Day 2

I continued reading familiar stories in Genesis today, but wanted to include a quote from Eugene in the introduction. He states, "God is foundational for living. If we don't have a sense of the primacy of God, we will never get it right, get life right, get our lives right. Not God at the margins; not God as an option; not God on the weekends. God at center and circumference; God first and last; God, God, God."

I was pretty much raised in church. We went to Wed night services, Sunday morning services, Sunday night services, and VBS. If I really sifted though all the cobwebs and files in my brain, I remember becoming a Christian around the age of 7. I participated in Olympians, I quoted the scripture, I did the quiet times but I just grew up doing those things. I found my niche in this whole Christianity thing when I went to IWU for 4 yrs. Don't get me wrong, I struggled A LOT! I made a ton of mistakes and got side tracked in things I deemed more important but I realized it was up to me if I wanted to go to church. My parents were mandating it. After I got married, I searched for a church but never found one that was a good fit. I don't think we went to church for almost 3 years. Thankfully I was working for a Christian organization at the time. God saw the bigger picture and got my undivided attention in March 2007. I found myself in a situation where God was the only thing I could cling to for survival. All of those years before, my relationship with God was never consistent. I was the one who walked away. I got burned out on devotions and didn't stick with it. My marriage counselor constantly invited us to her church. Jason declined the invite and I was petrified to go by myself. It's actually kind of a funny story how we ended up going on Nov 4, 2007. Our therapist decided to schedule a session after the church service because we had to reschedule so many times that week. If I remember it right, we got there and didn't see her in the auditorium. At the end of the service, she notified us and said she had an emergency and couldn't make it. It didn't matter because at that point we were hooked on Oakbrook. I was in awe of what God did that day. I couldn't even talk to my husband about God, Jesus, or church but here we were. Jason and I realized that although Christian counseling was helpful, we needed God at the center if things were going to work out. God has proven that time and time again.

Some other things that stood out to me in Genesis are the unique rituals or commemorating significant events with altars. Besides that, I think it's so neat that Abraham had conversations with God. I wonder what that would be like.