Are you game?

A happy and warm Thursday to each of you!

I had a dream just before waking this morning.

We were hosting some kind of big gathering and apparently had put stacks of our board games out all around the tables for people to use.

You know how dreams are…your brain is choosy about what details to focus on and which are left a mystery.

So the genius idea behind the purpose of the party, the guest list, or why on earth I would have all of our games out was never revealed

…but I was left to sort through bags of playing pieces to get them back in the right game box.

 

And this is how I woke up.

In that twilight haze between fully awake and still sorting through Monopoly money to find the Candy Land color cards, I was thankful that it had been a dream but also marveled that I actually would know how to do this.

If you took all of our multitude of beat up game boxes and dumped them in the middle of the floor, I am quite certain I could reassemble them with a high degree of accuracy because we have played them SO MANY times…

However…if you and I were to sit down to actually play one of these games, I would definitely need the set of directions.

Not only has it been a while since I have played most of them and I would need a refresher on the specifics of the rules, most likely we have “family rules” that may differ from how your family played the game.

You know what I mean, the house rules you all agreed on that made for a more peaceful game…

one that was more fun to play…

one that allowed for personalities and ages and just made more sense than what was written in the rules.

Scripture is like that.

Especially if you have grown up in the church.

We have heard the stories and the passages and yes, yes…we know…

but maybe over time we have melded the truth of God’s Word with the logic and adaption of our culture.

Maybe we have gotten our own ideas and those of others blended in to what God’s Word says and have watered it down

so we can keep the peace and make it fit what works for us.

I know I do this every year, but I encourage you to make time in the months ahead to dig into reading the Bible in a fresh way.

Some suggestions include:

A read through of a Bible written in chronological order

A read through of a new translation – in the past I have read through NKJV, NIV, The Message and this year I am using the Contemporary English Version – the novelty of familiar passages written in new phrasing is powerful

Choose your readings by books or topics…select a book to read and then move on to another one or select a topic and use a concordance or google search to find passages on that topic

Read a Psalm and a Chapter of Proverbs each day…and just continue on through the year…there is value to exploring the deep layers of the same passages and the repetition will not be boring…I promise!

Maybe, like my dream, we have gotten to the place where we feel confident we can identify the pieces of our faith but we need to refresh ourselves on the writings of the One who gave us Peace.

God bless you as you journey into 2016 seeking to know Him more <3