First a Short Commercial and the The Real Stuff on My Mind

A little over a year ago, we purchased our first "smart" phones, a blackberry.  I LOVE it, especially having my calendar with me all the time.  Shortly after we got them, a friend sent us an application called YouVersion.  I had never heard of it but was interested when he said it was one of the Bible apps for Blackberries (it is also available for iPhones and they are working on other smart phones.  Check out their website).  And better yet, it is a free app.  In the past two months it has become one of my favorite apps and here's why:  About 2 weeks into January, I decided that I was really going to put forth the effort to read the Bible through this year.  Several times in the past I've started, but made it through to Chronicles and then ashamedly, got bored, behind, ran out of time, etc.  OK, so this year was going to be different, I decided.  This December I will be 40 (ARGH) and I am ashamed to admit that I have never read the Bible through in its entirety.  Whoa, load off my chest, there.  I don't want say it is one of those "bucket list" things, but for some reason this year it is especially important to me.  So, back to my commercial...Around Feb 1, YouVersion came out with something new...a trackable Bible reading program.  This, I thought, was for me.  I went to the website, http://www.youversion.com/ and started checking it out. Not only did they have one Bible reading plan, they had about 20.  I was blown away!  I could choose to read the Bible chronologically, as it is, the New Testament in 30 days, the Old Testament in 2 years, an evangelical look at the OT, etc.  I ended up choosing the Roberts Daily Plan.  It is designed to take me through the Bible in 1 year.  Everyday I have some selections to read from the OT and the NT.  At first, I thought, "Oh, well, this will be like the One Year Bible, the one I have tried so many times in the past and failed."  Nope.  Not so far.  In fact, I'm ahead.  So far I've read Genesis, Exodus, part of Psalms, Matthew, Romans, Mark and 1 Corinthians.  Not exactly the same, but similar and I find myself putting things together for the first time with this layout.  So, now for the reasons I am so in love with this app.
1.  It keeps track of my progress for me.  It saves it and when I pull it up on my Blackberry, it takes me to right where I left off.  And on the website, it tells me what percentage of the Bible I have completed.
2.  I can choose the version I want to read...and change it anytime I want to.  If I read a passage I don't quite "get", I'll switch to The Message version and read it there. Plus, it has an amazing search feature.
3.  I can take it anywhere.  That's right, anywhere.  Where my phone goes, my Bible goes.  LOVE IT!  After all, how many of us carry our Bibles with us everywhere we go.  Now I can say I do.  I've read in the car (not while driving), in numerous waiting rooms, in bed, and countless other places.
4.  There are no subheadings.  At first I didn't really pay attention to this feature and have now realized how much I like it.  When reading my "paper Bible", I would find myself glancing at the subheading and then think, "Oh, I know this passage...I'll just skim it."  It is amazing what I have read for the first time because of not having subheadings.  No more jumping ahead or skimming.  I have to READ it.

So, like I said, I'm ahead...almost a month ahead...and yes, I'm proud of that.  After all, I will be having a baby mid July and things will become very busy after that. 

If you have a "smart phone", I highly recommend this app.  That's the end of the commercial.  Now on to the real stuff...

Earlier I mentioned reading things for the first time.  Here is the first one that really caught my attention and made me think as well as some of the thoughts I have had all started by this one passage:

Genesis 2:19 "Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air." 

God made the animals and bird out of the ground. WHAT???  I thought only Adam was made from the ground.  How many times have I read the creation story and read that on the 5th day God created the birds and fish and on the 6th day God created man and animals.  WHAT???  How did I miss this??? Oh, wait....I know.  Those pesky subheadings...and oh, the thoughts that followed this one tiny revelation...

Sidenote: I've noticed this preganacy that I've become more "philosophical", or "thought more".  Whatever the reason, I've been tying things together in my mind and it has been on my heart to do this post for awhile.  You can stop reading or continue to indulge me.

When I realized God made the beasts of the field and birds of the air from "dirt" (please indulge my word choice here), boy did my mind start racing.  I imagined God as the potter (Jer 18:6) picking up the dirt to create clay to form a bird.  A bird.  Hollow bones, tiny feathers, a small beak, the ability to lay eggs, tiny quick-moving eyes.  A bird.  Something so small and intricate crafted by a potter out of clay.  The image of the all-powerful, mighty hands of God so carefully creating a bird.  I imagine his mighty hand (the same one that inscribed the 10 commandements on stone) creating feathers.  WOW!  And then to think God made ALL of the birds AND fish on one day...and then I thought of the scripture "With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." 2 Peter 3:8  God could have taken a thousand years to create all of the birds and fish and carefully crafted each as a potter does.  But then I think of the Mighty and All-Powerful God I know who can, at a whim, rain down sulphur and destory a city (Sodom and Gomorrah), bring devasting plagues on Egypt.  God COULD create everying in a mere 6 days.  Oh, I have so many questions to ask when I get to heaven.

Truly understanding this idea of God as the potter, I thought of David's description of God in Psalms 139:13 "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb."  God, the potter, is knitting my son together in my womb.  His mighty hands are fashioning, much as I imagined He did a bird, my son.  He is creating his eyelashes, his heart, his tiny toes and fingers, his intricate brain...everything needed to make my son.  WOW.  When I really stop and think about this, it moves me to tears (yes, I know I'm pregnant and hormonal).  When I think of all of the friends who are expecting right now and know that God is working in them, knitting together their children, too.  We have an amazing and powerful God, my friends. 

I know God was talking to me through all of this.  How do I know?  These revelations or epiphanies happened the same week I was to have my sonogram to find out the gender of our baby.  Admittedly, I (all 3 of us) were hoping for a girl...a sister for Mia and easy clothes (we already have everything).  I truly believe God put this in front of me and on my heart to prepare me and make me ready for finding out we are having a son.  When we did find out, my first thought was, "Well, that's different.  Not what we were hoping or expecting." followed closely by "Remember, Julie, God is knitting together this child.  Think of the birds being made from dirt.  God cares for this child enough to create him and he chose me to be his mother" (see previous post).  God does work in wonderful and mysterious ways!

And to think...all of these thoughts just based on reading God created the bird and the animals from dirt.  I wonder what else I will discover.