Life Story Problems

     Remember Math? Remember when you finally got the hang of a story problem, whether it was wanting you to add, subtract, multiply, or divide? Or all of the above in the same story problem? And then to throw you off track you were given a story problem that would just not figure no matter what you came up with until you finally concluded: Not Enough Information. Those were my favorite. Those, you could forget about and move on. 
     I wish life was like that.  If things don't make sense; it would be oh so lovely to relax with the not enough information excuse and forget about it. Unfortunately, I believe we have the opposite condition: Too Much Information.  So much so, that if you want to read up on anything, you can find more than you want to know.There's  enough to boggle your mind that it makes your perception for actual "doing", skewed.
    That's a common problem for those of us who like to read and write.  We get so busy reading everything we think we'd like to know or imagine or experience that we don't have time to actually do any of those things, and if we do find the time; its something we first read about in a book instead of going out and finding the fun on our own.
     Another problem serious readers have to deal with is deciding if what you just read was truth or true concepts based of course, on the Bible.  Or if you are like me, you read something because you heard the story from someone else or saw the movie and now you want to read it for yourself; all the time knowing that there will be parts of the book you really don't want to embrace for your life because you know that's not what God had called you to.
     Isn't that ok though?  Yesterday at camp, the speaker for the morning talked about the fact that we should be very wary of what we accept as truth just because a Christian wrote it.  Which I agreed with. Bruce whispered to me that everyone should just read their Bibles and be done with the whole thing. I agree with that too.  The thing is, I like, No, love to read as much as Bruce loves to be an EMT. We are all made this wonderfully different way from each other. 
      I overheard a lady afterward say to her friend, "It makes me think there are no safe devotional books to read anymore." Well yeah, if I would write a book, guarentee there will be things that might be a little off, based on my own experiences and the fact that I am a human saved by grace and every day is another day to grow. Please don't take anything I say or think as complete truth unless it can be backed by the Bible and what it stands for.
     So read.  Read with the Bible as your guide. Read books written by human hands as that.  Expect to read things you don't quite agree with and things that might be a little skewed.  We Christians think we can only read and write things perfect and true but its not quite fair.  We are also sinners saved by grace. Don't we keep learning as we go? If I wait to write or read what I know is perfect and pure I won't write or read at all.  If I wait to do something till I can do it without mistakes I never will do it.
     It comes down to this: Yes, it would be easier to do what Bruce says. Just read the Bible. That is where I go if I want true solid answers.  I trust no man for that.  Truth, peace and joy are all in abundance in reading God's Word. This I know. But, if you enjoy reading other sources, expect to find mistakes and inconsitancies. And if you enjoy reading other peoples thoughts that they write down like I just did, don't believe everything that person thinks or writes. Except me of course.  Ha! Gotcha.

 This is what reading the Bible is like for me.  Beautiful cleansing truth.  Washing away all the world's grime and giving life that flows.