If you’ve not seen A NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM, and you’re an Owen Wilson fan, think–teeny weeny wedding crashers go to the Museum of Natural History. Quirky, funny, surprisingly and refreshingly void of potty-mouth language and gratuitous sex scenes (considering Mickey Rooney and Dick Van Dyke are in there, that’s a relief.)

One of the previews (for another one of those Somebody Almighty movies where Morgan Freeman is God again or should that be still?) reminded me of a fascinating, incredibly entertaining book by David Maine, The Preservationist, that I’d read—strangely enough not long before Hurricane Katrina appeared on our doorstop (and rooftop, and and and and).

I’ll spare you the rifts of jealousy (okay, envious admiration) I experienced realizing that this exceptionally presented tale is Maine’s first published novel. What turns the story inside out is that he presents Noe (what he calls Noah) as a real man who struggled with wife and sons and a world full of rather creepy people. You know how real a story he’s telling when you read passages of Noe’s sons and daughters-in-law slipping in ankle-deep poop and trying to dispose of it at every opportunity. Where Maine grabbed me as a writer was his decision to shift points of view, telling the story in the voices of Noe, his wife, sons, and daughters-in-law. A great read.

End of the year Bible devotion time always means Revelation; unfortunately, not necessarily as in “I had a —-” but as in the book of the Bible. End of year, end times, okay, I get the connection. But could one devotional writer just stir things up a bit and end the year with Genesis?

And another thing….could someone publish a Bible where all the books are in alpha order? It sure would go a long way for those of us who are new to church and using a Bible for devotion for the first time and not as a coffee table book/paperweight.

“Hey, Frank, look we have a new member in the congregation!”

“Gee, Ethel, how did ya know?”

“Well, she’s flipping those Bible pages so fast trying to find where we are, her hair’s flying off her scalp.”

“Ethel, go tell her the book of Hebrews is not in the Old Testament.”

But, before I go, here is my favorite passage from this morning:

“For the Lamb on the throne will be their Shepherd. He will lead them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe every tear from their eye.” Revelation 7:17b (NLT)

Yea, God!