April 13, 2010 - "Julie and Julia"

Perhaps you've seen the movie "Julie and Julia," an interwoven story of a New York woman who cooks her way through Julia Child's masterpiece "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Meryl Streep plays Julia, and who doesn't love Meryl Streep?

Well, being temporarily without the book I was currently reading over the weekend, I went to the bookstore and bought the book. I like how Julie Powell writes - all slash and dash and pick up the pieces later. She doesn't slide fancy words together like pearls on a string, but flings them across the page like so many marbles, round and smooth and shiny. However, if you are easily offended by the "f" word, then Julie Powell's earthy tome is not for you. If you can get past her language and oft times risque subject matter, then the book is a gem of real life in the real world.

So, what in the world does "Julie and Julia" have do to with "Reading The Bible 2010?"

Just this: In some respects, isn't the Bible the same? The Bible is full of lust and adultery, murder and deceit, mankind screwing up over and over and over again. If the "f" word offends you, then the passage in Psalms where we are told, "Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!" (Psalm 137:9) ought to make you pause. Just what kind of book is this anyway?

I think the Bible speaks to us because it IS earthy, it DOES "speak to our condition," and, God help us, it IS our story. We can be a vengeful and outrageous people, and sometimes I wonder why on earth God puts up with us. If the vast majority of the stories in the Bible are those of greed and envy and sloth and whatever the other deadly sins are, why do we consider it the holiest of books? Why is the Bible the book we turn to when we need comfort and solace? Why has the Bible, in all its forms, last for thousands of years?

Just this - every time we screw up, God is there to catch us. Every time we fall from grace (for most of us, that's probably on a daily basis) God is there with His arms open. Every time we acknowledge our faults and our sin and our shortcomings, God is there to say, "It's okay, I love you, now go and don't do it again, y'hear?" If the story of man is that of violence and dispair, then the story of God gives us hope, because even at His most vengeful, God has our best interests at heart. We live because He wants us to. And sometimes, maybe that's enough. I read somewhere that children are God's opinion that mankind should continue. And if I'm alive today, it's because He has a plan for my life.

So be it. Amen and amen!