This week Dallas leads us in a teaching on being critical but never cynical. He reflects on Miriam's complaint against Moses and the strange skin disease that results. He pauses to let us consider that although she was exiled from the community for a time, the entire community was unified in one way: they weren't leaving without her. In this wilderness, we are not alone.

Read Numbers 12 and consider: did Miriam actually do anything wrong? How did her exile unite the camp? What do you do with scripture that seems too weird or casts God in a less than lovely light? 

In your understanding, what is the difference between being critical and cynical?