Job Chapters 1-20

So I haven't been writing about what I have been reading about Job at all! This is largely due to the fact that this has been a really hard book to read through. Since last February I have gone through the hardest, most heartbreaking, painful, confusing thing I have ever gone through...

So all that to say that I haven't been super excited to sit down and read about Job's heartache. But tonight I realized enough is enough, I have to just keep reading and get through it so I can read the rest of the Bible! I am so off "schedule" but I am just going to keep going! :)

While reading Job, I can't help but think "this guy has some pretty bad friends!" Lately I have been preparing to speak at the Valentine's Brunch that our campus ministry puts on. I am excited about it but nervous too! ("say a little prayer for me" ((singing voice))

So to prepare for my topic of "Singleness" I have been listening to Lynette Lewis podcasts! I love her! I really admire her b/c

a.) She is such an awesome woman of God

3.) She is bold

e.) She is super feminine

z.) She is all of these things but can still hold her own around men w/o being a feminists or "take overish"

This past September I went to the Pure Life Conference which she hosts. And her message the first night was phenomenal. I listened to it again over the past two days and was in tears! She talked about 4 different friends you need through life. One category I'm thinking about tonight is of "Break Through Friends." Friends who will take you to Jesus when you can't get to Him yourself. She said their were seasons of her singleness in which she was so broken and dry she couldn't even read the Word or find the right scriptures. She talked about the "Mat Friends" from the Gospels. (Mark 2 & Luke 5).

Luke 5:20 says "When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend your sins are forgiven." I want to be that kind of friend who does all I can to take my friends to Jesus, even carry them on a mat and tear into a roof! I don't think Job could say the same for his friends!

It makes me think what kind of a friend am I to others? Do I encourage people, build them up, help them rise to the next level, & when they really need it do I pull them up? I love my friends but want to be more cognizant of speaking life to them!

More thoughts on Job to come, but for now a little pic of my reading buddy!

Getting Back in the swing & Smelling Good!

Sorry I have been a little MIA! "Work" aka campus ministry stuff is back in super full swing now! :) I will continue writing about the Bible! I am now in Job. It has been hard to think of what to write about Job, but I will post about that soon!

Right now I wanted to blog about something of no eternal value.... Perfume!

Perfume is always a big Christmas gift for people. So smelling people's new scents is always fun and reminds me of all of the perfume I have worn in my life. And thinking about each perfume, brings memories of each time period!

Here is my perfume timeline:

First one I remember wanting and asking for was Vanilla Fields. This was from Middle School Days. I still can't believe I used to wear this! This reminds me of Mendenhall Middle School, lockers and wearing overalls!

This was 8th grade! I wore those braces a long time!

Next came Tommy Girl.

This is also from that middle school, early high school era! Would love to smell it again just to bring back memories! :) It makes me think of shopping at the Dillards at the Carolina Circle Mall when it was closing. The store looked like it was abandoned and there were just racks of clothes from every season to sift through. It was fun but took forever! We would take my grandmother Memaw which slowed the process tremendously! :) Anyway, I did buy one "prom dress" from there that I wore to a twerp dance for $60. (Found a picture of the dress, wish Hunter & Jesse weren't cut out of the pic)

Around this same time period came my love for Gap Scents. Grass was intriguing. But who would want to smell like that? Om was interesting as well! My favorite was Heaven.

I wore Heaven for a long time off & on. Even in college, and this past fall I bought some at the outlets in Myrtle Beach. My sister always wore Dream. So this one is dear to my heart too.

Not sure when I started wearing Happy. But it was a favorite for a while. It is such a "sweet" scent. This one went to ECU with me!

I think Gap So Pink came next. This was def. a "college scent." It reminds me of Lindsey Duvall, now Vaughn! (Except her love affair was with Ralph Lauren Blue.) I lived with her at the beach with her grandparents one summer! So I'm sure we bought it at the Myrtle Outlets. It reminds me mostly of crazy class stories, staying up late writing papers and the like! :)

Then came a love for "fancier" perfumes! Coco Chanel Chance was delightful! This reminds me of living in the ZETA house and getting dressed up for all of the cocktails, the Deb ball, and Lindsey and Tamie for sure!

My love for Ralph Lauren Cool started at our an Every Nation World Conference back prob in 2005 ish. I remember walking down the Down Town Disney shops with Heather and probably Lindsey and Erika. We popped in a perfume shop and I fell in love! I didn't actually buy it until a few years ago but luckily found it at Ross, love it, and still wear it to this day. I wear it more in the summer.

Not sure why, but the next scent I bought was the Lacoste Pink. Not as pretty a scent, but wore it some. I def had this during my student teaching days.

The only picture on my computer of around that time!

My current fave is this hot mama! Coco Mademoiselle. This was a Christmas present from my parents two years ago. I wear it a lot in the winter and is such a "pretty" & grown up scent to me! Fitting because I am both of those things! :)

I feel like I'm getting old. Is it possible to have worn this much perfume? :)

Ps tried adding more pictures but was having a hard time, will do it later! :)

Genesis 11: The Tower of Babel & Deism

A little background about me:

Born 1984= 26 years young!

Student at East Carolina Fall 2002-December 2006

Raise support (aka raise salary) for internship in campus ministry Jan -March 2007 (In three months God provided $15,000!!! This was so much confirmation that I was to go into campus ministry! Looking back I think about how much I have grown since then! I was so scared to raise support but God was faithful!)

Internship in campus ministry March -December 2007

Live at home in Greensboro for one month Jan 2008

School of Every Nation School of Campus Ministry Feb-April 2008

Raise support for full time Campus Ministry at East Carolina April 2008- August 2009 (16 months! God was faithful and I really am so glad for all of this time to grow and mature.)

August 2009- Now working full time Campus Ministry at East Carolina!

All of that to say, when I was at the EN school of campus ministry, we read a book called The Universe Next Door by James Sire. It was so over my head and Elissa, my roommate at the school and I would read it and then meet with our other friend Joseph for him to tell us what we just read! (PS, I loved the school and all of the other books we read were wonderful and insightful, this one was just too intellectual for me!) :)

Anyway, the book talks about different worldviews. (Prepare yourself, I may butcher this, but I think you will get my point.) One of the worldviews we read about was Deism. The book describe this worldview like a pocket watch, that God created the world and then left us on our own, never to come down, or even care about us. Obviously this is not the way I view God, or the way God is!

Reading Gen 11 about the Tower of Babel made me think about this. The people were being prideful and God came down and confused their languages. God gives a spanking for the people's own good.

Timelines of genealogies:

A little clarification and Noah

Ps. Just wanted to clarify that I have tried several times to read the Bible from cover to cover and never make it past Leviticus. I bet I have read 85% of the New Testament but prob only the first few chapters of Revelation. So I am excited to read and study more of these books! :)

It would be fun if someone joined in! I know only like 3 peeps read this but hey.... :)

And if you know some of the answers to my questions such as "what the mark on Cain was" please feel free to leave a comment. Or if you know of any helpful tools. :)

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Gen 5- 10 = Noah

~I really wonder what Noah's daughters in law thought when all of the people of the earth were wiped out. Their own mothers, fathers, siblings, friends, & other relatives were all killed by the flood. (Of course the same is true for Noah, his wife, and their 3 boys.) But thinking about getting married one day, I wonder what that would be like to be one of the three daughters in law. What must have all of them on the ark been thinking when they knew all of their friends and family were no longer alive.

-How awful it must have been to stay on the ark for a whole year.

-What did the do all day?

-What type of bathrooms?

-Did they have their own rooms or private quarters?

-What is Noah's wife's name? ( I know the culture was different but would still love to know these ladies names) :) She did live with her husband on an ark for a year and as far as the Bible says I'm imagining she was cooperative? But who knows! :)

-What was it like to get off of the ark after a year? Then knowing they were the only people on the Earth. The Bible does not talk about their dialogue or even what Noah's wife thought. This would have def made for a good reality tv show! :)

http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-c005.html

This website offers more info about the flood.

Gen 8: 21: "The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart; "Never again will I curse the ground, because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood." Bam!! Proof against the whole "Good people" philosophy most people have.

Gen 9:2 "The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air."Wonder what that was like to live beforehand, when all of the animals weren't afraid of humans. It makes me think about the scene in ELF when Buddy tries to hug the raccoon. I wonder if the people forgot that animals were now fearful, went in for a hug, and got attacked. :)

Questions answered about food God wants us to eat:

Gen 9:3 "Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything." Cool we can eat more foods now but why now and why??:)

Would love to do a further study on Noah's early descendants but found this diagram that helps tremendously for now!

New Year= New Goals!

Each year I am not really good with resolutions because I don't have or use the discipline to enforce them past a few weeks in Jan!

Well this year is different. I have several personal goals and ministry goals. But the goal I am the most excited about is reading the Bible this year! The whole Bible. I have wanted to for a long time, but have frankly been intimidated by the Old Testament. I love context and knowing all sorts of facts about everything. The only problem with that is I am too lazy to look all of the stuff up! (Sad I know, but I'm just being completely honest!) So this year, no more intimidation, it's time to jump in. I know I may not get it all, but at least I read it all!

So, I plan to write posts about what I read. Maybe not everyday, but about the questions and thoughts I have along the way. Writing this on here is mostly for me, to help hold me accountable.

The Deal:

1. Reading the whole Bible from now until Jan 6, 2012.

2. I am using a chronological Bible reading plan I found on (www.esv.org/biblereading plans)

3. I don't have an ESV just my old NIV Study Bible given by my parents Christmas 2001.

4. I am no Bible scholar and do not claim to be!

5. I intend to learn a lot and am really excited!

6. Any naysayers or critics need not read on :) jk!

Here we go:

A few nights ago I read Gen 1-7.

Here were my lingering thoughts from those chapters:

Genesis can mean: birth, genealogy, or history of origin. Loved this b/c I have only heard of Genesis meaning beginning, which I know is basically the same thing, but I love the definition "history of origin." That def. makes me excited b/c while reading/ getting excited about reading I kept thinking, "it's important for me to know about the first people!" I don't think the Bible is full of stories, It is the word of God and these people aren't characters, they really existed and I plan on knowing about them when I get to heaven!

Gen 1:14 "And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years."

~I so did not remember this, how cool that God wanted us to mark the seasons, days, & years. God knew we would need some way to measure time and He orchestrated that through using the "lights in the expanse of the sky."

Gen 1:29 "I give you every seed bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with see in it. They will be yours for food."

~God is talking to Adam here, I have never picked up on this before that the first food God created for humankind was only fruits & veggies. So God created people to be vegetarians??? I know Jesus talks about the "Bread of Life" and ate bread and fish. So this just makes me wonder what did God intend for us to eat as people.

P.S. I am not becoming a vegetarian b/c of this, but think it is interesting.

Genesis 3: 22 "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."

While reading earlier in chapter 3 about the serpent deceiving Eve I thought, it's like she doesn't even know it is wrong. And she didn't. She didn't have the knowledge of good and evil. But she should have obeyed God, bottom line. vs 2:16-17 "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."

Gen 4: 15

I have always wondered what the mark was that God put on Cain. I tried to look it up but didn't find anything!

Thats all for now!