Crazy Life

When your children were toddlers they probably were very active. They were exploring, touching, putting things in their mouths. As a parent you probably said "No, no" thousands of times, perhaps a light smack on a chubby little hand or even a short time out. You wanted to keep them safe from breaking glass, electrical outlets, pans on a stove, and germs. Once I lost power in my house and happened to notice a tweezer sticking out of an outlet, tripping a breaker. Courtesy of a little blond angel. As your children grew they may have grumbled under their breath about you, complained to their friends or even outright defied you. You probably let it go up to a point. But at some point you had to remind them that you were the parent - the authority of the household. During the 40 years I have been wandering through the desert with the children of Israel I have seen them disobey many times. They made an idol. I thought it particularly teen like when Aaron more or less shrugs h...

As I continue reading my soap opera - the Old Testament- I am in Leviticus. The Hebrews are wandering around in the desert, still complaining, arguing and so on. Probably much like my neighborhood today. Not much is going on, well except God smiting a couple of Aaron's sons who messed up the temple ritual. I was struggling through the beginning but then I realized what I was reading was the equivalent of today's Merck Manual - a guide for diagnosis and treatment of the common ills of the time. The priests were the appointed "doctors". If someone had a skin ailment they were to go to the priest. He would decide if they were "unclean" and needed to be isolated from the rest of the community. If they improved during this quarantine then they were to shave off all their hair, take a bath and wear clean clothes. I imagine they dealt with some of the same hygiene issues we have today such as lice and fleas. I also imagine there wasn't a lot of bathing an...

What if I asked you to put your hand under my thigh? Or in my personal area? Would you thing I had lost my mind? In ancient biblical times this was an action taken to swear an oath. Abraham requires it of his servant as he goes to seek Isaac a wife, and Jacob requires it of Joseph concerning returning his bones to their homeland. How do we swear an oath today? Perhaps in a courtroom or at an inauguration with a hand on the Bible? Have you ever made an unkept promise? When my children were small they would often ask me to promise them something, and mostly I refused. I explained that whatever it was it was my intention to do if I possibly could but that I would never make them a promise I could not keep. The word PROMISE was taken very seriously at our house. I have too often heard children wailing to parents, "but you promised!" They learned that they could not trust their parents word. In the marriage ceremony we make a promise before God. Many times (including by me...

UA-132360761-1 Many times since middle school - which we called junior high- I have tried to read the Bible in order. I would start with Genesis and either get bored or lose my commitment to the project. I would hit the begats and give up. I thought the Old Testament was pretty boring. Most of what I knew were the sanitized Sunday School versions of stories. Then I would say, since Jesus is the New Law, why bother reading the Old Testament? So what has changed? Perhaps it is timing. I am retired and not rushing to work and activities. Perhaps it is just my age or my spiritual growth.  This time, I am already into Exodus. Reading the Old Testament is like reading an epic adventure. The people seem so real. The yielding to temptation (Adam and Eve) jealousy (Cain and Abel), favoritism (Rebekah and Jacob), rape and revenge (Dinah and her brothers), more jealously (Joseph and his brothers) enslavement, plagues, escape, flooding, food that falls from the sky, burning bushes, rods t...