Hey, my friends, I'm Matt. This is the 10-minute Bible Hour podcast, and we're gonna start

out all sappy and sentimental here. The better year ago before COVID happened, I stopped

by my alma mater. There was a conference there. I was filming some stuff. This is when I

went into the Coptic video in Chicago. And I dropped by the seminary side of the campus

and knocked on a few doors, and sure enough, a couple of my old professors were there. People

who really shaped my life, and one in particular, Dr. Scott Manage, sitting there in his office,

and I literally had my little hat in my hand, and I'm like, hi, you might not remember me,

but I'm like, Matt Whitman, oh my goodness, that means a lot, just to even know that you remember

my name, and he invited me in, and was so warm and enthusiastic to share about what's been going

on in his life, and the academic life of the institution, and all kinds of questions for me about

what's going on with me. And so we compared notes on that, and he looked at some of the stuff I've

been working on, and then just gave me this beautiful, meaningful blessing of encouragement. He was

like, this is just great. I'm so proud and so excited that the stuff we worked on together here has

been something that you've chosen to run with. And man, that meant a lot. To go back to a place

that was so formative and influential for me, and to receive that kind of reception,

meant I probably way more than it theoretically should have for a functional adult, if I qualify

as a functional adult. And likewise, I have to imagine it would have meant a ton for Jesus of

Nazareth to roll back into Nazareth with his family, probably with his family, and have him come

around the bend and a couple people look up and they're like, oh, is that Jesus? No way, no way.

The hand goes up and they wave and Jesus waves back and he comes into town in the Cooper and the

blacksmith. Then the guy that makes the shoes and the cloaks and the ladies that I'll remember him

from back in the day and the friends parents all come around and they're like, whoa,

...