and here we go!

so the last sunday of this past year marked a very special time for our lifegroup at church: after 2.5 years, the young(er) adult class completed the in-depth study of the book of Luke.  the few of us newest members (having recently graduated) had only jumped in with a few chapters left but we still celebrate the event with all the due fervor. 

so this year, all 4 teachers from the 1-become-2 classes put their heads together and came up with a plan..

we're all gonna read through the WHOLE Bible in ONE year!

yeah, the irony is not lost on us :)

so far, so good though- i'm so glad our reading plan counts in a free day each week!

tonight completes Week 4 for us, and since it's a chronological plan, we just finished Genesis and are now halfway through Job and it's already been quite a journey.  it has been far too long since i've read much back there, and it's really refreshing.  there's always something new in the old testament, something new to find there, something old to be reminded of, even if it takes a good number of chapters to find it.  an extra effort is needed when wading through all the stories in Genesis that are NOT included in the children's story books- they were left out for a reason.  because, believe it or not, humans back then were also sneaky, conniving, sinful, cruel and downright dirty. 

and as awful as they were, THOSE are the threads God used to make the multiple-thousand-year long tapestry we know as "history."

the best part is, He's still using the same kind of materials today- a sorry mess by themselves in a pile, but will (i trust) be pretty awesome to look back on once it's all been through the master weaver's hands.  the verses i made my unofficial favorites from Genesis is from just after He finished creation and took some time off just to enjoy what He'd done.  and the re-creation process… doesn't really look like how i'd do it, but that's kinda how the whole mess began anyway.  His ways (thank goodness) are most definitely not mine, an as He weaves this new year for our whole group i will admit to some hard-to-suppress excitement to see how differently we see life, each other, ourselves and most importantly God by the time next New Year's rolls around!

so far as i know...

this, i just learned, has become a phrase my grandad uses on a frequent basis.  the only certainty he has in life IS uncertainty, so he gets to use it quite a bit.  i'm sitting in a comfy arm chair in one of my homes away from home being spoiled like i'm 5 again. 

i love it! 

Grandad: who wants more chicken? Grandmother, do you want this piece or this one?

Me: uh-

Grandmother: oh no- that's too big for me, it's Evangeline's

Me: uh… *Grandad puts half a chicken on my plate*...okay.

Grandad: we have one more roll and you don't have one on your plate, so i guess you're ready for another one, right?

Me: uh, sure….

i mean, it's not like she fed me two lunches in one just 3 hours earlier or anything…

but i got seconds on ice cream, too.  i made room for that.

in between and alongside all the courses we discussed everything from health, work, all 5 of grandad's bands, grandmother's improvement since her back surgery right before Thanksgiving, politics, religion and Jeopardy.  the current winner of $60,000 just won another couple thousand on a whole string of questions specifically about celebrities and their relationship breakups.  who knew that info would ever be useful?  

Grandmother also knew the Final jeopardy question about which president/vice president combo had fish and some other food i forget at their inaugural dinner.   Reason #57 (at  least) why grandparents are among the best of all creations.