Well, my Bible reading has taken me into the book of Numbers, for the first time in years. I have formerly avoided this book like the plague-namely, because it is very appropriately named. This book is full of numbers! And at times, I would be tempted to skip over these sections or regard them as something like reading from the telephone book. But I refuse to fall into this trap. Every word written in the scriptures is Revelation from God. God would not have placed something in the Bible if it was not important. So I read it, in the hopes of learning it's significance.

Some of this is paying off, since I am now rereading some stories that I had long since forgotten.

In one of these, Moses and Aaron are leading the people of Israel in the wilderness, when a rebellion suddenly arises among the people. A man named Korah, leading a large number of men whose words carried weight in the community, challenged Moses. He believed that he, along with his followers (most notably Dathan and Abiram) were more fit to lead Israel than Moses. Moses, as one can easily imagine, was badly upset by this. After all, leading the people of Israel hadn't exactly been easy for him, and he certainly hadn't applied for this job. And now, after he had given all he had for these people, they spat in his face!

Moses proposed a solution, in which everyone would stand before the Lord, and God Himself would reveal who He had chosen to lead Israel. The following day, this was done. Moses, Aaron, and all those who had rebelled stood before the Lord. Then Moses declared that if nothing happened soon, it would be proof that the rebels had been chosen by God to lead the people. But if the earth opened up and swallowed all the rebels, burying them alive, it would prove that God had chosen Moses and Aaron. No sooner had he said this than the ground opened up and swallowed the rebels whole, burying them alive. Korah, Dathan and Abiram were immediately crushed to death, along with their whole families.

Damn.

You don't hear that story in Sunday school when you're 5 years old.

I think that some people would say that this depiction of God is inconsistent with the New Testament, which focuses heavily on mercy as a theme. But I find this to be oversimplfied. In fact, Jesus addresses the subject of Hell more frequently than any ther subject in His preaching-more frequently than everyone else in the Bible, put together. And in the Old Testament, we find an almost unlimited number of cases where Israel rebels against God, then repents, and God forgives them.

I beleve that this passage is meant to teach us that God is no one to be trifled with. When we sin, he takes it seriously. His wrath against evil in its various forms is terrible to behold. The fact that this wrath is so great is all the more impressive in the New Testament, when all of God's wrath is poured out on Jesus, who willingly submits to it for our sakes. If we do not understand the immensity of God's hatred towards sin, we cannot undersand the immensity of His love in forgiving it.

Here is most recent passage I have memorized: Genesis 3:20-4:5.

Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the Lord God said, "The man has now become like one of us-knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever." So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden, to work the ground from which he had been taken. After He drove the man out, He placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden Cherubim and a flaming sword, flashing back and forth, to guard the way to the tree of life. Adam lay with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the Lord, I have brought forth a man!" Later, she gave birth to his broher, Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering. But on Cain and his offering, He did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

Thanks, Honey. It's good to see you mean so much to someone. You mean the world to me, too.

I have not written on the blog in about five days now. This is mostly because of a trip I took out of town that threww my whole routine out of whack. But I have not stopped reading the Bible or memorizing the scriptures at the usual pace. Here are some things that I've noticed:

IT'S WORKING!!!!!! Last Sunday, I had my first review day which (as per the plan) spanned 35 verses. To my delight, I found myself recalling all 35 verses with only minimal review. Evidently, the system I've adopted with the help of my wife is a good one (and God be praised-because I was kind of taking a shot in the dark with this system. )

Second, I'm beginning to fnd a rhythm. My brain is getting used to doing this every day, so it is not as much of a strain as it was at first. Again, God be praised.

Third, I am noticing that it is much easier to make time for Bible reading when you have a plan or a goal in mind. If I say, "I will read the Bible some every day", then I will open up to a random page and readin for an indeterminate length of time. When I stop, it will be awkward, because I don't have a plan of where I should stop. But when I say to myself, "I will read the Bible for thirty minutes each day, reading from cover to cover", then I know exactly what I am supposed to be doing, how long I should plan into my schedule, and when I have finished satisfactorily. This makes me feel more comfortable in my quiet times, and helps me not to shy away from them, as I have done in the past.

In my Bible reading, I am now about 5 chapters into the Book of Numbers. I have also memorized he following passage since the last post:

So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper as found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and He brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called, "woman", for she was taken out of man." For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. The man and his wife were boh naked, and they were not ashamed.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, "You shall not eat fruit from any tree in the garden?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat from the trees in the garden, but God did say, "You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and ou must not touch it, or you will die". "You will not surely die", the serpent said to the woman. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will become lke God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was god for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of boh of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves ogether and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid themselves among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God calleed to the man, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid." And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree I commanded you not to eat from?" The man said, "The woman you put here with me-she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I did eat." Then the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your ofspring and hers. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." To the woman He said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing-with great pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, "You must not eat of it", cursed is the ground because of you. Through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken. For dust you are, and to dust you will return.

BLOG HIJACK!!!!

This is The Scribe's wife...and I am Hijacking his blog!

I know this blog is about his journey to memorize the Word of God, but today we are taking a break from that subject, and writing about how AMAZING he is!!!

Here is a small list of some of the ways he is amazing, and it is certainly not exhaustive or in any particular order (my brain doesn't think too well like that)....

1. He prays with me and for me.
2. He is a leader in our home.
3. Whatever he is doing, he gives 110%. This includes some things he has done with me that other guys might turn their nose up to (i.e. cooking class). He approaches it with enthusiasm and flare.
4. He helps me out in any way that I need. He has read aloud a book to me that I needed to complete for a training, driven me to school on snow days, served chili at my school to 500 people, just to name a few things.
5. He goes to the grocery for me. This is not a task I particularly enjoy. He doesn't mind doing it, and happily does so.
6. He takes out the trash. :)
7. He is becoming quite the handyman.
8. He memorizes crazy long orders of how I like things (i.e. my coffee: a venti breve sugar-free cinnamon dolce latte with whip and one pump of mocha).
9. He is very compassionate. When you are in his company, you have his full attention and engagement. I've also seen this demonstrated as he speaks with the nursing home residents with such love.
10. He is a great dancer, and makes me feel like a princess out on the dance floor.
11. He takes his time to make big decisions, but once he makes them, he is firmly committed to the decision he makes.
12. He makes me laugh all the time.
13. He is very creative.

Ok...I'm done for now, but watch out for future hijackings!

I owe you all apologies for not writing in the past few days; I became distracted, though that is not a good excuse.

The work has been progressing very well. On Thursday, I read the BIble for thirty minutes, reviewed the verses from previous days, and learned Genesis 2:5-9.

On Friday, I reviewed Genesis 1:31-2:9 and learned Genesis 2:10-14. I allowed myself to procrastinate on the Bible reading until it was too late.

Today, I read the Bible for an hour, to make up for Friday. Then I reviewed Genesis 2:5-14 and learned Genesis 2:15-19.

I am beginning to understand, to a degree that I never understood before, the helpfulness of reading the Bible in large chunks. Today, As I was reading the Bible for an hour, I came to the part of Exodus which comes after the ten commandments, but before the making of the golden calf. As you might remember, this is a very long and tedious section which gives detailed instructions for how to build the Tabernacle, how to construct the ark of he covenant, what sacrifices are supposed to look like, how the priests are supposed to dress, and a variety of other topics. Back when I used t read the Bible one chapter at a time, I had a lot of trouble feeling uplifted by this section. Scratch that. I couldn't stand this section. It would take me weeks to get through it, and by the end of that time all I had to show for it was a vague knowledge about how to build and operate the Lord's tabernacle. But by reading it in one day, I got a different feel. I started to sense broad themes in this section. God was trying to build up a people who were set apart for Himself as holy-different from the other nations. They were to worship differently, live differently, do business differently, than all the nations around them. God, in turn, resolved to treat them differently. He was blessing these people by giving them His laws. Just think of it-The Jews were the only people on earth who had heard how they could best please God from the mouth of God Himself!

Here are the verses I learned over the past three days:

And no shrub of the field had yet come up from the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground- but streams came up frm the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground-God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden, and there he put the man he had formed. And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground-trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river watering the garden flowed from Eden. From there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon: it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. The gold of that land is good. Aromatic resin and onyx are also there. The name of the second river is the Gihon: it winds through the enire land of Cush. The name of the fourth river is the Tigris: it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. God put the man in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden. But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die." And the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them. And whatever the man called each living creature-that was its name.

So today was a fresh start-a chance to actually keep to the schedule I laid out to begin with. I have learned the hard way that it is a lot easier to do things on time tan to play catch-up later on. So today, I did this:

* Read the Bible for thirty minutes. The passage I covered was Exodus 3-10. I am becoming pleasantly surprised by two important facts: (1) At the rate of thirty minutes a day, I'm actually moving through the Bible very quickly, and (2) It is much easier to get a feel for the flow of the story when you take it in large chunks-instead of reading a few verses, or even a chapter at a time. I think that the text was written with an ancient, illiterate Jewish audience in mind. So it was intended to be read aloud, in large portions for large groups of people. So now that I am reading the text in large chunks, it is much easier to keep track of everything that is going on. If I weren't, it would be easy to get lost in the endless details recorded by the Bible.

*I reviewed the ten verses I learned yesterday. They came back surprisingly quickly. I think one more day of review will really help to cement them into my head.

Finally, I learned today's memory verses, Genesis 1:31-2:4. I've finally gotten through the first chapter!!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!

God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day. Thus were the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day, God had finished the work He had been doing, so on the seventh day He rested from all His work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done. This is the account of the heavens and the earth, when they were created: When the Lord God made the earth and heavens...

Well, my friends, It has been days since my last post, and I have been forced to learn some things about discipline in the meantime.

To begin with, you may have noticed that in my last post I did not do any Bible reading. That is because I let it slide that day, telling myself that I would do it the following day. It was at this point that I wish an opera singer had popped out of my closet and sang,

MISTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!

Because that is exactly what it was.

The following day, I had an entire hour of Bible reading to accomplish. I managed to read it, and to review verses from previous days. But as I was doing this, I had my back on an electric blanket which gradually, seductively, lured me into the most peaceful and blissful night's sleep...

MISTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!

When I woke up this morning, I had ten-count 'em-TEN verses to memorize. And these weren't just ordinary verses, either. Just one of them took about 10-15 seconds to pronounce. I had to work for about two hours to get them down, and even then, My memory was shaky. So I asked for help from my supermodel-turned-schoolteacher wife...

NOT A MISTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!

She helped me with my flash cards, and quizzed me until I could say all ten verses, from beginning to end, without a mistake. At long last, I was caught up, except for today's thirty minutes of reading, which I did.

What's the moral here?

When you have a big project, or a series of loan payments, or any oher big thing that you have to do in tiny installments, NEVER PROCRASTINATE. If you do, you'll wind up drowning in work, or drowning in debt, before you can say "pudding". May God grant that I learn this lesson, and keep it close in the days ahead.

Here is a typed copy of today's memory verses, Genesis 1:21-30.

So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which he water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird, according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number, and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." And there was evening, and there was morning, the fifth day. And God said, "Let the land produce living creaturesaccording to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind. And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground, acccording to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, ver all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground". So God created man in His own image. In the image of God He created him. Male and female He created them. God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves on the ground". Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit wih seed in it. These will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth, all the birds of the air, and all the creatures that move on the ground-everything that has the breath of life in it-I give every green plant for food.

My beautiful yet brilliant wife has the unusual distinction of having turned down a career in swimsuit modeling so she could teach underprivileged children in the public schools. Speaking from the perspective of a professional educator, she recently offered me some advice.

She told me that, in her experience, people do better at learning material when they are not continually learning new material. She discussed a time when she used to take one day out of the normal school week and use it to "relax and review". Students would play games using the skills they had learned during the week. She thought I could benefit from a similar strategy.

I plan on taking her advice, and mixing it with a concept God invented (a little something called "the Sabbath"). So, previously, this was my daily routine:

Read the Bible, out loud, for thirty minutes. Review two flash cards. Learn one flash card.

Now, that is only my routine for Monday through Saturday. On Sunday, the plan is:

Read the Bible, out loud, for thirty minutes. Review the previous thirty-five verses.

Of course, this decision did not affect yesterday's work. I reviewed Genesis 1:6-15. Then I read Genesis 26-31. Then I learned Genesis 1:16-20, which goes like this:

God made two great light-the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God placed them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning-the fourth day. And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth, across the expanse of the sky".

Today, I reviewed Genesis 1:1-20.