Ezekiel and a busy day

I thought I'd better pop in here so you don't all dessert me for fairer pastures and more regular bloggers!

I have the busiest day I've had in a long time planned tomorrow. I have two job interviews scheduled - one at 8 and one at 10, then I work from 11-7, after which I'm headed to the airport to pick up a friend and probably spend a chunk of the evening with her, before delivering her to where she parked her car for the week she's been away.

I have to be honest - days with back to back scheduling like this stress me out a little. I don't do as well on days that don't give me enough down time and alone time - and there will only be alone time in my car between appointments - which would be great except that I don't particularly like driving, especially to new places. I mostly drive because it is far more convenient, less crowded and less full of slightly odd and smelly people than public transit. But, I'm looking forward to tomorrow evening and catching up with my friend again.

I've been reading the book of Ezekiel this week. I always feel slightly odd admitting that it is one of my favorite chunks of scripture. I fell in love with it for reasons I can't even name somewhere in 1998 or 1999, when I read through the entire Bible for the first time. I was mocked a couple of times for professing my love for Ezekiel, and I mostly didn't pay it any attention for the following several years, with the notable exception of the dry bones chapter which seems to figure rather prominently and come up regularly in the circles I've been hanging around in.

Anyway, for the last while I've had this inner thought (prompting?) that I should go back and read Ezekiel again. And, as I was struggling with a number of things this week, I felt like it would be a good place to start reading. I'm falling in love with it again - for reasons I still can't quite explain. I think I love how extreme it is. Ezekiel lays on his side for all those days, a human object lesson of Israel's sin, and when God wants Ezekiel to internalize his message, he literally feeds it to him. And then there's the fact that God never lets Ezekiel forget his humanity. He never has a chance to get a big head about the whole "prophet speaking for God" aspect of his life. Every time God addresses him, he is reminded of his humanity - "Son of Man." And yet, it's an interesting parallel that "Son of Man" is also the name by which Jesus was called and identified... mmm... loving this book!

And with that I'm off to read in bed for a little while, and hopefully turn my lights out a bit early tonight. I need to get up quite a bit earlier than normal to make it to the 8am interview, and I know that the day will be long and draining.