Reading 1 - Meet the Author

 I just read about creation - isn't it beautiful that God has left us with a story on how He created everything?

For several years I taught grade 5 & 6 Sunday School.  Every two years when the topic of creation came up (the curriculum switched back and forth every two years) I challenged my students to "create their own world".  Some created alien planets, sometimes their worlds look much like ours, others were beyond creative and very bizarre.  It was amazing to see the things they created for their own world.  After they finished drawing a picture of their world I had them explain their world to the class.   Most did this by pointing to each thing they'd drawn on the page and explaining WHY they drew it - everything had a purpose in their worlds, they didn't just draw things to add to the paper, they drew it for a reason.

The passage I read today reminded me that God created everything, and has a purpose for it.  He didn't just "plop" something together and wait for something to happen - He had a design, a purpose, an intent.  He made everything for a reason - which makes every flower, stupid mosquito and person very special.

God created me for a reason.
That gives me a lot of peace, but it's also a great responsibility.  I really hope God is proud of me - His creation - and that I'm serving the purpose He created me for.

The Introduction

The Essential Bible Guide
(By) Whitney T. Kuniholm

Introduction
I couldn't wait to start - I grabbed the book off my bosses desk (there's only one in the office as we're working on a Canadian Edition - soon I'll have my own copy and won't have to share it with everyone at SU).

It starts with a glimpse at what we'll be reading (which is great because my biggest question was "which stories will I read?").  My first reaction was "aww man....they picked the good old Sunday School Stories" - Moses, Joseph, Paul...everyone knows these stories.  Being a pastors daughter I was in Sunday School every week plus my mom and dad read to me from "Great Stories of the Bible" each night after dinner and so I feel like I've heard most of the famous Bible stories several times.

Then I read on. I'll be reading about Prophets and their stories, the Judges stories and more.  I'm wondering if there will be something new and exciting in any of these readings.  As I hope for something new to read - I feel silly - seriously, there shouldn't be anything new in the Bible - it's OLD and it hasn't changed. If in my 25 years in church and bible reading I haven't read a story I should be ashamed (though I'm sure there are things I have yet to discover).  Sure, each time I read the Bible I may discover something new that God is trying to share, but to expect a new "exciting" story to surface is rather ridiculous.  (this would be when I blush - something I'm quite good at).

Finally, I'm excited about the format of the book.  First you read the Bible passages and then look deeper and try to understand why God wanted to include that story in the Bible and how it can apply to your own life.  It's not trying to find a bible verse or story that will support a point the author hopes to make, no, the author has taken the time to read the Bible and tried to uncover why God wants to share this story with us (or at least this is what I'm expecting, I still haven't read any of the "readings" yet).  It sounds so obvious - of course a devotional book would turn to the Bible and try to pull out truth from there...but many devotional guides I've seen lately do the opposite - they share their own ideas and try to find a Bible verse to support that.  The best devotional books I've used always start with the Bible and then help me understand great truths from it (I once read through the entire book of Joshua with a devotional guide.  Some days I would read a passage and wonder how the author could possibly find a truth in it - ex: the time when Joshua had his entire army circumcised.  Yet this author was wise and insightful and God blessed me through that very passage - I will never forget that "random" story)

p.s. this blog thing is new for me and I'm not completely comfortable yet with sharing my thoughts and opinions for a whole group of strangers to read.  I don't pretend for a moment that I know everything and I never intend to declare my opinion to be right or better than others.  I also never want to offend or hurt anyone.  I just want to share with you what I think as I read through the Essential Bible Guide and hope it will encourage you to take up the challenge and share it with others. 

What is E100?

To tell you the truth I'm not 100% sure what it is.  I know that it's 100 key stories from the Bible (50 from the Old Testament and 50 from the New Testament). It's goal is to give a big picture of the Bible and help to develop a routine of reading the Bible regularly.  That's about all I know at this point.

I'm curious about what stories it contains.  I remember my mom (Cindy)
took her Youth Sunday School class on a journey through the Bible - she called it "Bible Boot Camp". She shared with the class all the stories in the first three books of the Bible - we were stunned sometimes by the brutality, beauty or intensity of many stories.  There's so much good stuff in God's Word and we don't even know about them all - it's sad really.  I'm eager to get started (though I'm one of those people who gets really excited to start something and then gets distracted by something new - so it will take discipline).


I hope my blog will inspire you to take your own journey with E100.