Tuesday, Februay 16

Yes. Another snow day today. Unfortunately, I had a few things I couldn't do from home so I ended up spending the entire day in the office while most others went home. Also, my one last hope for playing basketball one more time before the season ended was thwarted by the snow. Our chance of improving our 1 win - 14 loss record was also thwarted in the process. Also, work has once again become a somewhat overwhelming for me.

Wow, I sound like a baby. I guess it was just an annoying day...sorry to take it out on you, friends.

Reading for February 16
Leviticus 1:1-3:17
Shamon! I finished another book! Exodus is complete! I don't think I've ever even looked at Leviticus. Well, here we go...

Well, this just continues right where Exodus left off. God is now giving specific directions on how to sacrifice an animal to him. Some of this is highly barbaric and nasty...like this excerpt:

¹⁴ “If you present a bird as a burnt offering to the Lord, choose either a turtledove or a young pigeon. ¹⁵ The priest will take the bird to the altar, wring off its head, and burn it on the altar. But first he must drain its blood against the side of the altar.

Doesn't that sound outrageous? I don't think Jews do this today - although I think the other guidelines here were the beginnings of the idea of food being Kosher.

The other thing of note here is the obvious symbolism to Jesus. Here is what I mean: when you, as a person, screw up, you must atone for your sins. One of the best ways to do that, according to God, is to bring him an animal and slaughter it. But it can't be just any animal. It must be:

1) Male
2) Free from any defect

The Bible says that after you sacrifice this animal for God that, "the Lord will accept its death in your place to purify you, making you right with him." So in the same way that people needed to constantly do this to make themselves right with God, Jesus did it once. And He did it for everyone. And he was a male with no defects. Often referred to as the Lamb of God. He was a sheep who allowed himself to be slaughtered for our sake. Remember that today when you interact with someone else he died for, that you may not get along with. - That message is for me by the way...



Mark 1:29-2:12
Again, Mark is moving the story along at a very quick pace here. Jesus' ministry continues and he begins expelling demons from people's bodies. The one thing that's new from Matthew that I thought was interesting was the idea of how quickly his popularity spread. Word of mouth was the chief marketing tool back then, and the environment of close knit communities was ideal for that kind of thing to thrive. But it says that when Jesus returned to Capernaum - where he had healed a man with Leperousy - the place was overrun by fans of Jesus. It says that the house he was staying in was so crammed full of people that not a single additional person could fit inside, and in fact there was a crowd forming outside as well. JC was totally popular.

Psalm 35:17-28
This is another very honest psalm where David is asking God why he isn't getting an answer after praying for several days. I think Psalsm is a great way to learn about different ways of looking at and approaching God. Granted, they are mostly all from the same guy, but still its a cool thing to look at.


Proverbs 9:13-18

Once again back to the "stop-cheating-on-your-wife" campaign. Pretty simple stuff about how people can be easily seduced into sin.





I'm so sorry for the turbo-short entry I've been having trouble keeping my eyes open after 10:00 PM.
Goodnight.