What I'm Reading Now --

A little update on what I'm reading:

1. We are almost DONE with the New Testament. Two little chapters of Revelation remain!
2. Next up is the Gnostic Gospels and then the Gospel of Judas. Mom needs to acquire a copy of the version I already own. And I need to make a reading schedule for us.
3. In bible study, we are doing a study of Nehemiah right now by Kelly Minter. It's a lot more work than our usual reading, but I'm loving that its an actual bible study and not just a Christian living book.
4. My personal God reading right now is a book on missions, Let the Nations Be Glad!: The Supremacy of God in Missions by John Piper. Its really good, its just rather heavy. And so a little hard to get through. After that, I have two more mission books lined up: The Missionary Call: Find Your Place in God's Plan for the World by M David Sills and Mosaic by Patrick Nachtigall who is the regional coordinator of the CHOG missions in Europe / Middle East. I think Mosaic is going to be next, I'm hoping it may be a little easier of a read than my current choice.
5. And I have a new devotional that I'm working through, Voices of the Faithful: Inspiring Stories of Courage from Christians Serving Around the World by Beth Moore.
6. Almost forgot - I also have a printed out PDF copy of Tullian Tchividjian's new book Glorious Ruin that I downloaded when someone was offering it for free.

Titus 3:1-11

So in my reading of the New Testament (currently in Hebrews!), I came across a passage in Titus that I have found myself reading and re-reading. So I figured it deserved a post :)

Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men. But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.

                  Titus 3:1-11 (NASB, bold added)

Update on My Reading

The New Testament is...going slowly to be honest. With my mom and my's schedule's its a little hard for us to stay on point. To be at the same place at the same time. And life has been interferring too much as well. We're through the Gospels and should've finished Acts early this week, but that didn't happen. I really need to just focus and make sure I read every day. Or if I don't, I need to make sure I read six chapters the next day to  make up for missing instead of just doing three.

Acts has also been a little bit of a tough read. The chapters are long, and word heavy. But I'm pushing through!

Mom is not enjoying it, because she doesn't like Paul. After repeated mentionings of that fact, I told her that she needed to let it go and let me form my own opinions because I've never read most of the New Testament.

Letting Go of Perfect, our Bible study book, is not going very well. It is more of a memoir than a self help book, and focuses on being a wife and mother. So it's been very hard to relate to for many of us, even those that are married and have children! I think we're all looking forward to the next book. (which I need to go buy soon...)

I enjoyed Unfashionable. I actually want to give it a second read, this time with the study questions. So that's on my summer to do list.

What I'm Reading

First of all, we finished the Apocrypha and have started the New Testament. We're doing a plan to read it in 90 days by reading three chapters a day. Right now we are about halfway through Matthew, I think we'll finish it up on Sunday.

This past Monday, my Bible study group met to pick out our next book. We ended up choosing the next three that we're going to read -- (1) Letting Go of Perfect by Amy E Speigel (2) a study of the book Nehemiah by Kelly Minter and (3) Simply Jesus by N. T. Wright. I have a feeling that I'll take a lot from Speigel's book, I'm really looking forward to the Nehemiah study, and the N.T. Wright book sounds interesting. It was also suggested by my friend L.J. that I brought to group with me. So thankful that she's joining us!

I also picked up a CD by Kutless.

A book I selected was not chosen for group, but I bought it anyways because I really wanted to read it. Unfashionable by Tullian Tchividjian. It's about living as a counterculture instead of trying to blend in with the dominant culture of today's world. Considering the effect that a sermon on Romans 12:2 had on me last year, I just had to pick it up. I'm four chapters in and am completely fascinated. Plus there's 'discussion' questions for each chapter! I try to at least think through each one after reading, but I haven't started writing any answers down yet.

Reading the Bible in a Year(ish) #4

We finished the Old Testament!

Actually, we finished it a little while ago, but I forgot to post about it. Oops.

Now, we're working our way through the Apocrypha that I own and bought Mama a copy of. It is this one, and I like it, but it is definitely tough going.

I think I'm ready to move on to the New Testament now. Which my mom is actually dreading a little, because she doesn't like Paul. But I'm honestly interested in reading his writings.

Reading the Bible in a Year #3

We finished 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. We read Isaiah, Amos, Micah, Hosea, Nahum, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Lamentations and only have a few chapters left to go of Ezekiel. That's twenty nine books of the Old Testament read! Ten to go or at least finish: finish Ezekiel and Psalms, read Joel, Daniel, Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, Esther, Nehemiah and Malachi. I think we'll be done with the OT in about three weeks or so.

Then we start in on the Apocrypha. I went through and made a reading schedule of about ten pages per day. It will take around a month to read.

After that, we'll go to the New Testament. We're both tired of the chronological jumping around reading schedule, so we're going to switch. I found a 90 day reading plan for the NT that I think we're going to use. It's three chapters a day, so it should be pretty doable. But I think we'll be reading the Gnostic Gospels in between John and Acts.

Out of this batch of reading, Isaiah was my favorite, but that took some time. I started picturing him as a television evangelist prophesying to the masses. And I read a lot of it out loud.

Reading aloud is the only way to get through a lot of the Old Testament.

Reading the Bible in a Year Post #2

<sup>Well, as you can expect, Mom and I have read A LOT since June.

We finished Numbers, and have read Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, 1 Kings, Obadiah, and Jonah. We've also read parts of Psalms and are currently in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. So out of the thirty nine books of the Old Testament we have read eighteen and are currently reading three others. That puts us about halfway finished with the Old Testament.

Our chronological reading plan has us jumping around a lot. I think I have like four different bookmarks in my Bible right now.</sup>
  
It was decided to wait to read the Apocrypha because my mother hasn't gotten the book yet. I'm going to get it for her for Christmas. So after that, we'll have to make a reading schedule for the Apocrypha on its own. I'll probably be reading some of it, because there are sections that are parts of OT books, like the extended versions of Esther and Daniel. She'll just have to catch up if we read those before Christmas.

So far, Proverbs was probably my favorite. But I already knew loved that book, its always been a favorite. Psalms has been harder than expected to get through, it helps if I read it aloud. Joshua was more boring than I thought it would be, so that was a bit of a disappointment, as was Jonah. I was all excited to read about the fish / whale and all that happened was "Jonah was swallowed by a fish. Jonah prayed. The fish spit him out." I was expecting a little more excitement.

Tonight, we start reading Isaiah.

Reading the Bible in a Year Post #1

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but a month or two back, I was looking into reading the Bible in a year following a plan available online. When my mom found out, she decided she wanted to read with me. We decided on one of the plans that goes along chronologically. And I incorporated the Apocrypha volume that I own as well as the gnostic gospels that I also own where I could work them in. It'll take us more than a year to get through everything, but Mama and I are fine with that.

So far we've read Genesis, Job (took a break from Genesis to read), Exodus, Leviticus and we just started Numbers. Surprisingly, Leviticus which I was expecting to hate, is probably my favorite so far. Job took some getting used to, but I eventually grew to like the poetry. I found Exodus to be boring and repetitive. Numbers is not impressing either of us, Mama and I both find it boring.