I've been reading through Hosea for my quiet times the past few weeks - good stuff! The entire book focuses on how badly Israel has screwed up (again!). God's ready to get his smite on! He loves us soooo much and when we choose to do our own thing and ignore him it hurts him deeper than we can ever fathom. Not that God's this big sissy guy in the sky who needs us to be his best-best buddy, nope - not at all! Like our illustrious Craig said last night, he could knock Saturn into Earth with his super-God-pool-stick if he wanted to. He doesn't need us, we need him! Even after we continuously screw things up in our special human way, he takes us back, over and over and over . . . Ain't God cool!?

Hosea 14:4-6
4"I will heal their waywardness.
I will love them lavishly. My anger is played out.
5 I will make a fresh start with Israel.
He'll burst into bloom like a crocus in the spring.
He'll put down deep oak tree roots,
6 he'll become a forest of oaks!
He'll become splendid--like a giant sequoia,
his fragrance like a grove of cedars!