Three years ago, a friend challenged me  to pick out my favorite verse from every book in the Bible–and I had one week to do it.  One week for all 66 books.  At first I freaked out thinking I’d have to read the entire Bible in one week on top of the five trillion other things I had going on in one of the most hectic seasons of my life.  Then I remembered that I had just finished reading the Bible in a year, and I am an AVID highlighter.  It was still hard to read through and find a favorite, though.  There are so many!

When my friend looked over all of my verses, she told me she saw a pattern.  That pattern told her how I viewed God and what my relationship with Him was.  I looked back recently and saw exactly what she was talking about, but that’s a post for another day.

I’ve been thinking lately that it would be interesting to do that again and see if my perception / relationship has changed.  And THEN I thought it would be a lot more interesting if several of us did this together, one book a week, verses posted every Wednesday.  Anyone care to join me?  If so, pick your favorite verse, the one that tugs your heart and speaks to you the most, even if it seems “strange” to you.  You’ll be surprised at what you find and what God speaks to you.

Are you up to the challenge?  If so, take a stroll through Genesis this week and, on next Wednesday’s blog, we’ll share.

Let’s get to know Him better together…

-JB

I really like the church we’re attending right now.  We haven’t decided for sure whether or not this is our permanent church home, but it’s more and more in the running every week.  There’s only one problem with the church:

I never leave feeling comfortable. I’ve left changed.  I’ve left affirmed.  I’ve left challenged.  I’ve left convicted.  But I have never once stepped out those doors comfortable with my current Christian state.  And I have to say that’s a good thing.  If we’re comfortable, something is really, really wrong.

This week was the worst week of all.  The pastor asked a simple question, “What did Sodom do to merit destruction?”  Stop reading right now and answer that question.  Think about it.  Go to Genesis 19 and read the account.  I can wait.  I’m watching the NASCAR race.  It’ll entertain me while you’re gone.

Got your answer?  Okay.  I thought I had my answer too, and then the pastor read Ezekiel 16:49:  Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. (NAS)

Did your stomach just fall to the floor?  Mine did.  Somehow, I’ve read that before, but it has never really sunk in.  Today, it was like somebody took a hammer and nailed it to my brain.  Not pretty, is it?  (The verse, not my analogy. Even though my analogy wasn’t very palatable either…)

The point is this…  We cannot afford to say that “we” are like Sodom.  That’s not enough.  It distances us from the sin.  Read that verse again, and realize that the fact is we need to be saying, “I am like Sodom.”  There.  Does that drive it home?  Does that make your heart clinch?  Make you want to shake your head in denial?

I guess that means there is just one more question to ask ourselves… What am I going to do about it?  Because if every single one of us asked ourselves that question, we’d be a changed city, a changed nation, a changed world.

-JB

I love the story told about King Hezekiah in II Kings 19.  The people are under threat of attack.  Assyria is on the move against them and are intent on destroying the nation and utterly badmouthing God.  All seems lost.

So what does Hezekiah do?  Does he run and hide under the bed?  Flee the country?  Stand still with his fingers in his ears and his eyes squeezed shut, hoping things will just change or go away?

Nope.  He takes one of my very favorite human actions in the whole Bible.  He takes the letter he’s received, goes into the temple, lays it out before God, tells the Almighty exactly what is happening, and asks for a move from the only true God “so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God.”  That very night, God himself cut down 185,000 Assyrians, and the king withdrew to Nineveh.

Wow.  I love that story.  I love how Hezekiah knew exactly where to go.  He’d made mistakes in the past in trying to defend Judah, but this time he stepped up and threw himself and the people on the mercy of the only one who could save them.

So my question is, where is our Hezekiah?  Want to know?  Each and every one of us should be Hezekiah.  Our nation is under attack.  We’re at war in the physical and in the spiritual.  The media assaults us, other nations turn against us, our own government seems intent on taking care of themselves alone… The list could go on all day.  So why in the world aren’t our churches full of people on their faces in prayer?  Why aren’t we pounding on heaven’s gates and asking God for help, begging Him to be merciful to us?  Asking Him to show that He alone is God?  Why in the world are we squeezing our eyes shut, sticking our fingers in our ears, and shouting la la la la la at the top of our voices, hoping everything will just get better?

If the church is truly to church, I think we need a call to prayer, a call to do more than sit in our pews, more than offer up the pastoral prayer and move on.  This calls for daily prayer, concentrated prayer, purposeful prayer.  Prayer in the sanctuaries and prayer in our homes.  Otherwise, we’re lost forever.

-JB

Straight up, no kidding, “My Savior, My God” is one of my all time favorite praise songs.   I’m not sure I’ve ever heard or sung the words to the chorus without tearing up and smiling.  It makes me want to stand up in a stadium, punch my fist, and shout the lyrics at the top of my lungs. Ever felt that way about Jesus?

Hm.  So why don’t I?  Why don’t we?  You see, every time I hear that song, I also feel a sting of conviction.  I remember my preacher once leading us in the a cheer of “Way to Go, Jesus!” on Easter Sunday.  He said we go to football games and cheer and yell.  We go to baseball games and do “the wave.”  We go to rock concerts and jump up and down and throw our hands up in the air and clap and shout.  So why in the world do we go to church, sit on our hands, and occasionally nod in agreement with the preacher?  Why aren’t we on our rooftops shouting, “My Savior lives!”  Why aren’t our church services full of cheers, maybe even a good “wave” in honor of our God?

Sometimes we act like being a Christian is the most boring part of our lives.  Good grief!  Don’t you know the angels in heaven wonder what in the world is wrong with us down here on earth?  This is God we’re talking about!  This is Jesus, who had the ultimate hand-clapping, cheering, stand-up-and-shout triumph in the history of the world!  Why are we not punctuating this with a whole lot more exclamation points?!!!!!!!!

I want to be an exclamation point.  How about you?

-JB

If you’ve been reading here for any amount of time, you know this song has come up for me before. It popped up on my iPod this morning during my praise time, and for the first time, I thought of its implications outside of the writing life.  Take a listen before you read on if you want to see how it grabs you personally…  I can wait.

Oh how we need to be emptied.  It’s so easy to be consumed by the selfishness, the ambition, the pride, and all of the “foolish things” we cling to so hard in this world, the things that mean nothing eternally, the things that only distract us from God.  Sometimes, when we draw close to God, when we get a few yes’s or “atta boy’s” from Him, we start to think every thought we have, every idea we get, every action we take is blessed by Him.  We have an attitude that God is our God and He loves us, therefore He’ll back everything we do.  And I’ve learned first hand–more than once–that every “good” idea is not necessarily a “God” idea.  When we start to do that, we become our own gods.  It’s a slow, stealthy, insidious little attitude that slips up on us, and we’re knee deep in the muck of it before we know it.

Every once in a while, shouldn’t we stop?  Take stock of our motives?  Sit still for a few minutes and ask ourselves–ask God–who is really driving the car?  And then…  kneel down and ask Him to empty us, so we can be filled with Him.

I guess today’s question would be… who are you full of?  God?  Or your own self?  It’s quite possible the answer could surprise you, because it sure did surprise me.

-JB

I have to start this off by saying this isn’t Lisa Wingate’s latest book (that would be Never Say Never) and it’s not exactly a book review.  It’s more of a “God hit me with a book” review, because I actually think He opened a window in heaven and threw that book at my head.

Lauren Eldridge and Nate Heath are both having trouble letting go of the past.  Lauren can’t shed the guilt of one tragic night, while Nate remains tethered to a childhood that was its own version of tragic.  The couple meet and bond on a would-be movie set, where Lauren has been asked to soften (and essentially woo) a frightened former racehorse, and Nate has been asked (some might say forced?) to write a screenplay for an equally broken actor.  Naturally, these two are drawn to each other like flies to honey (as they might say in Daily).  And I love the way Lisa Wingate plays their relationship.  It’s equal parts caution and attraction, and she walks a tightrope between the two so well, that I believed every ounce of how the story played out.  In three words:  it was beautiful.

But where God gave me a lump on the head was with Lauren.  I was reading along about her, totally getting her fear and her guilt, when it hit me that all she had to do was shed the past that she wore like a coat around her.  She pulled it tight and sort of hid from the world in it, trying to become somebody she wasn’t, trying to totally leave the “old” her behind, even forgetting the good parts of her life before the tragedy.  She tried to be an entirely new person, and it wasn’t working.  It hit me that part of the reason I had trouble letting go of some things God delivered me from was because I hadn’t shed them completely.  I still acted as though they were part of my DNA today.  Yes, they are part of my past.  Yes, they have made me who I am and I don’t want to forget them, but those things are no longer a living, breathing part of me.  They no longer control me.  They no longer get a say in how I live my life day to day.  And while I sat there reading, it felt like God pulled that ugly coat off of my shoulders.  Amazing…

Grab the book.  It’s a beautiful freedom story for Nate and Lauren, and a sweet growing relationship between them.  (I actually sat straight up and pumped my fist at the height of the story.  Yes, I did…)  And if you’re struggling with a weight from the past, let God speak to you between the lines… you never know what you’ll lose, and for sure you’ll gain more than you ever dreamed

-JB

A few weeks ago, I wrote about finding a church home.  So, yesterday morning, we walked out the door thinking we were going to that church.  But at the last instant, I thought, Hm.  I think today I want to go to the church up the road from the house. So we did.  No drama or fanfare, just a different, shorter drive to a closer church for the day.

Turns out, God was all over that split-second decision.

See, last week, God brought up his timing to me, and how he means for us to be where we are when we are there.  I get frustrated at delays when I travel, at waiting in eternal lines, at stupidly long stop lights, at appointments I don’t want to go to…  But God never places us anywhere by accident.  We should look around and ask God why we are there.

I had that proved to me when I “randomly” decided to go to a different church for the day.  The entire service–music, sermon, short skit–was about trusting God.  About how we say we trust God, but then we form our backup plan, or we trust only certain things or to certain degrees.  And that is amazing, because God has been convicting, convicting, convicting me lately about trusting Him.  I have struggled with trust for 15 years.  There is always that part of me that just seems to refuse to surrender, no matter how hard I try or how badly I want to.  Because of some things that happened in my family 15 years ago, I can’t seem to totally hand everything over to God.  I mean, I know He will take care of it and work it all for good, I just worry about how He’ll work it and for what kind of good.  Because, believe me, we don’t always agree about what the definition of good is.

Which is why it’s amazing that I wound up at a different church yesterday.  Because all of those things–the very things God’s been hitting me with lately–were addressed right there in that room.  Were there easy answers?  Do I totally and finally understand and get it?  No.  And I may never understand it.  But sitting there, I almost physically felt the walls around my heart crumble.  Walls I have pounded on for 15 years fell away.  I honestly feel lighter, like I’m breathing for the first time in over a decade.  It’s crazy and amazing and unbelievable…

And it’s all because a nudge took me somewhere simple that I never expected to go.  It’s the little things, isn’t it?

-JB

Looking for great summer reads?  Here are the new releases from ACFW members!  Congrats, all!

1. A Shore Thing; Otter Bay, Book 2 by Julie Carobini– A Romance from B&H. A fiery, eco-friendly young woman leads the fight against a large development in her beachfront hometown while falling for the architect assigned to the job.

2. Back on Murder; A Roland March Mystery, Book 1 by J. Mark Bertrand — A Suspense/Mystery/Thriller from Bethany House. Homicide cop Roland March attempts a comeback as corruption and a high profile case threaten to sink him.

3. Beautiful Bandit; The Lone Star Legends Series by Loree Lough — An Historical from Whitaker House. When rancher Josh Neville rescues a terrified woman who calls herself Dinah, she unwittingly leads notorious killers to his door, putting him and everyone at the Lazy N in jeopardy.

4. Beyond Summer; Blue Sky Hills Series, Book 3 by Lisa Wingate — Women’s Fiction from Peguin Group/NAL. Tam Williams discovers the blessings of community when her father is jailed, and the family moves to downscale Blue Sky Hill where her new friend, Shasta might lose her home to her father’s shady mortgage company.

5. Bride in Training; Man’s Best Friend Series by Gail Gaymer Martin — A Romance from Love Inspired. Troubled lives lead to loneliness, Emily and Martin learn, until the Lord teaches them he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.

6. Cattleman’s Courtship by Carolyn Aarsen — A Romance from Love Inspired. Cara Morrison has to fix the past before she can face the future.

7. Doctor in Petticoats; Sophie’s Daughters Series, Book #1 by Mary Connealy — A Romance from Barbour. A burned out doctor is called in because he’s a man, while the town’s lady doctor does all the work and keeps the doctor from cracking up.

8. Driftwood Lane; 3rd in Series of Stand Alones by Denise Hunter — A Romance from Thomas Nelson. A love story set on Nantucket Island.

9. Firestorm by Kelly Ann Riley — A Romance from Steeple Hill. A firefighter falls in love while trying to find her father’s killer.

10. Flash Point; Emerald Coast 911 by Stephanie Newtonr — A Suspense/Mystery/Thriller from Love Inspired Suspense. Courage Under Fire.

11. Heart of a Cowboy; 2nd book in the Helping Hands Homeschooling by Margaret Daley — A Romance from Love Inspired. Zachary Rutgers is perfectly happy with being a loner until he discovers he has a son and must deal with buried feelings concerning Jordan Masterson.

12. Love Finds You in Calico, California by Elizabeth Ludwig — An Historical from Summerside Press. A young seamstress struggling to survive in a booming mining town is pressed into a marriage of convenience with the local livery owner.

13. Minnesota Moonlight 3-in-1 Collection by Becky Melby & Cathy Wienke — Romance from Barbour. An ex-con, a storm chaser, and a footloose musician˜three unlikely heroes for three women learning to trust God…and the men He’s brought into their lives.

14. Nightshade; Book #1 of the Discarded Heroes series by Ronie Kendig — A Suspense/Mystery/Thriller from Barbour. This Former Navy SEAL is fighting a new battle–the home front!

15. Prodigal Patriot; Vermont #1 by Darlene Franklin — A Romance from Barbour Heartsong. How can Sally and Josiah battle through the barriers separating Tory and Patriot to find love and forgiveness?

16. Ransome’s Crossing; The Ransome Trilogy, Book 2 by Kaye Dacus — A Romance from Harvest House. Disguising herself as a midshipman to get to her secret fiance, Charlotte Ransome faces danger–and love–crossing the Atlantic.

17. Rodeo Redemption; The Rodeo Royalty Series, Book 1 by Teri Wilson — A Romance from White Rose Publishing. Josie Turner would rather forget she was ever crowned Rodeo Queen. Can former rodeo cowboy Luke Anderson mend Josie’s heart and can one rodeo weekend help them both find redemption?

18. Seeds of Summer; Seasons of the Tallgrass – Book #2 by Deborah Vogts — A Romance from Zondervan. When a former Miss Rodeo Kansas queen returns home after her father’s death to care for the family ranch and her two younger siblings, what follows is a summer full of change, life-lessons and an unexpected romance with the new minister in Diamond Falls.

19. So Over It; Book 3 in The Reinvention of Skylar Hoyt series by Stephanie Morrill — General Fiction from Revell. Senior year is over and Skylar Hoyt is ready to forgive and forget. Or at least forget.

20. Song of Solomon by Kendra Norman Bellamy — A Romance from Urban Books. How can he convince her that she’s his God-given mate when she’s already wearing a wedding ring?

21. Stars in the Night by Cara Putman — An Historical from Summerside Press. Step back to 1942 Hollywood as Audra Schaeffer tries to find her sister and a killer before it is too late.

22. The Crimson Cipher by Susan Page Davis — An Historical from Summerside Press. When Emma’s father is murdered, she’s hired to do the job he could have had–helping track them down by breaking their ciphers.

23. The Engineered Engagement; Book Three in the Kennebrae Brides Series by Erica Vetsch — An Historical from Barbour Heartsong. Sparks fly when a shipbuilder finds himself engaged to the wrong girl.

24. The Seeker; The Shaker Series # 3 by Ann H. Gabhart — An Historical from Revell. The story brings alive the strikingly different worlds of the Southern gentry, the simple Shakers and the ravages of war in 1860s Kentucky.

25. The Way to a Man’s Heart; The Miller Family Series, Book 3 by Mary Ellis — A Romance from Harvest House. When all the men beat a path to Leah’s diner, her parents don’t breathe a sigh of relief until she narrows her suitors from half a dozen down to one.

26. Where the Dogwoods Bloom by Myra Johnson — A Romance from Barbour Heartsong. Jilly Gardner left Blossom Hills ten years ago, determined never to return, but when Cam Lane calls to ask for her help, she finds she can’t say no.