Show Don't Tell: Genesis 11:27-32

Instead of saying "Terah took his family and left Ur," feel the grief that precedes the journey. Haran dies. Not in old age—he dies before his father, in the land of his birth. Watch Terah bury his son, then look at his grandson Lot, now fatherless. Sarai—beautiful Sarai—is barren. Pain and emptiness in this family before the story even starts. Then Terah does something unexpected: he uproots everyone. Leaves the sophisticated city of Ur, leaves the ziggurats and irrigation canals, and heads toward Canaan. But he doesn't make it. He stops in a city he names after his dead son—Haran—and stays there until he dies. The father gets halfway to the promise and quits. It will be left to his son to finish the journey.