Raisin Cakes

Show open: back-catalog plugs and Operation Christmas Child

A host urges listeners to dig into the show's back catalog, then the two hosts discuss a rediscovered old episode about Operation Christmas Child, noting that receiving churches often have to pay in-country shipping or airport fees to claim the boxes. One host apologizes in advance to anyone listening through the archive for things his 18-year-old self said on air.

Docket: ask-the-pastor, a quiz idea, and the Abishag lookup

The hosts set the docket: Boova has several ask-the-pastor items from his recent Bible reading, and they kick around doing a hard quiz together. They look up the old quiz site's last update, a quiz on Abishag from the women-in-the-Bible series, and decide to skip it after recalling she was the Shunammite chosen to lie with the aging king David for warmth.

Ben's vacation testimony: praying with James the Uber driver

Ben tells a long testimony from a two-week family vacation: his wife had been praying they'd keep their eyes open for anything God was doing. After a brake bolt failed on their car in Ohio, he got an Uber driven by James K., an older factory worker who'd lost a daughter and was heading to Tennessee with grandchildren. Nervous about initiating prayer, Ben was relieved when James led with 'God bless you, brother'; they prayed together in the car. Ben's takeaways: God moves and the question is whether you're looking, and God accommodates human weakness — 'my father who loves me sends me a bridge' — blessing our intent in spite of our shortcomings. Boova relates, admitting he often walks past the 'spidey senses tingling' moments because he's busy.

Boova's coffee-shop story: the immunology student who turned back around

Boova tells of studying for his Sunday teaching on Matthew at a coffee shop with his Bible and two huge commentaries open. A young man studying immunology statistics turned around and asked what he was studying; when Boova said he was teaching at church, the man put his headphone back in and paid him no more attention. Boova found it hilarious that he expected a divine appointment and got a total shutdown.

Ben's Smoker Row story: the man who taught him Daniel

Ben tells of meeting Alex at a downtown coffee shop, who seemed eager to talk about the Bible, took his number, then met him two weeks later with a prepared lecture on Nebuchadnezzar's visions — treating Ben as his missional field. Ben found it humbling: there was nothing for his pride to attach to, and God may have been giving him a freebie like he was James's. He invites listeners to call or text the complaint line with their own stories of taking a shot and praying with someone, chickening out, or being proselytized to when they were already a follower of Jesus.

Ask the pastor: why does Daniel keep his Hebrew name while Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego don't?

• Why does the narrative revert Daniel to his Hebrew name while Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego keep their Babylonian names?

Boova's question: Daniel is given the Babylonian name Belteshazzar, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego receive Babylonian names too — but the narrative reverts Daniel to his Israelite name while the other three keep theirs throughout. Ben's answer: authorial choice, since Daniel is the key character and the narrative wants to tie him back to his roots for an exiled people who feel God may have abandoned them.

Ask the pastor: Ezekiel 39:17 — God telling a prophet to speak to birds and beasts

• In Ezekiel 39:17, why would God tell a prophet to speak to birds and beasts, and is there precedent for God interacting with animals this way?

Boova was struck by Ezekiel 39:17, where Ezekiel is told to speak on God's behalf to the birds and beasts, inviting them to feast on God's defeated enemies. They discuss precedent: the sackcloth-on-animals call in Jonah's Nineveh, creation groaning, God doing business with his whole creation, and Ezekiel's other strange obedience acts like pantomiming an escape through a wall and baking bread over dung. Ben's take: prophets do weird things in obedience, and obedience opens your eyes to see God working rather than causing him to work.

The book-of-Sean analogy for Bible reading

Boova reflects on how reading the prophets straight through has changed him: he's asking less 'who am I' and more 'who is my God, and who am I in light of that revelation.' He confesses he's historically been bad at disciplined Bible reading, then offers the analogy that hit him like a freight train: his father Sean died fourteen years ago, and if he had a book of Sean's life he'd read it every day — so why doesn't he treat the Bible the same way, as the story of his Creator God?

Ask the pastor: the 'cakes of raisins' in Hosea 3:1

• What are the 'cakes of raisins' in Hosea 3:1, and why does the verse pair them with worshiping other gods?

Boova's last ask-the-pastor: reading Hosea 3:1, he couldn't stop laughing at the line about Israel turning to other gods 'and love cakes of raisins.' Ben explains they're not two separate problems — using the Blue Letter Bible he shows the Hebrew word is also used where David distributes a cake of raisins to the crowd during worship (2 Samuel / 1 Chronicles), so the critique is about raisin cakes as an item present in the worship of other gods.

Dear LFTP: how do I end the holiday newsletter?

• Is there any way to end a family member's holiday newsletter that makes the reader depressed with envy?

A listener in their sixties dreads a family member's annual braggy Christmas newsletter of accomplishments, expensive trips, and photos, and asks whether there's any way to end it — asking the hosts to tell everyone to stop with holiday newsletters. The hosts diagnose envy: just don't read it, don't declare yourself leader of a newsletter rebellion, and work on being happy for people who are doing well. The Secular answer: the letters are polished like Facebook posts, but rather than ending them, shred them unopened.

Dear LFTP: the concert invitation after a work disagreement

• After a big disagreement at work, should I take back a concert invitation or go through with an awkward night?

A listener invited a coworker to a concert, then had a big disagreement at work, and feels stuck between rescinding the invitation and enduring an awkward night. The hosts offer a third option: use the invitation as the occasion to reconcile — ask if he's still interested and work through the conflict first. Ben adds a crude-but-frank marriage analogy about reconciliation being forced by desire, joking that Boova's slogan should be 'sex, I think it's worth a try.' The Secular answer: disinviting creates more bad feelings at work.

Dear LFTP: the dad who never reciprocates

• How do I approach my sensitive father about feeling unloved when he never reciprocates my help?

A listener who moved here nearly thirty years ago and serves as their immigrant father's translator asks how to approach a sensitive father who always takes and never invites or shares affection — pulling an 'I love you' out of him is like pulling teeth. Boova sees a 'schmuck of a dad'; Ben sees possible plain 'dude behavior,' advising to presume the father doesn't realize these things matter and to love people in the way they receive love. They agree the Secular answer — calling the father secretive and entitled — is too harsh and misreads the situation.

Outro: complaint line and sign-off

The hosts close with the complaint line, (515) 517-0085, inviting listener stories about taking a shot and praying with someone or being proselytized to, and Ben asks for validation that his marriage-reconciliation analogy holds beyond his own household. They note the rest of the fellas may be back next time, and end with the standing sign-off: be faithful in the means, God will handle the ends.