FirstBlog

  Jonah Chapter 3 & 4 3:1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”   3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.   6 When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:   “By the decree of the king and his nobles:   Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call u...

              Chapter two and we find our "hero" trapped in the belly of a fish. Think about how that must have smelled, and felt. Imagine the fe4ar Jonah felt-- surely death was next on his agenda! Jonah is fearful for his life and pens his fear a poem:  “In my distress I called to the  Lord ,      and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,      and you listened to my cry. You hurled me into the depths,      into the very heart of the seas,      and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers      swept over me.   I said, ‘I have been banished      from your sight; yet I will look again      toward your holy temple.’   The engulfing waters threatened me,      the deep surrounde...

  Because there is so much to unpack with Jonah, I'm going to do this in three parts.  Nearly everyone has heard the story of Jonah and the whale. In fact, I would argue that it's one of the most popular stories in the biblical canon, both in and out of the church. The story of Jonah is one of those that many scholars wonder reflects a literal account or a piece used to teach a lesson. Understanding Hebrew and Torah culture, many stories were revered for the veracity of the lesson taught, over the veracity of what actually happened. In the case of Jonah, whether it's a literal story or an allegory, the lessons in it are profound, convicting and even disturbing.  In many ways, I feel like Jonah-- maybe you do too. As we dive into the text, maybe ask yourself how much like Jonah you are and what you can do to work on yourself. The fact that the story ends with God chastising Jonah is unsettling, but, in many ways, stories like this prove the veracity of the Bible. By painti...

 1 Corinthians 8:1-3: Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. 2 Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. 3 But whoever loves God is known by God. No one likes a know-it-all. We all have that one person in our lives that just ahs to always be right, or has to flaunt their knowledge. I'll admit, I can be guilty of this sometimes, especially if it's an area that I am very knowledgeable in, such as music or certain aspects of theology. Scripture warns against this kind  of attitude.  I was originally going to just write about 1 Corinthians 8:1, but, upon further reflection, I realized that the context of this passage was especially important. Here, Paul is referring to whether or not it would be okay for a Christian to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols. This was a big issue within the Corinthian church and was a crucial point Paul wanted to make as he o...

  Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the most famous verses in the Bible. "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. " It's an inspirational verse. It adorns my Bible. It's written on graduation cards, Get Well cards, and offered as words of encouragement. There's nothing wrong with that. On it's surface, the verse is one of encouragement. Indeed, the Lord wants us to prosper and have hope (though, maybe not prosper in the way that many adherents of the Prosperity gospel would have us believe.  One thing that can be dangerous about the Bible, though, is taking passages out of context. On it's surface, this is a wonderful verse that we can all cling too-- but focusing only on that aspect of the verse can lead to a feel good gospel, which is not Biblical. So, when I was reading this the other day, I asked myself what the context was. Well, for starters, Jeremiah was a pr...

  Faith is hard. I don’t know why it is, but it is. But when you stop and think about, each of us uses faith every day in almost every aspect of our lives. I have faith that when I step on the sidewalk, it’s going to be solid. We have faith that when I go to sleep, I’m going to wake up. We have faith in gravity and faith that our body is going to work the way it’s supposed to. I’ve always admired Doubting Thomas. I don’t know why he gets a bad wrap. He is like so many of us—he has trouble believing without seeing. Despite the fact that we exercise faith everyday, faith in God seems to be very difficult, and it’s not hard to see why, especially in light of the state of the world today. So, when Thomas demanded to see the nail holes in order to believe, he is really speaking the way many of us do. The beauty is, he didn’t actually need the nail holes to believe that Jesus rose from the dead. He only needed Jesus to offer to show him the nail holes. I am like Thomas. I suspect mos...

Because I am discussing a full chapter here, I decided to post it below before proceeding with my lesson.   2 Kings 5: "Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the  Lord  had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor,  but  a leper.  2  And the Syrians had gone out on [ a ]  raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She  [ b ] waited on Naaman’s wife.  3  Then she said to her mistress, “If only my master  were  with the prophet who  is  in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.”  4  And  Naaman  went in and told his master, saying, “Thus and thus said the girl who  is  from the land of Israel.” 5  Then the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he departed and took with h...

This is not a political blog and I don't want turn it into one. However, I am a registered Libertarian and a very devout one and one of the reasons for my political ideology is because I believe that we have absolute freedom to live our lives however we choose too, so long as we don't cause injury to other people. However, with freedom comes responsibility. With freedom comes consequences and so I'm reminded of the 1 Corinthians 6: 12: "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any." The Bible is seen by many as a book of dos and donts. A book of rules and regulations. But, I prefer to look at it as a book of practicality. You don't sleep around because sleeping around can cause harm to your body and emotions and could cause harm to another individual. You don't do heroin because it could kill you. It could cause you to commit crimes to commit crimes to feed your...

I'm forty now and I want to take my life, and this blog, in a new direction. I want to be more outwardly and otherly focused. So, I'm going to be using this blog now to pontificate on spiritual matters-- matters of eternal importance. I'm not a pastor. I don't have any formal training in the world of theology. The information here will be based on my own experiences and research. Feel free to chime in if you think something is wrong, but please understand my perspective in writing this.  I wanted to open with a verse that spoke to me today, Ephesians 4:32: "Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you." I'm coming out today as a n angry person. I don't know where it comes from, but I just have this seething rage constantly below the surface. There are external forces and incidents that I can point to that have made me feel angry, but, this internalized anger, I feel like it's alway...

Welcome to 2015! I trust that you all had a safe and happy new year and a wonderful holiday season. I know I did. One of the best ever in fact. I was honored to host my siblings (my brother and sister-in-law visiting from Chicago, my sister visiting from Seattle and my other brother whom just moved back from California.), my mother, my maternal grandparents and my aunt. It was my first time hosting my favorite holiday and, while we did have some Griswoldian moments (Our Christmas tree fell down), overall, it went off without too many hitches. But, with the conclusion of Christmas comes the new year, and all of its promises of fresh starts. I make resolutions each year and, like most of us, I have abandoned them by February 1st. Will this year be any different? I have no idea, but I'll resolve to keep my resolutions this year. I have personal and vocational goals which will stay with my spouse and employer respectively but, with you, my friends and readers, my writing goals ar...

Writers—both professional and devoted hobbyists—have a knack for finding inspiration everywhere. Writers block is a myth, but this does not mean that there are not those times when we need to find a little something for inspiration.   My dad is a professional musician. Growing up, I spent many summers away from home—on the road, exploring different parts of the country and eccentric small towns. I was always enamored with small town life, especially in the deserts. I grew up (and still live) in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, so, desert dwellers and desert towns always held a special fascination for me.   Elizabeth Bishop captured this curiosity with her spectacular poem, “ Filling Station .”   This poem, which describes a small town gas station with serves also as the home for a family. This poem inspired my own poem, “ Getting Gas in Barstow, California ” which was later published in my debut poetry collection. I decide, “What would happen ...