Out of fear, Abraham lied to Abimelech. Even worse, he was willing to give his wife to the king to save his own neck! Miraculously, it all ‘worked out in the end.’ But I have to wonder what happened to the relationship between Abraham and Sarah. How did she feel about ‘protecting’ her husband’s life … Read more

A direct comparison of our band programs to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah is not particularly helpful, is it? No matter what kind of school you teach in, I sincerely hope that your band room and its inhabitants are not analogous to the populations of those two biblical cities. So how can we relate … Read more

This chapter is fascinating for bible language nerds because of the apparent ‘mistakes’ in the translation. It begins with “The LORD appeared to Abraham….” Next sentence: “He looked up and saw three men.” Abraham ran to greet them but then spoke to him. Abraham speaks to a single visitor but the narrative always refers to … Read more

God established a covenant with Abraham. It included Abraham being the father of many nations, land and a promise of an everlasting relationship. Then….the sign. To acknowledge the covenant, a physical sign was required – circumcision. Fun, right? But, no circumcision, no participation in the covenant. So…what about my band? Well, at my school you … Read more

Abram’s wife Sarai gave her slave to her husband as a wife because Sarai hadn’t borne him any children. Hagar conceived, Sarai got angry and complained to her husband, who told her to do basically whatever. So Sarai mistreated Hagar, who ran away. Here is where it gets interesting. Up until now, this is just … Read more

I’ve been putting off my post on this passage for about a month, because I can’t quite put the right words on the page. I’ve written about how teacher to classroom relationships are similar to covenant relationships, but it doesn’t quite jibe. First, teachers are not God, and second, we don’t get to choose our … Read more

The story of Lot’s rescue during wartime is not told from his perspective nor from Abram’s. It is a simple narrative with no dialogue. Synopsis: Lot gets captured as part of the spoils of war, Abram finds out and takes his men to save Lot. When someone close to us finds out we are in … Read more

Abram gave Lot first choice of land, of opportunity, of future. He let his younger nephew decide. You can do the same thing with your music students. Present the options, even if there are only two, and let them pick. I did this recently with the choice of festival music. We sight read several pieces, … Read more

“Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go’…So Abram went” That was it. Obedience. God said it, so he did it. Is that your experience? I think many of us would have to admit that it is not. One way my experience is different from Abram’s is that the Lord hasn’t ‘said’ to me. The second … Read more

In Genesis 11:6, the Lord says that “nothing that they propose to do will be impossible for them.” One could also translate the phrase as “they will be able to achieve anything they propose to do.” The verb ‘to achieve’ and its accompanying noun ‘achievement,’ are both found in the Old Testament. Kings’ achievements are … Read more