Readings up until June 28 (Jonah)

Reading through the Bible is not easy. It takes discipline to stay committed, and it takes humility to just pick up where you left off (even if a week "or so" behind) without feeling like a failure. We are in this for the long haul. Our society is so interested in quick victory, that it fears failure. And as we see in James "We all stumble in many ways." Don't give up. Keep going. Ask for strength. It's not about how great we are - our goal is to understand how great God is.

OBSERVATIONS IN READING

• It was amazing in the book of Jonah how God used nature to get Jonah to do what he needed to do! God uses nature to speak to us, and to show us that all creation declares God's glory and surrounds us with reminders of His love. As we talked as a staff, we all had recently thought of an amazing creation of God that shows His splendor...lightning bugs! Lightning bugs are examples in our land of something that turns our thoughts to God's greatness. We desire to recognize God's greatness in everything, and not be so obstinate that it takes a storm get our attention. 
• All of this bloodshed in the king's family is horrific at the end of Kings and Chronicles. What a waste! There's a lot that goes into raising a child, and then they are killed for someone to assume a throne. This was a judgement of God upon the Israelite nation for deserting Him and worshiping idols. We would not liked to have live back then in that violence (even pregnant people ripped open). We are so thankful to be living in a free, safe land because this is happening throughout the world. Though we shy from being labeled "Ugly Americans," we cannot deny that much of our Biblical heritage is responsible for bringing about a measure of peace in our country. We praise God for that as we head into 4th of July weekend. 
• Question: What are raisin cakes? It seems to have been connected with fertility (thought to increase fertility), and the sexual immorality mixed with idol prostitution during that time explains why raisin cakes may have been brought to the temple, and were a symbol of immorality and sin among the people. Need to do more research...