{"id":26404,"date":"2026-01-15T10:20:44","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T15:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=26404"},"modified":"2026-01-15T10:34:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T15:34:17","slug":"in-the-beginning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=26404","title":{"rendered":"In the Beginning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Lauren Daigle ~ Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus (Lyrics)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5X85txs60yY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Inviting Good Questions<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>Thursday, January 15, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Father Richard describes why the book of Genesis was so important to the people of ancient Israel:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although many of the stories found in Genesis were\u00a0passed down\u00a0from\u00a0generation to generation among the Israelites, they were not collected\u00a0and put into their final form until after the Babylonian exile, around the mid-5th century\u00a0BCE.\u00a0In the\u00a0aftermath of their national calamity, <strong>the Jewish people realized that their\u00a0heritage might indeed be lost if it were not written down<\/strong>, and their religious leaders were inspired to\u00a0gather together\u00a0many strands of their oral\u00a0tradition and weave them into a continuous narrative. They attributed the authorship to Moses, meaning that the authority for the wisdom of this tradition goes back at least as far as Moses\u2019s time. We don\u2019t know the\u00a0actual names of the scribes who wrote it in the form we have today. <strong>They\u00a0were less concerned with putting their names on their work than with\u00a0preserving the wisdom of their religious heritage.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The religious questions they were wrestling with are questions that\u00a0thoughtful people ask\u00a0in\u00a0every age:\u00a0<em>What is the meaning of life? Where\u00a0does it come from? Where does it go? What is the relationship between\u00a0God and humanity? Why is there evil in the world? Why do good\u00a0people\u00a0have to\u00a0suffer?<\/em>\u00a0These questions were especially disturbing for the Jews after\u00a0their return from exile. <strong>They thought they had known who they were and what God\u2019s purpose was for them, but the shattering of their dreams forced them to think again and to think more deeply.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Perhaps the\u00a0most important thing to bear in mind when reading the first eleven chapters of Genesis is that it is written not only about the past but about the present\u2014 the perennial present that is always with\u00a0us. <\/strong>The authors of Genesis wrote down the Word that came to them in their time, but in doing so they were putting into human words the eternal Word which speaks the truth for\u00a0every generation. They <strong>were writing what is always true about God and\u00a0human beings, about the goodness of the world, and about \u201csin\u201d which\u00a0causes suffering.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Put in theological terminology, <strong>the story is saying that everything is\u00a0grace, everything is gift, everything <\/strong>comes from God. God is the one who\u00a0makes something out of nothing and gives it to us, not\u00a0only then, but\u00a0now. <strong>God created both the natural universe and our own\u00a0human nature, and all of it is good. All of it <\/strong>is<strong> to be\u00a0enjoyed, if\u00a0we can receive it as a gift.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>__________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sarah Young Jesus Calling<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Jesus Calling: January 15<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>My face is shining upon you, beaming out Peace that transcends understanding. <strong>You are surrounded by a sea of problems, but you are face to face with Me, your Peace<\/strong>. <strong>As long as you focus on Me, you are safe. If you gaze too long at the myriad problems around you, you will sink under the weight of your burdens<\/strong>. When you start to sink, simply call out &#8220;Help me, Jesus!&#8221; and I will lift you up.<br>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<strong>The closer you live to Me, the safer you are. Circumstances around you are undulating, and there are treacherous-looking waves in the distance. Fix your eyes on Me,<\/strong> the One who never changes. <strong>By the time those waves reach you, they will have shrunk to proportions of My design. <\/strong>I am always beside you, helping you face today&#8217;s waves. T<strong>he future is a phantom, seeking to spook you. Laugh at the future! Stay close to me.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>RELATED SCRIPTURE:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Philippians 4:7 NLT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>7 Then you will experience God\u2019s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Matthew 14:30 NLT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>30 But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. \u201cSave me, Lord!\u201d he shouted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Hebrews 12:2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God\u2019s throne.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Inviting Good Questions Thursday, January 15, 2026 Father Richard describes why the book of Genesis was so important to the people of ancient Israel: Although many of the stories found in Genesis were\u00a0passed down\u00a0from\u00a0generation to generation among the Israelites, they were not collected\u00a0and put into their final form until after the Babylonian exile, around the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26404"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26404"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26407,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26404\/revisions\/26407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}