As I was reading these and thinking about how God truly is the giver of all life, I then read to story of Abraham and Isaac. For decades longer than most of us will ever live, Sarah was barren. Then God promised her a son, and Isaac was born. But then, God tells Abraham that he wants him to sacrifice this son-- the only son, whose life brought fulfillment after so many years of emptiness. But as we all know the story goes, Abraham remained faithful to God and God spared his son's life.

So where am I going with all of this? You may not quite be tracking, but it all makes sense to me, I promise. :-) Like I said, it may seem elementary, but for me, this has taken on a deeper meaning. Perhaps it is because I am living a part of these women's stories. To be barren for so long, can you even begin to imagine the humble awe that Sarah and Abraham felt towards God when they realized she had a life growing inside of her? Can you imagine so many years of trying to conceive on their own, but then when it seemed the least likely, and they had given up all hope, the Creator of the Universe intervened and openend her womb? We then read the story of Abraham and Isaac and think that it must have been even more difficult for Abraham to make the sacrifice because of the years it took to have Isaac. But now, reading all of this in context, and really thinking about it, perhaps Abraham had a much better grasp on the Giver of Life because of those years of struggle. Perhaps the trials it took to bear his son helped him to realize where his son's life truly belonged-- in the hands of God. And not that it was any easier for him to make that journey to the place of sacrifice, but maybe he understood the Source of life, the bigger picture to it all, a little more than most.

Whew! Ok, that was a little heavy. I promise to have a happier post tomorrow. Hopefully. :-)

Oh-PS! I almost forgot! Bob Sjogren, author of Cat and Dog Theology is going to be speaking at our church again this weekend. And I am soooooo excited about what he's preaching on... he is preaching through the entire Bible. That's right... Genesis to Revelation. He'll be doing the same sermon in all 3 weekend services (Sat night & Sun am), then there will be two additional sessions on Sunday afternoon that will take us through the rest of the Bible. I am so excited about how this will kind of be a neat introduction to the rest of my B90X readings! So if you're around Fresno this weekend, you should definitely stop by! Its going to be great!

Its really simple: read the Bible in 90 days. Yep. The WHOLE THING. In 90 days. I've been in churches that have challenged us to read through the Bible in a year, but c'mon... we all know a lot can happen in a year. And try remembering on December 31, 2009 what you read on January 1 of the same year. Not so easy to do. The challenges are put out to congregations, but then a year later, the completion of this "Read Thru the Bible In A Year" is an afterthought. Its either not mentioned at all, or a "GREAT JOB!" is put as a one-liner in the already loaded bulletin.

But 90 days? That's pretty crazy. But 90 days? I can commit to that. A year? That's a long time to do the same thing every day. But 90 days? I think I can do that.

Pastor Steven Furtick (whose church I've written about on several occasions--they're doing awesome stuff there! Check out some of his sermons here) has challenged his whole staff (and their wives-- LOVE when they get us involed, too! We are a big part of the ministry, too ya know!) to take on the B90X readings. How cool is that? I can only imagine the awesome things that are going to come out of this church's leadership in the next 90 days-- and beyond! They're all on the same page, reading the same Good Words, and keeping each other accountable to doing those readings.

So.... I'm gonna do it. Just jump right in. However, seeing that I'm already a week behind, I'm going to alter the schedule a little bit. I think I'll start this Saturday, the 15th. Good round number. I'll post my new schedule when I am finished making it. I may even make a separate link up top to follow it. But here is the Elevation church's B90X schedule. If you decide to do it, too, you can follow Pastor Steven on Twitter and post everyday that you read, for accountability's sake. I won't be twittering, but I will be trying to post periodically on here how its going. Leave me a comment and let me know if you're going to be doing this too!