In this episode of Case Studies, Casey welcomes back David Butler for the first of a four-part series exploring faith ahead of a group pilgrimage to Jerusalem. David, who leads pilgrimage experiences to the Holy Land, joins Casey to unpack what it means to know God more deeply, starting with creation itself.
The conversation moves from a desert night in the Sahara staring through a telescope at two billion solar systems, to the story of Job being pointed toward the stars, to why scripture's purpose isn't a history lesson but a portrait of God's character. David and Casey talk about the strange comfort of feeling small against something vast, why the wealthy and powerful become less accessible while God becomes more so, and how a friend's grief after unexpected loss became an unexpected testimony of connection beyond death.
They also get personal, about the pull toward something bigger than daily life, the discipline of belief that lets you actually move forward instead of staying stuck in fear, and what it's like walking through the literal places where these ancient stories happened. David closes by sharing how listeners can put together their own custom trip to experience it firsthand.
00:00 | Intro: Recapping the last episode and the road to Jerusalem
02:27 | Setting the scene: what Jerusalem actually looks like
03:38 | Why Jerusalem captures the imagination
04:59 | Faith as a driving force in history — for good and for harm
05:41 | A night in the Sahara and 2 billion solar systems
08:49 | The two creation accounts: scripture and the stars
10:45 | SpaceX, the moon race, and our pull toward something bigger
19:58 | Covenant Mountain: God initiating a relationship with Abraham
25:08 | The Todd Peterson story: what real leadership looks like
28:41 | God's promises to Abraham and the origin of \"believe\"
32:00 | What \"amen\" really means
36:43 | The Alex and Grant story: playing the long game as a parent
38:51 | \"You've been God for a long time\"
42:52 | Do the dead still show up? A friend's stage-four cancer and a dream
52:41 | Bethlehem, the Jordan River, and the name Joshua/Jesus
55:23 | Reading scripture to learn God's character, not just how to act
59:10 | Tying the Old Testament to the New: Jesus as the God who heals
1:03:48 | Doing his best work in ordinary, unremarkable places
1:06:27 | Capernaum: the city Christ's miracles kept returning to
1:09:28 | The paralyzed man lowered through the roof — healing the soul first
1:14:53 | The woman with the issue of blood — 12 years overlooked
1:22:09 | \"Who God is, is who he'll always be\" — reading scripture as pattern
1:24:07 | Wrapping up: Jehovah, Jesus, and what it means for the Jerusalem trip