Humor Me, Lord: Who’s in Charge Here, Anyway?

Note to the learner: Everything in the universe, or at least my universe has worked against the publication of this particular study. Read it, and you’ll see why.  By the end, the enemy is exposed. Naked. And you, dear ones, are empowered. It must be good stuff.

And we’re off like a herd of turtles on the second installment of the Humor Me, Lord bible study series.

I’m ready. You’re ready, right?

Bible? (No comment on the digital versions. I’m sniffing my calfskin leather and listening to the crackle of onionskin pages now. Nanny, nanny, boo-boo. Maturity is my area of spiritual gifting. Clearly.)

Notebook?

Humor Me, Lord Nature of God worksheet type thingy?

Pens/pencils?

Quiet study area?

Ample time?

Teachable spirit?

Sense of humor?

Likewise, clean pants? You never know.

You did pray, didn’t you? It’s okay if you didn’t. I’ll wait. I’ll just be in the kitchen eating something tasteless and healthy while you do. Let me know when you’re done so I can put down my rabbit food.

Oh, and you might need this one, the Humor Me, Lord Who’s in Charge Here, Anyway Study 05132011 worksheet type thingy. Print it, complete it with me here now, and then store it in your notebook behind the Meet the Family worksheet we did together last time.

Wait, sorry. The OCD part of me got carried away. Put it wherever you like. Over.

Off we go (remember the bold-faced numbers here correspond to those on your Who’s in Charge Here, Anyway worksheet type thingy)…

Think back to two weeks ago today. You completed your first lesson in the Humor Me, Lord study. You laughed, you learned, you realized something about God that maybe you’d never caught before.  Take a minute. Don’t rush your memory.

Heck, at my age, trying to rush it is as futile as trying to straighten out my crooked, middle toe once and for all. It ain’t happenin’.

1. What major (or minor) realization did you come to in the previous lesson? What was your ‘aha’ moment in that space in time?   What made you slap your forehead with the palm of your hand and say, “By George, I think I’ve got it!”?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I don’t know who George is, or why we do things ‘by’ him, so don’t bother overthinking that one or even Googling it. I know I’m not.

Probably not.

2. What application did you make into your life from that study?  Meaning, how did the ‘new’ stuff you learned about God rock (change) your world? (If we learn from God’s word but never really apply it, is it really learning? See also: The Pharisees. What? I’m just sayin’.)
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. How did God reveal His sense of humor to you in that lesson? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Me? I’m still cracked up over the Helpmate-of-the-Year (Job 2:9). But that’s just me.

4. Now, reread Job 1-2. Yes, I know you’ve read them before. I’ve done push-ups before, but guess what? I’m gonna do ‘em again. And so are you. Read, friend. Repetition makes the heart grow fonder. Wait, is that right? Something like that. Anyway, read.

5. Fill-in-the-blank down below: Job is, generally speaking, a _______________ person. (You can use more than one describing word.) Just jog your memory about what kind of dude we’re dealing with here. Be sure to link your conclusion to the verse from which it came. Primarily because what you think is not nearly as important as what God thinks. Truth is truth, and I aim to tell it. *Wince.* Love you.

Conclusion About Job                                          Verse

__________________________             _____________________

__________________________              _____________________

__________________________             _____________________

__________________________            _____________________

6. In your Bible, if it’s not against your religion, use a pen or pencil to underline Job 1:6 and Job 2:1. If you had a take an educated guess, how would you, from these verses, define the nature of the relationship between God and Satan? I mean, who’s in charge here, anyway? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here’s the way I see it: God is sitting up there in heaven, doin’ His thang, when the sons of God come for their regular reporting. The angels are reportin’ for duty, y’all! They’re getting their marching orders for the day/week/month/millennium/whatever.

“Gabriel, do this. Michael, do that. Shirley, go here. Josephine, go there,” God says.

I don’t know who Shirley and Josephine are. I just made those up in the spirit of angel-gender equality. You get the idea, though.

But, wait! Guess who’s among them? Guess who has to show up to get his marching orders on a recurring basis, too?

Hold on, hold on, hold on. Then that means that, every time something goes bad in my life, that Satan wasn’t allowed to make it so without prior approval? More specifically, without prior approval from The God of the Universe, the very One who loves me so much that He sacrificed His only Son (John 3:16) for my pathetic tail?

That last part’s a paraphrase.

But it is pathetic, although, after several weeks with Jillian, it may or may not be perking up just a bit.

7. So, now that you know, what does knowing this about God’s relationship to Satan mean in your life?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8. On a scale of 1 to 10, if you are a child of the Most High God, how empowering is this information?
________________________________________________________________________

I’m going with a 12. But that’s just me.

That’s right, child. Sit up a little straighter. Hold your head a little higher. Breathe a little deeper.  It’s all under control.

Now, back to the story:

That punk with the smart mouth (Job 1:7;2 2:2), jet black hair, clothes, and fingernails and Liquid-Paper white face? That’s Satan showing up for his check-in so he won’t get grounded.

Probably he’s got one of those wallets with the chain. And a nose ring.

God looks at him, like every parent who already knows the answer to the question, and asks, “What are you up to these days?”, and the punk answers, “Nothin’. Just walkin’ around. I ain’t tellin’ you.”

God must have thought Satan was bored. Everyone knows that people get into the most trouble when they have time on their hands. So, He made a suggestion.

I guess even Lucy-fer needs purpose.

9. Reread Job 1:8. Whose idea was this whole thing? _____________________________________________________________________________

Wait, what? It wasn’t Satan walking around looking for someone to destroy? Satan didn’t ‘get permission’ so much as it was recommended to him? What kind of loving God would do that? I get that He’s in charge now, but is He just up there playing with me? Am I his little chew toy? Is He just sittin’ up there thinking up things for Satan to do at my expense so the punk won’t get bored? That ain’t right!

As the first chapter comes to a close, Job’s life is in shambles. The only thing he’s got left is his ‘darling’ wife. And he’s about to get sores, the only cure for which, apparently, is to scrape them with broken pottery. Homeboy’s life’s become horrendous in the course of one conversation. He didn’t have a bad year, or a bad month, or a challenging season of life. He didn’t even have a bad day. He had a bad conversation, y’all!

But, still, he gets it.

10. Read Job 1:20-21. What was Job’s first response, found in verse 20? I mean, after she tore his robe and shaved his head and fell to the ground, of course.  ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

I have to ask myself, “During what percentage of your life’s trials is your first response (after you tear your robe, shave your head, and fall to the ground) to worship?”

The answer ain’t something I’m proud of. Our me-centric culture, consisting of I-pods, MySpace, and Mii’s on the Wii, my time at Burger King, where I can have it my way, the American dream of pulling myself up by my bootstraps to make something of myself, has led me to believe that I somehow deserve better treatment than the trials life throws at me.  I shake my fist at the heavens and shout, “Why me, Lord?” when my car makes a funny noise or my water filter in my refrigerator needs to be changed.

Oh, the humanity of it all!

Now, who do I sound like? No wonder the Helpmate-of-the-Year is hilarious to me. Maybe, just maybe, I am her sometimes.

Minus the cursing God part, of course. Of course.

But Job, at least for the moment, gets it.

11. Reread Job 1:20-21. In your own words, restate what Job says here: __________________________________________________________________

He didn’t have access to bible commentaries, no TBN, no fancy preacher to interpret the scriptures for him, no God for Dummies book. He didn’t have rosary beads or a prayer cloth. No hymnal or JumboTron displaying the words to the songs. No, he was in tune with His Maker. He had walked with God enough to know what He was about. When life (read: Satan, as suggested by God) threw Job lemons, he had enough faith in God on tap to mix them into a Sonic Strawberry Lemonade. Which he gave back to God.

Turns out, God’s a big Sonic fan. Who knew?

Though he couldn’t have known what for, Job had prepared. And when the time came, when the chips were down, when he was losing, bigtime, in the bottom of the ninth, he did the only thing he knew to do. He fell to the ground and worshipped the One who, he knew, was still on the throne. The One who had not forsaken him. The One who gave him life and would, in His time, take it back.

Wonder if Job’s words were in the songwriter’s heart when he wrote this song. If you know it, listen to it and worship. If you’ve never heard it, read the words on the screen and use them to make a connection to your own life.

“‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” ~Job 1:21

A good one to memorize, if you’re into that sort of thing. I’m just sayin’.

12. Rewrite it here to begin cementing it into your memory. _________________________________________________________________________________

13. What have you learned about the Nature of God today? Write your discoveries on your Nature of God worksheet type thingy, along with the corresponding verse/s.

14. Now, I ask you, who’s in charge here, anyway? _____________________________________________________________________

Bravery is rewarded here at the Humor Me, Lord headquarters.  Therefore, each person who is brave enough to enter a comment, giving us feedback on some way that God revealed Himself to you or spoke words of blessing into your life from today’s study will be entered into a drawing to win a copy of Angela Thomas’ newest book: Brave.

Do it! Empowered by your new/newly refreshed knowledge, be brave!

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Humor Me, Lord is a Bible study series published by AinW.  It exists to help people dig deep into the word of God in order to learn about His wicked (pun intended) sense of humor. This ain’t your regular devotional. You’ll laugh. You’ll learn. You’ll rethink the way you’ve perceived God.

You won’t, no matter what the uber-religious set tells you, lose your religion.

Humor Me, Lord is a copyrighted publication of Adventures In Womanland. Reproduction or duplication of it in any format is welcomed, contingent upon proper citation being used. All quotes/references must be accompanied by the URL on which they are found.

“Like” Humor Me, Lord on Facebook. You’ll get updated every time a new study is published and bonus laughs from God’s word.

Life, Hijacked By, Well, Life

Over the past few days, my life has been hijacked by, well, life. Although I’ve never been in a hijacking situation, I’m assuming my current hijacking is better than being hijacked by, say, hijackers.

Enough hijacking.

My point is this: in the next few days, I’m going to get wrap up the next installment of my Humor Me, Lord bible study, as well as post an entertaining anecdote or two. Maybe even a recipe for breakfast burritos. You never know. I’m wild like that.

In the meantime, let me say this: I respect the work of Angela Thomas. Much like myself, she’s learned that God can use a person after life piles the unexpected on her. Because I love her work so much, I’m going to be giving away a copy of her latest book, Brave.

Stay tuned for updates to learn how to be eligible to win! If you’re a dude, it won’t hurt you to learn a little bit more about the women in your life, either.

Be Brave,

AinW

Humor Me, Lord Update

Hi, gang!

I am so excited to offer you the next edition of Humor Me, Lord, entitled Who’s In Charge Here? or something like that. We’ll be studying it together early next week, and you’ll be laughing your head off at the God of the universe. He’s a pip, that one!

Thanks for your awesome feedback on the first session and get ready to party with me next week!

Best,
AinW

Humor Me, Lord: Meet the Family

Wait. You’re ready, right?

Bible? Check.

*Sigh with large eyeroll.* Yes, you can use Bible Gateway if you must. But I’m warning you: you’re not going to get the calfskin smell or onion-skin crackle. You’ll lose the sensory experience I’m sure God wanted us to have from the foundations of the earth. But that’s just me.

Notebook? Check.

Pen/pencil? Check.

Nice, quiet study spot with plenty of time (I’d guess less than 30 minutes)?

Maybe a Study Buddy with whom you can discuss your findings?

Teachable spirit? Check. And you prayed already, right? If not, please do it now. I’ll wait. In fact, I’ll probably be hip-deep in my laundry, having stayed up late last night to edit and publish this here thang. Take your time.

[Bon Jovi’s Livin’ on a Prayer in Muzak form plays in background as men and women across the world pray.]

And welcome back.

Did you remember your clean pants, just in case?  I’m just saying. Those of us who’ve borne children may or may not have issues.

Oh, and I guess you’re going to need this. Just click, print, and get ready to learn. Humor Me, Lord Meet the Family. Use it to follow along and track your thoughts. The bold-faced numbers on this post and on the worksheet-type thingy (official name) match in order to help you track more easily.

You’ll also need this one: Humor Me, Lord Nature of God. Print it and put it in the very front of your notebook. We’ll be using it throughout the course of all of our studies. The Bible is one of God’s primary ways of revealing Himself to us (the peons who couldn’t find Him if we tried), so we’ll need to track what He reveals until we have as complete a picture as our feeble, little brains can formulate. If you run out of space on this one, just print more. God’s nature is big. It may take more than one sheet. I’m just sayin’.

Off we go…

Meet the Family

1. Read Job 1-2. That’s chapters one and two, not chapter one, verses one and two. It’s on page 417 and 418 in my great-smelling, crackly Bible.

No, really. Go ahead and read it. Cuz we’re really cookin’ here. I’ll wait. I’ll be humming the theme song from Jeopardy in my head.

[Pause for reading.]

Did I pick the funniest book of the Bible for the inaugural study, or what?  I just re-read these chapters, and I’m laughing my head off!

Wait. What’s that? You’re not laughing? It seems sad and unfortunate?  All you need is a perspective change, and I’m just the girl to lead you to it.  Follow me.

Or, maybe I’ve just done one too many Jillian workouts and have, officially, lost it. The jury’s still out. Way out.

First, let’s take a trip near the Dead Sea, because when I think laughter, when I think vacation, the first place that pops in my head is the Dead Sea.

2.  Reread Job 1:1. Where did Job live? _____________________________________________

map courtesy of http://www.wikipedia.org

While there’s some amount of theological back-and-forth about where the land of Uz was (Uz was…it rhymes. See what I did there? Clever, huh.) located, we’re not going to get caught up in the minutia. We’re just getting oriented, building context. Besides, minutia is not funny. Most of the time. Anywho, it’s commonly agreed that the darkened area of the above map is the land in which Job lived. Not all of it, for Pete’s sake. He was rich, but not that rich.

At least I don’t think he was. Just how rich was he?

3. Reread Job 1:1-3. Just how rich was Job? ______________________________________________________

Wait, do children count as assets or liabilities in this instance? Hang on; we’re getting there.

4. What kind of man was Job? Reread Job 1:1-1:5, then list all the characteristics you see in the Scripture that describe Job. Some, like ‘blameless,’ (Job 1:1) are quotable from the passage. Some, like ‘rich’ (Job 1:3) are a little more implied. Don’t be afraid to imply. Just make sure you have scripture to back up your implications (in fact, citing the verse, as I did here, is a great idea). For example, if I were going to say, “Jillian is a beast,” I’d be able to show you the first 2 minutes of her Shred dvd, and you’d be convinced. Make sure your implications are convincing.  _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Reread Job 1:4-5.  What characteristics would you use to describe his children? (I know what I’d say about those punks, she says out the side of her mouth. I know what my Mammaw would say, too, and it wouldn’t be very nice. She has a way with people.)  ___________________________________________________

6. Now answer the question: were Job’s children assets or liabilities? ____________________________________________________________

The Scripture says that Job was “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” and, later, “the greatest of all the people of the east.” Note: when the BIBLE says you’re the greatest at something, it really means it. Because it’s God’s Word. Word to ya mutha. He knows what He’s talking about. Get it? This ain’t Donald Trump standing in front of one of his myriad of buildings touting his own greatness while his plastic hair blows in the wind, all strands moving as one. This is the Lord proclaiming Job’s greatness, for the love of all that’s holy! Job was one, good dude!

Overdone? I think you got it. If you didn’t, you may or may not need to have your IQ tested.

But it sure seems to me his kids were playuhz! If they were alive today, half of them would be in rehab, and the other half would need to go. All of them would have a reality show. It’d be called Uzeylicious.

photo courtesy of http://www.mrsmonj.com/2010/03/are-you-jerseylicious-scenes-from.html

What they need is the SuperNanny with an extra-long piece of gopher bark-y to whup up on their heads a little bit.

photo courtesy of http://en.loadtr.com/Super_Nanny_-493808.htm

Yet, this long-suffering man begs God’s forgiveness on their behalf, just in case. Just in case, people!

Now, I don’t know about you, but my dad probably wouldn’t be so long-suffering. He’s a gracious and gentle man, but at some point, he’d whip out the old, “You’ve made your bed, now you’re gonna lay in it” (my dad has never been one for grammatical accuracy…lay/lie…oh, that’s just my OCD? nevermind, then). Then, he’d suck his teeth, walk away, get a spoonful of peanut butter, and watch an episode of The Rifleman.

And my mama? Well, we won’t even go there. Suffice it to say, she’s little, but she knows what to do with gopher bark-y.

I’m way off-topic now, aren’t I? Back to Job. Raise your hand if you’d like to have his kids as your own. *Shoves hands under hiney.* I know, right? He’s a good guy, and yet he has hellions for children. Drinkin’, eatin’ up all his food, layin’ out till all hours of the night. There ain’t no rising up and calling anyone blessed for these hooligans.

Wonder where they get that from? Certainly isn’t from my side of the family. While the Bible doesn’t say explicitly where they learned their behavior, let’s see if we can make an educated guess. Moving on.

Once Job is introduced, the story of how Satan attacks Job is played out. We’ll look at it in more detail another day. You’ve read the story (Remember? You did that while I was humming the Jeopardy song and folding Big Daddy’s camo underpants.), and you get the idea. Right now I want to fast forward to the end of Job 2, so that we can complete the picture of Job’s family.

At this point, Job has lost all his children, he’s been under attack a number of times, he’s torn what is probably his only remaining robe,  and, if that’s not bad enough, he’s got a shaved head and sores all over his body which he’s scraping with broken pottery pieces. Aside: has anybody tried that? Does that help? Things that make you go….bluuuhhlll.

Enter his wife, his helpmate, his completer, the woman God gave him, his better half, the butter on his bread, the sugar in his coffee, the, oh, nevermind, you get the point.

He looks at her with the look of love, still holding fast to his integrity. She’s all he has left. She opens her mouth to speak, and he waits with bated breath for the words of life to spring forth.

“Curse God and die,” the mother-of-his-children says flatly (Job 2:9). Oh, wait! She’s the mother of the hooligans. Aaahhhh.  It’s all coming to clear to me now.

Granted, for Job, it probably wasn’t very funny, but can’t you just see Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof as Job with Golde, his nagging wife?

7. Reread Job 2:9-10. While we don’t know how normally pleasant and generally fun-to-be-around she was, we can answer this question: was Job’s wife an asset to him or a liability in this situation? _____________________________________

I can’t think of a man alive who wouldn’t want a helpmate like that by his side when he’s sitting at the city gates! I mean, fellas, how proud would you be to walk around with someone so gracious and loving on your arm? I’m sure her lovely behavior was just an outward manifestation of her inner beauty.

Finally poor Job, the man who’s taken it all without so much as a whimper, loses it on her. Here in the South, we’d say, “Bless his heart” while wearing pitiful looks on our faces and clucking our tongues.

8. Now that you’ve read both Job 1:1-5 and Job 2:9-10 a number of times, return to question 4 and list any additional characteristics that the Bible would use to describe Job.

9. From the two sections of Scripture, what are some things that you have learned about the nature of God today? Do not include anything from Job 1:6-22 or Job 2: 1-8 or 11-13. We’ll work on those later. Here, I’ll give you a freebie to get you started.

God values our respect (fear) of Him (Job 1:1). I mean, He did take the time to make sure it was in the book and make it sound like a good thing, right? Fear of the Lord is a start anyway. See Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 1:7, and Proverbs 9:10.  Now, your turn. Nature of God. Ready, go. Write these on your Humor Me, Lord Nature of God worksheet-type thingy. On the left, write what you’ve learned about God, and on the right, write the scripture reference which accompanies your learning.

10. When the Bible repeats something, that usually  always means it’s doubly important.  It’s like your mother yelling at you when you didn’t hear and/or obey the first time she told you to take the trash out. That’s just a for instance, though. And we both know you heard her. Reread Job 1: 22 and Job 2: 10. What statement is repeated? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

11. What do you believe God is trying to tell (loudly) us by repeating this statement? _________________________________________________________________

Life Lessons are the applications that we can take away from a long-ago story in the scripture and apply to our lives today. Today. Not tomorrow. Although tomorrow’s good, too. Too. As in, also. In addition to today.

12. What is the/are some Life Lesson/s that you’ve learned from reading these sections of Job? What can these characters teach us about how to live our own lives with intention and purpose? These can be “what-to” do’s or “what-not-to” do’s.  In life, the “what-to” do’s and the “what-not-to” do’s are equally important. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

13. How will you use the Life Lesson today? Today. April 29, 2011. Today. ___________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________

Last, but not least…

14. What is the funniest part of the story from today? ________________________________________________________________

Me?  I’m going with the Helpmate-of-the-Year. She only got a bit part in the screenplay, but she made the most of it!

Job: it only gets funnier from here,

AinW

P.S. Only the bold and the beautiful will post something they’ve learned in the Comments section below. Do you dare? You never know; your learning might help someone else in the quickly growing Humor Me, Lord community. I double-dog dare you.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Humor Me, Lord is a Bible study series published by AinW.  It exists to help people dig deep into the word of God in order to learn about His wicked (pun intended) sense of humor. This ain’t your regular devotional. You’ll laugh. You’ll learn. You’ll rethink the way you’ve perceived God.

You won’t, no matter what the uber-religious set tells you, lose your religion.

Humor Me, Lord is a copyrighted publication of Adventures In Womanland. Reproduction or duplication of it in any format is welcomed, contingent upon proper citation being used. All quotes/references must be accompanied by the URL on which they are found.

“Like” Humor Me, Lord on Facebook. You’ll get updated every time a new study is published and bonus laughs from God’s word.

Oh, and special thanks to Big Daddy and my friend, Maria Keckler, for their gracious assistance. You guys rock!

Humor Me, Lord: Get Ready, Get Set,…

Get Ready

Before the week is out, the first installment of Humor Me, Lord will be published here on the ole’ blog. Before I send it out to you, though, I wanted to give you a heads-up on some basic supplies you’ll be needing in order to study along. Don’t stress about it; it’s, no-doubt, stuff you have on-hand. The teacher/planner in me just needed to let you know ahead of time.

1. A Bible Duh. I say, “Duh” like it’s a foregone conclusion that a Bible study would require you to use a Bible. However, I can’t tell you how many devotional or bible study books I’ve read/seen/heard about that never require us, as learners, to actually open God’s word and dig in for ourselves. In fact, I can’t tell you how many church services I’ve attended where people were not required to open their Bibles. They just put the words right there on the JumboTron, and we never even check for accuracy. It’s the word of God, for Pete’s sake! If we don’t open our Bibles during devotionals or while we’re at church, how are we ever gonna know where Obadiah is? Obadiah’s important, people! It’s no wonder we’re still feeding on spiritual milk!

Rant over. Sorry.

Humor Me, Lord will require you to have, and use, your Bible while learning about the comedic genius of God. In no time at all, milk will not satisfy us. We’ll want ribeyes, and I’ve got them marinating right now.

My version preferences are the English Standard Version or the New American Standard Version. I find them to be the most accurately translated, but that’s just me. If you’ve got the Nearly Inspired Version (NIV), it’ll work, too. No worries.

Of course, techies can always use Bible Gateway, a wonderful tool for searching the scriptures and such. Me? I need to crack mine open, smell the calf-leather cover, hear the crackle as I turn the onion-skin pages, put the little ribbon on the page I’m studying, and, gasp!, mark in it. But that’s just me.

2. A three-ring notebook or three-prong folder. Each study will have a printable worksheet-type thingy (official term) for you to have in-hand as we study together. Writing down what we’ve/you’ve learned is a key part in the remembering/applying cycle.  Taking the time to study/learn/write and having no place to store your worksheet-type thingies could be disastrous. Imagine: you’d have worksheet-type thingies floating all over your house/office/local Panera Bread eventually. Then, when you wanted to go back and review your milk-to-meat or meat-to-tougher-meat transition (wait, what?), you’d be down on the floor, up on a step ladder, moving furniture, and breaking fingernails to try and gather them all up.

You know? The way I do when the accountant needs my year’s receipts to do the taxes.

I’m on a mission to save your fingernails, people! Get a binder! If you really want to get it together, get some divider thingies, too. You can divide the lessons however you like: by book of the Bible, by topic, by lesson learned, by what you were wearing on the day you completed them. It’s your study.  Do it your way.

3. A pen. Right, so the worksheet-type thingy isn’t going to fill itself out. You could fill it out in blood, but that’d be so painful, and the point here is to laugh. Probably some colored pencils to mark up your Bible, too. If marking in your Bible represents great levels of sacrilege to you, don’t worry. I’m not going to send the mark-up-your-Bible-or-else police to your house. I have a Bible I mark up, then I have my ‘church’ Bible. Just like I have my real clothes and my ‘church’ clothes. It’s a benefit of modern, American society, one in which we can have multiples of items. We’re spoiled. Rotten.

4. Clean pants. I told you, God is funny. You’ve been duly warned. If you have bladder-control issues, you might want to consider some type of protection. I’m just sayin’.

Get Set

5. A teachable spirit: God’s image is so big and His word so powerful, yet when we come to it with heart-sickness, we learn only a portion of what He wants to show us, if that much. Pray before beginning, “Lord, forgive me of my sins (enter confessions here…this part takes awhile sometimes…don’t worry, just keep swimming). Give me a teachable spirit. Reveal Yourself to me. Show me what You’d have me learn and then teach me how to apply it to my life today. And, Lord, please help me to laugh with You.”

It wouldn’t hurt for you to pray for your teacher, either. I ain’t even qualified to be writin’ no Bible study. Good thing God has a history of calling the unqualified and then qualifiying them for His use. I’m thinking Noah (he weren’t no shipbuilder, but he were a drunk), Abraham (a moon worshipper), Moses (a stuttering murderer), Hosea (married to a prostitute), Peter (a hothead), Paul (a persecutor of Christians)…should I keep going? I could do this all day.

Go!

Watch AinW for the first installment this week. It’ll be posted on the Humor Me, Lord page on Facebook, as well. ‘Like’ it now! Hint: the first set of studies is going to be about the funniest book in the Bible. Or at least I think so. Can you guess which one it is? No, it’s not Lamentations, though that one’s a winner, too.

Go forth and get prepared,

AinW

_________________________________________________________________________________

Humor Me, Lord is a Bible study series published by AinW.  It exists to help people dig deep into the word of God in order to learn about His wicked (pun intended) sense of humor. This ain’t your regular devotional. You’ll laugh. You’ll learn. You’ll rethink the way you’ve perceived God.

You won’t, no matter what the uber-religious set tells you, lose your religion.

Humor Me, Lord is a copyrighted publication of Adventures In Womanland. Reproduction or duplication of it in any format is welcomed, contingent upon proper citation use. All quotes/references must be accompanied by the URL on which they are found.

“Like” Humor Me, Lord on Facebook. You’ll get updated every time a new study is published and bonus laughs from God’s word.

AinW’s Newest Feature: Humor Me, Lord

What in the world is that crazy girl going to do now?

I’ve blogged about my family, our food, pictures I’ve taken, things I love, and losing weight. I’ll continue to do so, but now, I’ve got something else in here, and I’m about to let it out.

Standby.

Background

Awhile back, my family and I were having Family Worship when it hit me: God is funny. Oh, I’ve known it all along; I guess I just never really realized how funny He is. At the time, we were studying the creation story, which is chock-full of comedy.

No, really. Read it for yourself and see.

And let me answer the question that my most conservative readers are asking right now while wearing a look of horror on their faces: no, I’ve not fallen into a Lorne-Michaels-run cult. There’s not even any red Kool-Aid in my house.

Here’s the thing: we’re all made in God’s image (Gen. 1:27), right? That means that Mr. Michaels is.

photo courtesy of http://www.nbc.com

And so am I.

By that logic, then the Saturday-Night-Live perspective both Mr. Michaels and I have on life is a part of the image of God. Therefore, God sees the ‘funny’ like I do. No, wait. I see the ‘funny’ like God does. Yeah, that’s it.

Mr. Michaels has used his gift of finding the funny to produce a long-running television program which contains hilarity like this:

Settle down. It’s not a political statement. It’s just funny.

Thus far, I’ve chosen to use mine to entertain you with stories like Giving Back: A Tale of Community Service.  Priceless.

However, starting this week, I’m going to use it in a different way.

The Plan

Combining my God-given talent for seeing life through the SNL lens and study of His comedic screenplay (the Bible), I’ve created a Bible study series entitled, Humor Me, Lord.  What it’s not: a mamby-pamby, get a laugh, feel good about life, Chicken Soup for the Soul devotional book of funny stories with a little Bible verse at the top.  Those are great when you’re feeling down and need a pick-me-up but are not to be confused with time spent in God’s word.

What it is: a no-lie, in-depth, moving-from-milk-to-meat look at the humor of God through a deep study of His word, the only black-and-white message we have from Him these days. You’ll laugh. You’ll learn. You’ll see God in a way that, maybe, you’ve never seen Him before, a way no Sunday-morning-in-your-best-dress church service has shown you, perhaps.

God is funny. I want to show you how funny. When you learn, you’ll see just a portion of the joy He’s promised us in this life. Sure beats focusing on life’s fallen parts. Sorry, I got my bible study confused with my weight loss efforts there for a minute.

Distribution/Copyright

Humor Me, Lord is a copyrighted publication of Adventures In Womanland. Reproduction or duplication of it in any format is welcomed, contingent upon proper citation being used. All quotes/references must be accompanied by the URL on which they are found.

“Like” Humor Me, Lord on Facebook.