Author Archives: tanyasue
Are you in BIG WORD?
My kids are on break from school all this week. I’m not entirely sure why and I’m not complaining. However, it is an adjustment. I absolutely LOVE having them home with me, but it does make work an interesting challenge.
Such has been proven again and again this week. Today is no exception.
Our Bible study of 1 Samuel continues! I told everyone I would have our homework notes up this morning. It’s nearly 3pm and I just now got the .pdf posted. (You can find it on the Big Word page along with the notes and homework from previous weeks.) We’ve finished the first ten chapters and are moving on to the next two. The time of judges has come to an end and Israel has its first king. Saul.
The big question between last night’s discussion and our next is this: Was it God’s will that Israel have a king?
There are several verses in support of both assertions. You can consult the notes for specific references and arguments. I’m curious — what do YOU think? Why?
Let’s discuss!
If you haven’t joined our study yet, I encourage you to do so. It’s not too late! All the notes are available for FREE download. Take a look and jump into the comments section here.
NOTE: Normally we hold our study every other week, on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays/Thursdays of each month. Next week, however, is Leap Day, so our next discussion will be in THREE weeks, not two. I hope you’ll join us!
Leaping Faith
My husband teases me for keeping a red pen near when I read novels. Yes, sometimes that crimson friend is for marking missed errors that will be compiled into an email to the editor. More often, however, that pen is for noting things of significance. Good fiction can cut right to the heart more efficiently and in a more memorable way than most nonfiction. Those are the lines that I mark. Those are the paragraphs I want to remember.
I recently read a novel by Tessa Afshar. A sweet friend recommended it to me. I’m so glad she did.
Pearl in the Sand (Moody Publishers, September 2010), a fictionalized account of Rahab from the Bible, is filled with multi-faceted characters and profound truths about God and faith. There are many parts I found absolutely fascinating, sections that challenged me to look deeper into the Scriptural account. Other chapters urged me to evaluate my faith and commitment to God. It is one such scene that I want to share with you today. Read the rest of this entry
Just Do It!: Reading Your Bible (Part 2)
Welcome back! Gretchen has returned, as promised, to share some of her tips in getting through your Bible cover to cover without giving up.
Yesterday, I gave you a little background on how I got started reading my Bible cover-to-cover. Today, I promised to share some tips that helped me along the way.
- I say a quick prayer right before I begin reading. It goes something like, “God, speak to me through your word today. Help me glorify you, even if I don’t understand everything you say. Thank you for your incredible word.”
- I use the New Living Translation Study Bible. It’s a big ol’ brick, but I love it. Actually, I picked it out and my husband gave it to me for Christmas before I started my read-through. I recommend this translation because of its readability. The NIV is also a great translation, in my humble opinion. Find one which suits you, and which you will read.
- I told myself that I was reading to glean … not for any quiz or even for any sizable bit of comprehension.
- Even reading to simply immerse myself in the word was so much richer an experience with the study notes in my Bible. I highly recommend a Bible with study notes. If you don’t have one, perhaps a Bible dictionary, concordance, or other study helps would be a smart purchase. I didn’t want to read through with huge, burning questions left unanswered. Ninety percent of my questions were answered in the study notes. Five percent I asked my pastor (who was always so generous in helping me), and the remaining five percent were left to “his ways are not my ways…I don’t have to understand all of it to believe or obey”.
- I used Piper’s Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan for my first 2 read-throughs (as Tanya advised), because I love its structure and built-in grace days. I also love the fact that this program gives you two Old Testament readings and two New Testament readings each day. Not only is the variety nice if you’re not in your favorite chapter here or there, but it highlights that the OT and NT are truly ONE story. This year, simply to change it up for myself, I’m doing a chronological read-through, available on the YouVersion Bible app. I do the checklist on my phone, and can even read the bible that way, but I prefer using my paper version to be able to underline/take notes on passages, as I feel so inclined. I also date each passage, so I can see in years to come when I’ve read it. I will say, I’m itching to get to the NT, but having fun this way, too.
- I forgave myself when I messed up, and read ahead when I could. Life happens.
- When I lacked motivation, I spurred myself on by the questions my pastor had asked all those years ago: If I’m a Christian, why don’t I read my Bible? Why do I believe what I believe? If someone asked me what it meant to be a follower of Jesus, what would I tell them?
Praise God that you might even be thinking of completing this challenge! BTW, if you start with Piper’s, and many others, you DON’T HAVE TO START IN JANUARY. Ahem. I would love to hear from you if you have any questions or suggestions in helping others be obedient in knowing what our Father wants us to know and growing in His abundant grace.
Blessings!
Just Do It: Reading Your Bible (Part 1)
We started the Read with Me Challenge over two years ago. I met Gretchen (not in real life … yet!) before that, but got to know her much better through our joint adventure in Bible reading. Recently I asked her to share her testimony. Whether you’re doing Read with Me this year or not, I’m sure you’ll be encouraged by what she has to share with us today AND tomorrow!
A year or so ago, sweet Tanya encouraged us all to read our Bibles, cover to cover, in her “Read with Me” series. She suggested a John Piper template that dipped into 4 areas of the Bible each day. Perhaps even more attractive to me (a serial Bible-reading-starter), the program was based on a 5-day, rather than a 7-day week. Ah…grace was built into this particular program. Yay. Gotta love grace. The gentle accountability and cameraderie of other readers was also appealing. So…I took the leap.
Guess what?! I actually finished within a year. However, the best part isn’t that I did anything. The best part? In this process of submission and obedience, God created a thirst for His Word in me which I’d never had before. To this day, I’m sort of “addicted” to His Word. I’m on my third read-through, and each time, I go deeper and learn something new. Woot! Read the rest of this entry
BIG WORD Update: 1 Samuel Continues!
Have you noticed the new tab in our menu? It’s been there for a few weeks and I am just now drawing your attention to it!
We’ve been hosting Bible studies on this site since last fall. Affectionately dubbed “BIG WORD”, we are currently studying 1 Samuel. Last fall we did Judges. We didn’t officially do Bathsheba, but since that was a pretty lengthy series on this blog, I included that on the BIG WORD tab as well.
All of these Bible studies are FREE for you to download and either participate with us here online or use them in your own small group Bible studies. Either way, I want to hear from you! I would LOVE to know what you’re learning about God and what He is teaching you through your study.
For our current study posts typically go up on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month (immediately following our in-house discussions on Wednesday nights). This week, however, I have a very special guest blogger visiting tomorrow and on Friday. I’ve posted our next set of “homework” already and am now opening the floor (aka comments section) for your thoughts on our last few chapters.
Your Turn: What did you discover in the study this week? How about that scene with Dagon? Wasn’t that AWESOME?!
Four Letter Words (and a giveaway!)
What used to be expected and assumed is now questioned, criticized and even mocked. We live in a post-modern world, one that questions everything, but never accepts concrete answers. The problem is that many Christians still approach life as if everyone agrees with us. Or at least that they would if they were simply informed. This is a dangerous place to be. When faced with relativism, circular reasoning and theories presented as facts, many believers choose to question their faith before questioning the opposition. Why? Because they are not equipped.
Four Letter Words, by Dr. Bill Giovannetti, seeks to equip readers (specifically upper high school and college-aged believers) with the logic behind our faith and the prevalent holes in modern thinking. While I don’t agree with everything he wrote, the book offers an excellent starting point for contemporary apologetics. Read the rest of this entry
BIG WORD: 1 Samuel 1–3
As a parent, do you ever wonder how much of your kids’ behavior is actually your fault? The question reaches wide because the answer changes with your child’s age. At some point, we have to let them make their own decisions, but even then — Is it our fault if they make the wrong decisions? Where is the delineation of responsibility?
The first three chapters of First Samuel offer two striking cases that, when juxtaposed, address this very issue. There we read about Hannah, the mother of Samuel, who showed tremendous faith and confidence in God. Not only did she trust Him to overcome her infertility, she faithfully surrendered her son back to Him. Her great faith in and faithfulness to God are contrasted with Eli’s passive approach to parenting and his less worthy sons.
This was just one part of our discussion last night at our Big Word Bible Study. To truly dive into this section of Scripture, hop over to the Big Word tab and download our homework notes.
If you’re already following along, here are a few things we talked about last night that weren’t included in the homework. Read the rest of this entry
The Shadow of Your Smile (and a giveaway!)
Susan May Warren is the contemporary author I recommend most and most freely. Every one one of her books not only entertains, but also inspires me to investigate myself. My husband teases me about underlining text in novels. I do! But it’s because I learn something about God and something about myself in every single one of her books. I don’t want to forget those lessons. She is a tremendous writer, a beautiful tool used by God.
Her latest book, The Shadow of Your Smile, is another in the Deep Haven series. (I believe this is the fifth.) As always, she features new characters far enough removed from the last that you feel still the cozy familiarity of a series, but without redundancy or direct tie-ins. Each book can stand on its own. This series can be read out of order.
About the book:
After twenty-five years of marriage, Noelle and Eli Hueston are contemplating divorce. They’ve been through a lot together, but instead of growing closer, they’ve gone separate ways. They both have secrets. When an accident erases part of Noelle’s memory, she wakes without any memory of Eli, their children, or the tragedy that has ripped their family apart. In fact, she believes she’s still a college co-ed, incredulous that this is her body, her husband, her life. Why did nothing turn out like she dreamed? As she tries to regain her memory and slowly steps into her role as a wife and mother, Eli helps her readjust to daily life with sometimes-funny, sometimes-heartwarming results. But can she fall in love again with a man she can’t remember? Read the rest of this entry
You don’t have time to read the Bible.
Don’t have time to read your Bible? Yeah, me neither … ALL IN ONE SITTING! But it’s important. Like, crazy life-changing important. That’s why we MAKE time to read it.
I know it’s intimidating and we all have excuses. Think about it. How books have you read that exceed 1000 pages? Personally, I can’t think of a single one. In fact, this is the very reason I’ve yet to finish Bonhoeffer’s biography. I simply can’t wrap my mind around the task. I can, however, think of several series that I’ve complete which, if all the pages are totaled, well surpass that size.
Let’s see … there were the Baxter books (beginning with the Redemption Series) by Karen Kingsbury. Each book was around 275 pages; multiply that times 15 books … yup. I could have read the Bible front to back THREE times in the hours I spent immersing myself in that family’s melodrama. Then, of course, I read Alex Haley’s Roots at least four times. That plus the two sequels … Yup. There’s another three or four times. The Mark of Lion series by Francine Rivers. Those were amazing books! Read each of them at least four times.
Maybe we just need to break this huge task into more manageable pieces. Don’t look at it like War and Peace. It’s simply 66 little books, many of which can be completed in just a few minutes. For example, while waiting for the bus. Or waiting for the next step while cooking dinner. Or waiting for your doctor appointment. Or waiting for the kids to finish their piano lessons. We do a lot of waiting, don’t we?
I wonder, if we picked up the Bible instead of Angry Birds or that silly waiting room magazine, how far we would get this year?
Your turn: When and where do you like to read the Bible?
The Attack on Whining (a.k.a. Wishful Thinking)
Don’t even pretend your kids don’t whine. (Or your co-workers or your siblings.)
I used to think this was an isolated issue and that if I just found the right trick, the correct combination of tactics, we could win the battle. This may eventually be true, but I’ve seen too many other exasperated parents fighting the same war to believe I’ve got the corner on anything.
Worse: I’ve seen too many adults on the other side of the battlefield. They’re whining now, too. (Or is it still?)
We’ve tried lots of tactics: taking toys away, giving more chores, claiming we can’t understand them (which is usually true, though sometimes exaggerated) or that the sound makes our ears hurt (which is always true, though the damage is more severe to our nerves). We’ve tried logic and reverse psychology. We’ve alternately agreed with their miserable plights (sarcastically, of course) and sought to show them the error of their perspectives. We’ve even made them quote combat Scripture (You know the ones that speak directly to the problem in the face of the problem.). It all works to varying degrees, though never for very long.
Lately I’ve tried a new approach: wishful thinking. When my kids complain about something in that nails-on-a-chalkboard whine, I respond with what I wish they would say instead. Read the rest of this entry
