You're listening to the Allender Center podcast with Dr. Dan Allender.

This week, Dan introduces a new series engaging the sweeping, chaotic, sometimes tragic, and sometimes glorious stories of four characters in the Bible,

Jacob, Joseph, Jeremiah, and Jonah.

Dan invites us to let ourselves be swept up in the arc of a story,

open to encountering what these characters reveal about our own stories and about the ongoing story of God.

It's summer, and I hope, on your behalf,

it's time to rest and play and have a few more experiences of delight.

And one of the things that I get to do is I get to play with this podcast.

And normally our focus is on trauma, and it still will be.

But one of the things that I wanted to do, and in summer just feels like the right time to do so,

is to think about characters.

I love novels.

I love film.

I love the Bible.

And so often what we have in Scripture, literally, 70% of the Bible is story.

But story always implies that there are characters.

And characters, oh my goodness, truly the Bible has characters. And when we normally say the word

character, especially in any form of evangelical Christianity, it has to do with a set of

standard structures, the right way to live. Talking about a character or someone with character,

we normally think of be patient and kind and long-suffering and strong and bold. And those are

wonderful character qualities. But when we really speak about character, we're talking about the unique place a human being has in the evolution or in the progress of a story.

And what I want to do is to look at four of my favorite characters, Jacob, Joseph, Jeremiah, and Jonah.

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