The writer of this proverb repeats his admonition to his son to “be wise and learn good sense.” He charges him to remember the advice and act upon it. Perhaps the father is imagining those times when his son will face challenges in his life and be tempted to follow a path that is not wise. He knows that if his son has pondered truth in his heart and mind, he will be more likely to follow it.

In my role as a political staffer, I once helped with a private symphony concert and reception, held in honour of the visiting Prince Charles and his wife.

I checked invitations and ID, and after the music began, slipped into a seat at the back, behind a host of news media holding cameras and microphones aloft.

Master class stuff happened on Mount Moriah—surely the most stringent of faith and friendship lessons. This is, after all, Faithbook, not Facebook.

Abraham plods to worship. See him . . . climbing, God’s promised heir close behind? Isaac, through whom redemption’s plan must flow?

My aging father and I climbed in his van and drove through town. He wanted to show me a narrow slice of land he’d recently bought, he told me. A hill or two later, we pulled over to the side of a gravel road, parked, and got out.

Faithful, hard-working, decisive, prayerful and nameless. Abraham’s servant inspires me.

I work full-time for a Member of Parliament. My job has taught me much about politics, but even more about what it means to serve and represent Jesus Christ.

Actually, Abraham had only two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. One arrived through human conniving, the other through God’s promise. Isaac. The youth who as good as died on an altar built of wood his father had laid on his back. The son whose life returned to him when God provided a ram instead (22:9-19).

As God’s people travel en masse up to worship their God in Jerusalem their pilgrim song rises more strongly, more clearly. It is a song that encircles the people and draws them together as one voice.

Have you ever been in a crowd that is heading someplace? Like a crowd streaming into a big hockey game or a hot band concert or a march of protest or a celebration parade?