• Biblical Studies,  Books,  News,  Parenting

    Sabbatical Progress – Week 2

    Continuing what I began last week, I wanted to give you a little taste of what sabbatical has involved this week. Still a bunch of reading, but other stuff, too! God has been speaking through it all, answering prayers for wisdom and understanding, while at the same time challenging me in areas that I haven’t fully considered or in some ways hadn’t dared to consider. I’ve continued to keep ahead with my Hebrew work. I’m really enjoying Hebrew! The approach taken by the author (the professor) is quite engaging. The workbook is really helpful for cementing ideas after doing the memory work. I continue to make daily progress on 6…

  • Biblical Studies,  Books,  Theology

    How Flawed and Insufficient Your Love Is

    I’ve now started into my next book, as I had mentioned in the last post. Chapter 2 of Discipling is titled “Oriented Towards Others”. A number of passages are addressed as Dever talks about the biblical pattern we experience in Jesus through the gospels, as well as the example Paul provides. But the one that stood out for me was Colossians 1:28-29. He looks at it through the lens of two different word pairs. The first pair is “toil” and “struggling”, reflecting on the need to engage, to work hard to see the gospel take root. Discipleship doesn’t just happen. It takes conscious effort, fueled by the work God is…

  • Books,  News

    In The Mail: T4G

    I picked up a short list of books from T4G’s online store a week or so back. I may not have been able to attend, but I think I am well supplied for the moment! I already have the other volume from Murray & Murray, “Reset”, which I haven’t gotten to. I was a little choose-y on the 9Marks series. I chose ones I thought would be more helpful as an elder and helping the body work towards meaningful membership in the near future; and also some I thought would help stretch me in areas I need stretching.