In love with Stephanie Plum

Someone a long time ago told me that I reminded them of Stephanie Plum. When I gave them a blank stare, they replied, "You know, from the books?"

Nope, no clue.

Well that's all changed. A couple of weeks ago I was at Target looking for something to help me with my "read a book a week" annual challenge and I was tired of the artsy fartsy literary Oprah books, so I snooped around the cheap serial novels and saw a wall of bright colored numbered books by Janet Evanovich.

That's when I met Stephanie Plum.

And I admit. I'm addicted.

In the past month I've read five of them. And OK, I can see where you might see a resemblence.

Bible in a year UPDATE

If you've been missing the daily Bible readings that's because they're being posted over on my Gospel Soundcheck blog.

You can find the Bible in a Year archives over there. And if you subscribe to Gospel Soundcheck by email you can have the daily Bible readings, along with the Gospel Soundcheck headlings, delivered daily to your email inbox.

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Bible in a Year: January 18, 2010

Here are the readings for January 18, 2010

Genesis 35:1-36:43
Psalm 9:6-10
Proverbs 3:27-30
Matthew 12:22-50



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Bible in a Year: January 17, 2010

Here are the readings for January 17, 2010

Genesis 33:1-34:31
Psalm 9:1-5
Proverbs 3:21-26
Matthew 12:1-21



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Bible in a Year: January 16, 2010

Here are the readings for January 16, 2010

Genesis 31:1-32:32
Psalm 8:6-9
Proverbs 3:19,20
Matthew 11:1-30



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Bible in a Year: January 15, 2010

Here are the readings for January 15, 2010

Genesis 29:1-30:43
Psalm 8:1-5
Proverbs 3:13-18
Matthew 10:21-42



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Bible in a Year: January 14, 2010

Here are the readings for January 14, 2010

Genesis 27:1-28:22
Psalm 7:9-17
Proverbs 3:11,12
Matthew 10:1-20


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Bible in a Year: January 13, 2010

Here are the readings for January 13, 2010

Genesis 25:1-26:35
Psalm 7:6-8
Proverbs 3:9,10
Matthew 9:18-38



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Bible in a Year: January 12, 2010

Here are the readings for January 12, 2010

Genesis 23:1-24:67
Psalm 7:1-5
Proverbs 3:7,8
Matthew 9:1-17


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Bible in a Year: January 11, 2010

Here are the readings for January 11, 2010

Genesis 21:1-22:24
Psalms6:6-10
Proverbs 3:5,6
Matthew 8:18-34



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Bible in a Year: January 10, 2010

Here are the readings for January 10, 2010

Genesis 19:1-20:18
Psalm 6:1-5
Proverbs 3:1-4
Matthew 8:1-7



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Bible in a Year: January 9, 2010

Here are the readings for January 9:

Genesis 17:1-18:33
Psalm 58-12
Proverbs 2:10-22
Matthew 7:1-29



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Here's the daily Bible reading for January 8:

Genesis 15:1-16:16
Psalm 5:1-7
Proverbs 2:6-9
Matthew 6:19-34


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Bible in a year: January 7, 2010

January 7 readings:

Gen 13:1-14:24
Psalm 4:4-8
Prov 2:1-5
Matthew 6:1-18



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Bible in a year: January 6, 2010

January 6 readings:

Gen 11:1-12:20
Psalm 4:1-3
Prov 1:28-33
Matthew 5:27-48



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Bible in a year: January 5, 2010

January 5 readings:

Gen 9:1-10:32
Psalm 3:5-8
Prov 1:23-27
Matthew 5:1-26

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Bible in a year: January 4, 2010

January 4 readings:

Gen 7:1-8:22
Psalm 3:1-4
Prov 1:20-22
Matthew 4:1-25

I don't know that I ever really noticed this promise from God before:

Genesis 8:22:
"While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease."

Matthew 4:2 - Sometimes I love the simplicity of the Bible. Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights and "afterward He was hungry." I want to say ... errr ... duh? (Hmmm, is it coincidence that our OT reading today was about another event lasting 40 days and nights? Isn't the Bible interesting that way?)

So here's another thing: the tempter (ie: Satan?) came to Jesus when he was hungry. Which I believe means I have permission to eat whenever I am hungry so as to ward of temptation. I mean, really. When I'm hungry I am cranky and spacey and not in any state to stand up to anything, including Pop Tarts. How Jesus, being hungry, was able to withstand the devil always astounds me. I would have just shoved him off the cliff and went to find a Tim Hortons.

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Bible in a year: Genesis 5 Adam's geneology

These are the things that I get hung up on when I read the Bible:

Genesis 5 lists Adam's geneology; the years everyone was born and how long they lived are all listed, which I figure allows me to calculate the birth and death dates for everyone from Adam to Noah.

I'm no math expert, believe me, so feel free to check and correct me on this. But if Adam is born in year 0, and if he lived 130 and begat Seth, that makes Seth's birthday year 130; Adam lived a total of 930 years, so he died in year 930.

Seth, born in year 130, lived 105 years and begat Enosh, making Enosh's birthday 235 (130 + 105). Seth lived a total of 912 years, so he died in 1042.

And on and on. So here's what I got:

Adam 0 - 930
Seth 105 - 1042
Enosh 235 - 1140
Cainan 325- 1235
Mahalalel 395-1280
Jared 460 - 1422
Enoch 622 - 987 (he didn't die, but was "no more" and walked with God)
Methuselah 687-1656
Lamech 874 - 1651
Noah 1056 - 2006

The bible says the flood occured in Noah's 600th year, or in the year 1656.

Soooo ... think about this:

When Lamech was born, Adam was still alive. In fact, when Adam died Lamech would have been 56 - right? Check my math, LOL.

Also, when the flood hit in what is essentially the year 1656 after creation, Methuselah was still alive. Did he die before the flood? In the flood?

I tend to read the bible in compartments, and then close the door completely on the story once I've moved on. Adam and Eve? Once we get past Cain and Abel, to me they're gone. But really, Adam at least was around for a long time after. I mean, that's pretty interesting.

Well, it is to me anyway!

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Bible in a year: January 3, 2010

January 3 readings:

Gen 5:1-6:22
Psalm 2:7-12
Prov 1:10-19
Matthew 3:1-17

One of my daughter's friends was having an in depth discussion about aliens or the nephilim, where in Genesis 6:1-4 it talks about the sons of God mating with daughters of men, and the giants that walked the earth. I wish I knew more about this. We tend to think of Biblical times in relation to our own experiences. We don't have giants, but who knows that there weren't really GIANTS back then? Were the giants the result of the pairing of sons of God and daughters of men?

See, the Bible isn't as boring as we think? Mystery after mystery abounds!

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Bible in a year: January 2, 2010

Today's readings:
Gen. 3:1-4:26
Psalm 2:1-6
Proverbs 18,9
Matthew 2:1-23

OK, so here's something I've been thinking about. We talk a lot about how the serpent decieved Eve.

But in Genesis 3:5, he tells her that if she eats from the tree she'll know good and evil, like God. Which is actually true. And when he tells her that she won't die, that's also true, because when she does eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, she doesn't die. Not literally, anyway. I think God meant a spiritual death.

So did the serpent actually lie? Or did he use truth to tempt Eve to do something she wasn't supposed to do? And do we sometimes spend too much time looking for lies instead of seeing truth distorted?

Also, we teach kids that Adam and Eve were punished and banished from the Garden of Eden. But that's now how I read it. I think once the couple ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and in fact knew good and evil as God did, God didn't want them then to eat from the tree of eternal life and spend eternity in a state of spiritual death separated from God. He punished them, yes, with hard labor - in the fields and in childbirth; who got the worse end of that is up for debate - but kicking them out and setting guards was God's way of protected them from doing anything that would cost them eternity.

In other words, he kicked them out because he loved them.

So what did today's readings say to you?

And by the way, don't get too used to daily updates, LOL. I'm reading every day, I promise, but I may not comment. I will, however, put the readings up so they post automatically so you can still comment and share your thoughts!

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Bible in a year: January 1, 2010

The OT reading today is from Genesis, and of course begins the story of man, God and creation. A couple of really random things jumped out at me this morning:

Genesis 1:11 is a great case for non-genetically engineered seeds and food. I mean, God created plants and grasses and fruits to create a seed that creates more if its own kind. With the advent of companies like ConAgra and Archer Daniels Midland and their patents on the DNA of genetically modified corn and soybean, man has basically set up a system whereby corporations actually own the ability to produce those products. If you're not one of their farms, you can't have the seed, and if you are one of their farms and keep seed, you get sued.

I think when God created the earth and all that was in it, he did so so that man would have everything he needed to live. That farmers can't actually grow corn with seed they can own is just craziness. (For more about this, watch the movie "Food Inc." or read Michael Pollen's books "An Omnivore's Dilemma" or "In Defense of Food".)

The other thing that struck me was Genesis 2:5-6. Basically, in the beginning, the earth was one big terrarium. Cool, eh? It doesn't seem like that would work, but my brother-in-law and his girlfriend were telling me about something they bought for one of the nephews for Christmas, a tree frog ecosystem. It's a self-contained ecosystem that provided everything for these tree frogs to live; only once a year do you have to add anything to it. I thought that was fascinating, and proof that, indeed, God really could have created a perfect earth where man could have everything needed for live and live for eternity.

The nephews probably would have loved the ecosystem, had they actually gotten to see it. Before my brother-in-law and his girlfriend could give it to them, their cat tipped it over, crashed the terrarium and ate at least one frog - kind of the same way that sin entered the perfect world God created and completely turned everything upside down. (Hmm, maybe Satan was really a domestic short hair cat and not a serpent ...)

One thing to keep in mind as you read through the year is that God may prompt you to think about things that seemingly have little to do with the Bible. Remember, those might be just for you and not for everyone else. Farming? Yeah, it's random. But over the last year I've been increasingly interested in where my food comes from, how we can sustain our own food supply without relying on China and other foreign countries. So it's not unusual that God might teach me something that he's not teaching you.

That's why it's so important to not read familiar stories thinking you know everything God is saying.

Genesis 2:17 - one of the things that people miss is that there were TWO trees in the garden of Eden, the tree of knowledge and the tree of good and evil. That'll be important later.

Other readings for today:
Psalm 1:1-6
Proverbs1:1-7
Matthew 1:-25

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