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Keep your shirt on, followers.
Here's the situation. So far, in March, my weekends (ie, usual writing time) have been full up. bachelor weekends or friend visits or (upcoming) trips home. Additionally, I'm finding myself super behind on work. So, i'm still reading and taking my notes, but, to alleviate some stress, I've decided to possibly do a superblog at the end of the month or something. Because i'm still doing the legwork... just haven't gotten to the polish yet! Thanks for understanding, following!

I'm Shakin Like A Leaf

Week 9 (February 24 - March 2)

Old Testament (Leviticus 15 – 27:13)

Maybe I've watched a little bit too much Supernatural, but I did a double-take when God was doling out the instructions about the sacrifice for atonement. He mentions that Aaron is to send a goat out into the wilderness for Azazel, which made me wonder, “Why the heck does that yellow-eyed demon get a goat!?” Someone clear this one up for me.

I have written (at length) about my views on Leviticus 18, homosexuality and the Bible in the past, so I don’t see the need to revisit it here.

Every time I read “in the Jubilee,” I couldn't help but imagine that there were colorful sparklers constantly going off and that all the Israelites wore yellow rain jackets and pink wraparound shades.

Somewhat in the middle of these instructions, God drops this little nugget: “Do what I tell you; live what I tell you. I am God.” I love it that God felt the need to clarify that there is a difference between just doing something and living it – a difference between just going through the motions and allowing something to permeate my being, flow through me and dictate the direction I’m heading. God then ends this chore of a book with an Oreo cookie: a list of incentives of things he will bless the Israelites with if they follow Him, consequences for if (when) they don’t and a promise that he will remember his covenant with their patriarchs if they were to fall away and then repent.

And that’s Leviticus. Still gotta slog through Numbers, but then we’re through the mud so we’re halfway through the mire!

New Testament (Mark 7 – 10)

I like to drive. Ever since I got that laminated picture ID and a set of keys, I've taken great pleasure in driving folks around. I think it’s a learned behavior – my mom liked to drive my crew around before we could drive ourselves. She says it’s because it gave her a glimpse into our lives – what we were into, who our friends were, who liked who, whatever. It let her connect with us during a time where kids tend to disconnect from their folks as much as they can. I think I picked that up once I got the keys to jLo and moved on to college. I had a car with a giant backseat and a working engine, something the majority of my crew didn't, so I found myself volunteering to drive us wherever we went. I also liked the control that came with being the driver – I never had to call shotgun, I always had veto power over and radio and I got to decide which route we took. That hasn't always worked out so well, though. There have been plenty of times, especially since moving back to NOLA, that it would have been wiser for me to let someone else take the wheel and get us where we needed to go, because I had no idea how to get there. Jesus kind of hits on this point this week, when he essentially tells the disciples that if they’re gonna follow him, they need to give him the wheel.

As I was reading the passage where Jesus talks about poking out your eye or cutting off your hand if it causes you to sin, I was reminded of a SCL entry I read once. In it, Jon talks about things that he, as a Christian, probably shouldn't know exist. One thing that Jesus says is that it’d be better to sit around in heaven with one eye than to have 20/20 vision in Hell. This is something I struggle with, because I so want to be up to speed with what’s going on in the world. Despite the fact that I’m not edified in the slightest by Odd Future (besides an instrumental or two), I’ll listen through all of it, just so I can be “in the know” if it happens to come up in conversation (and it never does). Food for thought.

Psalms (40:11 – 45) & Proverbs (10:13 – 22)

This week, the psalms started off with this classic hymn.

As I read Psalm 44, I was reminded of something God said at the end of Leviticus (what!? I actually got something out of Leviticus!?). God’s talking about the possible consequences if his people don’t follow his instructions and one of the things he says is that if they “continue to defy me, then I will in turn defy you” and goes on to list all of the terrifying ways He’ll do this. And I get the feeling that David’s sentiments in Psalm 44 echo the defiance he feels from the Lord. To me, it’s the best picture of doubt the Psalms have produced yet – far from the typical, “I’m so low, but you’re so great and you will redeem me” psalm he’s written over and over and over and over again. That said, I feel like this aforementioned common theme running throughout the Psalms is vocalized in this jam from Rich Mullins, so enjoy.