Saul(s)

Last night I finished up the book of Numbers (and BOY, are there a lot of numbers in that one!) in my Read the Bible in a year plan. I spent most of this past month at least a day behind (sometimes TWO days behind!) but last night I read two day's worth so I finished Numbers on the right date. No particular reason to do that, except that it helped me catch up to where I was "supposed" to be! It's funny... I really do sense that reading a little bit of the Word every night has subtly changed the way I see the world around me. Even when I'm reading half-awake and I'm not sure I'm retaining what I'm reading. Even when the chapter is dull and repetitive and seems like just a long list of names of people who are not mentioned anywhere else, either in the Bible or in non-Bible history. Even chapters like Numbers 7, which so far is the most boring chapter I've run across! (There's so little to say about it that it may be the only page in my ESV Study Bible with no commentary notes on it!) I suspect that it's partly because of the knowledge and the content that I'm receiving from the Word, and partly because I've made a commitment to take it in every day. I think God sees and honors it when we make a commitment to Him and do our best to fulfill it, even when we get two days behind and have to catch up. :)

I got a newsletter email from Christian parody band ApologetiX; lead singer J. Jackson is a HUGE proponent of reading through the Bible, and he's done it himself many times. His daughter is doing it now as well, and she and he had an interesting discussion about King Saul in the Old Testament and Saul of Tarsus in the New Testament. It's a fun read; take a look!