Corner of Bowne Street and the River Jabbok

Three thousand years ago, a distraught man named Jacob made his way across the barren land of Gilead. He had run away from home, spent twenty years with his lying, deceitful uncle Laban, and is now finally returning home with his two wives to meet his twin brother, the one whom Jacob had cheated, the one who swore to murder him as soon as their dad died.
In an attempt to save his family, he sent his two wives and his eleven sons and all his possessions across the Jabbok river. There on the fords of the Jabbok, he was left alone with his thoughts. Suddenly a man appeared and began to wrestle him. They wrestled through the night until daybreak, neither one gaining the upper hand. Finally, the strange man realized he could not overpower Jacob, so he used his powers to dislocate Jacob's hip!
Later we learn that the man had been the Lord God, who had come down to rename Jacob. His name was now "Israel", which means "he struggles with God". Israel was the father of the nation of his namesake. The nation of Israel was God's chosen nation, the one with which he would make a covenant, the nation out of which would be born the savior of the world; Jesus, Son of God.
We learn from the rest of the Old Testament that over and over again, the nation of Israel does wrestle with the Lord, always struggling in disobedience and rebellion. Three thousand years later, we find the same patterns within God's nation. We often struggle against him in our sin. Yet, just as Jacob wrestled God for a blessing, we wrestle God for answers. We yearn for the answers to life’s greatest questions. We long to know the meaning of our existence, our purpose, our creator, and our faith.

Today, there are spiritual wrestlers in Boon church. I want this blog to be a place that we can share our thoughts and our ideas. Part of my hope is that this can become a forum of discussion and debate. If you have any questions about faith or struggles with doubt, please share them (of course, only if you're comfortable doing so)! If you have any praises, share them so that we may all celebrate and thank the Lord together! If you have any great insights while reading the Bible, please share them! If you feel convicted to address a pattern of sin in our community, please do so! If you have a song, or a poem, or a psalm, or a spiritual reflection, or a prayer, or a prayer request...if you have anything you'd like to share with us at all, please share them!

Ultimately, this space is yours, Boon church. Use it as you desire. My only hope is that it will become a place where we can build deeper relationships on a larger, community level. Therefore, respond to one another! Encourage each other! Disagree with each other! Just get the dialogue rolling!

Here’s how you do it. Anyone is welcome to post whatever they want, whether it’s an article or a prayer or a poem or w/e. Just email them to BowneandJabbok@gmail.com. We will update the blog every Saturday. Anyone, Boonie or nonBoonie, is allowed to comment and respond to posted blogs; we just ask that you be polite and respectful and include your full name.

In love and for his glory,

-Dan Shih

P.S. – If enough people submit stuff sometime this week, perhaps our first update might come sooner than this Sunday!