Schemer

I am reading the Bible in a year again. I have mentioned this a lot, and I have posted the site which has the plan I am using. It seems to work for me - I would recommend that you give it a try. Here, again, is the site:

http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/readingplans/index.php/today

Now, when I have done this in the past, I have run into days and days where the reading just seems to drag. There are passages in the Old Testament which have long passages given over to detailing the law, and proscribing how people are to live together with their spouses, relatives, friends, neighbors, even enemies. God obviously does take these things seriously, and so should we.

But as I am reading about what you owe a person when you borrow their ox and it falls into a hole and dies, compared to what you owe them if you rent that same animal, and how that is compounded if the owner of said animal is present when the accident takes place... I have to begin to do what I do in my little Chas brain: look at the grand scheme of things. I'm just that way: as I begin to get those glazed eyes and want so much to go do something - anything - else but read about these amazing details, I stick with it. And out of it comes a big picture, a 'grand scheme.' That is: God loves us, and really wants us to get along with each other.

I have had friends and relatives who were into rock collecting. They would pick up seemingly worthless stones, take them home and set up their special saw to cut them in half. It can take hours for the machine to cut through to find out what you have. In some cases, they get two worthless stones out of one. But in other cases they have a geode, which contains crystal structure of stunning beauty. So it goes with God's word: you need to dig in to find the things of worth. So if you are with me in reading the Bible through this year, stick with it. Look for the Grand Scheme - and expect the unexpected.

OH - I almost forgot: some of those stones which ended up not being pretty on the inside got tossed into the polisher. This was a machine which tumbled them with other rocks and sand. You set it and forget it, and come back in days, even weeks to see what the progress is. Some of the ugliest stones can turn into the most beautiful things when they are polished up. And they get that way simply by rubbing up against the other stones amidst the grit and grime of the tumbler. Sort of like our lives, if you think about it...