This is a test...

We've been reading and journaling for a little over a week now. I've really enjoyed it. But, I'm a little worried that I'll just forget what I've read and what I've learned. My memory is terrible. I've learned parts of the Bible many times and forgotten. I have high hopes for the SOAP method because I think reading it and then writing about it increases my chances of remembering. And this morning I want to hopefully increase them a little more by just kind of rambling off a list of what I can remember from what we've read so far. I think I'll try to do this once a week, probably on Thursdays.

Ok, here is my list... (for the things I don't remember well, I'll have to look them up when I'm finished, but for now, this is just what I can remember without opening my Bible to look over the scripture)

1 - Daniel and his buddies Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego wouldn't eat whatever it was that King N wanted them to. Daniel asked the chief official (or someone like that) if it would be ok for them to not eat what the King said. He told the official to give them a couple weeks and see if they ended up unhealthy. The official agreed. Daniel and his friends ended up being just fine. Unfortunately, I can't remember what happened after that...

2 - Did Daniel get thrown into a fire? Or was it just Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? Or all four of them? I don't remember why they were thrown in a fire. But I do remember that God sent an angel to protect them. They didn't get burned up. And the king recognized God's power.

3 - King N had a dream that he didn't understand. He asked all the wise men to come and interpret it. No one could. So he got mad and wanted to have them all killed. They came to kill Daniel and his friends but Daniel asked that he would be given a chance to interpret the dream. The king allowed it. Daniel and his friends prayed that God would reveal the meaning of the dream. God revealed it. Daniel interpreted it for the king and saved the lives of himself, his friends and the wise men of... hmmm... where is all this taking place? I don't remember that.

4 - King N lived like a wild animal for a while.

5 - We learned LOTS about the temple and how it will look when Israel is restored. The main thing I learned from that is that it seems they did eat most of the sacrifices back in that time. Don't know where I had gotten the idea that they just killed them and let them go to waste, but that's what I thought. I like the idea of them being eaten much more.

6 - King N had another dream? Or something else happened that involved Daniel and King N realizes that God is awesome (after having forgotten again)! He wait, there was some kind of worshiping of a golden image. And Daniel refused. Or was it Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? Or all four of them? Maybe this is how they got thrown in the fire.

7 - King N's son also seemed to forget God's power. He was using goblets and stuff stolen from Jerusalem (?). A hand wrote on a wall and Daniel ended up interpreting it for him. The writing on the wall said someone else would take over as king. Sure enough, that very night someone else conquered him.

8 - The new king seemed better. Some guys from the land tricked him into making a decree that would get Daniel in trouble. When the king had to throw Daniel in with the lions he was very upset. God protected Daniel, sending an angel to shut the mouths of the lions. The king was so happy when he realized Daniel was ok. His new decree declared that everyone should respect God. Yay!

9 - We read some weird stuff in revelation about being drunk on the blood of the saints, and some white horseman, some angels... yeah, I really don't remember much of revelation.

10 - In Ezekiel (?) we read about a river flowing gently through the land bringing life wherever it goes, so powerful that I could change the Dead Sea into fresh water.

11 - Somewhere, maybe in a dream of King N, there was a really cool tree with all kinds of animals living in it.

12 - And of course we've read the beginning of Luke where Elizabeth ends up having a child in her old age... that was John the baptist. And the angel also comes to Mary and tells her she'll give birth to Jesus.

Guess that's about all. There are definitely some holes in what I remember. But, I'm going to go look those things up right now. If some of this sticks, it would be so exciting because I'd have some old testament stories stored away in my memory. I really like that idea. :-)