Whatcha readin'?

OK..I'm sitting here with a stack of books next to me...let's see...6 of them actually...not counting my Bible, that'd make 7. I want to be a better reader - why is it that I'm not? When I was younger I loved to read for readings sake. I hated (I know, strong word) to read those required books for classes. I was the geek that would get the list of books for the upcoming school year so that I could read them during summer while I was sitting out in the sunshine. Then I knew I would read them. If I didn't read them during the summer (this was before the world of summer reading lists by the way), then I just wouldn't.

So...now here I am, wanting to read and take it all in...and just not doing it as much as I could or should. I'm a pretty good mom I think - reading with the kids --- Kaylee is getting to be such a great reader...she's super into the Fairies series by Daisy Meadows. So I read lots of those, and we're moving into Magic Tree House books too...exciting stuff. But not "grown-up" stuff I guess. So...I have to start reading more. Will you ask me what I've been reading lately!?? Thanks.

I can say that I've been reading my Bible. The church staff has been challenged to read through the Bible in 2 years. I'm pretty on track which is good for me! Last year I attempted to read the Bible in 90 days when I first started my new position @ Salem Alliance. I did most of it, but not in 90 days...and the thing that struck me over and over last year was how God knew and still knows everyone's names. Have you looked @ the names in the Bible - these are not easy to pronounce, let alone remember. In reading last year I found myself lost in the names - the relationships, the understanding that He knows each name, each face, the number of hairs on each head of each person...He knows their thoughts, their dreams, their fears, their mistakes, their purpose...He's amazing.

This year, here's what I'm thinking so far...we humans love to take things into our own hands. We want to keep control and not have the faith we should. We want to have the faith, but we don't always really exhibit it. For example - as we were leaving for the ski trip on Monday I grabbed the first aid kit to throw into the bus - and Josh said, is that showing faith that everyone is going to be ok today? I think there was a good part of him that was kidding - I mean, come on, 130 people, heading off for the day, someone is bound to need a bandaid (we did have a nose bleed on our bus). And yet, it made me pause and think too...did I really believe that God would answer our prayer that we would have no injuries that day? I don't know that my actions proved that - I'm not trying to say it was "bad" of us to be prepared - yes I took the first aid kit; yes I took all the medical release forms to the ski patrol medic station when we arrived; yes, we prayed that God would put a hedge of protection around each of us and that it'd just be a fun day, and that no one would be injured. And He did just that.

Looking at examples we've read in our Bible reading so far - you can look at Noah - He had faith that God would do what He said - send the flood beyond anyone's wildest imagination; Abraham had faith that God would provide a sacrifice other than Isaac, or if not would bring about this new nation somehow, like raising Isaac from the dead if need be in order to honor His word... (He trusted God, but He went prepared to sacrifice Isaac too...or sacrifice something). But did Sarah have faith that God would provide this heir to she and Abraham? She offered Hagar to Abraham to kinda make sure this nation of multitudes would come to be. Did Rebekah have faith that Jacob would live to be served by his older brother as God revealed to her? Or did she step in to make sure by having Jacob prepare the meal for Isaac, sneaking in before Esau did, so that Jacob could receive the blessing intended for Esau? In these cases the outcome ended up as God had promised, but these people took actions into their own hands. (Are you following me? I hope so. You can check out the stories in Genesis...)

Reality is...I know this will continue...that we, these people of faith, continue to say, yes Lord I trust you - I have faith in you --- but... I think I will make it a little easier on You and I'll just take care of this one myself. Or...we just refuse to turn it over to Him in the first place --- thinking we'll make it easier our ourselves. Why is it that we can't always walk in taking God at His word?? Do we believe it? I hope so (even the demons do...). It's getting late, and I'm losing in my head what I wanted to put on this post...ugh! I don't like it when I do this.

OK... I just want to be mindful of the times when I take things into my own hands - purposefully or unintentionally. I'm watching my life in light of that right now. I want to be surrendered to His plan and all He has for me. I want to listen, to follow, to glorify, to honor Him and Him alone in all I do, think, say, dream... what about you?

P.S. If you want a copy of the reading through the Bible schedule, I'd love to send it to you! Just let me know...it's not too late to join in the fun...have you read the Bible all the way through? Come on...let's do it together!!! =)