LET IT SNOW, BABY

today, we woke up to watch the sky stretch and yawn and slowly start trickling snow down onto the land around our house and neighborhood... Yes, it's the first official snowing in the beautiful Northern Virginia/DC Metro area... and yes, the trees that were brilliant shades of red, orange and yellow now seem to have given up the ghost along with the majority of their leaves... their now-bare arms reaching out in the posture of permanent praise have a crisp lining of white that catches the little sunlight that dares breaks through the clouds and cast its approval on this necessary state of renewal...

perhaps i'm waxing a little too poetic, but i love the winter... i love cold weather... i love snow... and i love the crazy stares and looks i get when i walk down the slippery sidewalks with a big old smile on my face rejoicing in the glory revealed by the changing of the seasons... today, i actually got a bonus blessing as my little boy explained that it was snowing because his teacher wore her pants inside out, "mommy flushed an ice cube down the potty" and mostly because he had done the snow dance... i'm pretty sure that the first two events didn't really happen, but i was fortunate enough to bear witness to the snow dance... that was priceless...

WORD OF THE DAY

i'm going to take this space and use it as i work through various books and such, but also as i read through and digest (and turn into a digest) the Bible... for starters, i've decided to revisit my study from a few months ago, because it was only towards the very end that i realized some things that i'm sure will change the way i look at the beginning... so, i'll be looking at the books of Joshua and Ephesians and talking about some things that strike me as i read through them... with no further delay, here are some thoughts on Joshua, chapter 1...

Chapter 1 sets the context and reminds those who are just tuning in of what happened in the previoius books... kind of like the introduction of a TV series... Previously on such and such... well, at least the first verse is that way... Previously in the desert... Moses is dead, Joshua is taking over... skip the commercials and we're back... the thing that strikes me the most about this, well, there are two things, really... first is the repetitious use of the command to be strong and courageous... Either Joshua needed a great deal of convincing or God was preparing him for something that he'd have a lot of trouble dealing with... or both... anyway, God says it three times and the Israelites repeat it a fourth time as they officially accept Joshua as their leader...

The second thing that stands out to me, is the emphasis on implimenting the Word of God as a framework for how to live your life... meditate on it, don't stray to the left or the right from it, do all that is commanded within it... that's some serious attention to detail... but the rewards are there too... a prosperous and successful life...

IN OTHER WORDS

i wanted to start talking about the new book from John Ortberg, but i seem to have misplaced my copy... oh, i bet it's in that bag... anyway... in lieu of that book, i'll go ahead and read through this one... an 80-page "Little Book of Why" called, Why a Shepherd?... it should be a quick read and the question itself is interesting enough... alright, the premise is that the author participated in a summer-long internship of sorts to learn how to become a shepherd... (this was back in 1959 apparently)... Like many life experiences, it seems like it will be a fun challenge, but then we end up learning a lot of lessons that we never imagined...

The first chapter (and these chapters are like 4 small pages, so keep that in mind) quotes John 10:11-16 and asks the question "Why is it important that Jesus compared Himself to a shepherd?"... it also ends with "the secrets are waiting to be revealed..." which i think is a bit cheesy, but whatever... Chapter 2 still seems to be laying down introductory material as it describes the anticipation of waiting for shepherd's camp, the dropping off of the children and the memorization of the 23rd Psalm which i'm sure will come into play later on in the book.. Chapter 3, Why Stand Watch describes the first three days of shepherding... without any sheep... it was interesting to read about the preparation involved before the sheep are allowed to graze on the meadows... they called it preparing a table for the sheep, which brings to mind how God prepares a table before us and the wedding banquet and "I go to prepare a place for you. . ."

and with that, we're 17 pages in... as i said, this will likely be a very quick read and hopefully by then, i'll have found the other book...

BEFORE I GO

Another interview has popped up online... this time with Sevenglory... it's available to read at CCMmagazine.com or directly at http://www.ccmmagazine.com/printerfriendly/11561031/... i have more in the works including some album reviews, some talk about Christmas music, some interviews, and more...

peace... love... bdg...