August 8, 1982

Comment: One of the great figures of Genesis, Abraham,amazed me the first time I read the story of his argumentwith God over His plan to destroy Sodom. With that in mind,I got to wondering how Abraham might have handled hisanxiety over how his obedience to God was paying off. Ichose a time early in his career when that anxiety wouldhave been high.

The first time I did this story sermon, a friend let meuse a classic old black telephone that dated from the early'40s. With it, I conducted a one-sided conversation withGod, much on the order of Bob Newhart's technique, that is,repeating much of what God had said.

This time, I did the same thing, but wished I had thetechnology to handle the conversation like Bill Cosby had inhis "Noah" skit, having a tape recording for the voice …