The Bible in a Year: Week 13

Whoo! Sorry this is a day late, I was fairly busy yesterday (and by that I mean I watched hours and hours of TV and completely forgot about my blog, gasp!)

So, my Bible readings have finally brought me into Deuteronomy, and I must say I am pretty stoked to get out of the Pentateuch sometime soon. Jokes aside, it has been a really interesting read, if a bit heavy.

One thing that kind of struck me this week while reading Deuteronomy was the whole idea of Moses not being allowed to enter the promised land. As a person involved in leading ministry, that hit me really hard. I thought about how much Moses must have connected with the people he was leading, the deep bonds and relationships he built along the way, and the love he must have felt for them. I thought about how intensely sorrowful it must have been for him and for all of them when he told them that he would not be with them forever. Then I thought about how painful it would be for me, if I was in a similar situation. I wept a little, reflecting on Moses' leadership and on the humility it must have taken to stop before reaching the place he had worked so hard to get people to, and to just let all the glory go to God as His people were brought into the land He had promised them.

I pray that I would keep that in perspective while doing His work, that I would be able to understand that sometimes we can't be there for the beautifully fulfilling moments, but that we have to trust His glory and mercy to see things through to the end when we can't.

Cheers,

The Bible in a Year: Week 12 (Thoughts on Synod)

So, as you have probably figured out, I'm reading through the entire Bible this year!

If you are at all interested in doing the same, I'd like to recommend the ESV study plans, as I am currently using their "Every Day in the Word" plan for my daily readings. I'm a couple of days behind (March 23rd right now) but it's going fairly well!

I am very excited to announce that yesterday, at our Annual Vestry Meeting, I was elected to be the Youth Delegate for Emmaus Anglican Church at this year's Synod! I feel honored and privileged to be chosen for this job, and look forward to taking lots of photos this November when the event is taking place.

I've always been kind of hesitant to get involved in any kind of church politics. Perhaps this aversion was partly due to my aversion to politics in general, but it seems more likely that I just didn't think of the church as a place that should be governed by any kind of meetings or structure. Of course I now realize that's crazy, but hey, we're all young and ignorant at some point or another. When I was asked to let my nomination stand for this year's election, I was initially hesitant, but mostly because I wanted to give the opportunity to somebody else. They turned down their nomination though, so I let mine stand, and I'm pretty glad I did! I think it's going to be a rewarding experience, and it should open my eyes to things I have been otherwise unaware of about the workings of our diocese. Plus, it's a trip to Ottawa for a weekend, with my pastor and two or three other people, so it should just also be a lot of fun!

Well, I'm pretty exhausted from a super long weekend and too much walking, so I'm going to call it quits and watch some mind-numbing television for a few hours, eat some bad food, and pass out.

Cheers,

The Bible in a Year: Week 11

Well, it's been about a week since my last post, sorry about that!

This past week was my "reading week" at school- but when you have two classes and one of them is Phys Ed, reading week really becomes "watching TV and hanging out with friends week"

Speaking of readings, I am actually a few days behind on my Bible readings for this week, and am going to spend the morning fixing that. Because I've fallen behind a bit, I don't actually have much to say today (again) so I'm going to use this post for a couple of shout-outs instead!

My good friend Alex Richards is currently preparing to run a marathon with Team in Training, as a fundraiser for cancer research! Alex is an amazing guy who faithfully serves the Lord through his work with Crosstalk Ministries, and you can learn a little more about this project, and make donations, by clicking this link!

Alex's sister, Natalie Richards, also a great friend of mine and soon-to-be guest-speaker at Emmaus Youth Group, has spent the last five or six months doing missions work in Cambodia, and you can read more about her trip by checking out her blog!

My former youth coordinator and good buddy Reg Mclean, and his band The Fundamentals are currently raising money to help produce their debut album! This is super exciting because they're really great, and you should definitely like them on Facebook and, if you feel so inclined, make a donation!

Last but certainly not least, I'd like to shout out to my good friend and former bandmate Lilo Lynx! She's a promising young singer-songwriter and you should definitely go check her out over on Facebook!

Well, that's all for today! Thanks for dropping by, and be sure to keep checking back for more fun stuff! :)

The Bible in a Year: Week 10

So, after a couple of weeks of hiatus, we're back into things!

For the last couple of weeks, I have been reading through Mark and Numbers as part of my effort to read through the entire Bible in 2012. With about four books finished now (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Matthew) I am making good progress!

Reading the Scriptures intentionally every day is a really interesting experience. It really encourages you to spend more time thinking about and reflecting on your relationship with God, and the way you live that out in everyday life. During this process, God has been bringing up some stuff in me that has been really significant and also just really cool to think about more! The most significant example of this is that God is convicting me to actually spend more time studying His word!

As a youth leader, it's kind of my job to familiarize myself with the Scriptures so I can more effectively teach and lead the teens. I've always been kind of a terrible student, so the idea of actually studying things in depth for any reason was always a really daunting task for me. Committing myself to this project has done a really good job of showing me that I am actually willing to put in the extra effort and time to really study this stuff, which is super exciting because I don't really feel that way about anything academic.

So, I'd like to ask you guys to be praying for me as I look for new, exciting ways to get into this stuff!

Blessings,

The Bible in a Year: Week 7

This has been a really incredible week for me! Just an amazing sense of God's blessing, lots of discernment and so much fellowship!

This weekend was February Frost, an annual winter retreat involving lots of people from Crosstalk Ministries' various groups and events. It was a really great time, staying up incredibly late playing Dutch Blitz, enjoying amazing times of worship and fantastic lessons with our wonderful guest speaker.

What a lovely bunch! And this wasn't even half of us!

It was such a blessing being able to spend the weekend with lots of amazing young people who are all so passionate about God! We even had a buddy of ours fly in from Winnipeg for the weekend, which made it all the more excellent!

Anyways, I started reading the book of Mark this week, and I'm glad I did, because I also finished Exodus and started reading Leviticus, which was a lot less exciting. So far, Leviticus has not inspired much in me. Lots of rules about offering animal sacrifices and whatnot. But Mark was interesting so far, so I will talk about it a little today!

What I find most interesting about Mark so far is that it starts right off with John the Baptist preparing for Jesus' ministry on earth! I have to wonder why it leaves out the virgin birth and Christ's childhood, but at the same time, I am really impressed by how straight-to-the-point Mark's gospel is. He kind of just gets right down to business and focuses on miracles, parables and teachings.

I don't really have much else to say about that, but I'm very excited for the next couple of days' readings, so keep checking back, in case I find time to do an extra post this week! If I don't, well, see you Wednesday!

God bless,

The Bible in a Year: Week 6

This week, the majority (if not the entirety) of the Old Testament readings involved graphic description of the temple (see most of the second half of Exodus).
I was considering writing up a three-hundred page report about that, but then I decided I would talk about something else instead. You're welcome.

Today I want to take a look at Psalm 34:1-10.

As a student, I find it challenging at times to live out my faith at school. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm barely ever at school to begin with, but the rushed lifestyle of a student makes it difficult to find time to minister to your classmates and such. But we are called to bless the Lord at all times and continually have His praise in our mouths. So this kind of passage, for me, is both a fantastic reminder of God's promise and His love and gifts for us, and also a push to be more intentional about taking whatever time I can to reach out to my peers and share the gospel with them. I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to do that yet, but it's something I will be praying about over the next couple of weeks.

So I'd like to challenge you to do the same- find an area in your life where you're having difficulty shining His light, and ask Him to show you how you can make a difference there!

Shalom,

The Bible in a Year: Week 5

For the last two weeks or so, I've been reading through the book of Exodus as part of my daily readings. Exodus is the second book of the Old Testament, and continues the history from where Genesis left off, starting with Israel's hard times in Egypt. Pharaoh, who was once a good friend of Joseph, is now a horrendous slave-driver, and Israel is sick of it (Maybe it's a different Pharaoh? Regardless he's kind of a jerk).

For me, what stands out most about the story of the exodus (that is, the story of Israel's flight from Egypt) is the man God chooses to do the job. We all know his name, we all know he parted the seas and brought plagues on Egypt and smacked a rock so hard water came out of it (not at all in that order). Moses, a man who found favor with God and managed to avoid the killing of the Hebrew infants. He led his people out of slavery and is the subject of hundreds of Sunday School lessons. But what I think is really cool about Moses isn't all of his accomplishments, it's the fact that God called him to begin with.

I'm a firm believer (and living example) of God equipping the called, and not always calling the equipped. Moses is one such example! He was not a very confident man, with something of a speech impediment, certainly not a public speaker by any means. He was so lacking in self-confidence, that when God called him, he even brought it up- "Uh, God, this is cool and all, but I can't really talk properly... Can't you get my brother to do it?" God, being faithful and understanding, decided to use both brothers for the task He had in mind. God created, in Moses, a great leader for His people, in spite of his slow speech and self-doubt.

I think there's something really amazing and powerful about these kind of stories. Maybe I'm biased, but I love seeing people thrown into situations that are challenging to their faith, and watching Him work through that and help them grow. (If you're wondering why, you should check out this post about my testimony!)

God doesn't always call the equipped; Sometimes, He equips the called. Moses learned this thousands of years ago, I learned it a few years ago, and I think we all need to re-learn it on a regular basis. So today, I challenge you to pray asking God to stretch you to new levels of faith!

The Bible in a Year: Week 4

Sorry I'm a little late on this one! (What else is new though)

Joseph's Coat by Diego Velazquez

So last week I probably talked at least a bit about Joseph, and how amazing his grace toward his brothers was, but today I'd really like to talk about that a little more. I think there's two things that stood out exceptionally for me about that: The first, is the way he responded to his brothers when they came to visit him; the second is how God was at work through it all.

We first really meet Joseph in kind of lousy circumstances- his brothers hate him, he has a vision of them bowing down to him, and he gets a really nice coat and they trash it and sell him into slavery. He gets carted off to Egypt and has more cool dreams, this time the Pharaoh gets involved, and there's so much potential for terrible things to happen. Instead, he spends a bit of time in jail then becomes incredibly valuable in Pharaoh's eyes and gains his favor. God takes Joseph from this awful situation and moulds it into something brilliant, but it gets better. When all of Egypt is thrown into famine and drought, Joseph is able to store up a ton of extra supplies that last for the seven years until that gets sorted out, and his brothers come by to ask for his help. He weeps at the sight of them and is so filled with emotion when they bring his brother Benjamin with them, and he utters some words to them that are just so insightful and actually really important for us to remember in our everyday lives. When he tells them he's their abandoned brother, they freak out and are worried he's going to enact some kind of terrible revenge on them, but instead, he basically tells them, "Look around bro- God took that crappy situation and turned it into something totally amazing! I'm here with Pharaoh, blessing you guys, and we're reunited, and all this because you tried to screw me over! I don't hate you guys for that- I now know that God was at work through this from the very beginning!"

Not only did Joseph show his brothers grace, but he also acknowledged that God was doing cool things in him the whole time! And He was providing so much for Joseph and his brothers and the Egyptians by being faithful even through the famine. This was a very helpful reminder for me over the weekend. I was worried about my financial situation (debt, debt, debt!) and was starting to lose faith in God's ability to provide for me- then someone blessed me ridiculously with a big cheque to pay off school and driving lessons! God is good :)

So let's raise a glass to Joseph- a good reminder to us that we should keep short accounts, trust in God's provision and give Him glory where glory is due!

The Bible in a Year: Week 3

Three weeks into this venture, I still feel like I have failed a little at finding and setting aside time to really devote to reading my Bible prayerfully and reflectively. Maybe it's because I worked 30+ hours last week and barely found time to read everything to begin with, but I'm kind of tired of making excuses for myself.

That being said, there has been a lot of stuff that has stood out for me this week. Specifically, this week included many readings involving Jesus' ministry and the whole history of Jacob and his sons. What I found particularly great about intentionally reading through these passages was the story of Joseph in Genesis. The grace he shows to his brothers when they come to Egypt, and the passion he shows to his brother Benjamin- the way he just breaks down and cries at the sight of him- was so moving for me! I'm the kind of person who cries at pretty much everything, so it's always nice for me getting to see other people moved in similar ways. Joseph's story is amazing because he was literally thrown out like garbage, but found so much favor in the Lord and was taken in by Pharaoh and just blessed so incredibly much. This picture of God's grace and love for His people is such a beautiful reminder for all of us.

That's all I've really got to say today. I'll probably do an extra post this week to make up for it, and you can keep your eyes open for another post on Wednesday as well!

The Bible in a Year: Week 2

So we're into our second week of reading through the entire Bible in 2012!

I've been getting a little frustrated with myself this week. I have developed a bit of a routine to make sure I get my readings done every day; it basically involves reading on the bus & metro on the way to whatever I'm up to, and staying in the metro a little extra time if I'm not done yet instead of walking to my destination. I've started using an ESV Bible app on my iPhone and it's very easy to get all of the readings done at once in an efficient and quick way.

The problem with that is that it doesn't really feel like I'm actually spending any time in the Word, but rather, it feels like I'm just reading while doing other things. So, while it's true that I'm accomplishing my goal of reading through the Bible in a year, and haven't even missed a day yet, it's also true that I'm not really absorbing as much of the reading as I'd like to. I was hoping to be able to write up a post at the end of every week about something that jumped out at me in the scriptures I've been reading, but this week, I sat down and couldn't come up with anything for a good twenty minutes.

That being said, I don't really have anything to say today. I'll be making an effort from here on to do my readings as a separate thing, maybe even use a real Bible instead of reading off a screen, and hopefully that will help me to approach this from a more prayerful place and allow me to have the scriptures really opened up to me in new and amazing ways.

It probably doesn't help that I'm super exhausted from tons of long work days in the last couple of weeks... Oh well, at least my next pay check will be astronomical ;)

Heavenly Father, thank You that You are constantly watching over Your people and providing for us, and I pray that You would open my eyes to Your Word this week and help me to discipline myself to study Your word more closely. Amen!

The Bible in a Year: Week 1

So this year I'm reading through the Bible with a reading plan from the ESV. It's an initiative taken by Keith Ganzer, the rector at Emmaus Anglican Church, to get a bunch of the men together every month to talk about the stuff we've been reading through in the plan. So far I'm happy to say I've managed not to miss a day!

The plan involves daily readings from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs, basically going through each of these sections from start to finish. This is the first time I'm doing this, and it's been really interesting reading and reflecting on Proverbs this week. So far, I've gotten through the first two chapters, which is mostly just the writer urging people to remember that wisdom is super important.

I think this has resonated with me a lot because I'm 18 and wisdom's still not the strongest of my spiritual giftings. The emphasis being placed on it in this book is really significant because it sets the tone for the rest of the messages and gives the reader a really clear idea that Proverbs is a book of wisdom, of hints about things that will make a big difference in our walks with Christ.

I think I'm really excited to see how this Bible-in-a-Year thing will affect my ongoing goal to let God break things inside of me and reshape my character. It should be a great opportunity to learn some important lessons on the road to the places He's leading me ;)

The Bible in a Year: My New Year's Resolution

Hey people,

Sorry, it's been awhile since my last post! Things have been busy the last couple of weeks and I haven't had a chance to just sit down and write for a little while. I guess that happens toward the end of the semester, though I can't really blame school, since I'm in a pretty easy program with minimal amounts of work and no final exams. But I digress!

I've been thinking a lot recently about the whole idea of a "New Year's Resolution." It's a strange concept to me, because it seems like there's two schools of thought about it: The first is that you use it to make yourself feel good for a couple of weeks, then fail to take it seriously and say "Oh well, next year." The second is that you use it as an excuse to do things you should be doing anyway. In the past, I've tried to get on board with the idea of giving something up or trying to do something new every year. I'm not sure if I'm inherently bad at that kind of intentionality or if I just didn't ever actually care.

This year, Keith suggested that the men of Emmaus Anglican Church commit to reading the Bible in a year. I've tried to do this in the past but went about it without a plan or any accountability, and usually just tried to go from start to finish. I think as great as Genesis is, trying to read like five chapters of it a night tends to get old really quickly, and starts to feel like a chore. So I never really got past a week or two of reading. This time around I'll be using the ESV Bible in a year daily plan, meeting up once a month with Keith and the others, and fully committing to it.

I think there's a definite value to this exercise. Reading Scriptures in this way is a great way to saturate our minds with the Word of God, and having a good knowledge of this stuff is important for all believers, especially those involved in ministry. So I'm pretty excited! And I want to encourage any readers out there to check out the ESV (that's English Standard Version) website and look into doing the same!

Yours in Christ,

Tom