Citizen of Heaven
Citizen of Heaven is a Christian podcast hosted by Hal Hammons, who shares his perspective on living as a child of God in a secular world. Each episode is divided into four segments: "What I've been preaching," where he discusses recent sermons; "What I've been reading," offering breakdowns of Bible books or other helpful material; "What I've been hearing," covering news from the internet or other sources; and "What I've been playing," reflecting on his entertainment and spiritual lessons drawn from it. The show aims to encourage listeners in their faith journey.
Episodes
HEDGES: God's blessings. "Hedges." Phariseeism. Sanssouci.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!We’ll be discussing various forms of plant life this month, and we’ll start this week with one of the most controversial ones. You’ll see what I mean. We’ll talk about how God does or does not protect His people from harm; the barriers you can put up to protect your marriage; the hedge the Pharisees built around the law and how we can avoid
GROWTH, part 3: with Andy Cantrell and Brandon Slater
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Andy Cantrell preaches for the Northwest church of Christ in New Hope, Minnesota. Brandon Slater preaches for the Green Meadow church of Christ in in San Angelo, Texas. Links are included in the show notes. We’ve been talking growth this week. We finish by talking about the growth of our faith. Jesus clearly expected His disciples to progre
GROWTH, part 2: with Andy Cantrell and Brandon Slater
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!We’re back with more from Andy Cantrell and Brandon Slater; check the show notes for their links. Here we discuss congregational growth. We think of numerical growth as being a good thing. But is it really? Do the problems that come with growth outweigh the benefits? And are numbers really a good way of measuring the strength of a congregat
GROWTH: with Andy Cantrell and Brandon Slater
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Andy Cantrell from Champlin, Minnesota, and Brandon Slater from San Angelo, Texas, join me this week to talk about growth – a topic near and dear to all of us. We start by talking about the first growth any of us experience – the growth of children. When children do not grow, it’s a sign of something going terribly wrong. Andy, Brandon and
FRUIT: Judging. "The Last of the Prune Pickers." Farmer's markets. Pies.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!We close out our month with the part of California that I have partaken of far more than any other – something I’m prepared to concede California does better than Texas. We’ll discuss how you can tell a good’un from a bad’un; the lessons learned while working with prunes (and no, not the one you’re hoping I’m not talking about); the place I
TRANQUILITY: Paul's prayer. "Rediscovering Quiet." Land's End. jigsawexplorer.com.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!I’ve been in California twice in the last 12 months. And I loved every minute of my time there. Let me tell you a few reasons why. I found what Paul said I should want more than anything in this life. I remembered how beautiful God’s world sounds when you don’t make any noise. I saw the edge of the earth and imagined what was on the other s
EARTHQUAKES: When the earth broke. "A Crack in the Edge of the World." Are hurricanes worse? TableTop.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!It’s not all sunshine in California, unfortunately. The usually amazing weather can turn absolutely horrific. Do earthquakes represent God’s efforts to finally destroy California entirely? What do we do when a giant gap threatens to separate brethren permanently? Are natural disasters worse for Californians or for beach people? And what kin
HOLLYWOOD: Stardom. "He's Just Not That Into You." Real heroes. The Networks.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!This month’s tour of California starts where talk about California always starts, for better or for worse. We’ll talk about the nature of stardom and whether it’s worth the cost; our obsession with happy endings and the harsh realities that may land instead; the heroes Hollywood used to produce, how the modern-day versions measure up and wh
CALIFORNIA, part 3: with Shawn Highfill and Mike Wilson
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Shawn Highfill and Mike Wilson have joined me for an insightful talk about California this week. We conclude our conversation by considering the abundance of blessings God shares with us in this life – and that are visible in California arguably more than any other place in the world. Links to Shawn’s work in San Jose and Mike’s work in San
CALIFORNIA, part 2: with Shawn Highfill and Mike Wilson
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Christians are prisoners of local culture. Such has always been the case. What do we do when local culture interferes with the culture Jesus is trying to build in His body? And is the problem with California culture that much different than in other places? To help us find an answer, we have Shawn Highfill from San Jose and Mike Wilson from
CALIFORNIA: with Shawn Highfill and Mike Wilson
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!California is now my second-favorite state. And as a birthday present to myself, we’re going to spend the whole month of September there. Here to help are Shawn Highfill from the Miller Avenue church of Christ in San Jose and his neighbor Mike Wilson from the church of Christ in Santa Clara. We start with the reason California was so low on
AGING: Caleb. "William Henry Harrison." Outliving your advisers. Fromage.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!I turn 60 years old in two weeks. And I’m totally OK with it – so OK, in fact, that I want to talk about one of the greatest senior citizens in the Bible; a man who some thought was too old and stubborn to be president, and who then got elected and proved them right; the disadvantage of having older men as advisers and how it got a king kil
AUTHORITY: CENI. "Henry V." Yelling. Rulebooks.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Those who know me are likely shocked that an “authority” episode has not appeared as of yet. Well, better late than never. This week we’ll talk about the authority model I’ve heard all my life and whether it deserves its reputation; a king who came up with a way to rule from a distance; an alternative to authority favored by children of all
DELAYS: Saul's baptism. "Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln." Air travel. A.I.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!OK, I’ve put this off long enough. It’s time to actually do an episode about delays. We’ll discuss Saul’s baptism and why it’s such a powerful lesson for us today; the delays in our speech patterns that may speak louder than our actual words; the delays Tracie and I faced in a place where delays are most unwelcome, and how delaying got us t
WORLD CUP, part 3: with Terry Francis and Nick Angel
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!It’s not soccer; it’s football. That’s how the world says it, and that’s the way Terry Francis, Nick Angel and I have been trying to say it. The things you say and the way you say them makes a big difference – including and particularly when you’re talking with brethren. And not always in a good way. So check your biases at the door; it’s t
WORLD CUP, part 2: with Terry Francis and Nick Angel
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Nick Angel preaches for the Loudon church of Christ in Louden, Tennessee; Terry Francis is with the church in Chelsea, Alabama. Links to their work are in the show notes. In the second part of our World Cup conversation, we discuss the anti-American propaganda and a German named Freddy has headed up the charge of rebutting it, and how we as
WORLD CUP, with Terry Francis and Nick Angel
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Confession time: I did not watch the World Cup this summer. But I did keep up with it well enough to appreciate the cultural phenomenon that it is in the world and that it became here in America. To show proper respect for the game we’re trying to call “football” this week, I enlisted the help of true aficionados Terry Francis and Nick Ange
WATER: Power. "A Perfect Storm." Too much of a good thing. Underwater Cities.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!In a month full of drinking one thing or another, we finish with the most basic liquid of all. We’ll cover whether water can actually save you or whether it just gets you wet; whether the depths of the ocean and all the terrors therein should be enough to make you change your vocation; why I’m not as excited about rain as I usually am this
WINE: Drunk on love. "The Alcohol Experiment." "A Case of You." Machi Koro 2.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Wine comes up in a wide variety of contexts in the Bible. This week we’ll discuss how the most famous Bible passage about wine may not really be talking about wine at all; how choosing to leave the drunken lifestyle doesn’t always yield the results you had hoped for; how being in love is like drinking wine, both for good and for ill – and h
TEA: Civilization. "Blood Orange Brewery." The Tea. Ceylon.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!We’re talking beverages this month on the podcast. Last week was coffee; this week we’re going a bit highbrow – or maybe not; we’ll have to see. We’ll discuss whether civilization is all it’s cracked up to be; whether tea is merely a beverage or an entire lifestyle; what “the tea” really is (not “tea,” mind you – “THE tea”); and whether you
COFFEE, part 3: with Mark Roberts and BJ Sipe
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!I hope everyone else has enjoyed this week at the coffee shop as much as I have; let’s have one last cup before we leave. To conclude the discussion, Mark Roberts and BJ Sipe discuss the willpower you have to find sometimes to walk away from something that may not be dangerous or sinful in and of itself. Links to their respective work are i
COFFEE, part 2: with Mark Roberts and BJ Sipe
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!We’re back for a second cup with Mark Roberts of the West Side church of Christ in Irving, Texas, and BJ Sipe of the church in Danville, Kentucky. Links are included in the show notes. We’re talking here about mornings – how a cup of coffee can get you going physically, and what it might take to get you going on a daily basis spiritually. W
COFFEE, with Mark Roberts and BJ Sipe
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Mark Roberts’s Coffee and the Bible series was a big prompt for this episode. I was excited to sit down with him and BJ Sipe, another avid coffee drinker, to discuss a variety of coffee-adjacent topics. We start with the idea of combining coffee and Bible study. No one says you can’t study the Bible without a cup of coffee. But Mark and BJ
HALFTIME REPORT: My Best Books of 2026 (So Far)
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!These are the best books I've read in 2026 so far. See also my list of "most surprising" books." Lord willing, the lists for the entire year will be posted in December.(Honorable mention): Doubts About Darwin, by Thomas Woodward10. Mr. Roberts, by Thomas Heggin9. Under God, by Toby Mac and Michael Tait8. Conquerors, by R
HALFTIME REPORT: Most Surprising Books of 2026 (So Far)
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!These are the most surprising books I've read in the first half of 2026. 10. Where God Was Born, by Bruce Feiler9. The Death of Evolution: Restoring Faith and Wonder in a World of Doubt, by Jim Nelson Black8. The Grave of John Wesley Hardin: Three Essays on Grassroots History, by C.L. Sonnichsen7. The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid: A
BUSINESS: "Bad, bad." "A Shopkeeper's Millennium." Not personal. Furnace.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Jesus wanted to be about His Father’s business as soon as possible. Here’s hoping His attitude will rub off on us. This week we’ll cover the difference between a successful businessperson and a crooked one; the help the business world has offered over the years in the cause of Christ and why we’re better off without it; an expression from t
CLICKBAIT: A pig in a poke. "Murder-bears, Moonshine, and Mayhem." Headlines. Intellectual properties.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!It’s my eternal struggle: balancing keeping things proper and keeping things interesting. This week we’ll cover whether efforts to sneak the gospel in the back door are ethical or even effective; the most interesting and perhaps least profitable sort of books I read; the inherently deceptive nature of modern news and what our response shoul
CREDIBILITY: Apostolic testimony. "The Turn of the Screw." Corrections. Reviewers.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!This topic is near and dear to my heart; it’s worth acquiring and protecting, especially if you wear the name of Jesus. We’ll discuss apostles and how they were able to do their job so well and continue to do so; a storyteller who may or may not be insane and how you can tell which; a flashback to the mistakes I made in my career as a journ
ROADS: Holy Way. Robert Frost. "Highway to Hell." Isle of Skye.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!I’m actually on the road this week; apologies in advance for any sound issues I may have being away from my normal microphone. We’ll be talking about one road God has prepared for us and the challenges we find walking in it; two roads that converge in the woods and why Robert Frost doesn’t care which one you take; another road the devil wan
BLESSINGS, part 3: with the Bible Geeks
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!“All the blessings in the heavenly places” sounds like the greatest gift of all – and it is. But what exactly are the “heavenly places” to which Paul refers in Ephesians 1:3? And why does the devil seem to be there too? Thankfully we have the Bible Geeks, Ryan Joy and Bryan Schiele, here to answer the tough questions in the last part of our
BLESSINGS, part 2: with the Bible Geeks
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!My conversation with Ryan Joy and Bryan Schiele, the Bible Geeks, turns to Psalm 127 and the blessing of children. As each of us is a father, we each have a perspective on the subject. Hopefully we didn’t brag on our own children very much. However full or not full your own quiver may be at the moment, or may become in the future, I think y
BLESSINGS, with the Bible Geeks
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!This month we welcome in, for the first time as a pair on the podcast, Ryan Joy and Bryan Schiele, the Bible Geeks, a couple of the best podcasters I know. Links to the show and to Ryan’s work with the North church in Fort Wayne, Indiana, are included in the show notes. We start the blessed ball rolling by talking about the nature of daily
CHINA: Thomas. "1421"/"Who Discovered America?" Porcelain. The Great Wall.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!We finish our world tour in a land considered a fertile field for the gospel until godless Communists took over. We’ll discuss the apostle who may have first brought Jesus to China and why; a radical new theory about world exploration (embrace or discard at your pleasure); the super-fancy products China used to be famous for making in earli
GERMANY: Martin Luther. "The Nazi and the Psychiatrist." Essen. Porta Nigra.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!This is one of the last two stops in our trip around the world; I hope you’re enjoying it as much as I am. This week we’ll talk about one of the best men Germany ever gave the world; one of the worst, and how his biggest opponent was more like him than he realized; a city determined to make Germany well known for unity instead of starting w
EGYPT: Back to slavery. "Who Killed King Tut?" Steve Martin. Pyramids.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Egypt is the nation mentioned most in the Bible other than Israel and Judah. So naturally our trip around the world had to make a stop here. We’ll discuss the irresistible urge in God’s people to embrace the life God’s trying to get us out of; an alleged murder mystery and the dangers of presuppositions; a cultural phenomenon and what it do
ISRAEL, part 3: with Jacob Hudgins and Mark Russell
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!The greatest wrestling match in history is described in Genesis 32. It speaks to the struggles Jacob faced throughout his life in his walk with God, but also to the struggles of the nation that descended from him. Even more so, though, it prefigures the “wrestlings” of all servants of God, trying to find the blessing He has for us and somet
ISRAEL, part 2: with Jacob Hudgins and Mark Russell
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Jacob Hudgins and Mark Russell are back to continue our discussion about Israel. But what do we really mean when we use the term “Israel” today? Is the nation on modern maps equivalent to the chosen people of God? Do we have an obligation as Christians to support the nation of Israel? And is Israel still God’s chosen people? As always, we’r
ISRAEL: with Jacob Hudgins and Mark Russell
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!I had so much fun going around the world with you last month that we’re going to do another lap this month, starting with a long-overdue look at the land of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Here to help are Jacob Hudgins from the Twin City church of Christ in College Station, Texas, and Mark Russell of the Vale church of Christ in Valparaiso, Indi
MONGOLIA: Nestorianism. "In Search of Genghis Khan." Outer Mongolia. Yak.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!If you say you knew we’d be traveling to Mongolia in our trip around the world this month, I will straight-out call you a liar. And yet here we are. We’ll cover the so-called heretics who brought Jesus to this distant corner of the world and whether their efforts count at all; the greatest Mongolian of all time and whether he was really “gr
FRANCE: Mary Magdalene. "Saint Joan of Arc." The Maginot Line. 1987: Channel Tunnel.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Our trip around the world brings us to a nation not mentioned in the Bible yet fraught with Biblical history – or at least Bible-adjacent history. We’ll cover the French’s obsession with Mary Magdalene (and ours); the most obsessive and rebellious teenager you’ve ever seen and why the French love her; the one-size-fits-all approach to war a
RUSSIA: Orthodox. "Passage to Byzantium." Vodka. Twilight Struggle.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!The first month in Season 8 will take you around the globe, looking at the lessons we can learn from our neighbors. This week we’ll discuss whose way of doing things is the right way, and what that “right way” is; the reason Vladamir Putin is in the news so much and why you shouldn’t be surprised; the advantages of getting drunk and why I t
CITIZENS, part 3: with Colton McDaniel and Paul Casebolt
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!OK, we’ve saved it for last, but we finally get to what you came to hear. Colton McDaniel and Paul Casebolt, links provided in the show notes, finish off our citizenship discussion by weighing in on the issues of borders, immigration, and policing them both with regard to the kingdom of heaven. I’m making a point of leaving carnal politics
CITIZENS, part 2: with Colton McDaniel and Paul Casebolt
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!We pick up where we left off with Colton McDaniel and Paul Casebolt discussing our role as citizens. In this part of the conversation we discuss the nature of our simultaneous roles as kingdom citizens and residents of planet earth. Can we balance our obligations? If not, which one comes first? And most importantly of all – what does this m
CITIZENS: with Colton McDaniel and Paul Casebolt
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!What better way to start Season 8 than a long-overdue discussion of what it means to be a resident of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. A couple of newcomers join me for the discussion. Colton McDaniel preaches for the Stone Canyon church of Christ in Owasso, Oklahoma. Paul Casebolt is new to online ministry. Follow his podcast and blog at Clear
Encore: THE GOOD FUTURE - Smyrna. "The Sky is Not Falling. "Shahdaroba." Terraforming Mars.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!This is an encore episode. The original "Good Future" episode appeared as one of a series of four "future" episodes on May 30, 2023.I am an optimist by nature. When I talk about the future, sometimes I forget that. This episode helped remind me, for which I am grateful.This week we will cover the glorious future of the p
Encore -- PIANO: The loud and soft God. "The Piano Shop on the Left Bank." Sonatas. The "Big" keyboard.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!This is an encore episode. The original "Piano" episode appeared first in Season 5, Episode 256, on February 27, 2024.The piano, perhaps more than any other instrument, changed the way music is played. As with a lot of things I tried as a child, I’d be a better person now if I had worked harder at it. Today we’ll discuss where the
Encore: SAN FRANCISCO -- Lombard Street. The Emperor of the United States. Embarcadero.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!This is an encore episode. The original first appeared in Season 5 as Episode 230 on August 29, 2023.This week we will discuss the short and winding road, and how San Franciscans have turned it into a blessing instead of a problem; the disaster of 1906 and how humans’ best efforts made it far, far worse; Norton I, emperor of the United Stat
Encore - WEREWOLVES: Nebuchadnezzar. "The Werewolf of Paris." Trick or treat. One Night: Ultimate Werewolf.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!This is an encore episode. The original "Werewolves" aired as Episode 237 on October 26, 2023. The story of the werewolf is a metaphor for the battle of good and evil within all of us. Are you human, or are you an animal? You get to choose.This week we will discuss the closest thing to a werewolf the Bible has to offer; the origin
Encore: HABITS, part 3, with Reagan McClenny and Adam Shanks
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!This is an encore episode. It originally debuted on July 6, 2023, as part 3 of Episode 222.This is the final part of my conversation with Reagan McClenny and Adam Shanks. Reagan preaches for the Timberland Drive church of Christ in Lufkin, TX; Adam preaches for the Edwards Lake church of Christ in Birmingham, AL, and his podcast, Preach Imp
Encore: HABITS, part 2, with Reagan McClenny and Adam Shanks
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!This is an encore episode. It originally appeared as part of Episode 222 on July 5, 2023. Adam Shanks, host of the Preach Impediments podcast, is also the author of In God We Trust, an excellent book on money management. You can find it at Adam’s website, Edenhollow.com. In this segment, Adam and Reagan McClenny, who preaches for the church
Encore: HABITS, with Reagan McClenny and Adam Shanks
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!This is an encore episode. The original, Episode 222, debuted July 24, 2023. The month of March will feature episodes from at least two years ago. Season 8 begins April 2026, Lord willing.This week I am joined by Reagan McClenny and Adam Shanks, both of whom are participating in this month’s Balancing the Christian Life Conference. Find out
ROT: Temporary treasures. "Saving Monticello." Termites. Corrosion.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!We’re ending Season 7 by talking about things crumbling over time. Let’s hope it’s not too meta. This week we’ll discuss how we can develop a taste for things that don’t go bad (it’s not as obvious a choice as you might think); how a national landmark fell apart because of its genius builder’s personal failures; how our tiny underground nei
TESTIMONY: The Ark. "The River of Doubt." The Lord's declaration. The Hotness.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Everyone knows about “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” That’s what God gives, and I hope and trust it’s what I’m giving about Him and His word. We’ll discuss the role the Ten Commandments played in ancient Israel, up to and after the time they lost them; a former U.S. president whose message was just too spectacular t
REPUTATION: Name vs. money. "Wild Bill." Trust but verify. Ark Nova.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Each and every one of us has a reputation. Whether yours is for good or ill, or whether you want to keep it or change it, that’s up to you. This week we’ll cover Solomon’s thoughts about pursuing a good reputation vs. chasing a big bank account; the world’s most famous gunfighter and how he both lived and died for his reputation; the future
HONOR, part 3: with Noah Diestelkamp and BJ Sipe
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Here we conclude my discussion with Noah Diestelkamp and BJ Sipe on the topic of honor; I hope you’ve benefitted from it half as much as I have. We wrap up by talking about the honor God says is waiting for us at the end, how we build confidence in His promises, and how we sustain ourselves along the way while He waits to give it to us. If
HONOR, part 2A: with Noah Diestelkamp and BJ Sipe
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Believe it or not, we’re not done yet talking about how we show honor to politicians and other public figures. I guess we just can’t help ourselves. Again, Noah Diestelkamp and BJ Sipe are here sharing their thoughts; as the conversation continued, we tried to get a little more practical in our application. Regardless of your political affi
HONOR, part 2: with Noah Diestelkamp and BJ Sipe
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!We’re back with more from my conversation with Noah Diestelkamp and BJ Sipe, preachers with the churches in Cedar Park, Texas, and Danville, Kentucky, respectively; check out their links in the show notes. It’s the segment you’ve all been waiting for: a definitive answer as to whether we really have to honor our governmental officials, even
HONOR, with Noah Diestelkamp and BJ Sipe
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!I’m joined by two eminently honorable preachers of the gospel – Noah Diestelkamp and BJ Sipe. Bios and links are provided below; make sure you check out their outstanding work in the kingdom. I asked them to comment on Biblical honor, starting with the way we show honor to one another as Christians. I think you’ll be blessed by what they ha
CLIMBING: Mountaintop experiences. "Holding Fast." "Up Where We Belong." Rolling Heights.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Climbing can be exhilarating. It can also be daunting, and even dangerous. We’ll deal with both extremes this week – the experiences that draw us closer to God spiritually if not physically; the alternative “highs” that may interfere with bigger purposes; the mountains God moves for us, as opposed to the ones He asks us to climb; and the an
IMMIGRATION: Jesus the refugee. "When the Irish Invaded Canada." Walls. Ticket to Ride: UK.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!At long last, I’m ready address one of the hottest topics of the day – one that Jesus deals with frequently. We’ll cover what if anything immigration policies in Jesus’s day have to do with us; the nature of nationalism and how it crosses geographical and cultural boundaries; whether Jesus is for or against building walls (yes, there is an
MONUMENTS: Ebenezer. "Coolidge." Monument Valley. Great Monuments.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!It’s in our nature, I think, to want to leave something permanent behind, something people will see and take note of. This week we’ll discuss the monument Samuel left and how it has inspired hymn singers and preachers for decades; a president who chose no memorial at all over one made under false pretenses; one of the most famous landscapes
ICE: Climate change. "Endurance." Icebergs. 1911: Amundsen and Scott.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Maybe it’s the advent of winter – or at least what passes for winter in Central Texas. But ice has been on my mind of late, and I thought I’d share. This week we’ll cover climate change from a Biblical perspective; one of my favorite books of 2025 and what it tells us about human resiliency; one of the most overused metaphors in the natural
TOP TEN BOOKS OF 2025
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Forgive the rough cut! I am having no end of trouble on my end -- the least effect of which is, I cannot put a standard podcast out. But I did make a recording for you! Hopefully my technical problems will be worked out by next Tuesday.Also, you'll note I didn't include 10 brand new books -- just 9. Forgive me!My top books of 2025
SMILES: Why so serious? Shirley Temple. "Smile." Sushi Go!
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!So, it's the week of Christmas. And it's episode #350. I didn't plan to save the "Smiles" episode for a week like this, but now I'm glad I did. We'll discuss why smiles are so rare in the Bible and why you shouldn't worry about it; how the cutest little girl and the saddest "Little Tramp" in
DIVISION, with Steve Wolfgang
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Steve Wolfgang, preacher for the Downers Grove church in the Chicagoland area, has been schooling us regarding math, church style, this week. As you likely have figured out, we’re wrapping the discussion up with division. What has “split the church” in times past? What “splits” are on the horizon. Or is it even possible to “split the church
MULTIPLICATION, with Steve Wolfgang
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Our favorite category of math in local churches is multiplication, no doubt about it. And in this part of my conversation with Steve Wolfgang, we discuss the pros and cons of growth — and yes, there are cons. We all want the church to grow. But is a quick response a good response? What if any warning signs should be anticipated when the gos
SUBTRACTION, with Steve Wolfgang
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Steve Wolfgang is back, helping us with math lessons of sorts from God’s word. This part of our discussion relates to subtraction — the unfortunate but often necessary process of taking souls out of fellowship. When is it necessary? And how do we carry it out when it is? By the way, perhaps I should have mentioned it before, but Steve was s
ADDITION, with Steve Wolfgang
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Steve Wolfgang preaches for the Downers Grove church in the Chicagoland area. He is well-known throughout the brotherhood for his grasp on historical trends throughout the centuries. This week I’m harnessing his abilities in a somewhat unconventional way, using a math theme. We start here by discussing the way we add people to our fellowshi
DISASTER: Sodom. "Icebound." My shelves. Plague, Inc.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Bad things happen in life. That's just the way it is. The question is whether we will be able to recover and build better afterward. This week we'll discuss how flirting with disaster can come back to haunt you and your family; how a man froze to death trying to get you a better deal on silk and gunpowder; how my own carpentry wor
TRUST: The trustworthy God. "Double Indemnity." Trust falls. Basketball.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Trust is a rare commodity these days -- earned slowly, lost quickly. Christians should thank God we have One worthy of trust, and a host of others trying their best. This week we'll discuss the trustworthy One and the untrustworthy alternatives; the danger in picking the wrong partner when committing a felony; a staple of trust-buildin
THANKFUL: Faithful love. Clearance books. Dead people. Caesar and Cleopatra.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Every year it seems I have more and more to be thankful for, and it's high time I said so on the podcast. this week I'll tell you which Hebrew word brings joy to my heart and why; the particular genre of book that piquest my interest the most and where I find them; the reason Roy Orbison and Brian Wilson are better musicians than
FLYING: Eagle's wings. "Jonathan Livingston Seagull." Turbulence. Pan Am.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!If I could choose any superpower, I might pick being able to fly. I doubt I'm alone in that. No wonder flight is used so often in the Bible as a spiritual metaphor. This week we'll learn how to escape the problems of this life by looking at the world the way God does; how to embrace the desire to fly God put in us and use it prope
ACCOUNTABILITY, part 3: with Scott Taylor and Tyler Hall
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!This is my final installment of my conversation with Scott Taylor and Tyler Hall, who partner in the work with the West Mason church of Christ in Mason, Ohio. We finish by talking about the most popular game in town, or so it seems — the Blame Game. These are smart fellows; can they explain to me why people’s situations are going to bet be
ACCOUNTABILITY, part 2: with Scott Taylor and Tyler Hall
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Scott Taylor and Tyler Hall preach for the West Mason church of Christ in the suburban Cincinnati area. Scott, Tyler and I are all fathers, so I thought it would be good to continue our conversation by addressing the accountability of fathers in the home, and how we practically apply the concept of bringing up children in the nurture and ad
ACCOUNTABILITY: with Scott Taylor and Tyler Hall
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Scott Taylor and Tyler Hall preach for the West Mason church of Christ in the suburban Cincinnati area. We start our conversation with a simple question: What is your favorite story in the Bible about judgment?Check out Hal on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@halhammons9705Hal Hammons serves as preacher and shepherd for the Lakewoods Dri
ET CETERA: Haight-Ashbury. Closed. Sea lions. Find the Chow Mein.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Turns out, there's not quite enough weeks in the year for me to say everything I have to say about San Francisco. So this week we'll put all the leftovers into a pot and see what comes out -- what if anything was really wrong with hippies; what businesses on the waterfront are closed and whether I care; whether the sound of sea li
GOLDEN GATE: Arrival. 15 mph. Karl. Finding Garfield.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!The Golden Gate is a bridge, a park, and a geological feature. All three made a tremendous impression on me on my recent trip to San Francisco, and I'm here to tell you about it. We'll talk about crossing the barrier between opportunity and accomplished reality; the hazards of walking where others are careening; the most famous me
MUIR WOODS: The Cathedral. "Coolidge." Souvenirs. Redwood.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!If you don't have the time or the vehicle to travel 5 1/2 hours to Redwood National Park on your next San Francisco trip, you can instead cross the Golden Gate Bridge, take a scenic drive through Marin County, and spend some quality time in Muir Woods National Monument. We did, and it's awesome in every sense of the word. This wee
ALCATRAZ: The Rock. Rule 5. The Birdman. Bridge.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Check out Hal on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@halhammons9705Hal Hammons serves as preacher and shepherd for the Lakewoods Drive church of Christ in Georgetown, Texas. He is the host of the Citizen of Heaven podcast. You are encouraged to seek him and the Lakewoods Drive church through Facebook and other social media. Lakewoods Drive
TOURISM: Best foot forward. Bus stop signs. The Bushman. Letter Pool.
Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!We're going to do something a bit different this month. I am going to spend October telling you about my recent vacation with Tracie to San Francisco. Spoiler alert: It was amazing. Life-altering, even. We'll have plenty to say in the weeks to come about Alcatraz, the redwood trees of Muir Woods, and the Golden Gate; we'll be
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