Consider this

                  The first words of the Bible are, “In the beginning God…” (Genesis 1:1).   If that is all the Bible ever said, it would be enough.   Ultimately, spirituality comes down to, “Do you believe that there is something bigger than us and more to our lives than what we see every day?”                   The next word in that verse is important too.   It says that God “created”.   In fact, Genesis asserts that God created everything that we see around us including the heavens and the earth, light and dark, land and sea until, finally, he created humans in his own image (verse 26) “male and female” (verse 27).                   By the end of Genesis 2, we see a pattern forming.   Picture a triangle with God’s name at the top, Adam’s at one corner and Eve’s at the other.   Adam is in relationship with God (the vertical port

                In 2004, British actors Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman decided to ride their motorcycles from London to New York City.   They documented the entire thing and then created a show that they called “Long Way Round”.   Interestingly, the program contained very little footage detailing their ride across Europe or North America.   Instead, it focused on their struggle to cross Mongolia and eastern Russia, which was the most difficult part of their journey.   Several times, they considered quitting or skipping particularly tough sections, but then refused.   They knew that, for the journey to be complete, they had to ride all of it.   The destination was important, but so too was how they got there.   In the end, because of what they learned and how they grew, they found that the difficult sections were the best and most

                No one does everything that the Bible commands them to do.   This has nothing to do with being sinful (though, of course, our sinfulness does cause us to fall short at times), rather it has to do with how we interact with scripture.                 For example, Romans 16:16 says, “Greet one another with a holy kiss”.   I do not know anyone who does this.   In fact, in our day and age, uninvited kissing may get you charged with harassment.   Therefore, we have changed this command so that it includes a “holy handshake”.                 Sometimes we follow scriptural examples to the letter of the law and other times we ignore them completely.   For example, in Matthew 26, Jesus starts what we call “The Lord’s Supper”.   He takes bread, blesses it and tells his followers to remember his body that was to be sacrificed on the cross (vers