Uncharted Territory

So I have entered uncharted territory this week. I am now 26 years old, and I don't think I have ever gone 7 consecutive days in a row of reading my bible. There, I confessed it...I actually feel a little better.

Seriously though - I claim to follow God's word on a regular basis - yet I don't read God's word on a regular basis. How can this be? Well, this week I set out to read my Bible every day for seven consecutive days. I started Sunday night when I went to bed - and I am hoping I can get through Saturday night, reading each day.

I opened up the book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament to begin my reading this week. I was listening to the radio last week and I heard bits and peices of a sermon from the book of Nehemiah - and so it intrigued me to read the whole book. Not uber enthusiastic stuff - but God is working through it.

I know in the past I've encouraged people who were going through rough times to read through the bible. They always look at me like "what?" or "what should I read in the bible." Truth be told, its difficult - where do you start. Seems like I've been starting in the beginning for years and I never quite make it through to the end. I'm learning that it doesn't matter where you read. My buddy Ken tells me to read through the bible slowly - and try to truly understand and absorb what you are reading. I think for me - this works. If I can read through a passage slowly, and maybe even multiple times - I can absorb it. And although it may not seem to have relativity in my life at the current time - God always works through what I read - whether it be the next day, a week later or a month later. Kinda makes you realize the importance of memorizing all of those memory verses as an elementary school student huh?

Thats it, I'm reading the bible for 7 days straight this week. I might stop after 7 days, or I might continue. Pastor James McDonald layed out a pretty good challenge for his listeners - the 3 D's of reading the bible. He promises that if you can read the bible for 120 days straight you will experience the following -

Discipline - the first 40 days will be work - and it may not seem fun.
Delight - the next 40 days will be easier - and you will delight in reading the bible.
Desire - the final 40 days, you will be reading the bible out of a desire to grow.

Grace & Peace,
-J

You Don't Know?!?!

Tonight, I was watching "America's Got Talent" (AGT) on NBC. For those of you who don't know, AGT is a show much like American Idol - but with a wide variety of acts and no limit on age. The show has 3 judges; Piers Morgan, Sharon Osbourne and David Hasselhoff, and is hosted by Jerry Springer.

Tonight on AGT, there was a young girl, dressed like a princess who came out and sang "What a Wonderful World." I'm pretty sure it absolutely melted the hearts of everyone who watched it. She kinda had a bit of a lisp, and couldn't really pronounce the letter 'r' in words. It was very cute.

Immediately following her reviews by the three judges, Jerry Springer walked over and blatantly said to the young girl: "I don't know if I'm going to heaven or not, but if I make it there I picture all of the angels to look just like you."

Now, the fact that Jerry Springer was laying some pretty thick sap on like a 4 year old girl didn't alarm me that much - it was the comment about him not knowing whether or not he was going to heaven. How can you not know? Jerry Springer is a major television talkshow host - this is not someone who has been living under a rock for the past 50 years. Seriously?

I'm not upset, I'm sad. I mean, I want to call Jerry Springer and ask him - "Jerry! Do you want to be sure?" I'm sad because I think there are TONS of people out there like that. Jerry Springer is an intelligent person, and I am sure he's had tons of people write him and tell him the way that he can be sure - but what about the millions of Americans that feel the same way that Jerry does?