History Comes Alive

On Saturday, the Campbell family and I went to Fort Pulaski on the way home from a beautiful day at the beach. The fort was one of the major holding grounds for the Confederates during the civil war. We took a guided tour around the fort; the tour was led by an energetic tour guide. As he spoke, the Confederate soldiers appeared in the bunks and shuffled around the field. They manned the cannons and yelled for more ammunition. They cried out in pain and laughed at in the golden sunshine. I could see it all as it played out before me. I was in awe of the power and history contained in that space, history that is all around us. There is history in the ground beneath our houses and everywhere we walk, some places and people call us to recognize it while others push us in the future, causing us to forget.

Last night, I lay reading my Bible, drifting in and out of sleep, using all the strength in my body to lift my eye lids which suddenly weighed 200 lbs. Why wasn't this exciting, why was God's word not a page turner, why did I wish to be done so I could pick up Velvet Elvis or go to sleep? I thought back to the events of the day and realized that like the Civil War, the events in the Bible really happened. The facts of the Civil War can put you to sleep in a text book, but the mouth of an impassioned tour guide brings them to life. The facts of the Bible were putting me to sleep because I wasn't approaching them with passion. I had forgotten that these words were spoken by a Man who really lived and written by men who saw Him and experienced Him. This morning, when I read my Bible, I tried to imagine Paul, there in front of me, writting to the church at Corinth. He shares his heart with them. When I imagined it in this way, the words seem to come alive, just as the Fort did yesterday. From now on when I read these words, I will attempt to discover the passion behind the pen, to examine the context of the story.

As I was reading velvet Elvis I found more on the subject of bringing the Bible to life. Rob Bell reminded me that the stories in that Bible are not only important because they happened but because they happen. The story of the woman at the well happens every single day as God reaches out to the "untouchables" and changes there lives, shows them that they have worth. How wonderful!

So, I am trying to read my Bible with more passion and more understanding, although I fell asleep even today as I read. HOW HUMAN WE ARE! Pray for me in this area as I try to improve my quiet times, so that they are not so quiet anymore. Why do we call them "quiet times" anyways, shouldn't God be speaking to us?