*Senior Prom and Bible Stories*

"When your stomach is empty and your head is full…it makes it hard to sleep."-Wilbur from Charlottes web

My head is full of the most random things and it's funny to me to see where my head goes in certain situations. Today my brain has been completely on memory mode! I spent an hour today recalling my senior prom and I have no idea why. I had broken up with my boyfriend of four years just three weeks before the prom and was in desperate need of a date. I asked my cousin Macy to go with me and she ended up being the best date I ever had. It sounds lame that I had to basically convince my ninth grade cousin to attend my senior prom with me….but I wouldn't trade it for the world. The story gets more hilarious to think about the older we get.

Another thing my head has been full of is Jacob and Esau. Probably because I saw the story in a new light now that I'm teaching it and I'm surrounded by bible stories everyday. It's like I'm catching things that I didn't before, and I have SO many thoughts after I teach bible. Like….I really think when Jacob worked for Labban all those years for Rachel and got Leah, it was kinda like what goes around comes around, pal! Poor Esau was stabbed in the back like CRAZY!!! And Esau was nice and ended up forgiving Jacob even though he did NOT deserve it.

And how weird is it that Rebekah loved Jacob the most and Issac favored Esau?Don't you think that probably caused some major marital issues?! I mean…every single day I am just wanting to chat about these bible stories….. cause man, there was a lot of twists and turns that I never realized before. When I'm studying them like this, I just want to give Jacob a little talkin to for putting on the goat fur and taking Esau's blessing, ya know?! But then again…what on earth was Issac thinking when he decided to have a favorite son?! RUDE,MUCH?!?!

The thing I'm realizing about almost every single bible story I teach is that they have a part where God blesses them and is on their side, and then there is some major flaw or sin that they commit that they have to pay the consequences for. Anyone who thinks that God's love depends on us being perfect clearly has not memorized the Old Testament!!! The bible is packed with sinful, broken, and imperfect people on God's side! Maybe that's what is such an "Ah ha" moment for me. Did you hear the emotion in my words earlier? I think it's because for the first time I am realizing all the disfunction and sin in the people who we usually just talk about as God's friends and all the "shining moments" in their lives.

Like Abraham trying to rush God's plan by having Ishmael with a woman who was not his wife. (We skipped that part of the story in 1st grade, but I knew it already) Abraham got his promise of a son and was known as a close friend of God, but Islam stemmed out of Ishmael which was a major major major consequence for trying to take his life into his own hands. Even though God promised him a son, Abraham could not see how that would happen and decided to make things happen on his own. Talk about yikes!!! Makes me want to think a little harder about my decisions! Makes me want to be patient and wait on God's timing in my life, ya know?

And what about Joseph's brothers? How hard would it be to have your dad love one child more than you and then have the favored child say that God is going to make them bow down to him. I mean…I'd be tempted to throw him in a well myself! Our sin nature would naturally make us want to do that and doing the right thing is what is hard a lot of the time. How hard would it be to be like: "Joseph, can't wait to bow down to you! I'm so happy for you that dad likes you best and got you this coat I always wanted." Ya….most of us couldn't do that.

I should probably go to bed, but if you're like me and never quite got the generations before no matter how much you've been in church…Let me give you a little picture:

Abraham and Sarah had Issac

Abraham and Sarah found Issac a lovely wife named Rebekah at a water well and those two love birds had twin boys named Esau and Jacob

Even though Jacob wronged Esau, we know more about Jacob. Jacob was the one who married Leah AND Rachel and he had 12 sons. One of the sons was Joseph and he's the technicolored coat one.

I knew all the stories separately before, but had never quite put the generations together, so there ya go. Maybe that will give a better idea to somebody…who knows.