A little like an Indian Jones movie...

I was 12 days behind in my bible readings this morning. I know, I know, that defeats the whole purpose of having a page to read a day but I don't know what happened. I got tired one night, didn't read, and it just snowballed. But I was determined to get caught up today, on Palm Sunday.

And I did, I read for about an hour and a half. And it was interesting to me all the things I read about. A talking donkey. A stone that when tapped produced water. A plague, of among many things, snakes. And a snake made of bronze on a stick that could cure people. Breaking of teeth. Still more sprinkling of blood. Death. Destruction. Birth. Life. Cakes made of meal. People not able to talk at all until God determines they have faith. People allowed only to say what God wants them to say. Sexual immorality. Brothers marrying sisters-in-law.

It really does seem like something of a story, it's hard to imagine any of it as real. But then again, angels and an almighty savior strike some as unfathomable as well. As I was reading I started thinking, why doesn't God just let us read the New Testament. I mean, that's the way it is now right - Jesus died for us and our sins so God won't condemn us anymore. But then I got to thinking about history. And why we teach it in schools and how important it is to know not only where you come from, but how you got to where you are today.

Last night we had 3 women from work over for dinner. We had a great time and after about 6 hours of eating and chatting I realized we'd all shared stories from just about every part of our lives. There were stories from our childhood, stories of family members, stories from college, and stories from just last year, just last week. And that's a lot of what relationship are - telling someone your stories, sharing your life with someone. And I got to thinking this morning that that's what God is doing with the Old Testament, He's sharing His, and our, stories. He's making sure we know what happened before, I am guessing in large part so we can appreciate what we have now.

What do you think?

(P.S. - I knew from a trivia contest in college that Baalam's donkey talked (the only animal in the Bible to do so), and we have this running joke about quoting it - "Why do you hit me these 3 times?" But it was very cool to read the whole story of Baalam and his donkey. To learn it was a she, and she was trying to protect him. And that the angel would have spared her for doing so. Again, I'm glad God shared that story with me.)