Boiling Cabbage Down Boy, Boiling Cabbage Down

The lyrics: odd. The sounds: strumming. The gender: male.
There is a bluegrass band in the living room. And I like it.

Some are well practiced with their instrument. Others are new at it. And I like it!

The windows are wide open. It’s dark outside. People can see everything, and they feel comfortable just sticking their head in to say, “Hi!” I know and I love that things are changing.
I can’t help but wonder about the possibilities.

Country roads take me home!

Stand the Test of

The world and its desires pass away, but the Word endures forever.

Since God gives us spiritual eyesight, since we are to build up our treasures in heaven, since the world and its desires pass away, we must discipline ourselves to exercise our spiritual Word muscles. This is the greatest preparation.

For such a time as this...

For such a time as this, I would venture to say that any substantial true growth must acknowledge and embrace the eminent challenges at hand. Ease almost never spurs others onto growth – and Christian Spiritual formation is void without some level of challenge.

“A challenging task is motivating…”
-Chuck Bonwell, Ph.D

Now, the key to motivation is an appropriate challenge. We must not compare ourselves to others, but as iron sharpens iron, we are to learn from one another and compete with only ourselves.

We must always be prepared, and we must practice regularly and encourage others to do the same.

and for his pleasure all creation sings

IN THE BEGINNING God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was empty, a formless mass cloaked in darkness. And the Spirit of God was hovering over its surface.

As we find ourselves in the light of the new year, I remember how many times I have found myself (and find myself) reading the first sixteen chapters of Genesis. To some extent, I think we all hit a bump somewhere along the road where we read our Bibles like a broken record player. We start in Genesis, don't make it very far, and then we decide to try again... all over again.

After some inconsistent attempts from the end of the summer until now, Mark and I have decided to commit to set amount of Scripture consumption each day.

This year I'm starting two new approaches. For Mark and me, this is our second year of marriage together, so we're going to read together through the Bible in a year (on top of other scheduled readings.) I'm taking on somewhat of a challenge, for I hope to read the Bible in 90 days a few times this year as well. Whoever came up with this concept to print the Bible for twelve pages of reading per day remains great in my mind. I haven't consumed this much scripture since I was taking literature of the Bible classes, and I can all ready notice a significant amount of personal and relational transformation. By the way, you can find this Bible on Amazon.com or in other local bookstores... it's an NIV version, literally called Read the Bible in 90 Days.

I never really realized what a personality Abraham had throughout his life. The more I read the history, it feels like I'm hopping on the most familiar bike for a stroll down a changing street. Another observation about Genesis... I have found that writing out what I'm reading or drawing and charting really emphasizes events in my mind.

A good example of this from the start is found in the creation patterns of the days.

Days 1, 2, and 3 correspond with days 4,5, and 6. The pattern is creation and then the filling of creation.
Day 7 is separate.

How have you structured your reading -? Do you even keep a structure?