My Interim Pastor days have concluded

A few months ago- right as I started this newsletter, right as I started working on the WeirdStuffInTheBible.com website- I was asked to fill in as the interim pastor for a local church in Northwest Arkansas. As of this past week, the new official pastor took over, so my schedule is greatly freed up now.

I am sad it ended, but I’m also glad I’ll have a bit more time now to devote to giving you the best podcast on weird bible stuff that can be found!

As you may have heard if you listened to this week’s episode, I’ve been on vacation. This week, I’m back and ready to start creating new content for the podcast and website.

I felt like I wasn’t able to focus on the podcast and website enough, especially in the month of May. And yet, the podcast audience continued to grow over the past few months, and May was our most-downloaded month yet. God is gracious!

Origin Stories

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing origin stories for a few mysterious figures in the Bible:

• Goliath (6/11/25)

• Goliath’s four brothers (6/18/25)

• the Pharisees (6/25/25)

That last one might not sound like such a mysterious group, but I think it will correct a lot of misconceptions that many Christians have when they hear about where this ultra-fundamentalist sect came from.

Since I didn’t have any rabbit trails to share from this past week’s episode- and since I haven’t had a newsletter for a couple weeks- I thought I might just share a brief devotional thought from Psalm 139. I jotted this down in my prayer journal recently and I’d like to share it in case it blesses you today.

Psalm 139 through a lens of God’s love

I think about the delight I feel in watching my son learn about the world. I wonder if the Father takes that same delight in us as we learn and as we grow. Today I am feeling His love as I think about my growth over the past few years.

Today I feel led to study Psalm 139 and jump there in my Bible time. I usually read this chapter with a sense of feeling judged because it asks God to search my heart. I know there’s plenty of darkness there; it’s a dangerous prayer to pray. But today, I am choosing to read it through a lens of God’s love with no condemnation.

(If you want to read Psalm 139 before or after you finish this email, here’s a link to it)

Here are a few things I observe from this psalm. Take time to read it slowly and absorb each one.

• God knows me- and loves me anyway.

• God knows every single thing about me- and loves me anyway

• God knows everything there is to know about me- and loves me anyway

• God has affection for me

• God protects me

• God won’t leave me or abandon me

• God leads me

• God sustains me

• God is more powerful than anything that intimidates me

• God created me

• God was forming me every day from the moment of conception to this present moment

• God made plans for every day of my life

• God is there waiting for for me when I wake up every morning

• (verses 18-22 get a little weird)

• Lord, I give you permission to search my heart and fix me, whatever it takes. I know and trust that you have my best interests in mind.

If you haven’t already done so, read Psalm 139 today and see what sticks out to you. I’m probably not the only one who needs these reminders.

Last week’s episode

In case you missed it, this past Wednesday was a clip from a sermon I recently preached on spiritual warfare. Since I’ve been talking about spiritual warfare lately on the podcast, I thought it might be appropriate to share it- and it also helped fill in a gap for me while I took a week of vacation time.

Until next time!

-Luke