(May 25th's reading) 2 Samuel 7:1-8:18 John 14:15-31 Psalm 119:33-48 Proverbs 15:33 It's no secret that fame and fortune get to people's heads. It's basically the first thing I think when I see a child star...I worry about what life will do to them. It's not just a Hollywood thing necessarily, though it's certainly the abuse and pressures there that cause so many problems. But the issue of pride is very severe. It's not just movie stars...it's people, you and me. People who s

I fell behind in the reading...today I read the reading from May 24. I guess it's not a huge surprise...it's hard to keep something up every single day for a year, and I should be happy I didn't give it up all together! Not that that even feels like an option anymore...I must keep reading the Bible. But I've been really hard on myself, so hard on myself it was hard to actually understand what I was reading. And so I haven't had much to write about what I've been reading...inc

1 Samuel 17:1-18:4 John 8:21-30 Psalm 111:1-10 Proverbs 15:11 Since graduating college I've had many ideas about what I want to do with my life. I've tried many different paths, I've thought about trying many different paths. Right now where I am is good, but I feel working in a restaurant is what I'm going to do with my LIFE in the general sense of the term. But one thing that I was convicted of today while reading about David and Goliath....I am reminded of this nagging fee

1 Samuel 15:1-16:23 John 7:53-8:20 Psalm 110:1-7 Proverbs 15:8-10 All year long I've read a Psalm every day and now here I am, David has been introduced. We first hear about him because Samuel goes to find the new king God has chosen for Israel. Much like the search for Cinderella...Samuel looks at David's brothers and asks God, "this one? this one? this one?" and God says "no, no, no." Until Samuel says, "do you have another son?" And David is brought in. "This one." David i

1 Samuel 13:23-14:52 John 7:31-52 Psalm 109:1-31 Proverbs 15:5-7 One of my favorite Bible characters was introduced today! Jonathan! I have always loved Jonathan's character because of how selfless and loyal he is in his friendship with David. But I did not remember these stories from before he was friends with David. While I knew Jonathan was selfless and loyal, in these stories I see Jonathan's incredible courage and faith. He sees all of Israel trembling and hiding in fear

1 Samuel 10:1-11:15 John 6:43-71 Psalm 107:1-43 Proverbs 15:1-3 Jesus calls us to a difficult, difficult life. It's difficult in that it's something that goes against our nature. We are selfish and fearful and the call to abandon ourselves and to focus on Jesus alone, to follow Him blindly goes against our instinct. But to follow Jesus is to realize who you really are. As much as following Jesus goes against our instincts: following Jesus is what you were made for, it is what

1 Samuel 8:1-9:27 John 6:22-42 Psalm 106:32-48 Proverbs 14:34-35 "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." Jesus is the only thing we need. I can think of a lot of things I need. I can think of a lot of things I want. Reading about Israel's desire to have a king is in one sense hard to relate to, but in another sense it reminds me of my own desire for a significant other. Israel wants a king and that'

1 Samuel 5:1-7:17 John 6:1-21 Psalm 106:13-31 Proverbs 14:32-33 When Jesus feeds the 5,000 with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 small fish. There's a lot of crazy miracles that Jesus performs and this is not the least of them. And the lesson it teaches the disciples is insane. Jesus starts out by asking Philip, "Hey, how are we going to feed these people?" And Philip says, "uh, I don't think we are...'cause we are poor, Jesus." Straight up, we can't afford to feed these peopl

1 Samuel 2:22-4:22 John 5:24-47 Psalm 106:1-12 Proverbs 14:30-31 The story when God calls Samuel in the middle of the night is really exciting. It makes me excited for Samuel and it makes me wish I heard the voice of God like that too! It just seems like such a holy and profound moment and how significant that was in Samuel's life story. But while I read wishing I would hear the clear voice of God like that I am reminded in the same instance of the fear of God. And the fear o

1 Samuel 1:1-2:21 John 5:1-23 Psalm 105:37-45 Proverbs 14:28-29 It's been 8 days since I've blogged and I feel like I've forgotten how. I stopped blogging because last week I overwhelmed myself with the preparations for a worship night/concert that I put on with a team of my friends last night. I was putting a lot of pressure on myself and I was trying to calm down but it was just really nerve-racking! And it was a lot of hard work! And every night when I got ready to sleep I