I got to help coach last night… flag football! Mostly I marked the line of scrimmage, but it was so much fun! As for Alan… is there a Wii scholarship available somewhere? Cause it’s not looking like a football career is in the future. Ah well…

What am I writing? Things are clicking along on Claire’s book. Anytime we have a long car trip, I get a good deal of thinking time in. Jon and Amanda helped me plot the end, and it’s going to be much better now. Thanks guys! Amanda also constantly challenges me to write good 3D characters, even in the first draft. As a result I haven’t written much new stuff this week, but I’ve filled out Paige, Brooke and Nate.

What have I learned? Not too much geeky stuff this week. I’ll work on that.

What am I reading? The Pilot’s Wife Let me preface this by saying I have an overactive imagination, so I choose carefully what fiction I read, and even what movies I watch. This book was the kind of fiction I enjoy, an intense internal journey. Kathryn Lyons is awakened just after three a.m. one morning to the news that the airline her husband, Jack, was piloting exploded off the coast of Ireland. The grief is real, perfectly drawn by the author. All the odd, off balance thoughts that go through a person’s mind are captured. But because of the nature of Jack’s death, it’s not a private grief. Investigators arrive and questions surface, questions without answers. Kathryn’s quest to vindicate Jack leads to an unfolding of who Jack Lyons really was. The most devastating line in the book, “Jack and I did not have secrets.”
It’s good for me to see characters who don’t have a Christian worldview. The whole time I read, I wanted to somehow comfort Kathryn. She needed someone. It also makes me keenly aware what a blessed hope we have.
Perhaps the most telling comment was my husband’s after I said yet again, “I can’t believe he did that to her!” He looked at me and very calmly reminded me, “It’s FICTION.”
However, because it took me so many days to get over my outrage at Jack Lyons, I’ve just started Daisy Chain. (I can go from one non-fiction book to the next and not miss a beat. Not so with stories. They have to soak a while.)

What has God taught me? 1. He knows everything. (Technically, I already knew that, but reminders never hurt.)

2. If we aren’t careful, life can be a series of missed opportunities.

3. Some folks would rather be right than righteous.

4. I’m glad God is God.

Have a great weekend! (My last weekend of being 41…)

My Wednesday night kids and I began a new study last night. They wanted to tackle Revelation next, (mostly because my son wants to draw the monsters described) so we started with Daniel to give a framework. I want them to get the big picture for prophecy and not just parade a succession of beasts past them. So, we studied Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the great statue with the golden head.

If you’ve not read the story in a while, it’s the one where the king has this dream that completely freaks him out. He’s no fool either. He knows that his wise men can come up with a decent interpretation given a chance, so to make sure they are telling him the real interpretation, he demands they tell him the dream first. Of course no one can tell what someone else dreamed. (We tried this last night- it was funny for the kids to try to guess dreams, although once they knew the dreams, they had some convincing interpretations.) God not only told Daniel the dream AND the meaning behind it, He revealed what the king was pondering before he dropped off to sleep.

Prophecy aside, there are some powerful lessons that struck me as I recapped the story.

1. There are some things only God can do. (like reveal and interpret dreams or the lay out the future)

2. Enlist prayer partners. Daniel’s first move was to get his friends praying for him. (2:17-19)

3. Sometimes He goes beyond what we ask Him for. (like detailing what the king was thinking about)

4. God is sovereign over the affairs of men. 2:21 says God sets up and removes kings. We may never grasp why He chooses some rulers, but He does choose.

5. God knows the future.

6. God wants us to know. Daniel 2:30 says, ‘but for our sakes…’ and ‘that you may know’. Granted, God doesn’t tell us everything, or the daily details, but He lets us know there is a greater purpose, an overarching plan to all of this.

It’s challenging enough for me to plan out a year of school lessons. (My battle this week) What a God we serve who “reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness and light dwells with Him.”

My son starts school today. (Yuck… And yes I was one of the bad parents at Wal-Mart last night trying to buy school supplies, but that’s another story.) In honor of- or maybe in mourning for- the start of school, for today’s tip, I’m going back to one of the basics. Good Bible study always begins with a simple examination of what the text says. (The ‘observation’ part of inductive study.) This is the information-gathering stage, the fact-finding mission. So start with the simplest question- Who?

As you read the passage, answer as many ‘who’ questions as practically possible. Who is the speaker? Who is being addressed? Who is being discussed? Check the antecedents for the pronouns. (You know, the noun the pronoun stands for. Feels like school already.)

For example, Job 18:7 says, “The steps of his strength are shortened, and his own counsel casts him down.” Who is speaking? Job’s friend Bildad. Who is being addressed? Job. Who is being discussed, the ‘him’? We have to go back a few verses, to verse 5 to see it’s ‘the wicked’ that Bildad is discussing, but by implication, he’s talking about Job.

When you read the New Testament letters, it’s helpful to watch the pronouns and keep them straight. In 2 Corinthians 5:21 Paul writes, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Him who? Sometimes it’s God the Father and sometimes it’s Christ the Son.

Another place where the ‘who’ can be revealing is Acts 16. Verse 8 says “…they came down to Troas…” Then in verse 10, it says, “…we sought to go to Macedonia…” That’s the tipoff that the author of Acts, Luke, had joined the group and the next section of the book is a firsthand account.

Sometimes, even a simple thing like this can give a new insight on a familiar passage.

[We are travelling to a faraway land with no internet service - our house in Ohio- so here's a post I wrote a while back but never published. I'll be back Tuesday with a fresh study tip.]

When I read passages like Psalm 78, it is easy to berate Israel for their faithlessness to God after all He had done for them. However, if I’m honest it would be fairly easy to write a psalm like this of my own life. God has done great things, intervened on my behalf, providentially cared for me, and yet I’ve rebelled, been faithless, certainly provoked Him.

8 But He, being full of compassion, forgave their [my] iniquity,/ And did not destroy them [me]./

Yes, many a time He turned His anger away,/ And did not stir up all His wrath;

9 For He remembered that they were [I was] but flesh,/ A breath that passes away and does not come again.

Thank God He remembers my frailty.

I, like Israel:

did not keep the covenant

refused to walk in His law

forgot His works

sinned even more against Him

rebelled against Him in the wilderness

tested God

did not believe in God

did not trust His salvation

still sinned [after seeing His power manifest]

did not believe His wondrous works

sought Him

returned

earnestly sought for God

remembered that God was my rock, the Most High is my Redeemer

flattered Him with my tongue

lied to Him with my mouth

my heart was not steadfast

was not faithful in His covenant

grieved Him

limited Him

forgot His power

turned back

acted unfaithfully

turned to idols (the biggest one being myself)

But He is patient and gracious and receives me after I’ve learned these lessons… again.

Scripture contains dozens of abstract concepts and to help us understand them, the writers often use comparisons and contrasts with familiar items.

For example, Psalm 1 starts out describing how the righteous man doesn’t keep company with or follow the advice of the ungodly. Verse 3 says that he “shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither…” A tree planted by a river will have a steady source of nourishment. Therefore the plant can turn its energy into producing fruit. Then when the heat and drought of summer come on, the tree will be able to survive. By comparison, the righteous man has an abundant dependable source to draw his strength from. He’s productive and he’s able to withstand hard times.

In verse 4, the psalmist says “The ungodly are not so…” We could stop right there and have a good negative comparison. The ungodly have no source outside themselves. They can’t focus on being productive because they spend all there energy getting their needs met. When hard times come, they wither. However the psalmist goes on to say they “are like the chaff which the wind drives away.” Verse 5 gives us the key to the simile. The “ungodly shall not stand in the judgment.” The chaff is the husk that must be peeled away (beaten off) to get to the kernels of wheat. The chaff can’t protest, and its powerless against the wind. The ungodly won’t be able to protest God’s pronouncement against them, and must be driven away, leaving just Him and His wheat.

One of my favorite ‘like’ comparisons is Jeremiah 17 comparing the man who trusts in man to a ratty, scrubby bush in the desert. Jesus uses these comparisons in His parables- ‘The kingdom of heaven is like…’ Paul compares believers to a physical body.

Sometimes the comparison is made without the ‘like’. Psalm 23, for example, says the Lord is my shepherd. In other places, He’s called a Rock, a stronghold, and a shield.

When you see ‘like’ (or ‘as’) or if you see another comparison, stop and list some characteristics of the item in the comparison, whether it’s a tree, a sheep, a ship, a lamp or whatever. Then see how those insights apply.