Nota Bene: Marginalia Commentary on Life from a Curious Learner

In the story of the testing of Abraham's faith this morning I came across two highlighted verses in the same section. Remember, I'm asking God to show me new things, but to do it through these 2,000+ year old words, translated into Olde English 400 years ago that were underlined by my grandfather somewhere in the last 70 years. In Genesis 22:5 Arlow… I guess that I'm going to have to address the name thing. I never called him Arlow. To me he was always Grandpa. But if you are reading this, he probably wasn't grandpa to you. He could have been your father, your friend, your neighbor – or more than likely a stranger. I can't put all those into one title, so I'm going to reference him simply as "Arlow". It's a good name. I mean nothing but honor here. It may sound odd to you – it surely sounds odd to me as my fingers find those keys. But it's what we'll work with. In Genesis 22:5 Arlow underlined the phrase "… and come again to you ....

Arlow Carey, as my grandfather, was a fixture in my life for many years. When he passed away a couple years ago, the family entrusted me with his Bible, a treasured possession by both of us. This isn't an ordinary Bible. The specs: It is a Thompson New Chain-Reference Bible (third improved edition) that was purchased from Leroy Gager in 1936. On the back of the title page are these words, "I bought this Bible in 1936. It has the "third" new cover now in 1980's". What does that say about a man? I suppose first it says a lot about his love for the Word of God and its author. This Bible was carried for nearly 70 years – all through his adult life. It spent time in his recliner, in his lap during sermons, on the breakfast table with weak coffee and burnt toast, on a lectern as he taught adults and hundreds of other places. I'm sure that it went to Gideon meetings. It probably accompanied him to Africa. My own memories place this Bible in his hands as he read...

Many years ago a co-worker introduced me to a simple prayer based on Ephesians 2:10. Harold, our church custodian, began a prayer time together one morning by quoting this verse. For him, it was more than a verse – it was an expectation, and an invitation to see God throughout the day in surprising ways. That prayer and that verse have become very much part of my own life as well in the past 24 years of inviting God to surprise me each day. He knows the things that he has laid out for me. And I get the daily joy of walking with God and inviting him to show me what each day holds. I love his surprises and I am learning to trust in God for the journey. I invite you to share in this journey. I don’t have a lot of preconceived notions about what will find its way into this blog. I have a wide variety of people, things, and ideas that interest me. They may not interest you, but I hope that there are some things that will bring you back here. Not so much to see what’s interesting to me, but ...