Today, I am number 74. Yesterday, I was 77. At this rate, I will have it by the end of January. I am eagerly anticipating the library's email (oh! How I love to hear from them!) that my copy of "The Year of Living Biblically: One man's humble quest to follow the Bible as literally as possible" is ready and waiting. Have you heard of this book? I was flipping through the channels the other day and AMAZINGLY found something of interest on MSNBC when they were interviewing the author AJ Jacobs. What a fascinating character!! Now, don't run out to your local Christian bookstore to find the book. I don't think it will be there. I am pretty sure they are opposed to carrying anything on their shelves written by a self-labeled "reverent agnostic."
What first attracted me to this book is the title itself....The Year of Living Biblically....because I wondered if I too could write this book. Couldn't every Christ-follower sum up their experience after receiving Christ as the "Years of Living Biblically" or maybe the "Years of attempting to live biblically?" I am anxious to see how his year and my years compare to one another. Not out of judgement, of course, but just simply pure evaluation. I know Jacobs has taken everything in the Bible literally...where I, in a sense, haven't. I haven't stoned any adulterers and I don't avoid wearing clothing of "mixed fibers." But I am pursuing my life under the moral guidelines that God so graciously set before me as a way of protecting me from my own evilness. And I am curious to see how that matches up with the changes in Jacob's life as he literally lived out the Bible. Here's a little snippet from the book to pique my interest regarding that very thing:
It's impossible to immerse yourself in religion for twelve months and emerge unaffected. At least it was for me. Put it this way: If my former self and my current self met for coffee, they'd get along OK, but they'd both probably walk out of the Starbucks shaking their heads and saying to themselves, "That guy is kinda delusional."
You could say, "If you are so anxious to read this book, why don't you just go out and buy it, instead of waiting around for it." Well, in my "Years of attempting to live biblically" I am trying to follow Isaiah 55:1 (The MSG):
Buy without money—everything's free (even libraries...)! Why do you spend your money on junk food (or books...), your hard-earned cash on cotton candy (or DVDs...)?
Yes, that's why I am waiting. And in addition to following Isaiah 55:1, I must follow Exodus 20:16 ("Do not lie to your neighbor") and tell you the truth.....I am really just too cheap to buy it anyway. :)
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