130 years ago today: OU football won its first game in program history with a 12-0 win over Norman High School in Oklahoma City.
OU had no coach that season, as former head coach John Harts left to go prospecting for gold in the Arctic.
In the book of Exodus, after God rescues Israel from Egypt and gives the Ten Commandments at Sinai, something unexpected happens to the story. It slows down. For chapter after chapter, the text gives detailed instructions for building a tent: its curtains, its poles, its furniture, its colors, its measurements down to the cubit. Many readers skim these chapters. But God gives the reason for all of it in one sentence: “Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.”
The God who had just shaken the mountain with fire and thunder wanted to live in a tent among His people. And the New Testament says that tent was a picture of something greater. The letter to the Hebrews calls the tabernacle “a copy and shadow of the heavenly things,” built according to a pattern Moses was shown on the mountain. The details mattered because they were pointing to Someone.
The clearest link is in John’s Gospel. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The Greek word for “dwelt” is eskēnōsen, from skēnē, the word for tent or tabernacle. Literally, the Word became flesh and pitched His tent among us. And John continues, “We have seen his glory.” In the wilderness, God’s glory filled the tabernacle. In Jesus, God’s glory came and lived in a human body. Now walk through the tabernacle with that in mind.
The camp and the courtyard. In Numbers 2, God tells the twelve tribes how to set up camp: three tribes on each side, all facing the tabernacle, which stood in the middle. God was at the center of the life of His people. Around the tabernacle was a courtyard enclosed by white linen curtains, and there was only one way in: a single gate on the east side, woven of blue, purple, and scarlet. Not two entrances. Not many. One. Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved.”
The bronze altar. The first thing you met inside the gate was the altar of sacrifice. Before anyone could go further toward God, blood had to be shed. Every day, animals were offered there, morning and evening. The way into God’s presence started at the place of death. Hebrews says the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sins, and those sacrifices were repeated because they could not finish the work. Jesus, it says, offered Himself once for all. The altar in the courtyard was a long rehearsal for the cross.
The bronze basin. Next came the laver, a large bronze basin of water where the priests washed their hands and feet before entering the holy place. Exodus adds a remarkable detail: it was made from the bronze mirrors of the women who served at the entrance. The things people used to look at themselves were melted down to make the place where they were cleansed. Paul later writes that Christ cleanses His church “by the washing of water with the word,” and Jesus told Peter, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” After the sacrifice comes the washing.
The Holy Place. Inside the tent itself, in the first room, stood three pieces of furniture.
On one side was the table of the bread of the Presence, with twelve loaves, one for each tribe, set before God continually. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger.”
On the other side stood the golden lampstand, hammered from a single piece of gold, its branches shaped like almond blossoms. It was the only light in the Holy Place, because no daylight came in. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.”
And in front of the veil stood the golden altar of incense, where incense was burned every morning and evening, rising up before God. Scripture repeatedly links incense to prayer. Hebrews says Jesus “always lives to make intercession” for those who come to God through Him. The smoke of that altar never went out, and neither does His prayer for His people.
The veil. Beyond the altar of incense hung the curtain with cherubim woven into it, blocking the way into the Most Holy Place. Only the high priest could pass through it, once a year, with blood. As we saw in the post on the torn veil, Hebrews says the way into God’s presence was opened “through the curtain, that is, through his flesh.” When His body was torn, the veil was torn.
The Ark and the mercy seat. Behind the veil was one object: the Ark of the Covenant, a chest of acacia wood overlaid inside and out with gold. Hebrews tells us what was inside it: the stone tablets of the law, a golden jar of manna, and Aaron’s staff that had budded. The law that God’s people had broken. The bread from heaven that had fed them. And a dead stick that came back to life overnight, sprouting buds, blossoms, and almonds. Law, provision, and resurrection, all kept in the presence of God.
On top of the Ark was the lid, called the mercy seat, with two golden cherubim facing each other, their wings stretched over it. On the Day of Atonement, the high priest sprinkled blood on the mercy seat, between the law below and the presence of God above. The blood covered the broken law. That is where God said He would meet with His people.
In Romans 3:25, Paul says God put Jesus forward as a hilastērion by His blood. That is the same Greek word the Greek Old Testament uses for the mercy seat. Jesus is the place where God’s judgment against sin and God’s mercy toward sinners meet.
And then there is one small detail in John’s account of the resurrection that’s easy to miss. When Mary Magdalene looked into the empty tomb, she saw two angels in white, “sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.” Two angels, one at each end of the place where the blood-covered body had lain, looking at the space between them where the sacrifice had been. Anyone who knew the tabernacle would have recognized that picture.
The outside. The tabernacle’s outermost covering was made of tough animal skins (the exact animal is debated). From the outside, the tent was plain and unremarkable. All the gold, the colors, the light, and the glory were hidden inside. Isaiah wrote of the Messiah, “He had no form or majesty that we should look at him.” People passing by saw a carpenter from Nazareth. The ones who came in saw the glory of God.
The glory. When the tabernacle was finished, Exodus says, the cloud covered the tent and the glory of the LORD filled it, so that even Moses could not enter. By day, a cloud rested over it. By night, fire. When the cloud moved, Israel moved. When it stayed, they stayed. God was not distant. He was in the middle of the camp, visible every day.
People say these chapters of Exodus are tedious instructions for an ancient religious tent. But read them with the New Testament in hand, and they are a map. One gate. A sacrifice. A washing. Bread, light, and prayer. A torn veil. Blood on the mercy seat between broken law and holy God. Every step points to the same Person.
And the story does not end with a tent. The Bible closes in Revelation 21 with a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people.” The word for dwelling place is skēnē, tabernacle, again. From Eden to the wilderness, from Bethlehem to the new creation, God has been pursuing the same goal: to live with His people. In Jesus, He came close enough to touch. And through Jesus, the way into His presence is open.
You don’t need a tent anymore. You need the One it was pointing to.
Jesus is the true Tabernacle, God with us.
May God continue to bless you & this precious one. May Labor be quick, May God ease any discomfort & may this child grow in the knowledge of & faith in God.
I am 36 years old, pregnant with baby #4 and this will be the FIRST time I’ve ever brought a baby home to a house I own. All the others were in rentals.
It’s the verse skeptics love to post: a prophet curses some children for calling him bald, and God sends bears to maul them.
“He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, ‘Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!’ And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the LORD. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys.” - 2 Kings 2:23–24
On the surface, it sounds monstrous. Little kids. A bad joke. Forty-two of them torn apart.
But almost every detail in that summary is wrong.
1. They weren’t little children.
The Hebrew word is נַעַר (na’ar). It’s the same word used for Isaac when Abraham took him up the mountain (Genesis 22:12), for Joseph at seventeen (Genesis 37:2), for Absalom when he led an army against his father (2 Samuel 18:5), and for soldiers going into battle (1 Kings 20:14). It means a young male: anything from a teenager to a young man.
And do the math. Forty-two were mauled. That means the crowd was at least that big, and probably bigger. This wasn’t a few kids on a playground. It was a mob of young men pouring out of a city to confront a lone prophet on the road.
2. “Go up” wasn’t a random insult.
Read the verses just before. Elijah, Elisha’s master, had just been taken up into heaven by a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11). Everyone in Israel would have heard about it.
So when the crowd shouts “Go up, baldhead!”, they’re mocking the ascension itself. Go on, disappear as your master did. We don’t want you or your God here.
3. Where it happened matters.
Bethel was the center of Israel’s idol worship. King Jeroboam had set up a golden calf there and told the people, “Behold your gods, O Israel” (1 Kings 12:28–29). This was a city that had turned its back on the LORD for generations, and now its young men came out to drive off His prophet.
And God had warned them. In the covenant, He said that if Israel kept walking in rebellion, “I will let loose the wild beasts among you” (Leviticus 26:21–22). Bethel was living under that warning.
Notice also: Elisha didn’t summon bears. He spoke a curse in the name of the LORD, and left it to God. The judgment came from the One Bethel had rejected.
And look at the scene right before it. In Jericho, Elisha heals a poisoned spring, and the city receives life (2 Kings 2:19–22). Two cities. One prophet. One received him and was healed. One mocked him and was judged.
It’s still a hard passage. It should be. Scripture doesn’t hide that mocking God is serious.
But here’s where it gets stunning.
Centuries later, another Man was mocked by a crowd. Not “go up.” This time it was “Come down”: “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross” (Matthew 27:40).
He had every right to call down judgment. His own disciples once asked Him to call fire from heaven, like Elijah, on a village that rejected Him, and He rebuked them (Luke 9:54–55).
Instead, from the cross, with the mockery still ringing in His ears, He prayed:
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
Elisha’s mockers met the judgment.
Jesus’ mockers met a Savior who took it for them.
Weak Ass Tulsa County Justice System:
Eli Stephon Tarver
11/23/2025 – 17-years-old. Charged with Domestic Assault Or Assault With A Dangerous Weapon & Kidnapping. 6/23/2026 - Dismissed- Request of the State. Matter To Be Handled At Juvenile Level.
Two days later.
6/25/2026 – 17-years-old. Charged with Shooting With Intent To Kill & Possession Of Firearm After Juvenile Adjudication. Victim is Kruz Nicholson.
9/4/2026 – Warrant issued.
9/10 or 9/11/2026 – Arrested as a minor.
9/12/2026 – Happy Fùûúcking Birf-Day! Now you’re an adult. Guess what? They’re going to treat him as a juvenile offender until his 19th birf-day, hoping he can be complaint with whatever steps they give him. I don’t hold out any hope for him
Tulsa County Booking Photos:
Does anyone remember hearing about Kevan De La Rosa shooting his cousin (E.S.) in the leg on 5/7/2026 from the Tulsa Police or media?
Prosecutors wanted a $3M bond but settled for $1M.
Couldn’t forget about the GOAT, pal. Had to get this one on the timeline today….42 years strong, and this scene? Yeah, this one lasts a lifetime...
Happy 42nd, Miami Vice. I’ll see you out there, pal. 😎🌴
42 years, pal. Look at this crew — before filters, before influencers, and apparently before anybody in Miami owned a black suit. 😂
We weren’t trying to change television. We were just trying to make it through the week without wrecking another Ferrari, getting shot at, or explaining the wardrobe bill.
Somehow, 42 years later, Miami Vice is still here. Still cool, still weird, still ours.
Happy anniversary, Vice family. 🌴😎
One of the wild things about
MIAMI VICE (1984–1989)
which debuted on NBC 42yrs ago today — is the parade of future stars who popped up before they were famous.
Bruce Willis, Julia Roberts, Liam Neeson, Benicio del Toro, Michael Madsen, even Chris Rock.
Tulsa Scanner:
9/10/2026
9:25:43 AM - Collinsville. Victory Energy. Female pinned under metal. Unconscious. Foaming at the mouth. Turning blue. They never gave any details but…she’s DRT. Everyone seems to be pretty tight on the details about how she was crushed to death. Gonna have to wait for all of the city, county and state facilities to complete their investigations.
9/13/2026:
10:11:53 PM – Tracy C called in to say that she took 440 Tylenol PMs to end it all. TPD isn’t going to respond due to her psychotic call history. TFD wasn’t paying attention, waited for TPD, asked dispatch when TPD was going to show up, said they weren’t so TFD also just said Fùûúck it. We’re leaving. That’s a lot different than what they tell you on the news, huh?
9/14/2026:
4:36:33 AM – Caller heard someone fire a weapon and then saw someone running / limping north. 23rd & Jackson.
8:24:23 AM - A 72-year-old male called his daughter and said that he's in real trouble and there is blood everywhere. 491x E 32nd St. Apt.
10:25:47 AM – Male stabbed in the arm. 11th & Memorial. Tourniquet applied before anyone arrived.
11:20:03 AM – Sapulpa. Female found her brother-in-law deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot. He’s been DRT for 2 or 3 days.
12:44:32 PM – Water rescue for an overturned kayak. 28th & Riverside. As usual. All but zero initial details. Found it in the middle of the Arkansas River at 28th. They determined that it was a buoy after about 24 minutes.
12:48:13 PM – Hale High School. 15-year-old male wearing black clothing took acid in the school parking lot; brown Honda.
12:53:38 PM – City of Owasso trash truck versus a parked car.
9:37:24 PM - 58-year-old male was escorted out of the Osage Casino in north Tulsa, said screw that, made his was to the parking garage and jumped.
10:22:47 PM – 22-year-old female has heavy vaginal bleeding and lightheaded; laying in a pool of blood. 22nd & Mingo. Apts.
10:38:44 PM – 49-year-old female texted her husband said that he was gonna hang herself. Five texts are calling. Now there's no answer. She did say that they cannot reach her at the door. The husband said, go through the side door through the garage. Admiral and 185th E Ave. I never heard them arrive on scene.