A little-known personal milestone just passed me by this past Monday, one of several major milestones that have come and gone this year.
This past Monday, July 16, marked the 10-year anniversary of this little blog. I cringe when I read the early years. #Painfullyawkward
June 28 marked the 20th anniversary of when I embraced Jesus as my Savior. #Bestdecisionofmylife
June marked 15 years since I graduated from high school. #Haventbeentoareunionyet.
July marked 15 years since I bought my first laptop, which I was still using until about a month ago when I finally bought a new one. #RIPCompaq
January marked 5 years since I started my current job. #Adulting.
In honor of all those milestones and in honor of 10 years of my blog, here's the top 10 most-read entries:
10) "I Don't Pretend to Understand," an entry I wrote after my friend Jonathan passed away 6 years ago.
9) "Grief," also another entry I wrote immediately after Jonathan died.
8) "He Met Me in a Stable," a more recent entry, written this past fall in the wake of panic attacks and general mental mayhem.
7) "To My Niece", a letter I wrote to my niece several years ago just before she was baptized.
6) "Always Winter, Never Christmas," inspired by an early snow this past October.
5) "Don't Ever Go To Bed Without Knowing Where This Is," words spoken by a Kenyan woman that still pierce my soul all these years later.
4) "Cancer and a Cup of Water," reflections on the weight of the broken world in which we live.
3) "Don't Wait to Celebrate," a realization that I needed to celebrate the life I have instead of lamenting the one I didn't have.
2) "He Noticed the Thief," written during a season of life when I was experiencing a tremendous amount of physical pain.
And the most-read entry was from 4 years ago, shortly after my 4th grade teacher passed away:
1) "Back In the Day When I Learned How to Play the Accordion"
Thanks to my faithful readers. I can't say for certain but I do believe the award of "Most Dedicated Reader" goes to my brother Josh. I'll take bets that he comments on this one within 24 hours. I wrote an entry awhile back, and within an hour he texted me about it, commenting. I texted him back a little amazed at the speed with which he was aware that I had written something and said, "Dude, what do you do - sit around and refresh my blog on an hourly basis, looking to see when I write a new entry??" He said, "Nah, but a daily check wouldn't be an understatement."
Who knows where we'll go in the next 10 years, but I don't doubt there will be plenty of more stories to document.
7.20.2018
7.01.2018
Courtney's Bible Commentary
Studying the Bible has never come naturally to me. I wish that were not so. Instead it requires a great deal of discipline, and while it has improved over the years, there is still much to be desired in that area of spiritual practices.
It dawned on me, however, in recent months that I needed to change my approach to Bible study. I often found myself wandering aimlessly through various books and chapters, with no real intent or aim. This approach usually got me nowhere, and left me feeling even less motivated to read my Bible because I never felt like I was accomplishing anything. Unless I wanted to be the definition of insanity and keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, I was going to have to change up my Bible study game.
This is where I had a revelation. I love lists - I love to-do lists, and grocery lists, and "books to read" lists, and favorite quotes lists, and "places to visit" some day, and bucket lists. All kind of lists. They are orderly, methodical, efficient and logical. The perfect pair for my Type A personality that I want to be in denial about.
So, knowing that about myself, I realized I needed to incorporate that into my Bible study methods. If I love lists, well, then start making some lists while you're reading, ya big dummy. I found myself a notebook over at Target which had three columns - on the far left column, I marked the header with the book and the chapter. The center column is for comments and thoughts, and the far right column is for the date on which I read that particular chapter.
Let the list-making begin!
Because I had never read through the entirety of the New Testament, I decided to launch into Matthew 1, reading one chapter per day, making a list of comments and observations as I went. Given that I started this habit back in January, I'm now all the way into 1 Corinthians (skipping Romans since I just studied that in BSF), and have got quite the collection of notes gathered. I was reviewing them all recently and I noticed some interesting trends:
1) I'm fascinated by the obscure people in the Bible. I want to know about the child mentioned in Matthew 18 - boy or girl, and what was his/her name? And Mark 1:30 mentions Peter's mother-in-law, but I really want to know about his wife. What was she like? What about the women who traveled with Jesus and the discipled as they went from town to town, mentioned in Luke 8:2-3? "These women were helping to support [Jesus and the disciples] out of their own means." How did these women get their money? I want to know about the disciples' wives and children (Acts 21:5), and Paul's sister and nephew (Acts 23:16). We know a lot about the major players like Peter and Paul, but what about all of these other people never mentioned by name? They are the ones I want to know more about.
2) I am generally confused by Jesus. For Mark 7:24-30, I simply wrote, "This exchange makes no sense to me." Same for Luke 4:23-29: "I am confused by this story and Jesus' statements." I just simply wrote, "I'm confused," for Luke 5:20-24. Welcome to life.
3) I have a fair amount of idle curiosity. As I read over my notes, I realized I wondered about a lot of seemingly inane facts: What did the shepherds do with all their sheep when they went off to find baby Jesus (Luke 2:16)? Who gave the naked man some clothes (Luke 8:32)? Is this dude really sleeping with his own mother (1 Corinthians 5:1)? What happened to the slave girl once her super powers were gone (Acts 16:18)? Noticing the small details is half the fun when reading the Bible.
4) I think the disciples are kind of dense and a bunch of extremists at times. In Luke 9:51-54, they meet some opposition from the Samaritans when attempting to visit their village: "As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” I simply wrote, "This response seems a bit extreme, 'They didn't welcome you, so let's set them on fire." There were several other instances when I wrote about the disciples saying and doing dumb things. Although, I probably am in no shape to point fingers.
5) I am very concerned about ancient people's ability to pack snacks. This stands out to me as I myself am never far from a snack of some sort. Anybody who has known me for any length of time knows this is true. I get a little panicked when I realize I have no snacks in my car, in my purse or my desk drawer because that almost never ever happens. So when I read the Bible this naturally stands out to me as a problem. Take Matthew 16:5, for example, "When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. " Uh, Houston.
Perhaps my favorite comment, though, one that truly reflects the depths of my heart, is one I wrote for Mark 8, when Jesus feeds the four thousand, "During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 'I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.'"
As you can see here, my comment simply said, "Why is it that no one ever seems to carry snacks?!"
So while my biblical commentary is nowhere near on par with Matthew Henry, Warren Wiersbe, J. Vernon McGee, Charles Spurgeon, Charles Swindoll, or a host of any other scholarly commentators, I can assure you that none of them have taken the care and concern to note the snack shortage in the Bible. #YoureWelcome.
As I journey onward with my list-making adventure, I will be sure to alert you to any other noteworthy snack shortages. At least we know when I hit the Old Testament lists, we won't have to worry about that. Because, obviously:
Manna and quail.
I don't have to worry about God and his snack game. It's just everybody else in the Bible I'm concerned about.
It dawned on me, however, in recent months that I needed to change my approach to Bible study. I often found myself wandering aimlessly through various books and chapters, with no real intent or aim. This approach usually got me nowhere, and left me feeling even less motivated to read my Bible because I never felt like I was accomplishing anything. Unless I wanted to be the definition of insanity and keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, I was going to have to change up my Bible study game.
This is where I had a revelation. I love lists - I love to-do lists, and grocery lists, and "books to read" lists, and favorite quotes lists, and "places to visit" some day, and bucket lists. All kind of lists. They are orderly, methodical, efficient and logical. The perfect pair for my Type A personality that I want to be in denial about.
Let the list-making begin!
Because I had never read through the entirety of the New Testament, I decided to launch into Matthew 1, reading one chapter per day, making a list of comments and observations as I went. Given that I started this habit back in January, I'm now all the way into 1 Corinthians (skipping Romans since I just studied that in BSF), and have got quite the collection of notes gathered. I was reviewing them all recently and I noticed some interesting trends:
1) I'm fascinated by the obscure people in the Bible. I want to know about the child mentioned in Matthew 18 - boy or girl, and what was his/her name? And Mark 1:30 mentions Peter's mother-in-law, but I really want to know about his wife. What was she like? What about the women who traveled with Jesus and the discipled as they went from town to town, mentioned in Luke 8:2-3? "These women were helping to support [Jesus and the disciples] out of their own means." How did these women get their money? I want to know about the disciples' wives and children (Acts 21:5), and Paul's sister and nephew (Acts 23:16). We know a lot about the major players like Peter and Paul, but what about all of these other people never mentioned by name? They are the ones I want to know more about.
2) I am generally confused by Jesus. For Mark 7:24-30, I simply wrote, "This exchange makes no sense to me." Same for Luke 4:23-29: "I am confused by this story and Jesus' statements." I just simply wrote, "I'm confused," for Luke 5:20-24. Welcome to life.
3) I have a fair amount of idle curiosity. As I read over my notes, I realized I wondered about a lot of seemingly inane facts: What did the shepherds do with all their sheep when they went off to find baby Jesus (Luke 2:16)? Who gave the naked man some clothes (Luke 8:32)? Is this dude really sleeping with his own mother (1 Corinthians 5:1)? What happened to the slave girl once her super powers were gone (Acts 16:18)? Noticing the small details is half the fun when reading the Bible.
4) I think the disciples are kind of dense and a bunch of extremists at times. In Luke 9:51-54, they meet some opposition from the Samaritans when attempting to visit their village: "As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” I simply wrote, "This response seems a bit extreme, 'They didn't welcome you, so let's set them on fire." There were several other instances when I wrote about the disciples saying and doing dumb things. Although, I probably am in no shape to point fingers.
5) I am very concerned about ancient people's ability to pack snacks. This stands out to me as I myself am never far from a snack of some sort. Anybody who has known me for any length of time knows this is true. I get a little panicked when I realize I have no snacks in my car, in my purse or my desk drawer because that almost never ever happens. So when I read the Bible this naturally stands out to me as a problem. Take Matthew 16:5, for example, "When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. " Uh, Houston.
Perhaps my favorite comment, though, one that truly reflects the depths of my heart, is one I wrote for Mark 8, when Jesus feeds the four thousand, "During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 'I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.'"
As you can see here, my comment simply said, "Why is it that no one ever seems to carry snacks?!"
So while my biblical commentary is nowhere near on par with Matthew Henry, Warren Wiersbe, J. Vernon McGee, Charles Spurgeon, Charles Swindoll, or a host of any other scholarly commentators, I can assure you that none of them have taken the care and concern to note the snack shortage in the Bible. #YoureWelcome.
As I journey onward with my list-making adventure, I will be sure to alert you to any other noteworthy snack shortages. At least we know when I hit the Old Testament lists, we won't have to worry about that. Because, obviously:
Manna and quail.
I don't have to worry about God and his snack game. It's just everybody else in the Bible I'm concerned about.
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