I remember sitting in Sunday School as a child and watching the teacher move flannel graph characters on a flannel board to tell the stories of people like Abraham, Moses, or David.  These cartoon-like figures seemed to be part of cartoon-like stories that we were supposed to learn as good Christian children.  As I grew older I learned that these stories had great importance and deep theological meaning.  But they still seemed like stories - or at least they seemed to be about people who were larger than life... people who were not like me at all.  The more I've studied Scripture, though, the more I've realized an important truth - the people in Scripture are just people.  They faced daily fears and doubts.  They made mistakes and lived through the consequences.  The first chapter of the book of Numbers is mostly a list of names and numbers, but, in a sermon called "Living a Life that Counts" we look at what some of these people went through and how they were involved in God's amazing plans and what we can learn about living lives of faith in God's amazing plans.