I recently posted a photo of Will on social media holding a picture he painted of the power wagon I and our family built a couple months ago. I think a few people picked up on this being more significant than just another great image Will painted (because he certainly has several of those.) Over the last two months our family has been talking about the Hebrew word “TOV” and recently decided to have weekly range nights centered around the expression of this word.

Several people have asked me about the theme behind the Power wagon and I haven’t shared much. This power wagon is a one-of-a-kind build and generated a lot of questions on the Facebook post that I didn’t answer. I am a pretty transparent person, but there is some measure of personal intimacy tied up in this one. The build is called the 49’r because the power wagon that was “restored” is a 1949. But the term 49’r has become an idiom better known to describe the gold rush of 100 years earlier. I have taught history for a large part of my life and the main goal of studying history is so that you can learn from the past to make progress towards the future. 49’r is a term that brings thoughts of not only mining for gold, but coal mining, traveling into uncharted territory, being ready or preparing for the worst, hunting for food, and all of the basic tenets of survival that came with the American westward expansion. Life wasn’t easy in that era, and well in many ways, when I was building this, I was feeling similar tribulations in my own life. I have always found when I need to spend a significant amount of time in thought and prayer I either need to go sit on a deerstand or build a rock crawler, in this season I did both. You can see some signs of these hardships in the build from things like the simple single barrel shotgun affixed to the tailgate storage area, the hand-crafted trapping knife I made on the front dash, the shroud protruding from the grill, even the fact that it has a rear seat under the canvas so that my family can join me for the journey takes on the idea of how the west was won. But not everything was won, some was lost, and this build also is a mosaic of that and perhaps some feelings of what has happened recently in my life, namely deciding to leave the church we have been involved with for the last 10 years. There are several hints to this, but the biggest one is the custom cast buffalo as a grill ornament. Westward expansion came out a terrible cost that personified both the best and worst in America. Much was learned. The buffalo in many ways also signifies the spiritual picture of what I have endured. Buffalos are strong resilient creatures but when pressured can become an unreconcilable force; yet in the end are agents of spiritual sacrifice at the same time. Indians believed that God saw through the eyes of the buffalo.

You might already know this, but the buffalo has long been an icon associated with strength, abundance, gratitude, and provision. The buffalo symbolizes a deep respect for nature and is considered a guiding “spirit” for many things that lead to “good.” In fact, the buffalo is a symbol of what God provided as good and man “used” as a necessary evil. Since the beginning of time there has been wrestling match between what God created and gave to humankind as “good” which is the Hebrew word “tov,” and what the world has done to these things which is the Hebrew word “ra” and often associated with the ways of the world or Evil. As this is not a post on Critical Race Theory, what we did to the Indians, or the various ways we are destroying God’s good creation, those things are difficult for a Christian to ignore. We are given a free will and told by God to follow our inner spirit or desire to return to the devotion of Eden he intended us for – and offers us a plan to do that. On the other hand, the world, the fallen spiritual powers, Satan or whatever other “evil” you may believe in, is constantly tearing at you to become like “it” which is contrary to the Lord. The plan for humankind is to reclaim their original design and/or calling and with Christ in us, operating as living sacrifices unto Him, we might be the physical manifestation of everything that is of and from God – that which is Tov.

Westward expansion was a picture of this struggle. We were given what was and is a pristine picture of what the Lord is offering to us. If you have ever been to a remote part of the Rocky Mountains or Alaska at the base of a mountain stream or glacial lake with the stars beaming down on you at night you know exactly what I am referring to. The buffalo was also a picture of this to those that first lived in the land. The buffalo was accepted as a gift from God and literally every part of the animal was used, and nothing was wasted, because it was understood that because the buffalo were giving themselves willingly (God made them easy to hunt and plentiful), that gift should be fully appreciated and even treated as a sacred experience. My boys and I are avid deer hunters and take on these same values today. In similar ways, the Bible uses a good deal of typology, themes, and motives to describe the essence of His plan for us.

Nephesh (נֶ֫פֶשׁ‎) is a Biblical Hebrew word that refers to the aspects of sentience, and human beings and other animals. [1] The primary meaning of the term is ‘the breath of life’ instinct in the nostrils of all living beings, and by extension ‘life’, ‘person’ or ‘very self’. There is no term in English that correctly corresponds to nephesh, most English translations use the word “soul” but that doesn’t nearly encapsulate the full meaning. [2] The Nephesh is better considered as the spiritual connection that is present in living beings that connects them to their creator. An example of this can be seen with the Hebrew word rûach (“breath”, “wind,” or “spirit”) it describes a part of mankind that is immaterial, like one’s mind, emotions, will, intellect, personality, and conscience, as in Job 7:11 and various other places. Essentially every living being is created as “good -TOV” with a nephesh that connects them spiritually to their creator. Even after the fall we read this over and over, nearly 754 times telling us about our desire to naturally be “of” the Lord.

If your following the expedition 44 series on original sin you will recognize that this flies directly in the face of Calvinist Theology which says the doctrine of original sin removes our ability or desire for Good and overwhelms every being with a desire for bad or the Hebrew word ra (evil.) This reformed doctrine is described as Total Depravity and is the first pillar of Calvinism which I do not subscribe to and unfortunately believe that most people have been influenced more by this doctrine that what the Bible would clearly teach about who we are and what inclinations we have. The doctrine has become engrained into the evangelical mind as a truth of the Bible and has had some devastating effects on Christianity.

I believe that we have a desire (Hebrew yetzer) to either choose to live for the lord or to live by the ways of the world and that every decision determines whose we are. Joshua proclaimed “choose this day whom you will Serve” and Moses made a similar statement in Deuteronomy 30. This is described in Hebrew thinking as the yetzer hatov vs. the yetzer hara. It essentially teaches that you aren’t born with a natural desire to be sinful but that you choose which way you will go with every cognitive decision.

It certainly doesn’t mean that we aren’t greatly influenced by the sin of this world but believe that God has overcome through Jesus once and for all and that power is enough to be completely free and redeemed in who you are and living with each decision pointed towards the joy and devotion of life in Him. Are you going to be of God and be tov, or of the world and give into the ra.

My boys helped build the 49’r. This might surprise many of you, but I have built many of these kinds of vehicles (over 30) and I am not attached to any of them. However, the experience that comes with them I will never forget. One of the reasons it is named 49’r is because when I would come home from working on it my face was covered in dirt and grease and I looked like I had been mining. My kids helped me regularly with cutting, welding, cleaning, sanding, and traveling for parts. These memories are the “spirit” that can’t be lost and the basis for many Jesus-discussions and moments as we remember that era of life together.

When my grandpa passed away at 98 years old, I didn’t receive or inherit anything from him. But a few years before my grandpa had given me an old stall shovel and within a week of bringing it home the 100 year old wooden handle broke. My uncle reprimanded me for actually using the shovel, but I know my grandpa gave it to me to be to be used! I replaced the handle with a piece of DOM tubing and am confident this shovel will outlast me now. I am sure it made my grandpa smile as he used to rebuild everything instead of just buying a new one. For years I felt “bitter” about not receiving any kind of inheritance at his funeral, but over time I gained something much more valuable than anything material I may have been given. It forced me to dig deep and embrace my memories and what I did receive from my grandpa.

I grew up in a great spiritual family. My mom and dad were instrumental in giving me the tools to own my faith and were great examples of it. But my father died when I was young. Many years before that, when I was just a kid, I started spending the first few weeks of every summer with my grandpa. Those were some of my favorite childhood memories. I would get up at 4am and work till mid-morning then go to their home and swim the rest of the day. He was a retired heavy machinery contractor that never really retired. My summers consisted of all the things little boys love: shooting guns unsupervised, drinking from a garden hose or even the creek, rebuilding engines, digging random holes just for fun with the excavator, digging ponds, welding, fishing, driving the old Massey tractor up and down the banks of the river that flowed through the farm and mowing hay in the 100-degree Indiana summers. After my dad passed, I made it a point to visit my grandfather in Indiana several times a year with our family. To everyone’s surprise he bought a brand-new dodge truck back in 1991 and I have fond memories of it. My grandpa loved fires in the fireplace, so my wife and I made it a labor of love to take the old dodge out to get firewood whenever we visited. My young boys would beg to take it for drive. They grew up driving in the bed of that truck on hot summer days to get ice cream in town. Sometimes when we arrived it had a camper slid into the back which meant we were going fishing. The old dodge became a mosaic of who grandpa was. This power wagon has very much come with remembering my grandfather and what he meant to me and reaffirming some of the same memories with my own boys. Spiritually I have also dug deep to remember the theological conversations I loved with my father that have obviously greatly impacted my life.

I often think about the memories and life skills that come out of these “projects” in life. My uncle recently told me he was selling my grandpas old truck to someone else. For a split second the hurt of not receiving anything of my grandpas returned to me; but I soon was overcome by amazing memories that meant far more than the physical truck. I didn’t need the material item to remember what my grandpa gave me in life. Today as I think of what God gave us as “good – Tov” I think of the things that I want my boys to have in life and it isn’t “material things.” I am often reminded by not having anything material from my grandfather that I don’t need them, that I have so much more than that. Interesting that Jesus didn’t have anything either. That is the same way God asks us to think about Tov and Ra and our time on this earth. Don’t worry about the stuff of the earth (often associated with ra). Don’t get too wrapped up in a 40 our work week that you forget the more important aspects of life. Dwell on the experiences that He gives us both here and now and what is to come. In many ways, the buffalo on the grill of the Power Wagon reminds us that we should always be moving forward towards the spirit of tov. To not lose sight over what really matters.

When my good friend Paul assigned this project Will didn’t treat it like a regular school assignment. He treated it like the gift that it was to him – all that was TOV. He painted the spirit of the buffalo in the wind behind it to signify that it isn’t just the material truck, but the entire spirit that personified this project in his mind (and his teacher Paul knew this.) It represented all that came with it. Memories of deer hunting after we worked on the truck for a couple hours, power washing the patina to get it just right after his Saturday morning soccer games, talking about how we should build it, learning how to lay down a weld and being surprised that dad was going to allow him to put some beads down on such an amazing project. He is already talking about learning to drive “stick” in it.

According to Merriam Webster, “Tov is from the Hebrew word for “good”, but with a fuller intent which implies something which fulfills the purpose for which it was created. First used where God pronounced what He created was ‘good’; also, in describing the tree of the knowledge of ‘good’ (tov) and evil (ra).”

I agree with the dictionary, but at the same time understand that the dictionary often misses the deeper under tones of the Bible. The word tov would best be translated with the word “functional” in regard to the order that God created. God calls forth the seeds he has embedded in creation, creation brings forth those seeds with the seeds of future life in them, and God calls this process that postures towards him as TOV.

What God wants is for us to image Him. It means capable of, presently engaged in the process of, and destined for, completely fulfilling the Divine purpose for which it was created.

In short, Tov represents the desire to completely live in affirmation of your reclaimed image of God to a broken (ra) world in this lifetime and whatever may come thereafter. To replace the chaos of this fallen world with the order that God has given to be tov, fully devoted to Him.

• 1. Horst Balz (ed.), Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament (3 Volume Set), 1993
• 2. A.B. Davidson, The Theology of the Old Testament, Edinburgh: T.& T. Clark, 1904/25, p.200-201