Come to the water...

So, I decided a couple days ago that I really need to work on my personal faith life more than I have been. Working in a church can be a challenge in that respect - it is easy to feel like you're getting your fill of faith when you're inside the walls of a church the bulk of your day - but sometimes I think it's the opposite - we spend so much time "doing" church that we forget to experience it.

Now, for a tangent - I was over at a friend's house the other day and told them a random fact about me - for the last, oh, at least six years, I have a habit of seeing the numbers 1234 together...whether it's the time on a clock, a score on a scoreboard, a price, those stickers that come on clocks before you buy them with a pre printed time, getting phone calls and e-mails at that time...etc. For instance, I was buying some books online today, and this particular site offers a discount on certain books when you buy others - and one of the books was available for the lovely price of $12.34. So I bought it...figuring maybe there's a reason I noticed that.

...so, to return to my point...I decided one way of adding a little more Bible study in a fun way back to my daily routine, I'd start at the beginning of the Bible and look up a few 12:34 verses each day - turns out Genesis doesn't have one, but Exodus does, so that's where I'm starting.

I'll post some thoughts here each day when I do them along with other random thoughts that might be going through my head. Enjoy.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Exodus 12:34 - "So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls wrapped up in their cloaks on their shoulders."

- This verse appears immediately following Pharaoh's command for the Israelites to leave Egypt, after the plague of the firstborn has occurred. Everyone seems to be in a bit of a frenzy here...the Egyptians because many of them have just lost their firstborn children, the Israelites because suddenly they were free from the Egyptians - after 430 years of bondage. The Israelites left quickly - so quickly, in fact, that they had to take their dough before it had risen - they literally picked up and left.

I can't imagine what must have been going through the Israelite's heads...disbelief, amazement, gratefulness, confusion. Not only were they finally free of their oppressors, but they were also allowed to plunder the Egyptians before they left, taking gold and silver and other trinkets.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

1 Chronicles 12:34 - "Of Naphtali, a thousand commanders, with who there were thirty-seven thousand armed with shield and spear."

Part of David's army, who came to Hebron to help turn the kingdom of Saul over to him. Not sure what to make of this one yet...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Ezra 12:34 - "Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah,"

Folks who were at the dedication of the city wall in Jerusalem. Again, more on this later.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Matthew 12:34 - "You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."

The abundance of the heart. This one might need some more thought - the first direction my mind went is an interesting one - what fills our hearts and causes them to have the abundance of one thing or another?

I wonder about kids sometimes these days, and how difficult their lives seem to be. I can think of a handful in my own youth group that are consistently "exceedingly boisterous" - and give those who lead them in things like confirmation a run for their money. However, get one of them alone for a few minutes, away from influences and others to impress...and suddenly you see another side of them...someone who can carry on a conversation, someone who simply wants to be heard...or better yet, listened to.

What is filling them at home? I don't know most of their families, at least not well. I don't know them well enough to know what they are being filled with, or what they are allowing themselves to be filled with (the two are very different - some parents try again and again to break through the tough shells of some kids, and just haven't found the right tool to do so) - very different from a parent who is distant, a parent who is absent, or a parent who is there...but may be abusive, or simply unable to offer the care and love that is needed for one reason or another.

"Out of the abundance of your heart the mouth speaks..." - Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees here - speaking to them in a parable about a tree being known by its fruit - clearly a bad tree cannot produce good fruit, it will produce bad fruit. He continues to tell them that one day they will have to account for all that they have done - that they will either be condemned or justified by their words.

We know that by grace we are saved from our own shortcomings...but can a person whose heart is full of evil, of pain, of anger, or of hopelessness fully understand that grace? If our heart's abundance is one of these things, can we feel God's grace?

I ask this question because I think hearts that understand and are full of the Grace of God are the ones that speak love and good deeds - after all, how can someone who has seen death and come back from it not know the glory that life holds? We have been rescued from our own condemnation, and lived to tell the tale!! We want to tell about it! We want to share it! We want others to understand...

...more later...I need more time to process....