Songbird from RevGalBlogPals writes:

Twenty years ago, I was on a Pastoral Search Committee, and one of the questions we asked the ten candidates we interviewed in the first round was to tell us their three favorite passages of scripture. I loved hearing the variety of verses quoted and even learned some that I didn’t know, such as the last line of one of this week’s lectionary passages:

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)

For today’s Friday Five, list your five favorite passages/verses from the Bible and tell us something about why you love them.

This is harder than it seems. Not because I don’t have favorites but because I can never remember where the verse is located. I was never very good at “Bible Bingo” and I always hesitate to look up verses in front of people because, well, I can’t find them. And I’m a pastor and a chaplain! It shouldn’t be like that. I mean yes, I can find “The Lord is My Shepherd” and “In the beginning…” but that’s a bit elementary. I hate to think what my Sunday School teacher Mrs. Goforth would have thought who made us memorize a verse every week, or Mrs. Stricker who made us memorize Psalm 15 in Kingeth Jameth…

Anyway… thanks to the wonders of Teh Intewebs, Bible Gateway and a powerful search engine, I was able to locate these five of my favorite verses…

1) Psalm 40:1-3 These verses I actually CAN find. And depending on the version, I can even recite them from memory. This Psalm reminds me that God watched as I got myself into a mess, God helped bring me out of my mess(es), and God continues to walk with me, work through me (sometimes in spite of me) and cares for me.

2) Jeremiah 29:11-14 “I know the plans I have for you…” These verses give me great comfort. They remind me that when I ain’t gotta clue, God does. And it is not the way of feeling condemned, hurt, betrayed or bewildered.

3) Romans 7:18b-20 “I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.”

It’s a tongue-twisting, mind-bending set of verses. I’d love to do/be/act a gazillion better ways than I do. But I don’t. Sometimes I can’t. And many times, I just won’t. And when I begin to get down on myself and feel out-of-place or perhaps mistaken in my vocation, I re-read these verses and remember… I’m in good company. And to get over myself a little.

4) I Kings 8:60 Don’t be impressed. I had to dig for a while for this one. It is a verse that is embedded in several songs that I know and love. Chris Tomlin’s God of this City and David Crowder’s No One Like You remind me of this verse.

5) Rev. 7:17 The ultimate promise. The words of hope and comfort. “…and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” It’s what helps me serve as a chaplain. It’s how I can encourage my friends and family. And it will Be.