Title? We don't need no stinking titles....

Some days titles just really don't fit for these things, other days, they are totally necessary. Today, not so much....

A couple of days away from the Bible challenge. Back in today. Feel the difference, don't feel less connected necessarily but it's good to have those words swirling around in your frontal lobe, settling down into your heart. Morning reading does something different to the day than evening reading, having to do with attention and setting the tone after sleeping. Reading right before sleeping has a different effect, in that you can have the words swirl around as you enter the unconscious of sleep. That can be powerful in its own right.

Work is in a drone-like phase, which doesn't feel too good. Much of the satisfaction of my job is gleaned from my own self-motivation, so when it's not firing I need to look within, and it's hard to find the time. Something is bound to kickstart me, even if it's an external deadline.

Networking for Team Will continues. Cycling cross-country is something I could never do, so it's just as much out of awe of the athleticism as it is the wonderful and heart-wrenching cause.

Jezebel, Light, etc.

Day 11 of the 6-week Bible-Reading Challenge. So far have not missed a day and have progressed to finish 1 Kings and into 2 Kings. Jezebel was an awful woman. Often when I hear that name I think of the Bette Davis movie, where the worst thing I can remember her doing is attending a ball in a red dress instead of the white dresses of the other debutantes (she may have done more, but I don't recall--the film was in black and white too, so the whole red dress thing is conveyed through dialogue). The Jezebel of 1 Kings is much more evil than that, pulling off all sorts of trickery so that her husband Ahab (the King) can have poor (and subsequently killed) Naboth's vineyard to put in a garden, not to mention her pursuit of Elijah.

Reading in Matthew bogs down during the Sermon on the Mount and subsequent lessons, where one wants to go real slow. The most striking passage for me so far (in addition to the Beatitudes, natch) is the passage on salt and not keeping your light hidden. The footnote in my Life Application translation includes in hiding one's light such things as keeping silent when you should speak and other things. I have done this quite often--not risking my neck to voice my opinion--and can stand to meditate on this passage a bit and incorporate more into my life.

Proverbs continue apace.....

Work is crazy--I have added to my "flying monkeys" metaphor the image of "juggling flaming cats on bowling balls". I will say more about what the Bible reading has done to this and other life aspects in another post.

Clutter/Christ

Today is a day of "fenging the shui" (a common phrase in this household which also horribly mangles the term for the sake of being clever). This is a regular battle, but lately I've been thinking about how stuff distracts us from the mission and purpose God has in our lives. A great reference is the quote from the Don Miller book from a couple of posts ago on distractions. There's also the great George Carlin riff on "stuff." The urge to "get light" finds its source straight in the gospels: leave your nets, follow me (Matthew 4:19-22); see also Jesus and the rich young man (Matthew 19:16-30, Mark 10:17-31, Luke 18:18-30).

He doesn't just ask us to get physically light but mentally light as well: "'when my father is dead, then I will follow you.', But Jesus told him 'Follow me now! Let those who are spiritually dead care for their own dead.'" This seems like a harsh passage, but following last night's seminar with Wayne Dyer, I think I have some new insight regarding it. We are to slough off our old beliefs, those handed to us by family, tribe, society, etc., and reframe our thinking about what is valuable and worthwhile. This gets us closer to "world-upside-down," closer to one another in terms of intimate care and relationship, and closer to God.

So, feng that shui, inside and out.

Entropy and Chaos Threaten the Plan!

Today's reading goal was necessarily split in two (not all done by morning) because of the boy coming into our bed at 4:30AM and declaring he was ready to get up (but also falling back to sleep). This disturbed our sleep and we were less successful in finding it again, so not very excited about getting up earlier for any extra activity (gym or reading). Snuck a bit of Matthew over breakfast, but will finish the rest in the evening (day is not over yet!).

On the work front, several projects threaten to take over my life and claim more hours than I usually give. I may have more to give but would need to sacrifice other priorities (family time, sleep, etc.). I guess other folks do this so why can't I? (As long as I keep it a short-term move vs. permanent work strategy.)

Day 3

First: a link to Team Will. These folks are riding cross-country in June to support childhood cancer. I know a few of the guys involved--they are good and training hard. Currently trying to support the team by tapping the cross-country network (UT, MO), relying on the Kevin Bacon game to really work.

So far so good on the 6-week Bible challenge. Sunday included Matthew 1-2 and Proverbs 2. This morning was back to OT in 1 Kings--Elijah is on the run, feeling dejected yet plugged in to God--the Big Guy comes through. Proverbs Chapter 3 and one of the "pillar passages" for difficult (or any) times: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." (5-6).

Both of these passages have relevance for stuff going on lately: God moving in small whispers vs. big dramatic displays, and placing trust in Him to take you through the rough patches. A bit of a rough patch yesterday, falter, stumble, but picked up again and all is OK for Monday.

Take the Word Challenge!

A rare weekend post, but wanted to report on Bill Berger's latest challenge from the 4/30/06 All Saints sermon (our Seattle church that we check in on through the power of the Internet). I'm late in coming to this, since this is 5/6 and the sermon was on 4/30 but the upshot is essentially this: spend the next 6 weeks reading the Bible daily (or "experiencing" the Bible if "reading" is not your thing). 1 minute or several, hang out with the Source of all of God's message to us.

I'm a reader, a librarian, a lover of books, so this should be easy, right? I'm not so confident, although I know I can muster up the discipline if I have the right focus. My key obstacle will be in the form of "distraction"--all of the other things and I should/could be doing with my time. Don Miller has a wonderful quote about this in his book Blue Like Jazz: "I believe that the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil but rather have us wasting time. This is why the devil tries so hard to get Christians to be religious. If he can sink a man's mind into habit, he will prevent his heart from engaging God. (p. 13).

The other obstacle is indeed in this form of habit, the scholar's habit more specifically. This habit is closely linked to the identity mentioned in the paragraph above: I am a reader/librarian/lover of books. Not mutually exclusive from the "distraction" point, the scholar's habit and a case of adult onset ADD (as well as a not-yet-refined management of my holds at the library, so 8 books show up all at once) means that I am reading all sorts of books, maybe even about God and Jesus. All of these vy for any reading time that can be spent reading the Bible. It's a matter of priorities, discipline and right focus.

So, we'll see how I do, and the blog may well serve as my means of accountability. Today got off to a good start. The plan is to alternate reading in the Old Testament (which I've been reading somewhat regularly), and the New Testament, as well as a chapter of Proverbs each day as per the "Bill Berger 1 Chapter of Proverbs a Day" method. The summary: 1 Kings 16-18 (Elijah!), and Proverbs 1 (Knowledge vs. Wisdom--ouch!).