All right now, if we're honest, reading the Bible consistently can be a challenge, but it's never

too late to start, and we're in this together. This is the Join the Journey podcast.

Thanks for joining. My name is Zach Sites here with the Join the Journey team, and I am joined in the

studio today by my friend and Watermark staff member Hank Hoougland. Hey, Zach. Hank, it is so good

to be here with you today. We have gotten to spend a good amount of time together recently because of

some mutual friends in our lives. And for those of you that don't know Hank, he is a learner.

He's actually been on the Join the Journey podcast before, but instead of asking him about

his story, since most of you have heard it, I'd love to ask you, Hank, you are a wise and a smart

and knowledgeable man. Hank, last Sunday, we were leaving church and you were telling me about

reading a book, and it blew my mind. What was the book that you told me that you were reading?

Yeah, it probably makes me look more smart than I actually am.

It was an introduction to scholastic metaphysics.

And honestly, I have no idea what metaphysics is still, and I'm on page like 40.

But basically, it's a book about the essence of being.

What is the nature of things that exist and that we see in the

world? And what is reality? And it's basically getting at the heart of, it'll eventually get to

who is God and how did he create us and what are we in light of him and what is our essence

because of his essence. It's a bunch of words that I don't

understand yet. So, sound smart, but I'm not smart in that topic yet. So fair, but you are smart

in a lot of other ways, even if you are too humble to admit it. Hank, with all of that knowledge

and wisdom that you have acquired, can you tell us what we're looking at here

in First Samuel? Yeah. So we're over First Samuel 18 and 19 today. And what we're coming from

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