Picturepocket's Blog

Tag: relationships

  • Genesis 20: Fear & Infertility 

    Abraham and his family travel southwest across the Negev, a desert, past the place that Hagar went when she ran away to a place called Gerar. Abraham tells the local King Abimelech that Sarah is his sister and so takes her keeps her in his palace. It’s the same deal as in Egypt.  God visits…

  • Genesis 16: Seen

    After living in Canaan for ten years, Abram and Sarai still do not have a child. Sarai plans to make her Egyptian servant Hagar sleep with her husband in order to obtain one. Abram agrees and Hagar gets pregnant. It’s almost the perfect solution.  Hagar looks at Sarai with contempt and Sarai complains to Abram.…

  • Artificial Reality 

    There is a new South Korean show I am intrigued by. In English it is called, Boyfriend on Demand. The premise is a single woman whose time is taken up working and commuting gets an opportunity to try a virtual reality dating app, basically an AI boyfriend machine. At first it’s just fantasy fulfillment: rich,…

  • Evil-ish 

    In fiction, the villain is often self-aware, and when cornered, will be quite forthcoming in their diabolical plot as they laugh at the suffering of others. In real life, more often than not, no one sees themselves as the bad guy either before, during or even after they get caught.  On the small scale you start…

  • Genesis 2:21 Woman

    The Lord caused the man to fall asleep and took his rib and made a woman. The man said “at last, bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh.” He called her woman meaning taken from man. Adam saw himself in Eve.  The text says, “therefore a man shall leave his parents and join…

  • Salutations 

    Last night, I watched a movie adaptation of Charlotte‘s Web with Ivy. There’s a bunch of children’s shows that I never saw because they came after I was a grown-up, but before I had kids. I have recently purchased a paperback copy of Charlotte‘s Web for Ivy who is a new reader, so of course…

  • 2 Corinthians 11: Résumé of Risk 

    In this chapter, Paul complains about the kind of preachers the Corinthians are listening to. He compares himself to a matchmaker, bringing them as pure bride to Christ. Now, he accuses them of stepping out from their pure devotion. He says that other teachers are bringing a different Jesus, a different gospel and a different…

  • 2 Corinthians 7: Coach Paul

    Paul starts this chapter continuing the theme of separation from lawlessness the last chapter. Believers are not to be unequally yoked, partnered, with unbelievers. Paul encouraged them to maintain purity of the body and spirit by the fear of God. Here we aren’t speaking of fear of someone irrational or vindictive, but accountability to the…

  • 2 Corinthians 5: Happy Campers

    In Chapter 5, Paul, a tentmaker by trade, starts referring to his body as a tent, a fragile structure, where his soul resides until it can go to its eternal dwelling in the heavens. He says that we groan, longing to shed the suffering in our current situation for a more complete, perfect one that…

  • 2 Corinthians 2: Love letters

    When reading other people’s mail, you have to figure out what is in the unsaid parts. Here, Paul is continuing to be sad about not coming to Corinth in person, and being forced into corresponding by letter. At the time of writing, he is feeling awful about not keeping his word to visit. As readers,…