Obadiah

Okay, I stayed at home today due to illness.  Still coughing and what-not.  But I did get out to get Maddie to school, although tonight we didn't go anywhere.  We opted to watch a few episodes of "The Chosen" instead, as we're moving forward and reviewing the episodes as we gear up for season four.  It looks particularly heavy, based on trailers, but we'll see how things go.  The series is so good though, as it gets you diving into Bible stories, not meant to replace the Bible, but instead get you looking back at those scriptures in the New Testament (and in some cases Old Testament too).

Speaking of which, having finished the book of Genesis, I was curious about the fate of the lineage of Essau, so yes, the next book I read was Obadiah.  And yes, given that it's the shortest book of the Old Testament, I finished much quicker than Genesis.  The commentary with it was a great look at the area we know as Petra today, and of course there was a discussion about the fate of Edomites, and even the crazy fact that King Herod himself was from that lineage.  By AD 70, the entire family line is gone, obliterated by the Romans.  It's a sad piece of history.  You can see them just consumed by hatred for the family line of Jacob, perhaps all because of that perception of Jacob "stealing" the birth rite.  During his lifetime, Essau makes friends with Jacob, but the families nevertheless do not get along throughout the rest of history.  Essau's descendants try to block the Hebrews from their passage into the Promised Land, but even worse, there are the things chronicled in the book of Obadiah.  God's judgment was on the way - Jacob's family line was the fire, and Essau's was the straw.  If only both family lines could focus on God and making themselves more loving towards one another, perhaps things would turn out differently.  The comparison to Judah is something I thought of, how Judah let go of his angry sibling rivalry, even offering himself up to become a slave to save his own brother, all for a father that did not love him as much.  These descendants of Essau were far from showing that sort of love, in fact even celebrating when others were hurt or worse.  They clearly should have focused on their own hearts, and focused on God.  The end result is nothing - a life built in the rocks, but not on the Rock.  And no matter how high up they perched themselves, there is no escape from the harvest that they've been seeding for so many years.  Anyway, that's Obadiah in a nutshell.  Next up is back to the chronological order of things, and the more substantial book of Exodus.  We're pretty excited about watching a few of those movies again, and an upcoming Hillsdale class too, one that's brand new.

Today we were gathering apostles somewhat - we'll hopefully have our twelve cast by this weekend.  Pastor Lance is wanting me to be one again, despite my advancing years here.  I'm not a spring chicken anymore at a table full of youngsters.  Some beard coloring will help reduce the years, I suppose, but yes, this Easter you can once again look for me at the Last Supper Table.  I used to really hope that some day I could do something like that on stage, and now I'm up there somewhat reluctantly in front of 33,000 people or whatever... I love it, don't get me wrong.  It's just funny how big of a deal it used to be, and how nearly routine it is now.  For some of the guys at the table, it'll be this hugely exciting new experience, and I'll get to share that with them once more.  

Maddie had her internship today, and she had her Stardew Valley tonight, a game she's enjoying a lot lately.  This and Animal Crossing are games she's enjoyed a lot over the years, constantly coming back to them.  

We read tonight before bed, and e said our prayers after that.  It was a quiet day today, and I needed it.  Hopefully tomorrow we'll all feel better.