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

The first time I did this story sermon, a friend let me use a classic old black telephone that dated from the early '40s. With it, I conducted a one-sided conversation with God, 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 the technology to handle the conversation like Bill Cosby had in his "Noah" skit, having a tape recording for the voice of…