From the backseat

I spent EIGHT FULL DAYS in the backseat of the Buick and such an experience is definitely not one to be tossed away and forgotten without at least a small blog post commemorating it. Indeed the long hours of repositioning for comfort, teasing the guys in the front, rocking out with Jess in the back, digging around for lost phones or iPods or treats or what have you, cannot be treated as some lousy old bag of potato chips, crumpled up and thrown in the waste basket, considered useless and undeserving of further contemplation. Truly, they were important hours of my life full of laughter, sleep, music, and, yes, learning how to have patience and deal with people in such close quarters for so long.

Interestingly, the poor fellows up front were forced to be entertained by my iPod of Jess's most of the time as theirs were too new for our radio transmitter ma-bob.They were very well cultured in pop/rock from Jessica and everything else from me. :) As some of you may know, I like pretty much EVERY genre of music and so over two hours, shuffling my 1400 songs gives you quite the mix! Everything from a cappella groups to Skillet to unique French styles to Michael Buble to Switchfoot to country to Lecrae to Jack Johnson and more! We took great joy in driving them a little bonkers with our enthusiasm and obnoxious singing. Also, they were introduced to my random skipping through songs which I'm sure they appreciated.

I was also in charge of the cooler and snacks within as it resided quite happily at my feet all this time (which greatly limited my sitting/sleep positions). We had made almost 200 Oreo truffles (ended up with about 40 left over), a couple dozen Scotcheroos, a bucket of gingersnaps, and a bag of double chocolate cookies. We also had apples, carrots, chips and drinks to consume along the way. Me thinks we made far too much food for ourselves because we were quite sick of it all by the end and didn't even finish it!

We had some very amusing moments in the car. We all traded easy-going jabs at each other and spent many hours laughing hysterically. One hilarious instance was when we played a prank on Josh. We were sitting at a gas station and Jess is like, "we should totally prank him when he comes back!" so we decided to throw crackers on his sit just before he sat down. Derrick was armed with the three Ritz crackers and as Josh went to sit down, he casually chucked them onto the seat. At the CRRRRRRUNCH!!! we all burst into hysterics, Jess and I practically rolling around in the back seat. Another rather amusing ride included making up stories sentence by sentence as each person took a turn adding to it. Here's an example:

One day Prince Derrick went out fishing. He caught a 50 inch trout. It ate him. So he was swimming around in the stomach acid for awhile. Then he used his amazing physics skills to turn the chemicals into a bomb and blow himself out. He sat rather happily in the fish guts on the beach. Suddenly a beautiful princess named Analea came by. It was love at first sight... when Prince Derrick saw the cracker in her hand. Analea left Derrick and the cracker to be alone with each other and walked off down the beach.

The rest were equally ridiculous but occupied us for about 20 minutes. 

As the hours dragged on, I would alternate between trying to sleep and watching my surroundings. From my position in the backseat I would stare out at my surroundings, unimpressed for the most part by these flat states. Seriously, from the desolate wasteland of southern Wyoming to the dried cornfields of Indiana, to the dead, brown fields of Nebraska, this part of the country is really rather dull. Kentucky was rather beautiful as well as southern Missouri. The fall colours in the trees were stunning. Other than that though, the flat flat flatness of everything was just so bizarre to me and odd to my senses. How I missed seeing even a distant mountain range! I really don't know how people do it!

It was altogether a very interesting trip both in the car and out. I definitely had a blast chillin' in my seat but... if I ever see the inside of the Buick again...it'll be TOO soon!

They believed what????

So I have been researching a lot lately for the Ancient Man book and come across everything from the fascinating to the disturbing to the creepy-McCreeps! From diabolical religious practices to uncanny resemblances to the Bible these ancient religions and myths I've been studying are constantly throwing me for a loop.

Check out this excerpt from an ancient Hindi manuscript:

Let us meditate on God, His glorious attributes, who is the basis of everything in this universes as its Creator, who is fit to be worshiped as Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniscient and self existent conscious being, who removes all ignorance and impurities from the mind and purifies and sharpens the intellect

I cannot help but be astounded by this description of a god so similar to the One true God! Hinduism does not currently recognize a single concept of god but more the supreme god manifests himself in many ways. Seeing this knowledge of the true attributes of God in ancient religions really gets you thinking.

Or this ancient Egyptian hymn to Amen-Ra:

Adoration be to Thee, O Maker of the gods, who hast stretched out the heavens and founded the earth!...Lord of eternity, maker of the everlastingness...creator of light...He heareth the prayer  of the oppressed one, he is kind of heart to him that calleth upon him, he delivereth the timid man from the oppressor

I am reminded of the Psalms:

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me of my distress; be gracious to me and hear my prayer - Psalm 4:1

Even the gruesome human sacrifices of the Aztec people have the roots in the misinterpretation of some interesting spiritual allegories:

My well loved and tender son...know and understand that thy house is not here...This house wherein thou art born is but a nest, an inn at which thou has arrived, thy entry into this world; here dost thou bud and flower...thy true home is another

I am reminded that God calls us to live in this world but our true home is with Him:

If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. - John 15:19

For our citizenship is in heaven... - Philippians 3:20 

Another tradition from Teotihuacan (ancient Aztec city) states:

When we die, truly we die not because we will live, we will rise, we will continue living, we will awaken...

 This seems to come back to the concept of eternal life after death which we are promised through the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain - Philippians 1:21

For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord - Romans 6:23 

Somehow these ancient religions knew something of the truth. Of course, this study of ancient man gives a lot of evidence as to this fact. The book we are writing clearly outlines how Noah would have handed down the truths of God to his children and their children and so on but as the generations go on, things are bound to become distorted. Especially with the rebellion at Babel and the subsequent dispersion of peoples around the globe. It would be impossible for the truth to remain intact without divine intervention as God did with the nation of Israel. Even then, that chosen nation fell into sin and rebellion of God. However it is still awe-inspiring that the most obscure religion, the most diabolical, the most bizarre, has some concept of the truth. For truly, there is nothing new under the sun and as Pastor Don teaches at the Bible College, "Satan can't create, he can only pervert". Indeed Satan has avidly perverted God's message to the nations but there is still some truth left. It brings to mind the verse in Acts when Barnabas and Paul spoke to the people at Lystra:

"In the generations gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways; and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness." (14:16-17)

Truly mankind is without excuse yet we continually "suppress the truth in unrighteousness" (Romans 1:18). How great and terrible will be the day God judges the earth for our rebellion.

Just who were you anyways?!?!?

When you think about the Bible, I'm sure there are some popular stories and people that automatically come to mind. People like Adam and Eve, Noah, Jonah, Daniel, David etc. We have lots of information about these people and we feel like we kinda know them but I've been wondering lately about the other people in the Bible, the ones we don't know much about. I want to know them more! Like, you know when you talk about heaven and seeing all these people and you get asked who you'd really like to meet? Well, I can't wait to meet the obscure people with only a few verses in the Bible. I mean, they must be important or they wouldn't be in there! And there are so many unfinished stories that I can't wait to hear fleshed out. I'll give you some examples:

Okay, so one I have been wondering about lately (seeing as it is Christmas time) is the wise men. I wonder if they will be in heaven. I mean, they came all that way to see the Savior, they must have believed He existed, so were they saved? If so, I'd love to hear their story! Like, what happened when they got home...where WAS home? Did they have families? Kids? How were their lives effected by seeing Jesus? Did they ever come back and search for Him later? Did they hear what happened?

Along those lines, what about the shepherds? How amazing would that be, to see all those angels, to see baby Jesus, to hear Mary and Joseph's story. I wonder how they lived the rest of their lives.

Another couple people I'd like to know more about would be Enoch and Methuselah. You hear so little about Enoch, but what was it like to "walk with God" and then suddenly he "was not". What a crazy life story! And Methuselah, wonder what he did all those years in his super long life!

And then there are the judges. Some of them we are given more information about but really, on the whole, we don't know much about them and I'd love to hear their life stories. For instance, Shamgar who as like one verse: "And after him (Ehud) came Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad; and he also saved Israel" Judges 3:31. Like...WHAAAT!?!? an oxgoad? really? Dude! I wanna know more!

And I'd like to know more about Boaz. What did they guy do before he met Ruth? How come he was like such a nice guy, during the brutal era of the Judges. What was their life like together?

And what about David's "mighty men"? How cool would it be to meet them!?!?

I'd also like to talk to all the people who were healed by Jesus. What must it have been like to be miraculously healed, by the Savior? To have faith and know that your daughter or servant has been given life, to see your friend raised from the dead, to walk again, to see, to be healed of leprosy, to be freed from the grasp of a demon. What about the little children that sat on His knee and were blessed. How did they live their lives?

Similarly, what about the one scribe who asks about the greatest commandment and "answered intelligently" (Mark 12:34)? Jesus said he was not far from the kingdom - did he make it? Did he believe?

And all the disciples that went out and preached and we don't have their stories, their testimonies. I can't wait to hear what happened to them, how they saw the Spirit work in other people's lives in those first years of the church.

I could go on forever probably. All these people that I want to meet and talk to, and one day, God willing, I will! It's weird how I feel this odd connection with them, though I don't know them, I know that we are family. Christ's family is vast and wonderful to be a part of. How blessed am I that God would choose me, that I have been saved and have become part of this family. Praise the Lord for His grace and love!