Encouraging words for the journey ahead…

Vincent van Gogh once wrote these words in a letter to his sister, “You…read books…to draw from them the energy to act”.  i have been reading the Bible from cover to cover.  and so far i have been doing pretty good.  it’s kind of tough though sometimes to want to read.  why?  i am not sure.  maybe because i would rather read about what other authors gleaned from the bible, sort of avoiding, personal revelation.

but i am not doing this to gain attention from others, or prove to some that i am actually a pretty literate person after all.  or am i?  i mean i want to know all there is to know about God’s words.  i want to feel closer to God, sure.  but i have to admit that i think that sometimes i pray, worship and read with an arms length mentality.

the Bible is not just any old book.  it asks you do some radical stuff that will no doubt leave the weak sometimes at bay.  but nevertheless i am on a journey to find out what the Bible has to say to me.  not what the Bible has to say for others.

i was reading in Genesis 33 that Jacob wrestled with an angel or maybe even God.  and that Jacob at one point in the wrestling match said,  “the man said, ‘let me go, for it is dawn.’ but Jacob panted, ‘i will not let you go until you bless me.’”  i want to engage in this type of match like intensity to find out what God has to say to me.

God loves me and wants to say something to each one of us…personally.  there are many people out there who have a lot of amazing insights on what the Bible says, but realize they are not the only sojourners.  which  is exactly why Vincent van Gogh ended his letter to his sister with these words, “I…read books to find the artist who wrote them”.

hanging on to junk…

my wife and i recently moved from a fourth floor apartment to a nice house.  and in the process we have again been reminded of all the stuff that we have.  we could easily start a small department store ranging from hardware to fabrics.  we have just about everything that you could think of.

now we both agree that most of the the stuff that we own is garage sale worthy.  in other words… junk.  stuff that we could certainly live without.  but i can also think of things that we own that are valuable.  maybe not to others, but to us these items are priceless.  like, i have a Bible that i have had since i can’t remember when.  and i am not trying to be super spiritual, but if i ever lost it i think that i would kill to get it back.  weird that i would do something that is considered a no no in the item that i would be trying to recapture.  but anyways….

i have also given away some things that i should have never parted with.  we all have heard the stories.  these things looking back were special to me, and in a moment of sheer impulse i abandoned for one reason or another.  nothing to significant or for no good reason.

i find myself not only letting go of material things, but also the spiritual things that i have obtained.  i was reading today in Genesis 25 “And Esau vowed, thereby selling all his eldest-son rights to his younger brother.  then Jacob gave Esau bread, peas, and stew; so he ate and drank and went on about his business, indifferent to the loss of the rights he had thrown away.”

i am all about instant gratification.   i am not alone in this one either.  the world operates on a similar, engine like consistency.  anything to make life easier, faster or satisfying.  but we all know that easier, faster or satisfying is not always and should not always come so easy.

Esau sold his birth right for relief from hunger pains.  he wanted so badly to feel better in the that moment that he gave away his future riches.  and the Bible says walked away indifferent to whole transaction.  which got me thinking…

when i gave my will to Christ, i was given freedom.  i was given so many riches.  not material things per say, but lessons learned. some easy and some hard.  yet there are days when i willingly give up my freedom for instant gratification.  there are days i would rather hang on to junk, because it feels better.  and even scarier, i walk away indifferent to what i gave up.

following God is not easy.  my spiritual birth right is worth a lot more than sometimes i realize.  there are times i feel like trading my birthright for something more flashy, more glitzy and less frustrating.  but in reality what was given to me is worth more than anything this world has to offer.

i just need to wake up and smell the coffee!

a not so flattering lesson from Noah

yesterday i went and played ice hockey with some friends.  i got hit in the jugular with someones shoulder and now i have a cold.  how does that happen?  i have a sore throat, which i can deduce is from the hit i took, but how can you explain the other cold like symptoms?

anyways i was in the drug store yesterday trying to get some lozenges for my throat and there was this elderly lady in front of me working on purchasing the entire store.   you know all those things that they put by the cash register, like lighters, lottery tickets, playing cards etc…?  well they make that crap for people like this lady.

so had some time and my eyes began to look at “those” magazines.  you know the ones.  they can’t sell with the other magazines so they have to be separated.  the cover was filled with half naked celebrities in not so flattering poses.  the headlines were all about embarrassing fiasco’s.  this person said this about that race, and that person had an affair and is now pregnant.  and it got me thinking…

what if my sins, what if the things i said and did were placed out on public display for all to view?  how would i feel?

the other day i was reading in Genesis chapter 9 where it talks about Noah and his three sons.  Noah, the once mega boat builder is now found drunk and naked in his tent.  drunk and naked!

Ham (Noah’s son)  walks in to find his father in this less than appropriate state.  the story goes that Ham leaves in a hurry and goes to his two brothers, Shem and Japeth to alert them of the situation.  so Shem and Jepeth take a robe into there fathers tent and cover him up.  it really is a fascinating story and is very similar to the society around us.

you see Ham could’ve just got a robe and covered his father up himself.  instead he chooses to talk.  i like to talk about people.  especially when it comes to the short comings of others.  it’s kind of fun and entertaining.  it makes me feel better about my pathetic self.

1 Peter says this 1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”  when i choose to talk i am choosing in some cases not to love.  God calls us to not be seekers of wrong, but lovers of those caught in sin.  what if we really did try and help people that we caught in sin?  what if we stopped and helped them cover up, get it together and move on?  my guess is that the church would be a whole lot bigger than it is now, and those magazines would have to find new material.

just a thought.

the birth of music…

i absolutely love music. music is the soundtrack to life. i really believe that. i mean every album that i own has some sentimental meaning behind it. i love that music can transport you to a different time and place with the pushing of a right faced arrow. it’s the beauty of God really.

i recently read that Fraud hated music! he actually wrote on many occasions about how much he disliked music. how it hurt his ears, and the tones did not seem to agree with him. now we are not talking music like def leperd or ac/dc, we are talking bach and beethovan. some of the prettiest, wittiest and most elegant music ever made.

well like i said a couple of days ago, i have started on my journey to read the Bible from cover to cover. and i stumbled acrossed something that i had never noticed before. a passage in Genesis that reads… “to Adah was born a baby named Jabal. he became the first of the cattlemen and those living in tents. his brother’s name was Jubal, the first musician–the inventor of the harp and flute.” Genesis 4:21

i never thought about music having an originator, yet the Bible says that the artist known as Jubal was indeed the first musician. i wonder if david, writer of Psalms, also known for his musical abilities, had ever heard any of jubal’s work with the harp. i mean david played a harp it says in 1 Samuel 16:23. you gotta wonder if he ever played a song written by the inventor himself, or if david had an ipod with Jubal on it. i doubt it. but anyways…

what a pleasant surprise to be able to read about art that i am passionate about. not all art can be traced back to the originator, but for sure if you own a Bible you can read about this man named jubal and the birth of music.

what happens when you really read the Bible?

my mother in law has a board game called “glory”. it is a Biblical trivia game that i a have participated in from time to time.  some of the questions are really tough, while others are very easy.  but there is something about playing a board game that deals with the history of the faith that you have decided to stake your life on.  i am pretty good on some of the new testament questions, but when it comes to most of the old testament i have to admit that i am a train wreck.  so i have decided to start something that i should have done long ago.  really read the Bible!

i have been reading a book called “The year of living Biblically” by a.j.jacobs. and it has really inspired me to really read the bible from cover to cover. i have never ever done that before. the other night while i was speaking at thursdays (our young adults group at northgate, the church i am employed at) i realized that i have never fully read the Bible from cover to cover.

so i have decided to start my journey. i am going to read the Bible from genesis to revelation. and i am going to blog my journey along the way. i have already discovered some really cool things that i have skimmed over many, many times. i am excited, but also a little overwhelmed. so i hope that you all will enjoy this! and maybe when you sit down at some dinner table somewhere to play some meaningless Biblical board game  you will find that it’s not about knowing all the answers, it’s about the journey in which you seek those answers.

peace.