If you drop the “g”, everything sounds “hipper” somehow.

I’m still listening to the Bible in the mail Jeep.

I take back what I said earlier about the first 5 books being tough to wade through…there’s some amazing stuff in there.  It’s just that when they get on the lineage stuff it get’s kind of hard to focus.

The other day I was listening to the story of Balaam.

Wow.

The part where he’s riding the donkey and an angel appears and because the donkey is the only one who can see the angel, he stops and won’t go any farther.

Balaam starts whipping the donkey, cursing the donkey…but the donkey won’t move.

Finally, after a bunch of whipping, God gives the donkey the ability to speak, and the donkey asks why Balaam keeps wailing on him….and Balaam replies, “BECAUSE YOU’RE MOCKING ME!!!  STOP MOCKING ME!!!!”

Then the angel appears to Balaam and tells him that Balaam kind of lucked out…that because the donkey was the only one who could see the angel with his sword, the donkey really saved Balaam’s life by refusing to move.

How about that?!!

The thing that really struck me in this story…in addition to the angel and all the other miraculous things…is how blase Balaam seems to be about that donkey talking.

I’ve seen it in Shrek…but never when I’m riding one.

A talking donkey would be enough to freak me out….never mind an angel.

But if I think about it, I’m riding a donkey a lot of the time.

( I think some people think I’m kind of a jackass sometimes…so maybe just “riding a donkey” is a mild way to describe the situation.)

I suppose I spend a fair amount of time (figuratively) wailing on my donkey, too.

Someday, someone is going to tell me that the thing I was most upset about was the only thing that was really protecting me from something damaging.

Now, from what I remember of the story, Balaam had it coming.  He had some issues that needed addressing.

That donkey thing really distracted me from the rest of the story, though.  He was the hero of the whole tale in my eyes.

People talk about the patience of Job…but how about that donkey?

It’s tough to make it through this world with a jerk riding your back.