Episodes

On a cold winter evening in seventh-century England, a small sparrow flew through a great banquet hall, passing briefly from darkness into warmth and light before disappearing into the darkness again. That simple image became one of the most memorable illustrations of life and eternity in Christian history. On October 10, 644, Paulinus of York died in Rochester, England. Years earlier, this Roman missionary had helped introduce Christianity to King Edwin of Northumbria. According to the histor...

Some salvation stories unfold quietly. Others are rescue missions through the wilderness of pride, doubt, shame, and brokenness. Mine was the latter. In this deeply personal episode of Scattered Moments, Matt Tullos reflects on his own need for radical redemption—not simply a Savior who would forgive his sins, but a Warrior who would pursue him through the tangled jungles of the flesh, the firestorms of anxious thoughts, and the ancient strongholds of the human heart. Drawing from Luke 19:10,...

On October 9, 1635, Roger Williams was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for spreading what authorities called “new and dangerous opinions.” His radical ideas? That government should not control religious belief, that worship should never be forced, and that Native Americans had legitimate rights to their land. The Puritans had crossed an ocean seeking religious freedom, yet Williams dared to ask whether that freedom should extend to those who disagreed with them. His convictions cost...

On October 8, 1871, D. L. Moody stood before a packed Chicago audience and asked one of the most important questions a person can face: “What shall I do with Jesus?” He told them to think it over and return the following Sunday with their answer. They never did. That night, the Great Chicago Fire swept through the city. Farwell Hall burned, and Moody later said he deeply regretted ever telling people to wait. Forty-seven years later, on October 8, 1918, Tennessee native Alvin York faced a ver...

On October 7, 1780, the Battle of Kings Mountain became a turning point in the American Revolution. Just days earlier, the Overmountain Men had gathered at Sycamore Shoals, where Presbyterian minister Samuel Doak prayed over them before they crossed the mountains to confront British Major Patrick Ferguson. Ferguson had reportedly boasted that even God Almighty could not drive him from his position. But on Kings Mountain, Patriot militia surrounded his forces, Ferguson was killed, and the Loyalis...

On October 6, two great English voices fell silent, 356 years apart. In 1536, Bible translator William Tyndale was executed at Vilvoorde, leaving behind a final prayer: “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.” In 1892, Poet Laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson died after a lifetime of words, including his haunting meditation on death, Crossing the Bar. In this episode of Moments Almanac, we bring their stories together—one man who gave his life to put Scripture into the language of ordinary people,...

Huldah — The Woman the King Needed to Hear 2 Kings 22:8–20 | 2 Chronicles 34:14–28 King Josiah inherited a nation that had wandered far from God. His grandfather Manasseh had encouraged widespread idolatry, the temple had been neglected, and Judah had largely abandoned the covenant. Josiah became king at only eight years old, and as a young man began seeking the Lord and confronting the idolatry around him. Then came an extraordinary discovery. During repairs to the temple, Hilkiah the high p...

Jonathan Edwards was born on October 5, 1703, and became one of the most influential theologians in American history. But tucked inside the final chapter of Edwards’s life is the remarkable story of a little boy who, before his third birthday, lost his father, mother, grandfather, and grandmother. That orphan was Aaron Burr Jr. In this episode of Moments Almanac, we follow the extraordinary chain of events that connected Jonathan Edwards, the presidency of Princeton, a smallpox inoculation, a ...

On October 4, 1535, the printing of the Coverdale Bible was completed—the first complete printed Bible in the English language. Within its pages, Psalm 119:105 declared, “Thy word is a lantern unto my feet, and a light unto my paths.” Exactly 291 years later, on October 4, 1826, Sir Walter Scott was living beneath the weight of enormous financial debt. Yet his journal that day began with gratitude to God for the health and strength he still possessed. Then Scott went to work. His final words for...

On October 3, two Christian musicians died nearly seven centuries apart. In 1226, Francis of Assisi reached the end of a remarkable life—one in which he exchanged privilege for poverty, comfort for service, and admiration of Jesus for the radical pursuit of actually following Him. Then, 693 years later, on October 3, 1919, Daniel B. Towner died. Towner composed more than 2,000 gospel tunes and worked alongside evangelist D. L. Moody. His best-known melody grew from the simple testimony of a yo...

On October 2, 2006, tragedy entered a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. Five young girls lost their lives, five others were wounded, and a quiet community was plunged into unimaginable grief. But within hours, something remarkable happened. Members of the Amish community reached out to the family of the man responsible—not with hatred or demands for revenge, but with compassion and forgiveness. They comforted his parents, embraced his widow and children, attended his fu...

King of Glory is a Psalm 24-inspired song built around one searching question: Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?The answer leads us away from our own goodness and toward Christ—the One with clean hands, a pure heart, and the power to bring us into the presence of God. Moving from weakness and failure to grace, freedom, and worship, the song celebrates Jesus as the strong and mighty King of Glory who carries us where we could never climb on our own. Original lyrics by Matt Tullos. Music crea...

Some people in Scripture get entire books. Shamgar gets one verse. Judges 3:31 introduces him almost as quickly as it leaves him: “After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too saved Israel.”That's essentially his entire biography. No tribe is identified. No hometown is given. There is no calling narrative, no recorded prayer or speech, and no explanation of how the battle unfolded. Yet Scripture gives Shamgar one remarkable distinction: ...

What do you do when the biggest title you’ll ever have is already behind you? Born on October 1, 1924, Jimmy Carter would become the 39th president of the United States. But this episode of Moments Almanac isn’t about politics or an endorsement of a political legacy. It’s about what happened afterward. For decades after leaving the White House, Carter devoted himself to humanitarian work, helped build homes alongside Habitat for Humanity volunteers, worked through the Carter Center to allevia...

Psalm 24 begins with an enormous declaration: “The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.” — Psalm 24:1 Everything belongs to God. Creation is His. History is His. The nations are His. Our lives are His. But after opening with the vastness of God’s sovereignty, David suddenly asks a deeply personal question: “Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place?” — Psalm 24:3 Who can actually come near to this God? Who can sta...

On September 30, 1685, twenty-two-year-old Benjamin Hewling sat down in Taunton, England, knowing he had only hours to live. Condemned for his part in the failed Monmouth Rebellion—and having already lost his younger brother to the executioner—Benjamin picked up a pen and wrote one final letter to his mother. What he wrote was not filled with anger or despair, but with an extraordinary confidence in Christ. In this episode of Moments Almanac, we remember a young man facing the end of his life ...

On September 29, 1770, George Whitefield climbed onto a barrel in Exeter, New Hampshire, and preached what would become his final sermon. His body was failing, his breathing was labored, but he believed that if God had given him one more opportunity to speak, he should take it. Exactly 218 years later, on September 29, 1988, the space shuttle Discovery lifted off—the first shuttle flight since the Challenger disaster 975 days earlier. NASA had grieved, investigated, examined what had gone wrong...

The Unusual Suspects is a limited series from Scattered Moments about the people in Scripture nobody saw coming. They weren’t always the obvious choices. They weren’t necessarily powerful, prominent, polished, or even particularly predictable. Some appear for only a handful of verses. Others step onto the biblical stage almost without introduction—and then disappear. But for one scattered moment, everything turns on what they do. A left-handed deliverer. A woman whose prophetic voice changes ...

On September 28, 1928, Alexander Fleming noticed something strange in a contaminated culture dish: bacteria were dying around a patch of mold. What looked like a ruined experiment became one of medicine’s most important discoveries. In this episode of Moments Almanac, we look at the story of penicillin, the power of paying attention, and the possibility that what seems like an interruption may actually be an invitation to see something new. Sometimes the interruption isn’t ruining the experim...

The God Who Pursues a Wandering Heart Robert Robinson and the story behind “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” What happens when the man who writes one of Christianity's most beloved hymns knows all too well the struggle of a wandering heart? Born on September 27, 1735, Robert Robinson was just seventeen when he heard the great evangelist George Whitefield preach a sermon that would change the course of his life. The message, drawn from Matthew 3:7, left Robinson wrestling with his soul for t...

You probably know Johnny Appleseed as the barefoot wanderer with a cooking pot on his head, scattering apple seeds across the American frontier. But behind the beloved folk hero was John Chapman, a deeply religious man whose life was about much more than apples. Born on September 26, 1774, Chapman traveled through the wilderness of early America, establishing orchards, sharing religious literature, and building relationships with frontier families. He planted trees whose fruit he might never ta...

Who has the right to decide what you believe—your ruler, your government, or your conscience? On September 25, 1555, the Peace of Augsburg established a religious settlement in the Holy Roman Empire that allowed territorial rulers to choose between Catholicism and Lutheranism. For ordinary believers, religious freedom remained largely out of reach. Exactly 234 years later, on September 25, 1789, the United States Congress submitted proposed constitutional amendments to the states, including w...

Some people can walk into a room full of strangers and leave with six new friends, three phone numbers, and an invitation to somebody’s family reunion. Then there are the rest of us. 😄 In this episode of Scattered Moments, Matt confesses that while he’s perfectly comfortable speaking to a room full of people, put him in a barber’s chair and he can exhaust his entire supply of small talk before the cape is fastened. Fortunately, he married a professional mingler. From Darlene talking her way ...

What does a brilliant Greek scholar have in common with a Russian monk who could barely read? More than you might imagine. On September 24, 1934, A. T. Robertson, one of the most influential New Testament scholars of his generation, walked into his classroom at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for the last time. Earlier that afternoon, he had been studying Matthew 6:11: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Before the day was over, he would be gone. Four years later, on the same date, Silou...