Making Sense of Leviticus

For the past week or two, the Daily Audio Bible podcast has been traveling through the book of Leviticus; the third book of the Bible, and tertiary member of the Pentateuch. I've shared some of my thoughts on portions of this book a few days ago, but after listening again today, an emergent theme of holiness appeared from this seemingly barbaric gore.

In pouring through the Levitical chapters, you'll see instruction for addressing skin diseases, discharges, monthly cycles, etc. There are also examples of how to handle mold found to be growing within a wall of a house, and how to avoid perversion of the people, by discouraging improper sexual acts. While this may come off as harsh, outdated regulation, take a step back and consider all of this from a holy perspective.

By separating people with specific ailments from the general populous early on, the spread of communicable diseases from one person to another was greatly diminished. By having the priest examine a house known to possess mold, steps could be taken early on to evacuate the home, and "uproot" the infestation before it advanced into other areas of the house.

God wants our "spiritual house" to be clean. Even if we're "saved", if we allow spiritual and emotional "mold" to begin growing in our hearts and minds, it can silently spread to all other areas of life, contaminating what was once called "good". (I can personally relate to this)

We're called to be holy. Consider the areas of your life in which you haven't given Jesus a "full access backstage pass". Let's pray about it, together:

"Lord Jesus, I come to you knowing that there are areas of my life that I've tried to hide. I don't want any "spiritual mold" to take root and grow in my life. Please come into my heart and begin your deep, cleansing work within me. Please make me holy, so I'll be ready to fulfill your purposes at the appointed time. Amen."

Good Night

I've Got Nothing Tonight

It's been a busy couple of days: spending time with family during a milestone birthday, and then running around to get new shoes for the kiddos. The weekend is now over, and tomorrow will bring the start of another busy work week. I'm hoping to sign off soon and get some good quality sleep, so I'm prepared physically, mentally and emotionally. I pray you too, will get some well-deserved rest in preparation for your upcoming week. God bless you.

Good Night

Amato's!

As a continuation of my mother in law's 60 birthday celebration, the family gathered for lunch this afternoon, where we all enjoyed a New England treat: Italian sandwiches. Not a sub, not a grinder, these foot-long continental sandwiches from a bakery named Amato's are simply a slice of heaven.

Amato's signature bread, chopped onions, ham, white cheddar cheese, special pickles, green peppers, tomatoes, Greek olives, salt, pepper and a special blend of olive oil make up these decadent eats. The perfect combination of flavors are not like anything I've ever had from Subway, Quizno's or any other local deli. I seriously can't stop at eating just one- they're really that good.

However, you can't get them in our region of the country. For a price, Amato's will ship the proprietary bread, pickles, olives and oil to your door. You simply supply the veggies, ham and cheese and you're ready to "get your grub on".

Good Night

Happy Birthday, Mamasahn!

Today was a truly wonderful day! My mother in law turns 60 tomorrow, but we were part of an elaborate surprise birthday party held for her this evening. Her brother and two sisters from the eastern United States flew out for the event; all four siblings haven't been together under the same roof in about 40 years. What's more, my brother in law, his wife and the majority of his children drove in from out of state as well. Between family and friends, the house was packed.

Four months of secret planning, covert phone calls, carefully targeted text messages and choreographed entrance strategies have finally paid off. My mother in law was genuinely surprised this evening, as wave after wave of family entered the dinner hall to greet her. As you can imagine, tears were flowing, and laughter was enjoyed by all. I'm so thankful to have been a part of such a wonderful plan.

Thank you Lord, for family. Amen.

Good Night

Thunderbolt

This is off-topic, but I'm excited about the new I/O technology that made its debut in the brand new MacBook Pro recently. It's called Thunderbolt (or LightPeak if you're Intel, it's co-creator), and it's really, really fast.

Imagine connecting a video camera, hard disk drive or additional display (or all of them, with a single type of cable) to your shiny new laptop, knowing that the device's throughput is well over 21 times the speed of conventional USB 2.0. Thunderbolt is much faster than USB 3.0, FireWire, and Gigabit Ethernet that most workstations use for network connectivity! Put bluntly, Thunderbolt's throughput is thousands of times greater than the residential Internet connection you're currently using to view this web page.

Maybe you don't care about this stuff at all. Maybe you don't get exited about the emergence of a groundbreaking technology that lies within a computer system, but I'd bet you're into what it could do for you. How about pulling those photos from your camera into iPhoto in record time? Or, what about playing a high definition movie, while copying a multi-Gigabyte file from an external drive to your Mac (or PC)?



This level of performance was once reserved for laboratories and high performance grid computing, with custom network interconnects. Thunderbolt is certainly a breakthrough for consumer-class mobile devices. Now you can have a truly high-performance video editing, sound engineering, or graphic design system that travels with you.

Yeah, it's a big deal.

Good Night

Health Please, Part II

Whatever illness my daughter contracted on Sunday has now claimed my wife. While I don't want to give life to the words "I'm sick", I'd be lying if I said I was running at 100% capacity as well. Please agree with me in prayer that healing will soon touch our family. We're so tired of either being sick, or feeling run down most of the time.

"Lord Jesus, we're being hit from all sides right now; strained relationships, decimated finances, physical illness, and diminished hope. As your children, the enemy has no rights to us, but that doesn't stop him from attacking. We truly need your loving, healing touch to restore us in every way possible. As Jabez requested in 1 Chronicles 4:10, please bless us, Lord! Please manifest tangible healing within our bodies, ease our minds and let us experience peace. Amen."

1 Chronicles 4:10 (Amplified Bible)

10Jabez cried to the God of Israel, saying, Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and You would keep me from evil so it might not hurt me! And God granted his request.

Psalm 30:1-3 (New International Version)

1 I will exalt you, LORD,
for you lifted me out of the depths
and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
2 LORD my God, I called to you for help,
and you healed me.
3 You, LORD, brought me up from the realm of the dead;
you spared me from going down to the pit.

Good Night

Still Processing...

I don't mean to be a "Debbie Downer" tonight, but I'm still processing feelings of fear, uncertainty and depression. I'm aware that these things aren't from God. I also understand that unless I'm feeding my spirit, my flesh will gain strength. Although I know better, I haven't been spending much time in the Word, or attending church, as I'd normally make time for. There is no mystery as to why I feel the way I do.

I feel disconnected from my own heart; I can't describe it as anything other than numbness. I believe that's the definition of apathy. I could certainly use your prayers in overcoming this matter. If this is how the world operates within their daily lives, I want no part of it!

I'm not speaking poorly about my faith, or expressing doubts about my salvation. I'm certain of who I belong to, and where I'm going once I die. I've simply made the choice, either unconsciously or consciously, to become preoccupied with other things. I've taken my focus off of Jesus, and was laid out.

After re-reading my paragraphs above, it would appear that each section begins with the word "I" or "I'm". That's certainly telling, isn't it. Perhaps this introspection is revealing the root cause of my problems. Could it be selfishness? That stings a bit, but makes perfect sense. If I'm critically focused about elements of my life, my situations, my problems, what can be done for me, etc., then it must be selfishness. I'll need to chew on that for a few days.

Right now, it's time to stand up, dust off and look into the Word for some encouragement.

Psalm 67:1-3 (The Message)

God, mark us with grace and blessing! Smile!
The whole country will see how you work,
all the godless nations see how you save.
God! Let people thank and enjoy you.
Let all people thank and enjoy you.
Let all far-flung people become happy
and shout their happiness because
You judge them fair and square,
you tend the far-flung peoples.
God! Let people thank and enjoy you.
Let all people thank and enjoy you.
Earth, display your exuberance!
You mark us with blessing, O God, our God.
You mark us with blessing, O God.
Earth's four corners—honor him!

Good Night