Easter week

In case you weren't aware, Easter is this Sunday. To help prepare, the church I attend - Austin Stone - put together an email-a-day subscription for the week. The purpose is to go thru the last days of Jesus' life and provides themes, reflections, and questions for each day. Anyone interested was/is encouraged to subscribe. Each day there is a provided image to help convey the theme for the day. A handful of artists were chosen to provide these and someone referred me. Honestly, I was a little nervous about the challenge as there was a short period of time to do it and I really wanted to come up with something that would serve the purpose intended. But moreso, I was really excited about the opportunity and eager to see what the Lord would teach me through it. I was given a set of scriptures to study as well as the theme for the day. Beyond that it was basically, "run with it." I tossed some ideas around but none seemed to really do it for me...I knew I didn't have it yet. But as I kept reading and researching, I suddenly knew exactly the direction I wanted to go in.

And I don't say all this to give you the details of the email. I'll include a link with Monday's devotional if you're interested in checking it out. I think this whole project was a lesson in itself for me. A lot of times I get motivated to read my Bible more but ultimately it ends up sitting on my dresser unopened. Or, I actually make it so far as to open it and start reading but I become bored or am waiting to find a great way to apply it and don't. I guess sometimes I have this very skewed idea that I'm going to read a verse, have some supernaturally profound thought, hear God talking to me, and feel like a real bible scholar. Yeah, real skewed I know. Bottom line, this doesn't happen to me. But when I got this assignment I really wanted to do it right. I didn't want to submit something that was "just ok." So I put forth a little more effort, really prayed for God to reveal what He wanted me to learn, to show me how to respond. And after I dug around a little, He did. And I can't really explain the satisfaction in that. And no...still not a bible scholar...but I can say that I really feel like I learned what He wanted me to learn and yeah, it took some time and maybe even some trial and error, but in the end - definitely worth it.

Here's monday's email and tuesday's also if you want to follow for the week...
Monday - Cleansing of the Temple
Tuesday - The Widow's Offering