This message is number 1,075.  That is unbelievable.  When I started doing this, I was just going to preserve some information about Genesis for my children.   Then it became an addiction.  I wanted to put everything that is in my head on paper.  (I know, this isn't paper--but it could be.)  And just when I thought I had written everything I knew, Carolyn pointed me in a new direction.  Women of the Bible.  Which I will get back to.  I just needed a break.  It was really difficult researching that.

And now, I am sitting here trying to think about what to write next, and it occurred to me that a few months ago I started on the first page of the Bible and went all the way to the end of Revelation writing down verses that had meant something special to me in a daily reading journal for my granddaughter Amy.  I skipped a lot of scripture just picking individual verses that were deep and more meaningful to me.  Verses that help you.  Application, not history.

All of the Bible is important, but let's face it, some parts of it are more relevant than others to the everyday Christian like me.  I read it to be inspired.  To try and figure out what I need to be doing that I am not doing.  And what I am doing--that I need to stop.

I tell my Bible class that if you aren't a better person today than you were six months ago, you are not working on your spiritual life.  The entire point is to be better people.  Yes, works don't save you.  But works are a clear indication of the direction you are going--and "Who" you are following.

The apostle Paul put it this way, "Therefore...as you have always obeyed...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."  Philippians 2:12  We are to be working on our spiritual lives.

He also said, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3:14  He saw it as a timed race.  He only had so many days to do the work of Jesus before the race was over and he met God.

Our days on earth are numbered.  The point of it all is to spread the gospel.  God puts people in our path.  Since we don't interface with the same people, we must learn to recognize our opportunities to share Christ.