Good Evening:)

Hi again:) I feel like it's been so long since I've posted something NOT related to books. Well, actually, I haven't posted anything besides book-related things since October/Novemberish. It's kind of funny, though, because when I first started, I imagined putting a new, cool post/story thing on here every week. That didn't work out very well, however:) Sometimes we get off track, we lose our plan, and fall off the wagon (I know I do A LOT!) With a lot of people, that's where it stops. If we've failed, we've failed completely. There's no use going on. But that isn't true- that's definately not what God wants for us. If David had just stopped living life after his affair with Bathsheba and the killing of Uzziah, he would not be called a man after God's heart. What set David apart was that he realized that he messed up, and pleaded with God to forgive him. And once he knew that God had forgiven him, he did what was right by Bathsheba and their children. And after, he didn't continue to beat himself over the head for what he had done wrong. When the Bible says
"As far as the east is from the west,
   so far has he removed our transgressions from us", that's what the Bible means. God has let it go, and it is gone. Don't get me wrong, God is NOT okay with our sin, but He loves us enough to give a way to forgiveness. That's why God sent Jesus to die- so that when our messes happen- big or small- we'd have a way back home to Him. No need for guilt, just grace. No need for shame, just salvation. No need for judgment. Just Jesus.

The Story of the Bible by Larry Stone

Hi! I just got a great book from booksneeze- “The Story of the Bible” by Larry Stone. Before I tell you how cool it is, let me tell you that due to some long law thing, I don’t have to give this book a good review, so everything I say is completely how I feel about it. “The Story of the Bible” really is a fantastic read- it gives a nice history of the Bible, from the beginning- when it was first put on paper (or papyrus?)- up to modern day efforts to get the Bible out to unreached peoples by translating it, giving them out, and sending missionaries to the far flung places to teach the people there God’s word. Something else that makes this a truly extraordinary Bible history book is that is has pockets placed in intervals throughout the book with printed pages (not the originals, they’re copies) from Bible transcripts through the years- there’s a page from Isaiah that was part of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a portion of 1 Samuel (and pictures!) from the Morgan Crusader’s Bible, circa 1240, and chapter of Mark from the Bible that was given to the Waodani Tribe of South America. I love history, so this book really was a fantastic thing for me. Be warned- when I ordered this, I thought it was just a small paperback book. In reality, it’s really a big book- it barely fits into my bookshelf. But the content more than makes up for the sizeJ