My new Bible
How do you open a 9-inch thick Bible?
Why, book-by-book, of course!!!
Already have notes in them!!!
This is my ESV Reformation Study Bible, formerly in a nice hardcover, now separated sheet by sheet with two piece of note paper placed between each sheet. The goal is to fill up the paper with my own notes and cross references as I study. If I run out of space I will have to remove the coils and have new paper inserted. I may also just put them in 3-ring binders.
Labels: God's Word, redeeming the time
Maybe I shouldn't be surprised...
With all these advances, it seems that leisure is the prized quality of any job, and that I often find myself falling into a habit of leisure rather than honest hard work. How is anything ever accomplished but by hard work, not by dreaming about it.
I have hanging in my office a small reprint of the demotivator poster. It says in large words
YOU AREN'T BEING PAID TO BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF YOUR DREAMS
It's soooo true, isn't it?
Labels: architecture, practical theology, redeeming the time
A Lesson in Evangelism
I was spending an awful lot of time reading books about the Bible. I thought this would increase my understanding of the Bible, and consequently, of the Lord.
But no, the truth is that my knowledge of the Lord comes from reading the Bible alone. It is indeed feasible, certainly possible, to grow deeper in my relationship with Him while reading SOLELY the Bible.
This morning I continued my long ride through Genesis. In my new "blank" Bible, I cross referenced Hebrews 11:3, where we are told that "by faith" we understand that God created everything by His word, and nothing came out of anything that existed previously. Reading the Hebrews verse, I couldn't help but wonder how one can worship the Lord and claim evolution as the vehicle for the creation of all life forms.
Another striking note is that the Lord USES the means He has established to fulfill His purposes. This is just who God is. In Genesis 2:5, God has already spoken vegetation into existence. But the means that the Lord has established have not been employed yet -- man to till the ground and rain to water the ground. Because these two are not yet in action, the fruit of the earth has not shown itself yet. But it will. Because the Lord has spoken it as such.
This really struck me as a parallel to what my pastor said in the sermon yesterday about election (his third part of the series on our way through Ephesians). If the elect go to heaven, why must we evangelize (essentially). But he made the assertion that although God has ordained that our stomachs be filled with food in order to calm our hunger, we must still eat.
As one struggling to understand how to share my faith, this has really been used by God to chasten and urge and teach. I am to share because it is the means God has ordained.
But God faithfully reinforced the picture in my mind, and showed me more of His character this morning. He didn't just bring forth fruit from the ground before the man could till it or rain could do its work. He not only ordained the product, but He ordained the process from beginning to end.
Glory be to God. He is so faithful to open our eyes to the truth when we search with all our hearts.
Labels: God's Word, practical theology, redeeming the time, where I am right now
Redeeming the time I
PLUS
EQUALSRedeeming the time.
I recorded 35 Bible verses in succession on one of the files, as well as all of Proverbs 3 on another. I plug the cassette adapter into the earphone jack and pop it into the tape deck of the car. And VIOLA! I can listen to myself recite Bible verses until I've memorized them all. I'm also listening to it at my desk with earphones.
TIP: Use voice inflections to help you catch key words. Use flash cards to aid the visual recollection of it. Break chapters down into manageable bits (try 4 verses at a time).
Labels: God's Word, redeeming the time
24
We only have 24 hours in a day.How are we using our time?Labels: redeeming the time, wisdom
Where are we headed? or Things aren't necessarily getting "better", people!
I had a wonderful time, as usual, having coffee with Gayla from Journey of the Heart. She lives practically right around the corner from me (plus a few miles). She's very honest about what she thinks, and desires to learn more. When we get together, I know it's not just to "keep the friendship going" as I remember doing with so many friends. With them, it was almost an obligation to get together. If there had been mutual cell phone number exchanges, and we went to the same church, it was almost an obligation to keep that friendship going. We also had no clue what doctrine was or that we should be concerned about sin or living a righteous life in all things. Oh, the folly of youth. Many a night wasted through idle talk in a Chili's booth.
Not so anymore. There are people out there who desire God. And who will answer your questions with the mind of Christ, given by God. And who point back to the Bible when there is confusion. Gayla's one of those people, just so you know.
After coffee, on my way home, I detoured to Best Buy to pick up a digital voice recorder to help with scripture memorization. Finding a good middle ground features-to-price-point ratio model, I took it to the register.
"Would you like to buy our warranty for $12?" From the sound of the sales pitch, she was selling me, basically, the ability to return this item for an exchange or in-store credit. I declined. Is this where we have arrived? We no longer guarantee our products, but would rather SELL you the ability to bring back something you paid for that doesn't work? How about rolling that into the sale price of the item, and extending it to ALL merchandise... for FREE!
A novel idea, I'm sure...
I got home and opened my new gadget. I read the instructions and my heart sank.
Engrish.
The grammar was horrible. Why do we Americans claim sovereignty if we subject ourselves to such poorly translated material? Why do we even think that English will be a majority language for long? And where it is spoken, will it even be spoken properly anymore? Will a legal document have such grammatical errors as to require allowing a criminal caught red-handed to go free?
Just some thoughts.
For the record, I do like my voice recorder. It comes with software to upload files to the computer...
Labels: coffee, friends, redeeming the time, where I am right now
Making Lists (and sticking with them)
10 Things to Accomplish After Procuring My Registration (in no particular order):
1. Become fluent in Spanish
2. Resume violin lessons
3. Participate in a duathlon
4. Finish a "century" on my bike
5. Travel on an Eastern European mission trip to work in an orphanage
6. Go to Europe with Ashley and visit a REAL club
7. Run a marathon
8. Become certified by the ICC
9. Lead another college (or high school) small group
10. Have my photography displayed in a gallery
(note: all meteorological-related pursuits are assumed)
Labels: lists, redeeming the time, things I wish I already knew
Already have notes in them!!!
