Walking with Jesus

. A SON ! (Visit Olivia's blog for details!) 

There's an interesting character in the story of Joshua that some of you may never have noticed before. He is called "Commander of the Army of the LORD" and he appears in Joshua 5:13 , as promised in Deuteronomy 31:3-6 . He reminds me of Merlin in the King Arthur series by Stephen R. Lawhead , which I read as a teenager. He's not just the kind, yet fussy old tutor made famous my Disney, he's a warrior, passionate and brave, helping establish the kingdom with his sword as well as his counsel. Now, the best thing about the person described in Joshua's story is that we can know who he was, and it may surprise us. What are the clues? First, his title: Who has a right to be called the commander, or Captain (NASB), of God's army? Second, he allows himself to be worshiped: Who alone is worthy of worship? (Certainly not an angel ) Third, he commands Joshua to remove his sandals and declares the place holy ground: Where have we heard that before? So, a person

. . Sometimes (like anyone else) I have questions about what I read in the Bible. This morning, I'm in Exodus, reading about the plagues of God through Moses. I love the story as it is in Scripture. I believe it as it is in Scripture. Most of the time we get parts of it wrong when we retell it. For example, in The Prince of Egypt Moses never ages, and in The Ten Commandments Joshua meets Moses in the wilderness rather than Aaron. [I still recommend both movies by the way. Others, like Joseph, King of Dreams , vary so far from the text that they aren't worth the time to watch.] I also read a book once trying to disprove the plagues as a natural event, but I obviously wasn't convinced. Today I noticed something about the "livestock" involved in the plagues. When exactly did they all die? Since I was sitting here at the computer, and since I didn't have time to puzzle it through, I Googled it. This can be a very dangerous experiment, so do it carefully. The

. OT Reading: Leviticus 20:10 (New Century Version) 10 "'If a man has sexual relations with his neighbor's wife, both the man and the woman are guilty of adultery and must be put to death.’” NT Reading: Romans 6:21-23 (New Century Version) 21 You did evil things, and now you are ashamed of them. Those things only bring death.22 But now you are free from sin and have become slaves of God. This brings you a life that is only for God, and this gives you life forever. 23 The payment for sin is death. But God gives us the free gift of life forever in Christ Jesus our Lord. Introduction : In the story of Moses and the Exodus from Egypt, God says, “3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I was not known to them. 4 I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. 5 And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom th