back to work...

Sorry for the absence of entries these last few days. I am working on my own discipline, but looking forward to getting back into this routine. I hope there is some grace in that...

Which actually leads me to my thoughts on today's text. We read from Leviticus 11 and Acts 10. The picture that came to my mind as i was reading these scriptures was being a little kid and walking in the mall, or on a sidewalk and trying not to step on a crack. Do you remember doing that...how your tiny little, child-sized feet could fit entirely into one square tile and you would jump from tile to tile with the hopes of never stepping on a crack. I remember a little saying that was shared from elementary school student to elementary school student..."Step on a crack and you'll break your mother's back." Not a nice saying, but it rhymed... :)

I can remember how upset i would get when i'd lose my balance or someone would shove me and i'd step on a crack. I'm not sure if it was because i believed the rhyme and thought i'd somehow hurt my mom, or if is was just because i like to "win" and felt like stepping on a crack was "failing." As i read the Old Testament scripture in Leviticus I can't help but think that the people back then must have felt a bit like a child trying to avoid the cracks... Here is a list of animals you cannot touch, or even stub your toe on, or you'll be "Defiled until evening." What pressure! They must have lived in such fear of messing up. There were so many rules and so many "proper" ways to be in a right relationship with God.

Then we meet Jesus. He takes away that need for perfection and rules. Not so that we live without rule, but so that we are not the ones responsible for being "good enough" for God. Thank God for that! I would never be able to make it through all the Old Testament rules! i am reading this book that talks about how we need both Truth and Grace. That without one, we have a problem...ie. no truth would mean grace covers all, and we would have no boundaries to keep us from doing horrible things. But truth alone is all about rules and we can never be good enough. I'm so thankful to be serving a God who is rooted in both Truth and Grace!