Category: reading tips

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Brand New Start

My wife has a calendar that for this month has a very fitting quote.

Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start now and make a brand new ending.

-Carl Bard

As we begin week four we begin new books and it is a perfect time to start. I don’t want any false rumors floating out there that if you didn’t start with week one, you’ve missed your chance. The ship hasn’t sailed.

So if you have heard from others about this reading plan and wonder if you still can do it, wonder no longer. Join in. I’d even encourage everyone to invite others along. Make this a week when you think of someone who might like doing this together with you, and tell them about it. Spread the word.

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Week four begins today

We are now finished with two longer books of the bible, Genesis and John. So this week begins two new books, Exodus, featuring Moses, and Luke, which like John features Jesus primarily. But new to the mix is a third reading, and that is taken from the poetry of the Psalms.

I hope you enjoy these books and are open to what God will speak to you through his words.

Click on This Week for more information and to find the focus passage for this week.

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Revised Quarter One Readings

If it comes down to a choice between what you see on something I produce and your common sense, I’d say you should often go with your common sense. Such is the case if you have done one of three things: looked for our readings on a bulletin insert, a poster in the hallways, or in an older post on this website. Somehow the month of April switched to become the fifth month of the year without telling anyone but me. So I went ahead and made the change and you’ll see it reflected here. Sorry for any inconvenience.

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How I Read the Lord of the Rings in One Summer

I was never an avid reader when I was in high school. That was the role of my oldest brother, who on vacation to the Outer Banks would sit in the bedroom and read. That wasn’t me, but I’m sure he is the better for it.

I think the biggest hangup for me was seeing reading as a chore. No ones likes chores, as far as I know. Chores are imposed upon us from on high and can even feel, to a high schooler at least, like punishment. Unfortunately for me, homework assignments looked a lot like chores. So reading didn’t have an appeal to me, rather it was what I was supposed to do for class.

When I had a summer of little to no assigned reading for school that was the summer in which I read the most. I didn’t put off reading as though it were homework that was trying to rudely creep into my summer vacation. I saw it as a worthwhile activity. So I picked up the Fellowship of the Ring and soon after was putting down The Return of the King, having finished the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t school’s fault. No one to blame here but myself. But at least now, in knowing myself and my quirks and shortcomings, I can better adjust to accomplish what I want to in life. Being aware of how my mind works I can try to compensate or stop myself from some of my learned bad habits.

This avoidance of “chore” still haunts me now. How many of you like to have a clean house, you have a great feeling when you take the little bit of extra time to put something away, and you get a sense of satisfaction from dishes being done? Me, too. But even though I get the sense that such work is worthwhile, each time before that work is to be done, my will rebels against me for it thinks I am enslaving it to do some foul chore.

I want it to be done. I like it when it is finished. I feel good about doing it in the process. But to begin is so difficult. Certainly sin is at work in me. This same mental hump is hard to get over in our readings, as well.

I know the weekly readings may seem long. But fight the mentality of it as a chore. God has gifted us with this book to learn about him and grow in his ways. We are privileged where we stand in history in having the access we do to read the Bible. Just because reading the Bible is a “should” don’t lose the joy of reading and meditating on God’s Word.

See it as a joy. Look ahead to the goal of having read it all. Keep that picture in your mind. For the joy that was set before him, Christ endured the cross for us (Heb 12:2). Reading the Bible is in no way like the suffering of the cross. But if for the joy set before him, Jesus could bear that immeasurable suffering, what will we be able to do for him if we fix our eyes on Christ, make him our goal and our hope, and find our joy in him? We need to set his joy before us.

Do what you need to in order to see time with God in his Word for what it is. Make it the best part of your day as you put aside the other demands of life and sit quietly before our Maker. Don’t worry about the state of the house or the emails that wait for you. If only for that reason, you’ll desire to read more because it allows you to ignore those other calls on your time. Make it a sacred space and time during which everything else fades away. Find a cozy spot, make yourself a cup of coffee, and enjoy.

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Look Out for Joseph

We finish Genesis reading about Joseph and we learn that he was more than just a stylish dresser. Pay close attention to him and how he differs from previous characters of the book. Whereas Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel were blessed in many ways, but continued to mix their faithfulness with sin, Joseph’s situation is very different. He is hated by his brothers, thrown into a pit, sold to slavery, and labors in a foreign land, and how does he respond?

Others couple God’s explicit blessings with their own mistakes. Abraham is concerned for his safety so he lies about Sarah, multiple times. Jacob is characterized by his trickery in order to receive further blessings. But, Joseph in the midst of trials and difficulties exhibits strong character.

He brings in a different pattern, so pay attention to him and how he acts, regardless of the circumstances, as we finish Genesis.

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Roadmaps to the Ancient World

Reading about all the peoples and places of Genesis can be a bit overwhelming for we who live thousands of years later. Even if you are versed in the geography of the Middle East, the map now looks very different than it did then. If you’re interested in getting a better grip of what the land looked like and where Abraham was and was going, take a look at some of the maps I’ve found online. Many of your Bibles probably include some great maps for reference as well, so don’t forget to check inside the back covers.

Bible Maps – Has lots of links to a variety of sites that host maps for the Bible.

Biblemap.org – An interesting approach where you put the book and chapter, and it’ll show you an overlay of the relevant places over Google Maps.

If you’ve found great resources yourself, pass them along and I’ll include them above!

 

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About Focus Passages and Small Groups

To go along with the readings, each week there is a focus passage that will be highlighted in the This Week section of the site. We’ll have time during the Reading Groups to talk about whatever has been assigned for the week, but we will make sure to spend time on the Focus Passage as well.

Small groups are able to use these as handouts for their groups, if you would like. You may prefer something more like a workbook for your meetings, but if your group or some of your group are reading along, this may work well.

I’ve put up the first three weeks if you want to see what the future holds. Here they are:

Week 1 Focus Passage John 3

Week 2 Focus Passage Genesis 22

Week 3 Focus Passage John 20.

One more note about how to best coordinate your reading with a small group. Take my group as an example. We decided we want to do this Year in the Bible together and use the Focus Passage handouts. But our group meets at 7am on Tuesday morning, which doesn’t afford us much time to have read the rest of the Scripture for that week. So what we have decided is that when we meet, we’ll go over the readings that go along with the previous week. If your group meets later in the week, you may find it works to keep in sync with the current week’s assignment.

As always, if you have questions about this or any other detail, let me know. It may be a great question that others have as well, and I’ll then post the answer here to share with everyone.

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Having a Bible in your Pocket (or Purse)

I heard some questions about using apps on smarthphones and iPads. I think they are great since you’ve already got them with you, so you’re never without the Bible. And a big plus is that they are searchable. I have some Scripture committed to memory and a bit more that isn’t quite memorized, but I know where to find it. But there are plenty of times when I have an idea of what I’m looking for and just can’t remember where to look, and that’s when searching comes into play.

Bible apps, like Bible websites, allow you to find that passage you’re looking for or to do a word search and see all the places in the Bible where a word shows up. Want to know every time Abraham is mentioned? Search. Reading a passage and can’t remember who Eli is, search for the first time he comes up in Samuel.

So, if you haven’t taken advantage of these apps, here are a few (free) suggestions:

For iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad:

As mentioned, the version I like, and this has a great interface that makes it especially easy to browse between books of the Bible. It’ll show you the cross-references and notes, as well.

You can download several different translations from this app for offline use.

For Android:

No personal experience with this, so I’d appreciate any feedback about this app or other suggestions.