Hello world!

I began what I call a timid [because I’m just me, not a scholar] and limited snippet [because what I read is often far less than a whole chapter] slog [because it’s hard] in the Old Testament last year.  I wanted to explore the human identity of some of the main characters of the Bible that I pretty much skip over to get to Jesus.  They often seem so remote to me but they’ve become heroic examples of what faith looked like in the “good old days;” days so much closer to the memories of God’s miraculous intervention in the lives of real people.

I wanted to look at them as people who didn’t always get it right the first time and see what happened in their lives.  Some stayed faithful and learned from their mistakes and some just let their worry or anger destroy them.  You know, people just like us.   People knowing and believing God but held back by flaws, or maybe just indifference, from becoming what God created them to be. This is exactly where many of us find ourselves.  This word journey is my attempt to see how God moved them, and still can move us, from being satisfied with being “not Godless, but not Godly either.”

I am absolutely convinced that there is a process God has designed for the purpose of revealing himself to those who care to look and listen.  It involves his Word, the Holy Spirit and time. At least this is how it works for me.  I read Scripture, I watch for the mental “stop sign” in those words that says “notice me.”  Those are the things I copy and paste into my iPad journal from my online Bible.  Yes, I’m a geek.  I type, I think, I backspace [a lot] and then I think and type some more until there seems to be a completion of the thoughts I believe the Holy Spirit has brought to my mind.  My journey with you with begins with these posts I call my Snippet Slog Through the Old Testament.   I want to hear what God might have to say to you from what I think He’s said to me.

It brings a smile to my face to imagine that God can use that oft repeated cell phone phrase, Can You Hear Me Now, as an object lesson for me and I hope for you.  I want to listen, I want to hear, but sometimes I just have to quit moving and stay in one place for good reception.  I hope you’ll read these blogs and ponder them for yourself.  One thing is absolute though, God is faithful to ask the question, “can you hear me now?”