Howdy, and Happy New Year! Thanks for joining me on this journey through the Bible day by day. This year’s daily devotionals will be based on the Bible Project’s Biblical Storyline reading plan in the YouVersion Bible app. Read with me, and let’s seek to hear what God says to us each day. I am using the New Living Translation (NLT) of the Bible as my primary translation for our journey this year. I will compare interesting and important texts with the Christian Standard Bible (CSB), the New International Version (NIV), the New English Translation (NET), and The Message paraphrase.

Feel free to share these devotionals with family members and friends. You can do so confidently, knowing there is nothing for sale now or ever on these pages. If you have suggestions or questions, send them my way! My email is david@davidgbowman.com. There is a sign-up link on my soon-to-be-renovated website (davidgbowman.com).

Let’s engage together in the practice of hearing and obeying God, the most important lesson of Christian discipleship. May he speak his words of truth and life to our hearts every day.

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Genesis 2:7  Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person. (NLT)

Genesis 3:17-19  And to the man he said, 

“Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree 
whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, 
the ground is cursed because of you. 
All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. 
It will grow thorns and thistles for you, 
though you will eat of its grains. 
By the sweat of your brow 
will you have food to eat 
until you return to the ground 
from which you were made. 
For you were made from dust, 
and to dust you will return.” (NLT)

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I finally got around to watching The Nightmare Before Christmas. The movie came out in 1993. It sounded clever to me then. However, we were kind of busy living life and doing things and simply never got around to reading the reviews or watching it. 

I only paid half attention when it was screened in a home I was visiting a month or so ago. This article popped up on social media not long after (https://bit.ly/3DcqpXB). My bride and I finally watched it on one of the final evenings leading up to Christmas. 

The good news of God’s love, grace, mercy, and kindness, and how that love and grace overcome evil to fulfill the bony outlines of life was on full display. 

The evil one (The Oogie Boogie Man) sentences Santa (the Christ figure) to death. Oogie chants about ashes to ashes and dust to dust. Santa is raised from the grave, and, well, you’ll have to watch the movie for yourself. Read the article above before you do. 

God can do more with dirt than we can with all the building materials he has made available for humans to build homes, skyscrapers, and vehicles for transportation.

A friend called some years ago with a big question. His father had passed away and had left instructions for his body to be cremated. My friend wanted to know if cremation was permissible for a Christian. He had difficulty asking the next question: “Is resurrection possible for someone who has been cremated?”

Reading Genesis 2:7 and 3:19, we can know with full assurance that dust, ashes, and dry bones (Ezekiel 37) are building blocks God uses to build good lives. His deep desire is for us to live full and meaningful lives (John 10:10). Rich and satisfying existence is possible when we align our hearts and minds with the Giver of All Good Things. 

God is not dependent on our moldering remains for what comes next. Check out 1 Corinthians 15 for more details. My next body will not require surgery. No more aching backs, stiff necks, and cranky shoulders. The absence of the need for physical therapy makes me so happy. The best is yet to be. The best is coming for all to see. 

Today, the New Year begins on our calendars. This is a good time to shift perspective from ashes and dust to the rich and satisfying life God intends as we walk with him through the wonders of our hours and days. 

After an hour-and-a-half of comforting our fireworks-traumatized Black Dog last night, I feel a bit like dry bones this morning. However, my third cup of coffee should give me enough energy to get me to nap time. Nap time is one of life’s little luxuries. It keeps my moods and my energy out of the dust heap. 

Raise your coffee mug with me to a New Year and 365 adventures to come. By God’s grace and in his goodness and kindness, nightmares and unwelcome fireworks can be reshaped into rich and satisfying lives. 

Only five more hours until nap time.

Happy New Year!

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I will live a full and meaningful life in the grip of God’s grace.

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Our Father, take my nightmares and turn them into dreams come true. Take my trauma and turn it into deep character. Take my brokenness and use it to help heal another’s hurts. Take my lack of rest and turn it into joyful productivity that anticipates a real rest. Fit me for all the adventures ahead today, tomorrow, and every square on the calendar. Amen.