Absalom, Absalom!

Being sick is no fun. So I attack it aggressively with sleep, hydration, lozenges, vitamins, blueberry-infused tea (with LOCAL HONEY!), and finishing up II Samuel.

Eric Whitacre joined me today, too. The end of the story of Absalom and King David mourning him (to the point of forgetting his job of being king) takes on a whole new dimension when you listen to "When David Heard." So does the song when you read it in the Bible while listening.

Now onward to lots of kings of Israel and Judah!

This reading through the Bible stuff is HARD. But SO COOL.

So I need to update so far on reading through the Bible in three months.

I'm a bit behind (today's date has me in about Nehemiah - I'm around the tail end of I Samuel). Getting there. And I still have a goal of being done by early May.

After talking to Ben tonight, who described reading through the Bible this fast as, "a blistering speed," I'm still musing at how much I've still gotten out of reading through the Bible at such a rapid pace.

1. The cool thing about reading through the Bible this fast, instead of a little study over three months, is exactly what it sounds like. I like to describe it like how Dr. Richmond sometimes describes things: "You get the whole pie." In this case, reading the Bible this has cast the taking of the Promised Land, the rebellion under the Judges/request for a king, and Israel as a nation pretty closely against the backdrop of creation, the Patriarchs, Exodus, and the Law. Reading the WHOLE Bible that fast gives you that, "JUST-READ for maximum freshness!" I'll be around the major prophets in a matter of weeks, the Gospels in April and the Mosaic Law was on the calendar about three weeks ago. Now THAT'S setting everything into context!

2. The Torah is FASCINATING. I loved it. I can't imagine being a boy "back in the good old days" of ancient Mesopotamia who would memorize the first five books of the Bible for his teachers by his bar mitzvah. Reading through them is lofty enough. That said, there's a lot of very interesting stuff in there. And the overarching themes I've noticed are,

• How people lived their lives and why actually MATTERED. It's so important.
  
• The Law gets repeated several times. I bet it matters.
  
• There's relevant content today, so this stuff is STILL worth knowing, even though we don't sacrifice cows, goats, sheep, and birds because of Jesus being the perfect sacrifice. It isn't wise to purposefully ignore this, and *I* think it's interesting.
  

3. Through some assistance from the notes in my study Bible, there were hints toward Jesus long before the major prophets, WAY at the beginning. It's left me speechless to read it again for myself (I haven't read some of this in TOO long). The prophets talked about Jesus coming too, but I love the little clues in the earliest books of the Bible.

One final note: after reading a few songs in the ESV, I'll confess: I'm SERIOUSLY getting geeked for Psalms. The composer in me might reawaken. :-)

Reading through the Bible REALLY fast!

I sometimes wonder, "What am I really doing with this thing?! I'm not THAT interesting of a person. Why anyone would want to read any of what I write personally is a mystery."

But I digress. I never know where it will take me because (like life), little surprises come up. Like the other day when Nate Storvik pitched the idea to me to read through the whole Bible. In about three months. The goal is to read through it completely before staff training begins at Center Lake.

In other instances, if I was still a full-time student at Hope, or busily teaching my own students, I'd feel afraid or turn down this endeavor. I'd doom myself to failure before I ever started. But this time, for whatever reason, I'm incredibly excited about this reading project. I wanted to do it as soon as Nate mentioned it. Because I want to grow from this. I want to be closer to God. I want to know Him more. I NEED know Him better.

The verse that hit me for some reason from today's reading (they're big-Genesis 1-11) was when God was talking with Cain after he had murdered Abel. I've read the story before but the verse hit home. In Genesis 4:6-7, God challenged Cain:

The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” (ESV)

Cain could do better. He could still do better to please God. With the help from the Lord of Heaven, not all would be lost, even for someone like Cain.

Being accepted by God with His help sounds pretty awesome to me.