News Briefs, Tom's Photos, Travel Journal, Wayfarer's Journal

The Latest: Holiday & Winter 2024-2025

Uncategorized, Video

3 Minute Tutorial to the Wayfarer Blog

Book Summary List, Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Posts by Book

Chapter-a-Day

Stories and Choices

January 19, 2026 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

If the neighbor is poor, do not go to sleep with their pledge in your possession. Return their cloak by sunset so that your neighbor may sleep in it. Then they will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the Lord your God.
Deuteronomy 24:12-13 (NIV)

Along this chapter-a-day journey, I have often referenced being a historian of my family. I was a young man when I began really digging into the past and peeking into the dusty corners of the proverbial family attic. At that point in my life journey I was on a quest of self-discovery.

My quest has revealed many things over the years. I discovered plenty of the things families don’t talk about. Most all of the flaws of everyday humanity were lurking there. I learned stories of addiction, adultery, divorce, suicides, illegitimate children, and individuals leading secret second lives.

There was also plenty of dark tragedy that was brought to light. One of my great-great grandmothers was farmed out to be a live-in housekeeper for a distant family. When one of the sons of the family got her pregnant and refused responsibility, she was left with few options. Her own sister took her in, but forced her to live in Cinderella-like seclusion not wanting anyone to know she was there.

I learned that one of my great-grandmothers was a gold digger whose many failed marriages reaped tragic results for her and two of her children.

What I also witnessed in learning my family stories, however, is a lot of human decency. My grandparents for years took care of an elderly widow who lived down the block and had no one else to care for her. I had a grandfather who gave his deadbeat alcoholic brother a second chance. He quietly did the right thing by his family even after his family unjustly gave him the shaft. There are stories of financial generosity, giving friends a place to live, helping friends and neighbors with goodness and loving kindness.

“Remember” is a word Moses uses three times in today’s chapter. He returns to what Jewish teachers called zakhor, memories that help build moral muscle.

Today’s chapter is a collection of rules Moses gives his children and grandchildren as he prepares to send them off into life while he himself lies on his deathbed. The thread that I found running through Moses’ directives is basic human decency.

Divorce with decency for the woman who has zero power or standing in the culture of that day.

Don’t take a millstone—someone’s livelihood—as collateral, and leave them with no means to earn a wage.

Don’t treat your own people with contempt.

A person may owe you money and give you their cloak as collateral, but you return that cloak before nightfall. Don’t leave the poor soul cold at night.

You don’t kill children as justice for their parent’s wrongdoing, nor kill a parent for their child’s wrongdoing. Justice is for the offender, not their family.

Pay your employees promptly. Do right by those who work for you.

Do right by the poor and needy, as well. Leave harvest leftovers in the field and on the limbs and vines for the stranger, orphan, and widow to pick and eat.

As I meditated on all these things, I realized that today’s chapter was the foundation on which Jesus’ built His teaching. It’s doing right by others. It’s treating others the way I’d want to be treated. It’s using whatever authority, power, and means God’s blessed me with to love, serve, and provide – not just to those I know and love, but to those in need, even strangers, foreigners, and enemies.

In the quiet, my own zakhor memory rummaged through all of my family stories. Those stories include examples of individuals who, by faith, embodied the loving-kindness and generosity Moses (and Jesus) prescribe in today’s chapter – and those who didn’t.

This leaves me with the realization that I have a choice.

I can join one group or the other in the collective legacy of zakhor memories my great-great grandchildren will inherit. My choice is determined in a million daily thoughts, words, and actions.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Promotional graphic for Tom Vander Well's Wayfarer blog and podcast, featuring icons of various podcast platforms with a photo of Tom Vander Well. — These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!

Chapter-a-Day

The Place God Dwells

January 16, 2026 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

“For the Lord your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you…”
Deuteronomy 23:14a (NIV)

Last weekend, in celebration of our 20th wedding anniversary, Wendy and I hosted a dinner party of special magnificence. Our friends—Chefs Alex and Aidan—came to our house to prepare appetizers and a three-course meal in our own kitchen, served in our dining room, for us and our dear friends.

I can tell you that Wendy and I did little that day but prepare our home for the evening. We thought through and discussed every detail. Tableware, plates, napkins, and the table setting were carefully determined. The house was cleaned top to bottom. The flow of the evening, the spaces our guests would be in, and the facilities our guests would use were each considered. Timing, flow, and execution of the entire evening was thought through anticipating what would be needed, what might be requested, and what would make for the most pleasurable evening for each guest. Who was in our home that evening—both the chefs and our guests—mattered deeply to us. And that reality informed our thoughts, our decisions, and our behavior that day.

Today’s chapter once again reads like a string of random, ancient rules and regulations. It feels kind of…fussy. Who’s in, who’s out, who we should steer clear of, who we should always treat with respect—cleanliness, runaway slaves, bathroom etiquette, financial dealings, vows, and even a neighbor’s property. But, beating at the heart of the seemingly random regulations is the critical point of it all:

God is dwelling among them.

God’s tent tabernacle is at the very center of the camp. He abides in their midst. He strolls among them.

If God is present, life is not mindlessly casual.

The regulations in today’s chapter are not just camp logistics. They are about honoring the place where God dwells. God’s presence makes their camp sacred geography.

God has told them that the entire reason He is in their midst is not tyranny. On the contrary. His presence is about formation. After 400 years of slavery in Egypt, the Hebrews have a lot to learn about life unshackled. God intends to teach them a way of life that is the opposite of the exploitation, violence, power, and cruelty of human empire.

God wants to teach them His way of community and living life together in which:

Healthy boundaries are established and maintained.

Family is honored and respected, even the cousin Eddie the Edomite.

You keep yourself clean out of respect for others, even giving consideration to bathroom etiquette.

You give refuge to runaway slaves. This was a radical and revolutionary idea at the time. In God’s camp no one, no one is to be returned to their shackles. Power bends to mercy.

Debt is never to be about domination.

Promises are sacred, but silence is honored too.

Provision is to be readily available for the poor, but no one is to hoard what is graciously offered.

Today’s chapter is not about rigid rules of a divine dictator. It’s about creating life space where God feels at home. It’s about living in such a way that God and your friends feel welcome, honored, and comfortable. A place where they want to linger at our table.

Which brings me back to our dinner party. God and our guests lingered around the table for well over four hours of life-giving feasting and conversations. Thanks to our generous chefs, everyone had a care package of leftovers to take home.

In the quiet this morning, I’m reminded that Jesus sent His Spirit to dwell within me. God isn’t just dwelling in the camp, at the church, or my neighborhood. God is dwelling in me. My body and my life are the camp. This means that the principles of today’s chapter necessitate me asking an important question:

How can I honor the place where God dwells—and live in such a way that God feels at home in me?

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Controlled Burns

January 15, 2026 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.
Deuteronomy 22:22 (NIV)

It’s a chilly winter morning in Iowa. The rolling fields lie barren — a mosaic of brown and gray, flecked with snow like the scattered brushstrokes of an Impressionist. When spring and summer return, new life will repaint the land in vivid color.

This past year I had the joy of accompanying a friend on a plane ride. It’s a beautiful way to gain a gorgeous perspective on the patchwork quilt that is the Iowa landscape from above. As we soared around the state I was struck by pillars of black smoke that rose from the green fields like little black threads emerging from the quilt.

Controlled burns.

Controlled burns are a part of the stewardship and management of the land. It’s not scorched earth. It’s agricultural surgery — burning away what would otherwise become terminal. It ensures that healthy new life can emerge and flourish from the land.

There is a repeated phrase God through Moses uses to address His Hebrew children as they prepare to enter the Promised Land:

“Purge the evil from among you.”

It clanks on the table every time God drops it into the text. It’s like cold iron. It sometimes feels like shackles of condemnation that don’t fit with the God who loosened the shackles of slavery and is all about freedom and life. I’ve been on this trek through the Great Story long enough to know that when the text chafes, it’s often not the original message, but the English translation. So, I went down the rabbit hole this morning to study the original Hebrew.

What I discovered is that what sounds like a scorched earth of condemnation in the English language is really God’s design for controlled burns that stem chaos and perpetuate Life.

The word for purge is actually more of an agricultural word used for burning chaff, removing what chokes growth, and clearing that which corrupts the whole.

The word for evil is not what is easily interpreted as “badness” (echoes of Santa’s naughty list) but in Hebrew is about that which breaks “shalom” within the whole. Less personal “naughty acts” (think a cancer cell) and more “that which leads to corruption” (think Stage 4 cancer spread).

The word for among you is equally as telling. It’s intimately internal. It’s womb-space where Life emerges. God is calling His people not to “destroy what’s out there” but to “address what’s inside me – that which will destroy from the inside out.”

Purge → controlled removal
Evil → that which fractures shalom
Among you → the inner, generative space

If I read today’s entire chapter through the lens of considering those attitudes and actions within me that can have devastating ripple effects in the lives around me and spread to the larger community, I begin to see it in a while new light.

I couldn’t help but notice that this phrase was directly linked to the sin of adultery. Both the man and the woman caught in the act of adultery were to be held accountable. Adultery tears at the fabric of relationships and trust. It tears souls apart. It tears lives and families apart. It consumes shalom in the backdraft of its blaze of unrestrained passion.

This thought immediately transported me to John 8. In front of Jesus is a naked, crying, humiliated woman. She was dragged from her adulterous bed by an angry mob and dragged before the Son of God. The mob of angry, self-righteous religious men have rocks in hand ready to carry out Deuteronomy 22:22 to the black-and-white letter of the law. They are ready to purge the evil of this wicked woman from among them.

But, where is the man who was in the adulterous bed with her?

The law demanded accountability from both. The mob delivered shame to one.

Jesus was facing what corrupted humanity does with God’s design. It rigs the system. The powerful get a pass. The despised are be self-righteously condemned and rejected. Hatred, prejudice, and injustice, masquerading as religion, flourish and cauterize the souls of those building their personal spiritual empires in God’s name. The men were following the letter of the God’s Law that served their self-righteous interests, but they completely ignored the heart of God’s Law with their actions. In so doing, they ensured the perpetual slow death of shalom among them.

This same religious mob would soon repeat the pattern. They will self-righteously proclaim to be keeping God’s Law as they ignore the very heart of it as they condemn the Son of God to die on a cross.

In the quiet this morning, God’s Spirit whispers for me to consider the direction of my gaze. Today’s chapter is not calling me to gaze “out there” for the evil around me to condemn and burn in my own version of a scorched earth inquisition. God in today’s chapter is calling me to gaze inside my inner place, into the very womb of my soul from which God wants to perpetuate radiating, freedom-producing, shalom-filled Life.

What spiritual cancer cells threaten to infect my soul?

Anger?
Hatred?
Selfishness?
Indifference?
Bitterness?
Scarcity?

It starts with me. If I want new Life to flourish in and around me like the gorgeous ocean of bumper crops in a late Iowa summer, then I have to consider the controlled burns required. I have to address that which threatens shalom in my own field; Those unhealthy attitudes and motives which, unaddressed, radiate out into my thoughts, words, and actions to infect my relationships and all of my circles of influence.

As I lace ‘em up for this another day on this earthly journey, I’m not so much thinking about what’s out there. I’m thinking about what’s in me. If I don’t take responsibility for what’s in me, I can’t pretend to be a solution for what’s out there.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Wooden Spoon on the Headboard

January 14, 2026 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

[The rebellious son’s parents] shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.
Deuteronomy 21:20-21 (NIV)

Looking back, I rarely had to punish Taylor and Madison when they were young. For the most part, they were good girls. Taylor had such a soft heart that I could reduce her to tears with a look of anger and disappointment. Madison, on the other hand, was the quintessential second-born and impervious to most traditional forms of punishment. I had to get creative with that one when it came to finding consequences that communicated effectively.

When they were toddlers, I found that planting the idea of consequences was sometimes an effective tool stemming undesirable behaviors. I have a distinct memory of the two of them refusing to settle down and go to sleep one night after having been warned multiple times. I walked into the room and they immediately went silent and played dead in their beds. I had pleaded and cajoled them in my previous visits. This time, I wordlessly carried a wooden spoon from the kitchen and placed it on the center of the headboard.

I didn’t hear another peep out of them.

Today’s chapter contains what at first glance appears to be a series of disjointed ancient rules and prescriptions for life and community. An unsolved murder, marrying a captive woman, inheritance rights, a rebellious son, and the body of an executed man. Random.

But it’s not random. There is a thread that God through Moses is weaving into the fabric of His people. It’s creating a tapestry that reflects the heart of God.

Life is full of both value and responsibility in community.

An unsolved murder does not absolve the community from responsibility. A ritual of atonement cleanses the community of guilt but also reminded them that if violence occurs near you, you cannot shrug and move on.

When defeating an enemy, a captive woman may be taken as a wife. This was common in the ancient world. What was not common was to treat her with respect. “War,” God is saying, “does not suspend humanity.” She was to be given time to grieve. Shaving her hair and trimming her nails was a refusal to eroticize her trauma. What could easily be a warrior’s lustful desire was required to wait, to cool, to submit to her humanity.

Fathers were not to play favorites with their inheritance. The first born son was the first born son no matter your feelings towards him or his mother. No exemptions for favoritism.

An executed body hanging on a tree (FYI: Paul used this verse to point to Jesus on the cross) was not to hang overnight. There’s something deeply intimate about a God who insists on cleaning up after violence before the sun goes down.

And then there’s the rebellious son. We’re not talking about a teenager who won’t do his chores. We’re not even talking about a Prodigal sowing his wild oats. The text points to something deeply hard-hearted. Not just disobeying mom and dad, but sowing violence, discord, and lawlessness among the community. The penalty? The elders were to stone him to death.

[cue: hard stop] Ugh. This is where the text tightens its grip.

I spent some time chasing this one down the rabbit hole in my meditations this morning. History records that Jewish law interpreted this so narrowly that it was rarely, if ever, enacted. Rabbinic debate treated the “rebellious son” as a warning text, not a procedural one—Scripture meant to sober parents and children alike.

I have often pointed out in these chapter-a-day posts that Moses and the Hebrews are God parenting humanity in the toddler stage of history. In this context, the Rabbis understand that the rebellious son prescriptive was Father God walking into the bedroom with a wooden spoon and placing it on the head board – not to strike, but to warn “this continued behavior will end badly for you.”

God follows the prescriptive with a commonly used phrase in Deuteronomy that they are to “purge the evil from among you.” This is not angry vengeance. It’s cancer surgery. Rebellion that creates chaos will ultimately become terminal to Life and community.

Don’t go there. Don’t allow societal cancer cells to spread.

In the quiet this morning, today’s chapter, and the heart of God communicated within it, remind me:

Communities are accountable, not just individuals.
Power must slow down long enough to protect dignity.
Even judgment must bow to mercy and restraint.
No life—living or dead—is disposable.

This calls me to:

Take responsibility when I’d rather pass by.
Refuse to let strength become entitlement.
Choose restraint over indulgence, presence over distance.
Remember: God in this chapter is not cold—He is careful with blood, with power, with people.

As I enter another day on my earthly journey, I am reminded that my responsibility to God is not just myself. It extends to my community, and to every other human being with whom I interact.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Go Big! (or Maybe Not)

January 13, 2026 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4YikEMy7OkxAe1JLO8zwrd?si=H_yVDG7PSX-7pgTwubr5SQ

When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace.
Deuteronomy 20:10 (NIV)

A few years ago I found myself at a crossroads having to make a decision about my business. A tremendous opportunity presented itself for me to transform it into something much larger. Larger cashflow, larger staff, larger marketing plan, larger client base, larger revenues, and larger profits. I had been promised the financial support and guidance to go big.

I confess that it was tempting.

There is something innately human—and perhaps especially American—that equates big numbers with success, status, and safety. This thinking even creeps into perceptions of “church.” Mega-churches and celebrity pastors wield wealth, attention, and influence. “Go big or go home,” as the saying goes. Bigger is better. More is better. Big numbers mean triumph.

Today’s chapter stands in contrast to this mentality, even as God through Moses prepares his people for a military campaign of conquest. In fact, God’s tactical commands are downright foolhardy when you consider military strategy that has raised empires throughout history.

God begins with pre-battle instructions.

Deuteronomy 20 is the Hebrews’ theology of war, though it is far more pastoral than brutal.

Do not be afraid when facing larger, better-armed enemies. God reminds them: You are not alone. I brought you out of Egypt; I’ll walk you into this too.
The priest speaks before the battle, not the general. Courage is framed as a spiritual matter before it is a tactical one.
Mercy precedes mobilization:
- Offer peace before siege.
- Protect fruit trees—even in war, tomorrow matters.
Exemptions abound:
- Just built a house? Go home.
- Just planted a vineyard? Go enjoy its fruit.
- Newly engaged? Go love her well.
- Afraid? Go home—fear is contagious.
Limits are set:
- Distant cities are treated differently than those within the Promised Land.
- War is not permission for chaos; it is bounded, restrained, and accountable.

This is not a call to bloodlust. It is a leash on it.

Underlying all of these instructions is a subtextual whisper from God—one I heard loud and clear in the quiet.

“Large numbers don’t impress me.”

God is not interested in crowds. He can raise an army from stones.
God is not hoarding wealth. Everything is already His.
God can assure victory. He proved it with Egypt.

God is molding a people with a purpose, and Deuteronomy 20 has me asking myself a few important questions:

What battles am I fighting that God never enlisted me for?

What battles am I facing and have been trying to fight alone?

God’s ancient words to His Hebrew children resonate with clarity for my life and circumstances today:

Name my fear—because unnamed fear leads armies astray.
Offer peace first—in conversations, conflicts, and grudges.
Honor my limits—not every season is for battle.
Protect the trees—don’t burn relationships, health, or hope just to feel victorious.
Trust the presence of God more than the size of the problem.

This chapter is not a call to aggression.
It’s an invitation to holy courage—the kind that knows when to stand, when to step back, and when to let God do the fighting while you simply refuse to panic.

As I stood at the crossroads weighing my opportunity to go big with my business, God’s Spirit whispered to my soul in the quiet. Hidden among all of those large numbers that my head desired were two large numbers: large debt and large headaches. What would shrink—and likely get lost in the forest of large numbers—were the very purposes and promises on which the business was founded.

It’s time for me to shift into my work day quietly doing what we do to faithfully serve our clients and follow the purposes to which God continues to lead, one small step at a time.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

A Step Toward Refuge

January 12, 2026 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

If the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he promised on oath to your ancestors, and gives you the whole land he promised them, because you carefully follow all these laws I command you today—to love the Lord your God and to walk always in obedience to him—then you are to set aside three more cities.
Deuteronomy 19:8-9 (NIV)

As Wendy and I sit in the morning and peruse the news of the day I’ve observed a distinct difference between us. Wendy regularly wades into the comments that readers make to the article or editorial she’s just read. She finds it interesting to gauge response to the topic or opinion. Wendy is an Enneagram Type Eight. For Eights, conflict is a form of intimacy.

I, on the other hand, rarely look at the comments. As an Enneagram Type Four, contention can quickly lead me to despair. When I read comments I find so many thoughtless words, hasty judgments, and seeds of anonymous hate spewed on the digital page. It leaves me desiring my morning shower.

I had the honor of delivering the message yesterday among our local gathering of Jesus’ followers. We’re launching a year-long theme that, looking back at my spiritual journey, I find doesn’t get much play these days.

Refuge. Specifically, Refuge Over Rejection.

Where do I run when I need mercy, grace, and a shelter from the storm?

I find it fascinating that thousands of years ago God made refuge a cornerstone of the community He designed and called for to be implemented among His people. In a moment of synchronicity, “refuge” appears once again in this morning’s chapter.

God through Moses reminds His children, just preparing to cross into the Promised Land, that they are to quickly establish three cities of refuge—spread equidistant across the geography. These cities must be accessible to everyone. They must be clearly marked. The roads leading to them must be clear and easily trodden.

God paves the way to grace.

Mercy has an address.

The chapter goes on to mention that accusations must be corroborated by two or three witnesses. These are not exclusionary sections of the chapter. There is a thread of thought God is weaving through His refuge design. As I meditated on the chapter I came to realize that this divine justice system allows for time.

Rage does not get the final word.
Truth must be corroborated.
Witnesses must agree.
The community must slow down before rendering judgment.

As I pondered this, my mind quickly returned to our digital age and all those comments. Instant news, trending topics, and billions of people with laptops, tablets, and smart phones. We can broadcast our momentary rage, venomous thought, hasty judgment, vengeance, and condemnation to the entire world 24/7/365. And it can all be done behind the anonymity of a username.

As I meditated on the stark contrast between God’s ancient design and our modern Twitter-esque technology, I found both wisdom and solace in the former. The latter strikes me as a modern day Tower of Babel constructed of server farms and cell towers – ending in confusion, chaos, division, and babbling voices that offer no peace, no mercy, no grace, no refuge.

Finally, my thoughts landed on the fact that God calls for three cities of refuge to be established, though the total number in God’s ultimate Promised Land blueprint was six. In other words, God is calling for phased mercy. He doesn’t want His people to wait until the land is completely settled. He wants them to quickly take the first step toward refuge.

Yesterday, as our worship concluded there was an unexpected outpouring among our local gathering. It appeared that everyone in the room was ready to take a step toward refuge. Perhaps I’m not the only one weary of our modern world and culture of Babel.

As our local gathering sets off on our year-long road to refuge. As I set off on this another work week at the beginning of a new year, my soul is mulling over the answers to a few questions surfaced in the quiet:

Is the road to mercy in my life clear—or cluttered?
Do people know how to reach grace through me, or do they hit barricades of judgment and suspicion?

Do my words shelter truth—or endanger it?
False witness isn’t just perjury. It’s gossip. Spin. Tweets. Convenient silence.

Do people find refuge in my presence?
Am I a safe place where people know they will be seen, heard, and loved?

I serve a God of refuge. This morning’s chapter reminds me that from ancient days, God has made being a refuge a priority for His people. I endeavor today, this week, this year, to take steps towards that calling.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Presence, not Possession

December 31, 2025 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.
Deuteronomy 18:22 (NIV)

It is New Year’s Eve day. It’s always a special day for Wendy and me as we celebrate our anniversary. This year marks 20 years, which makes it all the more special. There are many things I love about having our anniversary on New Year’s Eve. We always have the evening off, along with the rest of the world. I have never forgotten my anniversary. And, it’s already a fun day of celebration, so celebrating our marriage just adds another layer to the festivity.

On the day of our wedding, I remember feeling another apt connection with holiday. Old things pass away. New things come.

New Year’s by its nature causes a pause for reflection on what has been. It prompts a view toward the road ahead with a curiosity for the path forward and what lies ahead. There will be many prognosticators and prophets throughout media today making proclamations and predictions.

In a very similar fashion, the Hebrews in our chapter-a-day trek through Deuteronomy stand at a precipice in time. The wanderings are over. The promised land awaits on the other side of Jordan. Moses’ message in the entirety of Deuteronomy is a father’s heartfelt preparation for his children and grandchildren regarding what has been, and what is yet to come. Today’s chapter whispers wisdom for me on this precipice of time between 2025 and 2026.

The chapter begins with a reminder that the tribe of Levi will not inherit land once the dust settles in the promised land. No acreage. No deed. No security blanket tucked into a filing cabinet. “The Lord is their inheritance.”

It’s a strange economy, isn’t it?
Everyone else gets fields and vineyards. The priests get… presence.

Not everything valuable can be owned. Kingdom economics never promises deeds, dividends, or earthly security. Jesus asks me to forego earthly treasure and invest in valuables of an eternal kind . Some callings are intentionally unmoored. Some lives are meant to be lean so they can listen. As the year exhales its last breath, that question hovers: What have I been holding that was never meant to be possessed?

Then Moses turns, almost urgently, to forbidden shortcuts.
No divination.
No sorcery.
No necromancers knocking on the thin wall between worlds.

Why? Because uncertainty makes us desperate—and desperation makes us sloppy lovers of truth. When the future feels slippery, we reach for anything that promises control. The people are warned not against curiosity, but against counterfeit certainty. And counterfeit certainty comes cloaked in many guises.

Ouija boards.
Retirement funds.
Spreadsheets and infographics.
Fundamentalist rulebooks.
Charismatic leaders.
Preachers with prophesies.

Counterfeit certainty seduces me into believing I don’t need faith..

But, without faith, it is impossible to please God.

And here—oh here—is the heart of the chapter. Moses promises his Hebrew progeny that God will not leave them guessing.

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you… You must listen to him.”

This is not a vague spiritual shrug. It is intimacy offered. God knows their fear—that unmediated holiness once made them beg at Sinai, “Do not let God speak to us or we will die.” And so God leans closer, softer, clothed in flesh and voice and language they can bear.

The true prophet, Moses says, is not measured by charisma or confidence, but by fidelity. Does the word align with the character of God? Does it call people forward into faithfulness rather than sideways into fear? Does it come true—not because it was clever, but because it was obedient?

False prophets, by contrast, speak with urgency but no authority. They rush. They seduce. They promise control instead of covenant.

And that brings me back to New Year’s Eve. To the road forward and what awaits Wendy and me the 21st year of our marriage. What awaits this nation in the celebration of 250 years. What awaits our globe in the approximately 2026th journey around the sun since Jesus’ own earthly journey.

Moses wisdom whispers to my soul at this precipice of time.

Presence. Faith. Listening with discernment.

As the year turns its page, that distinction matters. Not every loud voice is a true one. Not every confident prediction deserves my trust. And not every silence means God has stopped speaking—sometimes it means He is waiting to be trusted.

Happy New Year, my friend! I am taking the holiday weekend off and then start 2026 with a week of business travel. I’ll be returning to this chapter-a-day trek on Jan 12.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Authority with Ink-Stained Fingers

December 30, 2025 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

When [the king someday] takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees…
Deuteronomy 17:18-19 (NIV)

Just the other morning Wendy and I were stopped by friends who wanted to discuss a role I’d played on stage about ten years ago. It was a show that Wendy directed. It was one of my favorite roles ever, and it was fun to relive the memories with our friends.

One of the questions people repeatedly ask me when speaking of my various turns on stage is, “How do you memorize all those lines?” The truth is that the entire rehearsal process lends itself to the memory work. That said, there is a combination of both discipline and device required.

One of the mnemonic devices I use is to write my lines down. Literally, I will go through the script and transcribe my lines by hand on paper. There is a connection made between hand and brain when you write things by hand. The act of writing the words themselves allow the brain to catch things that the eyes alone don’t see on the page. The process takes time and forces the brain to consider and contemplate words, phrases, and sentences in ways that simple reading and reciting doesn’t.

In today’s chapter, Moses foreshadows a time when Israel asks for a king. Moses lays the foundation describing the person the king should be:

A person God chooses (God’s choice, not a human popularity contest)
No hoarding of horses (military might)
No accumulation of wives (political manipulation)
No stockpiling of silver and gold (economic domination)

Then Moses prescribes the most astonishing of tasks for every person appointed to the throne. Handwrite a copy of the Torah onto a single scroll – the entirety of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Why? There is a connection between brain and hand. As you write words on paper, they penetrates the brain – they even seep into the heart.

But merely transcribing God’s Word was not the end of the prescription. The scroll is to be portable – able to fit in the king’s backpack. It is to be with him always. Having the scroll allowed the King to perpetually reference, read, meditate, and remember.

The scrolls very presence was a moral compass whispering, “Not so fast, mighty one.”

As I meditated on the chapter, two things struck me:

Being king requires being a student. Not delegating. Not outsourcing. Ink on fingers. Scroll on lap. Leadership begins as listening.
Limits are mercy. The prohibitions against excess aren’t anti-royalty; they’re anti-corruption. Torah assumes power will tempt—and lovingly cages it before it devours the soul.

The subversive whisper in today’s chapter is this: No one is above the Law—not even the one wearing the crown.

When I was discipled as a young man, the first task I was given was to memorize Joshua 1:8:

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will achieve success. (NASB)

Notice the similarity? Meditate day and night. Let it penetrate. House it in your head and heart. Let it be an ever-present reminder, a reference, a voice of wisdom, a guardrail against foolish choices.

Which is why, my friend, I’m still here in the quiet each morning reading, meditating, writing, and hopefully letting it penetrate ever deeper. Just like an actor memorizing my lines.

After all, Shakespeare so poetically observed,

“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players…”

On the stage of life, this Great Story between Genesis and Revelation is my script. If I’m going to play my role well, I had better know my lines—and listen for the Director’s cues.

And that reminder is a good cue with which to start this another day on this earthly journey.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Not History – A Moment Relived

December 29, 2025 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed: Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.
Deuteronomy 16:16-17 (NIV)

Last week we enjoyed our Christmas celebration with family. I enjoyed going to the Christmas Eve candlelight service and marking the climactic end of the Advent season and welcoming the Christ-child, God-with-us.

There is definitely a connection between the annual celebration of the Advent season and Christmas and today’s chapter. God through Moses reminds His people that when they settle in the Promised Land they are to have three great pilgrimage festivals. Everyone makes a pilgrimage to “the place God will choose” at three different times of year for three different purposes:

Passover / Feast of Unleavened Bread – a remembering of liberation.
Feast of Weeks (Shavuot) – a remembering of provision.
Feast of Booths (Sukkot) – a remembering of dependence.

These festivals provided structure, not only for the calendar, but also for the soul.

My meditation on today’s chapter led me to a Hebrew word: Z’manim.

In its simple definition z’manim means “times” or “appointed moments.” But God’s base language is metaphor, and metaphors are layered with meaning. I’ve learned that this is especially true with the Hebrew language.

Z’manim gives breath to time.

Appointment (something set, not random)

Readiness (a moment that has ripened)

Intended timing (not just when, but why now)

This is not clock time. This is meaningful time. It is time with purpose stitched into it. Time that has been noticed. Claimed. Set apart.

God does not dwell just in places. He inhabits moments.

Which brings me back to Christmas Eve and the end of the Advent Season. Why do this every year? Why did God prescribe three festivals every year? The intention was never a rote, prescribed, go-through-the-motions religious activity. That’s dead religion not a Living God. Annual seasons and festivals were moments in time in which I commune with the divine and together we embrace a moment new and afresh.

Freedom from chains that bind me.
Gratitude for the abundance of my blessings.
Reminder that security is always borrowed.
The birth of God who became flesh and pitched His tent among us.

Along my spiritual journey I have been largely naive and ignorant of the ways God has historically revealed Himself in fullness. I understand more than ever how easy it is for institutional religion to become rote and repeated motions that are Spiritually empty and void of meaning. But from ancient days through this current day, God has invited me to meet him in z’manim – moments of time filled with His presence and a banquet of meaning on which my soul can feast and be satisfied.

On Christmas Eve, bathed in candlelight and singing Silent Night with loved ones, we welcomed a newborn baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. It wasn’t just a commemoration. It was not dusting off history. It was, once again, the event relived – together with God and with loved ones.

It was z’manim.

And in the next few days the z’manim shifts. Old things pass away with 2025. New things come with 2026.

In the quiet I am reminded that I dare not ponder what that means for me apart from the reality of “God with us.”

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Tom's Photos, Wayfarer's Journal

Merry Christmas 2025

December 25, 2025 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

Merry Christmas from the Vander Wells! It’s been a great year. Here’s the latest from our crew…

A family photo featuring a man holding a young boy, a woman holding a girl, and another young girl beside them, all smiling outdoors.

It was a big year of transition for me and Wendy at work this year. On April 1st I became the sole owner of our company Intelligentics as my long-time business partner began his journey in retirement. That brought a lot of transitions with work that have been both challenging and rewarding. I’ve been working on writing my first book, “This Call May Be Monitored (What Eavesdropping on Corporate America Taught Me About Business & Life),” which will be published early next year.

Outside of work we’ve remained busy with family, friends, and community. I continue to serve as a teaching leader at Church. I finished a one-year term as President of our local community theatre. I even returned to the stage for the first time in several years, performing in Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap. Wendy once again directed Pella’s annual Tulip Queen Announcement Party (her 7th year!) and I once again served as Master of Ceremonies. I still get the honor of officiating a wedding here-and-there and enjoy doing P.A. for Pella High baseball (State Champs this year!).

Between fun, family, friends, and work, we enjoyed several travel experiences in 2025. I forgot how much we traveled until I went back to look at all our photos. It began with a cruise out of New Orleans that departed the day before NOLA hosted the Super Bowl – so, you know, just a few crowds we had to navigate. Wendy and I also spent long weekends in Chicago and Minneapolis to see the Cubs play, then back to Minneapolis a few weeks ago for our annual pilgrimage to the Vikings’ mother ship. We made it to South Carolina twice this year to hang with the Madison, G, and MJ. We even got to take MJ to her first baseball game (Go Fireflies!). In the fall we headed to Park City, UT for a little R&R with friends.

And of course, family! We enjoyed hosting the whole family over fourth of July when the SC crew made it back to Iowa. We also got to host Thanksgiving, and the annual Vikings-Packers Smackdown with our nephew Sam and his family. Taylor, Clayton & kids are still in Des Moines and we love having them close. We love having Milo and Sylvie to keep us busy playing in the pool, playing dress-up, and having light saber duels. They love having Papa make them Shirley Temples at the Vander Well Pub. Milo even spent the week with us this summer attending USP Drama Camp. Madison, G, and MJ are doing great in Columbia and we’re looking forward to having them here for Christmas at New Year’s this year. MJ likes to FaceTime Papa Tom in the wee hours of the morning. Papa Dean continues to live independently here in Pella. He keeps busy in his stained-glass workshop and can’t keep up with demand for his ornaments and decorative pieces. He even got a commission to create a large stained-glass piece for the new wing at Pella Regional Hospital.

Wendy and I also continue to walk life’s journey with our close-knit cadre of dear friends. From graduations and baptisms to dinners and dates, our life is so full of goodness. We are so thankful and so blessed with such a community of loved ones. God is so good.