From the Word

As part of my evening routine I read The Message Remix//Pause. What is that exactly? Well, I'm sure you've heard of The Message version of the Bible....you know, the one in every-day, plain speech? Its great. Well, the Remix//Pause is exactly what it sounds like.....it is a remixed version of the Bible; synchronizing old and new testament books and breaking them up in a way that allows you to read an O.T. passage and N.T. passage every day so as to read the entire Bible in one year. At the beginning of each book it gives a little history and some kind of insight. As I was reading the intro for 1 & 2 Samuel I couldn't help but have a "wow" moment. I just want to share with you what it says. It's nothing deeply profound. In fact, you may have heard something like this before. I know I have. But the wording is so understandable and applicable....I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. And now.....

I'm not writing it ALL down cause that would be super long....I'm just quoting the highlights, believe it or not.

"Four lives dominate the two-volume narrative of 1 & 2 Samuel: Hannah, Samuel, Saul, and David....these four lives become seminal for us at the moment we realize that our ego-bound experience is too small a context in which to understand and experience what it means to believe in God and follow His ways...
be reminded that these stories are not exemplary in the sense that we stand back and admire them, like statues in a gallery, knowing all the while that we will never be able to live either that gloriously or tragically ourselves. Rather they are immersions into the actual business of living itself: this is what it means to be human...
These four stories do not show us how we should live but how in fact we do live, authenticating the reality of our daily experience as the stuff that God uses to work out his purposes of salvation in us and in the world...
(here's the really good parts)...
One of many welcome consequences in learning to "read" our lives in the lives of Hannah, Smauel, Saul, and David is a sense of affirmation and freedom: we don't have to fit into prefabricated moral or mental or religious boxes before we are admitted into the company of God-we are taken seriously just as we are and given a place in his story, FOR IT IS, AFTER ALL, HIS STORY; NONE OF US IS THE LEADING CHARACTER IN THE STORY OF OUR LIFE! ...
for the biblical way is not so much to present us with a moral code and tell us "Live up to this"; nor is it to set out a system of doctrine that say, "Think like this and you will live well."
THE BIBLICAL WAY IS TO TELL A STORY AND INVITE US, "LIVE INTO THIS. THIS IS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE TO BE HUMAN; THIS IS WHAT IS INVOLVED IN ENTERING AND MATURING AS HUMAN BEINGS."...IN READING, WE FIND THAT WE ARE NOT BEING LED TO SEE GOD IN OUR STORIES BUT TO SEE OUR STORIES IN GOD'S."

Ok, it was a lot, I know. But wasn't it fantastic??? I just keep reading it. Ok, now, for just a moment I'll tell you what's up this week. We don't have internet at work which has proven to be a bit of a challenge. So I spend my time both at home and work trying to catch up on things (since I have internet at home). Aaron arrives Thursday so I'm busy getting last minute stuff ready for that. SUPER EXCITED! That about wraps it up. No quote this week as I think the excerpt from the Message is long enough! ;) Blessings as you live out of the box!