Ezekiel 45: 18-20 ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: In the first month on the first day you are to take a young bull without defect and purify the sanctuary. 19 The priest is to take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, on the four corners of the upper ledge of the altar and on the gateposts of the inner court. 20 You are to do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance; so you are to make atonement for the temple.' This passage is about coming back to God through the temple sacrifices - through the law. I don't remember the specific circumstances.  That isn't even important for what I want to talk about. Part of the instruction given here is " for anyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance ". There are no examples given or further explanation. None are really needed for us to understand. The more we learn, the more we understand how far...

My book is full. Almost exactly a year ago, I started writing down passages or verses of the Bible in my little wire-bound book on September 29, 2009.  The journal has a beautiful blue cover with a pair of yellow flowers. The cover says "He has made everything beautiful in its time". ( Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV)   That is only part of the verse but that is the way I've been writing passages.  Writing these down this past year has helped me remember where some passages are.  Now if someone references Jeremiah 29:11, I know what that verse is, even if I can't remember the whole, exact sentence. I've also grown in appreciation for the diversity of the Bible. There are poems, songs, stories, biographic tales, autobiographic entries, commands, comforts. There are cries for help, justice and pleas for mercy and grace. There are bits that we can't fully appreciate. For example, since we don't know the Hebrew alphabet that was used for a particular acrostic we can...

For the last two weeks, I've been driving past various cornfields. I can't explain why they caught my attention. I've lived here all my life and have seen cornfields all around me forever. They were next to the factory where I worked. They cover both sides of the roads on various road trips. Perhaps it is the time of year that put them in the right condition for me to notice them.  If you didn't know what a cornfield looked like, you could have guessed this was one.   This one particular field, which is just below the level of the road, was perfect, by its symmetry, the sameness of each stalk, the consistency of color and placement of the ears . The stalks were green. The ears were a golden bushy yellow. The ears were exactly in the same place on each the stalk. It was like the ears were placed exactly this far from the ground, this far from the next ear, and colored just perfectly to contrast against the stalk and leaves. I didn't have a camera with me and the c...