I've been a slacker....

I know, I know....I've been a blogger slacker! This past month has been pretty busy and I just haven't had alot of time to write my thoughts down. I have thought about alot of things to write but when the time came, the words didn't appear. I have had to write three papers this week and my mind is not working well. I feel a few moments of rambling coming on so be patient with me...all my thoughts are running together.



I just finished reading a couple of books for school. Only one of them I would recommend to everyone. The fact that we were forced to read this book and write a paper on it and the entire class LOVED the book should be an encouragement to each of you to immediately go to amazon.com (can't buy buy in bookstores yet) and purchase a copy. The book is called The Bishop of Jerusalem. It is written by Chuck Thompson who is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Religion at King College where I attend. He actually came to our class and we had about a 3 hour very informal, very interactive, and very interesting discussion about the book.



The book is written in a story format and is based on the last days of James, the brother of Jesus. One of the questions the author asks in the preview of the book (the back cover) is "If you knew your life was about to end, how would you prepare yourself?" That is an interesting thought and it is actually kind of difficult to answer. Some things are pretty obvious but I'm still thinking on that one. (The book is so much more than that though)



While reading the book, the thought that kept coming to my mind....Have you ever thought about what it would be like to be the brother of Jesus? Your initial thought would be that Jesus was the perfect child, never disobeyed, never talked back to his parents, knew all the answers in Sunday School, was right 100% of the time....I'm sure it is much the same way that Bethanne felt growing up with me! :) This would cause some serious sibling rivalry in most houses. But did it? I have gone back and forth on this in my head as far as picturing Jesus growing up in a household with a Mom and Dad and brothers and sisters. I don't know how on target I am, but I think to some extent Jesus did all the things that normal children do. I don't think that he came out of the womb quoting scripture and reading the Torah (let me clarify and say that I believe that he could have if he had wanted to). And I don't mean that in a blasphemous way at all. I just mean that he came into this world in human form as a baby, he grew, he slept, he ate, he drank, he played, he joked around with his brothers, maybe played a practical joke or two, he experienced human feelings and emotions. We know that at a young age Jesus knew what his role was and who he was. But what was it like to be the brother of Jesus? Was Jesus a protective brother, did his Mom ask him to watch the kids while she ran to the market, did he have to carry water? I'm just throwing some food for thought out. These are all things that have been running through my mind over the past couple of weeks.



I amazed by the fact that James did not know who Jesus really was, other than his brother, until after Jesus death. Where was James when his brother was being crucified? Why wasn't he there? Where was the rest of his family? It is just hard for me to comprehend. The truth is that many people, including the disciples, didn't know who Jesus really was until after his death. Can you imagine walking with Jesus everyday, seeing him heal people, seeing him walk on water, feed 5000 people with a little boys lunch, turn water into wine, and even raise people from the dead and not know that he was the Messiah! What were they thinking? How can that be? Or was that how it was suppose to be?



I told you my thoughts were jumbled today and that I had lots of questions. There is so much more about this subject that I would like to talk about but I would like for you to read the book first. I promise that you will like it and it gives a little different perspective to some things. Remember the book is a fiction book but based on historical and biblical facts kind of like the Left Behind Series is.

It is very late and I have been interrupted 100 times so tonight is probably not a good night for blogin'. Think about some of the things above and definitely, definitely read The Bishop of Jerusalem. For those of you who don't have alot of time to read, it is an easy read and not very long.