
Okay, so I've been a real shlub this summer, not posting at all on the Bible Blog. There have been a couple of big reasons for my absence from the Blogosphere, and most of them dwell inside my head. They deal with my personal expectations and motivations for writing, and I'm working through them. I know you don't read this blog to hear my whining, so I'll quit now. Recently, I received some encouragement to get back to the keyboard and start posting again. So here goes.
I've been preaching on the life of David from 1 Samuel this summer, and it has blessed me to revisit the life of this man after God's own heart. In spite of all of his flaws--which are so much like mine--David tried to live his life on the same page as Yahweh. I've learned a lot from Bill Arnold's commentary on 1 and 2 Samuel in the NIV Application Commentary series, as well as Ralph Klein's in the Word Biblical Commentary set. Both gave me much exegetical help. But the best resource I found on David's life was Eugene Peterson's Leap Over A Wall, which is a collection of meditations based on David's adventures which explore "earthly spirituality for everyday Christians." Highly convicting and encouraging. I recommend this book to everyone!
When my Greek 4 class finished at the beginning of June, I made a commitment to spend 15 minutes reading five lines of the Greek NT five days per week. So I worked through Galatians, and was blessed as I moved slowly through Paul's letter of freedom. "For freedom Christ set us free!" Galatians will probably show up in my teaching sometime this next year. I hope I can daily live in the freedom Christ has purchased for us.
As a father and husband I enjoyed going to Ocean City for a week with Dawn and our three younger offspring. We did a lot of surf-fishing, sun-burning, putt-putting, book-reading, bike-riding, and friend-visiting. Dawn found an incredible bargain online for the condo we stayed in, so we even saved money! I only regret that the week was so short. We really had a great time together.
Two educational opportunities helped sharpen my ministry saw this summer. One was a class on "Biblical Preaching in a Post-Modern Culture" taught by Don Sunukjian who was a visiting professor at Columbia Biblical Seminary. This course has forced me reexamine how I handle the Bible as a preacher, especially in presenting its relevance. Sunukjian's system has been extremely beneficial though difficult to implement in my week-to-week sermon preparation. I also really appreciated this year's edition of the Leadership Summit. I went with eight other folks from Littlestown Chapel, including Dawn. It was a blessing to have her with me, and we've had some interesting conversations over what we learned.
So...what have you been up to this summer?
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