I received The Message version of the Bible about five years (and two kids) ago as a gift from my mom at Christmas. I wanted to just pick up the Bible and read it like I read books. I wanted to get lost in the narratives and read the letters with the expectancy and reverence the early church must have had when a new letter from Paul circulated into their gatherings.
What I did was put the Message version on my living room shelf. I would pick it up when referencing a verse from time to time. But with every child born, my quiet times were few and far between. Then my mom fell and died and Jesus met me again in a whole new way.
Jesus is real my friends.
Just as real as that coffee you’re sipping right now. (Or am I the only coffee addict?)
Then I started writing for HomeFront Magazine and that was cool because my job was to write about Jesus. (Really really cool. Amazing. And a dream come true.)
AND now I homeschool, so I have more time to be in the word and write.
I wanted to challenge myself with just reading through the Bible. No time frame… I mean, I read a novel a week, so technically I could read the whole Bible very quickly. I thought of trying the One Year Bible (again). I think the One Year Bible is great! But I wanted to read through a whole book at a time, instead of jumping around.
So far, things are going so well, so I’ve decided to record what I’m learning!
Take you Bible off the shelf and let’s get lost in this great book together!
Introduction
(I couldn’t find the book introductions on the internet. For those of you who don’t own The Message version in print, you can buy it here
I chose to go through the gospel of Mark first because of the introduction.
The introduction of Mark says, “Mark wastes no time in getting down to business.“
Yep, that sounds good to me… I don’t have time to waste.
It goes on to say, ”There’s an air of breathless excitement in nearly every sentence he (Mark) writes. The sooner we get the message, the better off we’ll be, for the message is good, incredibly good: God is here, and he’s on our side.”
As a mom of small children I can get so involved with caretaking (aka, cutting apples and wiping butts) that I forget God is here. He is with me now, right now! Even better than that,
He is on my side.
When I’m filled with frustration at the end of a long day and Tess drops a whole bag of graham crackers on our dark wood floors then stomps them in to a trillion little pieces.
God is here, and on my side.
When Cy runs to the opposite side of the grocery store screaming and I’m getting judgmental stares from the people around me as I try to make an extremely embarrassed quick exit.
God is here, and on my side.
When Eli feels defeated and stupid during our reading lesson and nothing I say seems to get through or encourage him,
God is here, and on my side.
Take a second to let that sink in. Pray in your weak, frustrated, angry, or embarrassed moments that you would hear the gentle whisper from God saying, “I am here and on your side.”
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