40 blogs in 40 weeks

Three short months ago I embarked on an unforgettable journey to the Middle East that forever changed the way I see the world, and more importantly, the way I see the God who created this world… and each one of us.  

Since returning from that trip, I’ve been wrestling with how to even begin to share with others and pass along the wonder of all the things I’ve learned and seen.  So often, life’s busyness strangles our time to reflect, and we move on from life’s experiences and continue on with life, trying to find our way back to “normal.” 

But my problem?  I don’t necessarily want “the normal” any more.  After spending time experiencing the Bible and learning about God  in a completely new context, I don’t feel like going back to “normal” is an option anymore.  There’s so much to share; so much to reflect on; and still so much more to learn…

 After months of stewing over how to pass on the blessings of this trip, I’ve decided to start writing again, and am challenging myself to write a weekly blog based on a profound insight or fact that was presented to me on this Middle East trip.  Years ago I would try to write more often, reflecting on who God was and his significance in all our lives, and I have been convicted to take that up again, even though it will be just weekly.  I’m definitely not a “preacher” by any means (unlike half of the study group I travelled with!), but one thing I enjoy doing and a way I can share is through writing.  So, here I am, going to dare to venture and say I will do this for the next -- here goes-- 40 weeks!!  Yikes… 40 blogs in 40 weeks, when most days I hardly have time to shower!!  But let me explain to you why this is so significant:

The number “40” in the Bible has more significance than I ever gave it credit for.  I always had understood as “completeness” but it means so much more than that. The number “40” carries with it overtones of “understanding” and the fullness of understanding.  When God took Israel out of Egypt only to have them wander in the desert wilderness for 40 years, it wasn’t so much punishment for disobedience as much as it was God desiring for his people to gain a more full understanding of him, to give them the opportunity to more fully comprehend and know their God. 

And that’s my hope over the next 40 weeks:  that once a week, I can share with you 40 wonderful insights I was blessed to learn on my trip to the Middle East.  Obviously, even a lifetime is nowhere near enough to truly and fully know and understand our God.  But so often it is so hard to truly stop in our busy lives, and truly reflect on and spend time with the God who so desperately wants us to get to know and us.  So even in my “crazy busy,” “hardly-even-get-a-shower” life, I want to stop, reflect, and spend time understanding this God who wants us to more fully understand and love him.

It is my hope that in the next 40 weeks, you will journey with me, and together we can get a small glimpse of what it means to know God, and come that much closer “to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” (Ephesians 3:18)

Come, let’s go…