"Draft Bible Things"
EPISODE 203
Treasure the Stories of Scripture
Spring is in the air, March Madness is on TV, and you know what that means over here at the Bible Geeks: It’s Bible Bracket time! This year’s bracket focuses on “Favorite Bible Stories,” celebrating the greatest hits of the world’s greatest book with four “regionals”: Profound Parables, Ancient Heroes, Sunday School Classics, and Jesus in Action. On this episode of the podcast, we draft the 64 stories that we’ll encourage everyone to vote on in the bracket. In a few weeks, we’ll have another episode featuring the results and talking through these wonderful stories (especially the Final Four). In the meantime, we encourage you to rock the vote, share the bracket with others, and talk to your family and friends about these amazing stories and why you love them! Go to biblegeeks.fm/bracket to vote!
Takeaways
The Big Idea: The Bible’s stories make a profound impact on God’s people.
Episode Transcription
As they said long ago, we are going to draft Bible things in Bible ways. And I'm excited about it. Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Bible Geeks podcast. This is episode 203. I'm Bryan Schiele. I'm Ryan Joy. And thanks so much everyone for tuning in. This episode is going to get weird because yes, you guessed it. It is bracket time. Bible Geeks bracket is back and we are excited this season to announce our bracket about the favorite Bible stories. I'm really excited about this one. Oh man, I instantly just hearing the CBS sports song was ready for March Madness and ready for this bracket. That's so good. Yeah, we're really excited for our bracket this year. I mean, we've done it. We started it back in 2020. We took a break last year. We did another bracket and this year we're going to get back into another discussion about the stories throughout the Bible, some of the most amazing stories. So before we really begin picking our choices this year for the bracket, what are the rules of engagement? Maybe you can lay this out for us this year. Okay, the rules of engagement for the battle of the brackets. Okay, so we've got four regionals, just like the thing that the NCAA does or something like that. Oh, that thing. That little thing. And each one has 16 stories. So there'll be eight matchups and the first round of each regional. And we'll each pick eight in each of those regionals in order of our favorite stories. Yeah, last year we picked our favorite figures of faith, but we didn't necessarily go in order. And there were a lot of people who were upset about the matchups that we wound up having together. So we're going to try to make sure that this year we pick them actually in the order of our favorites and not mix them up in any way. But yeah, picking eight this year, we'll actually have a few more to choose from between each of us. So we'll have one more voting round, I think, than we had last year in our favorite figures of faith that we talked about last year. But here in these stories, yeah, we're going to have 16 total stories per regional. It's going to be a boatload of cool stories to think through. Well, just like it's supposed to be 64 teams going against each other, plus those extra things they do. But we'll do the 16 in each regional. And can I say the names of the regionals? I'm very excited about this. Please do, yeah, let's do it. The first regional is the Profound Parables regional, where we'll of course focus on parables of Jesus. The second regional is the Ancient Heroes regional. And that gives us a lot of room to talk about Old Testament and New Testament heroes and heroines, of course. And then Jesus in Action regional will give us a chance to pick up some of the stories we talk about in the Like the Teacher segments we often do, things that Jesus does that we love the stories and learn from. And then lastly, a nod to our children and all the great things we learned from our Bible class teachers growing up. The Sunday School Classics regional. So this will be fun. So I found it really hard when I was picking some of my options here for our draft in the breakdown between the Sunday School Classics and the Ancient Heroes regional. There's a lot of overlap here. Obviously, the parables is kind of a specific and targeted section of things to choose from, also Jesus in Action. But between the Ancient Heroes and these amazing Sunday School Classics that we all remember, yeah, there's a lot of overlap there. So we'll have to figure out how to navigate that one. Yeah, absolutely. And one thing that we just decided right before recording here is we are going to eliminate from contention here the greatest story ever told, the heart of the gospel, you know, the story of Jesus' crucifixion and his resurrection, because we all know that would be a shoe in for the final and make voting not very fun. And also, we want to set that story apart. It deserves a different kind of honor, a different kind of conversation. Absolutely. I think it's important for us to see that all of the Bible stories are important. So again, as we've done in some of these previous drafts, you know, it's really been important for us to say that all of these things are important. All these favorite figures of faith that we did last year, those were all important people. All of the chapters that we covered, you remember in the very first Bible bracket, when we covered all those amazing chapters, they were also really important, each one of them in their own special way. And there are so many compelling stories throughout woven throughout the Bible that each one of these are going to play off of each other. It's just a chance to talk about things that have become meaningful in your life. It's not like your favorite color, like that doesn't have any real meaning to you. But whenever you talk about a parable that is profound and precious to you, it's because it's probably changed the direction of your life in more ways than one. So it's just a chance to create some conversation and let the Bible take center stage. As they said long ago, we are going to draft Bible things in Bible ways, and I'm excited about it. That's true to the restoration movement motto, right? Exactly. All right. So here we go. Without further ado, let us get into our third annual Bible Geeks Bracket on favorite Bible stories. I don't know who's going first. Do you want to go first? I'll allow you to go first because the first shall be last. Okay. So you have thereby positioned yourself for the win. I love it. No doubt. So are we starting with profound parables here? Yep. Start with something Jesus said, as we always try to do. As we try to do. And I'm going to go with what I think this was a clear number one for me. There's a few in the top tier, but I'm going with the Prodigal Son, Luke 15, 11 to 32. That's our number one seed in the parables bracket. I think the Prodigal Son is a formidable contender. Let's go with the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10. I think this was up there for me between number one and number two, real close together. But both of these stories really just are incredible. And probably everybody knows these parables of Jesus. Absolutely. That was for me a clear number two. That was definitely, we're right. Our draft boards are in line so far. Okay. My next pick, I'm going to go with the parable that explains all the parables, which is the parable of the sower in Mark 4. This is Jesus' parable that walks us through why he teaches this way and how different people respond in different ways. That's such a good one. I don't even know why that isn't the first one, because it really was the first one, right? Like the first seed should be the one with the actual seed in it, I think, and the explanation of all the parables. But I'm going to pick as my fourth option here, I'm picking parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Probably one of the more interesting ones and hotly debated ones about whether even this is a parable or not, but I'm going to throw it in there in the list. Rich man and Lazarus. Yeah, I think that belongs there. That's really good. I had that as a really high one too. I'm going to go with one, a short one now. Barely a story, but it's a parable. The pearl of great price. And there's another one that goes with it, and I'll let you decide if we put them together or if you want to draft it separately. But the pearl of great price has great meaning to me as this man who, in a sentence, Jesus tells this story of the one who gives everything for this pearl or for the other one, the other thing that we could talk about there. Yeah, I know you're tipping your hand. I'm not going to pick the one I think you think I'm going to pick, but I'm going to pick another small one. If the pearl was of great price, how about the mustard seed, which was also small? And oh, by the way, also in the same chapter there in Matthew 13. So there are a few more in that little section that we could pick from, but that's definitely a good one too. That absolutely is. And so I'll just say the other one was the hidden treasure and those go together. We'll probably maybe put those together. And my next one I am going to, man, there's so many good things to go with here. I am going to go with the unmerciful servant because not so much because of the main protagonist of the story, but because of the grace and the love that is shown and what that illustrates about God's grace. So that's in Matthew 18, 23 to 35. Listen, if there is a parable that can just make you laugh thinking about the thought of what Jesus is trying to convey, it's the parable of the speck in the log. Matthew 7, just the picture of a dude with a log sticking out of his eye, trying to fix the little tiny sliver that's in someone else's. That's a problem to be addressed for sure. And Jesus does that in Matthew 7. I like that. That's I didn't even think of that as a parable, but that makes perfect sense. I'm going to go with another one that maybe convicts us as we think about it. And it's the Pharisee and the tax collector and how they prayed differently there. That's such a good one because Jesus pulls no punches, right? Because the Pharisee is clearly not even abstracted in that story. He's not even hiding who he's talking about. He's like, there's a Pharisee in this story and he's bad. You Pharisees need to take a lesson from that. So I'm going to go here in my next one, another really popular one there from Luke in this section here talking about the parable of the lost sheep here along with that parable of the prodigal son that we talked about as the first seed. Really the lost sheep was leading into that story. Just another really good one. If you lose one out of 99, what are you going to go do? You're going to go look for it. I'm going to leave the lost theme there. There's another one hanging there for me and stick with the sheep theme and go with the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25, 31 to 46 there. And that section where he talks about the ones who treated others in this way that showed them care and love. They were treating Jesus in that way. And then the separation, this picture of judgment there, the sheep and the goats. All right, well, I am going to go with something that ties into our guided study that we're doing right now. And that would be the parable of the friend at midnight. Somebody who's got a friend who stops by and needs some loaves of bread. And the other friend is like, "Hey, dude, leave me alone. I don't want to get out of my bed because my family's all tucked in." That's a good one. I can definitely relate to that. So what number are we on here? We're on number 12. So we've got four more to go. You know, in every tournament, one 12 seed beats a five seed. It just always happens. So this is a big pick. I'm going to go with, I think this is kind of a sleeper pick here. I'm going to go with the talents, which maybe could include the minus. I don't know, but the parable of the talents. We talk about it a lot. The message of stewardship and what the Lord desires for us to do in his service. I really like that one. You know, speaking of tying into our agricultural theme from earlier, as Jesus actually likes to do quite often in his parables, I'm going to go with the parable of the weeds among the wheat. The enemy who comes in and sows the weeds among the wheat. And we're not going to harvest those until the very end. We'll let them grow together, but at the end, there'll be judgment. So that's another really good one. We've got two left. You've got one. I've got one. And then that rounds out here, the profound parables regional. Oh man. We're leaving a lot on the table. There's so much on the table. We know. I'm going to go with the rich fool in Luke 12, 13 to 21. We've talked about this in some of our guided studies, like the one on talking to yourself and just this idea of saving up for yourself whenever you weren't rich towards God and how foolish it is to not think about our own mortality and preparing to meet our God. Oh man. You are putting. Yeah, man. You got the last pick on this one. That's going to be a hard spot to be in this in the 16 hole there. Oh boy. I know what I'm going to do. I got it. All right. Here we go. Okay. This is one of my favorites. This is the parable of the tenant farmers in Mark 12. This is the one that Jesus uses really to focus on the fact that they are going to reject him. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is on now. That's great. That's a strong 16 seed, but we're talking about, these are all things Jesus said. So they were all going to be winners. Yeah. Didn't talk about the 10 virgins or the marriage feast, the dishonest manager. There's a lot that we could keep listing. Oh, there's so many. I mean, it's like favorite stories by the greatest storyteller ever. Right. So let us recap here our matchups as we talk about the profound parables before we move on. So we've got the prodigal son versus the tenant farmers, the good Samaritan versus the rich fool. The sower versus the weeds among the wheat. Oh, that's going to be an interesting matchup. Yeah. The rich man and Lazarus versus the 10 talents. The pearl of great price versus the friend at midnight. The mustard seed versus the sheep and goats. The unforgiving servant versus the lost sheep. And then the eight and nine is the speck and the log and the Pharisee and the tax collector. Just going to be some interesting matchups here. I'm really excited to see how everyone votes. It's going to be fun. Yeah. I love it. All right. So let's move on here from the profound parables regional to the ancient heroes regional. And I'm going to pick as my first ancient hero, the ultimate ancient hero. And that is David and Goliath in first Samuel 17. This great story, obviously, of David getting into it with this giant. Now, again, I'm going to say this probably a few times. Should this have been a Sunday school classic? Right. Right. I think maybe it could have been, but I'm going to pick it here for ancient heroes anyway. Okay. I like it. I was going back and forth on that. That was at the top of basically both of those lists for me. Okay. Second seed. I am going to go with Genesis 22, Abraham and Isaac. Abraham sacrificing Isaac or preparing to do so. And the Lord providing. I feel like, you know, you're thinking about ancient heroes. I'm thinking Abraham belongs in there. This is one of the great stories of Abraham. Certainly that kind of takes a starring role here. No doubt. A very good one. A noteworthy choice. I am going to then choose for the third seed. Let's just pick Rahab and the spies from Joshua 2. There are probably a lot of other ones, but looking at heroes, I mean, this was absolutely a heroic act for Rahab to step up and protect the spies as they came in through the land. So that's going to wind up as the third seed for me. Okay. I like that. Now, one of the challenges is there's some people that they have so many stories about them. It has to be a specific story about them, right? It's a specific story and you're trying to figure out which one to go with. So I want to get Joseph in here. Okay. At this point, as we think about patriarchs and this moment, and I am going to go with the story of Joseph and his dreams. Joseph as the interpreter of dreams. Let's go with that. Okay. I see what you're attempting to do here in that you're slicing and dicing, which is perfectly fine. Yeah, because there's the whole prison story basically of Joseph and then up to the Pharaoh's story. Okay. So Joseph interpreting dreams would definitely apply. I think that's great. I am going to choose Elijah for number five at Mount Carmel. This is the great smack down of the prophets of Baal as Elijah really lays it all out for him. So that's going to be my fifth. Okay. That's excellent. I'm going to go with the three Hebrews and the fiery furnace. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. See, again, you get into the territory of Sunday school classics. Right. Right. But there's several there that could go from Daniel that could go into the Sunday school classics. So I'm trying to think heroes. Where do the heroes go here? No doubt. So go for it. Let me pick one for number seven. I'm going to pick one that fast forwards us in time a little bit to the New Testament. And I'm going to give Stephen's powerful sermon, how Stephen really lays it out for the Pharisees there and how the fact that they killed Jesus and they don't appreciate it at all as he calls them stiff necked and uncircumcised of heart and ears and they stone him to death. If you really want to call anybody a hero, Stephen deserves to be called a hero for sure. Yeah. Yeah. That moment where he looks out at them and looks up at Jesus and there's this mercy, forgive them, as he has a Christ like response to his persecutors. Right after having all that boldness and strength and courage and conviction. I'm going to go very different way here. One of the great stories of the Old Testament and that's the story of Ruth and Boaz. Ruth and Boaz definitely deserve to be here. So number nine, we probably got to kick this thing up a notch because we still have a lot of drafting to do. I'm going to go with how Esther saves her people in Esther five and six. That's going to be number nine. How about your number 10? Okay. I'm going to go with Abraham leaving home. Come back around to Abraham again. Abraham traveling to the promised land. Listen, we're getting lower into the list here. So I really just need to lay out one of my favorite stories in the Ancient Heroes regional. And that's going to be Elisha calling the female bears to attack his deterrence. Such a solid story. Oh, you bald head. Listen, buddy. You bald head. Oh man, that is a classic for sure. All right. I'm going to go with Paul and Silas in prison. Would this include the jailer? Yeah, for sure. This acts 16 stories, right? All right. My list is dwindling, except I think my Sunday School Classics list is growing. So I am going to pick the story of Samson and his hair. Oh man. For judges 13. It's really just not my favorite story. So it deserves to be down on the list a bit lower. Samson was listed in Hebrews 11. So he definitely gets cred for sure. But he has the marks of a hero. I mean, he's going against the enemies of God. Not a blameless person. No, for sure. Absolutely. You're robbing from my Sunday School Classics list again here. Understood. Sorry about that. No, that's cool. I am going to go Moses before the burning bush. Okay. So Moses in the burning bush. So that means I've got one more pick. I am going to pick something that I still feel like would wind up in this list near the bottom. And that's going to be the capture of Jericho in Joshua 6 as they marched seven times around and they blew their trumpets and everything else. That great moment where God gave them the victory there in Jericho. That'll be my last one for the Ancient Heroes regional. Okay. Let's close this thing out with the conversion of Saul. That's a good one. Let's go through this Ancient Heroes regional matchups. We've got David and Goliath versus Saul's conversion. It's kind of a weird thing to say, but okay. Anyway, so then we've got Abraham sacrificing Isaac and the capture of Jericho. We've got Rahab and the spies versus Moses in the burning bush. Joseph's dreams versus Samson and his hair. Elijah at Mount Carmel versus Paul and Silas in prison. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace versus Elisha and the female bears. I know who's winning on that one. No. Stephen's powerful sermon versus Abraham leaving home. And then finally, our eight and nine is Ruth and Boaz versus Esther saving her people. Ooh, that's going to be an interesting one. Oh, Ruth versus Esther. We may have done that favorite figures of faith last time, but oh man. I don't remember who that matchup was. That doesn't seem fair. We're knocking out one of the great heroines of faith either way on the first one, but. Yeah, that'll be tough. That's quite a matchup. All right, so we've got to move on because we still have a lot of choosing to do. We've got Jesus in action regional. And of course, as we already talked about earlier, the greatest story ever told will not be told here on this draft. So please go ahead and pick the first one. Okay, so I am going to go with Jesus washing the disciples feet. I would commend that pick. I think that's a really good one. So I'm going to pick Jesus and the woman at the well, the Samaritan woman in John chapter four. Most definitely one of my favorite stories of Jesus and his interaction with somebody. Okay, I love that. I am going to go with Jesus walking on water and pulling Peter out of the water. That moment, you know, it's we like to say he doesn't walk on water, but this is the one person that did. That did actually do that. We're going to go with that as number three. No doubt. That's a really good one. I'm going to pick the thing that I cannot even believe Jesus was capable of doing. And that is his 40 days of fasting and testing alone in the wilderness there in Matthew four. I'm excited to see who that story is up against. Yeah, yeah, that's that was up there for me too. The temptation there in the wilderness. I'm going to go with him raising Lazarus. We talked about it not long ago and that's in John 11. Of all the miracles that Jesus did, that one was most definitely one of the most powerful. I'm going to pick the woman washing Jesus feet in Luke seven with great perfume and all the different conversations Jesus has as part of this with the Pharisee, the owner of the house. So I love it. I am going to go with the transfiguration of Jesus as he talked in Matthew 17 to Moses and Elijah's face glowing and Peter says, it's good for us to be here. Let me make you some tents. This is a wonderful spot for us to be. Everybody want to take a nap? All right. That's a good one. I think that's yeah, the transfiguration. Does that deserve to be higher? I don't know, but let's pick another one here. I'm going to say a story that contains the most famous verse ever told Jesus and Nicodemus, John chapter three. So I think this story is a really powerful one. Although I think most people forget that the context of John 3 16 is his conversation with Nicodemus. So there you go. That's a good one. I like it. I'm going to go the last supper and all the things we already talked about the washing of the feed but I'm talking about the institution of the Lord's Supper here. That's a good one. Yeah, all the different goings on at the table and talking about Judas and everything else that happens there. It's a really good one. How about let's go with Jesus and the miraculous catch of fish that really is one of the game changers for getting a lot of his disciples to follow him. Right? Just this amazing miracle there in John chapter 21. That's also recorded in other places that could potentially have been earlier in the life of the disciples. So Jesus and his miraculous catch of fish for number 10. Okay, I'm going to go with young Jesus in the temple in Luke 2 41 to 52 and just that early glimpse into Jesus in action. All right. So for number 12, oh man, I don't want to miss some of these but there's just some really good ones. How about Jesus calming the storm in Mark chapter 4 as he's in the boat and everyone's having a fit and he just says taking a nap. Peace be still. Let me take a nap. Yeah, I like that. All right. I am just going to let my personal a personal favorite come up here. Maybe too early. Okay, I won't do that. I'm going to save that. I think I might be able to get it later. I'm going to go with the baptism of Jesus. Important moment. The spirit coming down. This is my beloved son and whom I will please parallel in some ways to the transfiguration where God the father also says that hopefully they're not paired against each other. That would be bad. Yeah, we've talked about this one a couple times and I'm going to pick this one for number 14. Jesus and the little children as he welcomes them to come to him and explains to all of the people around that you got to be like these little kids. Okay, I'm going to take the one I was going to do a minute ago now and this because this is 16, right? Yeah, this is your 15 and then 16. My 15. Okay, so I'm going to take Jesus on the road to Emmaus. It is during the it is a resurrection appearance, but it's a self-contained little star. I don't know. Do I judge his ruling? No, it works. I mean, he has been raised, but yeah, that's a good one with their confusion and the back and a fourth and the. We're not our hearts burning within us as he explained to us all of the scriptures and he disappears and then he disappears eating the food and it's just such a great story. I really like that one. Okay, this is the last one. Number 16. All right, I'm going to pick wrong. I'm going to miss it. I'm going to miss something amazing. Oh, you are automatically you have to I'm going to pick Jesus calling Zacchaeus. This may have been a Sunday school classic, but I'm going to pick it here in Jesus in action. I like that one. Jesus calling Zacchaeus is a really good one. Okay, so let's get into the matchups here for Jesus in action. We have Jesus washing the disciples feet versus him calling Zacchaeus. Jesus talking with the Samaritan woman versus Jesus on the road to Emmaus. Jesus walks on water versus Jesus and the little children. The fasting and testing of Jesus versus his baptism raising Lazarus versus him calming the storm the woman washing Jesus feet versus young Jesus in the temple. We have his transfiguration versus his miraculous catch of fish. I'm pretty sure I know who's going to win on that one. And then the eight and nine is Jesus and Nicodemus versus the last supper. Wow. I have no idea how this is going to work out pretty cool. I don't either because it's favorites. And so it's very personal. All right, last one. Probably the one everyone's been waiting for. This gets center court here in New York City, Madison Square Garden, the Sunday school classic round of matchups. All right. I believe that means I am going first here. So listen, how do you start out a conversation like this without talking about the creation of the world? The first story, Genesis one, the creation of the world is my number one. What do you go for number two? I love that. I am going to go crossing the Red Sea here. Oh yeah. Okay. So the Exodus story. The Exodus, the crossing the Red Sea. I think that's a. These are all going to be superstars. Oh, they're going to be so good. So number three for me. Listen, it's not going to blow anybody's mind, but it's got to be the flood, right? The flood in Genesis six versus eight. Absolutely. There's going to be a lot of Genesis, I think here in this conversation, but what's your number four? All right. I'm going to jump from Genesis up to the birth of Jesus, the shepherds and the angels. And just that moment. A little bit of the greatest story ever told. Absolutely. A little bit of that, a little bit of Jesus in action, but feels like a Sunday school classic. I think that's so good. You know, originally when I made my list, I did not have this in here, but I feel like it needs to be up near the beginning. I am going to pick Adam and Eve's fall in Genesis two and three. Now, very closely connected to the creation of the world. I understand this, but no, Adam and Eve's fall is a precursor for a lot of stuff that happens after it. So it's a good one. That is a good one. I had those as two separate stories. I'm going to go with Daniel and the lion's den. Of course. I had that in the ancient heroes regional and I was really debating picking it, but it got too low and it was too important. So Daniel and the lion's den. Listen, I also had this in ancient heroes and I'm going to throw it into number seven. Joseph being sold by his brothers into slavery. Not the dreams that you were talking about, but definitely him being sold. And that's the coat of many colors story. That's the whole thing, right? Yep. All right. Sunday school classics. That is a solid pick. I'm going to go with another and that is Jonah and the giant fish. Jonah and the fish. How about we go with something a little more modern and that would be the Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost. I love that modern is 2000 years ago. I know a little more modern meaning a little more modern than the creation of the universe. Okay, fine. You're right. Everything is, but no, you're good. I love it. No, that's good. I didn't even have that on my list. That's perfect. Wow. All right. I'm going to go with Mount Sinai, right? Receiving the commandments and the golden calf. I think that's the same story. Mount Sinai is not a story. Mount Sinai. It's a place. Okay. There's a lot that happened there. Okay. Receiving the tablets. Okay. The 10 commandments, the golden calf, the people having a fit. I mean, they stayed at Mount Sinai forever, but yeah, I know. Okay. I wasn't like throwing making the tabernacle. I wasn't throwing everything in there, but you know, Moses goes up and then he comes back down. So many things. And what have you done? Seeing the, I'm good with it. Honestly, I think we're good. So Mount Sinai, the golden calf, the 10 commandments just bundle it all up there. I think we're good. How about another classic that I think in Sunday school, we're always talking about the Tower of Babel from Genesis 11. Oh, yeah. Fits down here near the bottom, a little tiny story, but kind of an interesting one about how we got our languages. Yeah. So where are we right now? We are, so we're at number 12. Okay. I am here going to go with the birth of Moses. I didn't even have that on my list. Oh man. You know, the sending him on the little in the basket. Oh, that's so good. All that. I like that a lot actually. You know what? Speaking of Lot, I'm going to pick Lot and Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah for number 13. Okay. Not a great story, but a story that I think we tell. This also could include the Pillar of Salt. I would throw in there as well. For sure. Maybe even Abraham's three visitors and the bargaining there. Yeah, I'm going to go with a little bit of a weird one, but this week on Wednesday night, I saw little kids walking around with little puppets made of a bag that was a donkey, a talking donkey. Ooh. And so I'm going to go with Balaam's donkey. Balaam's donkey is a solid one on the Sunday School list. I'm down near the bottom of my list here. We have picked so many already for all these different categories. Ancient heroes really wiped me out, I think. So I am going to go with the angel visiting Mary from Luke 1 as my 15th choice. This great story. I know it's surrounding the birth of Jesus. It is. But it's not the birth of Jesus. It's before the birth of Jesus. So, okay, I'm thinking of two Old Testament miracles here, either manna and quail or, oh man, there's so many things. Elijah and the chariot. I think I'm going to go with Elijah and the chariot. I would support that. Elijah and the chariot. There's so many around Elijah, right? Like he's got so many miracles. Around Moses and around Elijah and Elisha, there's just a ton of amazing stories that we love to tell the kids because it talks to the power of God and the importance of trust and so many other things. So we're leaving a lot of good stuff, but I feel okay about that list. I feel like we got some major ground covered there on those Sunday School classics. I would agree with you. So let's recap here our Sunday School classic matchups. First, we've got the creation of the world versus Elijah and the chariot. Oh, poor Elijah. I know, right? He's going down. We've got Exodus crossing the Red Sea with the angel visiting Mary, the flood versus Balaam's donkey, Jesus' birth versus Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah, Adam and Eve's fall versus Moses' birth, Daniel and the lion's den versus the tower of Babel, Joseph being sold by his brothers versus the golden calf in our eight and nine matchup, is Jonah and the fish versus the Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost. I really have no idea what's going to happen in any of these matchups, but I am here for it. I'm excited to see it. What's interesting is some of these, you know, they had to be on the list because they're Sunday School classics and they're so important and we do love to tell them, but they can't be a favorite, you know? Like you're thinking about Adam and Eve falling and the serpent and all of that is such a tragic story and then what's it up against again? Adam and Eve versus the birth of Moses. Yeah, so, you know, the birth of Moses is a happier story. That's a beautiful story. He was lovely in the eyes of God. So when you talk about favorites, it affects the thing, but I feel pretty good about the list. I think this will work. I think we're good. So maybe we've done a little bit better this year, choosing more and putting them in order in some respect. So let the people speak. Let the people speak. You make the call. So as you're hearing this episode, we will be posting surveys and questionnaires, a link to our website that you can go fill out your vote on social media. So keep your eyes peeled for that. We're going to be drafting periodically every now and again until we finally get to our announcement and that will be on April 11th. One shining moment. So voting starts now, results on April 11th. It's going to be, it's going to be great. Share this. Absolutely. That edit, clearly everybody share the bracket, rock the vote, make sure you share it with people who are of like mind as you. If you really want the same kinds of votes, but if not, get the word out, the more the better for sure. Thanks so much everyone for tuning into the Bible Geeks podcast. You can find us on our website at biblegeeks.fm. You can find show notes for this episode in your podcast player of choice or at biblegeeks.fm/203. Also, by the way, get ready for our session three of our two by two study that we're going to continue. We're going to pick it back up. We're going to talk about making friends. If you want to read some passages for that, check out the show notes to find those and get ready for that conversation. And until that episode, may the Lord bless you and keep you. Shalom.```