Scattered Moments

What does a half-assembled Millennium Falcon on Christmas Eve have to do with faith?

In Matthew 17, a desperate father brings his suffering son to Jesus after the disciples have been unable to help. Jesus responds with a simple command: “Bring the boy here to me.”

We spend so much of life trying to fix what we cannot fix—rearranging the pieces, trying different solutions, worrying, planning, and exhausting ourselves...

On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland and the Second World War began. Eighteen years later, on September 1, 1957, Billy Graham stood before an enormous crowd in Times Square to close his historic New York Crusade. One demanded surrender at the point of a gun. The other invited surrender at the foot of a cross. Two moments, one date — and two radically different pictures of power, conquest, grace, and the kingdom o...

Haman had money, influence, status—and one guy who wouldn’t bow to him. Naturally, he handled it terribly.

In this episode of Scattered Moments, we look at how one bruised ego turned into a full-blown revenge plot, complete with some very unfortunate infrastructure. From ancient Persia to modern outrage culture, revenge still promises satisfaction and usually delivers something else entirely. Jesus shows us a better kind...

On August 31, 1688, John Bunyan died after one final journey of service. The beloved preacher and author of The Pilgrim’s Progress had traveled through heavy rain to help reconcile an estranged father and son. He returned soaked, developed a fever, and never recovered.

In this episode of Moments Almanac, we follow Bunyan from a poor tradesman’s home to a prison cell, from an unexpected conversation with a few faithful wo...

Years ago, on a long road trip, I finally worked up the courage to make a difficult phone call. I talked, explained, questioned—and when silence came from the other end, I just kept talking. There was only one problem: the call had dropped.

That embarrassing moment became a parable for something far more serious.

In Judges 16, Samson rises to face his enemies “as before,” unaware that the Lord’s empowering pre...

Some Victories Take Generations | August 30

On August 30, 1856, a failed Ohio resort where enslaved attendants had once served vacationing Southern families was reborn as Wilberforce University, a college dedicated to educating Black students.

Exactly 111 years later, on August 30, 1967, the United States Senate confirmed Thurgood Marshall as the first Black justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Two moments. One long road toward freedom ...

Peace Amidst the Storm is an original song inspired by Psalm 18—a psalm of rescue, strength, and the God who comes near when life feels overwhelming.

Drawing from the imagery of trembling mountains, rising waters, the Rock who cannot be shaken, and the right hand of God that holds us steady, this song is a reminder that even in chaos, we are not alone.

God is our refuge, our strength, and our peace amidst the storm.

Lyrics by Ma...

August 29 — Two Johns, One Choice

What do you do when the truth costs you something?

On August 29, we remember two very different moments in history. The church has long observed this date as the martyrdom of John the Baptist, who confronted Herod Antipas with a truth the ruler did not want to obey. Eighteen centuries later, during the Second Battle of Manassas, Union General John Pope received reports that Confederate reinforc...

Psalm 18 is David’s great song of deliverance—a testimony to the God who hears the cry of His people, comes near in power, and brings them from distress into a broad place.

This meditation reflects on the rich theology woven through the psalm: God as Rock, fortress, shield, deliverer, and refuge; the dramatic language of theophany as the heavens bend and the earth trembles; the symbolism of God’s right hand as stre...

On August 28, 430, Augustine died as the Vandals besieged Hippo, convinced that no earthly empire—not even Rome—could ever be the Christian’s final home. Fifteen centuries later, on August 28, 1963, Baptist preacher Martin Luther King Jr. stood at the Lincoln Memorial and called a divided nation toward a dream of justice and human dignity.

Two preachers. Two troubled cities. Two visions of something beyond the brok...

Now Where Did I Put Him?

“Now where did I put that?” It’s a question I ask more often than I’d like to admit. But while reading Luke 2, that ordinary little phrase opened the door to something much bigger.

After three days, Mary and Joseph found Jesus in the temple. Years later, after another three days, the women came looking for Him in a tomb—and He wasn’t there.

That pattern runs throughout the G...

On August 27, 1883, Krakatoa erupted with a force heard nearly 3,000 miles away, sending deadly tsunamis across the Sunda Strait and changing skies around the world. Centuries earlier, another kind of darkness surrounded Monica of Hippo as she prayed year after year for her wandering son, Augustine.

Today’s Moments Almanac brings together a volcano that shook the world and a mother whose persistent prayers helped shape one of ...

On August 26, 1832, Adam Clarke died during a cholera epidemic near London. But his story began with a boy in Ireland whom others considered slow, dull, and unlikely to amount to much academically.

They were spectacularly wrong.

Clarke became one of the great Methodist preachers and biblical scholars of his generation, mastering ancient languages and spending years producing his monumental commentary on Scripture. The boy who struggl...

Creed is an original song inspired by the Nicene Creed, the historic confession of Christian faith first formulated at the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325 and carried by generations of believers ever since.

The song follows the great movement of the Creed: faith in God the Father, Maker of heaven and earth; Jesus Christ, the eternal Son who became flesh for our salvation, was crucified, rose again, ascended, and will return; the Holy ...

Life rarely arrives neatly arranged.

It comes as beauty and brokenness, mourning and dancing, abundance and emptiness, sudden moments and long advents. Yet through it all, the Shepherd leads us and prepares a table in the middle of today.

The meal is sure. The menu is unknown.

A Scattered Feast is a spoken-word reflection on Psalm 23, dependence, providence, and learning to receive each day as it comes—trusting that even when we...

On August 25, 325, bishops gathered at Nicaea carrying more than theological arguments—some carried the scars of persecution. At the heart of their debate was a question that would shape Christianity for centuries: Who is Jesus Christ?

In this episode of Moments Almanac, we explore the story behind the Council of Nicaea, the controversy over Arius, the crucial word homoousios—“of one substance”—and the ...

Keep Me Close — Inspired by Psalm 17

“Keep Me Close” is an original Scattered Moments song inspired by the prayer of David in Psalm 17, especially these beautiful words:

“Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings.”
— Psalm 17:8

David writes from a place of danger. He feels surrounded, pursued, and vulnerable. Yet at the heart of his prayer is something deeper than s...

On August 24, ninety years apart, two moments of religious persecution unfolded under the same name: St. Bartholomew’s Day.

In 1572 Paris, the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre left thousands of French Protestants dead. In 1662 England, the Act of Uniformity forced roughly two thousand ministers from their pulpits rather than violate their consciences—including Philip Henry, father of the great Bible commentator Matth...

Psalm 17: Keep Me Close — The Apple of His Eye

In this Psalm Reflection, we meditate on one of David’s most intimate prayers: “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings” (Psalm 17:8). Stay through the end of the reflection for an original song inspired by Psalm 17, “Keep Me Close,” a musical prayer of trust, shelter, and longing to see the face of God.

Psalm 17 is not th...