I learned a few things this evening.

I have a customer (at the bank) whom I also had the pleasure of regularly serving while I was working as a waiter at my previous job. I had always found him intriguing. He would come in alone, order 1/2 sandwich and soup. He would try whatever desert we had on special, and he would always be good for a short conversation. He encouraged me to pursue working in a field that would help people. Before he was retired he worked many places but his favorite was working as a counselor of troubled children. He remembers that as the most rewarding job he ever had, "working one on one with these kids, going home feeling like you made a difference in someone’s life." Anyhow, I asked my 90 year old friend out to dinner, my treat. This was about a month ago. I have seen him a few times since and he has been having some hip problems, so our meeting was continually delayed. Last week he told me he would call and sure enough he did. We met for dinner tonight at the old restaurant, this time I joined him. I enjoy sitting down with reflective people, usually those who have journeyed a bit longer than I have. I enjoy asking them questions, hearing stories, and soaking up wisdom. I am fond of people who grow old with grace.

I took many things away from the time we spent. The most profound was the value of the love of a father. He told many stories about his father and how though he wasn't a perfect man; he was a kind giving person. I could see the love that this man had for his father. It was still much a part of his life. "After my mother and him split, I went to live with him, and I am thankful that I did. It was just me and him, he never had any lady friends...he was just my dad." "Every Friday we would go to the corner store and as we got about a block away, my dad would stop...then we would both take off running as fast as we could. He always beat me, always... (and as he said always, he hit the table just like a 12 year old boy would have) always. I never won." The smile on my friends face as he reminisced about those memories was such a delight. I could see the love that his father had for him and the love that my friend had absorbed 80 years ago; a love that continued to live on. I learned more fully the value of a fathers love through that story. I also was reminded of how thankful I need to be that my father lavished that sort of love on me and my siblings. When I am 90, I hope some handsome young man will listen to my stories of my father and I.

I asked him what he had learned over his lifetime, if there was anything that he would suggest steering away from, or more fully pursuing. He thought for a while and our conversation was full of stories, yet always came back to the direction of him sharing what he has learned. I found new appreciation for enjoying and finding meaning in the work that you do. I also was reminded to leave work at work and to be full of love at home. "If you have that, nothing else matters." I also was encouraged by stories of how his father was a giving person. "During the war, the Japanese were all of a sudden our enemy. They only had a few days to pack up all of their things before they were shipped off to the camps. My dad cleared out our basement and made room so that they could store their stuff at our house while they were away. That was kinda risky, but that is the kind of person my dad was. He was always helping someone. Every week we would go buy bread, and we would always buy 2 loafs. On our way home, my father would say, 'go put this in between the screen door and don't ring the doorbell.' We lived among doctors and lawyers and during the depression, everyone was struggling. My father was just that kind of person." My soul longs to be remembered that way. The color of my carpet, no one will remember, but the time I helped someone in need truly makes a difference. "Back then there was no medical care, and there was a guy at his work that got sick and needed surgery or he was going to die. It was going to cost him $300 and back then that was a real lot of money. My dad walked over to that man's house and handed him the money and said, 'you are going to need this, and if you ever pay me back do it in one lump'. I remember when one day my dad came to me and said, do you remember that $300, well he repaid me in one lump." That is such a humbling story. Someone going out of their way to help someone who was about to die. The way he told that story made me feel that the man didn't have to feel continually indebted to him. Paying someone back a large amount of money a little at a time feels so draining, but when told to pay me back in one lump sum, it seemed to take the load off. That is the type of thing I want to be remembered for, using the resources that I've been given to help the world. You know?

Another one of the many things that I was reminded of was the value of a family. "I have one sister, but I know you better than I know her, so to speak. I have only one living son, I don't see my daughter, she lives in Arizona, my wife was sick on and off forever before she passed away. So I just have my one son and my dog, Sarah." I put things in perspective for me, how valuable family is, and even more will be. He has a lot of time on his hands to sit and reflect about things and I think having a more connected family is something he would like.

"The number one problem with our country, I think, is that 50% of the marriages end in separation. I think that that is really hurting our society and that we need to do something about it. Most of the troubled kids that I worked with came from broken homes and I think that really takes a toll after a while. You learn how to be a spouse from your parents and if you don't have a model then it is harder for you to beat the odds. It just is going to get worse generation after generation. I really think that is one thing that this country needs to work on."

As we finished our meals, I helped him stand up, we walked to our cars and I shook his hand, and then gave him a hug. I truly enjoyed myself, chatting with my peaceful, wise, old, reflective friend, and I hope to do it again soon. It seems to put things into perspective a bit.

Loving the Jay Oh Bee

today was a great day. I had an appointment with my bosses bosses assistant (she used to work in our branch at the desk that I now sit at). I didn't know what the appointment was about, but when I got to work, she was busy away trying to get things up and running. She was talking with old customers and laughing like she always has. She has a very drawing personality, people love this lady. So I was excited to see what it was that she wanted. It turns out that we had an appointment with a good friend of hers who wanted some options for purchasing a local business. She wanted to get her ducks in a row before she made an offer. Before her friend got there, she tossed a card onto my desk and said, "this is for you." I promptly opened it up and there was a check for 20 thousand dollars with my name on it...not really, I just wanted to see if you were paying attention. There was a hand written letter from my district manager saying great job, keep up the good work, your enthusiasm and persistance using the tools you have been given is great, keep it up. That was really cool.
So our appointment started and I still have no idea what this is about and her friend comes into my cubical and so does my BBA (bosses bosses assistant). She starts introducing me and starts small talking. It was weird, I was listening, but had no idea what I was supposed to be listening for. After a few minutes it was clear that BBA brought this customer to me so we could get the process started. We looked at some of the options and after a while concluded that tapping into the equity in her home was probably the best option. After we did the application, it said that she would need to provide income verification (which is a bummer because she is self employeed and operates at a lot less than her actual reportable income states). So the customer was disappointed and instead of letting the ball hit the ground, I swooped down and started figuring out other options. She didn't want to touch her retirement, but has close to 100k in a cash management account with another company. We offer a line of credit against investments that is a lot easier to get because the funds are guaranteed. Anyway, I explained that and she was interested in that as a second option. BBA was impressed, she had never heard of such an account. (2nd good job for the day).
After that person left, I went to work on BBA, she does the books for her husbands business and it is all screwed up, she pays more in fines then it would cost to pay someone to do it for her. Futunately we offer that service as well, and after working through her reluctance, she has an appointment on Thursday to meet with that person. My manager was standing there when I was talking to her and she looked at him and said, "man, he's good, it is like I trained him." (#3 for the day)
A little later my District manager (BB) came in and hand delivered some prizes that I had won in a contest our district was having. She thanked me and was excited that I am doing so well right out of training. (#4)
Soon after that, I had the most outraged customer I have ever had. My BB and BBA were in the cubical next to mine and watched me at work with this crazy lady. She had been overdrawn for the last week and a half and had used her debit card 22 times since then. she did have overdraft protection, so that cost here $33 for each debit card use, that makes it over $600 in fees that she owes. Obviously she was not happy, and normally I can calm a customer down and help them get some of those fees reversed, or at least help them understand how to prevent it from happening in the future. Not this lady, I just listened and listened and listened some more, I was validating her saying things like, "It must be infuriating to think that the card would decline if there is no money in the account, and for that to cost you $600." After a minute or two, my BB looked at me and asked if I needed some help, I said no thank you, I got this. She respected my wishes and after seriously 10 more minutes of just listening and validating, I broke character and said to the customer, "honestly, you need to help me build a case for the group that has the power to reverse these fee. I don't have the authority to reverse these, but I can help you build a good case, but if you don't work with me, you might as well not even be in here." I thought this would snap her out of it, but it didn't, she just kept on saying that it was unacceptable and that if this wasn't going to be reversed, then she was going move her account. I broke character again and said, "you need to work with me here, if you are not going to work with me then nothing is going to take place, if you need to take a few minutes and gather your thoughts, I am happy to spend as much time with you as needed, but you need to work with me or else nothing will happen. " She wasn't going to do anything except keep doing what she was doing, so after a few more questions and going no where, she demanded to talk with my manager, who was out on a business call. So she is coming back tomorrow. Nice. After she left, my BB and BBA came over and said wow, you handled that great, does anything get you upset? They were impressed. (#5)
I like being told that I impress people. My manager got back from another of his few meetings today and gave me a hand written letter from my regional manager (BBB) thanking my manager for all the effort he has been putting into our branch, and saying that it is paying off. He said something like you guys are doing great work out there, my managers name and then a dash and my name. Then on the back of the card, it was full of kind words to me, saying that he appresiated the enthusiasm and pride that I have for my job. He said some extremely kind things that hit home for me. (#6)
I have always attempted to put my customers first and to be ethical. I have attempted to hit my sales numbers but have been motivated not by the sales, but because it is rewarding to truly help people suceed financially. I was shocked to have these respected people lavish their kind words and attention in my direction today. It was really encouraging, and desire to continue making a difference in our community. Kind words go a long way and when placed on a hand written letter they make an impact. I think I'm going to write letters more often.
How was your day?

I'm trying to sell this fishtank

I think someday I will write a song about...

...the people in an old folks home.--a rap song
...a wounded soldier and how that is symbolic of my life--alternative rock
...(I will redo a country song with a good story and change it's style/beat)-
...a man who wants to be his ladies shining knight...alternative
...a cat who can't find a place to sleep--

Someday.

I would also like to take the different generes of music and shake up the categories. Like categorize all the country songs and what they are about and do a R&B with that category song. Take the typical rap song and put it in a hard rock form. Make some funk about whatever, and some bluegrass about how hard you are. Mix up the genres. I think that would either be really interesting, or it would flop on it's face. Social comentary wraped into a new form. etc. That isn't stated very well, but i think my point is clear.

I thought of at church on sunday

I think that some churches and church people hold on to things for too long (or they are behind the times a bit too much), just like the guy who is still trying to sell pagers. it's time to let go of that one.

Costco

We were in costco the other day and I started laughing out loud watching people. i didn't realize the standard conversation in there starts with the question "Do you want this." whatever the item may be. the husband asks, "do you want orange juice." then the evaluation process happens, and typically there is this phase in there somewhere, "do you really think you could finish all that." I had just asked sarah if she wanted taquitos when i heard another guy ask his wife if she wanted peanuts, i turned my head and there was this guy raised about 3 pounds of cream cheese up in the air so his wife (who was further down the isle) could see it when I heard, "do you really think you could eat all that." Man I was laughing so hard. Do you want this, can you eat all that, do you want this, can you eat all that. For some reason that struck my funny bone. Humans are so funny.

I think some christians are like this

I think some christians ruin things by not being real, by not engaging life, by interupting and putting their arrogent 2 cents into places where no one has asked them to. (wow, when I started that sentence, I didn't know it would end that harsh...I still agree with it though). Take halloween for example. In newberg there is a halloween thing that happens in downtown where the businesses in the area hand out candy and families walk around to them and say trick or treat, then the candy exchanges hands and hopefully there is a thank you, then there is the evaluation ("what are you supposed to be" or in some cases "that kid didn't even have a costume on" or "that is the cutest little pumpkin I've ever seen" and on the other side it is "that guy gave us a pencil" or "what kind of crappy candy is this" or "Wow, king size snicker bars, right on, we're comin' back here next year." ) Then the two parties part ways. Any how in newberg there are the classic christians attempting to bring Jesus to the situation. I sincerely sallute them for their attempts, I respect them for their efforts. I understand the feeling of wanting to make a difference and not really understanding how to do that in this context, so I don't do anything, where as they try something. Now having said that, I will rip them a new one for always ruining stuff. halloween is not about getting rubberband bracelets that have the name of your church on them. What the crap is that? That pissed me off. that church is wanting people to wear their bracelets around their wrist. why? what is the point of that? what does that do? I don't get it. Wells Fargo wasn't handing out keychains with the wells fargo logo on it because we understand that it would do more harm then good. the kids would be disappointed if they were given a keychain. more importantly so would their parents, so even though we want their business, we understand that getting our name into their bag of candy isn't the way to win customers. Has anyone even read the things church people sneak into our trick or treat bags? The world extends it's hands at our doorsteps hopeing for some candy and we smile and go through the rutine but sneak an orange piece of paper into their bag with a poorly writen summerization of the meaning of Jesus. This year, I'm handing out candy and will hopefully get an opportunity to enter into relationship with some people that i can connect with on a spiritual level. learning from each other, sharing our experiences, getting to know each other, (and with a hint of my all to common sarcasm) that is what I think Halloween ought to be all about.

Novel in November

I guess there is a circle of people who are attempting to write and entire novel (50,000 words) in the month of november. that sounds awesome to me. one of my sister in laws is doing it this year and it made me think about what I would write a novel about. After about 3 minutes of thinking, I came up with the general outline. Life would be the theme. it would track someones life from like jr high until death and then follow his children. it would be about how this man wants to leave a legacy and it would show how he came to that conclusion in his early life and then as he has children it would be framed by the lessons that he taught them. -one lesson per chapter in the bulk of the story and perhaps a life situation that caused him to come to the life lesson that he is sharing with his children. But throughout the book you would pick up on the longing that this man has to make a difference and it would show his attempt to do so by pouring into his children. The book would not end with his death, but rather by tracing the lives of his children to see if he infact left the legacy that he wanted to and then it would challange the limitations of ones ability to impact others. I thought that would be a movie that i would like to see. I'm not a big reader, so there may already be that book out, but i thought it was a cool idea.

Driving to Church

Last night the family went to Winco. We love Winco. So we made it a family outing. On the way home we took a new way that I thought would be a little more scenic and a little less city. In our neck of the woods there are little towns here and there and last night we were driving on a country road heading home. "Could you please drive a little slower." is the nice way to say what I was hearing from my companions on board. I felt totally in control, I have driven parts of that road before and felt extremely comfortable with my ability to handle it. I even responded saying something like, "don't get all caught up in this, check out everything around us, it is pretty." This statement was ridiculous I now realize on more than one level. First off it was really dark out, so there was nothing really to see except a few lights off in the distance, anyhow, I was sticking with that. I was driving a little faster than normal because I was trying to keep up with the car in front of me. I do that so if there is a deer chillin' on the road, they will hit it, rather than us. If you are the lead car, then you are more susceptible to tight corners and obstacles on the road. So in my attempt to stay with the driver ahead of me I admit, I was going a little faster than I should have been.

Hopefully at this point you can see a little of where this story is going. I had lost the guy ahead of me, so I was slowing down a bit. We were eating a gigantic sandwich that they sell at Winco for 4 bucks. The best deal in the building. The sandwich had been taken out of my hands so I could "use two hands." So driving along and here comes a weird set of lights. It looked like the front of a train to me, so I jokingly made the sound of a train, "hoooo, whooooooooo" that was cut short by a "holy crap" the on coming vehicle was not a train, it was some sort of industrial strength field plowwer that was easily the width of 2 cars. The lights were only an the cab, so as I was making this sound, I saw a set of tires in the middle of my lane that were attached to this idiots automobile. Why the heck were they driving these things at night? Idiots, trying to kill someone. It is only because I am a ninja and because of Grand Terismo (the playstation video game) that we are still alive today. God spared us (with a hint of sarcasm)...I swerved and had to admit to my wife that she was.....ri.......right. I shouldn't be driving that fast. As we drove past that moron, I realized that I had no shot of adrenalin. I would have thought that my heart would be pumping coming that close to death, but it didn't faze me at all. You know what else doesn't faze me. Police sirens that surprisingly go off behind me. When I was in high school and college, that really send a shot of adrenalin to me, but now...not so much. It is kind of weird.

On to the next part of the story...church. We have found an amazing church called Imago Dei. It is the church that Sarah and I would have created if given the chance. It is unbelievable. The only flaw is that it is about 40 minutes away, which we don't mind driving on Sunday, but it is hard to get involved during the week because I get off work late and then to drive 40 minutes one way it is way too late for the kids, etc. They do things we want to be part of all the time, they have clean up events where you go help the community, they have a school of theology that offers free classes about many interesting things, they have home community groups that help get you involved. The only problem is it is too far to really get plugged in. So..... today we decided to check out a church here locally that we have heard a few great things about. It is a young church that meets in a school. Well, this was probably the worst church in the world. Don't get me wrong, I think the world is a pretty big place and I know there are a lot of churches, but this is definately at the top of the list. I walked out about a 3rd of the way through because thankfully Isaiah was making noise and needed some help going to sleep. So my judgment is based only on one third of the talking, but holy crap. God must be pissed. It was ridiculous. He was talking about Job and I wont even go into it, but I would like to make the observation that God saved my families life last night, but it wasn't so we could experience church today.

Those who stay home with the kids deserve...

Thursdays this semester are our seminary day. Sarah goes in the morning, I go at night. My job allows me to stay home and watch the kiddos while she is there, so today was day number one. Holy crap. That is all I can say. Holy crap. I am a very patient individual, I learned that from my mother, whom I don't think I've ever seen loose it. (not even with 3 boys complaining every morning about having to play the piano) I am extremely patient, I never loose it, I am known at work for de-escalating problems, and able to handle irate customers. Well today I got a run for my money. Isaiah is about 5 months old and needs his mother. Honestly I haven't spent as much time with him as I wish that I could (seeing as we have 2 kids Ellen is usually more my responsibility and Sarah has Isaiah.), so I don't know his tricks. With Ellen, I spent a lot of time working with her, getting to know her, helping her sleep. So being responsible for both of them this morning was a challenge. I didn't feel like I was going to loose it, but that is only because I knew help was on the way. If I had to figure it out and deal with it for 8 hours straight, and then only have minimal help, I would have started to melt down. Mothers need time where they are not responsible for anything. You can quote me on that (yes, even you Sarah).
Isaiah is starting to eat baby food, peas were on the menu today. So after he woke up, Ellen and I stopped what we were doing and went to help him. Ellen is an amazing young child who helps out as much as she can. She is wonderful. We change the diapers and clothes, and then got right to the table. If you wait too long to get food in his mouth, he gets upset and then you can't get anything in him. Seeing as how I'm male and not able to lactate (at least I haven't figured out how...Yet) I wanted to avoid this. Pea mush was flying everywhere. My shirt was covered, he kept putting his hands on the spoon and then he would smack his lips and splats of peas would go everywhere. Well after that mess, we tried to clean him up, he seemed tired, so I tried to lay him down. That didn't work, so we went for a walk....to the park. That was fun. Getting outside is great....but Isaiah started to cry and was acting really tired, so I put Ellen on the top of the stroller and we quickly walked home. Video for Ellen while I attempted to put Isaiah down...no luck, crying 5 month old, and a 2 year old starting to want her mom. "Momma, momma, where is momma...momma...momma." I calmly reply "Ellen I hear you, mom is at seminary, she will be home soon, let's be patient." "Momma...momma, I want mommyo" "Lets go for a walk." Outside we march, Isaiah in hand, Ellen walking next to us. She starts looking for Jackson, the dog that lives next door...(see the follow post.) Jackson is inside...no jackson right now. Ellen has a turn for the worst as she trips and falls. This is not a good thing for a tired little one who wants her mom, whose brother is crying. I pick her up. So I have Isaiah crying in one ear, Ellen crying in the other...and if it wasn't for my mom and the fact that I knew Sarah would be home any moment, I would have went nuts right there, but because of the example my mother showed us so often, it didn't bother me. I asked Ellen not to say mommyo, mommyo any more, as she continued. Calmly I say "If you say mommyo 2 more times I'm going to lay you in your big girl bed, and you will..." "mommyo, mommyo" "O.K." Lets walk a little faster. We go inside, I dump Ellen in here bed and ask her to take off her shoes while I go try to find a place to put Isaiah for a moment. Oh yeah, Ellen used to love to sit in the bouncy seat in front of the aquarium, lets try that. Back into Ellens room...both shoes were on, she was working on untying one of them. I help speed the process up and soon she was laying down, calm, ready to take a nap. "I love you Ellen...sleep good." "I love you daddyo." Shut the door, Isaiah is upset, apparently he wants a bigger fish tank, I'll have to talk to Sarah about that one ;o) So I start giving him all the attention he needs, we get some water in him. He starts calming down. I hear more noise than a sleeping child should be making, so I decide Ellen needs my attention. As I quietly open her door, I look at her bed attempting to make out the form of a body...none to be found. I open the door further and find her on the floor reading a book. The punishment for such behavior is to take her 2 kitties away. She knows this and actually hands one of them to me. Such a great kid. I put her back in bed and let her know "that was a bad choice and that she needs to sleep now". She agrees and off to Isaiah I go. By this time I am a little crazy, trying to keep it all calm and patient. I start to calm him down and guess who walks in...the savior, the knowledgeable one, the mother of my children. "I hope class was great"...and on our day goes. I go off to work and then to seminary.
Little ones can be very trying. I love 'em to death, I'd do anything for them. Teamwork is a wonderful thing...I let you know how next week goes. I need to learn Isaiah's secrets. Those who stay home with kids deserve...whatever they want, respect, appreciation, time off.

Living in Community

I am all about living in community...sharing cars, homes, food, life.....but I draw the line when I have to shovel your dogs turd out of my yard. I mean come on. Once wouldn't be that bad, but about a week ago I had 2 shovels full, two days ago another 3 shovels, and today there is new fresh big pile. That is 6 shovel fulls too many. Sounds like a fence is past due.








I will never own a dog.

Genesis

I feakin' love school. Man I love school. Seminary started back up for Sarah and I and tonight I had my first class on Genesis. There are two options as to how to take this course, English or Hebrew. Seeing as how I spent two semesters learning Hebrew and figuring if I never use it, I will for sure not be able to use it when I want to, I thought I might as well take it in Hebrew. Well this ought to be fun, the professor is working with me to allow me to mostly take it in English with just a little refreshing happening in Hebrew. There other 2 students that are taking it in Hebrew are leagues above me. One was my TA in the Hebrew class and the other would like to go into translation of the Bible into other languages someday-Dilan, he is my good friend from Hebrew last semester that made me realize that I will never master Hebrew or any other language because I don't know English well enough. Any how, back to the point of this post. I love school because it helps me think, it challenges, it sharpens, it fills my mind with information that I desire. (At one point in this class, I had a vision/daydream/flash of myself as a pot that was being filled with information. My pot is almost empty, but over a lifetime I plan on filling it as much as I can.) I though I would share some of the things that I learned about Genesis this evening. If I have time and can, I would like to update this at least every Thursday night about what I learned in the class.

Tonight we talked about the context of Genesis and how it fits into the Pentateuch. Genesis for me was the creation story and stories of the beginning history of the Jewish people. Tonight we talked about how it is part of the first five books of the Bible. The first 11 chapters are about the creation story and the role that humans play being created in God's image. Then it quickly turns to the brokenness of all relationships. The first relationship between God and man was broken (Adam as well as Eve), the first family was broken(Cain and Abel), the first group of nations was broken (tower of Babel) . It shows God's creation and then shows that it is messed up. Then in the rest of Genesis (as in the rest of the Bible) God moves in and works to restore the broken people. The first 4 fathers of God's new chosen people are flawed just like all of mankind and God blesses and loves them inspite of their being unfaithful and unrighteous (Abram, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph). That is Genesis in an overview. Then into Exodus where God steps in to help an enslaved people (who were the descendants of Joseph and who were in Egypt because Joseph had his family brought there during a famine-which I knew, but failed to connect that they were in Egypt because of Joseph.-that's like learning a new city for me. You learn parts of the city and you know how to get around in one part, and then you drive to another part and you know how to get around in that part, but you never really go between the two parts that you know, so you aren't really sure where they connect. This happened in Bellflower-Long Beach-Nowalk for me it took awhile for me to figure out how those were all connected.) These enslaved people where having their children killed because the Egyptians feared them. Moses is saved from that, kills a man and then flees. God finds him and chooses him to help get "Get my chosen people back." In chapters 1-14 Moses is a leader who can't lead, and Israelites are people who can't follow. Enters God once again to get them out.

It became evident to me tonight that God could have chosen any people, any one person and restored humanity through that persons children. He could have chosen any single person and called their descendants his and restored humanity through them, because the people that he choose were normal people. The stories are way more about God and how he stepped in. That was very clear to me tonight. He was/is working to fix what has been broken, relationships between man and God, family, and nations. Exodus 15 and a few after that and a large chunk of Numbers is about the wilderness wondering time. There are formulaic stories 17 of them in total where there is 1-problem, 2- response of the Israelites, 3-Moses' response, 4-God's Deliverance(70%)/Discipline(30%) . These stories paint a clear picture of consistent people who complain and don't obey God. They profile Moses as the model prophet. They profile God as having steadfast love (hesed in Hebrew a word that is hard to describe with only one English work) loving kindness is another translation.

Exodus 19-Numbers 10 are the Mt. Sinai section which is where "God gets down on one knee" and "lays out his vision for what relationship with Him could look like and what relationship with each other could look like." God is attempting to restore the brokenness of humanity once again. The entire book of Leviticus is in this Mt. Sinai section. God is laying out what it looks like. There are some beautiful passages in there (mixed with some weird ones) such as Lev. 19 where God plans waste so that the poor and those who can't help themselves will be cared for. You are not to pick up grapes that fall to the ground those are to be left for the poor. God is compassionate and wants all humanity to be restored and his people were given instructions as to how to set up a society/culture that would restore what He created.

Deutoronomy is 1 single speech from 1 single instance on the day that Moses dies and is buried. It is past, present, future speech where he gives lessons from the past and then encourages the people about the future, and then pleads with God to be with these people even if they are scattered and to draw them back and to restore them. It then ends there with a renewed covenant, but still not getting to the promise land. The first 5 books were are a work of their own when first recorded. So the end of the long journey is not in the new land living happily ever after, it stops at the dead of a leader like now other. I learned this evening that this work (the Pentateuch) was put together (almost everyone agrees with this) in time after the asirians kicked the northern kingdoms butt (721 BC) and after the Babylonians kicked the Southern kingdoms butt (586 BC). So after 586 a group of priest collectively put together this book (5 scrolls) in an attempt to help the remaining people of God find an identity. In Moses last words he is looking forward to a new land, looking forward to a king, and in 586 the priest are helping the people realize that they are back in a deutoronomy time with no king, no land, and yet none of that is needed.

So to sum it up, it is a story of God's creation, it's brokenness and the redemption of creation through a particular group of people called to Himself, first by love, then called to a higher standard, (given a vision of what life could be like). It is an unfinished story, one that whomever wants to enter can adapt and be restored taking on God's vision.

It's a beautiful thing that God is doing. I have never seen the Pentateuch in such light. I know many of the stories individually, yet have never deconstructed the whole work of art. My desire to get to know God is huge. I hope this class helps draw us closer together.

Oh yeah one side note, Jonah, after jonah was spit up by the fish, and after the city repented, Jonah lets us into his mind, and why he didn't want to go to Nineveh, He says in the last chapter, "O lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, A God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live." Jonah had read Exodus, he knew the stories of his ancestors, he had heard the 17 formulaic stories of the Pentateuch, he knew God. (I don't actually know if Jonah had read those scrolls, I'm not even sure they were made at that point, but I find it interesting that Jonah knew how God would respond to repentant hearts, even people as evil as the Ninavites.) It is humbling what God will to in order to restore/redeem his creation....and we haven't even got to his son yet. I love school.