Weekly Letter

One story. One dataset.
One question for Monday.

Every Sunday, I hold a Bible story up next to real numbers and ask what it means for the work you do. For analysts, accountants, and finance folks who want their craft to mean something beyond the quarterly close.

Series 1 — Rarely Mentioned Series 2 — Women & Children Series 3 — Serving Others 30 Stories Full Articles Live
Browse all 30 stories This week's letter ↓
This Week

The parable of the talents, audited.

What the servant who buried his talent understood about risk management — and got completely wrong about stewardship.

The Talents Ledger
"To whom much is given,
much will be required."
Luke 12:48
7 min read

The parable of the talents, audited.

The servant who buried his talent didn't lose money. He just refused to put it to work. That's a perfectly acceptable financial control — and a perfectly terrible career move. This week we audit what we've been entrusted with, and what it costs to bury it.

The master gave each servant talents in proportion to their ability. Not equally — proportionally. The return expected wasn't identical; it was commensurate with what was given. That's also how performance reviews work. And how stewardship works.

  • ✓The difference between preservation and stewardship — and why your boss is paying for the second.
  • ✓A 5-minute self-audit: what skills, accounts, and people have you been handed?
Browse all 30 stories Download The Talents Ledger
Stewardship Audit

Four questions for the numbers you actually own.

A free weekly framework — based on Proverbs 27:23 — for any analyst, accountant, or finance person who wants to account for their own work, not just their employer's.

What was I given?

List the skills, relationships, data access, and responsibilities that landed in your lap this week — earned or not.

What did I produce?

Name one output — a report, a query, a conversation — that used what you were given. Be specific. No filler.

What did I bury?

Name one thing you knew how to do — but didn't. One insight you had — but didn't surface. This is where the audit gets honest.

What does the next week require?

One commitment. Not a goal. A commitment. Something you'll have done by Friday that uses what you've been given.

Numbers tie. Sources cite.
Promises ship.

The Three Disciplines of This Letter
01

Numbers tie

Every figure I share reconciles to a source. If a row doesn't tie, it doesn't ship — in the letter or in your model.

02

Sources cite

Scripture references in full. Datasets linked. Claims sourced. Stewardship is showing your work.

03

Promises ship

The letter goes out every Sunday. The templates open every month. What we say will arrive, arrives.

Bible Story Series

30 stories. Three series. One question each.

Real Bible stories — told plainly, tied to real life. Each card links to a full article. Browse all three series below.

Series 1 — Top 10 Rarely Mentioned Bible Stories

Judges 4:17–22 Tent peg.
Rarely MentionedWilling

The Woman Who Killed a General With a Tent Peg

One of the greatest military victories in biblical history — won not by a soldier, a king, or a prophet. Jael wasn't on anybody's radar. She acted with the tools she had, right where she was. And history changed.

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Jonah 1–4 Ran the other way.
Rarely MentionedGrace

The Man Swallowed by Something Worse Than a Whale

Everybody knows Jonah and the whale. But the real story is what happened after — a heart full of hatred disguised as religion, furious that God showed mercy to people Jonah had already written off.

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Daniel 4:1–37 Ate grass.
Rarely MentionedPride

The King Who Went Insane and Ate Grass

The most powerful man on earth — crawling in a field, eating grass like an animal, for seven years. The moment he looked up and acknowledged something greater than himself, everything was restored.

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1 Kings 17:1–6 Fed by ravens.
Rarely MentionedPreparation

The Prophet Who Was Fed by Ravens

God told His boldest prophet to hide — and sent birds to feed him twice a day. The brook dried up. But it wasn't abandonment. It was redirection. The hidden season was never wasted.

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2 Kings 2:23–25 She-bears.
Rarely MentionedReverence

The Two Bears and the Mocking Children

Youths mocked the prophet — "baldhead." Two bears came out of the woods. One of the most uncomfortable passages in Scripture, and a clear warning: God's authority is not a joke.

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Judges 3:31 One verse.
Rarely MentionedOrdinary

The Man Who Killed 600 With an Ox Goad

His entire story is one verse. No sword — a farming tool. Six hundred Philistine soldiers. Shamgar didn't wait for better equipment or more favorable circumstances. He used what was in his hand.

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1 Samuel 28:3–25 Final accounting.
Rarely MentionedReckoning

The Witch of Endor and the Dead Prophet

A desperate king, a forbidden medium, and a dead prophet summoned from the grave. What Samuel's voice told Saul was not comfort — it was a final accounting of a kingdom mishandled one small disobedience at a time.

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2 Samuel 6:1–7 Touched the ark.
Rarely MentionedObedience

The Man Who Touched the Ark and Died Instantly

He was just trying to help — the ark was falling. But good intentions don't override God's instructions. How you carry a sacred thing matters as much as whether you carry it at all.

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2 Kings 19:35–37 One angel.
Rarely MentionedDeliverance

The Angel Who Killed 185,000 Soldiers Overnight

One night. One angel. An entire Assyrian army dead by morning — because Hezekiah took the enemy's threatening letter to the temple and spread it out before God instead of fighting alone.

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Joshua 10:12–14 Sun stood still.
Rarely MentionedBold Prayer

The Man Who Stopped the Sun

Joshua didn't ask for a general blessing. He commanded the sun to stand still — out loud, in front of everyone. The God who stopped the sun for Joshua is the same God who hears your prayer today.

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Series 2 — Top 10 Stories Specific to Women and Children

Exodus 1:15–21 Defied Pharaoh.
Women & ChildrenCourage

The Midwives Who Defied a Pharaoh and Saved a Nation

Before Moses ever floated in a basket, two Hebrew midwives were ordered to kill every newborn boy. They said no. A nation survived because Shiphrah and Puah feared God more than they feared the most powerful man alive.

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1 Samuel 1:1–2:11 Silent prayer.
Women & ChildrenFaith

The Mother Who Let Her Son Go

Hannah prayed so hard the priest thought she was drunk. God heard the prayer no one could even see. Then she received the miracle she prayed for — and gave him back to God. What she surrendered changed history.

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2 Kings 5:1–4 Four sentences.
Women & ChildrenWitness

The Little Servant Girl Who Saved a General

She had no name, no power, and every reason to stay silent. Four sentences from a kidnapped child set the greatest healing miracle of Elisha's ministry in motion. You don't need a platform to change a life.

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Luke 18:1–8 Wouldn't stop.
Women & ChildrenPrayer

The Woman Who Wouldn't Stop Until She Got Justice

Jesus told this parable specifically to address the feeling that prayers are going unanswered. The widow's persistence wasn't annoying to Jesus — it was the example He pointed to. Don't stop asking.

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Numbers 27:1–11 Five sisters.
Women & ChildrenAdvocacy

Five Sisters Who Changed the Law

They walked to the most sacred, public space in Israel and stated their case before Moses and the entire assembly. God ruled in their favor — and changed the law for every daughter who came after them.

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2 Timothy 1:5 Grandmother's faith.
Women & ChildrenLegacy

The Grandmother Who Shaped a Nation's Faith

Paul credited Timothy's extraordinary faith not to a great teacher or a dramatic conversion — but to a grandmother named Lois. What she modeled in ordinary moments changed the ancient world.

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1 Samuel 3:1–21 Voice in the night.
Women & ChildrenCalling

The Child Who Heard God's Voice at Night

A boy sleeping in the temple, called by name three times in the dark. He ran to Eli each time before anyone understood what was happening. God calls young people — and He calls them by name.

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1 Kings 3:16–28 Split the baby.
Women & ChildrenSacrifice

The Mother Who Split a Baby to Save It

Two mothers. One living baby. A king's impossible judgment. The real mother would rather lose her child to a stranger than see him die — and that willingness to let go proved her love.

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Matthew 14:1–12 Danced for death.
Women & ChildrenBitterness

The Girl Who Danced a Man to His Death

A birthday party. A dance. A king's foolish oath. The head of John the Baptist on a platter — because a girl raised in her mother's hatred became an instrument of it. The bitterness we carry flows into those we raise.

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John 12:1–8 Broken jar.
Women & ChildrenWorship

The Woman Who Anointed Jesus When No One Else Understood

She broke a jar worth a year's wages over Jesus. The room called it waste. Jesus called it beautiful — and said it would be told wherever the gospel is preached. She understood what the disciples had missed.

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Series 3 — Top 10 Stories About Doing God's Work and Serving the Less Fortunate

Luke 10:25–37 Wrong side.
ServingCompassion

The Good Samaritan — The Story That Redefined "Neighbor"

The priest passed. The Levite passed. Jesus' answer to "who is my neighbor?" destroyed the idea that religion qualifies you to decide who deserves your compassion. Your neighbor is whoever the road puts in front of you.

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John 6:1–14 Five loaves.
ServingProvision

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand With a Boy's Lunch

A boy offered his whole lunch to a stranger. He had no idea it would feed twenty thousand people. You don't need to have enough to make a difference — just bring what you have to the right hands.

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Mark 1:40–45 Touched him first.
ServingHealing

Jesus and the Man Nobody Would Touch

He hadn't been touched by another human being in years. Jesus reached out and touched him — before healing him, before saying a word. The touch was the first miracle. Then came the rest.

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Matthew 19:16–30 Walked away sad.
ServingSurrender

The Rich Man Who Walked Away Sad

He kept all the commandments, ran to Jesus, and genuinely wanted eternal life. Mark says Jesus looked at him and loved him — then asked for the one thing he couldn't give. The greatest obstacle is rarely the obvious sin.

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Luke 15:1–32 All three lost.
ServingGrace

The Sheep, the Coin, and the Son — Three Parables About the Lost

Three things lost. Three parties when found. The father who ran — undignified, watching the road — is the picture Jesus drew of God. Heaven throws a party over one person coming home.

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John 4:1–42 Noon at the well.
ServingRestoration

Jesus at the Well — The Woman the World Gave Up On

She came to the well alone at noon, carrying a history everyone knew. Jesus already knew it too — and waited there anyway. The woman the town had rejected became the town's evangelist.

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Luke 19:1–10 Climbed a tree.
ServingRepentance

Zacchaeus — The Man Who Climbed a Tree to See Jesus

A wealthy, despised tax collector abandoned his dignity to climb a sycamore just to see Jesus. Jesus stopped, looked up, and called him by name. By dinner's end, Zacchaeus committed half his wealth to the poor.

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Mark 12:41–44 Two coins.
ServingGenerosity

The Widow's Offering — When Two Coins Outweigh a Fortune

The wealthy gave large, visible amounts. A poor widow dropped in two copper coins. Jesus called His disciples over and said she gave more than all of them. God doesn't measure giving by amount — He measures by proportion and love.

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John 5:1–15 38 years.
ServingHealing

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath — When Rules Replaced Compassion

He had been waiting by the pool for 38 years. Jesus asked the one uncomfortable question: "Do you want to get well?" Then He healed him — and the religious leaders' response was outrage, not rejoicing.

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Matthew 25:31–46 How he'll judge.
ServingJustice

The Sheep and the Goats — How Jesus Says He'll Judge the World

Jesus described Judgment Day — and the criteria had almost nothing to do with what most people expect. It was about hungry people, strangers, the sick, and prisoners. How you treat the least is how you treat Him.

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