The Word on the Street

I have this great book that my brother told me about--it's a street version of the Bible. It was written by this "dude", Rob Lacey, that was dying with cancer and spent the time taking the Bible and translating it into a story in street language.

When my mother died, he and I searched for reasons. We kept being told to read the book of Job. It was supposed to give us comfort. Let's just say...it did not. We never really understood why God would take someone who was obviously Godly and test him just to prove he was indeed Godly. But when my brother found this version of the Bible, for some reason, when he read Job it finally clicked--over 20 years later. The title of Job was "Mess Happens". Basically it says God is God and the sooner you accept it, the better you will be. So I had to get my own copy to see for myself. I read Job and I have to say it did help on some level, but I've since found some of the most insightful representations of some profound truths as I read:

So why so sullen, soul. Why so moody, me?
Why so down, so depressed, so incapable of breaking free?
Don't give up--let God lift your life up!
Stack that weight on God, all of it, complete.
See if he can't juggle it, smuggle it away at last,
And set you back on Celebration Street.
(Psalms 42:5)

What is love anyway? Not the tripe you've been force-fed! No. Love gives people space and time; it does people good. It's not jealous, loud-mouthed or big-headed. It's not vulgar. It doesn't look out for Number 1. It's not got a short fuse--it forgives and forgets. Love doesn't smile when dark stuff goes on, but throws a party when the truth gets out. It protects more than a super hero; it trusts more than a toddler. It's always positive. It always hangs in there. Love doesn't let you down.
(1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

These are words I can relate to. Words that inspire me. Words that give me hope and peace when I let them sink in. It's the WORD that does it for me. Always has, always will. (In the beginning was THE WORD, and THE WORD was with God, and THE WORD was God. John 1:1)

Soaking up THE WORD today,
Walden Fan

Addendum--Rob Lacey didn't succumb to cancer. In the last few pages of his book are his journal. He asks the question we all ask at one point or another in our lives--Why Me? "And with answers so shy," he says "I won't ask why? Right now I'll just ask, how do I live? How do I die? I'll leave the questions lying there. I'll leave my lopsided, left heavy, rational, righteous brain. I'll just give God His fame. The always different, ever the same. I'll thank Emmanuel, I'll thank God with us. I'm well."