Tag Archives: Fear

Chapter-a-Day

Make Up Your Mind

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“But make up your mind not to worry beforehand…”
Luke 21:14 (NIV)

Something new is coming.
It’s already here.
It will change everything.
And everyone can feel it.

Artificial Intelligence.

Everyone is talking about AI. It’s everywhere.

Among clients and business circles, it is the number one topic of conversation.

What can AI do for us?
How will AI transform our business?
What does the future look like with AI?

And whenever something comes along with the transformative power to change “normal” life as we know it, it stirs within human minds…

Doubts.
Fears.
Anxieties.

What is going to happen to me?

On April 26th I’ve been asked to give a presentation about the story behind our little town of Pella, Iowa. It’s a fascinating story about one man, a Pastor in the Netherlands, who was suffering persecution from the religious establishment for not submitting to their authority — not unlike how I described Jesus in yesterday’s post/podcast. He also saw little or no long-term future for the poor among his flock in the social and economic class system of Europe.

He envisioned creating a little town on the Iowa prairie in America. It would be a “city of refuge” to which he and his flock could flee, be free, and find hope and a future.

He called the town he envisioned Pella.

He called it this for a very good reason.

Today’s chapter is fascinating. Jesus prophetically tells His disciples about the future. It’s not a pretty picture.

The Temple they’re standing in will be reduced to rubble.
Armies will surround Jerusalem.
They will be seized and persecuted.

And when they see that happening Jesus said,

“Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city.”

What most people don’t know is that around 65 A.D. the political tension in Jerusalem was at an all-time high. The Jewish people were rebelling against the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was persecuting both Jews and Christians. In 70 A.D. Rome will surround and destroy the city and the Temple — just as Jesus said.

A prophet rose among the Christians in Jerusalem.
The prophet told all the Christians to flee to a city of refuge near Galilee.
They packed up their lives.
They fled with everything they had.

Historians have suggested that had they not done this, Christianity may have ended with the Roman destruction of Jerusalem.

The city to which they fled was called Pella.

As Jesus speaks to His disciples about this time of transformative turbulence, change, and even hardship He tells them something interesting.

“Make up your minds beforehand not to worry…”

Trust God.
Trust the Story God is authoring.
Remember the sparrows.
Your heavenly Father’s got you.

And faith is a mindset.
It’s planted long before it’s harvested.
It’s prepared well before it’s needed.
It’s a choice I make long before I see armies gathering.

In the quiet this morning, this reminds me of the fears and anxieties that come with any transformative time of change and turbulence.

Like AI changing life as we know it.

“Make up your minds beforehand not to worry,” Jesus said.

The believers fled to Pella, just as Jesus prophetically suggested they should in today’s chapter. They found a city of refuge. They lived and flourished.

The persecuted believers in the Netherlands fled to the Iowa prairie and created their own city of refuge called Pella. They lived and found hope and a future. I know. I live here amidst their legacy.

As David (who knew a thing or two about transformative life-change) wrote in his lyrics to Psalm 62:

Trust in him at all times, you people;
    pour out your hearts to him,
    for God is our refuge.
Psalm 62:8 (NIV)

I’ve seen a lot of change in life in my 60 years.

Man walking on the moon.
The advent of the personal computer.
The internet connecting the world.
The phone in my hand with more computing power than the technology that put man on the moon.

And now… AI.

I don’t know how it’s going to transform life and business.

But I’ve made up my mind beforehand not to worry.

I know where to run.

Faith isn’t the absence of chaos.
It’s knowing where to go when the chaos comes.

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

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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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Chapter-a-Day

Perhaps Today…Likely Not

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https://open.spotify.com/episode/4r3105rfBwwme5Q9qj9Arz?si=2LTRTdYoQW-FL9RyIgeObg

Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
2 Peter 3:17-18 (NIV)

Along the journey I continually find spiritual truth hiding in plain sight in the most unexpected of places.

The subject of AI is everywhere right now. Yesterday morning in our daily perusal of the news, Wendy and I read an article in the Free Press in which various thinkers gave their personal takes on AI. Wendy and I were both struck by these words from Eric Markowitz:

Over the last few hundred years, we began to see ourselves as separate from the natural world—masters of it, rather than participants in it. We built systems that prize speed above all else, and in doing so we lost the most fundamental lesson that nature teaches: Speed of growth makes you fragile. The tree that shoots up fastest is the first to fall in a storm. The ecosystems that endure—the ones that survive fire and drought and ice—are the ones that grew slowly, developed deep root systems, and built interdependence with the living things around them.

In today’s chapter, Peter confronts a burning issue of his day, and one that remains. Jesus promised His return. He promised a Day of Judgement. Even though He told His followers that “no one knows the day or hour” — that even He didn’t know when it would be, they were convinced that it was imminent. They expected it to be quick — in their lifetime.

The result was scoffers, doubters, and mockers.

“He’s obviously not coming. The whole things a sham. I may as well live however I want.”

What a very modern sentiment.

That’s the anthem of materialism. The creed of consumer culture. If there’s no reckoning, then indulge. If there’s no ending, then accumulate.

Peter whispers back: You mistake patience for absence.

Peter approaches this attitude head-on as he wraps up his second letter. He responds with three sweeping movements:

  1. God has acted before.
    The world was formed by God’s word. The flood came by that same word. History is not random. It bends to a Voice.
  2. God’s delay is not forgetfulness.
    “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years.” The delay is mercy. God is patient, not wanting anyone to perish.
  3. The Day of the Lord will come.
    Like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar. Elements will be laid bare. A new heaven and a new earth will emerge — “the home of righteousness.”

And then the piercing question:

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of person ought I be?

He ends with the same admonition as Mr. Markowitz in response to the current doomsday predictions of AI destroying our world.

Grow.

Take a deep breath. Cultivate a life rooted in Word and Spirit. Sink deep where Living Water nourishes unseen. Reach wide into the Light. Grow slow enough to withstand the storm, and to bear fruit in increasing measure.

Jesus is coming.
AI might destroy the world — if you read the headlines.

I find it fascinating how humanity gets enamored with doomsday scenarios. Fear motivates. Media knows it creates clicks and views — it sells books.

As a disciple of Jesus I believe Jesus is coming.

Perhaps today.

Likely not.

As a human I know that I will die one day.

Perhaps today.

Likely not.

What I do know is that the sun is rising on this, another day of my earthly journey. I get to choose how I will live, think, speak, act, and relate to others.

No matter how far I get in the journey, it’s always a good day to grow. Growth is not passive. Roots deepen because they push through resistance.

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

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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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Chapter-a-Day

Without Words

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Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives…

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have….
1 Peter 3:1, 15 (NIV)

In my upcoming book I share the story of how as a young man I believed with certainty that I was supposed to become a pastor, and how God made clear that He had purposed for me a quirky career analyzing business phone calls (a la “This Call May Be Monitored”).

My mother was greatly disappointed by the abrupt change in my vocational trajectory. My mother was a sweet lady. She was never given to overt confrontation. She was, however, an expert at letting her concerns made known through what she thought were subtle messages that we as her children could see coming a mile away.

As least once a year, sometimes more often, my mother would wait for us to be having an enjoyable casual conversation.

“Are you ever going to go back to ministry?” she would ask quietly.

Only, it really wasn’t that quiet. She asked the question repeatedly. It was always the same question. She never heard my answers above the din of her own internal fear.

I know my mother loved me. I know she was proud of me. I also know she had her heart set on me spending my career in vocational ministry. I don’t think she ever shook her angst that perhaps I was outside of God’s will. I think she loved having a son who was a preacher.

And boy, did she remind me. Again. And again.

My mother was not alone. Along my life journey, I have observed many well-intentioned parents perpetually express their spiritual concern for their adult children to their adult children. It comes in many different forms.

The annual Christmas gift of a Bible or the latest, bestselling devotional, testimonial biography, or that popular Christian movie.

[cue: Children’s eye roll]

The letter (or email) of concern because “you just have to know how I feel” or, “What we believe.”

Children: “Seriously, do you actually think I don’t know how you feel?”

The passive aggressive comments, questions, and not-so-casual asides that get slipped into almost every conversation.

Followed by hurt and wonder when the adult children, inexplicably, don’t seem to want to hang out all the time.

Today’s chapter begins with a statement that creates such surface angst and outrage in modern culture that the principle of what Peter is getting at is easily lost. He starts by telling wives who are followers of Jesus to submit to their husbands “so that they may be won over without words.”

“Without words…”
Behaviors that speak louder than words.
Life example that shows the way like metaphorical bread crumbs.
Trusting God with the soul of my loved one — and recognizing that my fear may say more about my faith than about their future.

What’s often lost in the cultural outcry of Peter’s encouragement is that Peter isn’t singling out women or wives. He is calling on everyone who is a follower of Jesus to be an example of Jesus to those in their circle of influence “without words.”

Slaves (2:18)
Husbands (3:7)
All of you (3:8)

Peter then goes on to write what is a well-known and well-worn instruction:

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have…”

But the context that Peter has established is that a person is asking me the reason for the hope that I have ibecause my life, my behavior, my relationships, and my example have made them curious…

…without using words.

The wise teacher of Ecclesiastes said, “there is a time to speak, and a time to be silent.” (Ecclesiastes 3:7)

When our daughters were young, it was time for me to speak. I taught. I answered. I guided.

When they became adults, it was time for me to learn silence.

They know what I believe. They grew up in my home.
They know desire for them to believe. I made my heart known long ago.
They know they can always talk to me. They bring it up when they’re ready.

In the meantime, I continue to walk my own journey. I pray for them. To Peter’s instruction, I remain ready and available to assist and provide as needed. To answer when asked. To speak when spoken to. Otherwise, I do my best to continue to model the spiritual life and relationship with Jesus that I would love for them to experience…without words.

And then, in the quiet, I surrender to Jesus any notion I have that their relationship with Him has to look exactly like the relationship I have with Him. I surrender my desire for their relationship with Him to be exactly what I desire for it to be. I let go of my desire to think that their stories should look like my story, or the story I would write for them if I was God…if I was in control.

And, that’s the point Peter is getting at.

I’m not in control of others whether it’s a boss, spouse, parent, friend, or child. I don’t write their stories. I don’t know the story God is authoring in their stories, nor has God ever asked me to be a co-author.

He asks me to love.
He asks me to pray.
He asks me to live as such an example that he can leverage that as a theme as He writes their own personal, individual stories.
He asks me to be ready with words —
but to live so faithfully that the question comes before the speech.

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

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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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Chapter-a-Day

Go Big! (or Maybe Not)

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https://open.spotify.com/episode/4YikEMy7OkxAe1JLO8zwrd?si=H_yVDG7PSX-7pgTwubr5SQ

When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace.
Deuteronomy 20:10 (NIV)

A few years ago I found myself at a crossroads having to make a decision about my business. A tremendous opportunity presented itself for me to transform it into something much larger. Larger cashflow, larger staff, larger marketing plan, larger client base, larger revenues, and larger profits. I had been promised the financial support and guidance to go big.

I confess that it was tempting.

There is something innately human—and perhaps especially American—that equates big numbers with success, status, and safety. This thinking even creeps into perceptions of “church.” Mega-churches and celebrity pastors wield wealth, attention, and influence. “Go big or go home,” as the saying goes. Bigger is better. More is better. Big numbers mean triumph.

Today’s chapter stands in contrast to this mentality, even as God through Moses prepares his people for a military campaign of conquest. In fact, God’s tactical commands are downright foolhardy when you consider military strategy that has raised empires throughout history.

God begins with pre-battle instructions.

Deuteronomy 20 is the Hebrews’ theology of war, though it is far more pastoral than brutal.

  1. Do not be afraid when facing larger, better-armed enemies. God reminds them: You are not alone. I brought you out of Egypt; I’ll walk you into this too.
  2. The priest speaks before the battle, not the general. Courage is framed as a spiritual matter before it is a tactical one.
  3. Mercy precedes mobilization:
    • Offer peace before siege.
    • Protect fruit trees—even in war, tomorrow matters.
  4. Exemptions abound:
    • Just built a house? Go home.
    • Just planted a vineyard? Go enjoy its fruit.
    • Newly engaged? Go love her well.
    • Afraid? Go home—fear is contagious.
  5. Limits are set:
    • Distant cities are treated differently than those within the Promised Land.
    • War is not permission for chaos; it is bounded, restrained, and accountable.

This is not a call to bloodlust. It is a leash on it.

Underlying all of these instructions is a subtextual whisper from God—one I heard loud and clear in the quiet.

“Large numbers don’t impress me.”

God is not interested in crowds. He can raise an army from stones.
God is not hoarding wealth. Everything is already His.
God can assure victory. He proved it with Egypt.

God is molding a people with a purpose, and Deuteronomy 20 has me asking myself a few important questions:

What battles am I fighting that God never enlisted me for?

What battles am I facing and have been trying to fight alone?

God’s ancient words to His Hebrew children resonate with clarity for my life and circumstances today:

  • Name my fear—because unnamed fear leads armies astray.
  • Offer peace first—in conversations, conflicts, and grudges.
  • Honor my limits—not every season is for battle.
  • Protect the trees—don’t burn relationships, health, or hope just to feel victorious.
  • Trust the presence of God more than the size of the problem.

This chapter is not a call to aggression.
It’s an invitation to holy courage—the kind that knows when to stand, when to step back, and when to let God do the fighting while you simply refuse to panic.

As I stood at the crossroads weighing my opportunity to go big with my business, God’s Spirit whispered to my soul in the quiet. Hidden among all of those large numbers that my head desired were two large numbers: large debt and large headaches. What would shrink—and likely get lost in the forest of large numbers—were the very purposes and promises on which the business was founded.

It’s time for me to shift into my work day quietly doing what we do to faithfully serve our clients and follow the purposes to which God continues to lead, one small step at a time.

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

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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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Chapter-a-Day

Presence, not Possession

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If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.
Deuteronomy 18:22 (NIV)

It is New Year’s Eve day. It’s always a special day for Wendy and me as we celebrate our anniversary. This year marks 20 years, which makes it all the more special. There are many things I love about having our anniversary on New Year’s Eve. We always have the evening off, along with the rest of the world. I have never forgotten my anniversary. And, it’s already a fun day of celebration, so celebrating our marriage just adds another layer to the festivity.

On the day of our wedding, I remember feeling another apt connection with holiday. Old things pass away. New things come.

New Year’s by its nature causes a pause for reflection on what has been. It prompts a view toward the road ahead with a curiosity for the path forward and what lies ahead. There will be many prognosticators and prophets throughout media today making proclamations and predictions.

In a very similar fashion, the Hebrews in our chapter-a-day trek through Deuteronomy stand at a precipice in time. The wanderings are over. The promised land awaits on the other side of Jordan. Moses’ message in the entirety of Deuteronomy is a father’s heartfelt preparation for his children and grandchildren regarding what has been, and what is yet to come. Today’s chapter whispers wisdom for me on this precipice of time between 2025 and 2026.

The chapter begins with a reminder that the tribe of Levi will not inherit land once the dust settles in the promised land. No acreage. No deed. No security blanket tucked into a filing cabinet. “The Lord is their inheritance.”

It’s a strange economy, isn’t it?
Everyone else gets fields and vineyards. The priests get… presence.

Not everything valuable can be owned. Kingdom economics never promises deeds, dividends, or earthly security. Jesus asks me to forego earthly treasure and invest in valuables of an eternal kind . Some callings are intentionally unmoored. Some lives are meant to be lean so they can listen. As the year exhales its last breath, that question hovers: What have I been holding that was never meant to be possessed?

Then Moses turns, almost urgently, to forbidden shortcuts.
No divination.
No sorcery.
No necromancers knocking on the thin wall between worlds.

Why? Because uncertainty makes us desperate—and desperation makes us sloppy lovers of truth. When the future feels slippery, we reach for anything that promises control. The people are warned not against curiosity, but against counterfeit certainty. And counterfeit certainty comes cloaked in many guises.

Ouija boards.
Retirement funds.
Spreadsheets and infographics.
Fundamentalist rulebooks.
Charismatic leaders.
Preachers with prophesies.

Counterfeit certainty seduces me into believing I don’t need faith..

But, without faith, it is impossible to please God.

And here—oh here—is the heart of the chapter. Moses promises his Hebrew progeny that God will not leave them guessing.

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you… You must listen to him.”

This is not a vague spiritual shrug. It is intimacy offered. God knows their fear—that unmediated holiness once made them beg at Sinai, “Do not let God speak to us or we will die.” And so God leans closer, softer, clothed in flesh and voice and language they can bear.

The true prophet, Moses says, is not measured by charisma or confidence, but by fidelity. Does the word align with the character of God? Does it call people forward into faithfulness rather than sideways into fear? Does it come true—not because it was clever, but because it was obedient?

False prophets, by contrast, speak with urgency but no authority. They rush. They seduce. They promise control instead of covenant.

And that brings me back to New Year’s Eve. To the road forward and what awaits Wendy and me the 21st year of our marriage. What awaits this nation in the celebration of 250 years. What awaits our globe in the approximately 2026th journey around the sun since Jesus’ own earthly journey.

Moses wisdom whispers to my soul at this precipice of time.

Presence. Faith. Listening with discernment.

As the year turns its page, that distinction matters. Not every loud voice is a true one. Not every confident prediction deserves my trust. And not every silence means God has stopped speaking—sometimes it means He is waiting to be trusted.

Happy New Year, my friend! I am taking the holiday weekend off and then start 2026 with a week of business travel. I’ll be returning to this chapter-a-day trek on Jan 12.

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

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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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Chapter-a-Day

Facing the Giants

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https://open.spotify.com/episode/2VuqEKIwF9JyVkiev4BUvQ?si=ZJUTmhrlQzat9jw6cwvspA

(Og king of Bashan was the last of the Rephaites. His bed was decorated with iron and was more than nine cubits long and four cubits wide. It is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)
Deuteronomy 3:11 (NIV)

In the 20 years of this chapter-a-day blogging journey, my choice of which book we trek through has been typically haphazard. I don’t give it much thought, to be honest. As a right-brained creative, I tend to eschew straight lines and blueprints and embrace adventure of the unexpected. That said, I don’t think our current trek through Deuteronomy is coincidental. As we finished the book of Hebrews last week I heard the Spirit’s whisper in my soul. I need this.

This past year has been a season of transition for me. It’s still in process. We’ve come a long way, but we’re certainly not settled in the Promised Land. There are tasks and obstacles to be faced. Just yesterday I shared with Wendy how overwhelming it sometimes feels. Scary even. Like facing a giant.

This is a feeling with which Moses is very familiar.

Before there was Goliath there was Og, King of Bashan.

As Moses leads the next generation of Hebrew tribes to the Promised Land there are two major enemies standing in the way. The first one was Sihon, king of Heshbon who was rather easily defeated in yesterday’s chapter. The second enemy is a different story. For Moses and the Hebrews, Og, King of Bashan was their Goliath.

The text calls Og the last of the Rephaim. The Rephaim are a mysterious ancient people known for their unusual size. Archaeology has unearthed remains of ancient tribes with warriors who ranged from 6’8” to 7’2”. Today’s chapter records a parenthetical mention of Og’s iron bed which was 13 feet long. Og and the Rephaim were giants. and if I’m an ancient Hebrew whose average height ranged between 5’3” to 5’5” I imagine my knees would be knocking a bit at the prospect of that battle.

Beyond Og’s sheer size, he ruled over numerous fortified cities. He had a formidable army and a super-sized reputation. This was not an easy task that lay before Moses and the Hebrews. They had every reason to feel overwhelmed. Jewish commentators note that the first thing God says to Moses as the armies line up for battle is, “Do not be afraid.” This hints that even Moses who has miraculously and successfully led the Hebrews out of slavery and through the wilderness was even feeling overwhelmed by fear in that moment. Even great leaders quake.

Courage is not fearlessness but moving forward in spite of trembling knees.

The previous generation of Hebrews refused to enter the Promised Land out of fear of the “giants” who inhabited the land. Isn’t it interesting that God leads Moses and this next generation up against a giant before they even reach the Promised Land. It’s almost as if God is ensuring that there won’t be a repeat of last time. If His people experience victory over the giants outside the Promised Land, they won’t fear rumors of giants inside of it.

The Hebrews are successful. Og is defeated along with all his cities. His 13-foot iron bed becomes a museum piece for travelers passing through Rabbah of the Ammonites. The next generation of Hebrews experience a huge boost of faith in God’s promises.

In the quiet this morning, I find a much needed reminder for the waypoint on life’s road where I find myself. There are moments for all of us when we’re facing our own giants. Sometimes they are just rumors. Sometimes they are very, very real. In either case, God’s message never changes. It’s the same as He said to Moses.

“Don’t be afraid. I’ve got this. Trust me. Take courage. Move forward.”

And so, even with knees knocking in my spirit and despite the nagging feelings of being overwhelmed, I move forward into this another day.

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

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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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Chapter-a-Day

An 11-Day Trip in 40-Years

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(It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.)
Deuteronomy 1:2 (NIV)

In the fall of 2003, I made a trip to Israel with my boss and long-time mentor. It was never meant to be a simple vacation. Chuck, who founded our business along with his late wife, Charleen, was planning to retire from the business at the end of 2004. My colleague Scott and I would be taking it over. Chuck had discipled both Scott and me as young men in high school and college. We’d journeyed together in life and business for many years, and the transfer of the business that Chuck and Charleen founded was a major milestone. Chuck wanted to go to Israel, to share the experience together, and to pray over the next phase of our shared journey.

I have many fond memories of that trip. In particular, I remember sitting atop Mount Arbel on the north west of the Sea of Galilee. When Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, I have to believe Mount Arbel was at least one of the places. It affords a panoramic view of the Sea of Galilee. 

From the top of Mount Arbel you can see fields white unto harvest, Capernaum, and the fishing villages that dot the Galilee shore. In the distance is the Decapolis region where so much of Jesus ‘ministry unfolded. Standing on top of Arbel would have been like a strategy session for Jesus and His ministry. It was on top of Arbel that Chuck, Scott, and I spent an extended time of prayer for the business, for where God would lead us.

Today we begin the book of Deuteronomy. It is the last of the five books of Moses, known also as the Torah, or what Jews refer to as “The Law.” The word Deuteronomy means “second telling.” It’s a repeat of the story thus far since the book of Exodus, which for modern readers is a bit of a head scratcher. Especially those poor souls who made their New Year’s resolution to read through the Bible cover-to-cover and have already slogged through Leviticus and Numbers.

“What!? The same thing all over again? Are you kidding me?!”

I suspect no small number of New Year’s Bible-reading resolutions die somewhere in early Deuteronomy. But, context is everything. Sometimes, those stories your grandparents bored you with as a child take on new meaning forty years later in life when you have grandchildren of your own.

As Deuteronomy opens, Moses and the Hebrew tribes are standing on the shore of the River Jordan in the land of Moab. Across the Jordan is the Promised Land. They have been here before, but that was 40 years ago. The people to whom Moses is speaking are not the same Hebrews who stood here then. This is a new generation. Some were babies and little children. Many had not been born. God has brought them here to claim the very promise their parents and grandparents once stood poised to inherit. Moses is retiring. He will not go with them. Joshua is taking over leadership of the company.

For the young Hebrews looking at the sun sparkle off the water of the Jordan River and gazing at the land beyond, the Story is not a boring rehash. It’s memory as mentorship. This is Moses saying, “I love you enough to tell the truth about where we’ve been… so you do not repeat it.”

Jewish sages see this passage as a parental moment. A loving father preparing his children for spreading their wings and taking flight on their own. And one of the main themes in the retelling is how fear short-circuits faith and destiny. They’d been right here 40 years ago. But, their parents and grandparents were afraid. They were afraid because fear choked out the courage to follow God into the land He promised. Even though God had delivered them from Egypt, had miraculously appeared on the mountain and given the Law, had miraculously led them every step of the way with a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day as guides.

At the very beginning of the chapter, Moses adds a parenthetical that stands out like a sore thumb in the text. It doesn’t fit in the flow:

(It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.)

Moses is making a cheeky point. What could and should have been an eleven day trip has taken them 40 years to bring them to this place in this moment — because they were afraid to follow God into the Promised Land. Forty years in the wilderness was not so much punishment as it was spiritual formation. Along my journey I’ve learned that God does not just pass students onto the next grade if they haven’t learned the required lessons. Some souls spend their entire earthly lives repeating spiritual Kindergarten, never quite trusting the Teacher enough to move on.

I suppose that’s why my thoughts drift back to Mount Arbel—memory as mentorship, then and now. In the quiet this morning, I feel the wind whipping across the top of Mount Arbel. I stare out across the Sea of Galilee out of which flows the Jordan River. I remember Chuck, Scott, and I praying about our own moment of transition.

Will I have faith to step into God’s promise, or will I flee in fear?

“Do not be afraid,” Moses said to them. This phrase will be used more in the book of Deuteronomy than any other book in the Great Story. It is a father, a mentor lovingly urging those he’s loved and raised to embrace faith over their fears, to learn the lessons of the past, and to step into the promises God has spoken over their future.

What a great reminder as I step into another week, as I step into the final month of 2025, and as I stand on the precipice of a new year in which I will begin the seventh decade of my earthly journey. I don’t think this trek through Deuteronomy will be mindless repetition. I think it holds spiritual truths that will be essential for the road ahead.

So I lace ’em up again—heart steady, spirit willing. Here we go. I hope you’ll join me on the journey.

Have a great day, my friend.

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

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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!
Chapter-a-Day

God’s Response

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The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘After you enter the land I am giving you as a home…”
Numbers 15:1-2a (NIV)

As I look back over the past three-to-five years, I realize that I have experienced more reactionary, emotional outbursts from other human beings than perhaps in the rest of my half-century of cognitive memory on this earthly journey. I have been yelled at, angrily accused of things, told off, and been given angry lists of demands and expectations of others. I tend to think that a cocktail of brain-altering technology, a global pandemic, and political polarization have all contributed to the acute increase in these experiences.

As this happens, I have found myself relying on a lifetime of spiritual discipline in order to try to respond to these moments appropriately. In kind reactions tend to only escalate situations and perpetuate the problem. As a disciple of Jesus, I desire to respond with the fruit of God’s Spirit as I am called to do. That means responding with a demonstration of peace, patience, kindness, and gentleness.

There is something telling about the way individuals respond to their circumstances in light of the words, actions, and/or behavior of others. Is there reactive rage of defensiveness? Cries of vengeance? Or, is there a gracious response?

In yesterday’s chapter, God’s people rejected His promise and command to enter the Promised Land. They turned against Moses and Aaron. They attempted to go it on their own without God.

Today’s chapter begins with God giving Moses instructions for how things are to be established when His people enter the Promised Land. It will be in another 40 years. It will be the next generation, but God provides instructions. For an old man like Moses, this likely felt ridiculous. It’s a long ways away. For God, who exists outside of time, and with whom “a thousand years is like a day,” forty-years nothing. And, there is a message in the madness of these instructions being given on the heels of the Hebrews’ rebellion:

“I will fulfill my covenant, and my promise to Abraham.”
“I will fulfill my promise to my people.”
“Their doubt and decision is a delay, my decision and promise remain.”

It’s a messy thing about the free will with which God gifted His human creation. We don’t control others. Others may use their free will to do all sorts of destructive things. The only thing I control is whether I react in kind and escalate the descent to chaos, or whether I willfully respond the way Jesus taught me, by returning curses with blessings, turning the other cheek, and loving my enemies.

In today’s chapter, God’s faithful and forward looking response to His own people’s faithless and backwards looking decisions provides me an example to remember the next time I find myself under emotionally reactive attack.

Sadly, I have a feeling I’m not done experiencing these kinds of situations for the foreseeable future.

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

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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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Chapter-a-Day

The Divergent Paths of Fear and Faith

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“Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”
Numbers 14:3 (NIV)

As a purely base human instinct for survival, fear is essential. Our brains react to situations instinctively to warn us and cause us to be cautious of or to flee potentially fatal dangers. As a disciple of Jesus, I have found that the spiritual journey requires the development of faith that overcomes fear. Fear is the enemy of faith. Where Jesus leads me is away from the fear of death. In fact, where Jesus leads, I walk into death as He did, believing what He asked the sister of Lazarus to believe:

“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”

Today’s chapter is one of the most crucial waypoints in the Great Story. Having quickly reached the Promised Land, the Hebrew tribes are at a point of decision. Will they have faith that the God who miraculously delivered them from Pharaoh and 400 years of slavery will also deliver to them the land He’s been promising all along, or will they now refuse to go where He is leading them?

I found an interesting pattern emerge from the story starting in yesterday’s chapter and continuing into today’s fateful moment of decision.

It begins with fear, expressed in the spies report back to Moses:

“But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there.”

As the fear grew, it led the spies to exaggerate, lie, and deceive the people as they spread false claims:

“But the men who had gone up with him said, ‘We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

The fear, fueled by deception, leads the people to doubt and a presumption:

“Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. “

They don’t know this negative outcome is going to happen, but their fear has led them to believe it. Fear has led to a kind of shadow faith, the firm belief in their pessimistic presumptions.

As a confirmed pessimist, I know this road to presumption really well. I’ve trodden its path many times on this earthly journey. In fact, I can see it play out constantly in the doomsday predictions that come from both sides of the political aisle as well as conspiratorial groups that are ever with us. As Wendy and I sit over breakfast every morning and read through the news, not a day goes by that there isn’t at least one headline proclaiming some kind of doomsday scenario. I’ve observed that not only is fear a base human instinct, but its also both contagious and creates reactive responses. Among those active responses is clicking on the doomsday articles to find out how we’re all going to die, which makes media outlets money, which is why they love printing doomsday articles.

The spies fear led to deceptive exaggeration that spread their fears like contagion throughout the Hebrew camp, leading to a reactive uprising against Moses and Aaron, along with the threat to murder Joshua and Caleb for even suggesting that they enter the Promised Land. I see that same pattern happen over and over again in our own world.

Fear —> Exaggeration/Deception —> Presumption —> Reaction

In the quiet this morning, I find God’s Spirit reminding me of all the ways that Jesus called me to live by faith, not fear. All of the ways He calls me to respond with faith rather than reacting to fear. All of the ways He tells me that God’s Spirit leads to a place where my flesh instinct to fear death must give way to an understanding that the path to Life leads through death to the Resurrection.

Like the Hebrews camped outside the Promised Land, if I’m afraid to have faith that following Jesus where He is leading me will ultimately lead to Life, then I will find my fear leading me to all sorts of deadly presumptions this side of the eternal Promised Land.

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

Promotional graphic for Tom Vander Well's Wayfarer blog and podcast, featuring icons of various podcast platforms with a photo of Tom Vander Well.
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!
Chapter-a-Day

Words for “The Anxious Generation”

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Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)

The paper is so old that it’s faded. I noticed just the other day how it’s showing the wear of time. There’s a large square section that is discolored because of the years it hung where a small ray of sunlight hit it in the same place every day.

When you open the door to my office there hangs a framed piece of paper with three verses written out in three different types of calligraphy. The three verses are among the first I memorized as a young man, and they have spiritually served me more than I can capably communicate along my earthly journey. They were a gift from my brother who was taking a calligraphy class when I was graduating from college almost forty years ago.

One of the verses is from today’s chapter, the verses I pulled and placed/mentioned at the top of today’s post/podcast.

One of the most popular and influential books in the past year or two has been The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. It tells of the research showing that today’s emerging generation is experiencing unprecedented levels of anxiety and mental illness. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and meditating on this for multiple reasons. First, the customer and market research my company, Intelligentics, is doing on a regular basis reveals the same things on which Haidt is focused in his scholarly research. Also, I have so many young people in my life, my family, and my circles of influence whom I love deeply. My desire for them is not to be mired in anxiety, but to experience the “peace of God, which transcends all understanding.”

In the quiet this morning, I found myself wondering what I would say to this anxious generation. I think Paul has some sage wisdom for those whose minds and hearts are open to receive it.

First, Jesus is alive, very real, and He offers true hope. Paul experienced a transforming relationship with Christ. I have experienced and am experiencing it, too. If you pay attention, you’ll notice that the world very much wants to dismiss, diminish, and deny this. If you’ll give Jesus a chance, I believe you’ll experience a transformation, as well.

Next, there is power in the words I pasted above. I memorized them. Countless times, in the midst of anxiety, I have recounted them, whispered them, prayed them, thought them, and stated them over and over and over again. I beg you to give it a shot. Can’t hurt, might change your life.

Paul goes on to tell the believers in Philippi “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Our world and our economy are based on a system designed to keep us perpetually discontent with ourselves, our lives, our bodies, our circumstances, and our status. It does this because it wants to sell us things and keep us always reaching for the never-ending “more” it claims to offer that will make us happy. There are forces at work that want you to be anxious. Anxious and fearful people are much easier to manipulate and control. Paul, however, discovered a secret that Jesus taught:

“If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.

“Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.

“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”
Matthew 6:25-34 (MSG)

Finally, Paul told the believers to confine our thoughts to things that are:

True
Noble
Right
Pure
Lovely
Admirable
Excellent
Praiseworthy

The next time you find yourself scrolling, I encourage you to ask how much of what you see, hear, and read as you scroll fits these adjectives. May I humbly and respectfully suggest that perhaps there is cause-and-effect at work creating “the anxious generation.”

I was a young man when the personal computer came to be. When I was in high school we had a “computer club” for the very first time in history. The very first thing that I learned in computer club, the first lesson everyone was taught about this emerging technology was this: “Garbage in, garbage out.”

Underlying all of Paul’s sage instructions is a simple truth:

I have free will. I choose.

As a young man I chose to believe words written on what is now faded and discolored paper that reminded me daily not to be anxious but that instead I could pray, be thankful, and seek after things of eternal worth. They served me well. They will serve you well, too.

I’m praying for you.

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

Promotional graphic for Tom Vander Well's Wayfarer blog and podcast, featuring icons of various podcast platforms with a photo of Tom Vander Well.
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!
An old and faded piece of paper framed on a wall, featuring three verses written in different styles of calligraphy.