Day 31: 1 Chronicles 24:1-2 Chronicles 7:10

Here is the reading for Day 31: 1 Chronicles 24:1-2 Chronicles 7:10

Day 30: 1 Chronicles 10:1-23:32

Here is the reading for Day 30. 1 Chronicles 10:1-23:32

Day 29: 1 Chronicles 1:1-9:44

Here is the reading for Day 29. 1 Chronicles 1:1-9:44 This may be the toughest read you've had since the book of Numbers. There are a lot of names here. Bear with it. Tomorrow you'll be back into a record of the events of David's life. From an interest standpoint, it picks back up a bit.

For you geneaology buffs, these listings are very important. And for all of us really, these are historical records that back up the validity of Scripture. I once met a man who went through the entire Bible, researching every name and placing it on a family tree. It had taken him years to do. He was naturally very proud of his work. I wasn't as enthused as he was, but I got to thinking that what this man had done was incredible. He had taken a part of Scripture that we often overlook, and he had researched it thoroughly and it had built his faith. He no longer rests on the possibility that these geneaologies are correct. He has lived their evidence. He brought me a copy of the document he had compiled. When I saw it, I was in awe. I realized, perhaps for the first time, that there was an incredible amount of real painstaking work that went into keeping these records without flaw. And any group of people that goes to this much trouble to keep a record of their ancestry isn't going to embellish the record of events it has regarding its encounters with God. Sometimes we look at a passage like today's reading and we think, "Now, why does that have to be in there?" Trust God. We can rely on Scripture more because of its presence than if it were not included. He did it for the Israelites and his Covenant with them, and he did it for us.

Day 28: 2 Kings 15:27-25:30

Here is the reading for Day 28. 2 Kings 15:27-25:30

Day 27: 2 Kings 4:38-15:26

Here is the reading for Day 27. 2 Kings 4:38-15:26

Day 26: 1 Kings 16:21-2 Kings 4:37

Here is the reading for Day 26. 1 Kings 16:21-2 Kings 4:37

Day 25: 1 Kings 7:38-16:20

Here is the reading for Day 25. 1 Kings 7:38-16:20

Day 24: 2 Samuel 22:19-1 Kings 7:37

Here is the reading for Day 24: 2 Samuel 22:19-1 Kings 7:37

Life and Work

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Originally uploaded by 1daymore.

I forget who it was that once said to me, "I guess sometimes life just gets in the way of life."

Sorry I've been behind on the posts. I haven't been at my computer much since last Thursday. I had a whole lot of work and life come up. Because I was a little behind in the reading and because I was way behind in the posting, I called Sunday an off day and anyone who is completely up-to-date should be on Day 23. Got it?

Sunday I preached from the Day 16 reading in Joshua. We talked about finding the treasures that God has for us...many treasures, too many to find them all. I noticed that the Crossing of the Jordan has some great lessons for those of us who find ourselves needing to grow a bit, but who hesitate to cross our own personal Jordans. We asked ourselves six key questions, tied to six things that Joshua did.
1. Joshua Obeyed. When was the last time you chose God's way AGAINST your will?
2. Joshua drew close to God, had the people consecrate themselves, and they listened. What was the last thing God spoke to you about?
3. Joshua took steps of faith. What was the last illogical or irrational thing you did that only made sense in light of your life as a follower of Jesus Christ?
4. The Israelites watched God work and the took notice. What was the last thing God did in your life where you clearly saw his hand?
5. The Israelites honored God. They gave him credit. When was the last time you gave him credit?
6. The Israelites then remembered what he did. They wanted future generations to not forget. They built a monument in memory. What was the last monument you built to remember God's work in your life?

Since the message, I've had some ideas about these monuments and I think they're really more important than we know. I'm going to list some possible monuments. If you know of some others, please suggest them.

My list:
A flower garden to honor God's promises kept.
Something in a frame to remind you that God rescued you from debt.
A Scrapbook of your photos with your church family.
A prayer journal that highlights the answered prayers.
Planting a tree when a member of your family accepts Christ.
A stepping stone to remind you of the addiction from which you may have been released.
A piece of art, a carving or pottery that you make to commemorate the one who created you.
A Family Bible that gets used, with room for inscriptions.

Day 23: 2 Samuel 12:11-22:18

Here is the reading for Day 23. 2 Samuel 12:11-22:18

Day 22: 1 Samuel 28:20-2 Samuel 12:10

Here is the Scripture reading for Day 22. 1 Samuel 28:20-2 Samuel 12:10

Day 21: 1 Samuel 16:1-28:19

Here is the Scripture for Day 21. 1 Samuel 16:1-28:19

Day 20: 1 Samuel 2:30-15:35

Here is the reading for Day 20. 1 Samuel 2:30-15:35

Day 19: Judges 15:1-1 Samuel 2:29

Here is the reading for Day 19. This is a lot of ground to cover in a day. It's the same number of pages, but so much happens. You have to love the story of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz. Judges 15:1-1 Samuel 2:29

Day 18: Judges 3:28-15:12

Here is the reading for Day 18. Judges 3:28-15:12

Fit Bodies, Fat Minds

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Originally uploaded by 1daymore.

It's that time of year.

I'm not stepping on the scale because I know I'm 15 lbs over the 30 lbs that I'm normally over. It's that time of year when we all begin thinking of our health and getting into shape and feeling great. I love it! I normally add a little dose of guilt to every day after New Year's that I don't exercise. By February, if I haven't started exercising, I'll be in a bad mood. You'll see.

So it's strangely wonderful to be reading the Bible through right now. I don't have the time to exercise and I don't feel like I have the time to read, but I continue plugging along. Right now I stand at 2 1/2 days behind schedule. Several of you are even further back. But don't fret! This is a personal paced read-through and some people are only now joining us. They won't be trying to catch up. They're just planning on finishing a little later. No matter where you are in the reading, keep reading. We are around 1/6 of the way through! That's really pretty far. I don't know about you, but it seems like the reading is getting easier. And I'm getting more excited about it every day. The reading has ceased to be drudgery and it now feels really good and I'm very interested in what I'm learning. God just seems to keep laying it on me. The reading and work have left me very little time to write, but I'm marking up my text and I'm having a good time while I'm gaining a new perspective. God is good, all the time.

So about my body. I'm going to try to exercise a bit. I like to run when the weather is warm. I think right now I'm going to stick with sit-ups and some walking on the treadmill.

Also, I'm thinking about a few days of fasting here and there. Not to lose weight, but to pray. I feel like the reading is helping me to grow and I'd like to take advantage of that opportunity to come closer to God and really listen to what He has to say. If you get a chance to add a fasting day or two to your schedule, I think it will make a big difference.

Os Guinness wrote a book a few years ago called Fit Bodies, Fat Minds: Why Evangelicals Don't Think and What to Do About It. Guinness talks about the dumbing down of our culture and he makes a great case for the need for intellectual Christians, those who aren't afraid to think. Let me read you a portion of his text.

"The first step in reformation is repentance. We evangelicals need to confess individually and collectively that we have betrayed the Great Commandment to love God with our minds...God has given us minds, but many of us left them underdeveloped or undeveloped. God has given us education, beyond that of most people in human history, but we have used it for other ends. God has given us great exemplars of thinking in Christian history, but we have ignored them or admired them for other virtues. God has given us opportunities, but we have failed to grasp them because we have refused to think them through before him."

As you make your New Year's resolutions, if you do, don't forget the exercise of the mind. You're doing the right thing by reading God's Word. But don't just read it. Think about it.

Day 17: Joshua 15:1-Judges 3:27

Here is the reading for Day 17. Joshua 15:1-Judges 3:27

Day 16: Joshua 1:1-14:15

Here is the reading for Day 16. Joshua 1:1-14:15

Fun With Numbers

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Originally uploaded by 1daymore.

This is a portion of Numbers 6:13 taken from a 12th century manuscript in the British museum. And you thought reading it in English was difficult.

Admit it. When you think about the book of Numbers, your head goes numb.

Yet a lot happens of great importance in the book of Numbers. Joshua comes on the scene in Chapter 13 and really gains center stage in Chapter 27. (We saw him in Exodus, fighting the Amalekites, but it is in Numbers where we begin to see his importance.)

In the first half of Numbers, we see a lot of numbering going on. There is a census. God asks Moses to count the people by tribe. He has the Levites counted separately. Each tribe brings offerings. Their offerings are counted. It seems pretty redundant, but it is fascinating if you think about it. We're looking into historic records. Today, you can go out on the Internet and look at the U.S. census records and you see large counts of people, with demographic information and geographic data. When we look at Numbers, we are looking at an accurate accounting of the Israelites. It is pure history. The numbers didn't thrill them, either. But God wanted people of future generations to understand how many people he led out of Egypt and how many people belonged to each tribe. He wanted them to understand their roots. These people did a great job of cataloging and counting and recording. It is amazing to think about the precision with which they did these things. But alongside the numbers that seem so tedious, we get MIRACLES!! And the account of these miracles is almost as clinical as the numbers themselves.

"On the day the tabernacle, the Tent of Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire. That is how it continued to be; the cloud covered it and at night it looked like fire."

So, are we to believe that these people who took so much care to record accurate numbers, all of the sudden began to weave half-truths and myths in with the text? I would find it very hard to believe that among all of this meticulousness we would get random doses of pure malarky. In fact, if we had more time, we could go into the way Scripture has been recorded and handed down to us. It is an amazing feat. But the book of Numbers certainly gives us food for thought.

If I get a little more time, I'd like to talk about Balaam. We see him twice in Numbers. Had I not been reading through, I might not have noticed that the second Balaam was the same guy who advised Balak to not attack the Israelites. This portion of Numbers really fascinated me on several levels.