Day 43: Psalm 120-150

Saturday night... Thomas and I go to dinner at Chuck's about 5:15.

Thomas eats something healthy. I have a plate of nacho/tacos.

We are dressed in complete Brazilian attire. Brazilian basketball jersey... check. Guarana T-shirt... check. Trademark Brazilian flag... check.

We finish dinner about 5:45. (Well, Thomas finished at 5:20 cause he eats like a horse... I'm more of a cow... I chew the cud... haha... I love Bible jokes) I finish dinner at 5:45.

On our way back to the room, we make a quick (4 hour stop) at the gym.

The girl's game is at halftime and Brittany Smart already has 50 points and the team is up by 30.

We sit and watch the girl's 2nd half as they easily beat the other team. Slowly people start to fill the stands around us.

The pep band starts to fill in their bleachers and begin to warm up their instruments (I threw that in there for you Tiffany).

Streams and streams of yellow-clad college students fill the bleachers behind Thomas and I. The pep band is playing through some up tempo songs now.

Even the cheerleaders have arrived and gotten in my way about 10 times.

Then... the moment of truth. Anticipation starts to rise as we see the basketball team huddling by the doors. Everyone rises to their feet. Cleveland picks up his flag. The cheerleaders walk onto the court and get in the other team's way.

Out come the Jackets. Everyone is clapping and screaming. And all of a sudden I hear a single voice. It's yelling "BRAZZZZIIIIILLLLLLL!!!!

I quickly recognize the voice as my own. I wildly wave the Brazilian flag that for some reason has not stem, so it takes both hands.

The team takes the court and line up for lay-ups. Maicol Venter walks over to Thomas and I and shakes our hands. We wish him good luck and tell him that we love him.

And for the next 2.5 hours, 1000s and 1000s of college students yell and clap and jump and dance and scream. Every time the other team has the ball, DE-FENSE is the chant. Every time Cedarville has the ball, we clap at an increasing rate of speed.

With about 30 seconds left in the game, everyone is exhausted. The team calls timeout. And he comes Coach Martin.

We have already lost our voices. But this is the pick up we needed.

Give me a J... J. Give me an A... A. Give me a C... C. and so on and so on...

All of a sudden, the entire building is on its feet. The entire building is chanting JACKETS!! JACKETS!!

Soon... the game is over. Maybe we win... maybe we lose. Either way, Thomas and I finally make it back to our room.

We sit/lay their exhausted. We just expended all of our energy at the game. We didn't even play for a second. But we are dead tired.

It was a great night. And we will be ready again on Tuesday and next Saturday and whenever.

Memories... aren't they great?

Psalms 135 through 150 are "Praise Psalms."

They are meant to be sung/prayed to God in such a manner that we are exhausted by the end.

These are meant to be given to God with the exact same sort of worship as a crowd gives to a basketball team.

We are to give God everything and hold nothing back. We are to cheer. We are to clap. We are to dance. We are to jump. We are to scream. We are to yell.

These psalms are not your typical poetry. They aren't your typical quiet songs of reflection.

They are meant to be public displays of affection by one person or an entire body of believers.

Every time I read these Psalms they same question comes to my mind. Why am I not excited about God like I am excited about Cedarville basketball or Michigan football?

Why don't I show up an hour or two early to church to ensure that I get a front row seat? Why don't I exert all of my energy in praising the God of the universe who specifically created me? Where is the excitement? Where is the passion?

And the scarier question then comes to mind... which am I more passionate about? A basketball game or the God who saved me from my sins by sending His Son to give up everything for me?

We have 2 services at our church. The first service, which I attend, is our traditional service. We sing hymns and the old praise choruses. Brad gives the message.

The second service, which I have now been to once, is our contemporary service. They sing "worship music" and up-tempo praise choruses. Brad gives the same message.

I grew up in a church were it was 90% traditional until about 10 years ago. It has since moved into a mixed. But, I grew up "traditional."

I grew up on hymns. I grew up on 70s/80s praise choruses. I can sing most of them word for word.

Then, for the past 10 years, I have been immersed in "worship music" and up-tempo praise choruses.

I have been around the full spectrum of musical worship. I know a ton of American psalms.

But, when is the last time that I exhausted myself for God? When is the last time I lost my voice praising God?

It has happened a few times in my life. (now I'm going to say this... and it may get me in trouble, but its the truth) But it has rarely happened in a church.

At church, I tend to go through the motions. Not just our church... any church. Growing up in church... I went through the motions. Church at college... I went through the motions. Church after college... I went through the motions. Church now... I go through the motions.

90% of the time that I exhaustively praise God is in my car/at chapel at college/at chapel at Barakel.

How do I foster an environment of complete surrender through singing in my life at church?

And to be completely honest, I think it has a lot do with me. No... I KNOW it is completely me.

I am ashamed to sing loud in church, because it would be awkward. I am ashamed to raise my hands and clap, because (first off... I can't hold a beat) it would be "different" than the norm.

God deserves my all... my everything. And I am worried what other people would think about me. How shallow am I?

I didn't care in college when I gave CU basketball my everything and looked completely ridiculous doing it. I don't care when I'm watching Michigan play football and Keyla thinks I am an idiot.

So what is the difference at church?

Day 40: Psalms 48-74

I just finished reading for today (yesterday) at 12:11 am. I need to read earlier.

At some point, I am going to discuss what it means that "God is my refuge." It keeps popping up in Psalms and I want to chat about it.

What do you think?

Day 39: Psalms 25-47

Psalm 44 is disturbing to me. It isn't what I would call your typical Psalm. It's not very "happy."

As I read it, I am pretty sure that I understand where the psalmist is coming from, but where is the happy ending?

Aren't all Psalms supposed to end like children's fairy tales? Aren't we all supposed to live happily ever after?

The writer starts out Psalm 44 as a history psalm. He is praising God for everything God did in the past.

He talks of God winning battles for Israel. And he talks about God bringing Israel up to a world "super-power."

Then, my favorite Hebrew word. Selah. It always sounds like it has some deep spiritual meaning like amen or hallelujah. But no... it just means 'break' or 'end of stanza.'

But back to Psalm 44... after verse 8, the psalm becomes a song of how terrible things have become in Israel.

People are fighting against them and winning. Countries are oppressing them.

(And as I am reading, I figure that clearly Israel is in sin and God is punishing them)

Verse 17... All this happened to us, though we had not forgotten you or been false to your covenant.

WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

God allowed bad stuff to happen to people who were obeying Him? That isn't very 2009 American of God.

Walt Disney just rolled over in his ice cube tray.

Why is it that we love Psalm 37:4, and base our entire (life) theology around this verse, when 99% of the Bible says that our obsession with Psalm 37:4 is unbiblical?

Psalm 44 clearly shows that "God does what He wants."

God doesn't do what I want. The Bible is (get this) not about Brent. The Bible is about God.

Whoa... did I just blow your mind?

The Bible is not about God serving me and making my life better. The Bible is God teaching me how to glorify Him and make much of Him. (dang it... and I dislike Piper)

Over the past 600 pages, which is a little bit less than half of the Bible, I haven't seen my name yet.

And if the most important book ever written doesn't have my name in it... maybe that is a clue to something.

The world and Christianity and God don't revolve around Brent.

Psalm 44 is about not always getting what you want. It's about God being in control and in charge, even when I'm not happy about it.

And I think that is why I dislike it. I want God to do what I tell Him.

But let's face it... God does what He wants.

Day 38: Psalms 1-24

One day, Brad and I were driving somewhere in his car and we were discussing our favorites books of the Bible. It seemed like a very "pastor-ly" thing to do, because all of our conversations are about theology or ministry.

(Please read the previous paragraph with the sarcasm that is oozing from it.)

So... we were discussing this and I was surprised by what he said. Or more surprised by what he didn't say. I figured he was a Psalms guy. I honestly don't remember what he said was his favorite, but it wasn't Psalms.

I made the comment that I expected it to be Psalms, because he kind of reminds me of Dr. Estes, my Psalms professor. And I kind of picture David being a lot like Brad.

Brad made a comment about that being emotional or something. BUT, I definitely didn't mean that comment as a negative.

When I picture David, I read Psalms and see his deep relationship with God. And he almost has this High School Musical mentality of I have to sing to express my emotions.

Brad is a great singer, and when he sings in church it is very apparent that he is truly singing to God and worshipping God through song.

And also, when I read 1&2 Samuel, I see David as possibly the greatest warrior of all time. David literally slaughters 1000s and 1000s of people.

I've never seen Brad kill anybody, but he seems like the kind of guy who could handle himself in a fight. Especially when I think of Brad in high school, being recruited to play D-1 soccer.

David was the complete package of a man. If you were making a movie and needed that strong, lead male character who was a "beast" and in touch with his feelings, David is the guy you would want.

Brad is the same way. Obviously, he is taken, but he is a man's man and is also not afraid to show his emotions when it comes to his relationship with God.

Those of you who know me, know how emotional I am. Those of you who don't know me, I am not emotional at all.

Those of you who know me, know how tough I am. Those of you who don't know me, I am 6'-140 lbs.

The best Bible character that I would say I relate to is Luke. Luke is a skeptic. And if you ever read my other blog (please don't... it's completely ridiculous), I am very skeptical.

I don't really know where this post is going... so I am just going to end it I guess. It started with an anecdote, that led me no where. So here I am at no where... The End.

Day 37: Job 25-42

I have had many comments about the disappearance of my blog. So, it's back. (again... who knows how long this time)

It's not that I don't enjoy blogging, but I don't enjoy blogging just to blog. And like any other habit, if I start to not do it, then I tend to not do it for a while.

Well... let's catch up a little bit with Job. Job is (possibly) the richest man in the world. Job follows God.

And in about 10 minutes, Job loses everything. His children, animals, livelihood, everything (except his lovely wife).

His 3 friends show up and give Job some really good advice. "Job, you are clearly sinning and God is mad at you."

Job isn't sinning and his friends are no help at all. Finally, Job finally says "God, come face me like a man and tell me what I did wrong..."

So, in Job 38, God shows up. And God is not exactly thrilled with being called out by Job.

God starts off with some hilarious "sarcasm." Then, moves on to reminding Job everything that He has done. And finally, ends with "who do you think you are?"

It is funny to read and think about God being "sarcastic."

BUT... like every other Bible story, I see a lot of Brent in the story.

Too often, I come to God and I know what is best for my life. I know what is best for my ministry. And most importantly, I know what is best for the entire world.

We all do this. We all start out sentences like this "If I were God, ____________________."

What is God saying in Job 38-42? He is saying "Guess what Job (Brent)! You are not God. You weren't there when I created the world. You don't know the birth time and place of every human/animal/flower/plant on the face of the earth. You can't harness the wind/rain/snow. You can't even tame wild animals."

And God is right. Yet again, God is right.

Why is it that we think we know best? Why is it that our first instinct is to tell God what He is doing wrong?

I think that it's my natural instinct because I love ME. I love ME, a lot. I mean, I love ME a ton.

There is no one on this entire planet who I love more than ME. I think about ME all the time. I can't stop trying to make ME happy. I live MY life in such a way to make ME the center of the universe.

Think about it... whose favorite TV shows do I watch? Whose car do I care gets into an accident or not? Whose blog do I read the most? Whose job is the most important job in the world?

When I do something wrong to somebody else, I want mercy. When someone does something wrong to me, I want justice.

So... the question that I have and Job had is this... why me? Poor me. What did I do to make God stop loving me?

Obviously, when you see this from somebody else, you call this a pity-party. But, when you see this from yourself, you call it wanting justice.

I think the solution to the problem is one thing. Perspective.

I have been working on perspective for about 6 months with our teens. It all started with Isaiah 6. Now, God is coming full circle with me in Job.

I heard a pastor say today on the sermon I was watching, "most Christians want Jesus AND..."

Most Christians want Jesus plus something else. I love Jesus so much, and I will be satisfied once I get married/new house/new job/promotion/graduate/retirement/money in the bank. That is really bad perspective.

The pastor went on to say "that is like saying I want Bill Gates' $50 billion and this music stand."

That is the perspective that "God-plus" Christianity gives us.

If God alone doesn't satisfy, then your (my) perspective is terribly, horribly, completely wrong.

If the God who made this universe and everything in it, who breathes life into every human being all the time, who knows the number and name of every star in the sky, who sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross in my place isn't enough for you (me).

We have some serious problems. Pray for me. Pray for my perspective. Pray for your perspective.

Pray that God will reveal Himself to us and He will completely blow us away.

Day 29 - Umm.. yeah

No excuses yesterday... but my Bible did not move from its spot by the door all day. And seeing as how I was not home all day. I guess you can say that I failed to read my Bible.

But... I actually had a really good day serving God and then fellowshipping at night.

Day 22-28 2 Samuel-1 Kings-2 Kings

My blog is waaaay behind, but my reading is all caught up.

Here is a quick summary of what has happened in the history of Israel:

-David good king for the most part
-Solomon starts out very well, but then is "dragged away and enticed" by women and power
-Solomon's sons (Jeroboam and Rehoboam) can't get along and start a civil war and the nation splits
-Israel and Judah have a bunch of kings (most are ungodly)
-Israel is defeated by the Assyrians
-Judah is finally defeated a long time later in 2 Kings 25

I think my favorite part of the reading was Elijah and the prophets of Baal. This story has always been one of my favorites.

I think it is partly the "pyro" in me and also Elijah's sarcastic attitude. It makes for a great story.

If there was one story I could teach in Sunday School every week, it would be Elijah. His whole point is "You need to CHOOSE!!!"

I love what he says in 1 Kings 18:21... Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal is God, follow him."

He says stop being so politically correct. Stop being so wishy-washy. Stop saying one thing and doing another. Stop playing the convenience game. Pick one or the other. You cannot have both.

You can either choose to serve Yahweh or Baal. You cannot have both. This is either/or... not both/and.

As I look at my own life, at times I am wishy-washy. I say that I am sold-out for God, but is that what my life shows?

Elijah is saying to me... Brent, you need to decide. If Jesus is God, live your life for Him. If you are God, stop wasting your time pretending.

And I know the answer in my head. I know that Jesus is God and I am not. I know this. On the test, I could get the answer right. I can fill in the right blank.

BUT... the only test that matters is my life. How am I doing on that test? After my sermon yesterday, Keyla proposed a question to me. And to be honest it caught me off guard.

She asked "so Brent, what are you going to do?"

And with that question, she exposed my weakness. What am I going to do? How am I any different now then I was yesterday before I preached? How I am any closer to God today than I was yesterday?

You see... I think as Christians we view God on the "MACRO" scale. We think about the big things. We say "yes, I give God my life."

For me, I have seen this. I moved from everything I knew as comfort for God. I have given up entire seasons of my life to serve God. I have given up the ability to make comfortable money for my entire life.

I have given up BIG things for God. And I think that most Christians view sacrifice on this BIG scale. Because for the most part, that is what we have heard preached from the pulpit since the time we were born.

In fact, that is basically what I preached yesterday. Give up EVERYTHING.

BUT... life is lived on the "MICRO" scale. Life is lived in the details. Our relationships are formed on the little things.

Marriages don't work that are based solely on vacations and honeymoons and big experiences. Marriages work in the day to day love that the couple shares.

But we view God differently. We know that God loves us unconditionally, so He has to love us. He doesn't have a choice. God is love.

So... how does this play out? We "love" God once or twice a week. And the rest of the time, we pretty much ignore Him. We know He is there, and if we are in trouble we expect Him to fix our problems.

If you want to know how it feels to God to have one hour a week from you, ask your spouse to ignore you all week except for one hour. They aren't allowed to talk to you. They know you are there, but they can't communicate with you.

How long do you think that the marriage will last on 1 hour a week? Probably not long.

Because life is lived in the day-to-day/moment-to-moment living. Life isn't just big events. When was the last big event in your life?

For me, it was preaching yesterday (twice). But guess what... It's been 24 hours and I've been alive the whole time.

Before preaching, the last big event was my trip to Texas on August 13-16. If nothing BIG happened in those 29 days, does that mean that I wasn't alive? No.

So, life is day-to-day/moment-to-moment. My relationship with God MUST also be day-to-day/moment-to-moment.

So, what am I going to do? Still a good question. Still don't have a great answer.

All I know is that, today I am going to grow my relationship with God. I am going to spend time in His Word. I am going to tell Him about my life. I am going to work at my job for Him. I am going love my wife the way that He commanded me to. I am going to drive my car for His glory.

I am going to live my life in such a way that every little thing I do gives God glory. And if everyday I do that, someday I will look back and see how much I have changed and how much closer to God I am then, than I am today.

So... I choose Jesus is God. Now the real test...

Day 20-21 1st Samuel

Needless to say that I am quite behind in my blog. This is also needless to say, but I am still behind in my reading.

I was supposed to be done with 1st Samuel on Monday, but it is now Thursday. That means I have a lot of reading to catch up. And a lot of blogging to catch up.

But first, I want to give you my really bad excuse as to why I am so far behind... college football. At first football only got in the way of my blog (Judges and Ruth), but then it became priority over reading the Bible.

See bad excuse... and this weekend I won't have that excuse, because I am limiting myself to watching just one football game (UM/ND). So, I will have plenty of time to read the Bible and stay caught up with things that should be priorities.

Thank you to those of you who have bugged me about it. I need the accountability.

Now... enough really poor excuses... 1st Samuel.

Saul, Samuel, and David are the main characters in this book. Samuel is a prophet (not a priest like I originally thought). Saul is a bad king. David is God's chosen (soon to be) king.

If you would have asked me last week what Samuel's position was in Israel, I would have said that he was a priest. He served with Eli. He prepared sacrifices. I just assumed he was a Levite.

I was wrong. 1 Samuel 1:1 was really confusing for me. Samuel was from the tribe of Ephraim. Then, as I continued to read, Samuel was not a priest. I had been thinking he was the high priest.

But, it makes sense that he is a prophet since he is speaking for God and (get this) prophesying.

Saul was a bad king. I think that it is interesting that the first king that God lets Israel have is a poor one. Saul seems like the perfect choice as king. He is tall and handsome.

If I am picking a king, I want those leadership qualities. Tall and handsome. What is this high school? Really Israel? Pick a king because he is tall and handsome?

But then I think about what I learned in history class that since the invention of television, the "better looking" candidate has won the election in America almost every time. We aren't so different, are we?

Then, there is David. The youngest in his family. No leadership training. His father and brothers don't even think to bring him to the house to possibly be picked as king.

God picks the king that He knows will serve Him. God picks the leader who is following His voice. God picks a king who is spiritually mature, even though he is physically just a child.

David probably has as much faith as anyone in the entire Bible. He is up there with Paul and Daniel. They are probably my top 3.

I don't know about you, but as a teenager I don't think I ever fought a giant. I never led an army into battle and completely destroyed the opposition.

As a teen, I was worried about running sprints in soccer practice and who killed Lincoln and whether this girl who I was too afraid to talk to liked me. (BTW... the best way for someone to like you is to not talk to them... and if you believe that I have some ocean front property in Montana to sell you)

And you can say... back in the day teens weren't teens. And you can talk about how teens didn't exist like we know them until the invention of high school in the early 1900s. But the point is, God was preparing his leader as a child.

In America, what do we expect of teens? We expect them to go to school, not get into (too much) trouble (or at least don't get caught), and basically act immature while beginning to become independent.

That is completely different than what David was doing. David was leading armies. David was a national hero and not because he could shoot a ball into a basket (it was some one's skull instead).

Our culture has spread this adolescent trend from just 13-18 year-olds to about 9-25 year-olds. And you can see it spreading even further in the near future.

At what point do we expect our children/ourselves to "grow up?" I'm not saying "grow up" to mean be boring. I'm saying "grow up" to mean be mature.

David was "a man after God's own heart." Don't you want that to be said of you/your kids? I want God to say that about me.

David wasn't put in charge of the armies because he was tall or handsome. He was placed by God in positions of leadership, because of his faith. David didn't waste years of his life "having fun."

David spent his whole life seeking God and serving God.

Day 18-19 Judges and Ruth

I like the weekend. My blog is so much a fan.

I'll write again soon. You keeping up?

Day 17: Joshua 14-24

10 years ago... I signed a rock. I wrote my name on a rock. It was joined with about 100 other names of 12, 13, 14, 15-year-olds who were committing to SERVE God with their lives.

I don't know who all wrote their names on the rock, but I can remember a few people.

There are very few memories that I have in my head that I can remember clearly, but this Saturday night sticks in my memory very clearly. I can remember the line of kids, praying and crying, waiting to sign the rock. I can remember going back to my cabin and just begging God to make this real.

I can remember hearing the same messages just 6 months earlier at winter camp and going forward just because everyone else was. But at Barakel, this was different.

I didn't go forward because it was cool and everyone was doing it. I went forward because I wanted to make this real.

I can remember PD's challenge to us. Then, the whole room standing up and PD doing something I respect more than anything in the world.

He told us all to sit back down. He said "no... you can't do this." Then, he challenged us again. And said "do something about it." He said write it out and show me in the morning what you are going to do differently.

I don't know how many people wrote it out and showed him. I did. It was real for me.

So... I went forward and wrote my name on the rock. And that rock still today sits outside the front right door of the East Side Chapel. That rock no longer says my name but it is a reminder of my commitment to Christ.

A few years later, I read Joshua and found out that PD was just doing exactly what Joshua did in his final speech. Joshua had an altar call. And Israel set up a rock.

And I love the words of Joshua 24:31 Israel served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the LORD had done for Israel.

The second generation out of Egypt... they learned from their parents' mistakes. They followed whole-heartedly. They never fell away. They trusted God and followed God.

They lived according to the Covenant. They had a rock bearing witness to their commitment to serving God.

I have a rock bearing witness to my desire to serve God. I'm not about to let that rock call me a liar. I'm all-in.

Tomorrow is Judges 1-12

Day 16: Joshua 1-13

Soo... I just blogged about something, but it was really dumb. I was thinking on paper and what I was saying didn't really make any sense.

It was more or less complaining and I don't want this blog to be about me complaining. This blog is about me reading through the Bible in 90 days.

So, I am going to not blog today. I read about Joshua and his victories. GOD is GOOD! ALL the TIME!

Day 14-15 Deuteronomy

So as I read through this book over the past 2 days, I often wondered what Deuteronomy means. I figured it meant something like repeat everything from the past three books.

I was close. Deuteronomy means "second law." Because, well, Moses is giving the law a second time.

I ran into an issue yesterday after finishing my reading... And I have the same issue today. I don't really know what to blog. There have been verses and chapters that have been "blogable," but nothing has really gotten my head thinking.

So, what I am going to do is blog about a theme that I have seen in Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Sin is really, really bloody. I mean REALLY, REALLY bloody.

Have you ever stopped to think about what an animal sacrifice would look like? I'm pretty sure that slaughtering cows and goats and sheep and birds is pretty grotesque.

And while it's gross, that is the point. It is the same thing with the crucifixion. Jesus endured an intense, life-draining, slaughtering to pay for our sins.

The movie, The Passion of the Christ, is a perfect example of why we (Christians in 2009) don't care about sin. We see the movie and say "wow, that is just too much to watch..."

Once again, that is the point. Sin is too much to watch. Pain and suffering is too much to watch. Blood and gore and guts and the sound of animals being slaughtered is too much to watch.

So, we have invented a "civilized" faith in which we have a pretty Jesus hanging on a pretty cross. We don't talk about animal sacrificing, because it is "politically correct." We clean up our faith so that we never understand their severity of sin and the death that pays for it.

Now, I am not saying we need to slaughter animals or have pictures of barely recognizable Jesus in our churches. BUT to be completely honest, I think that our lack of understanding for our sin is directly linked to the lack of commitment that we see in churches today.

I think that if Christians really understood the severity of their sin, then we have no response except to fall on our face before a Holy God and give our lives completely to Him.

I am no exception. I have only witnessed a few animals being killed in my life. And none of them were as gruesome and bloody as these animal sacrifices in the Bible are.

I like what Tiffany said a few days ago about how Leviticus is just blood here and blood there and blood on the altar and blood on the people and blood everywhere. I like it, because that's the point.

That is the point of sacrificing. You shouldn't want to sacrifice. This shouldn't be a day that you look forward too.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of an Israelite as you place your hand on the head of an animal and with your other hand you chop off that head with a knife. Then, you pour the blood all over the place. Then, you place this perfectly innocent animal on the fire in your place. You deserve to die, but that animal is in your place.

Animal sacrificing gets very personal when you view it that way.

Now realize, you are in the same shoes. You place your hand on Jesus' head and with your other hand nail him to the cross. You whip him over and over and over again. He is bleeding all over you. You are ripping the skin off his back. And then place this perfectly innocent GOD on the cross in your place. You deserve to die, but your Savior is in your place.

The crucifixion gets very personal when you view it that way.

So what is your response? What do you do know that Jesus has given His innocent life to pay for your guilty life? If you understand what just happened, you only have one response.

Fall on your face before a Holy GOD and give Him your life. Not just part... but the whole thing.

Tomorrow I am reading Joshua 1-13. But right now I am going to talk to God. Pray that God will continue to speak to me and continue to open my eyes as I read through the Bible.

You are more than welcome to join me. The hard books are over. I guarantee that you won't regret it.