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In this episode, Cousin Michael carefully walks kids through 1 Samuel 28:3–25, one of the Bible's spookiest and saddest stories. With Samuel dead and a massive Philistine army gathered, a terrified Saul asks God for guidance, but God stays silent after years of Saul's refusal to truly repent. Desperate, Saul does the very thing he once banned: he disguises himself, sneaks through enemy lines, and visits a medium at Endor, asking her to bring up Samuel. To the woman's shock, Samuel really appears and delivers a crushing message: God has torn the kingdom from Saul and given it to David, and tomorrow Saul and his sons will die as Israel falls to the Philistines. Saul collapses in fear, and the medium kindly feeds him before he walks back into the night. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit start2finish.substack.com

In this episode, Cousin Michael takes kids through 1 Samuel 27:1–28:2, where an exhausted David makes a decision based on fear instead of faith. Instead of asking God, David "thought to himself" that Saul would eventually kill him, so he fled with his six hundred men to King Achish in the Philistine city of Gath. Saul stopped chasing him, but David had left the Promised Land and placed himself under an enemy king. Achish gave David the town of Ziklag, where he lived for sixteen months, raiding Israel's enemies while lying to Achish that he was attacking Judah, and leaving no survivors to expose the truth. Fully fooled, Achish then ordered David to march with the Philistines against Israel, trapping him in a battle he could never fight. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit start2finish.substack.com

In this episode, Cousin Michael takes kids through 1 Samuel 26, where Saul breaks his promise and hunts David again with three thousand soldiers after the Ziphites betray David a second time. Under cover of darkness, David and his nephew Abishai sneak into the center of Saul's camp, possible only because God has put the whole army into a deep sleep. Abishai begs to pin Saul to the ground with his own spear, but David refuses to harm "the LORD's anointed," trusting that God will deal with Saul in his own way and time. Instead, David takes Saul's spear and water jug, then shouts from a distant hilltop, mocking Abner for failing to guard the king. Saul again confesses his sin, but David wisely keeps his distance, placing his hope in God rather than in Saul's promises. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit start2finish.substack.com

In this episode, Cousin Michael takes kids through 1 Samuel 25, which opens with the death of the prophet Samuel. David then asks a wealthy man named Nabal, whose name means "fool," for a share of food after protecting his shepherds and flocks in the wilderness. Nabal rudely insults David, and David, blinded by anger, straps on his sword and marches four hundred men toward Nabal's house, vowing to kill every male there. But Nabal's wise wife Abigail hurries to meet David with donkeys loaded with food, bows before him, takes the blame, and reminds him that God will handle his enemies and that revenge would haunt him forever. David listens and praises God for sending her. Days later, God strikes Nabal dead, and Abigail becomes David's wife. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit start2finish.substack.com

In this episode, Cousin Michael takes kids through 1 Samuel 24, where Saul hunts David with three thousand soldiers near En Gedi. In a stunning coincidence, Saul steps alone into the very cave where David and his men are hiding. David's men urge him to kill Saul, insisting God has handed him over, but David only cuts off a corner of Saul's robe and even feels guilty about that, refusing to harm "the LORD's anointed." After Saul leaves, David bravely calls out to him, bows low, and holds up the piece of robe as proof that he could have killed the king but chose mercy. He declares, "May the LORD judge between you and me, but my hand will not touch you." Saul weeps, admits David is more righteous, and acknowledges that David will surely be king. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit start2finish.substack.com

In this episode, Cousin Michael takes kids through 1 Samuel 23, where David, still on the run, does the job Saul should be doing by rescuing the town of Keilah from Philistine raiders. Using the ephod the priest Abiathar brought, David asks God for guidance and learns that the very people he saved will hand him over to Saul, so he escapes before Saul can trap him inside the city walls. Day after day Saul hunts him, but God does not give David into his hands. Jonathan risks everything to find David in the wilderness and strengthen his faith, in what becomes their final meeting. When the Ziphites betray David's location, Saul's army surrounds him on a mountain, but at the last second a messenger reports a Philistine raid, forcing Saul to leave. Kids learn to seek God's direction, encourage their friends, and trust that God's timing is perfect. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit start2finish.substack.com

In this episode, Cousin Michael gently walks kids through 1 Samuel 22, one of the Bible's darkest chapters. David hides in the cave of Adullam, where his family and four hundred distressed, indebted, and discontented men gather around him as their leader. He takes his aging parents to safety in Moab, thanks to his great-grandmother Ruth's Moabite roots, then obeys the prophet Gad's call to return to Judah. Meanwhile, a paranoid Saul accuses everyone of conspiring against him, and Doeg the Edomite reports that the priest Ahimelech helped David. Though Ahimelech is innocent, Saul orders the priests killed. His own soldiers refuse, but Doeg slaughters eighty-five priests and the entire town of Nob. One priest, Abiathar, escapes to David, who takes responsibility and promises, "You will be safe with me." Kids learn that evil is real but never wins, and God always preserves his people. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit start2finish.substack.com

In this episode, Cousin Michael takes kids through 1 Samuel 21, where David, alone, hungry, and unarmed after saying goodbye to Jonathan, flees for his life. He goes to the priest Ahimelech at Nob and tells a half-truth about being on a secret mission for the king. Ahimelech gives him the holy bread of the Presence, a moment Jesus later pointed to when he taught that people matter more than rituals. But one of Saul’s men, Doeg the Edomite, sees everything. David then asks for a weapon and receives Goliath’s own sword, a powerful reminder of God’s faithfulness. Desperate, David runs to Gath, Goliath’s hometown, where the Philistines recognize him. Terrified, he pretends to be insane, scratching at doors and drooling into his beard until King Achish sends him away. Kids learn to turn toward God in desperate times, remember what he has already done, and be careful with the truth. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit start2finish.substack.com

In this episode, Cousin Michael tells the story of David and Jonathan from 1 Samuel 20, the greatest friendship in the Bible. With Saul trying to kill David, the two friends devise a test: David will skip the New Moon feast, and Saul’s reaction will reveal his intentions. Jonathan, the crown prince, acknowledges that God has chosen David as the next king, and the two make a covenant before the Lord to protect each other’s families forever. When Saul explodes in rage, insults Jonathan’s mother, and even hurls a spear at his own son, Jonathan uses a prearranged arrow signal to warn David to flee. The friends then share a tearful goodbye. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit start2finish.substack.com

In this episode, Cousin Michael takes kids through 1 Samuel 19, where David narrowly escapes Saul's murderous plans three times in one chapter. First, Jonathan convinces Saul to spare David and Saul swears an oath—but soon breaks it by hurling a spear at David while he plays the harp, and David dodges just in time. Second, Saul sends soldiers to surround David's house, but his wife Michal lowers him out a window and puts a household idol with goat hair in his bed to buy time. Third, David flees to Samuel at Naioth, and when Saul sends three groups of messengers to capture him, the Spirit of God falls on each group and they start prophesying instead. Finally Saul goes himself—and the same thing happens to him, leaving him stripped of his royal robes and prophesying helplessly all day and night. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit start2finish.substack.com

In this episode, Cousin Michael explores 1 Samuel 18, where David’s victory over Goliath makes him a national hero. Jonathan, the crown prince, forms an instant friendship with David, sealing it with a covenant and giving him his royal robe and weapons. But when the women sing that Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands, Saul’s jealousy takes over. He hurls his spear at David twice, sends him into battle hoping the Philistines will kill him, and uses his daughters Merab and Michal as bait, demanding a hundred Philistine foreskins as a bride price. Every scheme backfires because the Lord is with David. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit start2finish.substack.com

In this episode, Cousin Michael covers 1 Samuel 17:48–58, where the stone finally flies. David sheds Saul’s ill-fitting armor, grabs five smooth stones and his sling, and runs straight at the giant while everyone else has been running away for forty days. One stone sinks into Goliath’s forehead and the giant crashes facedown into the dirt. David then uses Goliath’s own sword to cut off his head, fulfilling his prophecy word for word. The Philistine army panics and flees, and Israel surges forward in pursuit. The episode emphasizes that this was never David’s battle—it was God’s. David came not with sword or spear but in the name of the Lord Almighty, and God used a shepherd’s weapon to topple a warrior in 125 pounds of armor. Kids learn that faith runs toward the problem, God doesn’t need impressive resources to win, and this story points forward to Jesus’s ultimate victory. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit start2finish.substack.com

In this episode, Cousin Michael covers 1 Samuel 17:31–47, where David volunteers to fight the giant and reveals his shepherd’s secret. He tells Saul how God delivered him from a lion and a bear while protecting his father’s sheep, and declares that the same God will deliver him from Goliath. Saul dresses David in royal armor, but David can barely walk in it and takes it off—he won’t win by out-giganting the giant. Instead, he grabs his staff, a sling, and five smooth stones from the stream. When Goliath mocks and curses him, David delivers one of the Bible’s greatest speeches: “You come with sword and spear, but I come in the name of the LORD Almighty.” He declares that the whole world will know there is a God in Israel, because “the battle is the LORD’s.” Kids learn to be who God made them and trust that past deliverances build faith for future battles. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit start2finish.substack.com

In this episode, Cousin Michael sets the scene from 1 Samuel 17:1–30. The Philistine and Israelite armies face off across the Valley of Elah, and every morning and evening for forty days, the nine-foot-tall giant Goliath marches out in full bronze armor to mock Israel and challenge them to send a champion. Every soldier, including King Saul, is terrified. Meanwhile, young David arrives at camp on a simple errand to deliver bread and cheese to his brothers. When he hears Goliath’s taunts, his reaction is completely different from everyone else’s: “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” While the soldiers focus on the giant’s size, David focuses on God’s honor. His oldest brother Eliab tries to shut him down with insults, but David keeps speaking up until word reaches King Saul. Kids learn that what you look at in a crisis changes everything. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit start2finish.substack.com

In this episode, Cousin Michael guides kids through 1 Samuel 16, where God sends Samuel on a secret mission to anoint a new king from among Jesse's sons in Bethlehem. When the tall, impressive eldest son Eliab steps forward, Samuel thinks he's found the one—but God delivers the chapter's key lesson: "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." Seven sons pass before Samuel, and God rejects them all. Finally someone remembers the youngest boy, left out tending sheep—David. God says, "He is the one," and Samuel anoints him as the Spirit of the Lord comes upon David in power. Meanwhile, God's Spirit departs from Saul, and a tormenting spirit takes its place. Ironically, David is brought into Saul's palace as a harp player to soothe the troubled king. Kids learn that God chooses the overlooked, values the heart over appearances, and prepares His people through faithful service in small places. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit start2finish.substack.com