Had an interesting conversation with a young pastor yesterday. He is preaching a series called 50 Essential Stories from the Old Testament. My first thought was I bet I can come up with 30 or 35. I purposely did not ask him to name any of those 50, then sat down after supper to list as many as possible.

As I started I thought 25-30 would be easy. I have been in and out of the bible all my life, though not “religiously” until  the 90’s when I spent 5 or 6 years in study and small groups. Lately, not so much. Anything less than 20 would be embarrassing. I mean c’mon: creation, Garden of Eden, 10 Commandments, Coat of many colors, parting of the Red Sea. How about Samson & Delilah, David and Bathsheba, David and Goliath, Noah’s Ark. That was easy, but that is only 9.

A little more thought gave me Joshua at Jericho, the Tower of Babylon, Cain and Abel, Lot’s wife/pillar of salt, Daniel in the Lions den, Shadrach,Meschach ,and Abednego, the Jews wandering 40 years in the desert. Okay, that gets me to 16. Moses placed in a basket in the river?  Abraham told to sacrifice Isaac? Abraham and Sarah have a baby at 90 years old. Joseph is reunited with his family. Or is that a continuation of the coat story? I am making it separate in order to get to twenty and not be (totally) embarrassed.

Okay, just pulled out my Bible and started flipping. Plagues, patience of Job, the prodigal son and so much more. Time to get back to the Book. Thanks Pastor Joe !