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Ezra picks up after Israel has been away from home for a long time. The people were taken into exile by Babylon, and now a new empire, Persia, is in charge. For the first time in decades, some of the Israelites are allowed to return to Jerusalem. They are stepping back into a place most of them have never seen and trying to rebuild a life they only know through stories. What Ezra is About Ezra is about coming home and trying to start again. It focuses on two main things: rebu

Chronicles sits in an unusual place. It covers a lot of the same ground as Samuel and Kings, but it isn’t trying to replace them. It’s written much later, after the people return from exile, to help them make sense of their past and reconnect with who they were supposed to be. Kings ends with collapse. Chronicles retells the story in a way that helps people rebuild. It focuses less on political drama and more on identity, worship, and the parts of the story that showed Israel

When Deuteronomy ended, Moses handed leadership to Joshua. The people entered the promised land. Judges came and went. Samuel anointed Saul, then David, then Solomon. By the time Kings begins, Israel has a king, a temple, and something that finally looks like stability. But it does not last. These two books cover roughly four hundred years of history. They read like a long, honest record of people trying to hold things together and often failing. Kings is not a neat story. It

The second big question my son asked me in the car that day was this one. Right after, “How am I supposed to believe this,” he followed it with, “Does God really know what I’m thinking all the time?” I remember sitting there in the front seat thinking, I have no idea how to explain any of this. And if I can’t explain it to my own kid, what does that say about where I am in my own faith? Without realizing until Tommy actually verbalized it, I've been wondering the same thing f

By the time you reach 1 and 2 Samuel, the Bible shifts into a new phase. The wilderness years are over. The period of judges is ending. Israel is becoming something more organized than a loose group of tribes. They want a king. They want structure. They want to feel secure. These two books show how that desire plays out with the main figures being Samuel and then Saul and David, and finally Solomon. These stories are not exactly polished or inspirational. Some aren't moral. T

After the chaos of Judges, where the country keeps falling apart and rebuilding again, the story shifts to something much smaller. No battles. No kings. No national crises. Just a family trying to figure out life after things go wrong. Ruth is a simple story about loss, loyalty, and starting over. It is personal, almost ordinary, which is partly what makes it so easy to read. It shows that the Bible is not just sweeping drama all the time. It also includes regular people tryi

Judges is a wild one. It's gritty, messy, surprising, confusing at times, and very human. It does not read like a clean, inspiring story. It reads like real life gone off the rails. If Joshua shows what happens when people follow God with courage, Judges shows what happens when they forget everything they learned. It is not a book about heroes. It is a book about flawed people in a chaotic time who keep drifting away from God and then crying out when the consequences hit. It

Deuteronomy ends with a huge emotional shift. Moses dies. A whole generation passes away. The people are standing at the edge of the land they were supposed to enter forty years earlier. Now the leadership passes to Joshua. He is not Moses. He is not the one who confronted Pharaoh or climbed Mount Sinai or broke the tablets or spoke with God as a friend. He is the next guy. The guy stepping into a role that probably felt too big, too heavy and too legendary to ever fill. Josh

If Exodus is the jailbreak, Leviticus is the rulebook, and Numbers is the wandering, then Deuteronomy is the big family meeting before everything changes. This is Moses’ final message to a people who are standing on the edge of the Promised Land. He knows he will not be going with them. He knows the next generation barely remembers Egypt. And he knows how quickly people forget who they are when life moves forward. So he gathers everyone and gives a long, heartfelt, sometimes

I wish this was a question I asked only when I was younger, but the truth is I still ask it now. There have been jobs I didn’t go for. Conversations I avoided. Risks I backed away from. Even whole seasons of my life where I sat on the sidelines because I was afraid of getting it wrong. And most of the time, the fear didn’t feel like panic or terror. It was just quiet self-doubt. Overthinking. As the voice that says, “What if you’re not ready? Or, “What if you fail?” Or, “What

If Genesis is dramatic and Exodus is cinematic, Numbers is…familiar. Not because of the ancient setting, but because it feels like real life. It is a story of people who have every reason to trust God and still doubt Him constantly. People who want certainty, who get impatient, who panic when things get hard, who grumble even when they’re being protected and provided for. Numbers is basically the story of what happens between being rescued and being ready . In the middle — t

If we are being honest, this is the part of the Bible where most people check out. The sacrifices, the rules, the talk about mildew, skin diseases, offerings, food restrictions, and cleanliness laws. It can feel strange and disconnected from life today. But once you understand why  Leviticus exists, it can be somewhat easier to digest. It becomes less like an ancient rulebook and more like a window into how a rescued people learned to live close to a holy God. It also becomes

This question is the reason this blog exists. How am I supposed to believe this? It is the question my son asked me in the car after church. It is the question I’ve asked myself quietly for most of my life. It is the question that sits underneath many conversations people have about faith. Because the Bible does not start small. It begins with creation from nothing. A talking serpent that represents evil. A flood that wipes the world clean. A tower that collapses because no o

Exodus is one of the most dramatic, well-known stories in the entire Bible. Even people who have never opened Scripture know pieces of it from movies, books, art, and everyday conversation. But underneath the recognizable parts is a story about freedom, calling, trust, and a God who refuses to leave His people trapped in darkness. This is the book where the people of Israel discover who they are. It is where Moses steps into a calling he never wanted. It is where God begins t

What It Is About The beginning of everything. Genesis is where God creates the world, creates people, and begins the first promises that shape the entire Bible. The Story Genesis opens with God bringing order out of nothing. Darkness and emptiness are replaced by light, land, sky, oceans, plants, animals, and all the rhythms that make life possible. Everything is created with care and intention. After each part, God steps back and calls it good. Then God creates something dif

A simple guide to understanding the story before you jump in Before we get into Genesis, it helps to step back and look at the big picture. Most people know the Bible is important, but very few actually know how it is organized or why the books are arranged the way they are. I definitely didn’t. I had heard bits and pieces growing up, but I never understood the flow of the story. It felt overwhelming and disconnected. So this post is meant to be a simple map. Nothing complica