Grains of Sand

Reading: Ezekiel 37-36 “Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones, Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones, Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones, Oh, hear the word of the Lord… Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk aroun’ Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk aroun’ Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk aroun’ Oh, hear the word of the Lord.” These are some of the words to a Negro Spiritual written by James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938). He used it to teach children basic anatomy (though some of the anatomical descriptions aren’t quite right). The song was based on the first 14 verses of Ezekiel 37. God spirits Ezekiel away to a valley where the Almighty shows his prophet a pile of dead bones. He tells Ezekiel to announce to the bones that God is going to bring them back to life, to reattach the tendons, to join the bones, to put flesh on them, and to breath life into them once again. As Ezekiel speaks the words of the first prophecy, the bones in the valley come together with a great rattling sound. But i...

"I'm back to square one." "Do not pass go, do not collect $200." In life, most of us don't want to go back to the beginning. In Monopoly we want to go back to "Go," where we started, because it does have certain advantages. I read an interesting story this morning in my devotions that reminded me of the value of going back to the beginning of our spiritual journey. Jacob was called by God to return to the land from which he had fled after deceiving his father and cheating his brother. He'd learned a lot of lessons along the way and there were some he still had to learn. On the eve of his entrance into that familiar, but painful, territory, Jacob had an encounter with God, one that changed his perspective again. When Jacob entered the land he met with his estranged brother—an awkward but moving event. Jacob kept his distance from Esau by settling in the city of Shechem. Eventually the actions of his sons created some serious problems with the ne...