April 11th: Numbers 29-30, Proverbs 21 and John 2-3

Let's think about this first miracle.  It's sometimes said that Jesus made grape juice instead of wine.  I think that's amusing.  Here's why...  The master of the ceremony, the head caterer of sorts, rolls over to Jesus and says, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now."  The dude knew wine.  He was probably some sort of AD 30 sommelier. He knows how much it costs, how much to serve and what people are going to like.  And he calls it "good" wine.  My guess is that he's not even saying this so much out of shock as much as in horror.

He knows the chemistry of it all. The more you drink the less you taste.  Alcohol numbs your tongue.  It's the way it works.  Grape juice? Not so much.  And that's a lot of grape juice.  This is a wedding not a bar mitzva. And BTW, why do people argue this?  The point is that he saved some groom some serious embarrassment.  That's probably the real miracle here.

April 10th: Numbers 28, Proverbs 20, and John 1

Being Good Friday and all, I'm going to mix things up. Normally, I don't do a lot of public speaking. But I did today. Alicia shared the story of how we came to Nebraska and then I shared about the importance of Easter in our lives. So instead of the usual post, I want to share a little from our presentation. Here it is:

When my grandmother died, she left me a Bible. Every chapter has a little check mark next to it. Each check represents a time she read through the Bible. Because of this example, I wanted to be like her and actually complete one of those Bible reading guides.

I am now the king of reading to Deuteronomy. I’m like oh for twenty. But I've determined in my old age of 28 that this is the year… I’m gonna make it. The guide that I'm following has me reading some OT, NT and a little from one of the poetry books. And as I’ve read through the gospels this year, I’ve been struck by the humanity of them. They are four guys telling their stories. They’re telling us their encounter with Jesus. It’s how each of their lives was changed by being around this man. And that’s what Alicia just told you (she talked about how we moved to Lincoln from Chicago). This is our gospel. The gospel of Jon and Alicia. The plan of salvation is the same for all of us, but the emotions, the way that we see Christ is different. It's unique. Special.

And Easter is an important part of our story. Not just the fact that we decided to move to Nebraska on Easter weekend, but it’s our bumping into this guy, Jesus, and the way he’s changed our lives. What he did for each of us as individuals.

The last supper in particular is really important to me. Don’t read our culture into it. Forget the painting. Think of a bunch of unruly fisherman sitting around a room doing what they had literally done a thousand times before…they ate a meal together.

They were enjoying community. Enjoying the company of Jesus when he did something special. He broke some bread and said… "every time you do this, every time you sit together and eat, think about us." Think about what we’ve shared. Take a little extra time and make it special. Make it holy. Do this little thing extra.

And now for me, for communion to be what it was for the disciples, I have to know Jesus. I have to have those experiences of him leading me. I need to talk to him…to hear from him. I need to spend time in this book. For that to happen, the Bible can’t be just my grandmothers book. It has to be my book.

And now, through our jobs with Back to the Bible, we are trying to change that. To help people like our friends from Moody see that to know Jesus, to have that last-supper-friendship, they need to be with him to hear from him … through his words in the Bible.

April 9th: Numbers 27, Proverbs 19 and Phillipians 3-4

When we think of leaders, we think of elections or taking power by force. We think of a willing party who desires control. Sure, there arein fact occasions when someone is thrust into leadership. Take Vanilla Ice for example. He was probably some average dude sitting at home straight munchin' on crumpets when the lyrics hit him. "Straight to the point, to the point no fakin' cookin MCs like a pound of bacon." The lyrics took him to a new place. Thrust responsibility on him and the world had a new president of funk.

Vanilla Ice and Joshua share a lot in common. Actually, they share almost nothing in common. Except that similar to Ice, Joshua had responsibility thrust on him. And he does actually have a music career that lasted about as long (7 days). But you don't see Joshua going to the elders of Israel to rally support. He's not seeking time in the spotlight. He doesn't make campaign posters for each tent, "Joshua: They'll Name Their Kids After Me." He doesn't kiss babies or make bumper stickers for the camels. He takes a trip to get some grapes and he trusts God.

And there it is. He is leader of two million Israelites in the middle of the desert about to attack the most fortified city in the Middle East. Lucky him.

Don't read the book of Joshua. That's 20/20. What leadership skills do you see in Joshua BEFORE he's chosen?

April 8th: Numbers 26, Proverbs 18 and Phillipians 1-2

Generally speaking, we tend to focus on the big names. Maybe it was John Wayne, Rambo, Elvis or James Bond the one man army. Whatever it was, we tend to focus on the man in front. We love the quarterback and pay no attention to the offensive line.

Take a look at the letter to the Philippians. When you think of this letter, you think of Paul in chains or maybe Timothy sick and almost dying for the gospel. You may know some back story and know that the Philippians "was good people." They gave to Paul out of their poverty. They were like the super church that did everything right.

But the thing that I missed until today was their leadership. Think about it. Paul wasn't always around. There were community organizers that led after the big names left town. Men and women, nameless, forgotten people that lived and led faithfully in the shadows of these great men.

I think that whoever it was that led the Philippians is a great model/hero for the local pastors. If your church grows, you don't have to create a national radio ministry or write a book or speak at big conferences. It's OK to be a pastor. You can be like the leader of the Philippians church...a faithful follower of Jesus that led the only church that was commended by Jesus. And that is pretty awesome.

April 7th: Numbers 24-25, Proverbs 17 and Ephesians 5-6

Thanks for bearing with me as I traveled over the last month. Y'know, when I started this blog, the goal was to read write about the passage everyday. And although this Israel/Egypt trip was on my radar, I had no idea how hard it would be to complete the task. Jesus talks about how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Now I see how hard it would be for a frequent flier to enter the kingdom of I read through the Bible in a year.

None the less, I'm back in this great Corn State that (I tongue in cheek) love. And before I comment on today's passages, business as usual, I want to talk about something I learned over in Israel.

There is a place we visited called The Temple Institute. Their goal is to create all the necessary elements needed for the third temple. So that when it is built, the Jews can resume sacrifice and again have a face to face relationship with God.

Outside of my fascination with seeing legitimate replicas of some of the items, I was struck by one particular item...the tables for the showbread. Remember, God commands the Levites to allways have these loaves of bread inside the temple.

There are twelve loaves that remain for the week. After they are replaced, they are eaten. Week old bread. No preservatives. Eww. But every week, there was a miricle. The bread was fine. Delicious. And not just that, Jewish tradition (according to the Institute employee) claims that these twelve loaves fed all the Levite temple workers...about 1500 of them.

Sound familair? When Jesus fed the 5000, there were 12 baskets left over. He broke the bread and fed the people in a way that says, "Hey, it's me. The God of the Temple. The one you've been worshipping."

Now back to the regularly scheduled reading.

A donkey talks. Don't miss that. It's in your Bible. The one you probably have seven of. It says that a dude was riding an animal and it started talking to him because it saw angels with swords. Do you understand how crazy that sounds to someone that is sober? My car has personality. If it started talking to me about how it never broke down till today, that would freak me out... a lot....like stand-up-to-the-king-who-could-as-easily-kill-me-as-talk-to-me-a-lot.

So next time you're witnessing to someone and they say, "the Bible is a little crazy," you should reply and say, "YOU HAVE NO IDEA!"