My Year and Genesis 1

I just returned from a trip to Cape Coral, Florida Thursday night and have tried to reflect on the last year of my life.  It has been a strange year.  The price of a house in Cape Coral has lowered by 54%, I have worked as a teacher for the last year after a seven year hiatus, and somehow have collected enough money to invest in the stock market for the first time in my life exactly a year after being homeless and living with my Father at age 35.  A lot to reflect on and be thankful for while many other's have stories of great loss in this tumultuous year.  

So what does all this have to do with Genesis 1?(Title above) First, it is related because I have decided to read the Bible chapter by chapter and record what comes to mind.  Second, this chapter speaks about light coming into chaos and bringing order.  Light in this sense is the glory of God in my mind.  Chaos, to me, is the despair of a purposeless life.  This means a lot to me in that I think I have found purpose in my life after years of despair that resulted from a realization that the things I was chasing(mainly religious in nature) turned out to be wind and blew away.  In short, I think I have a better understanding of who God is which in turn has taught me a lot about who I am; the good and the bad.  

It is much like the movie "You, Me, and Dupree."  Dupree just wanders around life waiting for the Mother Ship to speak to him.  Then at age 36 he finds a purpose to his life.  It came in the middle of a storm.  I also think about a movie that documents the years of FDR at Warm Springs and gives insight to the years of doubt and struggle he went through when polio took his legs from him.  It was in this time that the light came. It was a moment of clarity that readied him with a new purpose and vigor.  It is easy to look back at the good times he had and the power he wielded, but how many realize that his most famous words were birthed in the pit of despair in Warm Springs? This is when he looked fear in the face and came to the realization that, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."

Whether one believes in the God or the Bible or the supernatural in general, does not prevent them from benefiting from the idea that is at the essence of this post: Purpose is often found in the hard times of life.  I know it has been true for me.  At times we bring these circumstances on ourselves and sometimes things just happen.  The key is to learn from the times of crisis in life and be a better person for it.  These times of living with a void are often followed by a time of Renaissance.  The darkness is brought into purpose.  

In my view, the Bible teaches here, in Genesis, that God gives that purpose.  The thing I have learned the most is that it can be enjoyable and that is ok with him.  When I looked at my pictures from the Gulf of Mexico I see beauty.  I see the natural beauty of the sky, turquoise water, and white beaches.  I also see the man made beauty of the buildings, boats, and bridges that compliment the natural beauty mentioned above.  God seems to do His part in expectation that beauty will increase when we do our part.    

More to come as I pick some theologians and philosophers to read as I wrestle through what this birth(Genesis) actually means...