Understanding Hormah

My life was changed by this book.  I clearly remember the first time that I flipped through the pages on a chicken bus in who knows where Guatemala.  I remember how after glancing over the first few pages I felt like I had finally found a way to organize or classify my emotions, thoughts, doubts and the over all way in which I wanted to follow Christ.  If you haven't read this book, well you should.  I'll say no more.







I've started to read this book which is more like a devotional which is strange for me, since I've never been a big fan of devotionals.  They've always seemed...forced or fake, I don't know they've just never "caído bien" to me.  Oh by the way, the same author, Shane Claiborne, wrote this book and so I gave it a shot.  It's been a nice change of pace, it's got a balance of history, real world application, catholic style liturgy and worship which I've found hard to find in other books, let's even say people, and churches.  Again, I believe you should check it out.



Well the other day I was reading the scriptures selection for the day, which were suppose to be Numbers 22:1-21, but for some odd reason I read chapter 21 by mistake...  It's a great way to start the morning or any part of your day :).

"1 When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked the Israelites and captured some of them. 2 Then Israel made this vow to the LORD: "If you will deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy their cities." 3 The LORD listened to Israel's plea and gave the Canaanites over to them. They completely destroyed them and their towns; so the place was named Hormah. "

...we will totally destroy their cities...they completely destroyed them and their towns.  So a few more verses in I realized my mistaken selection of 21 instead of 22, went back to the Common Prayer and looked back to see if I had missed these verses a previous day.

I hadn't missed anything.  Claiborne for some reason decided to start the previous day with Numbers 21:4 instead of verse 1.  But why?  Common Prayer has more or less followed a linear progression through the old and new testament with the daily verses, skipping over some parts here and there.  I'm not mad at him and definitely still highly recommend the two reads, which may have lost some of their luster after my past few lines, but honestly they're incredible books.  This incident just brought up question for me.

In the past two weeks I found my self in two other conversations, confronting this same problematic issue, explaining or rationalizing some other the "stranger" parts of the Bible/God.

Christine and Ericka (our recent guest) met this guy on the subway who started a conversation because he heard them speaking English.  Long story short, he's come to church with us the past two weeks, has lots of questions and makes it clear that he wants to learn more about this churchy Christ thing before diving in.    He's very scientific about decisions.  So we gave him a Bible and this past Sunday he comes up to me and asks what I think about Genesis 6:4.

Oh boy, and he hasn't even gotten to the part of the daughter being chopped up into 12 parts sent out UPS style.  How do I answer questions like that?  And who gives a guy a bible and lets 'em start in the Old Testament?  That's asking for disaster.

Another night we were invited to a neighbors' cook out and I found myself in the funnest/most ironic situation.  I've just been asked what I believe about God, Christ, the Church, etc. and I've got a big fat cuban cigar in one hand and glass of rum on the rocks in the other.  What an image.

Quick tangent - I could write a whole blog/book about that moment and probably will.  I figured if you're this deep in the entry/blog then I'm not going to "clean it up" for you.  You get the authentic un-rated version.  But just know that, no, I don't smoke, I love my lungs, cycling and my future too much and no, I'm not an alcoholic, moderation is the key :)  Honestly I think when managing moderation correctly you open up a lot more ears and opportunities to share Christ with other... enough of this tangent for now.

By now my neighbor has found out that I teach Sunday school and starts asking some more of those really tough questions about the Bible, real world experiences.  This guys got some images and experiences that I'd even hate to even see in a movie.  He's an ambulance driver and has witnessed first hand the carnage and savage ugliness of this world.  I'm not talking about bad car wrecks, I'm talking about fathers mutilating their kids and so forth...  I can't give a Romans Road answer or some clean cut image of the Bible and this kingdom of God.

I think God gave me Numbers 21 for a reason.  Maybe to prepare myself to respond with, "Now that doesn't make any sense to me either/I don't know," to these anticipating conversations that I would have.  Maybe it was to help me in my own walk.  I don't know how to end this blog so I'll end it with a quote from another of my favorite authors, Francis Chan.

 "Like the nervous kid who tries to keep his friends from seeing his drunken father, I have tried to hide God at times.  Who do I think I am?  The truth is, God is perfect and right in all that He does...  We need to stop trying to domesticate God or confine Him to tidy categories and compartments that reflect our human sentiments rather than his inexplicable ways."