Looking at Job: Trouble Starts at Home

This is post is the third in my ongoing series on Job. I highly recommend being familiar with the overview before getting too deep into the weeds – the first two posts on the book will help you see where I am coming from in talking about the book and the story (HERE and HERE). If you are caught up already, let’s plow ahead.

The first two chapters of Job cover a lot of ground. At the opening of chapter 1, Job is happy, healthy, and wealthy. At the start of chapter 3, Job wishes he had never been born. We know Job isn’t a moody teenager, which means an excruciatingly long look at the first two chapters is worthwhile. We’ve already covered the broadest overview of the story, we need to spend some time to get from point A to point B.

Looking at Job: Big Ideas

Apologies to Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki if that brings up any bad memories (like either of them will ever see this…), but Job is a book with several big ideas that are worth hashing out before ever diving too deep into content. If you are coming to this fresh and aren’t sure what I am talking about, I would suggest backing up to the first post on Job to get an overview of the book.

The story of Job is an intensely human one. Not just because of the 35 chapter examination of the nature of man and his relationship to God, but also because the story is one that most of us can can empathize with. Almost all of us have had some kind of period that we have gone through where the entire world falls apart and don’t really find a cause that we can put our finger on. As such, Job is a book that almost everyone will find themselves in the middle of at some point – either as the protagonist or as the audience. As such, there are several big ideas that have to be looked at in the context of the story.

New Series: Looking at Job

Overview:

To borrow a phrase from one of my favorite teachers in college, Job exists in “the crispy part of the Bible”. The history stuff leading up to it is cool and just about every Sunday School takes a (somewhat Disneyfied) look at Esther when they get convicted of not doing enough to focus on the girls… and then we run smack into Job where the typical response is, “huh, this looks interest–… they talk about depression for how long?!?! GIMMIE PSALMS ONE!” **heavy exhale of relief** ……… of course, then you get to Ecclesiastes………

The point is that the Book of Job has a lot of big ideas and a lot to teach, but the journey to get there is anything but easy. In this series, I want to start getting some of what is in my head about the book down in digital format so that other people might benefit from it too. I want to preface this by saying that I am many things, but a scholar of ancient languages and culture I am not. Don’t give this the same weight that you do to the Bible (obviously) or even your local pastor (less obvious), but if you can see what I’m saying in your own Bible, I feel pretty confident about the quality of the thought I’ve put into it.

A new Series… sort of…

So… I have a blog. It’s 300 posts dating back to… 2007? Ish? I figure it’s about time I had an idea to do something intentional with it. As part of my work requirements at my current job, I am supposed to be reading books, listening to podcasts, tracking main takeaways and interacting with the content. I figure, if I am going to go to all that work, I might as well get some content out of it. Thus, posts with the #BIHTR (Books I Had To Read) tag in the headline are a part of that ongoing series. Today will mark the first post in the series because the book and relevant discussion is fresh in my brain — I’ll start digging into my previous notes from the others I have already knocked off later.

Simone Biles and the Art of the Tactical Retreat

To be clear: I don’t know if Biles is physically 100%. Reports said that she was seen with her leg taped up after her failed vault attempt, but almost every major outlet is focusing on “mental health”, so this article will be assuming that she is physically fine and bowed out of the team and individual all-around as a mental health check. If that is still interesting, please read on.

The 2020 Election: A Post-Mortem

Two posts in one month? I’m smothering you! This is the longer, more explained version of something I already said on my Facebook wall. I don’t claim to be the smartest guy in the room, the most informed, or even the best predictor of the future — but, fools rush in where angels fear to tread, so let’s get into my key takeaways from the 2020 election. ((author’s note, I am writing this assuming that nothing earth-shattering happens to overturn the apparent Biden/Harris victory))

In Defense of the Electoral College

It’s been a while since I wrote something of importance, but this election cycle has brought out the claws again from people wanting to get rid of the vestiges of America’s unique civic structure. I’d like to offer my two cents on why this should be avoided… while also admitting that since we abandoned gold-backed currency in 1971, two cents isn’t worth nearly as much as it used to be. Let’s get into it.

Being Relateable

Buried underneath a ton of media fluff and bluster about who is investigating what or subpoenaing whom, who launched ballistic missiles this week, and who we are on the brink of war with now, there has been an easily missed bit of introspection happening amongst the DNC Elite.  Hillary Clinton and the various party leaders have finally admitted to a fact that is as true as it is uncomfortable: the DNC has completely lost touch with rural voters and uneducated whites — and they can’t win consistently without those voters.  As such, the DNC has been quietly asking itself how they can win back the rural votes.  As much as I hate to do it for fear that someone will actually read it and take it seriously, I have, here, set out to try and lay out my roadmap for the Democrats to find their way back into rural America.   

Kaepernick and Nike

Colin Kaepernick — martyr.

It’s a popular storyline. Too bad it’s wrong.   

A Retrospective

I’m going to assume that the reason for this is because my birthday is fast approaching, but I’ve been looking back and thinking a lot.  I would like to think that I’ve learned some things, but I know that the learning process is still just starting.  It’s almost like for the first 20 years of my life, I thought I knew everything while the last eight have mostly been realizing just how little I actually do or don’t, while this is the beginning of getting some wisdom related to what I know.  So what have I learned?