Bible in 90 Days- Day 38 Check In

I am on day 38 of reading through the Bible in 90 days. I am reading in the book of Job.

Job has often been a difficult book for me to wrestle with. The whole concept of Job's tremendous suffering and God's responsibility in it and reactions to it is a hard one for me to grasp. The book deals with the question of suffering in the life of God's people. I believe it has much relevance because we do live in a fallen world full of sin and suffering.

I found this neat site that has an outline and study notes for the book of Job. I know with reading the Bible through so quickly, I can't take the time to study each book in depth. But, it was interesting to look through some of the notes on the book of Job found here.

Snow Day

 

Last Saturday we had some snow/ice/slush. I have to confess, I do NOT like cold, wet weather. The kids, on the other hand, enjoy anything that faintly resembles snow. So, I stayed inside in the warm and took pictures out the window as they enjoyed the messy weather.

Charles had neighborhood friends that came down and waged a snow/ice ball war. Jason participated in this for quite a while. Kathryne chose to make a snow sculpture of the cat. Ashlyne and Rachel played on the deck for a while. Rachel gave up early and came inside. I think her feelings about wet, cold weather are going to be more like mine.

More snow/ice mess was called for today, but so far, all we've had is rain for two days- lots and lots of rain.

I think I'd like to move to Arizona. Isn't it hot and dry?

Bible in 90 Days- Day 35 Check In

I was reading in Ezra and Nehemiah today. This has always been a confusing part in Israel's history to me. It is difficult for me to keep these time periods straight and have a good picture of when it all happens.

I found this article that is a good explanation of these book.

Bible in 90 Days- Answering questions

As I read, I often think of questions. Sometimes I take the time to look things up in a commentary or another translation. Sometimes I just live with the question.

Tonight, as I was reading in 2 Chronicles, I read about a census Solomon took. Earlier, in 1 Chronicles and Kings, David took a census and was punished with a plague on the people. There is no record of Solomon being punished or even of God's displeasure. So, I wondered why. I googled it. (I love to google.) And I found this neat site that had some possible answers to this and other questions from the book of 2 Chronicles. I'm thinking there may be pages for other books and I plan to look!

Bible in 90 Days- Day 30 Check In

Thirty days have passed since I began this endeavor. I am still caught up and reading now in Chronicles. I was behind a day because of our trip this week, but I was able to get caught up today while we were housebound in the snow.

Reading through the Old Testament this quickly has been very interesting. I have been able to draw some connections between people and events that I never noticed before. It is also neat how several different Bible studies are meshing together for me right now, allowing me to see the big picture better than I ever have. I am reading in the Old Testament. We have been studying the Old Testament in Bible for school this year and completed a Jesse Tree over Christmas. (The Jesse Tree traces the lineage of Christ and the prophecies of His coming from creation on.) Ashlyne is studying the Old Testament in her AWANA Sparks book this semester, and I have to read it to her, so I'm hearing it there. And I am reading the book of John with some other ladies in a Bible study online group. I am noticing all kinds of things about the Old Testament and the history of Israel which are ultimately going to lead up to the coming of the Messiah. And I am seeing in the book of John how some of these things are fulfilled and culminate in the life of Christ. Very exciting!

Reading through Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, I sometimes have trouble keeping all the kings and their lives straight. Because these books repeat the same period of history from different perspectives, I often am finding it difficult to keep all the information straight in my mind. I found this informative site today with several charts from the study of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. It helped me to sort some things out and get a better grasp of what was going on historically at the time.

I am looking forward to completing my journey through the kingly histories and getting into the reading of the prophets as I continue to read through John.

I can't believe I forgot the camera and other odds and ends

The kids and I went on a mini vacation with my mom this week. We went to Great Wolf Lodge in Concord NC, about an hour away. Great Wolf is a family resort with a huge water park as the main attraction. They also have a large arcade, Gr8 space, a game room for tweens and teens, and Cub Club, a playroom for the younger set. Another main attraction is their MagiQuest game sprawled out on three floors of the hotel.

We went Thursday morning, checked in about noon and visited the water park, played MagiQuest, and went to the arcade. We spent the night in a Kids Kamp room, complete with a special cabin like area for the kids to sleep in. Friday morning, we did some Cub Club activities, played more MagiQuest, and spent the day in the water park before heading home.

The whole thing was a great experience! Of course, I forgot my camera. So, I have no pictures of Kathryne and Charles becoming Master Magis in MagiQuest, Rachel sliding down the water slides at Fort McKenzie, Ashlyne enjoying the wave pool, Charles completing the lily pad obstacle course over and over, or myself taking the plunge down the Howling Tornado. But, we have the memories of a great vacation (and some MagiQuest wands if we ever want to play again).

In other news, we had snow today! It was really more of a sleety, icy mess, but around here anything white that falls from the sky counts as snow. I do have pictures of my crew playing in the snow/sleet/ice mess. I took them from inside where I sat safe and warm supervising the dressing and undressing of layers of wet clothing every time someone went in and out and making hot chocolate for the cold and weary players.

Bible in 90 Days- Day 25 Check in

I am reading in Kings now. I find the books of Judges-Chronicles sad and difficult to read. When I think of Israel and the promises God had made to them as a nation and then see how the country's leaders struggle with idolatry, war, treason, murder, immorality, it is sad.

At the same time, there are moments of hope: David's repentance after his sin with Bathsheba, Solomon building the temple for God to dwell among the people, the kings scattered throughout the history who did turn back to God.

This is our world, corrupted by sin, attacked by evil, sometimes overcome with wickedness. But God is good to give us the promise of hope throughout and a look forward to the time when all will be made new.