The Saturday Six

One.

My sister sent me this article, and I loved it. She knows my undying love for deep reflection and pondering! I know we are a few days into a new year, but it's not too late to reflect on your 2019, celebrate the successes and learn from the harder parts. Take a few minutes to read and think!

Two.

If one of your hopes/goals/resolutions for the year is to study your Bible more intentionally, check out this article! It's easy to understand and provides simple ideas for studying with a purpose. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it does provide some great reminders for how to do more than just open and skim.

Three.

As we head into the coldest months, you might be looking for a few ways to keep warm! Have you ever made DIY warmers? (For your hands or neck or back?) I found this post with a list of the best and worst fillers for warmers. So if you're planning to do a little crafting this January, check out the research and save yourself some time - and money!

Four.

This blogger, Rebecca, is a friend of mine from days gone by. She is a pretty big deal in the crochet design world, creating patterns and blogging about all things crochet. This past Christmas, one of her designs and creations showed up in an ESPN commercial. How cool is this?

Five.

This may be one of those inconsequential points in the grand scheme of life, but I'm sharing anyway! A few months ago, I finally remembered (after months of forgetting) to buy a pack of earring backs at Hobby Lobby. I had a bunch of earrings (some store-bought and some handmade) that didn't come with backs, and some tended to slip out of my ears. I was terrified I'd lose one and not know it, so I stopped wearing the worrisome ones. I had other rubber earring backs that had hardened up over time and were impossible to slip on and off the backs. I bought a pack of earring backs for less than two bucks, and I now have several dozen on hand to replace ones that fall into no-man's-land or to add to the earrings that come without. I wish I would have thought to do it so much sooner. A little thing - but a big help!

Six.

Tuesday marked the end of my slow read through the Gospels in 2019. I finished up the last ten verses of John and celebrated all I'd learned throughout the year. As you know, I read a commentary in conjunction with each Gospel, and for John, I read Michael Card's book: John - The Gospel of Wisdom. Michael has a book for each of the four Gospels, but this is the only one I read this year.

If you aren't a huge fan of overly academic and textbook-feeling commentaries, you might like this book. It reads much more like a regular nonfiction book and much less like a commentary. On the flip-side, if you enjoy a verse-by-verse breakdown of Scripture, you won't find that in this book. (Again, because it flows more like a regular book.)

Michael breaks up his writing according to Bible sections, rather than verses, and even at that, the length of each reading is shorter and very manageable. (The whole book is just 217 pages.) The entire text of the book of John is included in the book, presented by section with Michael's thoughts following each set of verses.

If you've studied the Gospels, you know John is very different from the other three. He includes things that none of the others do, and he omits things included by the other three. Michael does a good job explaining what is at hand within the pages of John, while carefully weaving in helpful details found in other Gospels, just to tie together all the information. (You would be surprised how many things you know from Jesus' life are not in the book of John. His choice to carefully weave them in as needed helps you find your place as you read.)

He explains things about the original language, offers details about the culture of the day, and suggests theories for John's reasons in sharing some accounts the way he does.

While I am a girl who prefers a verse-by-verse breakdown, I still enjoyed this book. It was a different kind of read and offered me many insights I did not know from previous studies on these passages. I will probably eventually get them all and read his insights on the other three books as well. I respect Michael's teaching and enjoyed the chance to study "with" him through the pages of his book!

(PS - He also takes tours to Israel, and I really like the way he structures them! If we had an Israel trip on our radar, I think I'd be highly considering his tours!)