The Quiver

Biblical commmentaries just wear me out!

2009-10-02T07:41:00.000-07:00

John 2:1 - 4:26

In the year long journey through the Bible this morning's reading is like a shopping cart overflowing with goodies. A lot of them are familiar goodies and a lot of them LOOK familiar but reveal greater "goodiness" upon further reflection.

Try to get to that extra goodiness through reading biblical commentary though and you'll find yourself drained.

Take the interaction between Jesus and Mary in John 2:3-5, where she tells him that the wine is gone. Jesus answers:
"Dear woman, why do you involve me? My time has not yet come."
Read the commentaries on this and they'll explain why he is NOT being rude, that "His time" refers to his public display of power or of his messiah-ship, that he is rebuking Mary for meddling, and that this is NOT proof of the Catholic view of Mary as an intercessor.

Sheesh.

What I want to know is...if this is NOT his time why does he do the miracle anyway?
Does this passage indicate that it is possible that our requests to God MAY result in His changing His original plan? This would seem to jibe with what we saw back in the Old Testament where prayer caused God to relent or change plans.
Is this an indication that our relationship with Him is much more organic and fluid than what we typically think?
I don't know...but it sure seems a more lively conversation than whether or not this passage confirms certain catholic theologies!

Then there is this tidbit:
John 3:14
"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life."

The context of the Moses story in Numbers 21 is that the people grumbled against God, He sent snakes amongst them, they cried out, God told Moses to make a brass snake on a pole and to "lift it up" so that whoever looked at it would be saved.

The commentators on Jesus reference to this story point straight to the cross.
But Jesus has just been talking about the fact that He has come "from heaven".
Isn't it more likely that He is referring to his ascension? Is it not possible that while the cross IS centrally important it looses it's importance without the resurrection and ascension?

Maybe I am way off base...but it starts to feel a little too well packaged when I read some of these guys. Maybe I've been thinking outside the box so long I've lost my way back to it.
Is that such a bad thing?

Running almost barefoot

2009-09-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

Last night I took my first experimental run in Vibram Five Fingers.
http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/index.cfm

To set the stage a bit my run training has been terrible this summer, (in part due to an injury in the spring). Despite running in several sprint triathlons my run is about where you'd expect it to be after 3 to 6 months off. That being said a 5K is readily doable, if not in an impressive time at least in an almost reasonable time.

If you've not seen nor heard of Vibram Five Fingers you can see a picture of them on the website above or here:

http://twitpic.com/jprve -

They are basically like wearing gloves on your feet. The soles are of a relatively tough yet flexible kind of rubber that makes it feel like you're barefoot but with feet toughened by years of BEING barefoot.

Our run starts though some neighborhood streets before getting to a dirt/gravel trail. I was expecting that running on cement might be the tough part but it really didn't feel all that different. (my buddy did say I was a lot louder...meaning my feet were flapping on the pavement!) That first half mile or so really just felt like an experiment...what is it like to run in these?

Once we got onto the trail things were even easier. These shoes are REALLY light so you hardly feel them and the soles protect your feet while at the same time letting you feel the difference in the terrain beneath you. It might be too graphic a description but it is almost like running in bare feet with really built up callouses across the entire bottom of your foot.

I made it though about the first mile to mile and a half running then started to alternate between running a block and walking a block. Somewhere about halfway through mile two I started to feel it in my calves and a little on the balls of my feet. They'll tell you that you need to re-strengthen you feet before taking on long distances in these and that your calves will need some work too and they aren't kidding.

The final block or so I was still able to really lengthen out my stride...which I normally can't do...and it even felt more "normal" to be running that way. I normally "feel" a run in my hamstrings and core first...this was definitely different.

In the final analysis I think I'll be working more and more with these. My calves are achy today but not any worse than I would expect to feel after a couple weeks of no running.

On the upside these shoes are way comfortable. My experience in this first go was that my running stride wants to move towards a more natural gate than when I am in traditional running shoes. I tended to want to stride out and even sprint, probably just because it felt like being in bare feet. I didn't feel any pain from stepping on anything but I could feel the differences in ground surface...which was kind of cool.

On the downside I did stub my toe once or twice which resulted in pretty easily wearing a hole in the lightweight nylon upper on the shoe. Now, had I caught my foot like that in regular shoes I might have stumbled rather than just folding over one toe...so, good on the injury side...but poking a hole in the top of my shoe that easily is a bit of a bummer.

If you're thinking you want to try these let me strongly recommend trying on at least two or three different sizes. You'll most naturally be focused on how they feel on your toes when you first out them on due, in large part, to the fact that it takes some work to get your toes lined up right. Even though I did try on two sizes I wound up with probably one size too big because of this. The import thing to check is how far back your heel is seated in the shoe. Seating your heel back correctly after you get them on will adjust how well your toes match against the other end. Don't trust that the guy in the shoe store will know this!

In all? I like 'em. I'll run more in them and probably get a second, better fit pair. (Unfortunately you really can't return these after about the first wearing.)

If you like being bare foot then I really recommend giving these a try!

The Old Testament

2009-09-28T07:09:00.000-07:00

Shweew.

For those on the journey of reading through the Bible chronologically this year we've made it through the Old Testament this past weekend!

It has been interesting to read this as a continuous story once again. Each time I do different themes seem to emerge. I think I caught a different glimpse this time than I have in times past.

It is becoming more and more popular these days to hear people referring to the Bible as irrelevant, as a book written to specific people groups thousands of years ago with no practical purpose today other than perhaps a quaint set of moral guidelines. Interestingly enough the stories in the Old Testament seem to revolve around a similar theme.

The nation of Israel was lead out of Egypt on a journey complete with an amazing set of miracles proving that God was indeed with them and fully in charge. God gave Moses His laws on the mountain...the equivalent of the Bible for His people...and, as the story goes, they rebelled.

Read through any of the prophets, through Chronicles and Kings and you'll see a constant combat between those who think that God's laws are no longer relevant, hence they turn to other gods, and those who seek to reestablish the law that was delivered to Moses. Nearly every one of the prophets calls the people to "remember" what God has done. There really isn't any "new" teaching once the law is given, no changes in policy or procedure, no additional requirements, just a call to go back to following it.

In fact it seems to me that almost the entire old testament, after the giving of the law, is the story of God's call to His people to return to Him. Sometimes they do and there is peace, sometimes they partially do, more often they don't until they are finally exiled.

At the end of the story of the Old testament they are back in Jerusalem and again they are called by godly leaders to remember, repent, and return to the Lord...and His word.

Amongst all the crazy genealogies, the complex and detailed laws, the long lists, the poetic flair of the minor prophets, there is a single thread that is constant throughout:

Remember who I AM.
Repent of your forgetfulness.
Return to Me.

A simple message and one we shake our head at when we heard it over and over again through nine months of reading through the Old Testament.

But clearly a message that echoes through the ages and needs to be heard even more loudly today.

Fall Frenzy Triathlon: Are you kidding me?!?

2009-09-14T12:41:00.001-07:00

Parker Colorado: Fall Frenzy Sprint Triathlon: September 13, 2009

My goal for this race was to try to beat 90 minutes for the 500M swim, 11 Mile bike, and 5K run.
I had run the same race back in 2006 so I was somewhat familiar with the course.

The morning started out windy and cold. Cold is bad, wind is worse. I got myself situated in the transition area by about 7:15 and with a 10:30 pool start I had time to walk the run course and check it out.

We wound up getting into the pool a little ahead of schedule. This was by far my best swim experience of the season. I opted to go in the third position in our lane, two ahead of me, two behind. The two guys ahead of me were pretty quick and pulled away slowly while the two behind me were rather slower than I was and fell back. That left me with a pretty open stretch in which to swim. I had estimated my swim time at 9:30 and came in at almost exactly that. I exited the pool feeling great and had a pretty good spring in my step as a jogged the 100+ yards to the transition area.

I got to my bike at the same time as a woman who was sharing the bike rack with me was getting back from the ride. We had discussed earlier whether it was cold enough to switch to a long sleeve shirt for the bike leg so I asked her opinion as we were both changing shoes. She said the wind had been bad and that yes, it was probably a good way to go. Fortunately I had guessed that would be the case and my long sleeve shirt was the one I had handy. I pulled it on, started reaching for my helmet and suddenly realized I had put it on backwards! Growling in frustration I quick pulled it back over my head, got it sorted right way round, donned my glasses and helmet and headed out. The whole mini-fiasco probably cost me all of 7 or 8 seconds...10 max...no biggie.

The bike ride start out blazing. I was feeling good and the up hills were fewer than the down hills on the start of the course. There are two nasty hills in the middle to last section of the course and these turned straight into a nasty headwind. On the first I gritted it out, getting way further into my granny gears than I had wanted to but managing it ok. The second, and steeper, hill comes right after a sharp right hand turn that forces you to lose almost all your momentum from the previous downhill. I blew my shift here and by halfway up it I was struggling. For a brief moment I thought I would actually lose enough momentum to have to stop and walk. It's funny the sort of internal dialogue you have with yourself at that point:
"This is nasty. I need to walk it for a second."
"WALK IT?!?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? SUCK IT UP!"
"Hey man, I'm losing pace and may fall over any second."
THEN PEDAL MAN, PEDAL!!!"
"Dude."
"DUDE!
The louder voice won.
I kept pedaling and finished in a decent time.

I got into T2 and prepared for the dreaded run.

Due to an ankle injury back in May I haven't been able to do many training runs this summer...in truth probably only five or six all told since June. I glanced at my watch as I was leaving transition and saw that I had probably somewhere around 30-35 minutes to get the run finished if I wanted to break the 90 minute mark.

The run course passes right by the finish line on the way out, people headed in both directions and a LOT of spectators watching for their friends to finish. As I came through the first corner there a toddler, young enough to be still wobbly on his feet, staggered out right in front of me. I had seen him coming, thanks to the preparedness training of all those drivers ed films back in high school, and decelerated into an exaggerated slow motion spin around the kid all the while slowly saying "Ooooohhhhhh Nnnoooooooo!!!" This got a chuckle from the crowd. A few seconds down but good fun to be had and it helped the kid's mom not feel so bad that her child had gotten in the way.

The run itself was a nightmare. I knew that I had managed to run without walking at all in 2006 but my training had been much better then. I also knew I could run/walk at something around an 11 minute/mile pace which was going to make it pretty close if I was to break 90 minutes. The course is 1.5 miles or so out and them about the same coming back. I was definitely stronger on the way back in, my watch spurring me on, but at my best I was still barely shuffling along like some ancient Chinese aristocrat at the end of a bad meal.

With about 50 yards to go you come to a steep uphill dirt back that climbs about 10-15 yards...steep enough the only a few people manage to run up it...most walk, leaning far forward.
I got to the top and had another conversation with myself:
"Dude, stop and catch your breath."
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? THE END OF RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!!!"
"Ok, walk slow then"
"you WIMP...GO,GO,GO"
"Grrrrr"

I managed to lurch into a shambling jog, gasping around the corner and through the finish line. I glanced at my watch and knew it would be close.

An hour or so later...

My glasses are still in my car so my wife is running her finger down the results list. I'm feeling pretty good that my name appears in top half of all finishers. She finds my names, traces across and then turns to look at me with a bit of a look...almost as though she has just smelled something nasty.
"Do you really want to know?", she asks.
"Crud....yes", I grunted.
"1 hour, 30 minutes, and 5 seconds."
I said something that rhymes with trap, is brown, and means the same thing as a word for the sound made by a large bell...followed by:
"Are you kidding me?"

Put your shirt on right the first time, juke past the kid instead of clowning, don't converse with yourself just run to the finish, to one less deep breath at the edge of the pool...ANYTHING gets you back five or six seconds.

"dude"
"DUDE!"

Fall Frenzy Triathlon: Last of the season?

2009-09-14T12:41:00.000-07:00

Rattlesnake Triathlon - part 2

2009-08-17T06:04:00.000-07:00

If you've read the previous post you know that I floundered my way through my first open water swim and wobbled into the transition area at something less than a sauntering stroll of a pace.

My head and vision were starting to clear as I plunked myself down to get on my shoes. The bike is usually my strongest leg...I'm typically in the top third of all participants pace wise on the bike...so this is where I usually can make up some time. But I forgot one of the key training lessons of triathlon: "Live in the moment". I was definitely NOT in the moment as I rode out onto the course. I was still flabbergasted over the swim.

The Rattlesnake bike course is VERY hilly with a net rise in elevation of over 750 ft. That means you do get some downhills but they all seem to slope in to the middle of the course so that you up to the turn around and up to the finish. I spent most of the bike leg trying to keep the contents of my stomach inside of me. I wound up with a decent time but my pace was about what I would normally do just riding around town.

I came in to transition glad to know I had only a 5k left to go. Of course, the run is usually what I am worst at...

With one seriously bad knee and a long recovery time after my race back in June I hadn't been able to do any run training for nearly two months. My plan going in to this run was to keep a brisk walking pace...which for me is between an 11 and 12 minute mile...and jog a bit on the downhills. The plan seemed to work ok on the outbound part of the run. Sure I was being regularly passed by people but I was passing occasionally too. At the 1.5 mile turn around point I was feeling like maybe I hadn't pushed myself hard enough...then I started thing about the swim AGAIN and had to work on stomach content maintenance for a few hundred yards.

With about a half mile to go I came up on the two ladies from CWW triathlon club with whom I had shared bike rack in the transition area. This normally would have felt pretty good since they started in the water at least 15 - 20 minutes ahead of me...but they had both run the olympic distance tri the day before. I thanked them for waiting for me and told them they could go ahead and finish if they liked. We wound up jockeying back and forth...them passing me when I walked me getting them back when I jogged...until I heard them coming up behind me one last time with an intent to run through the finish.

Up until that moment I was pretty sure I was wiped out enough the my male ego had sunk to the bottom of the lake somewhere. Apparently it found me out at the end of the run course and I managed to run through the last quarter mile..."run" being a very relative term at that point.

At the end of the day my time was a 1:37:53...not impressive by any stretch but not one to complain about really. My pace for the swim and run were close to what I had hoped for even if the bike was a little slow. But I DID learn a crucial lesson or two:

1. Don't try something entirely new for the first time in competition.
Open water swimming + wet suit combined for a harrowing mental experience
2. "Live in the moment" means forgetting what you just did and focusing on what you're doing.
That would have helped in both the bike AND run.
3. "Live in the moment" also means focusing your mind on truth.
I knew what to do but let my mind wander to "oh my gosh's" and "what if's"

Yes, I will try an open water swim tri again someday.
Somehow though I think those three lessons apply beyond just doing triathlons.

Rattlesnake Triathlon - A first tri at open water

2009-08-16T20:35:00.000-07:00

I had read, several times, that doing an open water swim in a triathlon was much different than doing a pool swim. Going into today I had never done an open water tri...though I had done a couple with pool swims. Now, I've swam in rivers, lakes, even in the ocean quite a bit...but I was NOT ready for THIS.

We entered the water in a time trial start, 5 seconds between each person, which is designed to avoid the chaos of a mass shotgun start. Instantly I recognized that all of the usual proprioceptive ques that help me keep a steady pace in the pool were gone. Within the first fifty meters I was thrashing. My heart rate was way up, I couldn't go more than a handful of strokes without peeking up to see if I was on a good line. I was worried about running into people...it was horrible.

Truth be known I can do 500 meters in a pool with relative ease at a decent pace but by the time we got out to the 250 meter mark and made the turn for shore I was worried I might not make it. There are kayaks along the the way that you can grab on to if you are in a bad enough way and as long as you don't propel yourself forward there is no penalty...but I did NOT want to be that guy.

With 50 meters to go I had a couple guys pass me and ask if I was ok. I was kicking along on my back trying to catch my breath. I pushed myself to roll back over and dug in hard for about 30 meters and finally found lake bottom. I managed to get my feet under me and dragged myself onto the beach only to find that I was staggering like late night drunk. I couldn't keep anything like a straight line, my eyes were doing weird focus things, I felt overwhelming panic and relief all at the same time and knew I still had to bike 12 miles and run a 5K.

Normaly I can get a good jog on after the swim but this was a lurching survival walk. I stumbled past the people who were there to help us out of our wetsuits knowing that if I lay down to let them pull it off my legs I wouldn't be able to get back up. I CLEARLY remember the small, rational, analytical part of my brain chipping in with, "Ok, that was ridiculous. You could have died. We're never doing THAT again."

My transition time, which doesn't start until AFTER you stagger in to the transition area, was close to two minutes longer than my normal...only 1/3 of the race down and I was spent.

to be continued...

"Class" Reunion

2009-07-20T10:18:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday was an amazing day, encompassing the full spectrum of human experience...ok maybe that is overstating it but it was a blast.

I had the chance to attend a "what's the next thing now that you're done teaching high school band" party for an amazing guy, John Riggle.
Two hundred or so folks showed up to the picnic and for close to a full day celebrated this man's influence on our lives. As the sun started to set there were a number of folks who were not quite ready to be finished so for 40 or so folk the party moved to a local burgery.

Finally, having closed the place down, the last few of us started to wander out to out cars.

I got in behind the wheel, closed the door and heard this wierd kind of slithering, crunching sound behind me. Looking back over my shoulder I saw the shattered remains of the back passenger window. My brain didn't instantly process what I was seeing. My first though was, "Wow, someone must have accidentally thrown a rock through my window."
Of course, it was probably not a rock and certainly not an accident.

Parked in a well lit parking lot, directly under a light, someone had seen my bags on the back seat and decided they needed them more than I did. Which means I "donated":

1 Commuter/transition bag back pack containing:
1 Canon digital camera + 2 lenses + 100 or so pictures from the day + pictures of my Nieces dedication
1 ATT tilt cell phone + ALL the phone numbers of anyone I know
1 key to my car back on Colorado (the ONLY key I have mind you)

1 Champion carry-on duffle containing:
1 old favorite Disney baseball cap
1 pair of running shoes
1 full set of work out clothing
2 favorites shirts
1 favorite pair of shorts
1 set of business meeting clothes for Monday
Sundry toiletries and underwear

Fortunately my laptop, Bose headphones and ipod were on the floor of the front seat and escaped notice.

Sunday was a full day hassle of trying to get rental cars managed, computer power back, cell phones handled, teeth brushed, and clean clothed...but here's the thing:

Had you told me when I left that I would have a great day followed by a HUGE hassle...I'd still do it all over again.

If you weren't in band in high school, or some similar organization, then you can't possibly understand what it is to "live" with a group of folks for most of your high school years.
Other than thinking of band people as geeks you wouldn't get the notion of competing in something that is physical, mental, and artistic all at the same time.
If you've not been back to a reunion with those folks then you wouldn't understand how the connection, and the stories last and...you certainly wouldn't realize the depth of influence that someone like a John Riggle can have on so many people.

So band peeps? It was AWESOME...I hope to stay in closer touch with many of you having reconnected.
Mr. Riggle? Thanks for al you poured into us
Ed? Thanks for all your work on an amazing shindig
Elaine? Thanks for letting me use your cell phone to call the cops. :)
Kate, Denise, and Joel? Thanks for hanging out until he was done dusting for prints.

Sunnyvale High School Marching Jets?
Thank you for a truly "Class" Reunion...

...and send me pics. Mine are inside a camera that someone will no doubt get really cheap at the flea market next weekend.

Another one bites the dust

2009-07-14T07:50:00.000-07:00

It was my birthday yesterday... 48, I think...I don't keep as close track as I used to.
Thanks to everyone who sent along their well wishes!!

Although this particular number is not a birthday of any special significance I did get the one gift I was specifically hoping to receive.
I got a book.

Not just any book mind you.
THIS book has been out of print for years.
There are still copies around ranging in price from fifty to well over three hundred dollars.

Is it some ancient tome containing the wisdom of the ages?
The collected works of some obscure philosophical author?
Some erudite historical commentary?

Nope.

The book, for which I had been hoping, is Sir MacHinery by Tom McGowan published in 1970.

It is right around 150 pages, probably a fourth or fifth grade reading level, and one of my favorite books of all time.
I can trace my love of Authurian lore, my penchant for all things Tolkien, my fascination with fantasy and science fiction, all of them... back to the original reading of this one book as a kid.
(It even fueled, no doubt, my admiration and obsession with all things Scottish!!)

It was an amazing juxtaposition to find myself back in those pages last night. Transported back to Strathgow and the castle atop Auld Clootie. To be reading at 48 what I first read at 9 or 10 with the same fascination and anticipation.

No flimsy paperback, dime store novel this but a well bound, hard backed, built to last companion. Pages yellowed with age but no less crisp then when the book was first bound. Reading slowly through the first five or six chapters was like a reunion with a long lost friend. (MANY thanks to my wife who found a copy that is in GREAT shape.)

What stories have impacted you over the years?
What are the tales that have become milestones or directional guides along the road?
When was the last time you revisited one of them?

Takes it from the voice of experience, from one who has seen yet another year "bite the dust", it is well worth unpacking one of those auld stories, putting youself back in the mindset of discovery and younger days, and sitting down to revisit an old friend.

The eyes of faith are prejudiced

2009-06-30T06:37:00.000-07:00

I grew up in a Christian, church-attending, bible-believing home.
Yes, I believe that stuff.
At some point around my mid-twenties I started to think that the central tenants of Christianity were so rationally sound that it would be reasonable for ANYONE to believe if they just had someone to explain it to them clearly.
While I still believe, here in my forties, that there is a "rational soundness" there I have come to understand that my upbringing, my early immersion in the stories of the Bible, has created a faith based bias in me. I am prejudiced.

By way of simple example, imagine someone with NO knowledge of the Bible or Christian belief reading this tidbit:

2Kings 6
¹ The company of the prophets said to Elisha, "Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. ² Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to live."
And he said, "Go."

³ Then one of them said, "Won't you please come with your servants?"
"I will," Elisha replied. ⁴ And he went with them.
They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. ⁵ As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. "Oh, my lord," he cried out, "it was borrowed!"

⁶ The man of God asked, "Where did it fall?" When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. ⁷ "Lift it out," he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.

Or this childhood favorite:

Jonah 1

¹⁵ Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. ¹⁶ At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.

¹⁷ But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.

I, of course, accept these stories at face value. I feel no sense of rational discomfort over them...and I confess that may put me in the minority, even amongst "believers".

But I think it is important to remember, when having conversations with folks who don't share my particular prejudice...the prejudice of faith, that there are pieces of the story that defy rational explanation.

At the end of the day it won't be rational argument that convinces people. It will be lives lived, love expressed, and credence given to those who don't share my biased view of things.

"See you later" auntie...

2009-06-29T12:40:00.000-07:00

My wife's aunt, Marlene Hanson passed away in May just six days shy of her 75th birthday.
"Auntie" was an amazing lady in so many ways that it would be hard to describe her love, generosity, and care in anything shy of several chapters.

We celebrated her memorial service last weekend in southern California.

I'm not sure I could have remembered her name the first few years Lib and I were married. She was always just...Auntie. (Auntie as in the light switch position: "On-tee"...NOT as in the tiny picnic pest: "Ant-ee")

Auntie's kitchen was the first place I met Libby's family and her home instantly became associated with my in-law's clan.

She never visited us without wanting to help decorate or landscape or extend her gifts of hospitality to our home.

She LOVED taking people out to eat and DISLIKED letting them pay.

She will be dearly missed by all of us until we have the chance to meet again in heaven.

Aside from the obvious grief at missing our dear Auntie I was struck by something unexpected as we spent time with family and friends last weekend. I had probably been to her house less than a dozen times in 18 years of marriage to Libby so it seemed odd that I should feel such a sense of attachment to her home but I was sad to drive away from it for what may be the last time.

I think it may be that I always knew I had a "safe place" there and now my world has one less safe place.

Oh we still have family in southern Ca., and we'll still have many reasons to visit, but not to visit Glendale. No reason to visit the house on the hill.
I think I perhaps knew, without knowing, that if I found myself anywhere within a tank of gas of Auntie's, or anywhere in southern Ca and in need, there was a place I could go where I would be welcomed and cared for and...safe.
Again, it isn't that those places don't exist...there are a number of them in somewhat close proximity...but there is now one less.

When my mom moved to Oregon from the house we grew all grew up in in Sunnyvale we lost that location...but we gained a location up north. Sad to see the house go but excited for mom's new adventure. But this is different. This time the person and the place are gone.

It makes me wonder what part this "geographical component" plays in many of our relationships. Maybe I'm just getting old but I don't like having one less friend and one less safe place in the world.

Could it be that her gift of hospitality was so strong that we not only miss the person, but the influence of her gift on the body, or in this case the family, as well? And that her home was an embodiment of her gift?
That has a familiar ring to it. I think I have felt THAT before.

We do know that Auntie has gone ahead of us to get her garden ready so that she can have us all over when we get to heaven. Maybe, until then, we need to step up our own gifts, and in particular our own hospitality, to make up for her being gone.

First triathlon of the summer!

2009-06-17T10:29:00.000-07:00

Back in 2006 I had my first experience running a triathlon...I find it humorous as I write that because a LOT of people call it "running" a triathlon when really that is only one of the stages, albeit the most painful...and this past Sunday I stepped back into that world.

The Broomfield MiniHaha is a great "first timers" race. The swim is 300M (12 laps), the bike is 11 miles and the run is 2 miles. In 2006 my time 1:15:09, good enough for 18th in may age division. I was hoping to break the hour mark this year.

The swim in this event is in a pool which means folks are grouped in heats by estimated swim times. I had submitted a 6 minute time but my fastest training swim was more like 5:20. You typically will have as many as five people in your heat, in your lane, so as you get ready to enter the pool everyone compares times to determine how to best order the group. My group decided I should go first...which is good. You run the least chance of having to have to pass people that way.

I got started in the swim and glanced at the clock when I finished my first 50M. I came in at 40 seconds which was faster than I wanted to go. (You run the risk of wiping out all of your energy in the swim just to pick up 40 or 50 seconds when the next leg, the bike, offers the best chance to cut down your time by multiple minutes.) I managed to slow my pace a bit over the remaining laps, even allowing another racer to pass me at the wall once, and exited the pool at 5 minutes 30 seconds...about what I had hoped for although I probably could have finished in about 4:50.

I felt good as I made the jog out to T1. (For those new to the sport T1 is "transition one" where you go from swimming to putting on shoes, shirt, helmet etc for the bike leg.) I got out fairly well, not sure how well as this event doesn't use timing devices that give you split times, but I felt good getting on the bike. I started passing people almost immediately.

The bike leg makes a couple turns going slightly down hill then starts into about a mile and a half climb of varying steepness. I was cranking! I had exited the pool near the front of my own heat and I was passing people from the previous heat most of whom had had at least a five minute head start on me. I got to the top of the hill feeling good and flew down the back side of the 5.5 mile loop.
Coming around the loop the second time I was feeling good and VERY glad to be done with the hill climb as I crested and started down. On the first downhill section I set my sites on a guy ahead of me in a bright green bike jersey on a pretty expensive looking bike.
I got past him faster than I thought I would but I had to slow down as I came up on a sharp right turn with a slower biker in front of me.
That gave him the chance to get me back on the second downhill section.
"I knew you'd be back." I said, as I looked at him coming up on my outside.
I fell in behind him for a short stretch but then my competetive nature took over and I decided to kick up the speed and go by him.
To make a long story short I passed multiple people on both laps and probably maintained close to a 19-20mph average over the 11 miles. I was feeling REALLY good.

Of course then came the run...
I got in and out of T2 pretty quickly, change of shoes, ditch the helmet, throw on a visor and go.
I was even moving decently without the usual hobble that you get when you first get off the bike.
But I knew right away this was going to be painful.
My doctor had already advised me a year earlier that my knee was bad enough that I ought not to run at all. I had talked him into agreeing that I WAS going to run but that I would train for it the least. My knee felt fair to midlin as I made my way...slowly...through the first mile. I remember clearly thinking that I did not feel nearly as winded as I thought I would but that my legs seemed to be lead weights.
At the mid point of the run is the one water station so I grabbed a cup and walked briefly while I drank it....another place I might have saved 15-30 seconds had I kept up my slow jog...I managed to keep my self moving without walking for the remainder of the run.
With less than 100 yards to go I heard someone coming up behind me.
"Let's go specialized (my bike is a Specialized) you had me!"
I tried to keep pace with "green jersey" but there was no way.
I knew I had caught up to him from way behind on the bike so I figured my overall time would be better than his anyway...SO NYA NYA NYA!!!

I did find enough gas in the tank to "sprint" up the last 30 yards or so into the finish...
1:02:45
I missed my goal by less than three minutes!!!

I was both elated and bummed at the same time. Elated to have finished...it is quite a rush if you've never done a tri...and bummed to have come so close. (I did help a wee bit to have my time be good enough to finish in the top ten of my age group.)

Because of the way the pool heats had worked out I was able to get back to the pool in time to cheer on my buddy Scott who was doing his first triathlon ever. It's fun to be done and then get to cheer on a friend through transitions and finishing.

So now, after a couple days of recovery, we're ready to start training for the next one in August which, in turn, will lead to another in September. If you're ready to give it a go let me know and we'll help you get started. There is nothing quite like competing in a finishing a triathlon.
Yes, I know, you're worried about the swim. Everyone is. But it can be done.

You just have to be willing to tri.

Solomon's Reign

2009-05-26T12:52:00.001-07:00

If you were to look around at various commentaries on the monarchies of David and Solomon you would start to recognize comments like: "David's reign was like the noon of Israel's day and with Solomon the sun began to set."
I'm sure that they're making comment on the fact that Solomon was lead astray later in life by the religious practices of his foreign wives AND that the kingdom starts to crumble pretty rapidly after him.
But let's look at some simple facts:

1. The nation was in a bit of a mess starting after Joshua's generation that didn't have much chance at resolution until Saul took the throne.
2. Saul's reign was fraught with mishap even as they tried to consolidate their territory.
3. Most of David's reign is characterized by ongoing warfare...one of the reasons he is disqualified from building the temple.
4. As far as Solomon's reign goes scripture tells us his kingdom was not firmly established in his grasp until someone around his fourth year on the throne...after he had finished his fathers business. (see: http://cre8ive-yyyguy.blogspot.com/2009/05/solomon-ascending.html )
5. We're told that Solomon starts the temple in his fourth year...somewhere in that time, or just preceding it, he is married to his "true love" the woman who is the object of the Song of Solomon.
6. It takes seven years to build the temple and fourteen to build his palace...so his construction is finished sometime around his twentieth year on the throne.

Is this the point where we get to take a breath?

We're told that God "appears to Solomon a second time" after he had finished his building projects:

¹ When Solomon had finished building the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do, ² the LORD appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. ³ The LORD said to him:
"I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

⁴ "As for you, if you walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, ⁵ I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, 'You shall never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.'

⁶ "But if you or your sons turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, ⁷ then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. ⁸ And though this temple is now imposing, all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, 'Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?' ⁹ People will answer, 'Because they have forsaken the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why the LORD brought all this disaster on them.' "

...and because we've read the story before we know that this WILL happen.

On the one hand I find it incredibly discouraging that these guys who have been given wisdom and promises of generations of rulers and direct conversation with God could fail so quickly...indeed as quickly and as often as I seem to fail.

I confess I am discouraged by how quickly Israel crumbles as a nation once the kingdom is established.

But I suppose that rather than being a testament to failure it becomes a picture of how incredibly important the work of grace and Christ's sacrifice truly is in bringing us into relationship with God. The law, viewed from almost any perspective, is a failure when it comes to restoring relationship. Legalism, rules, regulations...failure.

Without Christ, without restored and right relationship, it is impossible to follow God.

That pretty much sums up Moses through Solomon, at least as I see it today.

Solomon ascending

2009-05-19T08:02:00.000-07:00

1 Kings 2:15 - 3:28

As David's life is coming to a close he faces one last rebellious son. Adonijah aligns himself with Joab, incessant schemer and military commander, and Abiathar, the priest. Were told that he hires fifty men to run before his chariot...the same marketing campaign used by his older brother Absalom...and invites the royal officials and his various brothers to a feast in an attempt to portray himself as David's successor.
In a brilliant counter-move worthy of Hollywood David trots out Benaiah, military commander and captain of his personal bodyguard, Zadok the priest, AND Nathan the prophet...one-uping Adonijah's posse...and publicly cements Solomon's position as King.

This causes a bit of a stir amongst Adonijah's followers but as we'll see he doesn't give up easily.

Adonijah submits to Solomon's authority at first but then comes to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, with a seemingly innocent request:
"As you know, he said, "the kingdom was mine. All Israel looked to me as their king. But things changed, and the kingdom has gone to my brother; for it has come to him from the Lord. Now I have one request to make of you. Do not refuse me." "You may make it", she said. "So he continued, "Please ask King Solomon - he will not refuse you- togive me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife."
(1Kings 2:15-17)
Abishag was the "beautiful virgin" that was brought in at the end of David's life to keep him warm and perhaps raise his spirits but scripture is clear that he did not sleep with her.
According to Jewish tradition Adonijah's request, to be given the King's concubine as wife...one with whom the king had not slept, would have provided him with a new level of royal legitimacy from which he could have attempted yet another coup!

Bathsheba brings this request to Solomon, in the throne room, no doubt in front of a host of royal courtiers in another adept strategic move...making the request in such a manner exposes Adonijah as someone continuing to scheme after the throne.

Solomon's reaction is swift a decisive. He removes the threat rather than allowing it to fester in secret. But this isn't his only move.

David's "final words" to Solomon include several requests that the son deal with some of the father's unfinished business. (1Kings 2:5-9) David hints that his son should do away with possible threats from Joab, the scheming commander who has shed innocent blood time and time again against the king's commands, and Shimei who cursed David and his household as they fled from Absalom.

Solomon dispatches Benaiah as executioner in each of these three cases Adonijah, Joab, and Shimei over the course of about a three year period. And it is at this point, following the thrid of three executions, that scripture says:
The kingdom was now firmly established in Solomon's hands.
(1Kings 2:46)

I find it interesting that David was not allowed to build God's temple because he was had "shed much blood on the earth" in God's sight. And yet Solomon's reign, Solomon whom God has chosen to be the builder of His temple, is established after three acts of bloodshed.

Is it just a quantity thing? David spilled a LOT but Solomon merely ordered the spilling of some?
That seems arbitrary.
Is it a justice thing? Solomon somehow only ordered the execution of those who deserved death?
Have to be careful there since God obviously blessed David's reign.

I think where I land on it is that the three instances of blood shed that bring about the beginning of Solomon's rule are all attributed to his finishing his father's business. Whether for personal or political reasons David had not dealt with these individuals in his time, passing that duty on to his son. Solomon, as king, dispenses God's justice but is not marked as being a man who has shed too much blood because he is carrying out his father's duties. Once he has finished the work of his father David his kingdom is "firmly established".

(If you understand baseball at all it is a lot like a relief pitcher coming into the game midway through. The starting pitcher owns responsibility for runners that are on base when the new guy comes in to the game.)

This is another one of those stories that takes up just a chapter or two in the text but from which it would be easy to craft a feature length film.
No doubt Solomon, and even Benaiah, will be amongst the fella's who have a long waiting list or people waiting to do interviews with them in heaven. Reserve your time now. The lines will be long but we'll have all the time we need.

The Life of King David

2009-05-18T07:23:00.000-07:00

I need to get back to posting more regularly and as I read of the end of David's life this morning it felt like a milestone too significant to pass without comment.

When we first meet him he is overlooked by his father. When Samuel invites Jesse and sons to a feast and subsequently asks if Jesse has brought all of his sons we get:
"There is still the youngest," Jesse answered, "but he is tending the sheep."
That, along with other glimpses into his early home life, makes me wonder if David was seen as the runt of the litter. The good looking, poetic sheep tender of little substance and lesser value.

Through an interesting series of circumstances David finds himself at court. Knowing he has been anointed but not pressing the issue. His battle with Goliath, as I have pointed at previously, comes AFTER some time at court. But it is this event that thrusts him into the limelight and begins the animosity from Saul.

He is thrust into a life in the wilderness where God teaches him what it is to be a leader of men, preparing him to be king. How interesting that his preparation happens out there rather than in the palaces of kings.
His "rule" in marked in stark contrast to Saul's.
One of the hallmarks of David's time in the wilderness is his repeated command to his men that they must not take Saul's life, even when it appears God has given it to them, because he is "the Lord's anointed." All the while Saul is pursuing David, who IS "the Lord's anointed", in order to take his life.

As David comes into his own we see that he has a bit of an eye for the ladies. In the case of Abigail (1Sam 35:29) he waits until she is "available" but he manipulates the situation when it comes to Bathsheba (2Sam 11:16).

He is by no means perfect but through it all he is referred to as a "man after God's own heart"...which I love because it lets ME off the hook in terms of trying to perform at some sort of religiously perfect level.

We find him to be a loving father although one who has trouble ruling his own household.
I wonder if his inability to confront his sons rebellions...Absalom and and Adonijah...stems from the way his father treated him as a boy?

He appears to be quite politically adept, confronting when it is needed (outside of his family), and allowing things to go unaddressed when the time is not right. In this regard I find his interaction with Joab interesting. He obviously knows when Joab has crossed the line but chooses not to do anything...leaving that finally to his son Solomon.

Although he is one of the "heroes" of the bible I see him as a kind of "everyman" or perhaps better said as the kind of man that we can easily aspire to...a God-fearing warrior-poet who is far from perfect, willing to confess his own shortcomings, and strong enough to step up to the plate and do something about them from time to time.

I must confess I am sad to "see him go"...I almost want to suspend the journey through the bible here and go back and read "his-story" again.

David and Saul

2009-04-21T07:47:00.000-07:00

When we think of David we usually pair him.
David and Goliath
David and Bathsheba
David and the Psalms
But the interactions between David and Saul intrigue me on a number of levels.

When we first meet Saul we're told that he was " an impressive young man without equal among the Israelites". He has been sent by his father to find some missing donkeys. He meets up with Samuel, who has been warned by the Lord to watch for him, and Samuel anoints him as king somewhat privately.

Saul starts out humble...hiding amongst the baggage when he is to be introduced as king...but pretty quickly stumbles about in the early days of his reign with his most significant early failure described in 1 Samuel 15 - 16 where he fails to destroy the Amalekites as instructed.

When we first meet David we're told that we was "ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features". He has been out in the fields caring for his father's livestock. He meets up with Samuel, who has been sent by the Lord to find him, and Samuel anoints him as king somewhat privately.

Immediately following David's anointing by Samuel we find Saul described as being tormented and the solution to the problem is to find a musician to calm his spirits. Scripture tells us that David is recommended and then we have this:
"David came to Saul and entered his service/ Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armor-bearers. Then Saul sent word to Jesse saying, "Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him." 1 Samuel 16:21-22

Now compare that with this tidbit that comes AFTER David defeats Goliath:
1 Samuel 17:55-58
"As Saul watched David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, 'Abner, whose son is that young man?'
Abner replied, 'As surely as you live, O king, I don't know.'
The king said, 'find out whose son that young man is.'
As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistines head.
'Whose son are you, young man?' Saul asked him.
David said, "I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.'

Saul is apparently clueless, completely missing the spiritual reality that is before his eyes...David the harp player/armor-bearer whose playing calms the kings spirits is now David the military hero. This servant of God has been in his midst and yet Saul can't seem to see beyond the momentary physical realities.

Reading through this this time I was struck by the parallels to Moses and Pharaoh.
Pharaoh's heart is hardened by a spirit from the Lord just as Saul is tormented by a spirit from the Lord.
Pharaoh is given signs pointing to the fact that Moses comes from God just as Saul should have seen the signs of David's coming from the Lord.
Pharaoh chases Moses and the people out of Egypt into the wilderness just as Saul will chase David out into the wilderness.

It seems to me that there are deeper truths to be mined from these stories of David and Saul than the stories we get on the flannel graph. (Although I love those too.) Truths about leadership and the paths that lead to it. Truths about how God establishes leaders and what happens when He takes His hand away. Truths that circumstances on the outside often belie spiritual truths on the inside.

I think I'll mark this as one of those places...yet again... that is worthy of much further digging

Judges: What a mess

2009-04-09T06:58:00.000-07:00

I have to confess that reading this particular book of the Bible generally leaves me depressed. Some of the stories contained therein are just insane.

Abimelech murdering seventy of his brothers
Jephthah vowing to sacrifice "whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return"
The Levite who surrenders his concubine to the rabble in Gibeah
Samson's abject stupidity in dealing with Delilah

Quite frankly? This is NOT the book to use as "suggested reading" for friends and family who are young in their faith. These people are just mind bogglingly stupid!!!
I'm not sure I'd count many of these guys amongst the "heroes of the faith"...with the possible exception of Deborah.

So what is the point of Judges?

I think it is a book of proof.

The progression goes something like this:

The end of Deuteronomy has Moses telling the Israelites what life will be like once they go into the promised land: blessing for obedience and curses for disobedience.
The book of Joshua is about being strong and courageous and, more importantly, remembering.
The book of Judges follows as an illustration of exactly what the warning's of Moses are all about.

In Deuteronomy 28 we read:
20 "The Lord will send on you curses, confusion, and rebuke in everything you put your hand to..."
28 "The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness, and confusion of mind."
34 "The sights you will see will drive you mad"

These curses aptly describe the goings on in Judges and they describe, equally as well, the sort of thing from which I want to sprint in the opposite direction.

I'll be glad when we get out of the craziness that happens during these years which come under the heading:
"In those days Israel had no king."

Gideon's Fleece

2009-04-03T06:56:00.000-07:00

Judges 6:1 - 7:25

If one of the major themes of the book of Joshua is "remembering" then it is fair to say that one of the major themes of the book of Judges is "forgetting". Maybe better put the theme here is, "what happens when you forget."

An oft repeated phrase in this book is found right at the start if chapter 6: "Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord..." As usual they then "cry out" and God "hears their cry".
In this case He comes to Gideon.

The opening interaction with Gideon is interesting. He is hiding, almost cowering, in a wine press threshing wheat when the angel of the Lord appears and says, "The Lord is with you mighty warrior." (If this was played out on film today that would probably come across with a LOAD of sarcasm behind it but that isn't the case here.) Gideon's response is indicative of the tensions between remembering and forgetting:

Judges 6:13: "But sir", Gideon replied, "if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all the wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian."

So Gideon knows the stories at least, he sems to know something about what it looks like when God is "with" the Israelites but he claims to not understand why God has let them fall into the hands of Midian. Fast forward to verse 27 where Gideon is tearing down his fathers alter to Baal along with his Ahera pole. Hello?!?!? WHY has God put them into the hands of Midian? Worshipping the gods of the people of tha land? Pretty clear instructions have been given about THAT for generations. Did you perhaps forget that bit Gideon?

The back and forth that follows as Gideon puts out his famous fleece, as God winnows down the army, as Gideon and his servant enter the camp of the Midianites all serve to show God's patience. I think it is safe to say in this particular case that Gideon has grown up in a household that recalls the forms of their relationship with God without recalling the substance. He has been taught the stories but not the outcomes or spiritual truths contained within those stories. He dad and all the people of the town have been worshipping false gods perhaps alongside their own traditions...covering all their bases as it were.
God deals gently with Gideon, showing him the truth in answer to his question, "why?"

I love this story not because of the cool military victory or the "magic fleece" but because it shows God's heart towards Gideon, and man whose heart is good but who lacks understanding. It shows God's patience in teaching wisdom. It shows God's faithfulness to His people. I love the fact that if, by my actions, I "forget" what God has done in the past He still reads past those actions to the heart.

Lord, help us to remember and please be as gentle with us as you were with Gideon when we forget.

Talk about a freak show!

2009-04-02T12:37:00.000-07:00

The book of Judges...mind boggling.

The first generation after the wandering generation forgets God. As soon as Joshua is off the scene the dive straight into the weeds. Now, is this their fault or the fault of their mothers and fathers for not teaching them correctly? I think both parties may be liable but it does make me want to closely examine how well I am doing at teaching my own kids about spiritual things.

The story from chapter 17 is a great example of just how sketchy things got almost immediately:

We start with Micah, from the tribe of Ephraim, stealing money from his mother bu feeling guilty enough to bring it back.
Mom is so happy she has the silver made into a idol...apparently forgetting all about that 10 commandments thing.
Micah recruits a wandering Levite, (tribe number 2) to be his household priest, apparently as some sort of nod to religious tradition because he had previously made his son a priest.
A group of Danite spies come by, (tribe number 3) and notice the sweet setup...idol, shrine, Levite priest...and so they enquire whether their upcoming raid will be successful.
The spies come back through with their army after receiving a prediction of success from the priest and recruit the priest to come along with them...and while he is at it to bring the "household gods"...apprently there was a variety available.
MIcah gets miffed when he finds himself looted, calls out the neighbors, chases down the Danites and says. "What the heck?"
The Danites, who must see the Levite and other goodies as a good luck charm in battle, respnd by telling Micah he had better go away or one of them may lose his temper and kill Micah's family.
The Danites go off and conquer Liash and set up Micah's rig as their new shrine to God...which persists for generations!

I truly hope that after I am gone I have managed to teach my children, and more than to have taught them but to have lived out in front of them, what it means to follow God faithfully on His terms rather than on our own. AND...that as a result of having taught, and shown, and discipled them...that they will live out their faith in amazing ways.
Please Lord let it be so.
Amen.

Joshua

2009-03-31T09:03:00.000-07:00

The week of spring break was VERY relaxing.
With no internet access I didn't have a chance to post and several have asked so we'll do a little catching up today.

Reading through the book of Joshua is a cool story...until you get to the end where they're dividing up the land...that bit is tedious.

A couple of the highlights that struck me:

Joshua 1:6-9, as the people are getting ready to enter the land he says , THREE TIMES, "be strong and courageous"...you think maybe he was remembering his last trip into the land forty years prior when he came back with 10 out of 12 guys who were neither strong nor courageous?
Joshua 2:1 he sends out spies to check out the land, "So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there." This always cracks me up...the first place the spies go. Perhaps the correct translation was that he told them to "go and check out the lay of the land"? (Sorry, couldn't resist the bad pun.)
Joshua 3 they cross the Jordan "on dry ground". They exited Egypt through the Red Sea and now enter the promised land through the Jordan both times "on dry ground". How cool is it that God provides the same symbol from one generation to the next.
Joshua 7 Achan's failure. God's displays what looks like harsh justice in response to Achan's direct disobedience. Something He also did in response to the golden calf in Exodus. Once again His message, and His method are consistent.
Joshua 8:26 the attack on Ai. Joshua is told by God, (vs. 18)"Hold out toward Ai the javelin that is in your hand, for into your hand I will deliver the city." and then we read in vs 26: For Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelin until he had destroyed all who lived in Ai. Perhaps he was recalling the time he went out to battle the Amalekites in Exodus 17. When Moses stood on the top of the hill with his staff in his hands? Ex 17:11 As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning...
Joshua 14:10 Caleb claims his inheritence. I love this bit where Caleb comes back and recounts that he was forty when they spied out the land, that 45 years have passed since then and that he has come to claim his piece of the land.

I could further go into the setting up of the twelve stones of remembrance when the people cross the Jordan, the pile of stones over the body of the king of Ai, the alter of uncut stone on Mount Ebal, the alter built by the eastern tribes on he borders of Canaan, the stone under the oak at Shechem.

This whole book is about two things:
1. Remember who God is and what he has done
and as a result
2. Be strong and courageous

It might have been simpler to write just that, but it wouldn't have been anywhere near as interesting.

Protestant Guilt

2009-03-20T15:00:00.000-07:00

I grew up in one of those homes that religiously attended church every Sunday.
No sleeping in for my brothers and I to finish the weekend. We'd be rousted and up early, dressed in less than comfortable clothes, the hair on one side of our heads, or the top, or the back plastered down with a combination of water, mom-spit and comb in an attempt to tame an unruly case of bedhead.
We could do the flannel graph version of David and Goliath almost from memory by the time we were five and had penciled many a pew inspired masterpiece on the back of visitor cards before we were old enough to read all of the words on the other side.
I can still clearly remember sitting in second grade Sunday school class when our teacher imparted wisdom to us that was much like this:

"There are some things that you do that are bad. We call those things 'sin'. The Bible tells us that sin gets in the way between us and God...it separates us from God. The Bible also tells us that the good things we do will never be good enough to get us back close to God."...and from there she went on the explain the need for Jesus to die on the cross.
Of course I had heard this before but this time I actually got it. I understood this gospel thing! And so I prayed, very deliberately, the prayer.
Then, being a curious and somewhat precocious seven year old, I asked, "Ummm...What now?"
"Well, " she enthusiastically informed me, " now you need to be sure to read your Bible and attend Sunday school, pray everyday, and sing songs to God." ('Worship' is a foreign concept to seven year olds and they sometimes think you're talking about war ships which takes the conversation in an entirely wrong direction.)
The teacher was still beaming as she handed each of us who had prayed a brand new crispy-paged bible. I made my way back to my tiny seat smiling the half-smile of being caught up in the moment and as I sat down...
I was completely lost.
If half of what I did was bad then of course I would end up doing these things bad half the time...and feel guilty.
and
If half of what I did was good, but not good enough, then I'd never be able to do these things good enough...and feel guilty.

Was I now doomed to a life of cyclical guilt?

At this point allow me to meekly confess that I did NOT think all of that when I sat down in my small wooden Sunday school chair. In truth it has taken me years of study and striving to come to this conclusion.

And now I get it.

This "list of things to do" creates what I have come to recognize as Protestant guilt.
It's quite different from Catholic guilt.
Catholics have original guilt, they're born with it.
We Protestants earn our guilt. We have the seeds of it bestowed upon us as part and parcel of the Protestant work-ethic; seeds which are nurtured by well meaning Sunday school teachers armed with vacation bible school curricula.
It is coaxed into full bloom by various evangelism methodologies and somewhere between 25 and 50 days of either purpose, prayer, or spiritual adventure.

Interestingly original guilt can be cleansed through weekly ritual.
Protestant guilt is sticky stuff that clings and hangs around for years infusing its tendrils into the soul at an almost subatomic level.

For those suffering from Protestant guilt I offer this ancient prescription:

Stop shoulding on yourself.
Spend 30 days just hanging out with God listening.
See where He takes you.

Listen close though. When it comes to the mightiest truths, He tends to whisper.

(If you need further assistance might I suggest renting the film, "Evan Almighty" and imagine hanging out with Morgan Freeman's character.)

Confessions of a former youth pastor

2009-03-20T09:09:00.000-07:00

Deuteronomy 23:1 - 26:19

We used to do an annual breakfast event with our youth groups, just kind of a family time to talk about the year gone by and the year to come.

As part of that event I would give kids seemingly random scripture references, have them look up the passage, read aloud, and provide interpretation of what they'd read. Several of the verses in this section of Deuteronomy were amongst my favorites. Imagine a middle school kid asked to read out loud and then provide the meaning of the following:

Deut 23:1
No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the Lord.

Deut 23:10-11
If one of your men is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp and stay there. But as evening approaches he is to wash himself, and at sunset he may return to the camp.

Deut 23:12-14
Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. As a part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. For the Lord your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you...
(I had a kid once say, "This means God doesn't want to step in your poop.")

Deut 25:9-10
...his brothers widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, "This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother's family line." That man's line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.

Deut 25:11
If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes up to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.

I suppose if I believed in purgatory I would have earned several extra years there...but it did have the effect of making the kids more interested in reading the old testament!!

The book of "dude you're on to me"

2009-03-19T06:55:00.000-07:00

Deuteronomy 1:1 - 26:19

It is very easy to want to skip right by this book. It starts with Moses recounting everything that happened in the book of Numbers and then goes in to quite some level of detail regarding everything from which fish and birds the Israelites could eat to how to handle cases of rape in town vs out in the country.
Read closely and you'll see the basis upon which many of our modern laws were built. The notion of extradition, the importance of requiring multiple witnesses to a crime, the distinction between premeditated murder and manslaughter...all found here.

For me it is a sad book.

As I read it I see Moses, a man we recognize today as a great leader but who probably would rather have been a quiet shepherd in the wilderness, giving his last words of advice and encouragement to the people God has asked him to lead. He has been at it for more than forty years. He is not going to cross the Jordan into the promised land, he knows his days are at an end.
We read his words and we see the tragically prophetic nature of his warnings. Tragic because we can read what happens later in the story and see that the things he warns about do come to pass. Tragic because had the Israelites made other choices we see quite clearly what blessings would have been bestowed upon them.
I read those warnings with a knowledge of what comes later and I think, "If only you had listened, or remembered. If only you had chosen otherwise...what effects would we feel from those choices even today?"
And then it makes me wonder how my story will be read after I'm gone. Will my children look back on it and say, "If only my dad had listened or remembered...how different would things be for us today had he chosen differently?"
It is a sobering thought.
One well worthy of diligent prayer.

The failure at Peor

2009-03-10T09:48:00.000-07:00

...sounds like an episode of the Star Wars saga

Numbers 30:1 - 31:54

This story really has it's roots back in chapter 25 but I wanted to look at it here because this is where it comes to a conclusion.

While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate and bowed down before these gods. So Israel joined in worshiping Baal of Peor. And the Lord's anger burned against them.
(Num 25:1-3)

Now, here's where it ties together in chapter 31:15
Moses speaking:
"Have you allowed all the women to live?" he asked them. "They were the ones who followed Balaam's advie and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the Lord in what happened at Peor, so that the plague struck the Lord's people."

So apparently Balaam, after pronouncing a blessing on the Hebrews three times, made a couple suggestions to the Moabites as to how they might corrupt the Israelites through immorality and idolatry. We don't have that explicitly from his story but we see the connection here.
There are several crucial things happening here all at once:

Balaam has had direct revelation, a direct prophetic message from God, which he then puts behind him to scheme with the Moabites, ostensibly for profit.
The Israelites are being tested. They've been instructed to be a "people apart" but they give in to temptation and the text says they became "joined" with Baal Peor.
This is the kind of thing that will haunt them , almost generational sin, once they enter the land.
I think there is something symbolic here too. The Moabites sought to bring about the direct destruction of Israel through what they hoped would be a curse from Balaam that would allow them to win in battle. The win in battle and destruction of the Hebrews being their aim. That fails. When the direct frontal assault approach fails they result to seduction, deception and subtle corruption...that succeeds and sets the stage for a struggle the nation of Israel will have throughout their history. Their flirtation with and falling into sin with Baal worship will be a constant theme and struggle.

How easy it is at times for us to dodge the direct assault only to turn around and fall prey to the subtle seduction, the sly temptation. And then how hard it is to completely rid ourselves of the effects and influence of those failings. Praise God that He can and does redeem us completely from those moments, but it is the sly aside that we have to be constantly vigilant against lest we, like Israel, fall into patterns of struggle which none of us want.

Balaam...who IS this guy?

2009-03-09T07:53:00.000-07:00

Numbers 22:1 - 29:40

I have to confess that reading through the story of Balaam over the weekend threw me off track a bit. I was totally confused by several points in the story:

Who is this guy that claims to have a prophetic relationship to God?
How is it that he knows something about which animals to sacrifice?
Why does God tell him to go then get mad that he goes?

So I took some time to do a little digging. A couple of facts to add to the biblical narrative to help set the stage:

Although it seems like just yesterday that the twelve spies were sent out we've come almost to the end of the 40 years in the wilderness at this point. Israel is across the Jordan from Jericho.
Balak, king of Moab, is obviously worried about the damage the Israelites might do to him so he is looking for advantage in battle when he sends for Balaam. Balaam must have had quite a reputation because the kings men travel nearly 400 miles to get him and then another 400 to bring him back. Of course this doesn't happen overnight so you can imagine the Israelite camp is here for quite some time. At least two back and forth trips worth...
Balaam's name translates as something akin to "destroyer" and his father's name, Beor, as burning. It is widely believed that Balaam's family business was that of "divination" and distributor of curses for hire. Also, Balaam's home, Pethor, is near the region of Haran in which Abraham spend some time. So Balaam, as a religious generalist and purveyor of all bleesing and cursings of all dieties, probably knew something of the history of of the Hebrews. (Numbers 24:1 seems to indicate that Balaam was practicing sorcery with his first few attempts at "cursing" but that the last attempt he truly utters prophecy.)

So basically we have this diviner/sorceror of some repute who is sought out by the king of Moab. He tells the envoy to spend the night so he can check in with God...and apparently God DOES talk to him?!?!? This seems crazy on the surface of things, almost as though it ratifies the practice of sorcery. But it seems to me having done some more reading that perhaps God is, instead, showing up on behalf of His people, willing to work through even the most unlikely of channels to wortk His will.

So the first group of guys ask Balaam to come back with them and his answer is...wait here and I will bring you back the answer "the Lord" gives me. Theye are sent way essentially empty handed.
The second group comes back and now, I think, Balaam is negotiating price.
(Numbers 22:18-19)
"Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the Lord my God. Now stay here tonight as the others did, and I will find out what else the Lord will tell me."
Balaam is intimating that he has a direct line communication, a relationship with God that may allow him to change God's mind from the original answer.

I got stuck a bit on the next part which seems to say that God tells Balaam to go, then gets angry with him for going. I think God has communicated clearly that Balaam is not to go, then allows him to go because of his persistant lack of understanding with the intent all along of using the trip as a teaching moment.

This of course leads to the famous story of the talking donkey. The story is a great one but, to my way of thinking, the craziest line in the whole story has nothing to do with donkey but it is this line:
"Balaam answered the donkey, "!!!!!

So we have God, speaking to a well known sorceror, a "wise man" or "seer", who fails to see, opening up the eyes and mouth of donkey, who sees more clearly and speaks more truthfully, all within the scope of His plan for His people.

We'll get more on this guy later in scripture so I'll let him off the hook for now.

I'm sure everyone was excited to read the second census of the tribes!!!
Let me sum up...the are only about 1820 fighting men shy of where they were when they took the first census.

The feast of trumpets bit was a tough read too. Did anyone else feel like they were hearing, faintly in the background, the tune from the Twelve Days of Christmas?

Joshua being confirmed as the heir to Moses leadership is the clear sign Mose is on his way out.
Stay tuned for more action tomorrow!!!

p.s.
For a good look at some thoughts on Balaam see this link:
http://bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Topical.show/RTD/cgg/ID/2089/Balaam.htm

Moving on out

2009-03-06T10:09:00.000-08:00

Numbers 19:1 - 21:35

Having quelled the rebellion of the Kohathites and Reubenites the people of Israel move out to begin their forty years of wandering. They have no idea where they're going to go but they know they'll be back at this spot forty years from now...unless they're over 20, then they'll be dead.

I used to think they just wandered around for forty years but as we find out today that isn't the case. A couple interesting points from today's reading that struck me:

God starts cleaning out the adults by removing those who were rebelling and as I mentioned yesterday He does it as a display of His power. What struck me last night is that when they left Egypt he parted the sea and they all went across on dry ground. As they leave to go into the wilderness he parts the dry ground and it swallows up the rebellious crew just like the sea swallowed the Egyptians.

The next bits we're shown concerning those dying off involves some of the leaders. We're shown Miriam's death and then as a result of disobedience Aaron's death. I wonder if there weren't maybe a handful of teenagres who were starting to wonder if maybe all the adults would die sooner and they'd get back to the promised land sooner.

The cool bit to me though is where we see Moses trying to negotiate passage through the neighboring kingdoms. They all come out to attack and eventually the Israelites take over the towns of the Amorites. In this process God is teaching his people how to wage warfare against attacking kingdoms and fortified towns. He doesn't "wipe out" the inhabitants with plagues or snakes...which we know He could easily have done...he uses the ire of the petty kings to provide a training ground for His people who will soon (in 40 years) have to wage the very same type of warfare in order to conquer the promised land.

As my wife pointed out to me last night...we need to read these stories all the while remembering that God is the point, not the folks themselves. It is God who is holy and worthy of praise and respect...even if a custom seems odd, a miracle seems bizarre, or a punishment seems harsh.

I love the fact that in the midst of the "punishement" God is growing His people up so they'll be ready to do the job at hand when they get back to the promised land.

Rebellion in the camp

2009-03-05T07:06:00.000-08:00

Numbers 16:1 - 18:32

It's not easy to tell how much time has passed between the end of chapter 15 and the start of chapter 16. The people have just failed at the entrance to the promised land. God has informed then that their punishment will be forty years of wandering during which time all the adults 20 years and older will die.
They've tried to take the land anyway and been beaten down by the locals...and now we see a rebellion brewing in the camp. Obviously, they needed somewhere to vent their anger and they must think it safer to vent it at Moses and Aaron rather than at God...or the locals who have just kicked their booties.
It's easy to just read the names of these guys who lead the rebellion and blaze right past them into the story itself but the names, or at least the family connections, are important.
Korah - who seems to be the instigator, is a Kohathite. The Kohathite clan had the reponsibility of carrying the ark and the holy objects from the tabernacle. They were the only ones who could not use ox carts to carry their part and they couldn't even go near the holy objects until the priests, the sons of Aaron, had prepared them. (Num 4:4 - 15)
He is obviously representing a faction that is jealous of the role of the priests:
"You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why do you set yourselves above the Lord's assembly?" (Num 16:3)
You have to love the way he tries to include everyone in his own jealousy.

The other leaders listed in the rebellion, Dathan, Abiram and On, are all Reubenites. Their jealousy is different. The tribe of Reuben, the firstborn of Jacob, have been losing their position for generations.
"Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power. Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your fathers bed, onto my couch and defiled it." (Gen49:3)
Reuben slept with his fathers concubine and thus lost the privaledged position of the firstborn.
(It never ceases to amaze me how long these middle eastern folks can hold a grudge...but then we just need to read the newspapers to see that even today.)

So Korah, who is jealous over Aaron's spiritual authority, recruits some grumpy Reubenits, who are jealous over Moses temporal authority and raises up a rebellion.
Moses calls out Korah and his Levite followers to stand a test of fire before God...maybe this is where Elijah gets his inspiration later...and he couches it in the form of presenting themselves before God to see who God chooses. I love that he doesn't argue based on God's word, or past experience, or commands, he just says "Let's let God choose."
He tries to call out the Reubenites too but they refuse to come...obviously the religious thing is not their bag so they play the passive aggressive, "we don't recognize your authority" card.

I think what is happening here is much the same as what happened when they came out of Egypt.
There is a much different emotional landscape within the camp, but in either case they were on the doorstep of a "next phase", in either case God is establishing who He is and how he will be interacting with His people, in either case He is displaying His power.

It's makes me start to wonder how I tend to react when God starts a new phase with me. Am I "coming out of Egypt" or being "driven into the wilderness"? In any event what should my response be? I go back to yesterday's reading and the example of Joshua and Caleb...

If you want to do some interesting side reading do some internet research on the symbolism of the almond branch/tree. Aaron's staff budding and producing almonds wasn't a random choice of tree on God's part.

Oops

2009-03-04T08:59:00.000-08:00

Numbers 14:1 - 15:41

Imagine what it would have been like to have been Joshua or Caleb.
You spent 40 days exploring the land God has promised to you...you have the eyes of faith so you're seeing only the positive. A land flowing with milk and honey, rich grape harvest, exceedingly good. The people who live there look big, their cities fortified, but you see them as just so many weeds for the Lord to clear out of the way.
We don't know from the text but it may be possible that these two guys were so caught up in the good about to happen that they weren't even aware that the other 10 were afraid of what they'd seen. They probably were in deep conversation with each other making plans on what they conquest would look like...especially given Joshua's position as a military leader.
Then you get back, ready to spread the good news...and your ten compadres start spreading the bad news. Spreading it so quickly in fact that the camp is up in arms by nightfall.
You try to sway the opinion of the crowd but you're shouted down, the crowd, many of whom are extended family, threaten to stone you.
Then the Lord shows up.
Moses intercedes on behalf of the people so that God doesn't kill them all...it isn't the first time incidentally that God offers to rebuild the nation from Moses, offering him what was originally offered to Abraham.
God forgives the people but pronounces punishment...40 years of wandering in the wilderness.
I would be pissed.
I'd be somewhat gladdened by the fact that God killed off the other 10 guys...although I would have been asking for permission to do it myself...I'd be happy that I did get to make it into the promised land but I'd be BUMMED that my kids would be adults with kids of their own before we ever got there and honestly angry that while I was making the right decision I was being punished right along with the folks who had no faith.
To be standing there, literally looking back over your shoulder at the promised land just waiting for you to seize it, knowing that it will be forty years of wandering and eating mana before you come back to take what you should have now...that would kill me.
The fact that these two make it for forty years without turning their backs on God speaks WAY more to me about their faith than does the episode with the other spies.
Well worth praying through and learning from in terms of patience and my own limited perception of justice...

Grouse, grouse, grouse...

2009-03-03T09:21:00.001-08:00

Numbers 11:1 - 13:33

Finally we get back to some story today...

Now, we've just been told that the people only move out, only come to rest, when and where God leads them. Safe to assume then that wherever they land, there is ample water for them and their flocks and, again safe to remember, that they get mana every morning. You might argue that they've been living on mana for more than a year at this point and something different would be nice but remember it is COMPLETELY FREE FOOD!!

Part of the curse in the garden was that man would no longer have free food, he would have to work the ground with the sweat of his brow to get food. But this is free...just go pick it up.
The people argue that they had free food in Egypt...yeah well, if by "free" you mean no money exchanged hands then would you trade slavery for food? There was a very clear cost for that "free" food.

I also started to wonder while reading this what happened to all the sheep and goats and bulls and pidgeons that they must have had around for sacrifices...sounds like a LOT of meat to me.
Most of the commentaries I could find didn't bring this up but the few that did suggest that the flocks were not for consumption but for raising (and sacrifices) and that they would have run through all THAT meat in less than a month and wound up poor. Ok, I suppose I buy that.

I find it interesting too that the story gives us the complaints of the people right at the finish line!! The complain in chapter 11 and 12 and in chapter 13 the spies are sent into the land...the promised land that they have been aiming for all this time. THEY ARE ALMOST DONE AND THEY FALL APART!! Of course you may well argue they didn't know they were almost to the finish line, well said, but how often do we find ourselves in a similar position? Grousing, ready to surrender when in truth we're almost to the other side of the wildernesss through which God has us traveling?

I think God has spent a little over a year with His people in the wilderness in order to show them who He is and how He is to be worshipped. I think even His response to their grousing in chapters 11 and 12 here is a demonstration of his ability to both provide and destroy as needed. You would have hoped the spies would have had these events fresh in their minds as they went out to explore the land. But they obviously forgot.

We like to believe today a first hand miraculous display of God's power would be enough for us to remain fiathful to Him forever. I can't imagine seeing a more graphic display than what these guys have seen since leaving Egypt and yet they cower at the task at hand when they come back from spying out the land. Not only did 10 out of 12 miss it, they somehow convinced the bulk of the population to miss it too. (which we will read tomorrow)

ALL of this leads me to one thought:
Remember

When we feel in need...remember when God has provided.
When we feel out gunned...remember that God is our strength.
When we feel overwhelmed...remember that God help lift the burden.
When we feel tired...remember that God is our rest AND our strength.

If they had simply remembered they would have been into the promised land in the next chapter. Instead they get 40 more years of wandering.

How much of our wandering happens because we forget to remember?

REMEMBER.

Passover, Priests, and playing trumpets

2009-03-02T07:09:00.000-08:00

Numbers 8:1 - 10:36

Interesting tidbits this morning:

(8:7)
To purify them, do this: Sprinkle the water of cleansing on them; have them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves.

The priests would have stood out from a mile away amongst the hirsute (Your vocab word for the day...means "hairy") Israelites. And if "whole body" is literal then their eyebrows would have been gone too giving them a quite alien look.

We're reminded again here...for probably the tenth time...that God owns the first born of Israel:
(8:17-18)
Every firstborn male in Israel, whether man or animal, is mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set them apart for myself. And I have taken the Levites in place of the firstborn sons in Israel.

This is kinda cool because it means that the blood over the door in the first passover was not just a get out of jail free card. It was symbolic of an ongoing requirement...and ongoing commitment, or debt owed to God. The Levites are the payment for the debt...in effect the priests are the symbolic precursor to Christ's work on the cross.

The stuff on the passover is a cool glimpse too because God opens up the celebration to aliens living amongst them in the same way the gospel promise will later be opened to the gentiles.

It's the stuff in 9:18-23 that always led me to believe the entire nation was constantly on the go.
Setting out when the cloud moved and setting up when it stopped.
(20-23)
Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days; at the Lord's command they would encamp, and then at his command they would set out. Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out. Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out.
At this point though they've been hanging out at Sinai for about a year...
Now, I know it's not a popular thought, but if I were one of the guys who had the job of set up and tear down on the tabernacle and the cloud lifeted after two day...
I'd be bummed.
Then again...if it hangs in place for a year...that's a year off.
So you get the good with the bad I guess.

Offerings for the tabernacle

2009-03-01T16:39:00.000-08:00

Numbers 7:1 - 89

For those reading along at home did this feel like reading a mial merge file or what?

The only differences I can find in here are in what is said about Judah and what is said about Issachar.

Judah goes first:
(12) The one who brought his offering on the first day was Nahshon son of Amminadab of the tribe of Judah.
He is the only one NOT called out as a leader. Interesting since Judah is the tribe of leaders.

Next is Issachar:
(18)On the second day Nethanel son of Zuar, the leader of Issachar, brought his offering
(19)The offering he brought was...

He is the only one not referred to as the "leader of the people of..." and it says "the offering he brought" rather than "His offering"

Was the author just getting up to speed then standardized after the first two?
Or should we read something deep and mysterious into these subtle differences?

I think I'm going for choice A.
Sometimes the guys who wrote the bible DID look to save time...they were guys.
:)

Two months!!

2009-02-28T06:00:00.001-08:00

If you're reading through the bible in a year you've made it two months today...way to go!!

Numbers 4:34 - 6:27

I freely confess I don't get the whole piece in Numbers 5:11 -29.
I do understand the ritualistic punishment of the woman but you would think there would be something in there about the male adulterer too. I suppose culturally there must have been something about the position of women that made it easier for them to "fall prey" and harder to find the man responsible...but still...seems like the guys are off the hook.

The Nazarite vow thing is cool...that knowledge will come in handy when we read about Samson later...especially given that he breaks his vow. I knew the hair growing was symbolic as was the shaving...I'm looking forward to reading his story to see what is going on when his head DOES get shaved.

The poetic blessing at the end of chapter 6 is one of my favorite passages. I've used it a number of times when doing baptisms:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace

...and may He do all that as you enter the third month of reading.

Moving the Tabernacle

2009-02-27T12:22:00.000-08:00

Numbers 4:34 - 6:27

The book of Numbers is one of those seemingly repetitive bits that are tough to read through if you don't try to pay some attention with your imagination.
If you add up all of the metal pieces used in the tabernacle the weight of those alone is, if I recall correctly, something just under 8 or 9 tons. The curtains and wood would not be light either so there is a LOT of weight to haul around here.
What struck me reading through this though is the seriousness with which the process was to be undertaken. People not following the orders correctly weren't just reprimanded...they died.
Death was a very real option if you didn't observe the correct 'ritual' in the tear down, moving, and setting up of the tabernacle.
Now, I know we're no longer under the law, and I know that this is old versus new testament stuff, but it did strike me as an almost comical comparison when reading through these regulations...what would one of these Levite clansman think today if they were to walk into one of our church services and see us passing around a basket full of little plastic, double lidded containers that had a styro-foam wafer under the first lid and a bit of overly sweetened purple water under the second?
I know God reads the heart...maybe mine needs a little more ritualistic respect on Sundays...even if the goodies being passed don't warrant it.

Out of Leviticus and into the Numbers...

2009-02-26T07:23:00.000-08:00

Leviticus 26:1 - 27:34
Numbers 1:1 - 2:34

The close of Leviticus is interesting. For those of us who have moved and grooved in Christian circles for any amount of time we're aware of folks who have an image of God as a vending machine: do the right thing and God will reward you, much like dropping the right coin in to the slot.
It is easy to see how someone could get this perception from reading this last bit of Leviticus:
Lev 26:3-6
If you follow My decrees and are careful to follow my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land. I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove savage beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country....

Makes is all sound pretty straight forward...but experience tells us that it isn't that simple.
So does that mean that:
A. This doesn't apply beyond a promise to the nation of Israel? (meaning no application to us today.)
B. This promise somehow changed over the years based on the coming of Jesus?
C. It was always going to be impossible to follow all the decrees and commands so the result was/is always in question?
D. This only applies to those under the law?
E. God really DOES work like a vending machine and if we're not blessed it IS because we're missing something?

I think I'll be musing over that one all day...

Then we start off in Numbers and it is easy to see where the book gets its name.
A couple of things caught my eye, as it were, at the start of the book.
One is the text note that says Numbers starts two years after Israel left Egypt.
I think I always had the impression that Moses went up on Sinai, met with God, got the stone tablets, broke the first set, went up and got a second, and they left.
I always wondered how God got ALL the rules and regs on those two tablets unless He was writing REALLY small.
It's apparent to me now that Moses has become quite the mountain climber as the people have been there for two years. There were not just the two but perhaps many many trips up the mountain for Moses.

The other little detail I thought was interesting from all the "numbers" is that Judah, the tribe from which kings will come, is by far the largest of the twelve. Even if you combine the tribes of Joseph's two sons Judah is larger. Interesting that the military strength and the mantle of leadership come to the same tribe...coincidence? I don't think so.

You have to love the way God covers the little details.

More and even MORE Regulations

2009-02-24T11:29:00.000-08:00

Leviticus 16:1 - 25:55

Tough reading here? Sure..sounds a bit tedious and even repetitive doesn't it?
I think there are several things going on through these regulations:

1. God is setting Himself and His people apart. Making distinctions in behavior between them and the surrounding nations.
2. God is setting the priesthood apart as a symbol of that which is holy, 'set apart', vs that which is not. Hence all of the regulations around what they are to wear, how they are to wash, what they are to eat, etc.
3. God is setting up a 'calendar of remembrance' so that the various festivals recall what he has done for His people in a way of reminding them for generations to come what God did in the lives of their ancestors.
4. God is reinforcing the truth that the land is His and the people are His...and are His tenants. Hence the regulations around sabbath and the year of jubilee.

Read these chapters with those themes in mind.
Read them with an understanding too of just how complex the requirements of living under the law really are...not because God made them up arbitrarily but because they signify something intentional about our relationship to Him.
When we begin to understand just how complex it would be to live under the law, undertsnad how many details are required of us just to meet the minimum standard...then Jesus work on the cross starts to take on an even deeper/richer meaning.
He fulfilled ALL of that on our behalf.
We're set free in more ways than we even can imagine.

All these regulations...

2009-02-20T11:03:00.000-08:00

Leviticus 8:1 - 15:33

I had a couple people ask about the blog this past week wondering what had happened. Most all of them wondering what the heck I was going to write about given what we'd been reading!!

The interesting bits to me are:

Lev 10:1-3
Aaron's sons experience Raiders of the Lost Ark like wrath of God stuff and get fried for offering unauthorized fire before the Lord. All I can think here is that God has ordained how that was supposed to work and they didn't follow orders. Remember this is the official grand opening of the tabernacle so God was no doubt going to be strict out of the gate. (We'll read more on this tomorrow.)

As to the stuff that follows think in the context of a 1,000,000+ person camping trip. How do we keep the people healthy, on their feet, and on the march...

Clean and unclean animals? Health regulations really. God trying to point out what is going to keep His people on their feet.

Skin diseases? For thos of us who have seen pverty in the developing world we know how easily disease can spread and we know how often e see folks, who have no medical resources available, just live day to day with bad, often contagious infections. These regulations in Leviticus are designed to keep disease from spreading. Notice how the folks deemed to be infected have to identify themselves by how they dress, they have to cover their lower face (mouth) and they have to live outside the camp. All steps that keep disease from spreading. (Interesting to note too that some of the symptoms described are the early stages of leprosy.)

Mildew? Same thing, regulations to keep folks healthy.

It starts to cross over into respect for the Lord as we see what is required to "come back" from being unclean and, although it is tedious to read, I love the picture of intimacy it paints in that the Lord wants to be intimately involved at a very detailed level when someone comes back into fellowship.

Regulations regarding offerings

2009-02-17T07:13:00.000-08:00

Leviticus 1:1 - 7:38

Admittedly this is another of those sections that starts to get to be tedious reading.
A couple of things become evident though:

1. Worship under the law was a fairly serious and complicated business...this speaks to a level of mystery that is lost on most of us today. These aren't regulations for regulations sake, there is deeper meaning in the detail that is worthy of consideration (though not here) if only for the sake of understanding the gravity of who God is and how we relate to Him.

2. There is also some serious consideration for hygiene/health in these sections. Practical instruction on how and when certain foods are to be eaten for very practical health reasons.

3. The Levites are already seeing the results of Jacob's parting words in Genesis:
(Gen 49:7)"I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel."
This is why they receive food from portions of the sacrifices. We'll find out later too that they get no inheritance in the land...only towns and fields.

Imagine too what this traveling horde of folks must have looked like spread out across the landscape. More than 600,000 men...probably at LEAST another 3-400,000 women (If we want to be really conservative, based on modern numbers the women may have outnumbered the men.)...who knows how many children...AND, based on what we're reading here about the expectancy that most of them have flocks to choose from for sacrificial animals, most likely literally millions of animals!!!

No wonder Moses gets frustrated so often...this would be a logistical NIGHTMARE!!!

Getting things sorted

2009-02-16T07:15:00.000-08:00

Exodus 36:8 - 40:38

(For those following along in the one year bible this is Feb 14 and 15)

You really have to admit that these are some of the harder passages to get through when you're trying to stay on top of reading through the bible in a year. First because they are fairly detailed in terms of what is being built, crafted, assembled etc... but also because it feels like you just read all of it a couple chapters back!!
Chapters 36-40 can almost be easily summed up by simply saying..."And they did everything just as the Lord had commanded". Talk about saving on papyrus!!! Come on man where was their green thinking?
Now to be fair, I did NOT go back and compare the 'what they did' in these chapters to the 'what they were told to do' a few chapters back but I think if the reports were at odds that would have been pointed out.
There were a couple of bits I found interesting though:
At the end of chapter 38 we're told the weight of the metals used in creating the tabernacle:
A little more than a ton of gold
Three and three quarters tons of silver
About 2 and a half tons of bronze
Now granted all of this was in cast or beaten pieces, many quite small...but imagine having to move all that every time you set out from one place to the next...the total weight of the tabernacle gear that had to be moved must have come close to weighing ten tons!! Then you had set up and tear down, a whole bunch of special requirements for handling the sacred goods...These guys were the ULTIMATE roadies.

The other piece that struck me was in the last four verses of chapter 40.
They assembled all of the tabernacle as God has instructed...notice that the Holy of Holies is set up too and that no one dies from touching the sacred bits. None of it is considered sacred because of what it is in itself...but the sacred bits ALL become sacred when..."the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle."
(Ex 40:34-35)

No matter how many instructions we follow, no matter what work we do, even following God's law to the letter, we are not holy, not set apart, until the Spirit of God enters in...it is at that moment that everything is changed. We're still expected to obey on our end, to do the work, but God is the one who completes it.

I just thought that was cool illustration.

Moses, the friend of God

2009-02-15T08:03:00.000-08:00

I know I am a few days behind here but I like the stuff from Feb 13th so much that I think it deserves its own post so...
Exodus 33:7 - 36:7

I love this last half of Exodus chapter 33.

"Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp..."
This is the place he went to meet with God so he called it the "tent of meeting"...obviously Moses is not a marketing guy. It was a pretty big deal when Moses went out to the tent because everyone would stand at their doors to watch him pass AND the pillar of cloud...which they're still following remember, would "stand at the entrance" to the tent. And then we get this:
(Ex 33:11)
The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.
HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE?!?!?!

Of course the skeptics and pseudo-scholars in the crowd rise up in arms at this point because you don't get more than a few lines down the page and you read:
(Ex 33:20)
"...you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live"
(Ex 33:23)
"Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back;but my face must not be seen."

First of all take the context of the conversation.
Remember back in chapter 32 God was TICKED about the golden calf incident and said that He would send an angel to lead the people, He was NOT going to go Himself because he might kill them out of anger along the way.
Here in chapter 33, as Moses and the Lord are chatting in the tent, Moses says "you have not let me know who you will send with me...If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. "
Whoa, what would our days be like if we had THAT conversation with God every morning?
(Ex 33:14)
The Lord replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."
Moses in essence says, "Yes, please"
(Ex 33:17)
And the Lord said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name."
Moses has successfully negotiated God coming with them when just a few verses earlier God was so angry He was sending an angel instead! And he has done this in the context of what can only be described as a very intimate conversation among close friends!!!
I think it is a sign of the intimacy of this conversation that leads Moses to make his next request:
(Ex33:18)
Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory"
Emboldened by the sweet conversation he is having with the Lord Moses asks God to show him "what He really looks like"
Moses loves what he is getting and wants more.
THAT is the point at which God says, in effect, "that would kill you, but I will give you a peek."

What a contrast between the stiff-necked people whom God says He will punish and Moses who speaks to God face to face as a man speaks to a friend.

I think God wants that level of intimacy with every one of us. Are we bold enough and humble enough at the same time to seek it and He is seeking us, ask for it as He is asking us to join Him, pursue it as He pursues us?

Movin on out

2009-02-12T06:50:00.000-08:00

Exodus 16:1 - 33:6

Ok so I missed a few days in there. Time to get back in the groove.

If you've been reading along through the stories of Genesis and Exodus you know that this bit we've been in for the last week or so is a tough bit to read...a LOT of rules and regulations.
What has really struck me through all of it is a consistent theme of establishing a nation.

Remember when Jacob (Israel) went down to Egypt the whole "nation" was really just a single large extended family. Now some 400 years later as the Israelites are leaving Egypt they have 600,000 men plus women and children. They may have had a good set of moral standards and rules as a family but what has 400 years of living under Egyptian laws and religious influences done to those rules and standards?

It is easy for us to think, looking backwards, that the established laws we read in the odl testament were in effect but they really had nothing.
SO what do we see?
In chapters 16 and 17 we see the people grumbling about food and water...as though the God who sent the plagues and split the Red Sea was slacking off on the job. Their first complaint comes after a little more than the first month...45 days and they've forgotten!!
We see God bring them into battle where they must trust him for victory and Joshua begin to emerge as a military leader. (Ex 17:10)
In chapter 18 Jethro comes along and helps Moses establish a system for dealing disputes. (Ex 18:17)
God shows up in chapters 19 and 20 and gives the 10 Commandments..and people are afraid of his coming. (Ex 20:19)
Chapters 21 - 24 are the beginnings of a civil code...laws concerning people and property. They wouldn't have had ANY of this of their own before now. This is the basis of a system of laws that any society needs...not just a set of religious observances. The people promise to obey. (Ex 24:3)
Chapters 24 - 30 are the beginnings of the religious regulations, God establishing an understanding of how He is to be worshiped. Remember all the odd superstitious stuff in Genesis? This is now being superseded by specific instructions.
But the people are impatient...
Chapter 31 feels like God wrapping up some closing details.
Chapter 32 is the story of the golden calf.
It has been something like 3-4 months since they walked through the Red Sea on dry land.
It has been just over a month since Moses went up onto the mountain in a fiery display of thunder and lightning.
(Ex 32:1)
"Come make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him."
It's almost like mass ADHD!!!
What strikes me though is that to some degree this isn't as surprising as it first seems.
Remember Adam "walked with God" physically.
Abraham had God show up, physically.
Jacob wrestled with God, physically.
And then for 400 years the Israelites were surrounded by Egyptians who worshipped physical idols.
Since bringing them out of Egypt God has shown himself in much more dramatic ways but without that same style of physicality...
You have got to LOVE Aaron's excuse when Moses comes down and confronts him with what he has allowed to happen:
(Ex 32:23 - 24)
"They said to me, 'Make us god who will go before us...'...So I told them, 'Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.' Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!!!"
"Dude, it was the graziest thing you've ever seen!! Well, after the snake stick and the frogs and the gnats and the locusts and the pillar of fire and the red sea and the mana...."
Maybe Aaron figured Moses would buy it.
Chapter 32 ends with Moses representing an early picture of Christ mediating with God on behalf of the people asking God to forgive them of their sin.
Chapter 33 contains a significant but subtle change in God's relationship to His people:
(Ex 33:2-3)
"I will send an angel before you to drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff necked people and I might destroy you on the way."

We tend to think of their greatest failure as being the story of the 12 spies. But it is at THIS point where God, who was apparently going to lead them all the way Himself, sends a angel in His place.
I wonder what the trip to the promised land would have been like had the people not rebelled here and been lead by God himself.

The Red Sea

2009-02-06T06:44:00.000-08:00

Exodus 13:1 - 15:27

The Israelites finally get to march out of Egypt..."armed for battle" (Ex 13:18)
It has started to strike me that there was something going on in their "bondage" that was different than what we think of as typical slavery. I can't picture Civil War era slaves picking up and marching out 'armed for battle'...and having to have waited for permission to do so.

Although they ARE armed for battle God doesn't lead them through Philistine territory because God said, "If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." (Ex:13:17)
Instaed He takes them on a route designed both to protect and to lure Pharaoh to chase them.
(Ex14:2)
"Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. Pharaoh will think,'The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.'"

As they're back up against the sea and they see the Egyptian army coming the Israelites cried out:
"Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!" (Ex14:11 - 12)

Now THIS bit leads me to believe that their bondage was not complete depraved oppression. Apparently the evidence of the ten plagues is a distant memory, the huge pillar of smoke/fire that has been leading them isn't proof enough, they're willing to go back to slavery. ( It also serves as evidence that God was going to use the Red Sea incident to prove himself further. The plagues proved He could defeat the Egyptian 'gods' and now He is going to prove he can beat them on the human plane as well.)

Exodus 14:15 - 16 cracks me up:
The the Lord said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the ater so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground."
Sheesh...come on Moses...get a move on!!!
So at this point does Moses smack his forehead?
"Doh!! Of course..I forgot the magic water splitting dry ground making stick!!!

The next bit we know...the Israelites make it across on dry ground, wall of water on either side, and the Egyptians get drowned. I wonder if Moses felt any sense of remorse when he stretched out his staff over the sea and drowned all of Pharaoh's army?

In any case the Israelites whoop it up. The celebratory song in Ex 15 has a bit of a neener neener neener tone to it. And THIS bit seems to be evidence that their bondage WAS oppressive.
Whichever is true the people now seem ready to trust God, and Moses leadership.

At least for the moment...

The Passover

2009-02-05T07:14:00.000-08:00

Exodus 10:1 - 12:51

I used to think it was somehow unfair of God to harden Pharaoh's heart and thus force Egypt to go through ALL of the plagues. I reconciled that by understanding God's sovereignty certainly but I couldn't quite get it.
What struck me this morning is that what I think God was really up to in all of the plagues was showing HIS people who He was.
The Israelite people have been in Egypt for 400 plus years, probably with little more than Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and perhaps some Joseph stories handed down. When God shows up and communicates through Moses He comes in with a rather significant display.
If you look closely too and do even a tiny bit of research you find out that each of the plagues goes right in the face of one of the gods in the Egyptian pantheon, Seth, Imhotep, Ra...they all take a hit when they're powerless against the God of Israelites.
Now imagine these folks who have been living in slavery in Egypt for 400 years surrounded by the Egyptian religious infrastructure...some of them HAD to have been influenced in their beliefs.
So God hears their cry, shows up, and quite clearly demonstrates His superiority before He ever leads them out the door. Proving who he is AND proving His power over the so called gods of the Egyptians.
All the while somehow managing to make the Egyptian people favorably disposed towards the Israelites...they must have been TICKED with Pharaoh who just wouldn't give it up.
In the end it seems even Pharaoh has an inkling as to who is in charge:
Exodus 12:31
During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. Take you flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me"
As cool as the stuff that is coming is...the pillar of fire, the parting of the Red Sea, it had to have been awesome to live in Goshen and see God's display of power in the plagues.

Moses and Pharaoh

2009-02-04T08:50:00.000-08:00

Exodus 4:18 - 9:35

After all of his attempts to get out of going before Pharaoh Moses goes and asks his father-in-law for permission to go to Egypt. God tells him right up front, "Look you're going to go tell Pharaoh to let the people go and he is going to say no. Just perform the signs and ride it out...he'll keep saying no." On the one hand not very encouraging but on the other I would think Moses would have to at least have some small sense of comfort in knowing that God had a plan...since he obviously knew what would happen in this first bit. In fact in 4:22-23 God foreshadows the eventual outcome:
"Then say to Pharaoh, This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, 'Let my son go, so he may worship me'. But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son." God is already informing Moses that the signs won't work, that Pharaoh's heart will be hardened, that he won't let the people go and that in the end he'll have to kill the firstborn of Egypt!

The next bit is a little odd...God shows up while Moses is on his way back to Egypt...and apparently wants to kill Moses. (Ex 4:24) I'm almost wondering if Moses was being disobedient in regards to circumcising his son and so he downplays this episode when he writes the story.
All turns out well when Zipporah whips out the flint knife and performs a field circumcision.

It is also interesting that when Moses and Aaron first show up Pharaoh treats them like a nuisance...(Ex5:4)"Moses and Aaron why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work!"
He's the king for crying out loud!
But he chooses to play the political manipulation card rather than dealing directly with these two...(Ex5:7)
You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don't reduce the quota.
From there things unfold pretty much like God said they would:
the signs won't work, that Pharaoh's heart will be hardened, he won't let the people go and in the end he'll have to kill the firstborn of Egypt!

I wonder if Moses secretly kept a checklist?

Enter Moses

2009-02-02T14:50:00.000-08:00

Exodus 1:1 - 4:17

Our story begins with Israel in bondage in Egypt. It has been some 400 or so years since Joseph and the Egyptians are beginning to fear that the Hebrews are becoming too numerous.
I think it is cool that God sheltered His people within Egypt so that the fledgling nation could grow to formidable size without need to sort out how to govern itself or fend off outside enemies. It would be easy to look at it as a negative that they cry out to God in misery and slavery but it seems that a strong and numerous people has grown up under those conditions.
I guess I never caught it before that Moses was from the priestly tribe of Levi. Well, yes, I know it Aaron was of Levi AND was Moses' brother it should have been a no-brainer but I just never caught it...that he was from the clan of the priests.

It is interesting to ponder how much of his family history Moses was aware of at the point where he runs away. If we're to believe the Charlton Heston version he knew of it but didn't know it intimately.

In any case he comes across the burning bush and has his chat with God. Which would freak me out something fierce but he seems to be fine with it.
You do have to love Moses' excuses though:
Who/why me?
Who should I say sent me again?
What if they don't believe me?
I don't talk so good!
Send someone else!!

God doesn't buy any of it...
"Pick up your stick and get with it!"

The End of an Era

2009-02-02T07:40:00.000-08:00

Genesis 46:9 - 50:26

Starting in Genesis 45 we get the end of the Joseph story and the end of the tale of the Patriarchs.
I love God's comment to Jacob (Israel) in 46:3-4
"Don't not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph's own hand will close you eyes."
The juxtaposition here is cool..."I will make you into a great nation" takes 400 some odd years while "...Joseph's own hand will close your eyes." is 17 years later. This seems like one more example of God sharing His plan without explicitly sharing His time-line.

I think it might be worth studying further the blessing that Jacob gives to Joseph's sons.
He crisscrosses his hands and gives the blessing of the first born to the second born son.
So we get Ishmael and Isaac where the second son is blessed with the greater promises.
Jacob and Esau where it happens again..granted via different means.
And now Ephraim and Manasseh.

The rest of Jacob's blessings on his sons are interesting too.
Reuben is "removed" from his prestigious position as first born because he slept with his father's concubine.( Gen 35:22)
Simeon and Levi fail to inherit the firstborn blessing because of their desecration of Shechem.
(Gen 34:25)
Judah, though referred to as the strongest and the leader and he from whom kings will descend also seems to have had some skeletons in his closet.
The blessing due the firstborn actually goes to Joseph's sons...the firstborn of the first choice wife or something.

I also find it interesting that while it appears the Jacob could not control his sons worth a lick they seem to think that Joseph's wrath was only kept in check by their father being alive. (Gen 50:15)
So, all in all...weird details in the midst of the story, a LOT of superstitious and devious activity, but seems like a happy ending...almost reminds me of my college years.
DOH!

Joseph's brothers come to Egypt

2009-01-29T06:53:00.000-08:00

Genesis 42:1 - 44:34

"Grovel, grovel, cringe, bow, stoop, fall
Worship, worship, beg, kneel, sponge, crawl"
I love that song...
If you've not seen it you really do need to see Jospeh and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat...fabulous musical.

Imagine what it would have been like to be Joseph, going through your daily routine of doling out the grain, when a group of Canaanites show up, bow to the ground before you, and you recognize it is your brothers. It has been more than 20 years since you had the dreams that showed you that this would happen. I would think you'd get the chills, the hair on the back of your neck would stand up, your heart rate would increase. I almost wonder if he accuses them of being spies because it is the first thing that comes to mind in his excited state.

I love the way he works them though and gets them to bring back Benjamin. He seems to have gone from dreamer to schemer but then again that trait was probably inherited from his dad.

It would be interesting to know a little more about the family dynamic between the brothers. In the original plot to get rid of Joseph Reuben steps up to save his life but doesn't step up enough to thwart the plan entirely. Judah then steps forward with the sales idea.

When the brothers now come back with the requirement to take Benjamin back to Egypt it is Reuben who first offers to take responsibility...probably his role as the oldest. Israel (Jacob) turns that offer down...even though Reuben offers the lives of his own two sons as guarantee...why is it that these people always go straight to "If I prove to be wrong you can kill someone"? Sheesh...
In the next instance though it is Judah who offers himself as surety.
Was it that these two out of all the rest were feeling the most guilt over what they did to Joseph?

I wonder what Joseph was thinking though when he planted the cup. Did he know his brothers would offer up death and slavery? Or was he just playing it as it unfolded? I'll have to remember to ask him that when we finally meet.

(Ok, that just generated a crazy mental image: We all get to heaven one day, check into our mansions and a few block over is the gated community where the patriarchs and hero's of the bible live. There are a series of tables set up like a pre-Super Bowl press conference where the guys convene each day to take questions. Joseph has a HUGE throng in front of his table, Judah seems to have a large number of folks too as Jesus comes from his line. Naphtali, Asher and Dan are all sitting at one table together selling the complete line of 12 brothers action figures in hopes of generating some interest in what they might be able to add to the story...there is Andrew Lloyd Weber music playing in the background featuring the "ORIGINAL" cast)

It seems to me that Judah steps up here and takes an even stronger leadership role when he pleads for Benjamin's life...of course he is the one who guarantees Benjamin's safety in the first place. He doesn't plead for his own life, rather, he pleads for his father's health.

Maybe Judah has come of age.

Joseph the interpreter of dreams

2009-01-28T13:23:00.000-08:00

Genesis 40:1 - 41:57

"Well I was walking along the banks of the river when seven fat cows came out of the Nile uh uh huh...whoa yeah."

It is interesting that when the cup bearer and chief baker have their dreams Joseph steps right up confidently and says that God will tell him the interpretation of the dreams. It makes me wonder if he has had some experience with dream interpretation before this.
Back in chapter 37 Joseph himself had two dreams that rather ticked his family off. We're told their reactions but we're never told what Joseph thought in terms of their meaning. From his reaction to Pharaoh's servants we can assume that Joseph has been able to discern the meaning of dreams before...in whatever way he is "hearing" their meaning from God. If that is true then he has GOT to be wondering when the events he saw in his earlier dreams will come to pass.

In this instance with the cup bearer and baker the time to fulfillment of the dreams is in the dreams themselves...three days.
Two years later, when Pharaoh has his dreams, Joseph says:
Genesis 41:32 - "The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it soon."
But hang on...Joseph had HIS original dream in two forms and he seems to know God's formula on dreams: 2 times, different forms = It has been firmly decided and will occur soon
so if he has known that from some earlier conversation with the Lord it has got to be driving him crazy that HIS dreams have not yet come to fruition.
Beyond THAT it makes me wonder if he would have found himself second in command in Egypt through some route other than slavery and prison had he been less cocky from the beginning?!?!
Joseph was 17 when we meet him and his coat. He is 30 when he enters Pharaoh's service.
That makes 23 years of wondering when his dreams will actually come true.
A shorter wait than Abraham had so maybe Joseph knew his family lore well enough to know that "soon" in God's economy is different than "soon" in man's.
Remind me not to pray for patience in waiting for God's promises.
Just trust and go with the flow.

Joseph and the amazing technicolor dream coat

2009-01-27T09:49:00.000-08:00

Genesis 37:1 - 39:23

I couldn't resist...it's my wife's favorite musical.
I even got to perform it several years ago. I had the role of Pharaoh...and either Reuben or Dan, I don't remember which brother.
Anyway...

The start of the story of Joseph is interesting to me in that we're told it is the account of Jacob.
I would take that to mean that at least in part we're going to learn something about Jacob by reading about Joseph.
So as I read it:

37:2 This is the account of Jacob
Joseph tattles
37:3 Jacob loved Joseph the most gives him a coat
37: 5-11 Joseph has to cocky dreams that make the family mad
37:14 Jacob send Joseph to "check on" his brothers who are working while he is not

I suppose what I see of Jacob is that he is not the world's greatest dad. He seems to have no clue about what is going on with his kids...OR he is so far beyond being able to keep them in line that he is using Joseph as his spy...in either case NOT GOOD.
Obviously the brothers are dealing with more than average sibling rivalry when Joseph shows up. Maybe they're also worrying about their family history and folks absconding with dad's blessing?
In any event Reuben has always seemed to me like he is stepping up...give Joe some grief then cut him some slack.
Judah seems to be in it for the money...of course he may be thinking about how to afford shrine prostitutes.
The interjection of the story of Judah in chapter 38 seems like an odd addition but if I read it as "the account of Jacob" then maybe it is further indictment of him as a dad.
It seems obvious that God wants to knock some of the cockiness out of Joseph.
But Joe is at least smart enough not to bite the hand that feeds him when Potiphar's wife comes after him.
Of course you might expect that God would bless Joseph for his obedience there...instead He throws him in jail. Apparently the boy still had somewhat to learn.

Once again it seems God is looking into something deeper than actions and words when He decides to bless or withhold blessing.

Jacob, Laban, Easu

2009-01-26T07:00:00.000-08:00

Genesis: 28:10 - 35:29

What a mess.
I didn't blog over the weekend because, quite frankly, this whole set of stories is catching me off guard this time.
Multiple wives, sons sleeping with father's concubines, daughters sleeping with fathers, lying, cheating, stealing, deception...and this all from the "good guys"!!??!
I can see where you would get all kinds of divergent theological systems just out of these few chapters of Genesis.

Rebekah is told the older will serve the younger and yet she helps Jacob deceive his way into Esau's blessing. Hence we get the old adage: "God helps those who help themselves"
The apparently obvious lack of punishment for all the deceit could easily lead to arguments in favor of predestination and the distinction between those chosen and those not chosen.
Do you read these and become a covenant theologian or a dispensational theologian or both?
"Saved by grace not by works" otherwise most of these folks aren't saved!

Maybe we just need to turn these stories on their heads and realize that we ALL fall short of the Glory of God and His forgiveness is boundless if we turn to Him. Maybe the part of the story that we read through too lightly is not the seemingly bad stuff but rather the bits where these characters return to the Lord. Maybe in those bits they are expressing a deeper repentance than the words on the page are letting on. Maybe in that we can find hope that whatever we do, up to and including murder in the case of Israel's older sons, can be and is forgiven by God.
These stories certainly put a HUGE dent in the argument that God rewards instances of doing good and punishes instances of doing bad.
Maybe there is a deeper place in the heart that God sees that we can't see at all in others perhaps only get the tiniest glimpse of even within our own selves.
Maybe these generational stories are analogous to the decline that will happen later in Israel. Abraham is faithful, Isaac seems to be a little wavering, Jacob seems to really wobble back and forth...that kind of decline happens multiple times as we'll see in Kings and Chronicles.
But God is faithful through it all...maybe that is the point.

Isaac, Esau, and Jacob

2009-01-23T06:45:00.000-08:00

Genesis 28:10 - 30:43

Imagine for a moment reading this story as pure literature...no faith based prejudice.
You would no doubt see Rebekah and Jacob as the bad guys in the story.
From a woman's point of view we might be persuaded that Esau had gone against his parents wishes and married Canaanite women and that was perhaps the last straw in drawing Rebekah closer to her other son Jacob. We might be persuaded that she believed Jacob to be better suited to carry on Isaac's legacy. But it still seems like it is all a little on the dark side.
And these are the good guys?!?!?
Abraham and Isaac pulling the "she's my sister" trick was one thing...there were shreds of truth in the background of those deceptions. Jacob claiming to be Esau at the behest of his mother is out and out lying with the intent being illicit gain.
This doesn't fit into our modern day nicely packaged high moral standard Christianity.
(Ok, they weren't Christians yet but that argument would open a whole 'nother can of worms.)

Isaac's blessing is interesting too. It seems like there is a bag of goodies that he has that he can give out in a blessing and the he empties the bag on Jacob. Then, when Easu shows up, he's got nothing left:
"Your dwelling will be away from the earth's richness, away from the dew of heaven above. You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother, But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck."

Now, I have two sons and I have to think that if I had emptied the goodie bag on my younger son and added in there that his brother would serve him I probably would have shot for something more like this with my older son:
"You will serve your brother with faithfulness and courage and you will be blessed by the bounty of his table and the bound between you will be like that of the salt in the sea."
Give the guy something at least!

Isaac seems to get over his anger because we get a later interaction between the two when Isaac sends Jacob off to find a wife from amongst his mother's people.

This is two generations in a row where the second son is chosen by God to inherit the blessing given to Abraham. Had Jacob not schemed would the blessing have gone to Esau? Had Sarah not asked Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away would Ishmael's inherentance have taken on a different tenor?

Maybe the intent of this story really is to remind us that God's plan will be accomplished even if the available tools are flawed, maybe it is a story of fogiveness, or sovreignty, or a combination of those things...Probably best to steer wide around some of these bits though when conversing with folks who aren't yet believers.

Them could be some deep weeds.

Isaac - The next generation

2009-01-22T10:09:00.000-08:00

Genesis 25 - 26

The story of Isaac always feels to me a little bit like the second "Back to the Future" movie...just a link really between part one and part three, cool bits to the story but not a great deal of stand alone value on the surface of it.

There seems to be a great deal of strife and conniving in today's reading.

You do have to love Abraham having 6 more sons AFTER his 100th birthday. Would have had a potential career as a spokesperson for certain pharmaceutical companies...

We get to see Jacob's early career as a schemer...selling a bowl of stew for his brother's birthright. Esau seems to be a "live for the moment" kind of guy and if this story is meant as any indication that approach to life doesn't seem to work out to well, at least not in this instance.

Abimelech doesn't appear to be the sharpest tool in the shed either. There is no reason to believe that this is anyone other than the same Abimelech that Abraham fooled with the old, "my wife is really my sister" trick. Isaac has learned from his family lore that this trick works out well so when he moves to Gerar to ride out the famine he pulls the same ploy.
One has to wonder where the whole "Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife" scene happened. Because obviously Isaac let his cover down at that point.
Abimelech's reaction though is interesting. He doesn't 'punish' Isaac in anyway but rather he tells his people to give Isaac and Rebekah a wide berth or die.
Does he do this because he recognizes that Isaac has a tight relationship with God?
Does he do this because Isaac has a lot of servants / associates who represent a significant military force?
I can't pictue him reacting that way towards a poor nomadic run of the mill shepherd no matter how many flocks the guy has.
In any event Isaac becomes rich while in Gerar much as his father did before him.
Eventually he is asked to move away because he has "become too powerful"...this leads me to believe that the disputes over wells were no overt agression but covert persuasion done within the bounds of culturally accepted norms. Isaac seems to behave in confidence that the land will be his based on God's promise to his father and doesn't exert his own power or immediate influence even though the text seems to hint at the fact that he could have taken that approach.
The military prowess argument seems to be supported when Abimelech brings out his advisor and military commander to make a treaty with Isaac.

So we get a picture of a shrewd man who builds up his strength seemingly walking in the ways of his father and trusting in god for what He has promised. A real salt of the earth kind of guy.
Maybe his bumper sticker read..."Things will work out great so long as I don't screw it up."
And it seems he managed to avoid screwing it up.
Kudos.

Genesis 22:1 - 24:67

2009-01-21T07:25:00.000-08:00

Abraham and Isaac

If you grew up in church in the pre-technology era you can probably, like me, picture this story being played out on the flannel board in Sunday school. (If you're too young to know what that means it is your loss!!) A couple things that struck me this morning:

God shows up and give Abraham the instructions and the next thing we're told is that he got up early the next and went. No debate, no lingering, simple obedience.
It takes three days to get to the place God instructed him to go, long enough to think about what he is doing, and yet he continues in Obedience.
Then there is the visual metaphor of Isaac carrying wood upon which he will be sacrificed foreshadowing Jesus' ordeal.
Then we get the new blessing.

The initial covenant with Abram back in chapter 17 was that his descendants would inherit the land and the God would be their God. This newer piece seems to be an additional blessing as a result of Abraham's faith.:
"...through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."

I love the next couple verses of haggling:

"The cost of the field is 400 shekels but what is that between you and me?" From this we get the stereotype of the middle eastern merchant.

I confess I need to do more study on culture norms of the time but when the servant shows up, scouts out the well looking for the good looking wife for Isaac, asks for water, then busts out the nose ring....I'm not thinking that approach would work very well today.

Interesting though that God's blessing in chapter 23 includes:
"Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies."
And the blessing that Rebekah's family gives her as she leaves includes:
"...may your offspring possess the gates of their enemies."

Argue revisionist history if you want but I like the symetry.

Genesis 19:1 - 21:34

2009-01-20T07:00:00.000-08:00

Sodom, Gamorrah, and Abraham's investment scheme

The destruction of these two evil cities is a fairly well known Bible story. I think it shows that God was still pretty intimately involved in men's affairs on earth in a very physical sense at this point.
I find it interesting that Abraham bargained God down from fifty people to ten in order to keep the cities from being destroyed (Gen 18:22-33) and then it turns out there were only 4 who were allowed to leave. Abraham should have done his homework.
The description of the destruction sounds like volcanic activity to me...something that struck me more clearly this time...what with burning sulfur raining down and the destruction of the entire plain...probably from lava flow. Even Lot's wife turning into a "pillar of salt" sounds like a reasonable description of a body that has had all the water evaporated out of it due to great heat. Even the fact that Abraham looks the next morning and sees smoke rising from the area seems to support a volcanic eruption. (Not that is HAS to be that but I think God tends to use the tools atr hand rather than going out of his way to throw in one-offs.)

Interesting too is the pleading of Lot that he can't possibly make it to the mountains but would rather go to the small town of Zoar. Of course he is permitted to do so but then quickly leaves Zoar because he is afraid to stay there....and goes to the mountains:
"God I know you have a plan but couldn't we do it my way instead?"
"Ok, I'll allow you to try it your way."
"Wow, this isn't working out. Let's do it God's way instead."
Important time saving tip: Do it God's way the first time.

Lot's daughetrs obviously have an intersting moral perspective, no doubt as a result of being surrounded by the morality of Sodom and Gamorrah growing up.

Then we come to Abraham's traveling investment scheme:
"Anytime we go someplace that has wealth potential you say you're my sister. That way the ruler of the area will take you in, (apparently Sarah is SO good looking she is desireable even when she is 'old and well advamnced in years') be convicted by God of the error of his ways, and pay us off in livestock, land, and loot."

I had the chance to spend some time in Ukraine as a missionary and I remember going with a friend there to get train tickets to Kiev. We were traveling with an entire football team and we needed to get tickets on a supposedly "sold out" train. My friend told me that "sold out" meant merely that we were expected to pay a bribe. I was perplexed because I wanted to explain that we should trust God...but he said the bribe was simple enough: "Autographed picutre of the team and some chocolates". Of course it all worked out and we got the tickets just fine.
That has always reminded me a bit of Abraham's dealings here.
We can read it as him trusting himself rather than God I suppose.
Or we could read it as him understanding the system and playing it wisely with a dash of God showing up to protect the innocent...in this case Abimelech and in the last instance Pharaoh.

I'm not sure HOW to interpret it but I have told my wife that if we ever have occassion to eat dinner with a billionaire she shouldn't be surprised if I introduce her as 'my sister'.

Genesis 16:1 - 18:33

2009-01-19T11:48:00.000-08:00

The beginnings of Middle East conflict

I sometimes wonder what would have happened had Abram not taken his wife up on the offer of sleeping with her handmaiden.
Nice marital strife at the start of today's read...Sarai offers Hagar and then blames HIM for her being pregnant. Well sure, on one hand yes...but come on give me a break here...

Several interesting bits though:

Ishmael:
16:12 -"...his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand will be against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers."

I also wonder what is going on when it is clearly the "angel of the Lord" who shows up and promises Hagar: "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count."

But the blessing that comes to the children of Sarai through the promise to Abram is from the Lord, clearly identified when He says, "I am God Almighty."

Is the angel promising on his own word? Which angel? There seems to be a distinction here.

Interesting too that God's covenant with Abraham, because he gets the name change here, is:
17:7-8
"I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for generations to comes, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you, and I will be their God."

Without even being TOO liberal one could interpret that to mean the peoples that would eventually becomes both the Jewish AND Muslim nations of the Middle East...all of them descendants of Abraham, each following after the "God of Abraham".
I don't think I am ready to go there just yet but I'd be willing to accept someone's perspective who wanted to debate that point.

No wonder things are such a mess over there.

Genesis 11:27 - 15:21

2009-01-18T07:38:00.000-08:00

We meet Abram

Another interesting read today.
I never caught it before but Abram's father Terah was taking everybody from Ur of the Chaldeans to Caanan and along the way they stopped and settled in Haran.

If you grew up in church you know the bit that is in 15:7 -
"I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take3 possession of it."

The thing that caught me this time though was that the response to this "calling" was begun by Terah. I always thought of it as: God spoke, Abram went. But in context Abram was already going, in response to God's calling, before God even spoke the words. Otherwise God would have said something like , "I brought you out of Haran...".

I always am intruiged too by Abram's trip to Egypt. Aside from the fact that this is the first of several instances of God calling his chosen one(s) out of Egypt, I find it interesting that Abram shows up, kind of works the system by saying that Sarai is his "sister", and then is blessed because of it! Scripture tells us she is his half-sister so it isn't an out and out lie but I'm not sure how to interpret his actions and God's respone to them.

We also get the first reference to the "Hebrew's" in 14:13..
"One who escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew..."
Just a quick glance on the internet shows multiple interpretations of THAT title.

Melchizedek shows up.
Try looking up theories on THIS guy...including one that points out genealogically how this could be Shem, the son of Noah, Abram's multiple great grandfather!
The phrase "a priest after the order of Melchizedek" will show up later in scripture too so this is not an insignificant guy.

Sheesh, one day's reading and I could wind up sturying just these bits for WEEKS.

Job 40:1 - 42:17

2009-01-17T08:11:00.000-08:00

God finishes His say

Job comes clean, admitting he has nothing to say in answer to God's reminding him of who God is.

I find the pattern of conversation interesting in this section:

Job admits he has no answer
God questions Job's ability to dispense justice
God gives two examples from creation (behemoth and leviathan) of His might
Job 'remembers' who God is

Remember Job has never cursed God throughout the book but he HAS questioned God's justice. So here God goes right to it, asking Job if he believes that he knows better than God how to dispense justice.
I don't think it is important that WE know what creatures are referred to when God speaks of behemoth and leviathan but my guess would be that the five guys present DO know what He is talking about and they understand the illustration: That God, who created these incredible beasts, also can control them in ways beyond man's comprehension.
After being severely dressed won by God Job confesses that he spoke of things he "did not understand".
God then turns to the 'friends' and says that they have not spoken of Him "what is right" as Job has.
It's easy to skip right through God's punishment of the 'friends' but I think it is some pretty significant stuff:

sacrifice 7 bulls and 7 rams:
Not a cheap offering to be sure, a rather costly one actually.
And not just one, but 7...a number representing perfection
And not just sacrifice but Job must also pray for them
Sacrifice AND intercession in order that God might forgive them of their folly.
Wow.
Of course then we get the happy ending where God's justice DOES seem to show up in a way we understand it and Job winds up better off than he had been before.

I'm almost tempted to want to start over with this book and study it much more in depth. There is a lot more here than I have imagined in the past...seems like a lot of early symbolism.

Good Stuff

Job 38:1-39:30

2009-01-16T07:01:00.000-08:00

The Lord shows up to have His say.

This section doesn't start well for Job.
The storm that seems to have been approaching in the previous chapters has now arrived.
"Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm"

God starts off with what seems like a condemnation of Elihu, who was speaking at the end of the previous chapter:
"Who is this that darkens My counsel with words without knowledge?"
But if you read ahead a little you find out that He is talking about Job.

Then comes the bit we'd not want to hear from our earthly fathers let alone our heavenly father:
"Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me."

DOH!!

The thing that seems key to me here is that God is not disciplining Job for sin but rather for a lack of faith. In his complaining, his arguing for wanting a hearing, Job forgot who God is, forgot His sovereignty.
There is a pretty constant theme throughout the old testament of "remembering".
Remembering what God has done in a specific place: Samuel setting up the Ebenezer stone.
Remembering what God has promised: The rainbow given as a sign to Noah
Remembering what God has spoken: Joshua setting up the stone at Shechem.
Remembering what God has done for His people: The passover
...and numerous other examples.

So here in this early story of Job we see how important it is for us to remember who God is in terms of His sovereignty, His majesty, His power, His creativity, His wisdom. etc.etc.

Again, Job's complaint, "Let me at least face my accuser (God) and present my case because I am wronged!", is way out of line when help up the the light of God saying, "Do you remember who I AM ?"

It makes me wonder how often I allow circumstances, dire or otherwise, to shape my mental picture of God.
How good are we at remembering?

Job 35:1-37:24

2009-01-15T06:44:00.000-08:00

Elihu throws it down today...
I started reading this and again it sounded like Job's 'friends'.
But then I slowed down to try to catch whether this was a different sort of argument.
Elihu seems to reminding Job, pointing out to him what he already knows about God.
Almost as if he is saying, "Look, quit asking where God is in all this, instead hold on to the fact that you know God rescues the afflicted. Instead of focusing on your problem focus on what you know about God."

It's almost like Elihu is the herald, giving a little taste of what God is about to say when He shows up.

Consider the fact that the second half of chapter 36 and most of chapter 37 almost seem to be describing a literal storm that they can see approaching them as they talk:

36:30 See how He scatters His lightning about Him,
bathing the depths of the sea.

36:32 He fills His hands with lightning
and commands it to strike its mark.
36:33 His thunder announces the coming storm
even the cattle make known its approach.

37:2 Listen, listen to the roar of His voice
to the rumbling that comes from His mouth.
37:3 He unleashes His lightning beneath the whole heaven
and sends it to the ends of the earth.
37:4 After that comes the sound of His roar;
He thunders with His majestic voice.
When His voice resounds
He holds nothing back.
37:5 God's voice thunders in marvelous ways;
He does great things beyond our understanding

All of this followed by a seemingly simple sentence at the start of chapter 38:
Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm.

Elihu bothers me, if I am being honest, when he says things like:
Be assured that my words are not false;
one perfect in knowledge is with you

But he seems to be speaking correctly.
So is he arrogant? Don't think so or God would probably have had words for him.
Confident? certainly
Angelic perhaps? Who knows...

In any case his words announce the arrival of the Lord...who shows up tomorrow.

Job 32:1-34:37 - The unknown youngster

2009-01-14T06:44:00.000-08:00

Suddenly we get a new character in the drama.
Elihu, "He is my God", son of Barakel, "God blesses"

He gives a nod to the older gentlemen, claiming to have remained silent out of respect for their seniority, then he launches.
It is easy to just read through this almost skimming over the surface because it sounds so much like what has gone on for most of the previous chapters. But if you skim ahead to the end of the book ( My wife does that all the time ) you find that while God is not pleased with the other three friends He doesn't have anything bad to say about Elihu. That alone makes him interesting.

So what is different about Elihu's argument?

The previous quadrilog (Conversation between 4 people) has been mainly comprised of Job complaining of his uprightness and his three 'friends' arguing he must have unconfessed, hidden, ongoing, secret sin. In truth neither party has caused the other to budge a single inch.
Job has been crying out for the opportunity to present his case before God.

Elihu doesn't try to convince Job that he MUST have sinned as the others have done. Instead he argues God's character. (Keep that in mind when God shows up in a day or two.)

It seems to me that perhaps Job has been arguing his innocence based on man's economy. "I've done what was required of me."
Where Elihu is making an argument based on God's economic scale. "You may have done what was required of you but how can you even begin to question God when you KNOW that, beyond all temporary circumstance, He is just?"
It could almost be argued that Elihu is saying that ALL men deserve death but that if they have a mediator between themselves and God then they are renewed and God hears their prayers. (33:12-26)

I almost wonder if this is one of those hidden nuggets in the bible that explicitly foreshadows the need for Christ's intervention on man's behalf.

Job 30:1-31:40

2009-01-13T06:52:00.001-08:00

Interesting read this morning.
Job continues his complaint that he has acted righteously and his further complaint that God is silent. It seems to me that what pains him most is God's seeming silence. Time and time again he begs for the opportunity to present his case.
If you take what he is saying in these verses and flip them from negative to positive then Job is claiming that, in his 'account' he has:

Wept for those in trouble and grieved for the poor
Remained pure as regards sexual immorality
Been honest in his business dealings
Treated his servants justly
Fed the poor, widows and orphans
Clothed those in need
Rightly understood that his wealth was from the Lord
Guarded his tongue
Provided materially for his employees
Opened his home to strangers in need
Confessed his sin
Kept clean books

...and by God's own account in chapter one none of this is exaggeration!
Yet in the midst of losing everything he still hasn't made the complaint that so many make today, "I did all of that for nothing, forget trying to be good."
The fact that he doesn't go there seems to indicate something about Job's heart.
He did all that he did in the above list out of a love for God, a love that survives even though Job feels like he has been the victim of terrible injustice at the hand of God.

His 'friends' have been making the black and white argument:
"You sin, you lose it all. Therefore, Job, you're guilty."
Job seems to have been saying, "I used to think that too but now I realize I have seen the wicked prosper and I KNOW I am right with God so I'd just like to be able to plead my case, or die."
It is God's silence on the matter that he is lamenting.

Today finishes with: "The words of Job are ended"
So we get to hear closing arguments from the three stooges next.

Through the Bible

2009-01-12T16:27:00.001-08:00

As previously mentioned I, along with a fair number of other folks in our organization, have taken on the discipline of reading through the bible in 2009. I thought this might be a good place to start to record thoughts from each days readings.
As we move here through the end of week two and into week three I'll start with some catching up:

Jan 1 - Jan 4:
Creation - Noah

A couple thoughts from the creation story:

The serpent's speech seems to be the prototype for Satan's prime argument against God:

"He's lying to you. He's withholding good things from you...and I'll throw in some twisted truth to make it sound plausible." ie: "when you eat of it you will become like God"

Adam's attempt to blame God for his eating of the apple is always amusing and convicting at the same time: "The woman...who YOU put her with me...SHE gave me the fruit of the tree and I ate it." Not my fault man!!!
The argument of Cain is always intriguing: "If you sent me away people will find me and kill me" Who? What people? Either there are folks outside the garden...or more plausibly, Cain has had some conversation with God about what the "subduing of the earth" is going to look like and know folks might come after him down the road.

The next big thing is Noah:

"...a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God."

I think this is the first time I have ever caught the fact that when Noah enters the ark he takes two of every kind of animal but also 7 of every kind of clean animal and every kind of bird.
(Of course clean vs unclean is established until Moses time so he would have had a more comprehensive list than "clean vs unclean". It's handy to catch that tidbit because if you don't you'll wonder why, after only a year in the ark, he comes out and starts sacrificing animals!!! If he only started with two of each that sacrificing bit would put a serious dent is his plans for animal husbandry and global restoration!!

Next comes the "Tower of Babel" as almost a footnote:

The thing that strikes me here is that there still seems to be some different kind of commerce going back and forth between heavenly creatures and earthly creatures. Genesis 6:1-4 seems to indicate that angels were in regular contact with men. (Just as it seems that God himself "walked" with the folks in the garden.) Then in Genesis 11:1-9 God scatters man, either to further subdue the earth OR as part of a change in how man and heavenly beings will be interacting henceforth. Either way we only get to see the earthly side of the conversation.

Which leads us next...to Job:
(You have to love the chronological Bible!!)

Important to remember that Job is first described as being blameless and upright. (If you forget that bit then you'll think he is being arrogant and/or blasphemous later on.)
The next interesting bit is that satan shows up with the other angels. Hasn't he fallen already? Is he allowed to come back into the throne room after having fallen? What IS his status at this point? Notes on the text indicate that 'satan' means 'accuser'...so is he the prosecuting attorney?
Interesting too that it is God who brings up Job..."Have you considered my servant Job?" ...it isn't as though satan has his eye on Job and comes in looking to take him out.
I love the exchange that happens after that where satan claims that Job only fears God because God has blessed Job. "But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face." I have this picture in my minds eye of God looking over the edge of his glasses kind of glancing down at satan. "Do, you see what you're saying you angelic being who was once blessed with everything much as Job is blessed? Are you not now using Job as your excuse for cursing me after that fall?" (of course we've not yet decided if satan is fallen at this point but I enjoy the picture anyway.)

Which brings us more or less up to current.
The last week or so has been the exchange between Job and his "friends"

Thoughts on Job anyone?

And now for something completely different...`09

2009-01-08T07:52:00.001-08:00

I somehow seem to have managed to skip through all of December sans post. So I do need to clear out a few cobwebs I guess. December looked like this:
-getting ready for Christmas
-kids getting off school
-computer crashes due to faulty wiring in the wall
-wiring gets fixed, computer saved
-fun Christmas at home
-New Years

This year brings us new president, that should be interesting and already has been to some degree. For me it also brings two new disciplines.

1. Training for triathlons once again. This means exercising AND dieting. The dieting thing has been on for just under a week now, down 5 of the target 45 pounds to lose. I'm hoping the food headaches will all be done by tomorrow or the next day. The exercising challenge is to find time in the day. Looks like it will work out at lunchtime.

2. Reading through the bible in a year. I've made it through before, 2006 and 2007. This year we're doing it as a rather large group of folks. THAT means I'll be posting observations from some of the daily readings here.

Ok, there's the cobwebs cleaned...next post will be on the biblical topics of the daily readings from this week.

'Twas the eve of Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T10:18:00.000-08:00

For years I worked in denominations that traditionally held a Thanksgiving Eve service.
The dialogue below was originally performed by my wife and I 10 years or so ago at a one of those services.
Feel free to use this as you may have need.
Happy Thanksgiving!!

‘Twas the eve of Thanksgiving
by Curtis O. Fletcher

Wife: ‘Twas the eve of Thanksgiving and all through the town
gentle breezes were blowing the snow falling down.
The turkey was thawing quite slowly, with care
because all the relatives soon would be there.

Husband: (interrupting with slight exasperation)
The uncles and aunts and the sisters and brothers
with husbands and wives and significant others.

Wife: (continuing)
While I for my kerchief was starting to search
because we were already quite late for church.

Husband: (with animation)
When out from the kitchen arose such a clatter
I sprang from the couch to see what was the matter.
I slipped on the floor and I fell with a crash,
My head landed in the dogs dish with a splash!
Then the water began in its merciless flow
To saturate coat shirt and trousers below…
Then my eyes saw the reason for what I had heard
Those idiot dogs were devouring the bird!!
They had gotten it down from the counter quite quick
It was hard to believe they had pulled such a trick
Then more quickly then lightning my lovely wife came

Wife: And I heard as he called both the doggies bad names!

Husband: (loudly, with anger)
You two frapdahobes are in need of a fixin’!

Wife: Then he dove on the dogs and they started in mixin’
They rolled cross the floor and crashed into the wall
Water, turkey and stuffing now covered them all
Then out to the family room both pooches flew
With my raving mad husband in hot pursuit too
They tangled the cord and knocked over the lamp
They pawed and they pranced and got both couches damp

Husband: I had just caught the one and was turning around
When the other mutt leapt on my back with a bound

Wife: (Starting to find it all humorous)
They all fell in a heap at the fireplace foot
Where they kicked up large billows of ashes and soot

Husband: The dogs had me pinned laying flat on my back
For my head had bounced off of the bricks with a crack
So it goes without saying I wasn’t too merry
With a knot on the back of my head like a cherry
I arose, grabbed the dogs and gave them the heave-ho
Out into the backyard in the cold and the snow

Wife: (smiling, trying not to laugh)
He stood hands on hips panting hard through clenched teeth
Angry steam coming off of his head like a wreath
I tried not to laugh and held on to my belly
For he looked quite a sight, soiled, sooty, and smelly

Husband: Then I slammed the back door which brought down the loose shelf

Wife: And I laughed when I saw it in spite of myself

Husband: As the contents came cascading down on my head

Wife: I thought for a moment I’d something to dread

Husband: As the last chotchkie bounced off my noggin I jerked
And was struck with a thought that had struck me at work
(slowing, trying to remember something)
Now…I’ll try to remember just how the verse goes
Or at least I’ll come close…
Wife: …that’s ok I suppose.

Husband: (softening, realizing he’s been foolish)
In the bible it says that amongst Christian ranks
Should be found people who always are giving thanks
And a Christian who always is thankful is not
A person who says to God, “Yeah, thanks a lot!”

Wife: Like a wonderful fragrance that delights your nose
Praise and thanks are to God like a heavenly rose
In the midst of life’s most difficult circumstances
Lord because these are the chances
To trust He’ll provide and keep you on your feet
And mature you until you are perfect, complete

Husband: (chuckling)
We both laughed, ope’d the door, to the dogs gave a whistle
And in the hounds flew like the down from a thistle

Wife: please remember this now as you picture the sight

Both: be "thanks-giving" (air commas) for all and to all a good night.

Dawn Patrol - A Winter's Tale

2008-11-25T17:59:00.001-08:00

It took me nearly all day to track this down on an old hard drive.
For those who are entering the season of first snows...
For those who are yearning towards winters offerings...
For those who remember childhood abandon...
This tale is for you:

Dawn Patrol

The sun rode low in the eastern sky and chased the midnight blue
He rousted, climbing slowly up to start the day anew
Then fired he horizon’s edge and woke a billion gems
White diamonds blazing brilliantly like royal diadems

The air was crisp and shimmering as if but freshly born
A whisper would be heard for miles on such a winter’s morn
‘Twas out into this wonderland three would be heroes came
Our voices stilled in reverence we faced the morning flame

Our noses beamed a frozen red and red shone each ones cheeks
And yet we paid no heed for we had watched for this for weeks
As hounds who leap at a foxes scent we quick took up the trail
With heads bent low we forged ahead through winters deep travail

Our breath like locomotive steam ensconced our heads in mist
Each icy inhalation brought my lips a frozen kiss
Disdaining words we would not taint the morning’s holy glow
We summited the peak and found our quarry down below

Eluding us all summer, deftly dodging through the fall
The wily foe below us would soon kneel as our thrall
We glanced at one another, to the heavens gave a nod
Then grimly smiled solemnly like frozen mountain gods

My heartbeat quickened frantically as we prepared our gear
The time had come for which we three had longed almost a year
With practiced skill we took our aim, as one we three let fly
With gaping mouths we loosed our hot and steaming battle cry

Adrenaline swelled my throbbing veins as down the hill we flew
I laughed aside the chilling blades that towards our faces blew
We hit the ramp at fatal speed, into the air we dashed
With pillowed landing far below, the blinding powder splashed

Fists pumping high, three mighty kings, brave conquerors we three
We ‘d braved and beat perdition’s hill and flown amongst the trees
We sat there proud and laughed aloud, bold monarchs on our thrones
And praised the builders of those chairs, Goodyear and Firestone.

Curtis O. Fletcher

More about "endings"

2008-11-21T21:35:00.000-08:00

At the prompting of a trusted friend I've taken a bit of a stroll down memory lane this evening.
Ok, it has been more of a kind of hitching, reeling stumble...but same idea.

I've come to a bit of a conclusion that I hate goodbyes...I deeply hate "endings."

Sure there are times when it the best thing in the WORLD is to get to the end of something...something boring, or tedious, or craptivating.
(Craptivating: adj. something so BAD you can't tear your attention away from it.)
But that is really more of a start, the "start" of something better.

I suppose I am more convinced than ever that God weeps with us when we have a painful goodbye or a sad ending because He KNOWS it was not His wish for us.
How amazing would it have been to walk on the garden in the physical presence of God? And to know that the joys experienced there would continue WITHOUT end...
Someday...

But for now, trapped in a more temporal reality, if you value nothing else, if you have but one ounce of effort left to give, if your glass is down to the dregs...
Pour all that you have left into relationships, into the people you care about and who care about you. For they're gone from our earthly lives all too quickly.
Pour yourself into bringing them to a saving knowledge of Christ in the expectation that one day we'll look back on the endings, together, and chuckle at how such a small thing was so painful at the time. And we'll wonder how it is that we can hardly remember endings at all.

Thoughts on Eternity

2008-11-19T11:38:00.000-08:00

I feel as though I have been swarmed under by a Tsunami of nostalgia.

The last few days were spent at a conference at Disneyland...my favorite vacation spot and home to many, many, many family memories.
As if that weren't enough...
I also spent a couple hours with my brother who delivered a package from my mom: an entire shopping bag full of pictures from my childhood and...letters from several girls I dated while I was in college.
Nothing worth weeping over, no long held regrets of any kind, just a LOT of memories.

Now, back up one week earlier...
I found myself in an odd combination of enjoying my new job, enjoying our new home, realizing things were moving in a great direction and...sad for the neighbors, schools, teams, friends, we'd left behind in the old neighborhood.

How can it be that while I can look back on the old and not have major regrets, look forward from the new and be excited, that I can feel a sense of sad nostalgia?

Then it occurred to me.
I wasn't meant to live with "endings".

If we had somehow managed to stay put, in the garden that is, then we'd have been set for eternal life living with God. That was His original intent for us...that we would live in eternity with Him. The fall has just put us in a place where the path back to that is a bit longer.
We wouldn't have endings there...endings are issues of time so, in eternity, time without end, there would be no endings. Nothing to "look back" on as being "over".
It's hard to wrap the mind around it.

It makes me wonder though if a part of the sadness that I associate with those bitter-sweet moments of nostalgia is really a deeply rooted sadness at missing the garden in which I was intended to live.

I wonder if what we're really missing is Home.

The Emperor's New Clothes

2008-11-13T11:29:00.000-08:00

Most folks are probably familiar with this little tale by Hans Christian Andersen.

Two rogues convince the vain emperor that they can weave beautiful clothes from an amazing cloth that has "the wonderful property of remaining invisible to everyone who was unfit for the office he held, or who was extraordinarily simple in character."
As the story progresses everyone, of course, can "see" the suit of clothes as it is being created.
When the day arrives for the emperor to show off his new suit the scalawags convince him to show off their work in a procession before all the assembled people.
Once again everyone comments on the beauty of the suit of clothes for fear of appearing foolish or inept at their office.
Then one little child steps off the curb and says “But the Emperor has nothing at all on!”
In the made for tv cartoon versions of the story everyone begins to laugh and emperor runs off embarrassed.
In the actual version written by Hans the story ends thus:
The Emperor was vexed, for he knew that the people were right; but he thought the procession must go on now! And the lords of the bedchamber took greater pains than ever, to appear holding up a train, although, in reality, there was no train to hold.

So here's the question of the day:
Which character are you?

Are you the emperor?
Easily duped by your own vanity.

Are you the rogue tailors?
Con-man (person) par excel lance.

Are you one of the royal advisers?
Fearful of being thought foolish.

The crowd?
Following along.

The easy answer is to say, "I'm the child"
But if all of us were the child then the story would not have ever been popular.

Maybe the safest bet is to claim to be the narrator.
All seeing, all knowing but disaffected by any of the goings on...a simple witness with or without report.

More oft than not I find myself in the role of the child in the story and I can say from experience that THAT role doesn't always play out so well. The parade typically does continue, leadership unmoved, a fair amount of clamor on the sidelines but with little immediate impact on the central goings on.
I sometimes wonder what happens in the aftermath of the story.
Does the emperor have the child secretly arrested?
Does he put down any opposition violently and go on parade again?
Does he slink off into the shadows and pretend it never happened?
I think we've probably seen every conceivable version of the "sequel" played out in real life.

SO...
Which character are you?

I know I am destined to be cast as the child but upon reading the story again I'm not sure there are any other roles in which I'd want to be cast.

What if Obama were white?

2008-11-09T13:38:00.001-08:00

Just a random thought for the day while we're on the subject of our next president.
The race for the democratic party nominee had the novelty factor...it was there and oft mentioned even if it wasn't the top line issue: the first woman president or the first black president.
Give the democrats props for marketing savvy.
I wonder though, if Obama had NOT had the "novelty factor" would his lack of long term experience have been made more of an issue?
Would his inspirational speeches have been as inspiring?
Would he have beaten Hilary?
I'm not saying he is more or less qualified in any sense due to race...I'm just asking the question, did race make a difference?
This past week one of the Denver Broncos wide receivers, who happens to be black, tried to pull out a black and white glove when he scored a touchdown. He was stopped by two of his teammates because the game was very close and the team couldn't afford the penalty that would have ensued...for a "planned celebration". The two teammates who stopped him were white.
In the paper the following day he was quoted as saying that he was "inspired by Senators Obama's" victory and that he wanted to raise the glove as a salute to racial progress...equating it to the athletes who raised a black power fist in the Olympics years ago.
For at least one athlete then, a member of the "black community", race made a difference.
(Thankfully nothing was made of "the white guys stopping the black guy" probably because the reasoning made sense in the context of the game.)
To my way of thinking race DID make a difference. It's up to us to determine whether that becomes a positive or a negative difference because, here's the thing...Obama is Mulatto...his father is black and his mother is white.
Would he still have been considered a "black candidate" had it been the other way around?
Or, if he had a black father but looked, from a shading perspective, more like his mother would he have been considered black?
It may seem totally random that somewhere along the line he became labled as a "black kid with a white mom" rather than the other way around...it proves how random issues of color can be...but it does seem to make a difference.
Or no one would have ever mentioned it.

President Elect

2008-11-07T08:10:00.000-08:00

A friend mentioned to me the other day the this year marks Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday.
Regardless of how you or I may have voted how cool would it be for ol' Abe to be around to see that as a country we've elected a black president?
It will be interesting now to see where/how/if the race card is played since it was carefully danced around during the campaigning season. It is very easy for any of us folks of lighter shades to say "It shouldn't matter what color skin our president has..." and while that is true is doesn't quite play out that way in the day to day. The fact that anyone has even mentioned that this is the "first black president" means there is something different going on. We wouldn't point out the first "green-eyed president" or the first "red-headed president" so while we may want to believe it doesn't matter, it does. But how does it matter?
I was fortunate to have grown up with friends of varying hues.
My best friends before I was subjected to the educational system were mostly oriental kids of one flavor or another. In grade school I counted several kids of hispanic persuasion amongst my closest friends.
In middle school my best friends were white and black respectively. (Well, darker brown really but we stilled used the term "black" back then.)
The high school I attended had more people or darker shades than folks of the white/off-white variety so I close friends who were black, white, yellow, brown, and plaid.
In both high school and college I was dubbed an "honorary brother" (brutha) by the guys I hung out with who had the "authority" to confer such an honor.
Even with all of my integrated background I still recognize moments of what could be classified as prejudiced thought in myself but then I wonder if it truly is prejudiced thought or if it is just recognizing racial differences for what they are...racial differences.
I love to get into racial discussions with my black friends specifically because they have a perspective on these issues that I can never have. I have never had someone cross over to the other side of the street to avoid passing me on the sidewalk. I have never had a cop stop me and ask what I was up to because of my color. I have never had a woman clutch her purse more tightly as I pass.
Interestingly enough my hispanic or oriental friends don't have the same stories.
They have other tales to be certain but none that are as universal or comprehensively negative, at least none that they openly discuss as broadly.
So will it make a difference that in a few months we'll have our first black president?
I don't know...but I look forward to the dialogue that should come about as a result.

Editorial Note:
I intentionally avoided using the term "people of color". One of my black friends always jokes that white "isn't a color". I repeatedly remind him that that is true...if you're talking about crayons.
If, on the other hand, you're talking about light...then white is the presence of ALL colors.
And since none of us is any different color in the dark...then we're ALL people of color.

The first arrow

2008-11-04T10:24:00.001-08:00

I freely confess I am still a bit confused about the whole blogging thing.
There are very FEW people whose thoughts I want to ponder on a regular basis and thus, by association, I conclude that very few people will find MY thoughts of interest on any kind of a regular basis. But there are those who have tried and who continue to try to convince me otherwise so I'm willing to give it one more go...which is why we're here.

In college I had the chance to DJ on the radio and occasionally, especially when we did a late night show, I wondered if there were even people out there listening. If no one were listening then weren't we just talking to ourselves and playing records, yes it was that long ago, in a very small room? If is that were all we were doing...wouldn't that make us slightly insane?

Blogging feels the same to me...with a little dash of arrogance thrown in for flavor.

That being said I'll attempt in my own small way to throw in a combination of the interesting, the creative and the macabre, on a semi-regular basis, for those who wish to engage...hopefully in dialogue.

I thought I'd make this run at blogging today of all days because of the "historical importance"!!! of today's elections

I woke up this morning with the full understanding that today is going to be one of those historic milestone days. We'll all, no doubt, be glad to be rid of the election campaign messaging whether we're glad with the outcome of the actual election or not.
It struck me this morning that the overwhelming majority of people I have heard comment on the election "on the street" have all had an underlying theme to their comments...

They're all voting against something rather than for something.

Most of those I've heard in support of Senator Obama have said they're voting for "change". One of the major thrusts of his campaign has been that voting for the Rebuplican candidate, no matter who it would have turned out to be, would be a vote for what we have now and thus a vote for "change" is a vote AGAINST what we have now.

In the same way many of the folks I have heard in support of Senator McCain have said that they could never vote in favor of the "socialist agendas" or the "more government" policies of the Dems. Thus, they too are choosing to vote AGAINST something.

Neither conversation have had much to say about what they LIKE about the party or person they're voting for but a LOT to say about what they DON'T like about the opposition.

Doesn' this start to feel like our only option is to choose the "lesser of two evils"?

Sure it winds up being painted up much prettier than that but that's what it boils down to in the end. And, in the end, that is sad.
Sad that there are large numbers of folks voting today to make sure the "other guy" or the "other way of thinking" doesn't get in.
Sad because it will serve to only further the divide between competing idiologies.
Sad because there will be those who are happy that the others are sad.

If it is true that "a house divided against itself cannot stand" then how much longer have we got as a nation?

No matter what your political persuasion is...
No matter how you voted today...
No matter what your core beliefs...
I like to challenge you to become an agent of change by bringing about reconcilliation, community, and relationship.
Cheesy? perhaps...
..perhaps not.