I committed last year to reading through the entire Bible in 2009. I am pleased to report that I met my goal on Dec. 31.
I knew I needed some type of plan, so in December 2008 I started looking at various ways I could do this. I looked at a bookstore at some “One Year Bibles” and also researched a bit on the Internet. In the end I did not see the need to purchase a new Bible but, rather, I found a plan that prescribed daily readings from the Old and New Testaments, Psalms and Proverbs.
For the most part I stayed current, but I definitely had to catch up at times.
I did not use a commentary other than occasionally looking at some of the margin notes in the Bible I use, which is a New American Standard version, and at times looking up words in the dictionary. I was purposeful about not using commentary because I wanted to read it on my own and try as best I could to read it objectively.
Here are some of my observations:
-- I LOVE the story of the Bible, which I grasped more than ever. To my detriment, I had previously read the Bible in a more piece-meal fashion and missed the “plot.”
-- I have more questions than answers about the afterlife. There are indications that people “perish,” there are indications of a “lake of fire” and there are indications that it all just ends for some folks after life here on Earth. There are also numerous references to a life more beautiful than we could ever imagine after this one is done.
-- I am convinced that God created us all as equals, even though He has throughout history given favor to the children of Israel. There are references throughout the New Testament of God’s love for ALL.
-- God is extremely patient and kind but there are times in the Old Testament where He had to get firm with people.
-- The seeming contradictions in the Bible don’t bother me. I believe God wrote the Bible through humans who had different perspectives. Obviously I won’t understand it all in this life.
-- Nothing that I read gives me any reason to believe that there is not the possibility of life on other planets or in other galaxies. Ultimately, I won't be surprised either way.
-- I am more convinced than ever that Jesus is the absolute only begotten son of the Heavenly Father.
-- I see how people can use the Bible to support their political views on either side, but I still think it’s a dangerous proposition.
-- If I had to pick a favorite book of the Bible, it would be a four-way tie among Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Monday, December 28, 2009
Year in Books
I am not going to do a full-blown top ten or twelve year-end book review but I can't let the year end without at least a little bit of commentary on some of the books I read this year.
My favorite fiction read of the year had to be The Help by Kathryn Stockett. This new 40-year-old Alabama author struck a cord with readers, especially Southerners, with her poignant account of life in Mississippi in the early sixties and the relationships of white women and their African American domestic workers.
A close second was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which left me feeling warm all over. Upon the recommendation of blog friends Quid and Steve, I read Cormac McCarthy's The Road, the chilling post-apocolyptic account which literally kept me up at night after I finished it. Did I enjoy it? That's hard to say -- don't know if I would use the word "enjoy" associated with this book. Did it keep me spell bound? Without a doubt. Now I'm trying to decide if I would dare go see the movie.
Also near the top of the list of fiction was Sarah's Key which centers around the little known (at least to me) part of the Holocaust which took place in France.
My hands-down non-fiction favorite was Donald Miller's A Million Miles in a Thousand Years in which this unconventional Christian author of Blue Like Jazz had me dying laughing then crying, as he related his journey of learning how his life is a story. Also loved Witsec, which tells the fascinating history of the U.S. Government's Federal Witness Protection Program; Letters from a Skeptic, a collection of letters back and forth between a seminary professor and his agnostic father; and Late Edition, a Love Story, by Bob Greene, in which he laments the shrinking of the American newspaper at the hands of the Internet by telling his own story of working as a high school student at a local newspaper in Columbus, Ohio.
Also on the non-fiction side, really enjoyed Three Cups of Tea, about Gregg Mortensen's amazing success at buiilding schools in Pakistan.
My nod to classical literature this year was J.D. Sallinger's Catcher in the Rye which somehow I misssed as a high school and college student. Really enjoyed it and I am open to suggestions for more classics in 2010.
I am ending the year with The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, originally written in French but translated into extremely readable English. I am about two-thirds through this one, which tells parallel stories of a middle-aged widowed concierge in a French apartment building and a 12-year-old girl who lives in the same building. I started it Christmas night and it has been a real page turner.
As usual, I would welcome your reading recommendations for 2o10. Good reading to all.
My favorite fiction read of the year had to be The Help by Kathryn Stockett. This new 40-year-old Alabama author struck a cord with readers, especially Southerners, with her poignant account of life in Mississippi in the early sixties and the relationships of white women and their African American domestic workers.
A close second was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which left me feeling warm all over. Upon the recommendation of blog friends Quid and Steve, I read Cormac McCarthy's The Road, the chilling post-apocolyptic account which literally kept me up at night after I finished it. Did I enjoy it? That's hard to say -- don't know if I would use the word "enjoy" associated with this book. Did it keep me spell bound? Without a doubt. Now I'm trying to decide if I would dare go see the movie.
Also near the top of the list of fiction was Sarah's Key which centers around the little known (at least to me) part of the Holocaust which took place in France.
My hands-down non-fiction favorite was Donald Miller's A Million Miles in a Thousand Years in which this unconventional Christian author of Blue Like Jazz had me dying laughing then crying, as he related his journey of learning how his life is a story. Also loved Witsec, which tells the fascinating history of the U.S. Government's Federal Witness Protection Program; Letters from a Skeptic, a collection of letters back and forth between a seminary professor and his agnostic father; and Late Edition, a Love Story, by Bob Greene, in which he laments the shrinking of the American newspaper at the hands of the Internet by telling his own story of working as a high school student at a local newspaper in Columbus, Ohio.
Also on the non-fiction side, really enjoyed Three Cups of Tea, about Gregg Mortensen's amazing success at buiilding schools in Pakistan.
My nod to classical literature this year was J.D. Sallinger's Catcher in the Rye which somehow I misssed as a high school and college student. Really enjoyed it and I am open to suggestions for more classics in 2010.
I am ending the year with The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, originally written in French but translated into extremely readable English. I am about two-thirds through this one, which tells parallel stories of a middle-aged widowed concierge in a French apartment building and a 12-year-old girl who lives in the same building. I started it Christmas night and it has been a real page turner.
As usual, I would welcome your reading recommendations for 2o10. Good reading to all.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Notes from Christmas Day
Christmas night. It was a great, relaxing day. I did Christmas morning breakfast which we enjoyed about 10:45 -- we have to wake them up now! My how things have changed. We lingered at the table talking and laughing, then opened gifts.
We had about ten minutes of snow!
Lunch about 3:15. The young ones off to the Titans' game (which is proving to be sad) about 5. Wife and I in our PJs, watching the game but losing interest.
The menu for Christmas Eve ended up being Shrimp Scampi and Baked Ziti, both of which were wonderful. Also had a tortellini appetizer. Wife found a CD with Italian Christmas music. Great fun. Bread pudding for dessert. Mmmmmm!
Need to get to the Y early in the a.m. to start working off some of the excess I enjoyed these past couple of days. They're having a 90-minute cycling class, twice as long as the norm; think that could kill me but Daughter is challenging me to go. We'll see.
Hope everyone enjoys the long holiday weekend.
We had about ten minutes of snow!
Lunch about 3:15. The young ones off to the Titans' game (which is proving to be sad) about 5. Wife and I in our PJs, watching the game but losing interest.
The menu for Christmas Eve ended up being Shrimp Scampi and Baked Ziti, both of which were wonderful. Also had a tortellini appetizer. Wife found a CD with Italian Christmas music. Great fun. Bread pudding for dessert. Mmmmmm!
Need to get to the Y early in the a.m. to start working off some of the excess I enjoyed these past couple of days. They're having a 90-minute cycling class, twice as long as the norm; think that could kill me but Daughter is challenging me to go. We'll see.
Hope everyone enjoys the long holiday weekend.
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