A Quiet Life

What I Like About...Joel

2012-01-02T14:48:00.000-06:00

What I like about Joel: The inner nature of repentance

As an undergrad, I minored in German. That has nothing to do with this post, except to introduce a girl who was in one of my German classes. I don't remember her name or even what class it was, but I remember that she missed a LOT of classes, ostensibly because she was sick. On the days she was in class, she often went to great lengths to let the rest of us know that she was on the brink of death. (Please note: If I had even the slightest feeling that she was actually sick, I'd be a lot nicer. I'm fairly convinced that most of her illnesses were brought about by alcohol consumption paired with an aversion to early-morning classes.)

One of the ways she signaled her under-the-weather-ness to us was to put on all her makeup - except for eye makeup. I later noticed that this was a common signal for "I'm too sick to put on my mascara, but there's no way I'm letting you see me without the rest of my makeup." My contention always was that if you are well enough to put on base and powder, you're well enough to put on mascara. The point wasn't that she was sick, it was that she wanted us to think she was sick.

That's round-about way to get to my point about Joel. The people of Judah had gotten really good at leaving their mascara off. They could put on sackcloth and weep and wail and moan and tear their robes, but all that posturing did not necessarily mean anything. Joel's call for repentance included the outward signs of mourning, but he urged an inner repentance along with the outward signs. All the sackcloth and wailing in the world meant nothing unless it was paired with real sorrow and a real recognition of Judah's sin.

Unfortunately, this makes me reflect on my own "repentance." How often do I put on the outward signs of sorrow, without feeling anything deeper? Joel serves as a reminded that God sees the heart, not the garnishes. The doctor is not fooled by the makeup.

Verse of the post: "'Even now,' declares the LORD, 'return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.' Rend your heart and not your garments." Joel 2:12-13

What I Like About...Hosea

2012-01-01T14:21:00.001-06:00

What I like about Hosea: Restoration

Every time I read Hosea, I marvel at his total willingness to obey God, even when he knows it will completely screw up his own life. Some of the other prophets knew that following God would lead to persecution, and for many of them it did, but Hosea knew that following God would lead to his personal life being turned upside down. Hosea really is a love story, but it's a heartbreaking one: God used Hosea's own marriage and family life to model how Israel had behaved toward Him - with infidelity, illegitimate children, and prostitution.

The ending of this otherwise tragic story, though, is what redeems this book for me. Though God could have easily ended the story with the display of how Israel has behaved, He goes on to show how He will behave. He sends Hosea to buy back his wife, to bring her home, and to raise her children as his own. In the latter 4/5ths of the book, which deals with Israel and God rather than with Gomer and Hosea, God does not just point out and condemn Israel's sin, He also looks forward past Israel's betrayal and rejection of Him to the day when Israel will be restored.

People often say that the Old Testament is full of fire and brimstone and God's judgement, whereas the New Testament is the story of His love. I can't buy that, though. In so many of the prophets, and especially in Hosea, God's love and His plan to redeem His people is laid out clearly. Yes, there is judgement, and there are the consequences of sin, but grace is freely promised. Even before God's plan for restoration and redemption through Christ is kicked into high gear, it is in place and is conveyed to His people. And that's what I love about Hosea - that it doesn't end at anger and judgement but looks forward to acceptance and forgiveness.

Verse of the post: "Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God. Your sins have been your downfall! Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: 'Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.' ... 'I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.'" Hosea 14:1-2, 4

Whew

2011-12-31T10:28:00.001-06:00

'Tis the season for wrap-ups of the year. Right now, my life is pretty calm, but it's been a pretty eventful year!

In January, I began the last semester of my Master's program at OU.

In February, I was snowed in for several days, finished my thesis proposal, and my computer died a bitter death.

In March, I bought a new computer and defended my thesis proposal.

In April, I coded 417 articles for my thesis, then spent countless hours interpreting data and writing it up.

In May, I defended my thesis and graduated.

In June , I completely crashed for a while, then floated the Illinois River with friends from church.

In July, I went to Dallas to be in Ronni's wedding and continued trying to recover mentally from 19 years of school.

In August, I helped with VBS at Norman Community Church of the Nazarene and co-hosted a wedding shower and a baby shower in two consecutive weekends.

In September, I moved home to Prague and interviewed for, was offered, and accepted position as circulation clerk and shelver supervisor at new Southwest Oklahoma City Public Library.

In October, I began my new job and immediately began shelver interviews

In November, I trained five new shelvers and visited New Orleans for NCA and some time with Erin; officially became a member of NCCN.

In December, I trained one more shelver and moved into new apartment in OKC

So yeah, it's been a pretty busy year, with some very big changes and some very big ups and downs. In all, though, it's been a very good year. Now, to see what 2012 brings!

What I Like About...Daniel

2011-12-29T18:30:00.000-06:00

What I like about Daniel: Wisdom makes for great job security

Here's the thing about Daniel. In pop culture (i.e., Sunday school), he is usually depicted as a somewhat young guy, facing lions and coming out unscratched. He is stuck in a sort of perpetual youth, never to age. The truth is, though, that by the time lions entered the picture, Daniel was getting up in years. He was over 80 years old.

Back up a few decades, and you get the young man, coming as a captive to a new place and being thrown into a different kind of lions' den - the palace. Daniel and his closest friends navigated the intricacies of Babylonian politics while managing to obey the law, and they all rose to positions of power, Daniel most of all.

And he stayed there. He served in the courts of four kings of two empires. Daniel outlasted King Nebuchadnezzar, King Belshazzar, King Darius, and went on advising well into the reign of King Cyrus. He was the third most powerful man in Babylon, yet he was kept on as an adviser even after the Medes and Persians conquered the Babylonians. He was close to power - at that time the greatest human power in the world - for more than sixty years.

His longevity wasn't because he was a flatterer or because he knew how to make kings look good. He had been the bearer of bad news; sure, he told Nebuchadnezzar that he was the "king of kings," but he also told ol' Nebi that he would go completely insane. He predicted the overthrow of the Babylonian empire, yet he was immediately rewarded and promoted.

His wisdom and his devotion to God and to the truth are what protected his job, not his schmoozing skills or his shrewd political acumen. Coming from an education background where both political sense and schmoozing skills are highly valued, I like that about Daniel.

Verse of the post: "There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In the time of your father he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods. King Nebuchadnezzar your father - your father the king, I say - appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers, and diviners. This man Daniel, whom the king called Beltshazzar, was found to have a keen mind and knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems." Daniel 5:11-12

What I Like About...Ezekiel

2011-12-28T19:41:00.001-06:00

What I like about Ezekiel: Object lessons

Many times in the Bible, God uses stories, pictures, or drama to communicate His messages. This is especially clear in Ezekiel. In a vision, God literally put His words in Ezekiel's mouth: Ezekiel had to eat a scroll with the words of God on it, "words of lament and mourning and woe." (2:10). For the rest of his ministry, Ezekiel became, in many ways, the physical manifestation of God's messages. In fact, he is called a sign to Israel four times in this book: Ezekiel himself, not just his words and actions, was a sign of what was to come.

He built little model siege works against a drawing of the city of Jerusalem. He figuratively bore the sins of Israel and Judah, lying on his sides for a total of 430 days. (I always wonder if he got bedsores from that.) During that time, he ate only a little bit of a mixture of grains, cooked over manure - God backed down from having him cook it over "human excrement". He shaved his hair and burned part of it, then scattered part of it, and saved the last few strands, to model what would happen to the people of Israel. He actually dug through the city wall to show the people what would happen to them.

What I like about all that - other than that it adds a little flavor to a book of prophecy - is that Ezekiel is an example of (1) how God is a pretty great communicator and (2) the lengths too which He will go to communicate with His people. God understands that we can be pretty dense; sometimes we need someone to act things out for us. Moreover, He is willing to meet us more than halfway. Considering that I can be pretty dense sometimes, that's encouraging.

Verse of the post: "Ezekiel will be a sign to you; you will do just as he has done. When this happens, you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD." Ezekiel 24:24

What I Like About...Lamentations

2011-12-27T20:51:00.002-06:00

I know, it's been a long time since I posted any of these. I finished reading through the Old Testament months ago, but I haven't taken the time to post what jumped out at me from the last books. I'm taking time now.

What I like about Lamentations: The depth of emotion.

Lamentations is a terribly - well, honestly, it's a terribly terrible book. Jeremiah wrote it as a lament for the fallen city of Jerusalem. It's essentially a dirge, sung over the city and its people. Jeremiah is known as the "weeping prophet," and here you can practically hear the tears in his voice.

His tears were merited. His capital city had been destroyed, but only after it had been tortured into submission. The city was cut off from food and water and its people driven to madness until the worst parts of human nature were revealed. Jeremiah does not argue with God's punishment, but he does mourn it.

Lamentations really can be a very depressing book. But even if it isn't my favorite book of the Bible - I've never just sat down and thought "Oh, I'll read Lamentations! That will cheer me up!" - I am glad that it is included. It adds a layer of depth to the Bible and acknowledges the breadth of human emotion. If some of the psalms are the high points of the Word, Lamentations is its low point, its shadow. Lamentations models how we should respond to judgement of sin: Not gleefully, but with deep, almost passionate sorrow. Lamentations does not gloss over the cost of sin or the anguish of loss, but accepts and expresses the natural and proper reaction to tragedy. It isn't glib or self-righteous, which it could so easily be. And I like that.

Verse of the post: "My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief, until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees. What I see brings grief to my soul." Lamentations 3:49-51

God bless us, every one

2011-12-25T08:30:00.000-06:00

"I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round - apart from the veneration due its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that - as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!" - A Christmas Carol

Christmas Eve Gift!

2011-12-24T06:00:00.000-06:00

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

It’s Christmas Eve! Have a wonderful time celebrating the birth of our Savior with your family. As you enjoy this great day, don’t forget why you are celebrating.

Family Joy!

2011-12-23T10:00:00.000-06:00

Today, you get to share the joy of what you have been planning and preparing with your family! Have fun!

Pamper

2011-12-22T10:00:00.000-06:00

In the envelope: A bag of hot chocolate mix

Pamper yourself tonight. Take a hot bubble bath or a long hot shower, give yourself a pedicure, wrap up in a soft robe, and have some hot chocolate.

If you didn't get an envelope, use some of your favorite mix, or you can make up a big batch of Mom's homemade kind if you want to be authentic. All you do is mix together 1 lb. of powdered sugar, 1 lb. of Nesquick, 6 oz. of coffee creamer, and an 8 oz. box of evaporated milk. Add 1/3 cup to a mug of hot water and enjoy!

Happy Hanukkah

2011-12-21T19:00:00.000-06:00

In the envelope: A chocolate coin

Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade.
John 10:22-23

Happy Hanukkah! This is the Jewish Festival of Light.As Christians, we do not usually celebrate Hanukkah. Instead, we celebrate our own festival of Light – a celebration of the coming of the Light of the World. We should remember, though, that Jesus came to us as a Jew, and He celebrated Hanukkah Himself. As you eat your gelt tonight, do some research online to find out the significance of the menorah, the dreidel, and the chocolate coins.

And then watch my favorite Hanukkah video ever.

(Note: Hanukkah actually started last night at sundown, but my Western calendar mislead me. So this is about 24 hours late. Sorry.)

Quiz Bowl

2011-12-20T18:25:00.000-06:00

It’s trivia time! Get out your Bibles and your thinking caps – you’re taking an angel quiz tonight.

Questions:
1.    What is the only archangel who is identified by name in the Bible? (Hint: Check in Jude)
2.    What do angels most famously say – to people they like? (Hint: Check in Daniel 10)
3.    How many appearances of angels can be counted in the Christmas story? (Hint: Remember to count in both Matthew and Luke)
4.    What do angels long to do that we can do? (Hint: Look in 1 Peter 1)
5.    Who judges angels? (Hint: Check 1 Corinthians 6)

The answers will be posted in a comment on this post

Leap for Joy

2011-12-19T10:00:00.000-06:00

Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
Nehemiah 8:10

Today, do something just for the joy of doing it. Pick something that makes you happy and do it.

Joy to the World!

2011-12-18T14:39:00.001-06:00

This is the beginning of the fourth week in Advent, when we light the Angel candle, which is the candle of joy. This week, we remember the joy that the angels proclaimed, enjoy the joy of the season, and look forward to the joy of Christ's second coming.

Tonight, it's time to add a little joy - and a dash of competition - to your world. Bring out the games for a good old fashioned game night with friends and/or family, and have fun! Don't forget to trade the recipes you wrote down earlier this week to share with those you love.

Food and Film

2011-12-17T07:00:00.000-06:00

It’s time to share some fun with the girls! Go watch some great Christmas movies and eat some delicious cinnamon rolls with your church friends. If you're following along from outside the girls' Bible study - treat yourself to a delicious meal and watch your favorite Christmas movie!

Night of Wonder

2011-12-16T20:00:00.000-06:00

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’
Acts 20:35

It’s always great to get presents, but it can be even more fun and exciting to give them. Read this story about a little boy who gave a great gift to his best friend, and remember as you shop and wrap gifts for your loved ones that it is more blessed to give than to receive.

From Guideposts, December 1983, written by Diane Rayner

I grew up believing that Christmas was a time when strange and wonderful things happened, when wise and royal visitors came riding, when barnyard animals talked at midnight and – in the light of a fabulous star – God came down to us as a little child. For me, Christmas has always been a time of enchantment, but never more so than the year my youngest, Marty, was eight.

That was the year my children and I moved into a cozy trailer in a forested area just outside of Redmond, Washington. Even the winter rains that swept down Puget Sound to douse our home could not dampen our spirits as the holiday approached.

Throughout that December, Marty had been the busiest and most spirited of us all. He was a cheerful, blond-haired boy who cocked his head like a puppy when you talked to him. He was deaf in his left ear. But he never complained about his condition.

For weeks I had been watching him, noticing that something was going on that he was not telling me about. I saw how eagerly he made his bed and took out the trash, how carefully he set the table and helped Rick and Pam prepare dinner before I got home from work. I saw how he silently collected his tiny allowance and tucked it away, spending not a cent of it. I had no idea what all this quiet activity was about, but I suspected it had something to do with Kenny.

Kenny was Marty’s best friend, and ever since they had found each other in the springtime, they were inseparable. Their world was the meadow, a horse pasture broken by a small winding stream, where they would catch frogs and snakes, search for arrowheads or hidden treasure, or feed peanuts to the squirrel.
Times were hard for our little family, and we had to scrimp to get by. But with my job as a meat wrapper and a lot of ingenuity, we managed to have elegance on a shoestring.

But not Kenny’s family. They were desperately poor, and his mother struggled to feed and clothe her two children. They were a good, solid family, but Kenny’s mom was very proud, and she had strict rules.

How we worked, as we did each year, to make our home festive for the holidays! Ours was a handcrafted Christmas of gifts hidden away and ornaments strung about the place.

Marty and Kenny would sometimes sit at the table long enough to help make cornucopias or weave little baskets for the tree. But then one would whisper to the other, and they would be out the door and sliding carefully under the electric fence into the horse pasture that separated our home from Kenny’s.

One night, shortly before Christmas, when my hands were deep in cookie dough, Marty came to me, and in a tone mixed with pleasure and pride, he said, “Mom, I’ve bought Kenny a Christmas present. Want to see it? It’s something he’s wanted for a long time.”

After carefully wiping his hands on a dish towel, he pulled from his pocket a small box. Lifting the lid, I gazed at the instrument my son had been saving all those allowances to buy – a little compass to point an 8-year-old adventurer through the woods.

“It’s a lovely gift, Martin,” I said, but even as I spoke, a disturbing thought came to mind. I knew how Kenny’s mother felt about their poverty. They could barely afford to exchange gifts among themselves. Giving presents to others was out of the question. I was sure that Kenny’s proud mother would not permit her son to receive something he could not return in kind.

Gently, carefully, I talked over the problem with Marty. He understood what I was saying.

“I know, Mom, I know! … But what if it was a secret? What if they never found out who gave it?”
I didn’t know how to answer. I just didn’t know.

The day before Christmas dawned rainy, cold, and gray. The three kids and I put the finishing touches on Christmas secrets and prepared for family and friends who would be dropping by.

Night settled in. The rain continued. I looked out the window over the sink and felt an odd sadness. How mundane the rain seemed for a Christmas Eve! Would wise and royal men come riding on such a night? I doubted it. It seemed to me that strange and wonderful things happened only on clear nights when one could at least see a star in the heavens.

I turned away from the window, and as I checked on the ham warming in the oven, I saw Marty slip out the door. He wore his coat over his pajamas and clutched a tiny, colorfully-wrapped box.

Down through the soggy pasture he walked, then made a quick slide under the electric fence and across the yard to Kenny’s house. Up the steps on tiptoe, shoes squishing, he opened the screen door just a crack, and placed the gift on the doorstep. Taking a deep breath, he reached for the doorbell and pressed it hard.

Quickly, Marty turned, ran down the steps, and dashed across the yard in a wild race to get away unnoticed. Then, suddenly, he banged into the electric fence.

The shock sent him reeling. For a moment he lay stunned on the wet ground. His body quivered and he gasped for breath. Then slowly, weakly, confused and frightened, he began the grueling trip back home.
As he stumbled through the door, I hugged his muddy little body to me. He was still dazed, and a red mark began to blister on his face from his mouth to his ear. Quickly I treated it. With a warm cup of cocoa soothing him, Marty’s bright spirits returned and I tucked him into bed.

That Christmas Eve I went to bed unhappy and puzzled. The accident with the fence seemed like such a cruel thing to happen to a little boy on the purest of Christmas missions. He was doing what the Lord wants us all to do – giving to others – and giving in secret at that.

I did not sleep well that night. Somewhere deep inside I think I was disappointed that Christmas Eve had been just an ordinary, problem-filled night, with no mysterious enchantment at all.

But I was wrong.

By morning the rain had stopped and the sun shone. The streak on Marty’s face was very red, but I could tell that the burn was not serious. We opened our presents, and soon, no unexpectedly, Kenny knocked on the door, eager to show Marty his new compass and tell about the mystery of its arrival. It was plain that Kenny didn’t suspect Marty. While the two of them talked, Marty just smiled and smiled.

Then I noticed that while the two boys compared their Christmases, nodding, gesturing and chattering away, Marty was not cocking his head. When Kenny talked, Marty seemed to listen out of his deaf ear.
Weeks later a report came from the school nurse, verifying what Marty and I already knew, “Marty now has complete hearing in both ears.”

The mystery of how Marty regained his hearing, and still has it, remains just that – a mystery. Doctors suspect, of course, that the shock from the electric fence was somehow responsible. Perhaps so. Whatever the reason, I just remain thankful to God for the good exchange of gifts that was made that night.

Mail Call

2011-12-15T19:30:00.000-06:00

In the envelope: A blank Christmas card

This is the week of sharing. One of the traditions we share at Christmas is that of exchanging Christmas cards. Tonight, use this card to say “Merry Christmas” to someone you would not usually send a Christmas card to.

Marvin, Revisited

2011-12-14T20:00:00.000-06:00

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
Luke 2:16-18

God didn’t just share the news of Christ’s birth with people – He let them share in the event themselves. Even though we can’t be physically present at Jesus’ birth (barring the invention of time travel), we can participate in His coming and His life every day, and especially during the Christmas season. Read the story of Marvin the Penguin to see how even the smallest of us can take part in the story of Christmas.

Sharing yumminess

2011-12-13T20:00:00.000-06:00

In the envelope: Recipe cards

If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are.
Exodus 12:4

Exodus is not usually considered part of the Christmas story, and yet it provides the context for why we call Jesus the Lamb of God. In the story of the exodus from Egypt, as in the story of Christ’s birth, sharing is important. Families shared the Passover lamb, just as the shepherds and other witnesses of Christ’s birth shared the good news – and just as we share the Gospel with our neighbors.

Today, then, we’re mirroring what the Israelites did. Using the recipe cards included in the envelop for tonight, write down two of your favorite Christmas recipes. Then bring the recipes on Sunday to share with the other girls in the Bible study.

While shepherds ate their meals outside

2011-12-12T09:00:00.000-06:00

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
Luke 2:8

Shepherds. In the fields. Traditionally, of course, Jesus was born “in the bleak midwinter.” Maybe He really was, or maybe He was born in the middle of a hot Israeli summer. Maybe He was born in the most beautiful spring or autumn Bethlehem had had in years. Regardless of the time or temperature, there would have been shepherds living in the fields.

Today, you get to experience a little bit of what that would have been like. Take one of your meals outside to eat it, no matter what the weather is like, and reflect on how the shepherds might have felt right before their evening was disturbed by a company of angels.

Here We Come A-Caroling...

2011-12-11T22:05:00.001-06:00

This is the third week of Advent. Tonight, we lit the Shepherds candle, the candle of sharing. So, we all brought out the items we had baked last week - and went caroling, so share the gift of song! We visited our church's pastors (well, we tried, at least) to sing to them and leave them goodies to say thanks for all they do for us. It was a great night for it, and a lot of fun!

Family Preparation

2011-12-10T19:00:00.000-06:00

Last Tuesday, you planned an activity to share with your family. Today, take some time to prepare for it: Buy anything necessary, bake or craft if you need to (and can this early), pack up anything you will need to transport with you so you won’t forget it.

(My sister kindly asked me last week if I realized that "family planning" has another connotation. I let her know that yes, I really do know that. As far as I know, though, "family preparation" has no such connotation, so I should be safer this week.)

Party Time

2011-12-09T07:38:00.000-06:00

It’s party time! Go have fun tonight with the other young adults at the Christmas party. If you're in the Norman area, come by Norman Community Church of the Nazarene (directions here) at 6 p.m. for a fun time; if you're not in the area, grab some friends and have an impromptu Christmas party.

Christmas Cleaning

2011-12-08T10:00:00.000-06:00

There’s a lot going on during the Christmas season: People coming and going, shopping, wrapping, decorating, studying, taking finals, giving finals, travelling…the list goes on. Tonight is a night to prepare your home for all that activity. Turn on your Christmas playlist or find a great Christmas station on Pandora. Turn it on, crank it up, and get to cleaning your house! It doesn’t have to be spick and span, but get your home to a state where it can be a place of peace and rest for you during a busy time of year.

A Miraculous Catastrophe

2011-12-07T08:00:00.000-06:00

For all our preparations, sometimes things go wrong. Read this story about a Christmas Eve when preparations failed, and remember throughout this season that God can redeem even the situations that seem most hopelessly messed up.

Christmas, 1818
From Guideposts, December 1988, written by Elizabeth Sherrill

My husband and I were staying in the little village of Oberndorf, Austria, when the letter reached us last December.

“You picked the right Christmas to be away!” our friend began. Our church back home – St. Mark’s in Mt. Kisco, New York – he went on, was having the asbestos insulation removed from the heating pipes in the basement. Since the air intake for the organ was also in the basement, this mean that so long as asbestos dust was being created, the instrument could not be played. If the job wasn’t finished by Christmas Eve, our friend continued, he and his wife would go to church elsewhere: “Can you imagine the midnight service without the organ?”

I put the letter on the windowsill and looked across the swirling gray water of the Salzach River to the distant Alps. The Salzach takes a horseshoe loop at Oberndorf, and where the river curves, a church used to stand. High water had eaten away its foundations, and eventually the building was torn down. But I wanted to tell our friend about that vanished church. Because there too, one Christmas Eve, the organ was silent…

Damp from the river had corroded the pipes until by Christmas Eve, 1818, the organ in Oberndorf was emitting only a wheezy whisper – and the itinerant organ mender was not due in the village till the following week.

The bad news especially affected two young men. One was the 31-year-old church organist, Franz Gruber. As a boy, Franz had often been beaten for sneaking away from his linen room to take music lessons. Now he had worked hard rehearsing the village choir for the midnight service. But to ask them to sing the elaborate Christmas chorales unaccompanied was out of the question, and Franz Gruber was in despair.

Equally distressed was the 25-year-old pastor, Joseph Mohr. An illegitimate child educated for the priesthood on the charity of the church, Joseph had only recently been ordained. He’d dreamed of making this Christmas celebration an especially glorious one, but here it was December 24, and no organ!

Joseph did own a guitar. But a guitar could hardly substitute for the organ on a night like this, with its tradition of elaborate fugues and cantatas. If only there were some melody simple enough for a guitar to carry alone, with homely words to capture the holiness of this night.

Even as the wish formed itself, words began to come. The young priest seized a scrap of paper and began to write, his quill pen racing across the page.

It was afternoon of Christmas Even when Joseph showed the little poem to the organist. Could Franz set the words to a melody for the guitar? Franz Gruber said he would try.

The choir was assembling by the time he finished. It was too late to teach them the whole piece, so Joseph and Franz decided to sing the song as a duet, with the choir repeating just the last line of each verse.

And so it was that the disgruntled congregation, muttering over their mute and useless organ, heard instead the new pastor’s tenor voice and the bass voice of their organist, singing a song to the plucking of a guitar, with the choir echoing the final words.

The words stuck in the worshipers’ minds, and so did the tune; many were humming it as they left the church.

They were still humming it when the organ mender arrived in Oberndorf a few days later. He liked the song so well he committed both words and music to memory and played it as he journeyed from town to town. In the Tirol a group of travelling singers added it to their repertoire.

Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber never knew the end of the story. Neither man guessed that the song they had created the night the organ failed was to become the world’s most popular Christmas carol.

But it was about that original organless service back in 1818 that I wanted to write our friend. There must have been many in that congregation who’d been tempted to go somewhere else that night. And that would have been too bad. They would have missed a chance to see what God can do with bad news. They would not have been in Oberndorf to hear the very first singing of “Silent Night, Holy Night.”

Santa, Are You for Real?

2011-12-06T08:00:00.000-06:00

In the envelope: A Santa Claus ornament

Today is St. Nicholas Day! Hang this ornament on your tree, then go here to watch Rebekah's dad read one of the Husteds' favorite books about the real story of Santa Claus.

Prepare for a Surprise

2011-12-05T10:00:00.000-06:00

This week is the week of preparation. In preparation for next Sunday night, bake cookies or a sweet bread this evening and freeze it. Then bring it to Bible study next week (or, if you're following along at home, pull it out of the freezer Sunday afternoon and check back here to see what to do next).

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem

2011-12-04T18:20:00.000-06:00

This is the second Sunday of Advent - Bethlehem Sunday. Today, we light the Bethlehem candle, which in the Advent tradition I'm used to is the candle of preparation.

Tonight, then, we are preparing for Christmas. One of the neat things Mom learned a few years ago is that Bethlehem, in Hebrew, is Bet Lehem, which means "house of bread." So, to celebrate the House of Bread where Jesus was born and to prepare for the celebration of His first coming, we're making gingerbread houses!

If you're following along here and not part of my Advent study, here's what you need:

Graham crackers for the house (unless you want to make actual gingerbread)
Icing (I use buttercream; royal works too)
Vanilla almond bark, melted, to act as mortar on the houses
Decorations, such as peanuts, cereal for shingles, gumdrops for trees, twizzlers for trim, Fruit Stripe gum for walkways, Lifesavers for wreaths, sprinkles - you can be as creative as you like! There are all sorts of great ideas out there on the Internet, so be as elaborate or as basic as you want.

After you have your house of bread made, display it in your own house as a reminder of Christ's birth in Bethlehem.

The Branch of David

2011-12-03T19:00:00.000-06:00

In the envelope: A twig from a tree branch.

“‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.
“‘In those days and at that time
   I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line;
   he will do what is just and right in the land.
In those days Judah will be saved
   and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which it will be called:
   The LORD Our Righteous Savior.’

For this is what the LORD says: ‘David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel, nor will the Levitical priests ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.’”

The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: “This is what the LORD says: ‘If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, then my covenant with David my servant—and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me—can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne.
Jeremiah 33:14-21

Six centuries before the birth of Christ, God told the prophet Jeremiah about His plans for the Savior to come to the world as a descendent of King David. We all know at least part of our family tree – Jesus’ tree stretched back directly to the royal line of Israel. For this reason, He is known as the Branch of David, the heir to David’s throne. With this prophecy, God reassured the Israelites that His promise of salvation will not be broken.

To us, more than two millennia removed from the birth of the Messiah, this prophecy is a reminder that God’s complete plan of salvation is still being worked out in the world, and that the Branch of David is still sitting on the throne and standing before God as the perfect sacrifice. His new covenant will never be broken.

Give Rebekah a Hand

2011-12-02T19:00:00.000-06:00

So, this doesn't really apply to people outside the Bible study - unless you want it to. If you want it to, then just take this as a chance to build the anticipation for Sunday, and plan to take a bit more time on Sunday.

Rebekah is planning something for Sunday night! Help herout by going by the store tonight or tomorrow and buying ... something. (That's the part that doesn't work. Budget time on Sunday to go to the store and buy something that will be more obvious then.) Bring it to Rebekah’s house on Sunday night.

For Unto Us a Child Is Born...

2011-12-01T10:00:00.000-06:00

The Old Testament is full of prophecies about the coming of the Messiah, and some of the prophecies are more familiar than others. Today, listen to Handel’s Messiah to hear some of the most well-known prophecies from throughout the Old Testament.

If you don't have a copy of the Messiah handy, you can find it on a YouTube playlist here.

The Stars of Christmas

2011-11-30T10:00:00.000-06:00

In the envelope: A paper star ornament for your tree.

The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
Isaiah 9:2

Until I took an astronomy course in college, I never really considered how much planning God had to put into the Christmas story as we know it. One of the central parts of the story is a star. Of course, it may have been an exploding star, or a brand new star, or a comet, or any number of things. In any case, though, it was something new in the night sky.

That basic course in astronomy made me think about how far away that new thing in the sky must have been – and how far its light must have traveled to get to earth so the star-gazers in the East could see it and follow it to the Light of the world. That’s not even including all the planning He put into bringing that Light into the world!

Tonight, go outside, look up at the stars, and consider the planning that went into them. Or, if you live too close to lots of light to see the stars, drive around on your way home from work or on your way to church and admire the tiny stars we decorate our homes with every year.

Family Planning

2011-11-29T19:00:00.000-06:00

Plan carefully what you do, and whatever you do will turn out right.
Proverbs 4:26 (GNT)

I’m sure there’s some very academic study out there that I could quote for this, but I’m pretty sure that each of our own experiences can testify that things generally work out better if they are planned in advance. As an added bonus, the planning can sometimes be just as fun as whatever you are planning for.

Tonight, plan out something that you can enjoy with your family on December 23. Whether it is a time reading one of your favorite Christmas stories, or a couple hours watching a Christmas movie, or a drive around your hometown enjoying the decorations – whatever it is, make it to fit your family’s current traditions, but make it something that everyone can enjoy.

Personal Prophecies

2011-11-28T19:00:00.000-06:00

And afterward,
   I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
   your old men will dream dreams,
   your young men will see visions.
Joel 2:28 (NIV)

Throughout the Bible, “prophecy” is quite simply the word of God, given to and through His people. Prophets were often ill-prepared for public speaking or oratory, and were chosen not because of their great people skills but because of their relationship with God. The prophecies they received sometimes seemed relevant to them and sometimes spoke of a time far in the future. For the people whose lives were touched by those prophecies, though, they were intensely personal and relevant.

In Joel, God promises that He will pour out His Spirit on all people, and “sons and daughters will prophesy.” In Acts, Peter quotes this, declaring that, after the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit, prophecies will still occur and be an important part of the life of the Church.

Tonight, take some time to meditate on or journal about some of the words of God that have been given to you and have impacted your life. Has someone spoken a prophecy over you? Is there a verse or set of verses in the Word that has spoken to you? Have you heard the word of God directly speaking to you? In this season of waiting and anticipation, what has God promised in your life that you are still waiting for?

Advent Blog, Version Two

2011-11-27T20:30:00.000-06:00

It's Advent season again! In case you missed it a couple years ago, or last year, or basically any Christmas since I've been alive, I'll let you in on a secret: I LOVE Advent. It's my favorite time of year.

Every year, my family celebrates Advent a little bit differently than most people do.You can read about it here, where I explained it in 2009, when I first blogged through Advent.

This season, I'm blogging again, but with an added twist: For the girls in my Sunday night Bible study, I've put together a modified "box." Every Sunday at Bible study, we're celebrating Advent and lighting the candles, but they are also getting a packet of envelopes, one for each day of the coming week. Through the week, they get to open the envelopes (like we usually open the box) and see the devotions or activity for the day.

I'm ridiculously excited about it. And I'll be sharing the experience with you, too, as the season progresses. So check back every day to find out what's in the box/envelope!

Tonight, we lit the prophecy and planning candle, so everyone got a calendar of the entire Advent season to schedule their upcoming events. For you out there, then: Get out a calendar and get to planning! The ones I used can be found here and here, if you want to be really authentic.

What I Like about...Jeremiah

2011-10-06T14:43:00.000-05:00

What I like about Jeremiah: His life pretty much sucked.

That sounds like a terribly sadistic thing to like about a book. Maybe it is. But I'm sticking with it anyway.

Jeremiah's life as a prophet was pretty awful. He's actually my favorite prophet, because he stuck to his guns through prison, persecution, and being thrown in a well. Anybody who refuses to recant after being shoulder deep in mud at the bottom of a well deserves a hat tip, in my opinion.

Not that Jeremiah always took it on the jaw. At least once, he let God hear about it, asking the age-old question: "Why does the way of the wicked prosper?" And, as the flip side, he reminded God that "You know me, O Lord; you see me and test my thoughts" (12:1,3).

How does God answer? Does He explain the theological ramifications of wicked men prospering? Smite Jeremiah's enemies from Heaven? Miraculously grant Jeremiah a life of ease in a villa in the south of France?

No.

Basically, He tells Jeremiah to get over it because life was about to get worse. "If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in a safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?" (12:15).

It's as if Jeremiah was complaining about a leg cramp and God asked how he would deal with the broken femur coming next week. Pretty much stinks.

So why do I like this? It's not because I enjoy seeing suffering. I like this because it's a reminder that troubles aren't necessarily a sign that I'm not following God. As Hodel notes in "Fiddler on the Roof," some of God's greatest servants have troubles. Jeremiah's life wasn't one of ease, but it was one of obedience.

In an odd way, that comforts me.

Verse of the post: "So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king's son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud." Jeremiah 38:6

All Crafty-Like

2011-10-05T21:49:00.000-05:00

I've had quite a bit of spare time recently, while I'm between jobs. (Really. Between. Because I have a job now! I start on the 17th.)

Turns out that me + time + Pinterest = craftiness. I've also been a little nesty, so much of my craftiness has manifested itself in projects for a house. Last night and tonight, I made a super-cute wreath for my as-yet-nonexistant apartment.

Grandma Sliger says that's faith: Making a wreath before you have a door to put it on.

Anyway, it was way fun to make, is really pretty, and cost a total of less than $10. It's a keeper for sure!

I did have one slight incident with a glue gun, so my right index finger is currently resting on an ice cube (which makes it a little hard to type), but other than that the project went off without a hitch. Now I'm ready for an apartment door to hang it on!

What I Like about...Isaiah

2011-10-02T15:37:00.000-05:00

What I like about Isaiah: It's far-seeing

Since I am so far behind on writing these posts, I've already almost finished reading through the Old Testament. In other words, I've read a lot of the prophets lately. Looking back, I was faced with determining what I like about each book that was unique, when in fact much of what I like about the prophets in common to each of them.

That's somewhat the case with the book of Isaiah. It's almost a cheat to say that what I like about this book is that it is far-seeing. That's pretty much the point of any prophecy.

What makes Isaiah great to me, though, is the depth, or reach, or stretch, of his prophecy. Much of the book is forecasting the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah, recounting their sins, and calling them to repentance.

Nestled in the midst of this, however, is a great hope for the distant future. From a distance of about 700 years, Isaiah wrote of a coming great event, in words that have been captured in Handel's Messiah: "A people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. ... For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulders. And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace" (9:2,6). Later, he again promises that "a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him - the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD - and he will delight in the fear of the LORD" (11:1-3).

There, actually in the middle of talking about how the Lord is angry with Israel and how He is about to send Assyria against them, Isaiah sees far into the future to a king who will epitomize the Lord's love of His people, to a time when Israel will be rescued again by a great King.

Despite the doom and gloom of parts of this book, Isaiah is uplifting. And that's what I like about it.

Verse of the post: "Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The seal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this." Isaiah 9:7

God has arranged

2011-09-14T09:30:00.000-05:00

Last night, I dug through some boxes looking for what I thought was an almost blank journal to use. What I found was that I had used it as a prayer/Bible reading journal in high school. I spent a while looking through it - most days I only listed what chapters I read, with a note if something important had happened that day (most of the important things had to do with debate meets, speech meets, band contests, or ACT scores). At the end, though, when I was a senior, I had one entry that I wanted to share here, for a two reasons. First, you can see here how I came to love 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12, which is where the title of this blog - A Quiet Life - came from. Second, I still have the same struggle that you can see I was having there, trying to balance my multiple ambitions and expectations. That bold sentence? It's one I need to remind myself of constantly.

A couple notes: The entry started with a couple verses, which I include here, then I start in. Also, you can tell here that I imagined my future life somewhat differently - at that point, my ambition was to be an English professor.

1 Corinthians 12:18-20
"But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body."

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12
"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."

How encouraging that "God has arranged!" I don't usually think of it like that. I think that God is in control, yes, but not that He "arranges." The fact that He can see the whole scope of life, the big picture, and that He is putting me right where I will fit is amazing to me.

It is also amazing to me that we are to make it our ambition to life a quiet life. I think of ambitions as great goals like curing cancer, inventing something revolutionary, winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Probably Paul did too. But he thought that living a quiet life was a great goal. He didn't say not to find a cure for cancer or do all that other stuff, but he said life a quiet life - while you do it. He also widens the scope of what I see as ambition. When I was working on scholarship essays, I really struggled because I didn't feel like I had very high ambitions as far as my career goes. I mean, which sounds better, "I want to work at an AIDS hospital in Africa" or " I want to be an English professor?" But just about that time, this verse caught my heart and really helped me out. It showed me that the life I really want to live - a quiet one - is one that is worthy of ambition.

New old hair pins

2011-08-29T23:49:00.005-05:00

Okay, folks, this is going to be my first ever do-it-yourself blog post. Generally speaking, I'm not really a DIY kind of person, though I am fairly resourceful. This week, though, I was introduced to Pintrest.

It's a bad deal, y'all. Just...bad. I stayed up way too late last night looking at stuff over there, and here I am again, at almost midnight, when I have to work in the morning.

Anyway, I found a whole bunch of fun-looking projects to try. One of them was for embellished hair pins (a.k.a. bobby pins), using buttons.

Since I use hair pins a lot to keep my hair out of my eyes, I thought "oh, fun" but didn't think much more about it, until tonight, when I realized that I have a whole tin full of buttons that I bought a few years ago for about 25 cents at a garage sale. It's been sitting in a drawer since then, but it got some love tonight!

The picture I'd found had buttons actually sewn onto bobby pins, but several of my old buttons had the sticky-uppy thing on the back (technically called a shank, I think), so I just slipped the bobby pin through that et voila! Easiest thing ever.

Silver swirl.

Brass design.

This one's a little blurry, I know, but the pin made me feel like I had a red polka dot in my hair. Also, the button was covered in corduroy, which is just fun.

I love the purple and silver on this one!

I had high hopes for this one, thinking it would be a little funky, the way you'd think green and brown tweed would be. Turns out it just looked like I'd stuck a coat button in my hair. Which, in all fairness, is true. Anyway, it demonstrates that some buttons work better than others.

So there you go. If you are like me and (1) get annoyed with your hair being in your eyes and (2) are too cheap to buy many fancy hair pins, go dig out some buttons and try them out!

Home

2011-08-28T16:09:00.003-05:00

I started packing this weekend. I haven't finished packing by a long shot, but Mom and Dad took a load home yesterday, and my poor apartment is looking somewhat forlorn. My aprons are packed, so my kitchen is pretty depressing. My books are packed, and my empty bookshelf is pouting across the bedroom at me. My winter coats are gone, and the clothes in my closet are breathing a sigh of relief, oblivious to the fact that they soon will be even more crammed.

I've loved living in this apartment. It was my first home that was entirely mine. No, I didn't own it, but I didn't have to share it with anyone. I could do basically anything I wanted to there, within legal bounds.

I changed here. I moved into this apartment just as I started grad school, and JL warned me when I started that I would change over the next few semesters. By the time I finished my Master's, she said, I would be different. And she was right.

I more than changed here, though. I know it sounds ridiculously sappy and cliche, but I lived here. I cried and laughed and dreamed and baked and danced and threw things and hoped and despaired and read and wrote and even slept a little (okay, a lot; I like naps). I grew my little garden and wrestled a chair into my car, out of my car, and up the stairs to put on the balcony. I got my first free couch, threw a oh-so-classy sheet-slipcover on it, and saw that it was homey. I was snowed in a few times. I spent my two Norman summers here.

So even though I've only lived here 20 months, and even though I'm moving back to a place I lived for the better part of 15 years, this feels like home, and I hate to leave it. I actually got very sad the other day realizing I would be moving away from the grocery store across the street.

As I packed yesterday, I told Cherith that I was pretty safe packing my books. "I don't think I'll need the entire Anne series in the next week," I said. A couple hours later, as Anne and all my other books were heading north in Mom and Dad's car, I realized that I did, in fact, need an Anne book, to find a quotation. Thanks to the Internet, though, I was able to find it without an actual book and, because it captures fairly well what I'm feeling about my little home, I'm adding it to this post.

"'I shall leave here my fancies and dreams to bless the next comer,' said Anne, looking around the blue room wistfully -- her pretty blue room where she had spent three such happy years. She had knelt at its window to pray and had bent from it to watch the sunset behind the pines. She had heard the autumn raindrops beating against it and had welcomed the spring robins at its sill. She wondered if old dreams could haunt rooms -- if, when one left forever the room where she had joyed and suffered and laughed and wept, something of her, intangible and invisible, yet nonetheless real, did not remain behind like a voiceful memory.

"'I think,' said Phil, 'that a room where one dreams and grieves and rejoices and lives becomes inseparably connected with those processes and acquires a personality of its own. I am sure if I came into this room fifty years from now it would say "Anne, Anne" to me.'"

Rebekah's Guide to Bread-making and a Kingdom Life, in Three Simple Steps

2011-08-27T17:29:00.000-05:00

In Matthew 13, Jesus says that "the kingdom of Heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."

As a bread-lover and bread-baker, I love that verse. Someday, that verse will hang in my kitchen. I was thinking about it again as I was making bread last night, mixing up a batch of my favorite easy dinner bread.

One of the many things I love about Jesus' teachings is that they are so deep. What I mean by that isn't necessarily that they are profound - though they are - but rather that they give so much and go beyond the surface. Obviously, there is danger in stretching His words and asking too much of a parable or a metaphor, but in this case I think I'm fairly safe. If not, I'm sure one or more of you will correct me.

As I was kneading, I thought about the bread-making process and how the entire process (at least the pre-oven part) can be seen as an illustration of the kingdom of Heaven in a person's life. There are three very important steps in bread-making, each of which can parallel to our lives of faith.

First - you have to add the yeast. I know that seems very basic and simplistic, and it is. But the fact is that yeast doesn't do anything sitting in a jar in my fridge, or hanging out in a package in the pantry. You have to actually add it to the other ingredients. It doesn't take very much - in most cases, just a couple teaspoons of yeast to two or three cups of flour - but it has to be added.

Second - you have to mix the yeast into every part of the bread. Theoretically, you could actually "mix" the yeast, but good luck stirring bread after you add the wet ingredients. Instead, you will need to knead the dough, working in a little more flour, making sure the yeast is worked into every square millimeter of the dough, and transforming a ragtag bunch of flour, sugar, salt, water, yeast, and other ingredients into a uniform, cohesive lump of dough.

An amazing thing happens as you knead the dough, though. It becomes elastic. Many recipes will actually say "knead until smooth and elastic" rather than giving you an amount of time to knead. As you punch and push and work the dough, it stretches and changes.

Third - the bread needs to rest before you bake it. You cover the dough and walk away, leaving it the yeast to work its magic in peace for a while. In the simplest breads, this process is only repeated once: knead, rest, bake. In more advanced recipes, or in recipes using tougher grains, the kneading and resting process may be repeated two, three, or even four times.

Only after these steps is the bread ready to go in the oven and perfume your home with a heavenly aroma. (So maybe, other than the heat, the oven can be compared to Heaven. But I think that's taking things a little far.)

How do these steps correlate to a life of faith? Well, first of all, you have to add some kingdom of Heaven to your life. As with the yeast, the kingdom can't change your life if it isn't in your life. The first step is the simplest and most basic, and it is the one that has the most profound effect on both a loaf of bread and a human life. Leave step one out, and the other steps don't matter at all and might even make things worse.

The second step is the most painful, probably for a batch of bread dough and certainly for most people. Having never been bread myself, I don't really know how it feels to be kneaded, but I imagine it's a bit uncomfortable at times. Sure, sometimes it's kind of like a deep tissue massage, but other times it's more like being tackled by Lee Roy Selmon*. In our lives, kneading can take the form of all sort of trials and struggles, but it is often only through those hard times that the kingdom works its way into every corner of our lives, and it is often only then that we become more elastic, more plaint to the will of God.

Finally - and this is my favorite part - God grants us rest after we are "kneaded." He covers us with His hand like I cover my bread dough with an apron or a tea towel, and He lets His kingdom work in our lives in peace. Sure, we may have to go through multiple periods of kneading, depending on what we're made of and what His recipe for our lives calls for, but He is always there to grant us rest. I think that's beautiful.

So there you have it. Rebekah's Guide to Bread-making and a Kingdom Life, in Three Simple Steps. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go eat some bread.

*Sorry about the gratuitous Sooner football reference. Football season is only a week away, and I'm getting antsy.

Withdrawals

2011-08-26T11:39:00.004-05:00

I realized today what I've been doing this week: I've been compensating.

See, this is the first first week of school when I haven't been in school in 19 years. The last time I didn't start school in mid-August, I cried and begged my mom to send me to school until she gave in and "homeschooled" me in the kitchen, teaching me to read and write. I was four.

Now, 20 years later, I'm not crying and begging to go to school. In fact, I thought I was enjoying not going to class, not writing, not going through syllabuses and freaking out over the amount of work I had to do in the next three months. (Side note: Syllabuses is a much more fun word than syllabi. Both are correct - look it up. I use the fun one.)

Turns out, though, that at the time I thought I was reveling in not being a student, I was giving myself work. Somehow, over the past three weeks, I have ended up agreeing to/volunteering to lead both a Sunday morning small group on writing as worship and a Sunday evening women's Bible study on the spiritual disciplines. So this week, I've been reading a book by the author whose writing workshop we will use in the morning class and trying to select a book to work through in the evening class.

It wasn't until I was at Barnes and Noble this morning, having my favorite Friday morning treat (triple chocolate chunk cookie, warmed up, with a venti black iced tea, unsweet) and reading Blue Like Jazz, that I realized I had been treating these studies like classes and preparing for them like it was homework. As I thought, I also realized I'd been blogging more - making up for a lack of writing assignments, maybe?

I don't think there's really anything wrong with what I'm doing, and I certainly need to prepare for both of the studies, since they are both things I'm interested in and excited about but which I've never studied before.

It's just funny to me to realize that I'm really a learning junkie.

Lie, Berry!

2011-08-25T22:07:00.006-05:00

I've realized recently that I have a pet peeve - which I sometimes do myself.

It really irks me when people (including me) mispronounce "library."

Naturally, since I work at such an institution, I hear people do this quite often. "I'm at the liberry." Cue nails on a chalkboard.

For those of you who may be repeat offenders of this particular mispronunciation, I've put together a handy guide. Hope it helps.

Stupid King Numa

2011-08-24T21:41:00.003-05:00

I blame King Numa Pompilius.

In my job at the library, I have to tell people lots of dates. Due dates, dates their holds will expire, the current date when they're writing checks. Some days, I have no problem with that. I don't get tongue-tied, I don't tell them the wrong month, I don't tell them something is due on the 17th when it's really due on the 14th. Everything is fine.

Other days, though, I'm a complete mess. I tell someone their items are due in November when they're really due in September. I get the date completely wrong. It's embarrassing and frustrating.

Today, of course, was one of those days. So I was thinking, at one point when business was slow and I had a moment, that it was very frustrating that September sounds like seven - making me want to say that items were due September 7th.

And then I thought some more. I'm kinda slow like that sometime. But suddenly it dawned on me - it's all the fault of stupid old King Numa Pompilius. (No, I didn't just know this; I originally blamed Julius and Augustus Caesar, but Wikipedia vindicated them and put the blame on Numa). In 700 BC, he messed up the calendar, adding two months at the beginning and moving all the other months back. Thus, the seventh month (September) became the ninth month, the eighth month (October) became the tenth month, the ninth (November) became the eleventh, and the tenth (December) became the twelfth. Apparently, it was just too difficult to add months to the end of the calendar; it was much better to just confuse everyone for the next few thousand years.

Jerk.

Turns out that Julius and Augustus actually made things a little better by renaming months after themselves and therefore saving us from all thinking that Quintilis (July) was the fifth month and that Sextilis (August) was the sixth month. So I guess I owe them a posthumous apology.

But at least now I have someone I can blame for my otherwise inexcusable inability to tell what month (or day) it is. Clearly, my subconscious knows that September is the ninth month, and associates that with November. Clearly, my subconscious associates September (which should be the seventh month) with the number seven. It's perfectly logical. Next time I tell someone the wrong date, I'll just shake my fist and shout "Darn you, King Numa!" I'm sure they'll understand.

Now if I could just find a reason for why I never know which day of the week it is...

What I Like about...Song of Songs

2011-08-23T20:14:00.005-05:00

What I like about Song of Songs: It's all romantic and what-not.

I realize that isn't a very glowing recommendation. The thing is, though, it's kinda hard for me to get into Song of Songs these days. When I was little, I loved it because it was all about beauty and "twue wuv" and I just loved the romance of it. (That was before I understood the sex part.)

As a twenty-something single woman, though, I view it somewhat like I view really sappy romantic movies: They're nice once in a while, but always leave me a little depressed.

Nevertheless, I do appreciate the romance of Song of Songs, and I like that it is included in the canon. As the blurb at the beginning of the book in my Bible says, "Throughout the dialogue, sex and marriage are put into their proper, God-given perspective." Which, considering the kinds of marriages and sexual relations which are modeled elsewhere in the Bible, is a good thing.

Think about it: Rape, incest, adultery, polygamy...even the best families in the Bible had marriage troubles. There are remarkably few good models of marriage presented in the Bible, outside of Song of Songs (and yes, even here the Shulammite woman is one of Solomon's many, many wives and lovers, but work with me here, would you?).

So when this book presents an actual healthy relationship, including love, respect, marriage, and desire, it's a bit of an anomaly. For that reason, I guess I like this book, even if it is a little sappy sometimes. Besides, some sections of Song of Songs are just great poetry. Always an admirable quality in a poem.

Verse of the post: "For love is a strong as death, its jealously unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned." Song of Songs 8:6-7

What I Like about...Ecclesiastes

2011-08-20T09:25:00.002-05:00

What I like about Ecclesiastes: It's the grumbling reflections of a grumpy old man.

Now, before anyone starts arguing with me, I'd like to say that yes, I realize that Ecclesiastes is a part of the wisdom literature. I do realize that the book is true and has some very good points.

But you really have to admit that it's in the tone of an old man sitting in a rocking chair on his front porch, or holding forth from a corner table in a bar, or standing at a library desk ranting. "You work all your life!" he would say. "And what do you get? A bunch of nothing. Nothing ever changes, no matter what those idiots in Washington do. Nobody remembers what you've done, and it doesn't matter if you work or not! We all end up the same place." He would bang his fist on the arm of his chair, or slam his beer glass down on the table, or thump his library book emphatically. "It's all a bunch of hooey."

Or, in the words of the Teacher, it is all meaningless.

Sure, there are some good things in life. Wisdom, for example, is "better than strength" (9:16). In the end, as in the beginning, however, the Teacher concludes that "Everything is meaningless!" (1:2, 12:8).

Except that isn't actually his final conclusion. There is a saving grace to these rantings. Everything human may be meaningless, but there is still one thing that matters: "Here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man" (12:13).

That conclusion is the crux of the whole book. Just as the old man on his porch, or in the bar, or in the library, may hide a kernel of truth in his otherwise bitter soliloquy, so the Teacher ends up at a piece of wisdom that (if evidence is to be trusted) is usually found only at the end of a long life. To wit - life stinks sometimes; life is unfair sometimes; life doesn't make any sense sometimes. Through all of those times, though, our duty is the same: To fear God and follow Him. Nothing else we do really matters.

Verse of the post: "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

What I Like about...Proverbs

2011-08-18T22:10:00.000-05:00

What I like about Proverbs: It wears well.

First: Proverbs was (were?) written a long time go. If I were prone to drawing out words (which, it turns out, I am), I'd say it was written a looooooong time ago. Many many moons.

Second: Proverbs is (are?) still applicable.

Not only are they applicable, most of them still make sense in a way that few things written centuries ago don't. Take, for example, some of Shakespeare: "I do not bite my thumb at you, sir! But I do bite my thumb." Sure, once you understand what biting one's thumb meant*, it's funny, but until then it's kinda "huh?"

On the other hand, you have Proverbs. You have "Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife" (21:19). You have "A man's riches may ransom his life, but a poor man hears no threat" (13:8). You have "Like one who takes away a garment on a cold day, or like vinegar poured on soda, is one who sings songs to a heavy heart" (25:20).

Then are are some of my favorites. For example, Proverbs 11:22: "Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion," which my dad once quoted to me upon seeing such a woman. It's stuck with me ever since, because it's just such a funny picture and so very descriptive.

And, of course, the ones that contradict each other: "Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes" (26:4-5). Basically, you can't win in a discussion with a fool.

Granted, there are some dated proverbs about arrows and quivers and slings and such, but even those still translate. That's what I love about Proverbs - wisdom endures and applies across hundreds (thousands) of years and across distances so large that Google Maps can't calculate directions. (So weird that it couldn't give me directions from Norman to Jerusalem.)

*Apparently it was the Veronian equivalent of flipping someone off. Or something like that.

Verse of the post: "The LORD brought me [wisdom] forth as the first of His works, before his deeds of old; I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began." Proverbs 8:22-23

The Original

2011-08-12T16:18:00.004-05:00

Her: I need to fax this to my sister. Holds out a small diploma, still in the diploma cover.

Me: Okay, but I can only send a full-page fax, so you'll need to make a copy of it. There's a copy machine over there. Point to copy machine.

Her: But I have to fax her the original.

Me: ...

We exchange blank stares as I contemplate the best and most sensitive way to explain that a fax machine isn't a replicator or a carrier pigeon.

Her: I'll call her and check.

Me: Facepalm.

Facing it

2011-08-01T13:42:00.002-05:00

I've been having a lot of Cleopatra moments lately.

By this, I do not mean that I've been killing (or marrying) family members, hooking up with Romans, or being portrayed by Angelina Jolie. Though that last one would be kinda cool.

No, I mean that I've been the queen of denial.

For two months, I've been avoiding the fact that I may have to move back in with my parents. In case you haven't noticed, the economy isn't exactly booming right now, and jobs aren't all that thick on the ground. I've been working more hours at my part-time job, but my apartment lease ran out in June, which means that rent is higher, which means ... that I can't afford to live in Norman without a full-time job.

And I've known that. I've even made plans: I decided a few weeks ago that I'll be moving at the beginning of September if I don't have a job. But it's something I've tried not to think about.

I can't not think about it any more, though. Today, I gave my apartment complex my 30-day notice. I didn't cry. I was a big girl. I just paid my rent, gave my notice, and went to buy groceries.

Turns out that buying groceries while depressed is as dangerous as buying them while hungry.

ButI'm facing it. I'm trying to accept that unless God or an employer intervenes, I'll be moving to Prague in month. I'm trying not to think about what I'll be leaving in Norman, and I'm trying to plan so I'll have something to look forward to in Prague, but so far, I'm still of the opinion that leaving here is going to really stink.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to eat some of those groceries I shouldn't have bought.

What I Like about...Psalms

2011-07-23T10:00:00.000-05:00

What I like about Psalms: The story arc.

Yes, the story arc. Now, I do know that the book of Psalms is in fact exactly what its title suggests: a book composed of a bunch of relatively (sometimes totally) unrelated psalms. So it's difficult to imagine that there is any sort of plot, any story line at all.

And in a way, there isn't. Looking at the book as a whole, it's disjointed. It's like reading any other book of poems and expecting there to be a connection, except worse, because these poems were written by different people over a long period of time and one a multitude of themes.

Inside each psalm - or at least inside many of them - it's a different story. I'm sure this is something I should have noticed a long time ago. It's probably something that someone has preached about in my presence before. But, whether for the first time or not, when I read Psalms this year I noticed that many of the poem-prayers have what I, for lack of a better term, call a story arc.

They move. They progress. There's a change. The prayer moves from anger, or despair, or agony, or sorrow, to something else. To joy. To hope. To trust. To praise.

I guess the proper Christian-y term is "prayed through." David or whoever else wrote these psalms prayed through. As they were praying, the LORD worked in their lives and brought change. Maybe it wasn't a change in their situation, but there was definitely a change in their own views of their situation.

In other words - their prayers were effective. And I like that.

Verse of the post: "Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer. How long will you people turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods? Know that the LORD has set apart his faithful servant for himself; the LORD hears when I call to him. Tremble and do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. Offer the sacrifices of the righteous and trust in the LORD. Many, LORD, are asking, 'Who will bring us prosperity?' Let the light of your face shine on us. Fill my heart with joy when their grain and new wine abound. In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety." Psalm 4

What I Like about...Job

2011-07-11T13:00:00.000-05:00

What I like about Job: Seven days of silence

We all know the basic story of Job: He's a great guy, doing well, the devil takes a keen dislike to him, God agrees to let the devil test him, his entire life is destroyed, his friends give him such remarkably bad advice that "Job's comfort" becomes a saying, he sticks to his guns and doesn't curse God, God steps back into the picture and scolds the whole lot, Job's fortunes are restored, and he lives happily ever after.

What's easy to overlook, though, is one little passage, just after Job's friends join him. They tear their clothes, sprinkle dust on their heads, and sit down beside him. Then they do something amazing: "Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was" (2:13).

For a full week, they just sit with him. They don't offer platitudes, they don't offer advice, they don't tell him his family are in a better place, they don't blame him for his sufferings, they don't sing songs to bring him comfort. They sit there and don't say a word to him, because they see his great suffering.

Then, of course, they open their mouths. They try to explain to Job why he's suffering like this. They offer him advice on how to end his sufferings. And they add to his sufferings. He begs them to just shut up: "I have heard many things like these; you are miserable comforters, all of you! Will your long-winded speeches never end? What ails you that you keep on arguing?" (16:2-3). I'm pretty sure that's a poor translation of the Hebrew for "shut your face and leave me alone!"

He tells them that they are only making matters worse: "How long will you torment me and crush me with words" (19:2). But they don't pay attention to him. They keep on with their explanations and their advice, doing everything but helping.

It's easy to see their mistakes in Job; they go a bit overboard. And I suppose it is human nature to try to find a reason, an explanation, for suffering, and to want to share it. But sometimes it seems we should follow the first example of Job's friends: Sit in silence, offering our presence but not our (real or imagined) wisdom.

I don't know. I have been blessed enough to not have experienced much real grief in my life, so I don't know the best forms of comfort. Still, I think it's probably hard to go wrong with well-placed silence - even if it takes a week of sitting in dust and torn clothes.

Verse of the post: "Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was." Job 2:13

What I Like about...Esther

2011-07-09T23:52:00.008-05:00

What I like about Esther: Everything

Esther is my favorite book of the Bible - there's pretty much no competition. I like everything about it: The plots, the intrigues, the romance (which I continue to, somewhat illogically perhaps, believe in), the bravery, the celebration ... all of it.

When I was little, we had a cassette tape of a dramatization of Esther. I don't remember all of it, but I can remember very clearly the woman saying the line "And if I die, I die." I always admired Esther's faith and courage.

Now that I'm a bit older, I admire more about the book. The decentness of the king when he realized what was actually going on. Mordecai's uprightness in uncovering the plot against the king. His understanding of God's hand in the whole situation. And that the book was written to explain why the Jews celebrate Purim. You can almost hear grandparents telling the story to their grandchildren, like a Christian grandma might tell the Christmas story.

Like I said, everything about the book. I just like it. I also like this video about Purim, made by a bunch of Jewish students. It's pretty fun, and it fit with this post, so I thought I'd share it.

Verse of the post: "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?" Esther 4:14

American Woman

2011-07-05T10:00:00.005-05:00

Yesterday, in case you didn't notice, was Independence Day. Now, there are a few things you're supposed to do on Independence Day. You're supposed to cook out and eat homemade ice cream and/or watermelon and laugh with friends and watch fireworks, at the very least.

I don't know why. It's just what we're supposed to do. Like Ouiser said in Steel Magnolias, "Don't ask me these questions. I don't know WHY. I don't make the rules!"

Anyway. We didn't have any homemade ice cream yesterday, but we did follow the rest of the rules. And, because Dad wasn't feeling up to par, I got the honor of grilling the hamburgers. It was quite an experience. Thankfully, Dad was at least there walking me through the steps...

Step One: Hose down the surrounding area, because it's July in Oklahoma and the grass is so dry it crackles when you walk on it.

Step Two: Open the grill (not pictured, but Dad did include this in his instructions).

Step Three: Add wood, starting with the little stuff, then alternating directions on each layer, getting progressively bigger as you go.

Step Four: Stop layering when it looks something like this.

Step Five: Spray the wood down with lighter fluid.

Step Six: Light the fire with a match. Try not to catch yourself on fire in the process.

Step Seven: Fwhoosh!

Step Eight: According to Dad, this is the best part of the whole process: Sit in a comfy yard chair and wait for the fire to burn down some. If possible, take slightly out-of-focus pictures of yourself waiting.

Step Nine: When the fire looks something like this:

...take a poker and knock the wood down and spread it around.

Step Ten: Put the grill over the fire. Careful, it's hot!

Step Eleven: Place the hamburgers on the grill.

Step Twelve: (Are you tired of steps yet?) Let the burgers cook for about two minutes, then turn them 90 degrees - don't flip them yet!

Step Thirteen: Let the burgers cook another two minutes, then flip them to the other side.

Step Fourteen: Repeat the two minutes, turn, two minutes process. In the meantime, thank your grill instructor for his assistance.

Step Fifteen: Take up the hamburgers.

Step Sixteen: Close the grill lid.

Step Seventeen: Add baked beans, chips, toppings, and summer flowers, and eat up!

If I do say so myself, those were some darn good burgers. I fulfilled my patriotic duty, and I quite enjoyed it!

Wedding Weekend

2011-07-04T17:59:00.006-05:00

This weekend, my best friend from college got married. I have only a few memories from my first three years of college that don't involve Ronni in some way - we met on move-in day and were pretty much together from then on.

Me and Ronni then...

Me and Ronni now.

Our friend and former roommate, Karman, was also a bridesmaid, so we had a little mini-reunion at the rehearsal and reception. It was wonderful to see them again!

Ronni, me, and Karman our sophomore year of college, lost somewhere in a corn maze.

Karman, me, and Ronni now - all grown up-like.

Ronni lives in the Dallas area now, as does her new husband, so the festivities were all held down there - which called for a road trip!

I drove down from Norman on Friday for the rehearsal, then stayed until Sunday and drove back up to Prague. I always forget how beautiful southern Oklahoma is, until I drive through it again. Even in the middle of a drought, when everything is slightly dead, it's gorgeous.

But the real beauty of the weekend wasn't the landscape, it was my lovely friend and her new husband.

Ronni is a great planner, and she had a very long engagement - about two years - to plan, so it's not surprising that her wedding was great. She is also a very thoughtful person, which made it a cinch to be a bridesmaid. She even chose her wedding colors based on what color we would look good in!

Looking good in red. Also, her dress skirt was poofy, so we had to stand kinda far away from her. It's not that we don't like her or that we smelled or anything.

But one of the best things about Ronni is her smile. She has the biggest and brightest smile I've ever seen. If a smile ever could literally light up a room, hers would. Seeing her come down the aisle with her big ol' smile under her veil was great.

She married a pretty decent guy, too. For a Texan, I mean.

Me, with the happy couple.

No, really, he's great. They are very happy, and I'm very happy for them. May they be blessed with many happy years of marriage!

The new Mr. and Mrs. Miller!

What I Like about...Nehemiah

2011-06-26T16:01:00.000-05:00

What I like about Nehemiah: Multitasking

Nehemiah and Ezra were contemporaries, and both books deal with the rebuilding of Jerusalem. While what I liked about Ezra had more to do with politics and diplomacy, what I like about Nehemiah is in some ways more practical.

What I like about Nehemiah is that the people working on rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem were armed.

That's it. I like the multitasking. I like the image of these guys carrying around bricks in one hand and wielding a sword with the other.

Because isn't that life? Even if I'm not rebuilding a wall or actually carrying a sword around (I usually go sword-less), I am still required to have the same sort of vigilance in my daily life. I should still be carrying the metaphorical sword of the Spirit to work with me. I should still be balancing my day-to-day work with protecting God's work.

Thank God (seriously) that I don't have to carry around any actual weapons while I work. But the lesson of Nehemiah is no less applicable because my "sword" isn't visible.

Funny/sad note: I looked for a picture of a hammer and a sword for this post. Uh, yeah. Either I could get a hammer and sickle, or I could get a hammer and sword, which is the symbol of some nasty neo-nazi types. So, no picture.

Verse of the post: "Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked." Nehemiah 4:17-18

What I Like about...Ezra

2011-06-25T15:40:00.000-05:00

What I like about Ezra: The "ha!" moment

I really like it when troublemakers get their comeuppance. I think we all do, a little. We all give a little smirk when the jerk trying to make waves gets put down. There's probably a word for that feeling - something like schadenfreude but more so - but I don't know it.

In Ezra, though, that's what I like. When the exiles started to return to Israel and rebuild the temple, the regional troublemakers wrote a letter to the powers that be, complaining about the Jews. Those people are bad news, they wrote. They've got a history of rebelling and making problems for the state. Letting them build this temple is a bad idea. No good will come of it. Let us knock them down a couple notches.

At first, it worked. King Artaxerxes ordered that the construction of the temple be stopped. But then there was a change in administration, and the Jews started to build again. So the governor sent them a letter asking what the heck they thought they were doing. The Jews, however, demanded that the governor ask King Darius to look into the archives to see their command from King Cyrus to come to Israel and rebuild.

And that's what the governor does, and what the king does, and he finds the command, and Darius writes a strongly worded reply with some gruesome punishments for people who oppose the rebuilding.

It's the "ha!" moment. As in "Ha! You tried to make trouble for us, and you just got schooled!"

I like it.

Verse of the post: "Furthermore, I decree that if anyone changes this edict, a beam is to be pulled from his house and he is to be lifted up and impaled on it. And for this crime his house is to be made a pile of rubble. May God, who has caused his Name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to change this decree or to destroy this temple in Jerusalem." Ezra 6:11-12

What I Like about...Chronicles, Part 2

2011-06-24T15:19:00.000-05:00

What I like about Chronicles: (2) Records

Back when I posted about dreading Numbers, JL said that she always dreads Chronicles more than Numbers.

Reading Chronicles, I have to admit she has a point. Numbers has the records of temple gifts; Chronicles has the lists of genealogy. Lists and lists and lists and lists of names. Adam to Noah. The Japhethites. The Hamites. The Semites. Abraham's children and descendents by three women. Esau's line. Israel's line. David's line. Saul's line. The people who returned from exile.

The first nine chapters are all genealogy. Not the most thrilling reading.

And yet, I do like that these records are included. Like I said yesterday, I like the perspective of Chronicles. These lists are part of the perspective, and they're something that (I think) Ezra included to help his readers have perspective themselves - even 2500 years later. So, boring as they are, and as much as I want to doze off while reading them, I'm glad the lists are there.

Verse of the post: "These were their descendents." 1 Chronicles 1:29

What I Like about...Chronicles, Part 1

2011-06-23T14:54:00.005-05:00

What I like about Chronicles: (1) Perspective

Yes, I did mean to type "part 1," not 1 Chronicles. I'm combining 1 and 2 Chronicles into two posts, because I like two things about both books.

It's not how I've done this in the past, but this is my blog series, so I can do it this way if I want. So there.

Anyway, one of the things I like about Chronicles is the perspective. Most of the information in these two books is a repeat of what is in 2 Samuel and Kings. In fact, Ezra, who is traditionally accepted as the author of Chronicles, probably pulled most of these books from the manuscripts that became 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings.

But Chronicles isn't just a rehashing of the last three books. Instead, this is a retelling of the story, with the benefit of a historical perspective. Ezra - or whoever the author is - was looking back on the history of Israel and Judah from 100 to 500 years later, telling the story of his ancestors as one of the Jews who returned to Israel from exile. He wrote this with a priestly perspective, and as a slave returning to his homeland. He even included the return from exile at the beginning of the story: He includes the end at the beginning.

Throughout Chronicles, you can see his unique perspective. You can see him finding both the good and the bad in the kings, following the line of David and the priestly line even as it falters. You can see him holding on to hope, even though he knows that things will get bad before they get better - even though at the time he was writing, things weren't as "better" as he might have liked.

You might say that this is revisionist history. You might be somewhat justified. But I disagree. I think this is history written with the benefit of wisdom, written with an understanding of what really happened. Ezra doesn't claim that all the kings of Israel and Judah were saints. He acknowledges their faults. But he also acknowledges their strengths, their redemptions, their repentances. In other words, their humanity.

And I like that. I like that Ezra wrote Chronicles in his own present, understanding Israel's situation and pulling together the cords of history to see how they combine to bring about the exile and the return.

Most of all, I love that Chronicles ends with hope, whereas Kings ended with destruction. Kings ends with the exile. Chronicles ends with the return. And that is only possible with the perspective of time.

Verse of the post: "He carried into exile in Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his sons ... until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah. In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm ... 'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you - may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go.'" 2 Chronicles 36:20-23

Just Around the River Bend...

2011-06-12T19:15:00.001-05:00

A couple weekends ago, a group of young adults from my church went on a float trip down the Illinois River in eastern Oklahoma. It was my first float trip, so I was a little apprehensive, but I had a blast!

We headed over the night before, since it was going to be a long drive. We piled ourselves and our gear into the dubiously powered church van and pointed it east. About three hours and only one missed turn later, we arrived at our destination: War Eagle Resort. We unfolded ourselves from the van and headed down to the river for a good old-fashioned marshmallow roast under a gorgeous Oklahoma night sky.

When we ran out of chocolate for the s'mores, we doused the fire and headed back to the cabins for a few games and a few hours sleep.

We were up again bright and early the next day and headed out to brave the wild. We had two rafts - we started out with five in one and four in the other, and ended up a little bit mixed up, but at least we all made it!

We stopped midway to take a break. The sandbar we pulled up on was full of thin, smooth, black rocks - perfect for skipping!

It really was fun. What made it even better, for a group, is that it's something that each person can somewhat tailor to themselves. Some of use, myself included, were happiest just floating along, enjoying the beautiful day. Others couldn't wait to jump in the water, "help" their friends jump in the water, aim for any strong currents they could find, and generally act goofy. At the end of the day, we were all happy. Now I can't wait for next year's trip!

Photos: Catie Combes

What I Like About...2 Kings

2011-06-11T23:15:00.000-05:00

What I like about 2 Kings: Hezekiah

I really like Hezekiah. 2 Kings has some of my favorite Bible stories, including the stories of Joash and Josiah, but Hezekiah is my very favorite, for one reason: The man was gutsy.

First of all, Hezekiah's kingdom was under attack from the superpower of his time. The capital city was completely surrounded, and the opposing king sent a message demanding surrender and advising the people not to trust in their God.

Hezekiah didn't roll over and die. Instead, he took the message into the temple, spread it out in front of God, and essentially said "Are You gonna let these punks talk about You this way?" He asked God to "deliver us from [the Assyrian king's] hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God" (19:19).

And God did.

A few years later, Hezekiah got sick. Really, really sick - he was "at the point of death" (20:1). God sent Isaiah to him to tell him to get his affairs in order and get ready to die. Hezekiah didn't roll over and die then, either - but he did roll over to face the wall and pray. He reminded God of his life of faith and cries to God.

Before Isaiah could even leave the palace, God sent him back to revise the prophecy: God heard Hezekiah's prayer and saw his tears, and He was adding another fifteen years to Hezekiah's life.

See? Gutsy. Hezekiah wasn't afraid to go to God to 1) show his true emotions, 2) ask for what he wanted and 3) explain to God why He should answer his prayers. And it worked.

Hmmm...wonder if I could learn something from that?

Verse of the post: "Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: "O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God. It is true, O LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by men's hands. Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God." 2 Kings 19: 14-19

Ahhh...

2011-05-26T22:30:00.003-05:00

When I was looking for an apartment a year and a half ago, I looked at two apartment complexes that are right next door to each other. They're owned by the same company, are on the same property, and share an office, but they have different features.

I liked both of them, but I decided on the one I'm in now for basically one reason: It has a balcony. As I'd said here, I was wanting to grow some plants in a kitchen window, so a balcony seemed like a step up.

After living here for 18 months, I can safely say: I love my balcony. I love being able to open the French doors and let the breeze come in. (I'm on the second floor, so it's not like I'm opening my door to the sidewalk or anything.) I love growing herbs in my little pots outside. I love the new chair I bought this summer to sit in.

Now that I have more time - what with being no longer a student and underemployed at the moment - I can spend more time enjoying those two square yards of cement. So this afternoon, I sat out in my cheery chair and read for a while, then made a pizza using herbs I had grown myself (which have grown a whole lot since this picture was taken). Later this summer, the wildflowers I planted will start blooming and adding even more cheer to my corner of the world.

It's a wonderful way to relax. I have no idea when I'll be looking for an apartment next; it could be next month or in a few years. But I can say this: Last time, a balcony was a nice bonus. Next time, I'm pretty sure it will be a necessity.

What I Like About...1 Kings

2011-05-23T18:08:00.002-05:00

What I like about 1 Kings: It has my best friend in it. Really.

Here's the thing. To me, a whole lot of 1 Kings is depressing. It doesn't have any of my favorite kings in it (though it does have Jehoshaphat and Asa, who were both good kings and both had fun names). It gives the history of the division of Israel and the decline of both kingdoms. It tells about Solomon's wisdom, but it also shows how dumb he was with respect to women. (Yes, dumb is a harsh word, but seriously. 700 wives and 300 concubines? His harem was twice the size of the town my mother grew up in.)

Then, in chapter 17, it picks up. Honestly, it picks up because a great prophet is introduced, but if you're reading the King James version, it also picks up because you'll see that Elijah was fed by ravens at the "brook Cherith." Which is totally cool, because my best friend's name is Cherith.

Obviously, she was named for the brook, not the other way around.

Now, I'm not going to go on and compare her to the brook. I'm not going to say I'm fed beside her, because that's creepy and because I personally don't just love it when people think I'm exactly like the Rebekah of the Bible. But her name is a cool reminder of how God provides, sometimes in really weird ways, for His servants. When His prophet needed to be cared for throughout a drought, God sent him ravens as waiters at a little brook. Who would have thought of that?

Verse of the post: "And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,'Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.'" 1 Kings 17;2-4

What I Like About...2 Samuel

2011-05-23T14:18:00.000-05:00

Folks, I am WAY behind on these. I'll catch up eventually...but it's been a busy few months.

What I like about 2 Samuel: Saving screw-ups.

I don't think that God makes mistakes. I really don't. Reading the history of Israel, though, one does start to wonder. The first king turns out to be a paranoid jerk. The second king is an adulterer, a murderer, and a famously bad father. The third king has approximately a bazillion wives and lovers, who end up making him an idolator. And kings two and three are the "good kings" of Israel. It goes mainly downhill from there. So it is tempting to wonder why God chose those guys to lead His people.

But the human mistakes and the way God salvages them are one of my favorite things about 2 Samuel. David's rule is a saving of the disaster that Saul ended up being. David himself screws up so many times you lose count - but when he repents, God saves the screwed up situations. For many of us - for me, at least - David is a source of great hope: He messed up a lot, but because he was repentant and always turned back to God, he was "a man after God's own heart." Not that his actions didn't have consequences. They did. One of his children died because of his adultery, and because of his poor parenting, his daughter was raped and then her full brother killed the half-brother who had raped her, and two of his sons rebelled against him. When he was proud of his military power and commanded a census of the army, 70,000 Israelites died. It wasn't all rainbows and roses. But God was faithful to forgive him and support him when he confessed his screw-ups and asked for God's forgiveness.

And that's what I like about 2 Samuel.

Verse of the post: "David was conscious-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the LORD: 'I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O LORD, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.' ... So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen [of Araunah] and paid fifty shekels of silver for them. David built an altar to the LORD there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the LORD answered prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped." 2 Samuel 24:10, 24-25

The Last Toothbrush, Part 2

2011-05-15T23:43:00.006-05:00

A few months ago, I wrote a touching tribute to my toothbrush, to commemorate the opening of the last toothbrush of my college career.

This weekend, I officially finished my Masters degree. Thus, with great joy, I visited Wal-Mart, picked out a new toothbrush, came home, and threw away my student toothbrush.

It was the end of an era.

Now, I just have to figure out how to remember to replace my toothbrushes.

The Final Product

2011-05-13T14:31:00.004-05:00

The final product is a total of 129 pages long. 101 of those is text.

The final product is titled "Ignoring Hizbullah: A Framing Analysis of a Multidimensional Terrorist Organization."

The final product includes a signature page that has traveled to Denmark and back this month.

The final product is approximately draft number 4, 592.

The final product has been deposited with the OU library.

The final product talks a lot about terrorism. And media. And framing. Oh my!

The final product is my thesis.

And the final product is finally done!

Pandora's Box

2011-05-03T17:36:00.002-05:00

Questions prompted by songs playing on my Pandora station while I baked cookies. Bonus points if (a) you cananswer them and/or (b) you know all the songs I'm talking about.

Where had the boys been?

What is a Vegemite sandwich?

Is that Mr. Bumble at the end of Brick in the Wall? 'Cause I always think of him when I hear that song.

If he was about 17, how old was Joan Jett?

Why are you driving by her house if you know she's not home? How do you know she's not home? Are you stalking her?

What was Mrs. Eby thinking to have us play a song about a "girlie magazine" in pep band?

How cool is it that Robert Plant is a fan of Lord of the Rings?

Did this mean LSD before this song, or did the Beatles just start that?

My Royal Soapbox

2011-04-29T21:57:00.003-05:00

This morning, my alarm went off at 3:20. I rolled out of bed, put in my contacts, threw on some clothes, put a big ol' flower pin in my hair, and drove over to my best friend's house to watch Prince William and Kate Middleton get married.

Yes, I'm that person. I got up ridiculously early. I watched the wedding of a person I've never met and will never meet. I bought into the hype around a family whose existence was, in part, what drove my country to rebel. And I loved it.

It was fun. It was a beautiful wedding. The bride was gorgeous, the dress was amazing, the hats were crazy, and the queen was as cute as ever. (That's my American showing; not many people can refer to a queen as "cute.") I had a great time with good friends.

And then I came home and started seeing the comments online. "I wonder how much airtime the divorce will get?" "If you missed the wedding, don't worry. You'll see the highlights when they break up." "Everybody watched the last royal wedding, and look how that turned out: Scandal, affairs, separation, and death."

Here's my soapbox: I get that the divorce rate is very high in both the U.S. and the U.K. I get that Charles and Diana split up. I get that people are cynical about marriage. But that doesn't mean I like it.

If there is ever a day when people shouldn't be predicting divorce, it's on a wedding day. I hope to high Heaven that when (if) I get married, no one is talking about my divorce.

Why do we do that? Why do we think it's okay to assume that marriages will fail? Why do we think it's a sign of our world-weary wisdom to be cynics about marriage? And why do we excuse ourselves of guilt for encouraging failed marriages? As anyone who's ever read a self-help book or seen an inspirational movie will tell you, it's hard to believe something good about yourself when everyone is saying you're no good. So why are we content to just shrug and say "oh, it'll never last" when someone walks down the aisle and expect nothing to come of it?

No, I don't know if the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will live happily ever after or not. Like I said, I've never met them. I hope they do, like I hope every new bride and groom live happily ever after. I'm certainly not going to say on their wedding day that their marriage is doomed, but this point isn't really about them. It's about our society's attitude toward marriage.

Maybe it's because I've lived around strong, lasting marriages all my life. Maybe I am a romantic. But I do think marriages can and should last forever, and don't you dare call me naive when I say that on a wedding day, we should expect a marriage to last forever.

And down the line, if (when) I'm the one in the pretty white dress, if you think my marriage is doomed: Do me a favor and skip the wedding.

What I Like About...1 Samuel

2011-04-26T21:59:00.006-05:00

What I like about 1 Samuel: Foreshadowing

A long, long time ago - back in 2006 - I wrote a paper titled "Libertarianism in the Writing Center." It was for the class that prepared me to become a writing tutor in the honors college, and it opened with a quote from 1 Samuel 8.

In that chapter, the people of Israel come to Samuel and demand a king. A human king. This demand troubles Samuel, so he prays.

God answers: "It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. [...] Now listen to them, but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do" (8:7, 9).

So that's what Samuel does. He anoints Saul king, but first he warns the people of what having a king will really mean. A king will take your sons and daughters, he says. A king will take the best of your fields and the best of your produce. A king take away your flocks and herds. A king will make you slaves.

In the next few books, the Israelites realize what Samuel meant. With a handful of exceptions, the kings over Israel fit the bill that Samuel laid out. Even the good kings - David, Solomon, Asa, Hezekiah - use forced labor and have to tax the people to support their lifestyles. The people reject the King who gave them everything and accept a king who will demand of them their lives, all because ... why? So that they could be "like all the other nations" (8:19).

The way I tied that into the writing center is a little complicated (short version: don't tutor like a mean king; let the students have their own voices), but the way I tie it into my own life is, sadly, very simple. How often do I reject the King who gave me everything, in exchange for being like everyone else?

Ouch.

Verse of the post: "He said, 'This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the Lord will not answer you in that day.' But the people refused to listen to Samuel. 'No!' they said. 'We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.'" 1 Samuel 8:10-20

What I Like About...Ruth

2011-04-21T22:59:00.002-05:00

What I like about Ruth: Redemption.

There are lots of things I like about the book of Ruth. I love the romance of it (and I refuse to believe that the relationship between Ruth and Boaz was anything but a romance, or that anything untoward happened at the threshing floor). I love Ruth's dedication to her mother-in-law (for whom I don't particularly care, but that's another story). I love how neatly this little story sets up the next six books of the Bible by including David's genealogy. But most of all, I love that the story of Ruth is a story of redemption.

At the beginning of the book, Ruth and Naomi are at the bottom of the social ladder in practically every way. They are widows, they have no sons, they are poor, and Ruth is even a hated foreigner living in Israel. Naomi had even changed her name, going from being "pleasant" to being "bitter."

By the end of the book, though, Naomi is a grandmother, and Ruth is a mother and the wife of a wealthy man. Ruth became the grandmother of Israel's greatest human king, and one of the four celebrated women named in the genealogy of Israel's eternal King.

The change came partly from Ruth's dedication and hard work and partly from Naomi's clever plan, but in the end, the change was a work of redemption. Boaz overlooks Ruth's issues and ignores the possible consequences to his own fortune and agrees to be her redeemer.

At the risk of oversimplifying: What a great parallel to God's redemption of humanity! He promises to forget our myriad bad qualities - our deceit, our idolatry, our fickleness - and loves us anyway. He accepted the consequences of redeeming us, as we remember each year during Holy Week. But like Ruth, we have to ask to be redeemed. God is willing and waiting be our redeemer, but we have to make the first move. When we do, we can be sure that He will spread His garment over us and accept us as His own. And that's what I like about Ruth.

Verse of the post: "'I am your servant Ruth,' she said. 'Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer.'" Ruth 4:9

What I Like About...Judges

2011-04-08T22:06:00.003-05:00

What I like about Judges: The ladies.

If you've been following what I like about the books of the Bible, you may have noticed that I like it when the Bible talks about women - unless it's Paul, and then I grit my teeth and listen anyway. Divinely inspired word of God and all that.

In Judges, though, I don't have to grit my teeth when women come up, because Judges has some amazing women. In fact, the women in Judges kick some serious ... tooshie. At times, they're almost Tarantino-esque. (See what I just did there? I threw in a pop culture reference. So what if I've never actually seen a Tarantino movie?)

First, of course, we have Deborah. Random bit of trivia: The name Deborah means "bee." Isn't that funny and pretty? It makes me like the name a lot more.

Anyway, Deborah, besides having a pretty name, is gutsy and blunt. She's a prophetess, and when she calls in Israel's army commander to tell him he's about to win a huge battle, he refuses to go fight unless she comes, too. Which is kind of amazing in itself - big bad army guy won't go fight unless the prophetess of the LORD goes, too. She and God weren't particularly impressed, though, so she told him that she would go, but that the opposing general would be handed over to a woman instead of to him.

Enter Lady #2: Jael. Another cool name, but I don't know what it means. Jael, unlike Deborah, is not a prophetess and isn't even an Israelite. She knows what side she should be on, though, so when the bad guy comes by, she takes him in, gives him a drink, tells him to take a nap, and nails his head to the ground with a tent peg. Just ... wow.

I actually hesitate to call Lady #3 a lady, given that it is Delilah. After all, she seduced a man, then repeatedly tried to turn him over to his enemies for money, knowing full well what would happen to him if they got their hands on him. Eventually, she succeeded. She's wily, she's petulant, she's nagging, she's manipulative, she's deceitful, and she's a money-grubber. Not very ladylike. But she is still, you have to admit, a pretty strong woman.

And that's what I like about Judges. It's not a view of the world in which women don't matter at all. It's not a view of the world where women are some evil force. It's also not a view of the world where women represent everything that is good and perfect and worship-worthy, either. I saw a video this morning talking about how intuitive, wise, and capable of peaceful resolution of conflicts women are, all in touch with the earth and what-not. (I challenge you to watch the whole video without wanting to hit something.) The women of Judges aren't set up as goddesses or as ethereal forces of good, any more than they are set up as evil incarnate, or as objects. They are presented as real people. And I like that.

Verse of the post: "Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided." Judges 4:4-5

My week

2011-04-08T21:54:00.002-05:00

Howdy, folks. It's been a while.

See, I've been a little busy. Since the last time I posted, I've had at least two emotional breakdowns, applied for several jobs, stressed myself into a week-long illness, and accomplished a thing or two.

And by "accomplished a thing or two" I mean "had the most productive week of my life."

In the week between Thursday, March 31, 2011, and Thursday, April 7, 2011, I:

guest lectured twice, covering public relations in corporations, government, non-profits, and education
read and coded (categorized along 32 variables) 417 news stories about Hezbollah
entered data from all that coding into software
administered about 200 surveys on college students' use of social media
entered all THAT data into software
wrote the methods section of a paper for class
wrote a review of a paper
completed a statistics assignment
presented a review and critique of a different paper in class

Let's just say it was a busy week. But at least it was busy-ness that moved me in the right direction, so it was also a very good week!

Giving new meaning to "terrorist network..."

2011-03-29T08:30:00.000-05:00

What I Like About...Joshua

2011-03-24T21:14:00.005-05:00

What I like about Joshua: legacy

Remember back around 2000, after we'd all gotten over talking about the Y2K disaster that wasn't, how suddenly everyone was talking about what President Clinton's legacy would be? Would it be economics or health care? Foreign policy or his position on gays in the military? Everyone already knew that he would be most remembered for his sex scandals - we might forget about the Balkans, but we're pretty good at remembering smut - but still, pundits kept debating about legacy. It should have been the word of the year.

As annoying as that fixation on legacy was (I hate it when media latch on to one word like "legacy" or "gravitas" and keep using it for weeks), the idea of our lives having legacies is one I love. And in Joshua, we get to see multiple legacies play out in the lives Joshua and the other Israelites.

First and perhaps most obviously, Moses' legacy continues in Joshua. Theirs is one of my favorite relationships in the Bible. Joshua had been with Moses for years, helping him lead their people. Now that Mosses is dead, all that Joshua learned from Moses about being with God and following His lead comes out. Joshua takes the lead (literally) and takes the Promised Land.

Second, though, the legacy of the other Israelites plays out in Joshua, too. Forty years before, a generation of Israelites had been too timid and not trusting enough to take the Promised Land. As a result, they wandered around in the sand for a generation. Now, their children were poised to take the land their fathers and mothers hadn't taken. And they do take it - some of it. At the end of the book, when the allotments of the tribes are listed, we see their legacies coming through: The allotments of tribe after tribe end with "but they could not dislodge the ________, to this day they still live there among the Israelites." They had been led by the LORD Almighty into this land, but they did not have the courage and forbearance to complete take it.

Finally - and most importantly, I think - Joshua's own legacy is hinted at. My parents used to have a plaque hanging on their wall with Joshua 24:15 on it: "Choose you this day whom ye will serve ... but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." What I love about that is that Joshua is accepting one legacy of the past and leaving one for the future. Like the other Israelites and all of us, he had a mixed legacy. He was the son of slaves and the aide of a prophet. He could choose which of his pasts to follow, which future to take up, which spiritual inheritance to leave. And he chose to follow and serve his God.

That's amazing, it's inspiring, it's still completely relevant, and it's what I like about Joshua.

Verse of the post: "'As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.' ... 'Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you as He was with Moses.'" Joshua 1:5, 17

What I Like About...Deuteronomy

2011-03-10T13:16:00.005-06:00

What I like about Deuteronomy: Memory

I have a good, though weird, memory. I can remember details and quotations from very inconsequential stories told to me or in front of me over ten years ago. (Think I'm exaggerating? Ask my sister about the time her friend in college meant to say "Someday I'll find my Gilbert" but instead said "Someday I'll find my Pringle" after they'd watched Anne of Avonlea. No reason for me to remember that, but I do.)

I'm sure that statistically speaking, it's not random, but most of the time I can't figure out any rhyme or reason to the things I remember.

At the same time, though, I can have a colossally bad memory about some things. I'm ashamed to admit this, but last night on the way to church, I was trying to remember all ten commandments and could only get up to eight. I looked them up later and realized that I had combined the first two (no other gods and no graven images) and left out taking the name of the LORD in vain.

My first reaction to that was "I am a terrible person." After all, I can't tell you how many times I've read and recited the ten commandments. I've read them at least twice this year. Besides that, even as I was sitting in my car not remembering all of them, I could remember the scene in The Crucible where John can only remember nine and his wife has to say "adultery, John" - which is of course terrible since he had just committed adultery. And I've only read The Crucible once, and it was years ago.

So yeah, terrible person. But in light of Deuteronomy, I'm thinking I might amend that to be "I'm a person."

Quick recap: God had brought Israel out of Egypt. He'd done some pretty amazing stuff there to show that He was the One in charge. He'd led them for forty years through the desert, providing Mystery Bread for them to eat. He'd provided water from a rock - twice. He'd been present in a cloud over the tabernacle the whole time. He'd spoken with and through Moses. He'd given them the ten commandments. He was on the verge of leading them into a new land and helping them drive out nations far stronger than they were.

Yet, just before they crossed over into Canaan, Moses stopped them for a walk down memory lane. He recounted the past forty years of history. He repeated the law they had been given. God even had him teach the Israelites a song to help them remember what had happened - which shows that God understands how human minds work, surprise surprise.

And he told them what to remember:

the day they stood before the LORD at Horeb and received the Law (4:10)
that they were slaves in Egypt (5:15; 15:15; 16:12; 24:18; 24:22)
what God did in Egypt (7:18)
how God led them in the wilderness for forty years (8:2)
God (8:18)
the way they rebelled and worshiped the golden calf (9:7)
that they, not their children, were the ones who had seen the discipline and majesty of God (11:2)
their departure from Egypt (16:3)
what God did to Miriam when she rebelled (24:9)
what the Amalekites did to them (25:17)
the days of old and generations long past (32:7)

Here's why I like this: I, even with my weird memory, and like the Israelites, tend to forget things. I especially tend to forget the things God has done for me. That's a hard sentence to type and a hard thing to realize about myself. I like Deuteronomy because it's a place where the power, justice, and mercy of God are laid out clearly, so that we can remember them.

It makes me wonder, though: What should I write in my own book of Deuteronomy? What should I tell myself to remember about what God has done for me.

What is in your book of Deuteronomy?

Thought Progression of a Nerd

2011-02-16T22:08:00.002-06:00

When I left my apartment this morning, it was FOGGY. It wasn't just a little foggy in a "hey, look, pretty!" way (though it was very pretty) - it was foggy in the way that you couldn't see traffic lights until you were right under them and when you crossed I-35, you couldn't actually tell that it was a highway under you; it might as well have been a river down there.

Anyway, I walked out and it was very foggy. So, as I crossed the parking lot to take my trash to the dumpster, here's how my thoughts went:

1) It's very foggy out here.
2) I think it's very slightly less foggy on the ground level than it was upstairs.
3) That makes sense.
4) Hey, fog always reminds me of A Horse and His Boy when Shasta is on the mountain and goes through fog for the first time and realizes that this is what it's like to be inside a cloud.
5) Wait, if this is the inside of a cloud, why isn't it foggy in Cloud City in Star Wars?
6) Man, I'm a big nerd.

What I Like About...Numbers

2011-02-15T21:13:00.003-06:00

What I like about Numbers: God's sense of humor.

Now, I know that Numbers isn't a funny book. What is funny, though, is what happened when I read it this year.

I dreaded Numbers. I can make it through the Law in Exodus and the levitical codes in Leviticus, but when I get to lists of who brought what on what day - and when the list is exactly the same for twelve tribes - ugh. Gag.

I was ready for it, though, sort of. At least I was ready for this post. I'd known for months that what I was going to "like" about Numbers was going to be that it's a book of records. I was going to talk about how even though it's a really boring book, it's there for a reason. I was going to crack a joke about how this is appropriate for this month because I'm supposed to be doing my taxes.

That's what I was going to do. I still wasn't looking forward to it: I called my dad and complained about it; I complained to Cherith about it.

And then I read it. Yes, chapter one made me groan. Sure, chapter seven almost killed me. Yeah, chapter 26 was painful. But the stuff in between was actually much more pleasant than I remembered.

Somewhere up in Heaven, God is chuckling.

I do still like that there are parts of it that are records, even ledgers. I don't particularly like reading those parts, but I like that they exist. But I also like that despite every boneheaded thing the Israelites did, God led them constantly in a very clear way (hard to miss a pillar of cloud and/or fire). I like that when God was ready on multiple occasions to throw in the towel and start over with Moses, Moses' intercession for his people changed God's mind. What a great testimony to the power of prayer! I like it when Balaam's donkey speaks. I like the part about Zelophehad's daughters and how it reaffirms the value of women even in a patriarchal society.

So this is me, eating crow and finding it to be a fairly tasty dish, at least the way God prepares it. Who would have thought I'd have enjoyed reading Numbers?

Verse of the post: "His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incence; one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; one male goat for a sin offering; and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering." Practically all of Leviticus 7

That Day

2011-02-14T14:34:00.002-06:00

If you somehow don't know what today is ... you're pretty lucky.

As a single girl, I have a love-hate relationship with Valentine's Day: I hate it, but everyone else seems to love it. And it loves to remind me of its own existence.

This year, though, I'm prepared. And so far, it's actually been a really good day.

My mom sent me home yesterday with a super-cute new bowl full of tea cookies. (I love tea cookies. They're wonderful little bite-sized empty calories. Mmmm.) Then, when I checked my mail last night, I found a delivery of new jewelry I'd ordered (more on that in a post coming soon), so I'm wearing a new necklace today. Also last night, my lovely friends Craig and Anita gave all the girls at our Bible study roses; so when I got up this morning there was a rose and a bunch of cookies on my counter. The beautiful flower also came with a very sweet note.

And then today at work, a cute little old man asked me to be his Valentine. That's right - I'm picking up Valentines at the library. I'm a man-MAGNET, folks!

The best is still to come, though. Some of the other girls from church and I are having a single ladies' party tonight - I'm cooking, Jennie's hosting and making her yummy punch, Catie's bringing dessert, and Cherith's providing the entertainment.

Somewhere out there are some men who aren't spending Valentine's Day with the love of their lives ... because we're spending it together! Their loss.

Why I Want a Job, Part Two

2011-02-11T20:42:00.003-06:00

This semester is my last at OU - Lord willing, I will graduate in May with my Masters degree. Starting now, then, I'm looking seriously for a job. The process isn't exactly a blast, though, and sometimes it's hard to remember why I decided to go join the work force instead of staying in school for a Ph.D. For that reason, I'm going to post a short blog here every time I send out an application or a group of applications, to remind myself of why I want a job.

Part two: To travel.

Like I said a while back, I've never traveled very much until recently - and even recently, I've only visited Chicago and San Fransisco, for three days each, and Austin for two days, over two years.

So not much traveling.

But what I've found is that I really like it. Given that I'm not totally alone in a place, I enjoy seeing new places and exploring a little. (Nothing crazy - I'm still me.)

Other than going to conferences, though, there isn't a lot of opportunities for grad students to travel. It's the whole money thing, plus the time thing, with the energy thing thrown in for good measure.

When I get a job, though...a real, live, paying job with vacation and everything...I want to travel. With some of the positions I'm applying for, travel is a part of the job. With others, not so much. Either way, though, I'm ready to break in my poor passport, which has been stuck in a drawer for far too long.

A few places I want to visit - someday:

Jewish Museum Berlin - This museum was designed to evoke broken glass - echoes of Kristallnacht. Since a few years ago when I saw a short video about it in a German class, I've wanted to go there. The grounds also include a "Garden of Exile."

The Eagle and Child (Oxford) - Talk about literary history. This pub was a frequent meeting place of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien when they were professors at Oxford. (Side note: Can you imagine having had one of them as a teacher? Crazy!)

The Vatican - Is there really a need to describe this or explain why I want to visit?

Liechtenstein - This tiny country is shoehorned in between Switzerland and Austria. It has the second highest per-capita GDP in the world, and is one of only two counties to be doubly landlocked. (Trivia: The other is Uzbekistan.) It's also gorgeous and located entirely in the Alps.

Salzburg - Yes, I love The Sound of Music. Yes, if I ever visit Salzburg I will go on the Sound of Music tour. I'm not ashamed of that. But in addition to being the home of the Von Trapps, Salzburg is also the birthplace of Mozart and has been home to a whole slew of famous musicians and composers.

That's the list, so far. What did I miss? Where would you go, if you could visit anywhere in the world?

Why I Want a Job, Part One

2011-02-10T13:56:00.001-06:00

This semester is my last at OU - Lord willing, I will graduate in May with my Masters degree. Starting now, then, I'm looking seriously for a job. The process isn't exactly a blast, though, and sometimes it's hard to remember why I decided to go join the work force instead of staying in school for a Ph.D. For that reason, I'm going to post a short blog here every time I send out an application or a group of applications, to remind myself of why I want a job.

Part one: To sponsor a child through Compassion International.

Several years ago, I learned about Compassion International for the first time. From pretty much the first time I heard about it, I was fascinated. The organization is best known for its child sponsorship program, through which people can provide financial and spiritual support for a child in a poverty-stricken area.

I love Compassion's mission statement: "In response to the Great Commission, Compassion International exists as an advocate for children, to release them from their spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and enable them to become responsible and fulfilled Christian adults."

Since I was about five years old, I've had a love for orphans around the world and especially in India - and since I heard about Compassion, I've wanted to sponsor a child.

Right now, though, I'm working two jobs and I'm really excited that I will be able to pay my tuition, rent, and bills this month. I've made a one-time donation to Compassion in the past, but other than tithing, I can't afford another monthly commitment right now. So when I submitted an application for a job today, I told myself that it wasn't just for something to do or a way to pay the electric bill; I want a job so I can make a difference in the life of a child I may never even meet in person.

End note: I keep monitoring their Web site, hoping to find a job opening there to apply for. I would love working with this amazing organization!

A Morning

2011-02-10T09:20:00.002-06:00

This morning, I got up, got ready, got dressed, ate breakfast. Packed up for the day. Went downstairs, making the first tracks on the snow on my landing. Sat in my car for half a song. Came back upstairs. Changed clothes. Went back down. Cleaned the snow off my car. Scraped the ice of my car. Scraped the frost off my car. Came back upstairs. Changed clothes again.

By the time I got to the third outfit of the day (a cross between the weather-impractical first one and the weather-practical second one) it was too late to leave for campus and get a decent parking place.

So I'm working from home again today. I'll get out this afternoon when I have to go to class - and when the parking rules change so there will be spots open.

And preemptively - yes, I'm kind of a wimp, but I'm not used to this.

What I Like About...Leviticus

2011-02-05T20:20:00.003-06:00

What I like about Leviticus: It's not written to me.

No, really. That's what I like about Leviticus.

Yes, I do also like that it's a very detailed guide book. I like that it clearly sets out the duties of the priests. I like that it could very well be printed out and put in a tabbed three-ring binder for easy reference when, for example, someone has an infectious skin disease.

I like that it lays out (lies out?) the ways to atone for sin. I like that it is full of God's mercy. I like that it shows that God understands that we screw up and provided ways to make up for our mistakes.

I really do like all of that. But if I'm honest - which I try to be - what I like best is that it isn't written to me. I like that it's written to the Israelites. I like that the bulk of it is actually written to Israelite priests.

I like that because reading Leviticus (and Deuteronomy, in a few weeks) makes me realize how amazingly holy God is and how hopelessly unholy we are. God recognizes that: He says "when anyone sins..." He doesn't say "if." He says "when." And then He explains very carefully how that sin is to be atoned for. He also explains how we can be defiled - not just by sinning, but by touching dead things, by living in mildewy houses, by doing the regular, natural things in life like sex, menstruation, and childbirth.

Even when the Israelites did everything right, though - when they presented the proper sacrifices for their sins, went through the proper purifications for their uncleanness - they still had to go through another ceremony every year: They had to have a day of atonement to offer a sacrifice and to place their sins on a scapegoat to be sent into the desert.

And that's the part I like about Leviticus: Not that its laws aren't still important, not that it's not still a valid book, but that, thanks to the eternal sacrifice of Jesus Christ, atonement has been made. Because of that sacrifice, I can read this book without despairing. That's what I like about it.

Verse of the post: "He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and take its blood behind the curtain. ... In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been. ... This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites." Leviticus 17: 15, 16, 34

Settled In

2011-01-31T21:35:00.002-06:00

Right now, I am sitting on my couch, listening. Listening is a good thing to be doing right now - there is a unique mix of sounds around me. Closest, Ray Charles is serenading me with "Georgia." A little bit further away, sleet is tapping quietly but sharply on my windows and doors. And a bit further away, but still close enough to shake my apartment sometimes, it is thundering. Yes, Oklahoma is getting thunder-sleet in January.

And I can sit on my couch and listen, because I, like any Oklahoma girl whose momma raised her right, I am prepared. I have milk and bread (even though I don't really use them much). I have a coal oil lamp and extra oil. I have matches. I remembered to get my ice scraper out of my car so I can get into my car when this is over. I've been monitoring the weather for two days. I have a bathtub full of water so I can still use the necessary if my water goes out. I lined my balcony doors with towels.

In a (for me) even more practical measure, I have 20 Diet Dr. Peppers in my refrigerator. I also, unfortunately, have a stack of work to do tonight and tomorrow.

The point is, I am just about as ready as any girl living in an all-electric apartment can be. I am psychologically, physically, mentally, emotionally, and work-ally prepared for this storm. So tonight, I've had the luxury of cooking and eating a leisurely dinner, soaking in a nice bath (which provided the tubful of water), and cozying up with a book on my couch.

In short, I am settled in.

Late Bloomer

2011-01-29T21:59:00.002-06:00

I had a somewhat different childhood. I wasn't raised in a compound or anything, and I wasn't even homeschooled (ha), but my family did some things differently than most people do. As a result, I've had to learn how to do some things as an adult - things most people pick up while children. It's not a bad thing, but it does make for some interesting and sometimes uncomfortable experiences. For example, in the six years since I left home, I've had to learn (or start learning) how to...

have a pizza delivered. Growing up, we never - not even once, to my knowledge - had pizza delivered. Or any other kind of food. So even now, it is very unusual for me to order food in, and it's always awkward when it's delivered.
ride on an airplane. Until November 2009, when I was 22 years old, I had never ridden in an airplane. Now I have a few times and I'm quite comfortable with the whole experience, but it was frankly terrifying the first time. (Not so much the actual flying; that didn't bother me at all. It was just the process of getting from outside the airport to inside my plane, and then getting from inside my plane to outside the other airport.) Someday I may even figure out how the bathroom thing works.
have a fight. My family didn't have fights. We didn't really argue. I'm totally not complaining about that, but it does mean that I've had to slowly find out how people express anger to each other and how I'm supposed to express my own anger. It's been a journey, and I feel sorry for the people who have had to put up with me while I figure it all out.
ignore television. We didn't have a TV. When I first came to college, I could NOT be in the same room with a TV while it was on without watching it. When I moved into an apartment with three other girls, I had some serious issues with watching too much TV. Thankfully, that year was one of the easiest of my undergrad, so I got my issues pretty much worked through without too much damage, but it's still difficult for me.
stay in hotels. Most of the vacations we took, at least the ones I remember, involved a camper and/or a stay with relatives. There are very few times I remember us renting a room, and most or all of those were motel stays. (Yes, I do distinguish between motels and hotels. It's a thing with me.) Learning to and getting to stay in hotel rooms has been one of my favorite parts of traveling more the past three years. There really aren't many things I like more than staying in a hotel. It's true. I just love it.
use heating and air conditioning. Okay, this one's really not fair to my family. It's not like we didn't use central heat and air at home. At least it's not like we didn't HAVE it. (Well, there were a few years in there, one of which was 1998, when Oklahoma had one of the hottest summers in recent history, when we didn't have any A/C.) We even used it sometimes. But living in an apartment with no gas or wood heating and few windows, it's been my joy to leave some form of climate control on for probably nine out of the last twelve months. Not that I go crazy with it or anything.

There you go - a few of the things that are second nature to some people, that are relatively new to me. Of course, to balance those things out, I do know how to make a really good homemade pizza, endure long car rides, be a peacemaker, entertain myself without TV, live in a tiny camper with four other people, build a fire in a wood stove, and survive without air conditioning during Oklahoma summers. So I'd say it's a wash.

What I Like About...Exodus

2011-01-27T12:35:00.003-06:00

What I like about Exodus: the why.

There's one part of Exodus that has always kinda grossed me out. Not only that, it's always made me wince.

Moses is up on the mountain, and God is giving him instructions for the altar, the tabernacle, sacrifices, etc., and He describes the priests' wardrobe: a very nice ephod, a very nice robe, a pretty breastplate, a turban. He explains how they are to be made, down to the materials.

Then He tells Moses to throw blood on them.

It's like we're watching Project Runway and suddenly the prom scene from Carrie comes on.

And I've always understood why Moses has to sprinkle blood on Aaron's new duds. I got it: They have to be consecrated so they can present offerings at the altar. I got it, but I also got queasy.

This year, though, something struck me a couple chapters before that which made me think about it a little differently.

In the law that God gives to Moses, there are requirements for lots of things. Many are in Exodus, many more I get to read in the next few weeks in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Some of them make sense to modern readers - for example, the law to let farmland rest once every seven years. Long before we learned a bitter lesson about crop rotation in the Dust Bowl, God clued the Israelites in.

Some of the laws just don't make any sense to us. Some of them probable didn't make any sense to the Israelites, either. For some of the laws, God explained Himself: Don't give or accept bribes, because they pervert justice.

Don't...because. He anticipated the why.

For some, though, there isn't a because. There doesn't seem to be a why. Or, like with the blood, the why is confusing, or gross, or seems disconnected or a little bit random.

For those, too, though, He gives a why: "Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God."

Ummmm...okay. I think I'm good with that. They were supposed to follow the law (1) so that God would dwell among them, (2) so that they would know He was their God, and (3) because He was the Lord their God.

That's a good "why."

Verse of the post: "Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God." Exodus 29:45-46

The Last Toothbrush

2011-01-17T15:06:00.004-06:00

When I graduated from high school (six years ago now - how time flies), my sister-in-law gave me a bouquet of toothbrushes.

To clarify: I have issues with buying toothbrushes, or at least I used to. It's just not something I think about. You don't just run out of a toothbrush, and it gets old and smooshed so gradually that I usually didn't even notice when it reached the point that it was only fit to scrub tiles with. To help me out with this, then, Missy bought me a potted plant, attached eight toothbrushes (still in the packages) to floral wire, and stabbed the wire into the plant's soil.

That way, she said, I had a new toothbrush for every semester of college.

Let me tell you, I appreciated that. More than just keeping my gums healthy and my teeth cavity-free, those toothbrushes gave me hope. The disposal of an old toothbrush and the opening of a new on became a ritual, a celebration. It was a way of marking time. I've continued it in grad school, both for the dental health and for the tradition.

This is my last semester. So last night, I opened a new toothbrush. I took it out of its package and set it in a cup on my counter. That's the last time I will do that at the start of a new semester.

This ... is the last toothbrush of my college career.

What I Like About...Genesis

2011-01-15T13:24:00.003-06:00

Here we go! On to the Old Testament.

What I like about Genesis: "God said..."

I've read Genesis a lot. In fact, based on absolutely no scientific data at all, I'd say that Genesis is one of the most-read books of the Bible. It's certainly one of the most familiar; it contains many of the Sunday school stories children learn growing up.

But in all the times I've read this book, and in all the times I've heard the stories from it, I never realized how many times God speaks in Genesis. As I read it this month, however, I noticed that "God said..." a lot in this book.

To check myself, I did a quick text search. Turns out, the phrase "God said" appears 54 times in the Bible. Twenty-eight of those are in Genesis - and that doesn't include the times when God is referred to as "he" or the times He appears as a man and is not directly identified.

That's quite a bit of talking. And what God said was usually pretty good stuff. Sure, sometimes it was along the "I'm going to destroy humanity" vein, but for every one of those times, He also made a promise. He made covenants.

He promised not to destroy the world again.

He promised to make Abraham into a great nation.

He promised to make Isaac into a great nation.

He promised to take care of Ishmael, the result of Abraham's impatience.

He promised to make Jacob into a great nation.

He promised a lot in Genesis. He said a lot. And what He promised, He did. What He said, came to be.

And I like that. I like that He didn't just create everything and then let it go. He stuck around. He spoke to those who believed in Him.

Verse of the post: "And God said, 'This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.'" - Genesis 9:12-16

What I Like About...The New Testament

2010-12-31T09:28:00.003-06:00

By way of an end-of-the year wrap-up, and as a conclusion to my reading of the New Testament, here's a recap of what I like about each of the New Testament books. Stay tuned in January for the start of the Old Testament.

Matthew - There's a lot of red
Mark - Streaking
Luke -He did his research
John - His eternal perspective
Acts - The Church
Romans - It's really complicated, and it's really simple
1 Corinthians - Paul's scolding on denominations
2 Corinthians - The raw emotion
Galatians - Praising God
Ephesians - Paul's prayer for his friends
Philippians - It's a thank-you note on steroids
Colossians - The rule-book
1 Thessalonians - Love and simplicity
2 Thessalonians - It's easier to understand than Revelation
1 Timothy - It's a caring, personal letter - from Paul!
2 Timothy - Mark grows up
Titus - It's a letter of both advice and recommendation
Philemon - Strategic communication
Hebrews - Jesus
James - The social gospel
1 Peter - Hope
2 Peter - Equality
1 John - The life of love
2 John - It's written to a woman
3 John - Hospitality
Jude - Hellfire and brimstone
Revelation - I don't understand it all, but it has a good ending

What I Like About...Revelation

2010-12-30T17:15:00.000-06:00

What I like about Revelation: I don't understand it all, but it has a good ending

Here we are, finally at the end of the New Testament.

And once again, it feels like I'm cheating a little bit.

After all, didn't I just days ago say that I like 2 Thessalonians because it's easier to understand than Revelation? Didn't I talk about how wonderful it is to understand what's going on in that book? Didn't I say that it's nice that it leaves out some of the more fantastic parts?

Yes, I did. And I meant it. But here's the deal: Our God is pretty fantastic. So, while I do like the readability and get-your-head-around-ablity of 2 Thessalonians, I also really like that there are parts of Revelation that I just flat don't understand - and that I will never understand.

I'm not saying I'll ever stop trying to understand them. I won't stop considering what those wiser than I have gleaned from those parts. But the great thing about this faith of ours is that we accept that what we know of God is enough to make us trust what we aren't sure of about Him.

One quote from W. Somerset Maugham's The Razor's Edge has stuck with me for several years. "A God that can be understood," he wrote, "is no God. Who can explain the Infinite in words?"

We have been blessed beyond belief to understand some of the thoughts of God (1 Corinthians 2:9-16). But it's so wonderfully freeing, at least to me, to realize again at the end of each year that there are some things about a supernatural God that no natural mind can comprehend. And that's totally okay with me. I'd make a really lousy king of the universe, and I'd be a little worried if I, with my limited wisdom, could understand everything about the king of the universe.

So no, try as I might (and as I will continue to do), I won't ever understand all of Revelation or, for that matter, all of most of the books of the Bible. What I do understand, though, is that it has a good ending. In the end, "the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes" (7:17). [Preach, preacher!]

I don't get all of it, but I get that part. And that's what I like about it.

Verse of the post: "He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I am coming soon.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus." Revelation 22:20

What I Like About...Jude

2010-12-30T12:40:00.004-06:00

What I like about Jude: hellfire and brimstone

In the interest of complete honesty, I would like to admit that there are two other things I really like about Jude: It's short, and it's near the end. By the time I get around to reading Jude in mid-December, I am ready to be done reading through the Bible. A short, next-to-last book is quite welcome.

That may not be very holy of me, but it's the truth.

Anyway, other than being short and a harbinger of the end, Jude is a warning - and a fairly sharp one at that. Jude (like James, a half-brother of Jesus) writes to all "those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ" (1) to warn them (us) about "certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago" (4).

These men were false teachers; they made themselves part of the Church only for their own gain. Jude describes them quite eloquently: " These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm - shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted - twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever" (12-13).

This letter, then, functions as a two-fold warning. First and most directly, it is a warning to other Christians not to follow those false teachers. At the same time, though, it is an indirect warning to those men themselves of where their actions were leading them.

Now, it's not exactly hellfire and brimstone, so my lead-in was a bit disingenuous. But it is a very dire warning and, coming after the bulk of the New Testament, it brings in the reality of God's wrath that is usually associated with the Old Testament. What makes it different from the Old Testament, though, is the ending. Jude advises his readers to "be merciful to those in doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them" (22-23).

In the Old Testament, there wasn't any snatching from the fire. Thanks to Jesus Christ, though - "he who is able to keep you from falling" (24) - we now have an out from the fire and brimstone. And that's what I like about Jude.

Verse of the post: "In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. ... Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion." Jude 8, 11

What I Like About...3 John

2010-12-30T01:15:00.003-06:00

What I like about 3 John: hospitality

First off, I'd like to say that hospitable is a great word. It always reminds me of that part of Beauty and the Beast where Lumiere says "I was trying to be hospitable!"

In 3 John, St. John writes to his friend Gaius to thank and commend him for being hospitable. It's a very short letter, with very few details, but the jist of it is that Gaius helped out some of the believers who were passing through his town. He didn't know the men, but he apparently helped them while they were there and then helped provide for their journeys as they left.

Now, we don't know what Gauis' service to these men was. Maybe he gave them a ton of money and sent them off well-heeled. Maybe he just had them over for dinner, gave them a place to sleep, and sent them bread for their journey. Either way, it made an impression on those men and on John.

Hospitality can seem like an easy, little thing, but John clearly thought it was important enough to mention in a personal letter of thanks and instructions. Sometimes the little things are the most important. And that's what I like about 3 John.

Verse of the post: "It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth." 3 John 7-8

What I Like About...2 John

2010-12-28T21:03:00.004-06:00

What I like about 2 John: it's written to a woman

Okay, so there is a very good chance that the "dear lady" this letter is written to is a church, not an actual woman. That said, we don't know for sure whether this was written to a church or to one woman (though certainly circulated), so I am well within my rights to like that it is addressed to a woman.

If you've never read through the epistles as a young woman, you may not understand why this is important to me. But one of my major beefs with the Bible (as I've mentioned before) is that the letters don't give much advice to young women, especially if we aren't married. Paul urges us to stay single, but then proceeds to forget about us for the most part. Even for married women, most of the advice is on how to be a good wife and mother. That's great, don't get me wrong, but even this is lacking. In 1 John, John writes to "dear children," "fathers," and "young men," but doesn't mention women.

Now, I do know that all of the Scriptures are useful for all people. I know that I can learn from the advice addressed to others. That said, though, it can be very frustrating and even annoying to look to the Word for guidance on how to live my life as I am right now and come up lacking. So I do really like that - whether John was writing to one woman or a congregation of believers - this letter is sent to someone who, at least in the salutation, sounds more like me.

And, having written all of that, you know what the great thing is about 2 John? It's not that different from the rest of the New Testament. John warns about deceivers and urges the "dear lady" to love and to walk in obedience to Christ's commands. Nothing special and eye-opening, like "live your life completely differently than male believers." So, at the same time that 2 John makes me feel a little less forgotten, it also reinforces what I already knew: I can commandeer parts of the Bible that are written to young men, to old men, and to married women, and it will apply to me, too. It's nice to be remembered, but it's also nice to be reminded that I wasn't forgotten. And that's why I like 2 John.

Verse of the post: "The elder - to the lady chosen by God and to her children, whom I love in the truth - and not I only, but also all those who know the truth - because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever." 2 John 1-2

What I Like About...1 John

2010-12-27T21:36:00.003-06:00

What I like about 1 John: the life of love

As I was re-reading 1 John for this post, I realized how many times the word "love" appears in the book. For a chapter, practically every third word is "love," "loved," "loves," or "loving." Those words combined occur 46 times in this short book - almost 10 times per chapter.

Many of those occurrences speak of the life of love. For John, this had a double meaning: We live in love because God loves us, and because God loves us we must love each other. Because of the great love of the Father, we are children of God (3:1). It is through love we are given life, and it is through love that we must live our lives.

Love is also not very "lovey-dovey" for John. It's not long-stemmed roses and fat cherubs. It's a very practical, powerful thing. It brings light (2:10). It's the antidote to death (3:13). It's the way God lives in us (4:12). It's powerful enough to drive out fear (4:18).

Most of all, for John love is a way of life, not just an emotion. In fact, it's not much of a stretch to say that, for John, love and life are one and the same. God is love (4:16); Jesus Christ is eternal life (5:20).

The bottom line here is that only through love can we live godly lives. It is through love that God lives in us; it is through love that we become His children; it is through love that we bring life and joy to our brothers and sisters. And that is what I like about 1 John.

Verse of the post: "If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him." 1 John 4:15-17

What I Like About...2 Peter

2010-12-26T22:04:00.003-06:00

What I like about 2 Peter: equality

I was talking to my Dad a few days ago about this post, saying that I wasn't yet sure what I would write about. Yesterday, he stopped me and said "How can you not have anything to say about 2 Peter? It has so much! It has one of my favorite verse first rattle out of the box."

So, borrowing that from him, here's what I like about 2 Peter: This is a letter written by St. Peter. Peter the Rock. The man recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as the first pope. The man who walked with Christ and was one of the Big Three of the disciples. The man whom Christ told to "feed My sheep." That guy. Even in this letter, he reminds his readers of his experiences. He writes that "we did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. ... We ourselves heard [the] voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain" (1:16, 18).

And yet, Peter writes this letter "to those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours" (1:1).

That's pretty cool, as Dad pointed out. The faith that we have received is as precious as that of St. "The Rock" Peter. Our faith is the same as his. Our gift is a precious as that which he received. Christ's presence with us is as real as it was with him.

That's amazing.

And Peter doesn't stop there. He goes on: "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused b evil desires" (1:3-4).

Us...we...our...us...us...you may participate. We're in this together, Peter seems to be saying. It's not just that Jesus picked twelve of us to share himself with. You - all of the yous that read this letter when it was first written and down through the centuries - can participate in Christ's divine nature and escape corruption. Uh, wow.

We, as a part of those collective pronouns, are equals with St. Peter. We are equally given the grace of Christ's salvation. We are equally made sons of the Living God. Here in America, we hold dear the truth that "all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights" - Peter writes that we are also equally endowed with the great unearned privilege of faith in Christ and salvation through him. That's just amazing.

Verse of the post: "Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the knowledge of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." 2 Peter 1:1-2

What I Like About...1 Peter

2010-12-23T22:08:00.004-06:00

What I like about 1 Peter: hope

This letter has the potential to be a real downer. It's written by a leader of a persecuted Church to the members of a persecuted Church. Peter knows very well the dangers faced by his readers.

He knows that they "may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials" (1:6). He knows that Christians would be accused of doing wrong (2:12). He knows that they will be insulted, and yet he encourages them to "submit [themselves] for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men" (2:13). He even tells them not to be surprised at their trials (4:12).

In all, that's pretty depressing subject matter. Not really what you want to talk about in Sunday School.

But, somehow, Peter keeps this letter from being depressing. Though he's writing to a persecuted people, his letter is full of hope. He promises his readers that, whatever this life brings, they have been born "into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade" (1:4). They may be suffering, he writes, but they are "filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for [they] are receiving the goal of [their] faith, the salvation of [their] souls" (1:8-9).

The whole letter goes on like that. Along the way, he admonishes them on keeping the faith, advises them on how to live as Christians in a pagan and oppressive world, and gives some commands for family life. Through all of it, though, he keeps his hopeful, even joyful, tone.

In the midst of pain and suffering, joy. In the face of guaranteed persecution, hope. In the event of death, a rebirth. This is the promise of Christ, and this is the focus of 1 Peter. And that's what I like about that letter.

Verse of the post: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade - kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter 1:3-5

What I Like About...James

2010-12-22T21:33:00.005-06:00

What I like about James: the social gospel

The social gospel has gotten a bad rap in the past few years. This year, especially, it's been the center of a dust-up among evangelical leaders and conservative media personalities. Now, I don't intend to be especially political in this post. I firmly believe that my faith should influence my politics, not the other way around. Besides, James isn't really political about what he writes. That said, here's what James has to say about how our faith should be acted out.

He doesn't talk about what governments should do, or about what "they" should do. He doesn't draw a line between the deserving poor and the undeserving poor. He just tells us how we, individually and as the Church, should act out our faith and our love for our fellow man.

I'll be the first to say that I haven't even started to live up to what I'm supposed to do. And I don't think the Church does a very good job of it, either, quite frankly. I think we try. But James outlines a faith that is very active.

He warns us not to "merely listen to the word ... [but to] do what it says" (1:22).

He writes quite bluntly that "religion God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (1:27).

We are warned not to favor the rich.

We are warned that "faith without deeds is useless" (2:20).

We are warned to watch our tongues.

We are warned that "anyone [...] who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins" (4:17).

That's not a "sit around and wait for Jesus to come back" sort of gospel. It's good news that demands action.

It's so easy to get caught up in our own lives and forget about those around us. Maybe at this time of year it's easier to remember others, but even now many of us (or at least I) don't go much farther than dropping change in a bucket. The faith that James writes about, though, is so much more alive than that. And, challenging as it is, that's what I like about James.

Verse of the post: "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, 'You have faith, I have deeds.' Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do." James 2:14-18

What I Like About...Hebrews

2010-12-21T23:47:00.003-06:00

What I like about Hebrews: Jesus

It may seem like a cop-out to say that what I like about Hebrews is Jesus. After all, I could say that about any of the New Testament books and several of the Old Testament books. So in a way, yes, it's cheating to pick Jesus as my "thing" about Hebrews.

But I'm still picking Him, because Hebrews, for all its sometimes-impenetrable exposition, is about the superiority of the Christ. Parts of it may be - and are - very difficult to understand. The unknown author may - and does - delve deeply into the theological importance of a very minor Old Testament character. The author may - and does - quote the Old Testament extensively.

Through the whole book, though, the thing that holds all of this together is Jesus. A few years ago, my favorite pastor (hi, Dad!) talked during a sermon about how Jesus is at all of the high points of Hebrews. The author gets almost bogged down in some deep stuff, but the book always comes back up to Jesus.

The author doesn't just say "Jesus is the greatest. The end." Instead, he (or maybe even she; Priscilla has been suggested) shows how Jesus is superior to angels (1:4-14), worthy of greater honor than Moses (3:1-6), and the great high priest, better than any other priest in Israel's history (4:14-7:28).

Now, I'm certainly not going to pretend to comprehend all of Hebrews. Like approximately 97.4% of all Christians, the part about Melchizedek confuses me. In fact, I usually think of the rat in A Little Princess instead of the priest who blessed Abram. I'm not proud of it, but there it is.

Even though I don't understand all of Hebrews, though, I get its message. Jesus - higher than angels, more honored than Moses, and more priestly than priests- ties the book together. So that's why Jesus is what I like about Hebrews.

Verse of the post: "During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek." Hebrews 5:7-10

The Tale of Marvin the Penguin

2010-12-20T20:45:00.004-06:00

Once upon a time, there was a penguin named Marvin. He was quite a small penguin, made from brightly colored knits, with a dapper cap and scarf. Though his appearance was cheery, however, Marvin was not a happy penguin.

He had been taken at quite a young age from the place of his birth. Torn from his family, he was placed in a store alongside dozens of other penguins of various sizes, shapes and colors, as well as a wide assortment of snowflakes, bulbs, stockings, toy soldiers, Santas, angels, and trees. In short, he was hung in the Christmas ornament aisle.

One day, Marvin was picked up by a lovely young lady from his hook on the aisle and placed her basket. After being unceremoniously scanned, bagged, and buffeted about, he was moved into a bag, then placed in a large box. For weeks, this was his home.

The darkness of his surroundings suited Marvin’s depressed spirits. He was still a young penguin, yet he had no family, no friends, no one with whom to share the happenings of his day, boring as they were. He was entirely alone, and everyone knows that, when one is entirely alone, a dark, closed space is the perfect place to wallow in aloneness.

After weeks of solitude, Marvin was lying in his bag one day – a day just like every other, as far as he knew – when he suddenly became aware that the bag was moving. He was being lifted from the box!

Marvin cowered in a corner. He blinked violently as the bag was opened, then finally managed to focus on the face of a young woman, who was peering down at him. She lifted him gently from the bag, along with a slip of paper. She read the paper, laughed, and put Marvin down on a table, leaning up against the box that had for so long been his entire universe.

Marvin watched as the girl ate her lunch. She moved him to where he could see better, but though the young penguin appreciated her concern, he was somewhat revolted by the idea of eating chicken. Somehow, chicken was too close to penguin for his complete comfort. Remembering, however, that he was made of yarn and Styrofoam, Marvin was able to calm his fears of being battered and fried long enough to enjoy the smell of French fries.

In contrast to his days of solitude in the bag, this day was enormously eventful. It was the Monday before Christmas, and the young woman was heading to her childhood home to spend the holiday with family. Marvin rode shotgun, perched atop her coat and scarf (which were entirely unneeded, thanks to the unseasonable heat of the day). When the girl reached her destination, she carried Marvin into a warm, cheery room, lit by a fire in a stove, candles in the windows, and a decorated tree beyond anything Marvin had imagined.

Carefully, she hung Marvin on a low branch. Then, the woman left him, leaving to chatter with her mother and father. He could hear their conversation, and he listened as they read a strange story about a miserly merchant, ghostly visitors, and Christmas miracles. For his part, though, Marvin was occupied not in reading but in taking in his surroundings.

He was hung, as we have already said, on a low branch on a large tree. There was a strand of wooden cranberries at his back, and a pair of tiny lights warmed him on either side. Quite close to him, on his right, was a cheerful old St. Nicholas, laden with bright packages.

The Santa watched him sympathetically as Marvin struggled to gain his bearings. The activity of the day had brightened his spirits slightly, but Marvin still felt empty and lonely. Finally, he turned to his neighbor.

“Excuthe me, thir,” he squeaked (he was afflicted with a slight lisp). “Where, ethactly, am I?”

St. Nick chuckled. “Well, son, that’s hard to say. Broadly speaking, you’re in Oklahoma. Specifically speaking, you’re hanging on a Christmas tree in the Husted house. That’s Miss Rebekah who just hung you here. She’s home for the holiday again.”

Marvin’s young and small brain worked to process the information he was receiving. He ignored the part about Oklahoma – he didn’t know what Oklahoma was, or where it was, or who it was, but that didn’t seem to signify at the moment. He was concerned with the specifics.

“A Chrithtmath tree?” St. Nicholas nodded. “But what’th a Chrithtmath tree?”

“What’s a Christmas tree?” St. Nick smiled kindly at Marvin. “Why, my friend, a Christmas tree is a symbol, a celebration, of one of the most important events of all history: the birth of Jesus Christ.”

“Oh.” Marvin felt foolish and more than a little confused.

St. Nick nodded to his right. “You see that over there? The little shed, the brown figures?”

Marvin craned his almost non-existent neck. Around his new friend, he could make out a scene of carefully placed human and animal figures, clustered around something small in the center of a wooden stable.

“Yeth.”

“Well, that is a depiction of the birth of the Savior of the world. You see, son – what was your name?”

“Marvin.”

“You see, Marvin, a long long time ago, God (that’s the one who made everything in the world, and the world, too, into the bargain) saw that people were unable to commune with Him because they were sinful and He was perfect. He really likes people, too, so that disturbed Him a lot. Moreover, He was upset because the people’s sins were keeping them separated from him for eternity, not just for a little while. So He decided to do something about it.”

Marvin leaned in. He’d never been able to hear a story through all the way before. In the store, he had heard bits and pieces of stories a shoppers passed, but this was the first time anyone had told him – just him – a whole story. It sounded like a good one, too, so far.

“God decided to come down to visit the people Himself, as a baby. Well, not just as a baby, but He started out that way. So He was born to a girl named Mary. It’s a little confusing, the biology of it all – Mary wasn’t really supposed to be able to have a baby yet, and the baby was both God and the son of God, but you’ll have to have St. Patrick explain that part to you. But all the same, God was born in a little bitty baby named Jesus. And that scene you see over there is a reenactment. After the baby was born, you see, shepherds and kings and all kinds of people came to see him. It was quite an event, let me tell you.”

Marvin strained again to see the scene. “But why are they in a shed? Were babieth alwayth born in shedth back then?”

St. Nick laughed. “No, they weren’t. But the town was crowded that night, so Mary and her husband Joseph couldn’t find a hospital or even a hotel room. Instead, they holed up in a little stable, and that’s where the King of the universe was born.”

Marvin’s eyes widened. “Wow…. Tho where did the tree come from?”

Nicholas chuckled again. Marvin noticed that he laughed a lot. It made his chubby belly jiggle, too, which made Marvin smile. “The tree came in a long time later. It doesn’t have so much to do with what happened that night, but the lights on it help remind people of a very important star that appeared that night, and the decorations people hang on it remind them of the people they love and the God who loves them.”

“You mean…you mean that all the decorationth on the tree mean thomething?”

“Of course.”

Marvin bit his lower beak in excitement. “You mean…I mean thomething? That’th why I’m on the tree?”

St. Nick smiled kindly at his young companion. “Marvin, that is exactly what I mean. You are a part of this family now, and you mean a lot. Every time Christmas comes around, Miss Rebekah will take you out of your wrappings and hang you on a tree, and she will remember this Christmas and how you were a gift from her sister.”

Marvin bounced on his branch in excitement. For the first time in his short life, he had a family. He had meaning. His bright stripes glowed in the warm light of the tree. He looked over at the stable again.

“Thir?”

“Yes?”

“Do you thuppothe I could go thee the reenactment?”

“The reenactment?” St. Nicholas’ brow furrowed as he tried to decipher the penguin’s words. “Oh, the nativity! But of course. The tree just touches the trunk the scene sits on; just swing over the branches until you reach the edge, then you can hop over from there.”

Carefully, cautiously, Marvin followed his instructions. Finally, he made it to the edge of the tableau. Leaning gently in, he peered at the silent scene. The ceramic figurines were either mute or reverently silent, but it didn’t bother him that they seemed not even to notice him. Here, in the quiet scene around a tiny ceramic Jesus and in the glow of the light of a Christmas tree, Marvin the penguin had come home.

The end.

What I Like About...Philemon

2010-12-20T14:12:00.003-06:00

What I like about Philemon: strategic communication

Philemon is a short book.

This will be a short post.

I love that Philemon is a persuasive letter. I'm working on a Master's degree in strategic communication right now - and this communication is certainly strategic.

Paul is writing to a slaveholder who has every legal right to kill his runaway slave. Paul, as an apostle, has every moral right to command Philemon to take his slave back and be kind. Instead, though, Paul carefully crafts a letter requesting, not demanding, that Philemon be kind to Onesimus. (As a side note, how cool are these names?)

First of all, Paul doesn't just write to Philemon. He writes also to the church in Philemon's home, pulling other Christians into the fray to cheer for Onesimus. Second, he lets Philemon know that he does have the authority to order his kindness to Onesimus, but that he will instead "appeal to you on the basis of love" (9). He even plays the old man and prisoner cards.

Finally, after laying it on pretty thick, he tacks on a quick "make up the guest room; I'm coming for a visit." Just in case a letter didn't do the trick, Paul was prepared to make a follow-up visit to see that his friend Philemon was treating his friend Onesimus well.

In a situation where Paul could have been forceful, he instead chose to be strategic. It's right up my alley - and that's what I like about Philemon.

Verse of the post: "Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I appeal to you on the basis of love. I, then, as Paul - an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus - I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains." Philemon 8-10

What I Like About...Titus

2010-12-19T14:24:00.005-06:00

What I like about Titus: it's a letter of both advice and recommendation.

Paul wrote lots of advice in his letters. Titus is no exception. Writing to yet another protege, Paul gives instructions on how to lead the church and carry on his work in Crete. He outlines how to appoint elders and gives the criteria for becoming an elder (1:5-9).He explains how to lead a diverse, multi-generational church (2:1-10). He writes about how to live as a Christian in a secular society (3:1-11).

At the same time, though, I get the feeling that Paul isn't just writing to Titus to tell him how to act next. Yes, the letter is addressed to him. But I (and this is just me, I have no renowned scholar to back me up) think Paul may have meant this to act as a recommendation, to bestow some authority on Titus. The church was going through a change in leadership. This is one of Paul's last letters; he was not only away from the church in Crete, he was near his death.

Moreover, the Cretans were suspicious people - or at least they should have been. Paul notes that even one of their own said that "Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons" (1:12). Being used to liars and evil leaders, then, the members of the church in Crete might have needed some assurance that this new guy Paul had left in charge was the real deal. Paul's letter would give him that authority.

So, to me, Titus is a balance. It's a personal letter with advice for a new church leader, with tidbits about the problem people and the best ways to lead the church. At the same time, though, this letter will give some credibility to the new preacher. The book still serves the same purposes: It gives guidelines for running even modern churches, and the fact that these guidelines are biblical gives credibility to those who follow them.

I do like it when advice wears well. And that's what I like about Titus.

Verse of the post: "The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. ... Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you." Titus 1:5, 2:15