In my experience using the book of Luke to teach conversational English I've felt called to read the bible all the way through, which I have never done before. I think it appropriate to add that to the top of my "Things to Do Before I'm Thirty" list. This list doesn't actually exist as of this moment, but I believe it will materialize as a result of this post.
I'm working my way through Genesis which, for me, is a mountain of a beginning. I find myself questioning the creation story because it seems like just that: A STORY. I'm resolved to believe that there is much more to the story that God left out because our brains and so small compared to his. I think he did us a huge favor and boiled the story down to the basics so our tiny little human heads wouldn't explode due to the awesomeness of his creative abilities.
After the creation the world becomes consumed by evil and God sends the flood. God favors Noah and so he spares his family and makes Noah in charge of maintaining life as humans know it on this planet (and I think I have big responsibilities... ha ha...). As many of us know, Noah, his family and the animals make it out in one piece.
I was absolutely dumfounded by the next part of the account of Noah's life. Apparently, the guy who is SOOOO FAVORED by God gets drunk and passes out buck naked-in his tent. There's more to the story, but I will stop there.
My conclusion: God favored Noah and chose him for a really important purpose, but Noah was just as human and messed up as the rest of us. I think God really wanted to drive that point home to me, otherwise he would not have deemed it important enough to publish it in the most popular book of all time.
