acute sense of sadness as I’m drying off.

Perhaps it’s a bit of synchronicity that today’s chapter is focused on the conflict between Jesus and his most caustic critics. Ironically, it was the institutional religious establishment who led the opposition to Jesus. The Pharisees, in particular, were a powerful political constituency in the leadership of the Hebrew religious system of that day. Matthew offers a trinity (there’s that number three again from Matthew the Quirk) of episodes highlighting the conflict. Matthew focuses on the religious leaders motives:

“But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.”

“But when the Pharisees heard [that Jesus healed a demon possessed man], they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”

“Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, ‘Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.'”

What Matthew makes obvious is that there was zero openness to Jesus’ teaching. They viewed Jesus as a threat. He was a wrench in the human religious system they controlled; A system that was the source of their personal power. Everything they did was motivated by a self-centered desire to maintain personal control of the system that fed their ego, social status, and religious self-righteousness. Theirs was a system of exclusivity and strict adherence to social, cultural, and traditional norms. Jesus was an outsider. He didn’t fit any of the norms, and He possessed both power and authority that threatened them. Whenever a fundamentalist system built on exclusivity encounters such as threat, it will always circle the wagons and declare the threat evil.

What struck me this morning as I read these three episodes is the contrast between Jesus’ actions and teachings and the reactions of his enemies. His disciples, hungry, simply and casually slid their hands over heads of grain as they walked through the field in order to have a snack. A man with a hand shriveled and disfigured is miraculously healed. A demon-possessed man is freed from the evil that had captured and kidnapped his body and soul.

These are all good things.

Jesus’ enemies declares them all evil.

In the midst of Jesus’ response, He famously mentions that there is one sin that is unforgivable, and that is to “speak against” the Holy Spirit. What does that mean? It means exactly what His opponents are doing. To look at something good and call it evil. To oppose what God is doing with selfish motives. To exclude those whom God loves and in whom God is working for personal gain and self-satisfaction.

Which brings me back to my sadness. The personal attacks. The whispered, salacious accusations. The threats used as systemic leverage. I’m reminded this morning that Jesus’ death and resurrection did not change evil. For now, evil remains and perpetuates the same systemic paradigms that Jesus faced in today’s chapter. What Jesus’ death and resurrection did change is me. As a disciple of Jesus, I am called to navigate, be present, and participate in broken human systems and the evil I find within them in order to bring the power and presence of God’s love and shalom as I best as I am able.

I confess that most of the time I don’t want to do so.

Did I mention that I hate conflict?

In the quiet this morning, God’s Spirit whispers to my spirit: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” I guess that means following Him into unhealthy human systems in which evil wreaks havoc and perpetuates conflict.

The words of an old hymn rise from the memory banks in reply as I contemplate Holy Week next week, and as I think about Good Friday in seven days:

King of my life, I crown thee now.
Thine shall the glory be.
Lest I forget thy thorn-crowned brow
Lead me to Calvary.
Lest I forget Gethsemane.
Lest I forget Thine agony.
Lest I forget thy love for me,
Lead me to Calvary.

Speaking of Holy Week, I’m going to take next week off. I’ll be back after Resurrection Day. Cheers!

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!