Moleskin

I received a Moleskine for Christmas. It’s a black notebook that is manufactured by an Italian company with the same name. It is distinct because of the elastic band that keeps the notebook closed, and the binding that enables it to lay flat. Basically, my kids tell me that it’s the coolest journal out there, and that’s enough for me.

Just receiving the gift has motivated me to keep an orderly account of my year. I have pages set aside for noting exercise activity. Another section is devoted to highlighting the books that I will be reading this year. And, of course, there is the daily record of the activities and impressions that experientially inform my life.

Do you suppose that this was the way that Dr. Luke felt when he started his gospel with the following words:

Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. ~ Luke 1:1-4 (ESV) 

Luke addresses this gospel account to a friend and a student. To confirm in the heart and mind of Theophilus “the things you have been taught.” So Luke decided that the most effective way to do this was with an “orderly account.” A “moleskinesque” kind of journal that captured both the activity and the corresponding impact of the life of Jesus, the Christ. Perhaps this is why Luke starts with the human life of Christ at its earliest phase. Perhaps this is why Luke invites us into the doubt of Zachariah, into the exhilaration of Elizabeth, into the ponderous and promising heart of Mary. Perhaps this is why we have the opportunity to peak into the journal of the shepherds, Simeon, and Anna. For this reason we see the inquisitive heart of a 12-year-old Jesus who was as captivated by the dialog and discourse of the temple teachers as 12-year-olds are today with the Nintendo Wii.

Yes, Luke embarked on an orderly account, and so will I. For the 52 Fridays in 2008, I will journey through the gospel accounts of the ministry life of Jesus. And I will do so with reverence and joy. Jesus, the miraculously conceived, blue-collar groomed, intensely tested, compassion filled son of the living God is worth knowing with more certainty.

Will you join me? Are you willing to march toward December 26, 2008 as the culmination of our 52-week march? An orderly, Moleskine-like pursuit, to know Jesus more intimately, more intensely, more tenderly, and more powerfully.

One Friday down, one page logged.

To know Jesus, the Christ.