Read a good book Lately?

Have you read a book lately that just comes alive in your hands?

I was recently reading this new book, I found that it wasn't just informing but it was transforming in my heart. These words on a flat page have become a passageway into a living encounter with saints and sinners and with a God who is , was and will ever be.

This text I am reading many have disregarded as a dusty old book, while I have been viewing it as portals to adventure. This book is chocked full of clever plots and compelling stories. It is laced with historical insights and literary beauty. While I have been reading this book, I try to put myself in their context. I think as if I am walking aside the men in their life story. Climbing scenic mountains in distant lands, walking through valleys with castles holding up the sunsets. Each palace containing too many bedrooms and banquet halls to count. Secret corridors and underground passages, trapdoors and dungeons each allowing narrow escapes. These adventures change with every page.

I so want everyone to read it as I am experiencing Kings and Queens, scribes and poets, each sharing their courage and faith, as if I can hear the words they are speaking from their mouths and hearts. With every encounter, I learn something new about their life journeys, their mistakes, their triumphs and their joys.

Some of the encounters are downright despicable and shocking; a father offering his daughters to be raped and a woman who nails a man's head to the floor. Other stories are completely astounding: men wrestling bears and lions, women and children who save nations, and this one unforgettable man, who walked from life into death...and back again.

The more and more I spend in this book, in this ancient land, the more I notice each person's story and how it relates to my life. Even more unexpectedly found is the greatest story in this book. This literary, historical writing becomes not so much as a record of humanities quest for God, but it is a book with a revelation of God's quest for us.

God's glory is revealed along side of his unabashed love for humanity. Incredibly, in one story you can hear the anger in God's voice as He is speaking to the characters in a loud raspy yell and in others, he is speaking words of comfort in a gentle whisper. With each turning page I feel an infusion of the Spirit. The chapters enlighten my heart, reminding me of what an incredible book I have been given.

Our pilgrimage begins this week. I am inviting each of you to begin this "book" anew with me. I am sure you already own it, as I saw that smirk on your face as you figured it out in the first paragraph, but you couldn't stop reading.

I plan on beginning this trek hiking up the Everest of stories with the book of Genesis. We have 66 biblical mountain tops to conquer, so I am asking,

"How many of you want to go on an adventure with me?" I plan on reading a new book of the bible each week and I am asking you to come along for the ride. I will be writing/blogging/twittering out my thoughts and I would also love to discuss the new insights you are discovering as we go along. We can discuss this online or in person. Each calendar week we will move to the next biblical book until 66 weeks from now, where we will plant the flag in the proverbial zenith of Revelation.

On your mark....

get set...

Go!

You can link with me through Hanover Lutheran church on Facebook