Books. And Still More Questions

I finished the third book on the Women of Genesis series and found them all to be fascinating. I'm assuming the author did his homework and researched the life and times of Jacob and his wives thoroughly. Books like this make Bible stories come alive. I think I'd like to have a chat with Leah in heaven someday.

Can we talk for a sec?

Know what I am left with days after I finished this series?

I love how flawed the "players" in God's story were. And how, despite all the messes they made, His chosen ones still inherited the Scrolls. They were the keepers of His Holy Word. And it was A. Big Deal. Their purpose was to study the Word and to copy it so that there would be additional copies. And they loved doing it.

Regardless of what society accepted as "normal inheritance behavior" (oldest son to get it all), God chose His heir based on character. And their wives were also chosen by God based on their faithfulness. Which is why God chose Sarah for Abraham, Rebecca for Issac and LEAH for Jacob. (Yeah, that's right. THE Inheritance was passed through Judah, Jacobs's 4th son with Leah (the wife he was tricked into marrying) and not Joseph (the famous multi-coloured coat wearing son of Rachel - the beautiful one.)

I knew all of that from my years of Sunday School and whatnot, but reading about it from the women's point of view in a novel form was enlightening. And made it all seem somewhat more "real". And produced a longing in me to meet with these women.

One last word about this series...

When Orson Scott Card negotiated a contract with his publisher for this series, he got a 3 book deal. As he started writing the tale of Jacob, he realized that the story for this third book (Rachel and Leah) was too big for one volume, so he split it up into two books; Rachel and Leah and The Wives of Isreal. Unfortunately his publisher never published the 4th volume. So. This (final) book in the series ends on Rachel's wedding night.

One will have to read the Bible to get the rest of the story.

The other book I finished this week was In A Perfect World.

It's the story of a 32 year old woman who marries her Prince Charming and becomes a step mom to his 3 children; two of whom are teenaged girls. She struggles in her role as step mom and second wife to the widowed goodlooking airline pilot she married who was rarely home.

The unexpected part of the novel is the setting. It takes place in mid-America (and Americans have become hated the world over - they are shunned, quarantined and loathed as potential carriers of the fatal Phoenix flu.) Wars drag on in the background, there are power outages for hours then days and finally there is no electricity at all, a plaque kills off 1 in 3 people, schools close, the economy tanks, and still. Still, that's just in the background. The real story is how, regardless of what was happening out there in the real world, the point of the story is how this young woman became a mom to her three step children.

Fascinating.

Now, on to The questions.

What's the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your work?

Oy.

Know what happened today?

One of the directors on Arrow's board invited me to be his Facebook friend this afternoon. And his comment on the request? "Read your blog and love it."

My face totally burned with embarrassment.

I'm not sure what other bloggers are thinking when they post their thoughts, but I usually have a friend or family member in mind. And my entries are mostly conversations that I'm not having at midnight.

But now? I'm going to be uber aware that I have a Reverend Doctor and "boss" looking over my shoulder. Might not be a bad thing. I guess my act could use a cleaning up.

And of course, today's question would deal with my work. And what I can do to make it better. And at my next work review, whatever I say here will come back to haunt me, just you watch and see.

So. What can I do to improve the quality of my work.

First of all, let's all agree that I am a straight A type of person. If I'm going to do something, I aim for excellence, so really. Really? Really, there's not alot of room for improvement.

Oh I jest.

With technology zooming ahead and me being stuck in the dark ages, it would behoove me to upgrade some of my skills. Hahahaha. It would behoove me to aquire some skills. Computer skills, generally. Graphic art skills, specifically. And it wouldn't hurt if I took an English class so I would know when to use a semi colon and when to use a comma. I guess there's a chance that the quality of my work would improve if I loved mornings more, but that's not definite.

I just reread the question. I'm to list the SINGLE MOST important thing. In order to get full marks for this question, I guess I'd have to say, that the best thing I could do would be to ask God to bless the work of my hands every day and to make sure I do the things that He needs done in order for His ministry to thrive.

Yes, that's right.

God is always the right answer.

Next question: What's one new way you could be a blessing to your pastor (or to another who ministers to me) this year.

Again, these questions are making some assumptions.

First that I have a pastor.

Second that he ministers to me personally, as opposed to just 'preaches at a service that I attend'.

Third, that I have blessed him in the past and need to come up with a NEW way this year.

So this is easy to answer.

I will send a thank you note to Jeff, letting him know that I've been warming a seat in the back row of his church for the past two years. I keep coming back because I learn something every time he preaches. And because he had an impact on my boy, I want to thank him. I will promise to pray for him and his family and his ministry in Abbotsford regularly this year. And maybe I will send him a gift card for a restaurant so he and his wife can enjoy a nite out.

Oh. Seeing I've shared this with the internet, I guess I pretty much have to send that gift card now.

How are you blessing your pastor?

Three things I'm thankful for:

1. Had a meeting with a surgeon today. I'm on a waiting list. Only a 3 - 4 months til he can remove my gall bladder which he said is likely not working anymore.

2. A year ago I bought the box set "Rick Steeves Europe: ALL 70 SHOWS from 2000 -2007." And tonight I'm watching 3 hours of ENGLAND. Because I'm going there this summer.

I. Can. Hardly. Wait.

(I've been taking notes. 3 weeks might not be long enough...)

3. Blue sky.

Shalom,