Reading the Bible Through in a Year

 Do you know how many times I have started to read the Bible through in a year?  I don't either.  I don't usually make it very far before I get behind and quit.  This year, I was determined to complete this goal.

This shouldn't be that hard, right?  I broke it down into 4.1 pages a day and it shouldn't be more than 15-20 minutes a day.  I am close to being on schedule.  I may be a little bit behind, but not so behind that I feel defeated.  However, I may not take this approach to reading the Bible in the future.  

Here are some of the things that I've noticed about this plan for me:

1. Most of the time I am reading just to get through it and my comprehension is not what it should be.

2. I get frustrated when I don't understand the symbolism, which is very prevalent in the Old Testament.  And the parables.  I failed a World Literature class in college because I didn't understand symbolism.  I don't like poetry for the same reason.  Tell me exactly what you mean.  Don't make me guess or infer.

3. Whenever I sit down to read God's Word, Satan will use anything to distract me.  All kinds of things come into my mind to distract me.

4. I am also frustrated that I don't have time to dig deeper and try to understand the symbolism from commentaries and still finish in a year.

5. A lot of the Old Testament is "boring" with the genealogies and divisions of Israel that are found duplicated.  Not to mention all the laws.

6. I'm afraid that when I get to the New Testament I will be frustrated by all the practical teaching that is packed into it's pages and it will be too much to absorb.  

All that to say, this may not be the plan for me.  I think I will find something that moves at a slower pace and allows me time to research and digest.  

I spent a lot of years not doing any daily reading of God's Word.  My excuse was that I could never find the right time of day or the right plan.  Everyone learns at a different speed and in a different way.  While this may not be the best plan for me, it has been beneficial to establish a regular habit of reading God's Word.  That is never a waste of time.  If you not spending time daily in God's Word, I would encourage you to do so.  Find what works for you.

A Sleeping Giant Awakens

In my heart lives a sleeping giant.  His name is HOPE (for relationship).  He sleeps for years at a time until an experience nudges at him until he is awake.  This time, it was an experience with a catfish.  I am very aware of catfish; how they work, the red flags.  I avoid them as much as possible.  I don’t accept friend requests on Facebook from people I don’t know.  I check to see if they are friends of a friend or someone I might know.  Most times, they are recently created profiles and have no friends.  I don’t accept message requests from people I don’t know.  This experience happened over a game of Scrabble.

I’ve been playing Scrabble with just one friend.  I get requests to play games with other people several times a day.  Mostly men and some start off with a direct message.  I have been declining games.   I thought maybe I would accept a game if I found someone who had a score average close to mine (most are far below mine).  So, I accepted a game from someone named David.  We played several rounds with no communication.  Then he messaged me and we began to chat.  I suspected a catfish from the beginning.  The red flags were there: widowed, engineer, a young child in his life, foreign born, etc.  I told him that I suspected he was a catfish.  What’s a catfish, he asked.  Who in 2022 does not know what a catfish is?  Scrabble chat feature is cumbersome so we moved to Google Chat which I also found odd.  I went from 50/50 suspicion of catfish to 15/85 suspicion of catfish – he was good at convincing me that he was not.  Now, I am at 95/5 suspicion that he is a catfish. 

Back to the giant.  What really woke the Giant was a song that he sent to me, Perfect by Ed Sheeran.  If you like love songs, it’s a great one.  It stirred up all those emotions of longing and desire for a relationship.  The Giant was waking up.

I have five life principles.  One of them is to live in contentment.  The Giant is not helpful in living out that principle.  He breeds discontentment. 

 Our small group lessons today was on contentment.  Paul, in Philippians 4:11, tells us to be content in whatever circumstances.  We should live in contentment, not necessarily with contentment of our circumstances.  Contentment is not happiness.  It is deeper than that.  We can live in contentment because our contentment comes from God; not from people or circumstances.  We can dwell peaceably in whatever situation we find ourselves because we can trust God. 

But, how do we do that? 

• ·      Philippians 4:8  Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things.
• ·       Use your circumstances to share the love of God and saving grace of Jesus Christ
• ·     Keep your walk with God close so that your response to circumstances is positive and God honoring. 
• ·      Focus on something/someone other than yourself.

 

Now….to put that Giant back to sleep.  😊

End of 2021

 It's been a very long time since I've written a blog.  13 years long.  It may be another 13 before I write another.  :-)

Around Christmas, I had an interesting several weeks.  I found myself in a "mood" that I have never experienced for more than a few hours, at most.  I was in a "funk".  Was it the melancholy side of my personality taking over my life?  Was it depression?  Even if I had thoughts of depression, I always seemed to be able to stop thinking those thoughts and focus on something else.  Even during my amputation and recovery, I was never depressed.  I always knew that God had a plan.  So, what was going on?

 I felt alone.  Was it because Sadie passed and I was coming home to an empty house?  Was I watching too many sappy Hallmark Christmas movies?  Was I mad at God for never bringing a husband into my life?

I felt dissatisfied with my weight, the way I looked, my physical condition.  I've recently been told I'm diabetic.  I love sweets and carbs!  I need to figure out a new way to eat and find a way to exercise .

I'm dissatisfied with my prosthetic.  We have a tolerate/hate relationship.  It doesn't seem to fit right (probably due to weight gain), I can't bear weight on it because it hurts, I can get more done from a wheelchair, etc.  I wish that I could wear it and do steps so that I could get into people's homes.  I haven't even attempted to wear it for several months.  Anybody need a leg to make a lamp?  Or a plant stand?  :-)

I'm dissatisfied with the state of the world and all the hate, all the intolerance and lack of respect of people.  The truth is illusive.  Who do you believe?  And Covid has disrupted our lives for entirely too long.  I'm tired of it all.  My only recourse if to love God and love people equally.

It's been several weeks since I started this.  The "funk" has left.  I suspected a medication so I stopped taking it.  Then I restarted it and did not experience any sort of depression, so I guess that wasn't the culprit.  I'm still not sure what was going on but what came out of that was an empathy for those who experience real depression.  Though the memory of that experience is fading, I hope that the empathy stays.

Merry Christmas 2008

Greetings from Elizabethtown PA. Most of you have heard by now that I moved back to PA this fall. I arrived back in PA on October 19th – just in time to celebrate my 50th birthday. Wooohooo.
I don’t remember much about the beginning of the year. I didn’t keep a daytimer this year or a good calendar so I guess nothing exciting happened. Since Deb’s family moved there were no soccer games to go to this year but I’m sure found something to fill my time.
My idea of camping has always been at the very least, a trailer with a bathroom. For some reason I started thinking about tent camping. I bought a tent this spring and started collecting camping equipment at yard sales and WalMart. I found that one of my friends, Loretta, was interested in camping with me. Loretta has the brother, Chip, to my dog, Jazz. We made plans to go camping three weekends this summer. There were some requirements for the places we camped. For one, it had to have bathrooms and showers. The first two weekends we went were extremely hot. We just sort of sat around and moved our chairs to follow what little shade we could find. Our last weekend camping was probably our favorite because it was much cooler and the campground had more shade. We had a great time. I’m not sure Jazz enjoyed the experience. I think she is too much of a “princess.”
My neice, Deb’s oldest daugher, Rachel, spent the summer with me again this year. It is always fun to have her around. I finally got a chance to see some soccer as she played for the semi-pro team in Colorado Springs
I made a trip to PA in May to celebrate my parent’s 50th anniversay. We had a little party for them. In April, Dad had fallen and broken his hip – the one that had been replaced in 1991. We weren’t sure he was going to be up to a party but he was and we had a great time. We had a discussion about their plans for the future and after talking it through and praying about it, I decided to move back to help out a bit. They are still pretty active and able to do a lot of things but the upkeep on the house and yard is a little too much for them.
Towards the end of June I gave notice at work and told them that I would be leaving by the middle of October. I love my job and the people I work with so it was not any easy thing to do. Within a couple of weeks there was a plan to work towards having me keep my job and work from home. We found ways for me to do my job remotely and so far it seems to be working well. It has its challenges and I miss the office interaction and my view of pikes peak, but I am so grateful to be able to keep my job and do what I like to do. I was not looking forward to looking for a job in this economy. God is good!!
The move east went very well. God worked out so many of the details. I was nervous about getting enough help to load the truck but I had planty of help to load and they got all but one piece of furniture in the truck. One of my uncles volunteered to fly out and drive the truck
home. All I had to do was hold Jazz and watch the scenery go by. I sold my car to a family from my church and was able to drive it up until the last day. Just so many details and so many answers to prayer.
My brother Ed and his wife Val are still living in Lancaster. Their daughter Becky is teaching again this year. Their son Shaun graduated from college this year and is working as a graphic artist.
Deb and her husband Michael are spending their second year in Yorktown VA. Rachel will graduate from college this year. Matthew turned 16 and is driving, Hannah is 12 and Gabrielle is 10. My how they are growing up. I’m looking forward to some weekends in VA and soccer games.
Cliff is still in Mount Joy and still driving truck. It will be good to be able to see my family more often.
My parents are doing pretty well. Dad had hip surgery, mom had hernia and shoulder replacement surgery this year. Mom’s shoulder surgery was December 5th so she is still recovering. Dad is still driving the Amish around and coming home with stories to tell. Mom keeps herself busy and she does the cooking, so that is good for me.
Turning 50 – well, what can I say about that milestone? I thought it would be fun to get the girls from the Sunday school class of my childhood together to celebrate our 50ths. I hadn’t seen some of those girls in 20-30 years. There were six of us and we had a great time catching up and laughing.
Being back “home” has been good. In some ways it feels like I never left. I’m back at my church and they have put me back to work in the choir, worship team and singing solos. I’m looking forward to reconnecting with more family and friends in the coming year.
I hope this letter finds you all well and enjoying the holiday season with your family and friends. May the reminder of what Jesus did fill you with wonder and awe this Christmas season. He came from heaven to earth to show the way; from the earth to the cross, our debt to pay; from the cross to the grave; from the grave to the sky…..

Privacy

Recently I asked someone when they were going to join Facebook. The response was that they are a private person and that Facebook is too public.

That got me to thinking about our "right" to privacy. In this age of identity theft, it is in our best interest to keep a lot of information about ourselves private and off the "information highway." You and I both know people who should keep their lives more private. We don't always want to hear every nitty gritty detail of someone's life.

It was said to me recently that Facebook and MySpace were created for the "me" generation - the generation that thinks it's all about me. If you've never been on those websites, you should take a look sometime. I know people on there with hundreds of friends. I may know that many people but how many of them do I have the time to keep in touch with or with how many of them do I really want to keep in close touch. It amazes me that people have the time it takes to keep up with Facebook or MySpace. You can easily eat up hours of your time trying to keep up with your friends and keeping them up with your life. It is interesting to see what people are up to and I do spend a few hours a week catching up on the lives of my friends/family - especially those that I don't get to see on a regular basis.

On a spiritual level, James 5:16 says "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." So, how private should we be about our lives? If we keep everything private, including our sins, I think we can miss out on some things that God wants to do in our lives. I'm not saying that we should confess all of our sins to everyone we know. Confessing our sins to other christians, especially those who are more mature in their faith, gives us access to more prayer power on our behalf. It allows us to not feel alone and defeated by our sin. In many cases it brings opportunity for discipling and allows us to grow and mature. On the flip side, as we grow and mature and learn from our sins, we have the opportunity to help others going through the same experiences.

Choose wisely the times to be private and the times to be transparent. Rely on the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

A Day of Thankfulness

I realize that it has been quite some time since I have written. It is not for lack of things to write about but because there has been too much to write about and not enough time. I will have to catch you on some of those things at a later time. As it is Thanksgiving, it seems appropriate that I should recount a few of the things for which I am thankful and what God has done in the recent months.

God has done so much to work out all the details of my move back to PA:
I got to keep my job
I had great help to load and unload the truck
My uncle flew out to drive the truck
Many great memories and special times with my co-workers before leaving
A successful yard sale
Many more little things of which I am probably not even aware

There is so much to be thankful for since I've been back in PA:
It's great to be with my family again and among long time friends
A 50th birthday party given and attended by lots of friends
Reconnecting with my former church
The beautiful colors of fall
Thanksgiving with my family and some extended family

In some ways it feels like I never left and in other ways I still feel like a visitor. I do miss Colorado, my friends and co-workers there and the view from my office. But I am where God wants me to be and there is no better place to be.

I hope your Thanksgiving has been full of praise.

Progress

It's been a long time since my last entry. There's been a lot going on

We took our last camping trip for the summer over Labor Day weekend. Wish we had known about this campground before. It was in a "forest" with lots of shade. It was a much more comfortable weekend for camping. Much cooler than the last two times. I'm thinking that Jazz is not really fond of camping. She wouldn't sleep with me the whole weekend. She slept with Loretta, who already had her dog in her bed. As soon as we got home, Jazz was more than happy to sit in my lap.

Work has been busy. I have a new computer and a new printer that will go to PA with me. We will begin testing our new processes in a couple weeks to be sure that they will work. We may find a few things that need to be tweaked. I've said that I will close my door, close the blinds, come in my PJs and pretend that I am working from home. Guess I won't really do that.

One of my concerns was driving the truck to PA by myself with a car in tow. One of my uncles has volunteered to fly out and help me drive back. He is a truck driver so that makes me feel a whole lot better. I will probably not tow my car and will try to sell it before I leave.

I've done a little packing and sorting things out that I won't keep. I plan to have a yard sale in a couple weeks and hope to get rid of some stuff.

Sometimes you have to wonder what God is up to. He is answering prayers about the move and then there are some monkey wrenches thrown into the mix. A few days after my uncle let me know that he would come out to help drive back, I experienced trouble with my car. I had to have the thermostat replaced and the reservoir. Then I started having trouble with my computer. It wouldn't boot up. I took it to the shop and they said it was the motherboard and would cost $400-$500. Might as well buy a new one. I brought it back home and started looking online to see if there had been a recall on this model. Turns out there is a special warranty for the problems I am experiencing. However, HP is not convinced that I am truly experiencing the problems that are covered by this warranty. They are sending me a box to ship it to them and they will make that determination after they look at it. The problem is that it will not always boot up. Sometimes it will, but most times it won't. Since I talked to HP last evening, it has booted up every time. I will see how it works until the box comes. So.....what is God trying to teach me through this? Maybe the car thing was just a push to get rid of it before I leave CO. The computer? If it's covered by they special warranty - maybe it's a reminder not to panic and allow God to work it out. Won't it be interesting to get to heaven and find out what God was doing and how far off the mark we were. :-)

I'll try not to make it such a long time before my next post.