Wednesday, March 17

Hey ho. I just got back from the Devils game this evening. It was my first one in a while, but we got a deal with work and it was just a splendid time. We also talked about the Devils theoretical rivals on the way to the game: "The Jesuses" But then we got into an argument over what the plural of Jesus would be - Jesuses or Jesi. That turned into an argument about "in what circumstance would there ever be more than one Jesus that we would need to refer to." The best we could come up with is if there were a bunch of kids on Halloween dressed as Jesus. THAT turned into an argument over what that group of Jesuses would be called - like how a group of geese is a gaggle, a group of lions is a pride and so on - I don't think we pursued that branch of the conversation very far...in the end I conceded the argument and we settled on "Jesuses" as the acceptable term. Henceforth, let it be known that in the case of Jesus accidentally falling in a cloning device, they shall be referred to as "The Jesuses" - and they will make a sweet hockey team.

Reading for March 17
Numbers 26:1-51
This chapter opens with another census of the people of Israel. It once again mentions the twelve tribes of Israel. Since this is a major building block of Christian history, I thought it would be a good idea to learn their names. These are the twelve tribes of Israel:

Reuben, Korah (who's people rebelled and were swallowed by the earth. Their line did not die out though), Simeon, Gad, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Manasseh, Ephraim, Benjamin, Asher, and Naphtali

The Israelites total number was now 601,730. down from 603,550 at the beginning of Numbers. They were using the same rule of any man over twenty, which means that 1820 people died since the last time the census was taken, which I think was two years prior. Outside of old age, I think most of that number is from God's vengeance. 250 died in the earthquake purge, hundreds died from the plague, hundreds died from the snake storm God sent, still more from various other times they pissed God off. Do you think God looked at that number and said "Geez, that's a lot of insubordination"?

Then again, why would God need that information - if he knows the number of hairs on my head, surely he knows the number of Israelite men over twenty-years-old. I suppose it was for historical purposes.

Luke 2:36-52
This section of Luke opens with yet another close up on a woman - Anna from the tribe of Asher. She was a prophetess and told everyone about how Jesus was going to redeem Jerusalem.

The next section is - I think - the only account of Jesus as an adolescent throughout the four gospels. It shows Jesus around twelve years old, sitting and discussing scripture with the priests of the temple. He had left his parents side to do this, and they were frantic until finding him in the temple the next day. Jesus said, "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" Luke then writes that Joseph and Mary had no clue what this meant.

My friend Pete sent me a link to an NPR interview today with a Biblical scholar named Bart Ehrman who talks about the discrepancies within the Gospels. He has a book called Jesus Interrupted which I would like to check out, but there are some interesting things in the interview, particularly about what Jesus' life and death meant, and how that meaning changes across the four Gospels. I'll be looking for some of this stuff as I continue to read, but I just wanted to mention it before I forgot. If you'd like to listen to it, here's the link: NPR Interview

Psalm 60:1-12
 ⁷ Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine;
       Ephraim is my helmet,
       Judah my scepter.

This is God speaking and I find this really interesting - this imagery is very similar to the armor of God which Paul mentions in Ephesians. The line about Judah being his scepter, or "symbol of power" as I'm interpreting it is even more prophetic because Jesus' lineage comes from Judah.

Proverbs 11:15
 ¹⁵ He who puts up security for another will surely suffer,
       but whoever refuses to strike hands in pledge is safe.

This one makes no sense to me - does security mean money? And then does that mean that we will suffer for helping others? And then what's that about the pledge? Now we can't make business deals and shake on it? We have to refuse that if we want to be safe? I may be misinterpreting this, but...it don't sound right.

Alright, that will do it for me this evening. Love all the time.

Dear God, 

Thank you for the beautiful weather today. Thank you for friends and co-workers that are fun to be around. Thank you, as always, for my pup and wife. Thank you for not letting me give up on this project so far. I have already learned so much and still have so much left to read.

God, I want to pray for the homeless man I walked by twice this evening. While I enjoyed soda, hot dogs and pretzels, this man sat outside the arena, begging for food. I ignored him twice and both times he said "God bless you" anyway. Please forgive me for ignoring him, and by extension, ignoring you. Please soften someone's heart enough to provide that man with food and shelter for this evening. Please soften my heart in the future to be brave enough to stop for a moment and help someone in need.

Thank you for today, and please bless my tomorrow.

In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.