Daniel 6:1-28 2 Peter 3:1-18 Psalm 119:129-152 Proverbs 28:21-22 Daniel and the lions' den: classic. Classic awesome. Can we just appreciate how TOTALLY AMAZING this story is?? It's one of the stories that kids hear all the time in Sunday School and if you are like me it grew a little old. I had to grow back into it and realize how insane the story really is. The Bible isn't written like a novel, the story is just told play for play. We have to understand for ourselves how re

Daniel 5:1-31 2 Peter 1:1-22 Psalm 119: 113-128 Proverbs 28:19-20 It's 11:30pm and I'm barely keeping my eyes open. I flew back into to Long Beach today and arriving home I didn't accomplish much I'm so exhausted. I was getting ready for bed since I have to work tomorrow even though I still haven't unpacked and my room is a disaster but I realized I hadn't read the Bible today. And I'm realizing how often I have come to blog in this state: too tired. I know blogging every day

Daniel 4:1-37 2 Peter 1:1-21 Psalm 119:97-112 Proverbs 28:17-18 "Your Word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path" It's pretty much impossible for me to hear that and not sing along. "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." As Sunday School as it sounds to my ears it is such a great comfort. Those simple older worship songs that I was raised on are what I go to in moments of pure unplanned worship. Today the song that was ringing in my heart was "Jesus l

Daniel 2:24-3:30 1 Peter 4:7-5:14 Psalm 119:81-96 Proverbs 28:15-16 Man, Daniel is so full of crazy stories. Crazy stories I've heard a lot and I don't get tired of. Today I tried to imagine the fear and panic that would undoubtedly come over me if I was in this story with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendego. First of all, they are called to have a talk with the king. Second, they are threatened. Thirdly, they are tied up and bound by men. And fourth, they are carried up and thro

Daniel 1:1-2:23 1 Peter 3:8-4:6 Psalm 119:65-80 Proverbs 28:14 Agh, another really solid day of reading. I love Daniel! I'm excited to be here now. Today's message about wisdom especially was intriguing to me. Daniel and his friends were given great wisdom and it was a highly practical blessing for them. And the faith it required to know that God answers prayer and gives wisdom was exhibited in a very strong way in this story. These are not just steady slow concepts for them.

Ezekiel 47:1-48:35 1 Peter 2:11-3:7 Psalm 119:49-64 Proverbs 28:12-13 Lord, I have a lot of thoughts today. What will You have me say? This is my last day in Ezekiel, yay. Not a big fan. I loved certain portions but it has generally not been my favorite. 1 Peter is speaking so counter-culturally today. But so good. Psalms is poetic. And the Proverbs I read today are the first very noteworthy Proverbs thus far in this project, for me at least. Lord, You have a lot to say to me

Today I am spending Thanksgiving with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins in Portland, Oregon. This trip has been long overdue as they have lived here for now 4 years and this is my first time in Portland, ever. As I was landing yesterday I was immediately struck with the view of the clouds, the mountains, the water, and the trees. Trees colored with green, yellow, and red. The city is a city but with so much nature and so much small town charm that I can't believe this is real. I lo

Ezekiel 45:13-46:24 1 Peter 1:13-2:10 Psalm 119:33-48 Proverbs 28:11 Ezekiel has been a struggle for me. It's hard to read without hearing the voices of the world in the back of my head. It all grates against the desires to be our own person, live our own lives, decide for ourselves who we will be, find ourselves, live happily on our own terms, etc. All this talk of sacrifices and rules sounds like something I could easily make fun of, something maybe April Ludgate would mono

Ezekiel 44:1-45:12 1 Peter 1:1-12 Psalm 119:17-32 Proverbs 28:8-10 God is a very serious matter. Here I am on a plane to Portland, to visit my family for Thanksgiving and I am so excited. But my reading material is not light. Ezekiel is such a wild card. I had never read Ezekiel before this and it is not what I expected at all. It’s got his depression, his quirky Revelation-style visions, lots of “come on Israel, what are you doing,” measurements of gates, and now really stri

Ezekiel 42:1-43:27 James 5:1-20 Psalm 119:1-16 Proverbs 28:6-7 Growing up in the church and in Christian Education there are certain concepts that I heard a lot about but didn't really start understanding until I started really living life. I could imagine what the concepts meant, but it wasn't until I lived it that I thought "oh." Perseverance is one of those concepts I heard about but didn't understand until now. And by "understand" I mean, I understand why perseverance is