A Spiritual Exercise Strangely Relevant After 16 Years

By Kelly

Here's a strange confession for you. Ready? Sometimes the Bible is boring. Yeah.... I said it. Let's face it. “The Greatest Story Ever Told” really lags in a few places. Now I like the Bible and being a seminarian, I crack the spine A LOT, but I didn't used to. Not before seminary. Even when I knew I wanted to go, I really just didn't look at much scripture outside of the Sunday lectionary, and the print that in the bulletin.

**Side note: my first day at seminary, I sat down in my Old Testament class, looked at the syllabus and thought, “Obadiah? Habbakkuk? What the heck? Who are these people?”**

My relationship with religion was tempestuous for a long time, but even before tempestuous, before the angry atheist teenage years, before confirmation, there was the summer after my first trip to Camp Ozark... The Summer of the Adventure Bible (or to the rest of the world, 1995)

That's right, The Adventure Bible. A Bible with a purple sparkley cover, hot pink text, and plenty of clip art. The Adventure Bible was meant for young girls and every couple of chapters there was an age-appropriate spiritual exercise for the reader to do. Most of them were lame. And I'm not speaking as a “theologically sound” seminary student challenging the validity of a scriptural exercise. I'm saying 4^th grade Kelly found most exercises to be “dumb” or “stupid”... sometimes even “weird”. There was a lot of art and building involved. But I (fresh from a summer spent with evangelicals) was determined to read the whole Bible, even the exercises. **Side note: I made it to Numbers**

I actually did end up finishing one of the exercises. For Exodus 3:12 it said to make a poster and write “I will be with you-- Exodus 3:12” on the top and to draw pictures of times God will be with you when you are scared or nervous. I drew (with my mother's fancy colored pencils!) myself getting fussed at by my parents, myself in the dark, and well... myself being attacked by a shark. (I have no idea why)

This poster hung in my room for the rest of the summer. The side effect of this exercise is that Exodus 3:12 became the first Bible verse that I ever memorized. (No, not John 3:16) So for years when people would mention their favorite verses or really anything related to the Bible, I'd think, “I will be with you. Exodus 3:12” For this reason, it is still my favorite. You never forget your first, I suppose.

Here's the funny part: Exodus 3:12 is not the best illustration of God's omnipresence, our relationship with God, or really any of the examples I put on the poster. There are better, more comforting, more appropriate verses that illustrate God's love and relationship with us. Why not save the exercise for those verses? Here's where it get awesome though: In Exodus 3, God tells Moses to go to Pharaoh and “Let my people go” and...

(11) But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"

(12) And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain."

If I were to draw that same poster today, my pictures would be: myself in front of my Presbytery as I am examined, Me preaching, and a shark attack.... no, I'm kidding, and me taking ordination exams. Because these are the times when I want God to be with me the most. Why? Because sometimes I feel like I lack authority and no one will take me seriously. (“Hi people! I'm a 26 year old sheltered female, please listen for the Word in what I have to say to you today.”)

But this is the same thing Moses was worried about. The verse is a perfect illustration of THESE worries. He asks, “Who am I to do this job? Why should people take me seriously?” And God responds, “I sent you, you'll do fine. Even though you think you can't... you will be a leader.” The reminder that God's call trumps self-doubt has been bouncing around in the my head since 1995 and I just made the connection. The first verse I ever memorized is strangely specific to my current context.

16 years after the Summer of The Adventure Bible, this lone remnant from a season of good intentions, is exactly what I need today. On May 15^th, when I go before my Presbytery I guarantee I'll be thinking of that strange poster. And I think that's kind of neat.

So, what was your favorite Bible verse as a child? Does it mean something different for you today? Bonus question: Am I the only seminarian who thinks the Bible gets a little slow in places?