Hey Jude

Remember that song?

I bet you are humming it now.

I think of it every time I go to the book of Jude in the Bible, which is the Jude I really want to talk about.  A couple of weeks ago, my pastor referred to a verse out of Jude in his sermon. It spoke to me. So much so, that I thought I'd need to read a little more about it later...

That  same afternoon, my family and I packed up and left for our week at Kids Across America. On the way down, as I was thinking about our time there, I realized I had nothing particular lined up to read during my quiet time. The next thing I knew "Jude!" popped into my mind. It's a one chapter book... we'll be at camp a week...perfect! That one verse near the end of those 25 verses had so spoken to my heart, I was pumped to see what the rest of Jude said.

I opened my Bible the next morning and started reading. I hadn't read too far when I began semi regretting that I had chosen that book.

The heading in the ESV before verses 3-16 is "Judgment on False Teachers."

O good. Just what I wanted to spend a week reading about.

Like I said, Jude is only 25 verses long, so while that's not what the entire book is about, it's what a good chunk of the book is about.

My next thoughts went like this: "Ok. I haven't told anybody that I was going to spend a week reading this book, so I'm not really committed to doing it. I'll find something else in the morning."

But the next morning I opened it up again and read, asking God to show me something - any kind of take away from this book.

God more than answered that prayer.

Every morning when I spent time reading those words, God showed me something that fed my soul. I don't know about you, but when that happens to me, I want to share it with someone.

Which is where you come in. Maybe you're at a place this summer where you're at a bit of a loss as to what to read next in the Bible. I've got a thought for you!

 I'd like to invite you to take this next week and read through the book of Jude at least once a day, asking God to show you himself in it - asking God to teach you from it. Then next Monday, July 1, 2013, I'd like to invite you to my house from 7:00-8:30 pm to talk about what God taught us.

It will be low key and low pressure, and I'm pretty sure some kind of snack will be involved. (I'm kind of loving Biscoff cookies right now, so they might make an appearance:)

Even though I'm leading this, I'm not officially teaching on this book. I do not understand all that's going on in it at all. But after I spent a week in it, I loved God more and was encouraged in my faith. I think you will be too. At this little get-together, we can encourage one another!

I know that this is an invitation to the ladies near Bolivar, MO. But it's also an invitation (an idea) for anybody to spend the next week asking God to reveal Himself to you in the book of Jude. It will be time well spent.

If you're going show up at my place next week, can you let me know? I know some of my readers connect with me here through fb...if you don't know where I live, just private message me there and I'll help you out!

Many blessings to you this week as you Hey Jude it...reading and humming.