It's Tuesday...day 2

Today's Readings: Genesis 10-12 & Matthew 4
Key Verses: Genesis 12:4 & Matthew 4:18-22

Time to go...

Tonight is Tuesday. Epic Jv night. The night of the week I spend with many of my favorite middle school students. Tonight one of the students asked me "Erin, what does it mean live by faith and not by sight?"

hhmmmmm.....

I think tonight's verses show us the meaning of this phrase. In Genesis 12:4 we read "So Abram went, as the LORD had told him." (ESV) God told Abram (soon to be renamed Abraham) to leave his home, the home of his fathers and travel to an unknown land. God's invitation to Abram challenges him to abandon the normal sources of personal identity and security: His family and country. To obey, Abram must trust God. He obediently left his old ways in his country to follow God’s plan.

Trust God...what a concept.

In Matthew 4:18-22 we see the same thing.

"One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” And they left their nets at once and followed him. A little farther up the shore he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing their nets. And he called them to come, too. They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind."

Picture that, your just doing what you do. What you are comfortable doing and this guy calls out to you "hey, follow me" and you go. Granted the call comes from Jesus. I imagine he could be quite convincing. But they just go...not knowing how it will work out...they just go.

In July of 2008 I was simply filling in as a guest speaker in my church's youth group. No plans of making such a thing permanent. I was happy with the way life was...very happy. One moment I was living my life, doing what I was comfortable with...

...and the next God is saying "Come, follow me...Go to the land I will show you." It was scary, it was confusing, it was extremely unknown, but I knew it was right.

God calls to us daily to simply go and follow and He promises time and time again we won't be sorry.

So what are you waiting for???

Tomorrow's Readings: Matthew 5 & Genesis 13-15

Day 1...The Journey Begins...

Today's Reading: Matthew 3 & Genesis 7-9
Major Themes: John the Baptist (Mt.) and Noah (Gen.)
Key Verses: Matthew 3:11 & Genesis 7:5

One of the things I learned early on in my Bible study was to look for key verses. Verses that jump right off the page that sum up all the other verses written. I suppose when i read next year my "key verses" may change. We will see.

So why these verses?

In Genesis you read of Noah. You know, the guy who built the ark. I have often thought about Noah, spending so many years of his life building this large boat simply because God told him to. He had no other reason to do so. It's not as if the weather channel had the 120 year weather outlook. At best, with all of today's technology, we get a 10 day outlook...and that usually changes about 120 times during the course of those 10 days. I saw the movie"Evan Almighty" the other week and all the grief he went through building his ark...imagine 120 years of that kind of grief?!?! Yet Noah did it.

and why???

Well, the answer is found in Genesis 7:5 "So Noah did everything as the Lord commanded him." That's it. Noah did everything the Lord commanded him. Did it make sense?? Probably not. I am taken back to the famous Bill Cosby routine. Look it up. Download it off iTunes if you can. It's funny...and probably somewhat true. Read the whole account of Noah and ask yourself, if you were put in Noah's shoes, would you have done what God asked you to do? I am not sure I could say yes.

But Noah did.

Ponder the words of Genesis 7:5...now go and do likewise :-)

In Matthew we meet another man. A man similar to Noah in many ways. The thing I like most about John the Baptist is his attitude. It was one of great humility and understanding of his place in God's grand story. He knew he was important. He knew God loved him. He knew he was a special guy with a special purpose.

But John still knew his place.

Matthew 3:11 "“I baptize with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

"Someone is coming who is greater than I am-so much greater that I am not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals."

No worthy to carry some one's shoes?!?! How low do you have to be not to be worthy of the "honor" of carrying another's shoes?

Well, when the sandals belong to the creator of the universe...you can see his point.

See, John spoke these words about Jesus. His statement says less about him and far more about who Jesus is and the honor and reference...the "fear" he deserves. John knew it and he lived it.

Noah. simply following God when told and John with his humble reverence of Jesus...I long to be more like these guys in my life.

What do you think????

Tomorrow's Readings: Matthew 4 & Genesis 10-12

A Year in the Word

So I was watching T.V with my wife last night..."Julie and Julia" to be precise. Yes, I know it's a bit of a girl movie but it gave me a great idea. Why not read through "The Bible" in a year and log my thoughts. I am quite certain I am not the first to do this nor am I the only the only one doing this currently.

So why bother?!?!

Well, I am a middle school pastor and I really want to get kids reading the Bible. Who knows, this may inspire them to come along with me on my journey...we will see.

So, stay tuned...the journey begins momentarily.

Ever go water skiing?? I have. I spent a good deal of time water skiing growing up. So much fun!! Of course I must say learning how to water ski was very difficult. Once I got up out of the water, things were great. It really wasn't all that difficult, but getting up on my ski to begin with...what a nightmare. I don't think I ever really got the hang of it. It is something I always struggled with.

See the key is to do nothing. I'm serious, the key to getting up on water skis is to do absolutely nothing. Well, not entirely true. You have to hold on to the rope...but that's about it. JUST HOLD ON!!!! See the boat and the ski do the rest. If you try to pull yourself up, you will fall right over backward. But simply hold on and let the others things do their job...WOW!!! What a ride!!! It doesn't make much sense and it is really hard to do...but WOW!!!

It's a lot like our walk with God. When we try to do the work. We fall over backward. But if we let God do what God does and just hold on...well, is it too soon to say "WOW!!" again?

Read Joshua 6 (and sneak a peak at the last few verses of Joshua 5 as well) for a story that will give a very clear illustration of what our walk with God should look like.

Why Wander??

While the word wander usually means something like "to move about without a fixed course, aim, or goal" I have always used the word wander to describe an adventure. If I say to you I am going to "wander" around, it usually means I am on a mission of discovery. I want to know what is out there. I want to get a lay of the land. Figure out where I am. Wandering has never been a random process for me. It is a great way to discover new things. My initial trek into the world of blogging was titled "Wanderings of a Lost Moose." I thought is was a great way to describe my journey through life. So I wander to learn.

What is Word Wandering??

Well, it is very simple. We go on an adventure through God's word, THE BIBLE, in an effort to discover truth. To discover the things of God, the creator of everything. Could there be a more worth while adventure?? I think not.

So join us as we wander through the word of God.