Saturday Delay

"Good morning. Happy afternoon! Good night. Leave us a message and we'll call you back. I hope you have a nice day, bye! Stop?"

That's the outgoing message on my phone from Sadie, my 7 year old. It was her idea. She said, "Well, we don't know when they're going to call."

Indeed we don't.

Sorry I didn't post day 3 last night - I fell asleep halfway through the reading! Jermaine came in the room to go to bed at 2am and he said he found me passed out with the Bible on my chest. Our dog, Sebastian was curled up next to my netbook [mini laptop]. I think he's fascinated by our electronic devices - he's been known to lick my phone. :)

So, sigh. It's happened already. I've missed a day. I'm seriously tempted to try to do two today to catch up [because, apparently, I'm out of my mind]. But I've decided not to give into that temptation. I knew this would happen. Let's face it, we all did. In fact, I tried to build it into the very fabric of the system when I set out on this venture.

The goal is to finish by the end of October [that way if I'm skipping classwork to write this blog I'll still have time to undo the damage I've done by the end of the semester [Note: if you're reading this and you're one of my professors - I would never do that in your class]].

There are 31 days in August and 31 days in October, I started this with 2 days left in July and the The Bible in 90 Days allows for you to miss two days, sooooo, I have a 6 day buffer. Er, well, make that 5 now. :)

Anyhoo - here we go with The Skinny [warning: It's looong]:
Chapter 29 - Jacob is still running away from his brother. He comes to land of the "eastern peoples". He finds himself in a conversation at a well and the shepherds that he's chatting with turn out to be his relatives! Laban's daughter, Rachel [a shepherdess] shows up and evidently Jacob is excited because he kisses her and starts weeping. Jacob ends up staying with Laban [Abraham's brother's grandson] and they cut a deal. Jacob will work for Laban for 7 years and then he can marry Rachel. 7 years comes and goes and Jacob is ready to do the deed. There's a marriage, but Laban somehow does the old switcheroo and gives Jacob his oldest daughter Leah to sleep with instead. The text exclaims, "When morning came, there was Leah!" [29:25a] Jacob is upset, but stays married to her and Laban decides Jacob can marry Rachel, too, if he works for another 7 years. We are told that Leah's maidservant is Zilpah and Rachel's maidservant is Bilhah. We find out that Rachel is barren. Leah starts popping out boys - Reuben [sounds like Hebrew for he has seen my misery]; Simeon [one who hears]; Levi [attached]; and Judah [praise] - all to win her husband's affections. Chapter 30 - Rachel, who may have been a bit on the dramatic side, sees her sister having all these kids and announces to Jacob, "Give me children, or I'll die!" She has her maidservant marry him and Bilhah gives birth to Dan [he has vindicated] and Naphtali [my struggle]. Leah has stopped having kids, so she panics and has her maidservant bear him some children. Zilpah gives birth to Gad [good fortune or a troop] and Asher [happy]. Then the sisters get in a strange argument - in the end, Rachel gets some of Reuben's mandrakes and Leah gets to sleep with Jacob. Leah gets pregnant three more times: Issachar [reward], Zebulun [honor] and Dinah [the only girl mentioned in the family]. Finally Rachel conceives! She has Joseph [may he add]. The scene shifts: Jacob tries to leave but Laban doesn't want him to, so Jacob dives into a fun science experiment: selective breeding for livestock. He ends up with the healthiest strongest animals in the flock. Chapter 31 - We find out that Laban has not really been treating Jacob well. Jacob decides to leave and so they flee - neglecting to tell Laban. Rachel steals her father's household gods without telling Jacob. Laban catches up to them and God tells him in a dream - "Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, good or bad." There's a confrontation and Laban [careful not to say anything good or bad] simply searches for the gods. Rachel pretends that she can't get up because it's that time of the month and sits on them. Obviously, her father doesn't find them. Jacob and Laban make a covenant and it's all hunky dory again. Chapter 32 - Right at the beginning, Jacob meets some angels and exclaims "This is the camp of God!" He then decides to go and try to reconcile with his brother, but he's majorly freaking out about it. He divides his family into two groups so that if Esau attacks, some may escape. Next there is this awesome scene where Jacob is alone and a man wrestles with him all night. The man could not overpower Jacob so he touches the socket of Jacob's hip, leaving him limping - but still fighting! The man tries to end the fight because it is daylight. Jacob says he will not let him go until he gets the man's blessing. The man changes Jacob's name to Israel [he struggles with God] because he "wrestled with God and with men and [has] overcome." Chapter 33 - A touching scene where the brothers meet at last after 20 years of being at odds. Esau has no hard feelings toward his brother. Chapter 34 - Dinah is violated by Shechem, the Hivite prince. The text says "he loved her and spoke tenderly to her." Dinah's brothers are hopping mad at Shechem because the two weren't married and he's not one of them. He wants to marry her. Her brothers tell him that must get all the males in his family circumcised. But then they attack his unsuspecting city and kill all the men - taking the women and children for themselves. Chapter 35 - God tells Jacob to go to Bethel and again announces that Jacob is to be called Israel. At this point, the narrator begins to use the name. Rachel has a 2nd son, but dies in childbirth. She names him Ben-Oni [son of my trouble] but Jacob calls him Benjamin [son of my right hand]. Out of nowhere we find out that Reuben has slept with Bilhah and that Israel knows. The text shifts gears and lists Jacob's twelve sons. The chapter ends with the death of Isaac at 180 years. Chapter 36 - [I forgot to mention in the last entry - at the beginning of Chapter 28 Esau realizes that his mom and dad would flip if he married a Canaanite woman - so he does [in addition to his other wives]] This chapter is all about Esau's descendants and the tribes they've become. Chapter 37 - Enter the story of Joseph. His brothers hate him because he's his dad's favorite. Jacob gives him a really nice robe. Joseph has a couple dreams that apparently mean his family is going to bow down to him. This makes his brothers so mad that they plot to kill him - except Reuben - he tries to save Joseph. The other brothers then decide they won't kill him - they'll just sell him to some Midianites passing by. They take his robe, put some animal blood on it and take it back to their father, saying that Joseph was killed by a ferocious animal. Meanwhile, the Midianites sell Joseph to Potiphar, an Eunuch [a castrated man] and Captain of the guard in Egypt. Chapter 38 - Tamar is Judah's son's widow [Judah's son - Er - was wicked in the Lord's sight and God put him to death]. As was custom, Judah had his other son, Onan, sleep with her to carry on the family line. But every time he did he "spilled his semen on the ground" so she couldn't get pregnant. God thought this was evil, too, and had him killed also. Judah promises her to Shelah, his younger son when he grows up. Judah's wife passes away. Shelah grows up but Tamar is still not with him, so she pretends to be a prostitute and Judah, not knowing it was her, sleeps with her. She takes his seal and cord as pledge for payment. Later, he tries to pay, but he can't find her. He eventually stops looking because he doesn't want to become a "laughingstock." Then he finds out that Tamar has been a prostitute and is pregnant - he demands she be put to death! She shows him his own cord and seal and he ends up feeling like a fool. She has twins - Perez and Zerah. Chapter 39 - Joseph prospers and Potiphar puts him in charge of his entire household. Potiphar's wife wants to sleep with Joseph but he won't do it, calling it a "sin against God". So she accuses him of trying to rape her and her husband throws him in jail. He prospers in jail and the warden puts him in charge of all the prisoners. Chapter 40 - Potiphar's Cupbearer and Baker end up in jail, too. They each have a dream and Joseph interprets - the Cupbearer will be restored to his position in 3 days. The baker will be hung on a tree in 3 days. Joseph asks the Cupbearer to remember him when he is restored, but he forgets.


Oh, wowsers. Those were some detailed chapters. Let's get right into the wonderment:

I don't know how Laban switched Rachel with Leah. Was Jacob drunk? Was it that dark? Were they twins? Even so, interesting that Jacob got a taste of his own medicine.

I'm at this place in my life where I'm seriously questioning what many in the church teach about women and men and their roles. I don't necessarily want to go into all of that here, but I almost can't read these 12 pages [and a lot of other pages] without mentioning how intensely women were oppressed in biblical times:

• Leah is forced to share a husband with her sister - Jacob loves Rachel, but has no love for Leah.
• If you are a maidservant to a woman who can't bear children, you may have to marry her husband and become his concubine.
• Judah and Tamar's story stinks of double-standards when he demands she be put to death.

But God truly the ultimate Protagonist - using the situations described above to show his mercy, love and respect for women.

I always thought Shechem raped Dinah and that's why her brothers reacted so strongly. And maybe he did. But the text says "he loved her and spoke tenderly to her" which doesn't really imply rape.

Esau's forgiveness really touched me. I got a little teary-eyed.

There is a lot of other really good stuff to talk about, but honestly, I'm spent. I think that's all for now - I may edit this to include more later - though, it's pretty daggone long as it is! The next reading will take us to the end of Genesis [which may be the fastest I've ever gotten through the first chapter of the Bible in my life] - 41:1-50:26.

The Weirdness of our Forefathers

The Skinny:

Chapter 17 - Sarah gives birth to Isaac [which means "he laughs"] and God makes a 3rd covenant. This one is a little below the belt. That very day, Abraham goes out and has every male in his household circumcised. Chapter 18 - The Lord appears to Abraham as 3 men. Abraham has a meal prepared for the Lord and pulls out all the stops. Sarah overhears them talking [predicting that she will bear a son] and she laughs at the idea. Then, when confronted, Sarah denies laughing because she's afraid. Next, there is this fascinating scene where God wants to destroy Sodom and Abraham bargains with him - using phrases such as "Far be it for you to do such a thing-to kill the righteous with the wicked." The Lord allows this banter and in the end agrees that if there are even 10 righteous people in Sodom, he will not destroy the town. Chapter 19 - Two angels show up in Sodom and some really bad stuff happens. Lot urges them not to stay in the town square, fearing for their safety. He finally talks them into coming home with him, and then the men of the town practically beat down his door. They are apparently obsessed with raping these angels. Lot offers to give these evil men his virgin daughters instead. Just as they are about to break down the door, the angels afflict the wicked men with blindness. An intense action scene follows where the angels hurry Lot and his family out of the town and tell him to go to the mountains. But he doesn't want to go to the mountains and pleads with them to let him go to a little town. Lot's wife looks back on Sodom and is turned into a pillar of salt. Lot is afraid, and apparently changes his mind about the mountains, leaving the town to flee to them. Then it gets even weirder when his daughters get him drunk and have sex with him so that they can procreate. Chapter 20 - Abraham meets Abimelech king of Gerar, and again he pulls the whole "She's not my wife, she's my sister" bit. And so Abimelech takes Sarah but then has a dream where God exclaims, "No - wait! You don't want to do that!" Abimelech confronts Abraham and Abe skirts the issue saying "Actually, she really is my sister." Chapter 21 - Isaac is born! Sarah kicks Hagar and Ishmael out of her house and God tells Abraham to listen to her. Hagar and Ishmael end up in the desert very near death and the Lord shows up and saves them with a well. Scene shift - Abraham and Abimelech make a treaty [at Beersheba] to resolve a quarrel about a well. Chapter 22 - God tells Abraham to go offer Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham listens and is just about to drop the knife when The Angel of the Lord shows up and stops him, repeating the covenant. After that, we get a little excerpt about Abraham's brother's sons which foreshadows Isaac's future wife. Chapter 23 - At 127, Sarah dies. Abraham goes to the Hittites and insists on paying them for the plot of land to bury his wife. Chapter 24 - Abraham asks his servant to swear that he will go back to Abraham's hometown to pick a wife for Isaac. The text notes that if the woman will not agree to come, the servant is freed from the oath. The servant prays and God answers that prayer - enter Rebekah - Isaac's bride-to-be. Chapter 25 - We find out that Abraham took another wife and that he had concubines - and a whole mess of other kids. Then, Abraham passes away at the "good old age" of 175. We get a little excerpt on the sons of Ishmael, his death and that he lived to be 137. Another scene shift - Rebekah is barren, but Isaac prays for her and she becomes pregnant with twins! Enter Jacob [meaning he grasps the heel [or figuratively, he deceives]] and Esau [which may mean hairy]. The Lord tells Rebekah that the older one will serve the younger. We are told that the parents have favorites. Isaac loves Esau and Rebekah loves Jacob. Next, Esau sells his birthright to his brother for some stew. Chapter 26 - Freaky deja vu. Like father like son. Isaac tells Abimelech that Rebekah is his sister. But then they're caught getting up close and personal. Abimelech calls him out and orders his men not to touch either of them. They too make a treaty a Beersheba. Chapter 27 - Isaac is aging and blind. He wants to bless Esau before her dies so he tells him to go hunt down something tasty and fix it for him [so Esau can then receive his blessing]. But Rebekah overhears and convinces Jacob to go and pretend to be Esau so he can get the blessing. He even puts on goatskin to become hairy like his brother. Which raises the question, just how hairy was this guy? Jacob succeeds and gets the blessing. Esau comes back - no blessing for him. He is devastated and wants to kill his brother. Rebekah suggests Jacob gets the heck out of there until Esau cools down, and so, Jacob flees. Chapter 28 - While on the lamb, Jacob has a dream and encounters God in a very real and powerful way.

Wow. That's some crazy stuff. It begs the question - what the heck??

Crazy stuff.

I have enlisted a couple books that are way smarter than I am: How to Read the Bible for All it's Worth and How to Read the Bible Book by Book both by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart.

The first one has a really great chapter on biblical narratives - what they are and what they aren't. I thought, since Genesis is packed with narratives, this might be a good time to reference them.

What Biblical Narratives Are

In essence, they are "purposeful stories retelling historical events" [pg. 90]. I mentioned yesterday that God is the ultimate protagonist. Satan and evil people/powers are the antagonists and folks working with God are the agonists. Every narrative has a plot and characters.

Also, there are 3 levels to the biblical narrative [pg. 91]. The 3rd level was basically described above - a Great Big God leading his people to redemption. The 2nd level is the idea that God is redeeming people for his name - twice - by the former covenant and the "new" covenant [ie: Jesus]. The 1st level is all the little narratives [what Scot Mcknight calls "Wiki-Stories"].

I know I'm getting little teachy here, but I think keeping the levels in mind helps to read the bible as Story.

What Biblical Narratives Are NOT

- Allegories or stories filled with hidden meaning [though they do often have an "implied" meaning - one with cultural context that would have been obvious to the original listeners]

- Intended to teach a moral lesson [this is key - these are accounts of the lives of real people! [I can only imagine if someone sat down and read my life]]

Ha. Okay. Now that we got that out of the way, we can get to the good stuff. I feel an apology about length coming on . . .

Sorry!

My Comments, Questions, and Wonderment

I'm not sure I fully understand the whole circumcision thing. But, then again, I'm not sure I'm supposed to [nor am I sure Abraham fully grasped it either - gentlemen, can you imagine being circumcised right now? At 100??] I think the main point here is obedience. We don't get all of God's reasoning. We don't have to. We just have to trust God, listen and do what he says.

Phyllis Tickle [in a teaching about the Holy Spirit at Mars Hill Bible Church] said the story of the 3 visitors is the first reference we have to the Trinity. Here, it is clearly stated that there are 3 - and yet the 3 are referred to in the singular form.

The story of Lot and his family is just bizarre. My brain can't handle going into all the gory details right now. So, I'll just address Lot's wife. Because she seems to really get the raw end of the deal, right? Lot offers his virgin daughters to sex fiends and the daughters get their father drunk and take advantage of him. And neither offensive offense seems to warrant so much as a cough from God. But Lot's wife turns around and gets turned into a pillar of salt [of all the weird ways to die]! I've heard it said that the punishment was so harsh because she effectively was looking back longingly - as if wanting to return to her old evil ways. There is no doubt that sick sexual sin was abundant in Sodom. But honestly, I really don't get it.

The Abraham /Isaac dealings with Abimelech ["She's my sister.", "Let's make a treaty."] seemed odd to me. Is this the same guy? Did he really fall for the sister gag twice?

Did Abraham know that God was going to stop him from sacrificing his son? He seemed so ready and willing for whatever God had in store. As a mother, I was deeply moved by this story. It's a breathtaking example of obedience and trust on the part of Abraham.

Abraham having concubines is difficult for me. I know it was a way different culture. And I know that it doesn't mean God is condoning it - narratives, as previously stated, simply give a true account. And I know God doesn't pick people on their own merit. Still, my inner feminist is sulking a little bit.

A theme that keeps coming up [from How to Read the Bible Book by Book] - God often chooses the younger, or weaker, or most unlikely to bear the righteous seed. I like that a lot.

Okay, really, who sells their birthright for some soup? And, honestly! Just how hairy was this guy?

Seems like an odd place to end, but I think I've run out of comments. It's about time.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Tomorrow's reading: Genesis 29:1-40:23.

In the Beginning . . .

Hi. And Wow. Welcome to the Bible. I am a little nervous [luckily you can't tell because you can't see me - haha]. A lot of people checked out this blog today. I'm not really used to that.

It makes me really happy! But it also makes me kind of queasy. I'm a little afraid I'm going to totally botch the Good Book. Pray for me. And let me know if something I say if way out in left field.

Okay, folks, hold on to your nickers. Here we go!

Quick little warning: This blog has to introduce the story of the Bible, the Old Testament [or the Hebrew Bible] and, of course, delve into the first 16 chapters of Genesis, um, so, it may run a bit long.

The Bible as Story

I just finished The Blue Parakeet. Author Scot Mcknight explains how to read the Bible as a grand Story about the ultimate Protagonist, God. I lent the book to my bestest, so I'm at a slight a disadvantage in referencing from it. But I found the part I was looking for at this review by Pascialian Awakenings.

The Big Picture

1. God and creation
2. Adam and Eve as Eikons who crack the Eikon
3. God’s covenant community, where humans are restored to God, self, others, ad the world
4. Jesus Christ, who is the Story and in whose story we are to live
5. The church as Jesus’ covenant community
6. The consummation, when all the designs of our Creator God will finally be realized forever and ever.

Note: He really likes the word "Eikon" and I'm sure he has a really deep sense of purpose for doing so. I find it a little confusing, since I'm not familiar with the word and it fails to register in my brain. Basically, he means "image" so when you see "Eikon" think "Image".

The OT [or the Hebrew Bible - but doesn't OT sound much more gangster?]

It gets a bad rap. It's boring. And when it's not boring God is telling people to commit genocide. It's really long. And, well, honestly, what the heck does it have to do with our lives today?

I got really lucky. When I first began to follow Jesus, I stumbled upon this Bible study at this guy's house and it was full of amazing young Christians passionate about loving God and each other. We were working our way through the Bible, chapter by chapter each week, starting in Genesis. I remember every week being blown away by something new. It was ridiculous. And wonderful. James-Michael [the amazing guy who held and led the Bible study] is knowledgeable beyond reason. And he was passionate about the Old Testament. He taught me to love it, to wrestle with it and ultimately, to read it. Actually, you know what? If it weren't for that Bible study, I may not be writing this blog.

Here's the point I hope I'm making: The Bible is hard. God is ridiculous [in a good way]. There is some crazy stuff in the Old Testament. But there is rhythm and reason to the madness. And it's a little bit amazing.

Genesis 1:1-16:16

My husband, Jermaine, suggested I synopsi-size you with the skinny at the start of each blog. Seems like a pretty good idea. So, here:

Chapter 1 - God is the ultimate creative genius - and it was good. Chapter 2 - God finishes his masterpiece and rests, then the text seems to go back a bit and elaborate on this beautiful creation. The chapter finishes with a woman being made to be a companion for the man. Chapter 3 - Ergh. She screws up big time and because of that God doles out a fair amount of curses. Chapter 4 - Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam and Eve, show up. Abel's offering pleases God. Cain's offering doesn't. So, Cain does the logical thing. He kills his brother. Another curse from God, followed by Cain's family line. Chapter 5 - Geneology from Adam to Noah. Chapter 6 - God is not so happy with the state of man's heart, so God sends a flood to kill everyone except Noah, who is commanded to build an ark for himself, his family, and all the animals. Noah listens. Chapter 7 - They enter the ark and God sends rain for 150 days. Chapter 8 - This is all about them waiting until the water has gone down enough for them to leave the ark. Chapter 9 - God makes the first covenant - one for all people [never again will he kill off everyone]. Sign of the covenant - a rainbow. Then, Noah drinks too much and ends up naked. His son, Ham, sees him and so, when Noah wakes up he curses Canaan [Ham's son] and blesses Shem and Japheth [Noah's two other sons]. Chapter 10 - Noah's family line. Chapter 11 - People decide to build this huge tower to reach to heaven. God is not excited about this and so he decides to confuse their language. Next, we go back to the business of lineage and come to see how one goes from Shem to Abram. Chapter 12 - Abram is introduced with a covenant from God [talk about an entrance]. This is one of the most important chapters in the Bible. Also, there's a famine in the land, so Abram goes to Egypt for food. While he's there he lies and tells Pharaoh that Sarai, his wife, is his sister because he's afraid Pharaoh will kill him and try to take her if he doesn't. Chapter 13 - Abram and Lot [his nephew] go their separate ways to help nip a family feud in the bud. Lot picks the good land. Chapter 14 - There is some sort of huge war going on, Lot gets caught up in it and Abram comes to his rescue. Sometime shortly after, Melchizadek, priest of the God Most High, appears with bread and wine. And there is some foreshadowing in regards to tithe. Chapter 15 - Again, God promises to bless Abram and his offspring [the ones he doesn't have yet]. Abram asks how and God answers by putting him in a deep dark sleep and telling him about the horrors of slavery that his ancestors will inevitably have to face. Chapter 16 - Here we find out that Sarai is barren and antsy. She has her servant sleep with Abram to bear his seed. It all blows up in her face. Hagar, her servant, despises her, Sarai is jealous and abuses Hagar [and blames Abram]. Hagar runs away but God comforts her and tells her to go back. He gives her a name for her son and says he will be a "wild donkey of a man". We end here, with the birth of Ishmael. Abram is 86.

It's 2:27am. I don't have to be up super early tomorrow, but I'm going to have to work on starting earlier if I want to still blog on mornings where I do. I told Jermaine how this whole thing was progressing so far and he gave me friendly warning about length. I promise to try to keep things as short and sweet as possible [after this blog, of course].

Now for the fun part, tho.

Every time I crack open Genesis I encounter a deep longing to close my eyes and have the story read to me. Rob Bell takes this image further in his book Jesus Wants to Save Christians as he invites his readers to picture a campfire scene and a young girl asking for someone to tell the story of how the world began. Her uncle pipes up, "In the beginning . . . " I can see it all vividly. The Bible was originally intended to be heard and not seen. It began as a story passed down from generation to generation. I love my Bible [dearly!] - I love marking in it and pouring over it and pulling it out to reference some obscure passage that's on my mind. But, still, I think, as with many things so readily available in our modern society, we've lost something. A little bit of magic.

One of the coolest things from chapter 2 - we're made from dust and the breath of God.

I looked up "sons of God" and Nephilim in the Apologetics Study Bible. KJV popularized translating Nephilim as "giants" [as opposed to just tall people]. The sons of God could refer to a barbaric warrior class of people or Seth's chosen descendants intermarrying with the wicked Canaanite women [ pg. 15].


What's up with Noah getting drunk and then cursing his grandson [who had nothing to do with it]? I always thought he'd cursed his son. He's the one who saw him naked [btw - if you saw someone naked back in the OT, shame on you - not them]!

One of my secret ridiculous ambitions is to learn all of the languages in the world. But it seems a little too tower of Babelish, right?

I love how the priest Melchizadek is thrown into this random war scene in Chapter 14 and is all about sitting back and chillaxing with bread and wine. I think [I don't want to read into it but I think I've heard this before] that there is some definite communion foreshadowing going on here.

In the covenant with Abram, God says God is Abram's "very great reward". I just love that. Also, important to note he was blessed to be a blessing vessel. I think that's the big picture idea for us - we get blessed to bless. God is a freaking genius.

Whoa, "wild donkey of a man"?! Hagar seems way comforted, but I don't know about you, if God told me that about my son, I don't think I'd feel better.

I marked these pages all up and there is more I could ponder, but enough is enough, right? And this is enough.

Night!

Ooh - almost forgot [actually I did forget - this is an edit] - tomorrow's reading: Genesis 17:1 - 28:22. :)

Introducing: The Bible!

Do you ever decide to take a project on and then get started and realize you're in way over your head?

I do. All the time.

In fact, that exact situation sounds vaguely familiar at this very moment.

But, there's no turning back now. Er, well, that's not entirely true. I could most certainly turn back. Or at the very least stop typing. But I'm excited about this and even though I'm just beginning to understand how time consuming this whole thing is going to be, I still want to do it!

Call me crazy. I'll probably answer.

So, as it turns out, I'm blogging the Bible.

I think I originally planned to just dive into the first bit of Genesis. But, as I went to do just that, it seemed so unnatural [that sounds wrong]. I decided that what I really need is an introduction, the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How, if you will.

Now, I'm guessing you know the Who and the What [[if not, just take a gander at the title of this blog]. The When is, I hope, mostly every day for the next 90 days. If that becomes too overwhelming for me, I might switch things up a bit - but I'll keep you posted [I love that about blogs - they can be ever-evolving]. The Where is probably my couch, and, of course, here, in my own little corner of cyberspace. The How is only with God's help.

The Why is where it gets interesting. Let me just say, I am no scholar. I'm just a girl, standing in front of a book asking what the heck it's all about. My friend Meghan suggested I take it a little bit slower - a day to read, a day to reflect and a day to write the blog - the 9 month approach. I thought about it A LOT. I thought maybe I'd add an extra day to reflect [or go to the beach] and make it a cool year. Or perhaps I could cut out reflecting all together and do it in 6 months. After all, 90 days is a pretty short time to read and write about the most provocative book in the world.

I've been mulling all this over for the past month, trying to take all things into consideration. And then it hit me. This is not what this is about! This whole crazy idea began first and foremost as a way to accomplish a long time goal of reading the Bible all the way through! The blogging was just an aid, it's the reading that's supposed to take center stage.

I've heard people say they read the Bible all the way through and they don't even remember chunks of it. Here's hoping I remember chunks.

Plus, I'd love this to be a journey we can go on together. I'm very social that way. So I'll be posting what I'm going to read tomorrow at the end of each entry - you can follow along at your own pace.

If you are interested in a more scholarly approach, I want to help with that, too! So, I'll be researching and adding similar blogs from smarter people somewhere on the side. Also, I'm definitely open to suggestions.

Tomorrow, fingers crossed, I will have read Genesis 1:1 - Genesis 16: 16 and will be ready to right about it.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading my blog. I think this is going to be fun.