Genesis 22 and 24

I spent some time yesterday preparing to teach on Genesis 22. I really enjoyed going over it and writing out comments. I used a paraphrase called the New Century Version to go through. I was taken aback by some of the turns of phrase in 22. It was fun and I got a lot of insights. It turns out they were mostly for me.

I got to Life Group last night and found that CL wanted me to do 24, not 22. 22 is about the almost sacrifice of Isaac. 24 is about Rebekah becoming Isaac's wife.

Because of the people who did not come last night CL wanted to do 24 first so I did it cold.

It turned out not to be too bad. No one reacted in an argumentative fashion to my not so serious ways. I do need to remember to tone it down. I explained that the servant, whom CL identifies as Eleazar of Damascus, "put out a fleece" when he arrived at the village of Abraham's relatives. I had to explain quickly the story of Gideon, the original fleece putter. That brought me up short, surely everyone knows that story. But no I think we did have a couple of people who did not know the story. It would be good to go back over it in more depth.

I am too blunt. I need to pray that I will be more loving and patient at Life Group. Thank God they were very loving and patient with me last night.