Afternoon Puzzle of Biblical Proportions

My friend Jon sent this clever puzzle to me today (not sure of its origins). So far, I’ve managed to find 13 out of the possible 30 books of the Bible in this paragraph. Can you do better?

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There are 30 books of the Bible in this paragraph. Can you find them? This is a most remarkable puzzle. It was found by a gentleman in an airplane seat pocket, on a flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu, keeping him occupied for hours. He enjoyed it so much, he passed it on to some friends. One friend from Illinois worked on this while fishing from his john boat. Another friend studied it while playing his banjo. Elaine Taylor, a columnist friend, was so intrigued by it she mentioned it in her weekly newspaper column. Another friend judges the job of solving this puzzle so involving, she brews a cup of tea to help her nerves. There will be some names that are really easy to spot. That’s a fact. Some people, however, will soon find themselves in a jam, especially since the book names are not necessarily capitalized. Truthfully, from answers we get, we are forced to admit it usually takes a minister or a scholar to see some of them at the worst. Research has shown that something in our genes is responsible for the difficulty we have in seeing the books in this paragraph. During a recent fund raising event, which featured this puzzle, the Alpha Delta Phi lemonade booth set a new record. The local paper, The Chronicle, surveyed over 200 patrons who reported that this puzzle was one of the most difficult they had ever seen. As Daniel Humana humbly puts it, “The books are all right here in plain view hidden from sight.” Those able to find all of them will hear great lamentations from those who have to be shown. One revelation that may help is that books like Timothy and Samuel may occur without their numbers. Also, keep in mind, that punctuation and spaces in the middle are normal. A chipper attitude will help you compete really well against those who claim to know the answers. Remember, there is no need for a mad exodus; there really are 30 books of the Bible lurking somewhere in this paragraph waiting to be found. God Bless.

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  1. John
  2. Judges
  3. Job
  4. Chronicles
  5. Daniel
  6. Lamentations
  7. Revelation
  8. Timothy
  9. Samuel
  10. Exodus
  11. Mark
  12. Numbers
  13. Genesis

Pokemon Whale

Monday night (6/20), I took my son to McDonald’s for dinner. My wife was out for a girl’s night and so it was up to us boys to fend for ourselves. So, I naturally chose the most healthy place to eat in East Texas. 🙂

Standing in line to order, some random little kid and his tie-wearing dad walk up behind us. Immediately the boy jumps ahead of us in line. His Dad quietly barked for the 3rd or 4th grader to come back and stand next to him. As the ever amazing McDonald’s staff continued to ignore us, I overheard the kid trumpet in an annoying voice, “THEY HAVE POKEMON TOYS!” He continued to screech and jump up and down over this AMAZING discovery for at least a few minutes. As I cringed inwardly, all I could think about was how I used to look and sound just like this big child. I instantly felt bad for any time I embarrassed my Dad with shrieks of high-pitched nerdy exclamation; each shriek contributing to his now gray hair. At least I was into G.I. Joe…which is better than Pokemon, right?

Given Over

Read an interesting article this morning in the New York Times. The article, which talks about a prominent gay writer turning away from homosexuality, can be found here. The article reminded me of two things:

1. Romans 1:18-32 (NIV) –

 18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. (bolded emphasis added)

28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

2. The article reminded me of the moment in my life where I decided to take God’s path and not my own. Let me explain:

Sin = Death

Though there have been many instances in my life where I have felt God talking to me (never audibly), the night I decided to turn away from my sin is one of the greatest. There I was, alone in the car, wrapped in guilt over the sin I was slowly sinking in. I knew that I had been doing was wrong. Over the course of the years I had dealt with this sin, I always remember Him telling me, “you don’t have to do this.” That night, God showed me two paths:

  • The first path was a continuation of me living out the sin I was in. Ultimately ending in my destruction and death.
  • The second path was what God had in store for my life. It was my now-wife and our life together pursuing God. “This is what I have for you…”

I knew that I was at a junction point, I needed to make a decision. I could continue down the path I was on, indulging my flesh, and end up dead; or I could choose God’s path and accept the good things He had planned for my life. Why would someone choose death over life? Seemed like a no-brainer to me. So I aligned myself with God once more and walked away from the sin I was in.

Walking away from sin is never an easy task. Memories still exist… I have learned to call upon Christ in times of weakness, to walk Him through the memories and ask Him to be Lord over them. Alone I cannot overcome…but with Him anything is possible.

To the gentleman in the article that has walked away from his sin of homosexuality, I wish him the best. I hope and pray that God will use him to speak both love and truth to those that have been blinded and lied to. Just because culture says that something is “normal” doesn’t mean it is. Trying to make the issue of gender identity into something equal to the Civil Rights movement doesn’t disguise sin either.

Random

Working the front office of an architectural firm, I don’t often get the opportunity to talk to many people. The fact is, besides the phone, not too many people walk in the front door. Coming from a customer service background, this minimal contact with the public has been a shock to the system.

Today I had one of the contractor’s assistants come by, a female, to pick up some drawings. In the course of conversation, she started telling me about how her and her husband play Call of Duty Black Ops. This made me smile. As a gamer since the early NES days, I am not the best player at shooters on a modern console. Shooters are complicated controller messes that require far too much finger agility. I’m just not game. She went on to tell me that sometimes she schools him with a higher kill ratio. Made me laugh.

Gamer’s are everywhere in today’s world. Never know if you’re talking to one.

Little Big Lunch

Over lunch I had a chance to sit down and play some Little Big Planet. Ended up getting stuck on a level where I was flying with a jetpack and having to transport dynamite. Let’s just say that I didn’t pass the level and my wife and I were left laughing over the explosive results. Notice that the word “results” is plural. 🙂

Below is some music from the game to enjoy.

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