Velvet Elvis

So I started reading a new book today. It is called Velvet Elvis and it is by Rob Bell. So far, I have been entranced. He talks in his first chapter of trying to understand God. He makes the point that God has no boundaries, edges, or units. When Moses asked God for his name he replied, "I am." Moses was looking for something he could rap his mind around. Later Moses asks God to reveal himself, which in a way was asking to see God in a tangible way. Here is a quote from the book because Rob Bell says it better then I can:

"God's response? He tells Moses to go stand on a rock, because he's going to pass by. He explains to Moses that no one can see him and live, so he'll cover Moses with his hand (God's hand?) as he passes by, and then he says, "I will remove my hand and you will see my back."

"The ancient rabbis had all sorts of things to say about this passage, but one of the most fascinating things they picked up on is the part about God's back. They argued that in the original Hebrew language, the word back should be understood as a euphemism for "where I just was."

"It is as if God is saying, "The best you're going to do, the most you are capable of, is seeing where I . . . just . . . was."

"That's the closest you are going to get."

God is so beyond our thinking that we even have a hard time understanding where he has just been. We are called to follow a God that is so far above and beyond us. We are not serving something we made up, but something outside of our control. I'm sure this book will inspire more blogs to come. I recommend the book to anyone. Christian or non-Christian. His purpose in writing the book is to repaint the Christian faith. To take a fresh look at Jesus and what it means to live the kind of life he teaches us to live. Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell; check the book out.