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I had a front seat at The Theology of Imagination seminar at our annual Ministry Leadership Conference. The speaker, KJ, I call him Kingdom Joy to remember his name, balanced his teaching with thought-provoking questions from time to time for the attendees to discuss with those around.

At one question, my hands frantically searched for digital images to share with the two pastors in my proximity how I use creativity to explore the Scriptures. We were after-all in the “imagination” seminar.

I introduced them to my Hebrew-looking stick men lined up in genealogical and chronological significance. The bearded pastor wow-ed the simple artwork “They should put this in Bible commentary.” The less-bearded pastor yeaha-ed the efforts “This is good for Sunday school. You should teach it to kids.”

Some might find my Bible discoveries thought-provoking, others might find them childish.

These cartoonish notes benefit me. For others, note-taking could look very differently. Details tracked on paper, or digital platform help us connect the dots in the Bible: names, lists, festivals, numbers, rituals, omit-able details, original words.

Mindless details can turn into major discoveries. But, we must be note-takers as we “dig and rake” the Scriptures. We can’t mentally track it all.

At a first glance I saw no point in God these numbers for us in Genesis 5:6-32 NIV

“When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh. After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died. When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died…

…When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son.He named him Noah and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.” After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died. After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.”

I took notes without seeing their relevance. Only some years later, inspired from Answers In Genesis I realized that I was mindlessly tracking how old was Adam when Enosh, Enoch, Lamech were born. Doing a little extra math, you can figure out how long Adam could tell the next generations the Creation story, the Garden of Eden, the first child being born, the mourning over Abel.

Adam could talk to Enosh 695 years
Adam could talk to Kenan 605 years
Adam could talk to Mahalalel 535 years
Adam could talk to Jared 470 years
Adam could talk to Enoch 308 years
Adam could talk to Methuselah 243 years
Adam could talk to Lamech 56 years
Adam did not talk to Noah at all, just to his father and grandfather.

How not to be ecstatic as I line my Hebrew stick-men neatly with insignificant observations like “and had other sons and daughters”. To notice that Abram and Sarai disrupt predictability and record first infertility in the Old Testament. First one recorded in the New Testament is for Zach and Lizzie (Zechariah and Elizabeth).

God uses people who disrupt the usual, and break the predictability. God uses the unordinary, so that He can be the only explanation for anything good happening. As the Psalmist would say “You are my Lord, apart from you I have nothing good in me.”

Note-taking is my “second brain” as Tiago Forte calls it in his book “Building A Second Brain” “We digest more than we can absorb.” So, I have been carefully tending to mindless details on paper helping me make discoveries over time. Something I did last year, finally connects seven months later. So worth the wait.

No, I’m not a genius. But the Scripture is packed with genius-like saints I can access. All you need is curiosity to explore the most boring, mundane and repetitive numbers, lists, names, and omit-able details. Exploring alone is not sufficient. Keeping track of your observations is crucial.

I have a physical notebook where I draw, chart, keep track of unique truths. But, I see great value in digital note-taking, because it is “my second brain”, to quote Tiago. Digital notes are linkable, clickable, quotable… because they can be accessed anywhere, anytime. Mind you, if your phone battery keeps pace with you.

I used to clump all my quotes, comments, and ideas on my Notes app. After reading Tiago’s book I discovered my favorite app for note-taking, Notion. It’s multi-layered, creative, resourceful, and adjustable to your needs.

“You like to dig for gold!” Continued the pastor sitting next to me at The Theology of Imagination seminar. I whispered back “Nope. I dig for potatoes.” I confused the man.

I’m not a genius to unearth archeological and theological Bible discoveries like John MacArthur. I’m happy with simple and practical potato digging. The over-analytical side of me can easily get me discouraged as my words are not as witty as Chesterton, as palpable as C.S. Lewis, as visually grabbing as Tolkiens, as rational as Denis Prager, or as bullet-pointed as John Piper. But I’m ecstatic when I find potatoes. Daily applications for my mundane tasks.

When I can picture Lamech (Noah’s dad) talking to Adam about the Creation story motivating me to tell not only the Creation story, but the Salvation story to the next generation.

When I can picture the shock and shame of Abram and Sarai not seeing those double lines on a pregnancy test. Then I judge less Sarai’s control-freak attitude, understanding her attempt to ancient “surrogacy” with Hagar.

Aren’t you glad, our Lord is a God of details. If he’s got Adam’s genealogy. He’s got mine too. “Today has enough trouble of its own.” Why worry about tomorrow as former tax-collector jots down in Matthew 6:34.

As a pastor mentioned “We can’t create intimacy, but we can make room for it.” Let’s raise the ceiling of expectations not only on our diets, and healthy living, but on our quality time in the Word. May we get curios in our reading to explore with joy, and track with diligence mindless details that can turn into major discoveries.

Exodus 24:6 “Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said.”

Exodus 34:1 “The Lord said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.”

Jeremiah 36:4 “Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated all the words the Lord had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll.”

Habakkuk 2:2 “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.”