Reading through the Bible - from the Beginning

After reading through the Action Bible two full times, and his favorite stories countless more, my eleven year old son ceremoniously passed down his worn, frayed-edged friend to his nine year old brother.  This morning I found that middle boy embarking on the journey "in the beginning..." as our firstborn read a more mature translation from his Bible App to the seven year old beside him on the couch.  Then I turned down the hall, and painted in my new ESV Journaling Bible with watercolors.  

Non-traditional, wouldn't you say?  A comic strip for a Bible, a phone with God's Words, and Old Testament pages splattered with paint?  Yet it is all alive - every bit of it growing and dividing, convicting and transforming hearts within our home.

And I'm inviting you to join the journey, however the Spirit prompts, beginning Monday, June 1st, 2015.  We will use this blog page to chronicle our Bible Reading posts.  Don't forget to print up your chronological reading plan here, or download this comprehensive Bible App that will help you check off each day's God-breathed assignment.  If you would like do this as a family at the dinner table, I absolutely adore The Jesus Story Book Bible for young families, and The Children's Story Bible by Catherine F. Vos for Elementary - Jr. High aged kids. Young boys all love The Action Bible or Adventure Bible for Early Readers, and the NIV Faithgirlz Bible is an engaging read for your daughters.  Looking to splatter a little paint into the pages of a Bible by yourself, or with the kids, along the way?  Try the ESV Journaling Bible. Or simply enjoy the ample margin space to communicate with God all you are learning from Eden to Cannon to Egypt to the Wilderness, to your own kitchen table.  What a journey it will be and I hope you are excited to begin!

I keep saying it, and I hope you receive this - I'm not going to be your Bible Study teacher.  I'm a sojourner, another woman, a mom, a wife, a creative personality who is actively pursuing God through the pages of His personal, passionate, and persistent love letter to the world.  I'm simply asking you to come along.  And so today, here we go!  I can't wait to hear what The Lord reveals to your heart, through the faithful guiding friend we call His Holy Spirit.

And so today, take a moment to talk to Him, to ask Him to lead you gently, to speak to you clearly, and to give you the ears to hear His voice, a mind to comprehend, and a heart to respond.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of Goda may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.  2 Timothy 3:14-17

 Away we go!

Why Summertime is the perfect time to begin reading through the Bible

I can feel the scratchy rub of Sunday school carpet on the bottom of my feet each time I think about reading through the bible again. That first time through, a small group of newly married women met together on Tuesday mornings in one of the empty classrooms at church.  A woman named Ann Bentley, 20 years our senior, had encouraged us to read it all.  "There's no better time than right now, before you have children.  Your lives will never again be as simple as they are today.  Read it together, do it in a year, and don't ask me to lead you.  All you need is a Bible and the Holy Spirit."  

So we read it! And the Bible came alive.

During those Tuesday mornings together, as we took turns sharing all that the Holy Spirit was speaking into our lives individually, I would slip off my sandals, plant my feet firmly on the rough floor, and inhale, thinking, "This is holy ground."

From Eden

to Canaan

to Egypt

through the Wilderness

to Plano, Texas...

all of it holy ground.

By the time we reached the end of that barefoot journey through thin pages, I wanted to go again.  Like a child at the end of a ride, a ride they had been too frighten to go on for years and years, then finally they threw their hands up into the atmosphere and begged to go again. So I decided then and there to read it every other year.  One year on, one year off.  One year on, one year off.  One year on, one year off. That was the plan... and then I had a baby.

A baby changes everything... but God's Word.

We brought him home from the hospital on December 19th, 2003, nearly one year after I had ended my first journey through the Bible.  Swaddled in blue I placed him on my lap in front of the Christmas tree, white lights twinkling, and opened the leather bound Word to Genesis.  Aloud, I read chapter one to my newborn son.

Slowly, ever so slowly, I walked the road a second time.

As I nursed and rested and learned to care for a baby, I'd read another chapter here and there, sometimes out loud, sometimes quietly as he napped. Four years later I completed that second trip from Genesis to Revelation.  Four years it took me!  By the time I was done, I had birthed three sons and moved three times.

I thought of Ann's words, "There's no better time than right now, before you have children. Your lives will never again be as simple as they are today."

One year off stretched into a couple of years.  When the boys were seven, five and three, I began again, determined to make a more consistent go of it this time through.  Three years later I finished that third journey.

Now here I am, and my firstborn is now eleven years old and determined to read it along with me this time, and I'm inviting you to grab your Bible and join us as well.  It doesn't matter to me which translation you use or the pace that you go at, if you read it straight through or follow a chronological reading plan, if you use a commentary or not, a Bible reading app or that old brown Bible your parents gave you on your wedding day... All I care about is that you begin.  Slip off your Summertime sandals and embark on the holy road that always winds us to Jesus.

Everyone is posting pictures of their deep stack of summertime reading - showcasing bindings lined up side by side, all the titles they'll be bringing on vacation this summer.  Why? Because there's no time like summertime for reading a good book... No early morning crazies, getting children off to school.  No afternoon hustle to soccer practice, so another chapter poolside is possible with a glass of lemonade.

[Tweet "Summertime is the perfect time to dive into the refreshing Living Water of God's transforming Word."]

It's as juicy as that harlequin romance novel, as engaging as your favorite historical drama, as transforming as... well... the Bible.

There's no better time to begin.

What to do when your child wants to play Tug-of-War? Drop. The. Rope.

 Drop. The. Rope.

Do you feel like you're in a never-ending game of tug-of-war with your kiddos? That one strong-willed boy, or the hormonal two year old with lopsided braids and mismatched socks looking side-ways at you, because you cut her steak the wrong way?

It was an absolute life changer for me when I realized that two people can't play that tug-of-war game if one of them simply let's go of their own taught end and loosens up a bit.

Thud.

The rope falls down. He falls down.  She falls down. The fight falls down. Falls out.

Drop. The. Rope.

Today one of my kiddos was adamant about ________, well... you fill in the blank. Because honestly, it was everything at every turn. And it doesn't really matter what it was, because you know exactly what it's like inside your own four walls. I felt blood boiling under feminine skin and my cheeks were red hot. However, miracle of miracles, I remembered the game of tug-of-war. More specifically, I recalled that it takes two people pulling at one another from two different ends. And, I remembered what happens when one opponent just drops the rope: the game comes to an end.

Thud.

No part of me wanted to fight and so I chose to drop the rope.

So I did something VERY STRANGE instead of fighting him - I talked to myself in the gentlest tones. I let go of the rope and had myself a conversation on the side-lines, as my pent up boy watched on. I talked to myself, and as I talked to me I talked to him, from a healthy inner-dialogue. So often this mother's negative inner-dialogue comes out like arrows, so full of lies and shame. "Why do you always fight me? Why don't you listen to me? You never just say thank you, you always want more..." Inner dialogue flying out of me and straight into his heart.

But today I dropped the rope and picked up truth.

"...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." (Philippians 4:8)

I dropped those negative thought patterns, then purposefully chose truth, I picked it up, instead of the rope, and turned it into a string of auditory words: "I love you son. I'm a good mom. I am making good choices for you. God did a good job when he made me your mom, because He knew I would help you grow up to be good and wise and kind. He also wants me to teach you to eat healthy food and wash your hair all the way down to the scalp and start using deodorant every morning, and brush your teeth three times a day. I'm doing a good job of teaching you all those things. I love you, and I don't have any desire to argue with you. God doesn't want me to fight you. But I bet he loves it when we hug. What do you say we turn our game of tug-of-war into a sweet hug-a-war?  You don't want to fight me and I don't want to fight you. Let's hug it out instead."

Thud.

And just like that the tug-of-war became a hug-a-war.

Three practical things to help you drop the rope when your kids want to battle it out!

1) Ding Ding Ding - send everyone to their corners - or their rooms as the case may be.  "We don't fight with one another in our house.  You go calm down in your room and I'll spend some time calming down in mine."

2) Remember what is true - You love this kid and he or she absolutely adores you!  That's one thing we need to remember.  But also remember that God gave us a pattern for parenting willfully disobedient children - Let's remember how He deals with us; gently, patiently, with gracious long-suffering.

3) Speak life rather than death -  Tell your child what you remembered is true - as you sat their in your time-out corner.  Then plant these life giving seeds into their fertile young hearts.  "I love you and you love me and we can talk about this.  But in the end, if you like what I say is going to happen or not, you are going to have to do what I choose, because you are the sweet child and I am the loving mom."

Drop the rope and pick up grace...

The imagery of the Tug of War rope in parenting is vivid, and an amazing thing happens when we drop our side of the rope.

Thud.

Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. (Psalm 34:14)

Thud.

Sunday can be a hard day for Christians... moms especially - so armor up

It's Saturday night.  11:48 pm. I'd like to be sleeping right now between cool clean sheets. No, more than that, my body needs me to be sleeping. However, sometimes moms simply aren't able to get what they need. The rest, exercise, peaceful chunks of quiet to revive again to do it gracefully another day. And yet we must. We must show up with grace if we get the sleep we need or not.

I'm assuming you'll see this note tomorrow, Sunday, either amidst the mad dash to church in the morning or after you are home and lunch has been served up. You may be tired, as I will likely be, after staying up too late working through some home projects that my husband needed my help on. I'm hoping that here in a few minutes he'll holler, "Okay, I don't need you to help anymore, let's head to bed." And then maybe my youngest won't wake me with growing pains at 2am, and the middle child won't have a nightmare like he did last night.  I'm praying right now for a few deep sleeping, undisturbed hours.

However, exhausted or not, you and I have the high privilege of ministering to our specific families with love beyond our love, joy beyond our joy, peace beyond our human peace, patience beyond our patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control beyond that which we can muster on our own. To top it off we are desperate for His strength, because we are bone weary from muscling through it on our own.

What to do this weary Sunday?

One word. One crucial word that covers your every need and mine.

Abide.

"Abide in me and I will abide in you and you will bear much fruit." John 15:4

However.

Sunday is a holy day and it belongs to the Lord. But don't think for a moment that it is a safe day.  Holy is rarely safe.  In fact, Sunday is the day that our enemy slanders Gods people most - whispering the lies we believe about ourselves. That we are failing, that we aren't good enough, spiritual enough, loving enough. He wants to take you out - you and your whole precious believing family!

Want to fight back today? Here on this Sabbath day? Abide! Armor up with your belt of truth and your breastplate of righteousness and your sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and the readiness that comes from the Gospel of peace, and put your helmet of salvation firmly upon your head, that your mind is protected too. Then choose to pick up faith and believe. Believe and abide and abide and believe, and maybe get a nap in there too before it's time to prep for dinner.

But whatever you do... do not believe the lies of the evil one. You are loving and good!  You are loving and good because Christ Himself made you so on the cross of Calvary!

It is finished! That is the hope of Sunday rest. It is finished, both creation and recreation.  Put that in your helmet of Salvation and let the truth of it spill over your head and get you drenched through with peace today as you armor up.

Abide in that, let it wash over your thinking and refresh your weary state today. Abide in that and bear fruit in your home today.

Amen? Amen.

Dear Lord, we ask you to fill us with all the fruit of your Holy Spirit in our lives as we make the space to abide in You today.  Believing, AMEN!

Books for Boys

Lunch is for poetry.

One afternoon, as my sons sat eating apples and meat roll-ups, I flipped through a worn book of good poems.  Infact, the collection was entitled, Good Poems, comprised by Garrison Keilor. Often I read, Nothing Gold Can Stay, by Robert Frost, but that day I landed on a new one, For All, by Gary Snyder... and the boys leaned in.

---

For All

Ah to be alive on a mid-September morn fording a stream barefoot, pants rolled up, holding boots, pack on, sunshine, ice in the shallows, northern rockies.

Rustle and shimmer of icy creek waters stones turn underfoot, small and hard as toes cold nose dripping singing inside creek music, heart music, smell of sun on gravel.

I pledge allegiance

I pledge allegiance to the soil of Turtle Island, and to the beings who thereon dwell one ecosystem in diversity under the sun With joyful interpenetration for all.

(For All, by Gary Snyder)

One stanza in particular made me stop and read it again, asking the boys to stop their munching, close their eyes, and consume the imagery instead.

Rustle and shimmer of icy creek waters stones turn underfoot, small and hard as toes cold nose dripping singing inside creek music, heart music, smell of sun on gravel.

That first line, calling upon three different senses to describe a simple rippling brook - rustling, shimmering, icy.  And then the sting of bitter cold in nostrils and the way a heart sings happy, and the smell of gravel in the sunshine.  The boys all nodded, deep nods, because... well... boys know about adventure in the great outdoors - even if their great outdoors is 18 square feet of backyard with cinderblock boarders.  Boys understand blades of grass and snails in the dirt, and the smell of each season, and the salty sweet taste of their own sweat.

What am I getting at?  Simply this: Boys need great books filled with masculine adventures, imagery, and imagination.  They need to flex the muscles of their heart and mind as they flex their sinewy legs and arms, pumping hard outside each day. Boys need kind farmers and noble knights and gentle women and magic, loads and loads of magic.  I do not know nearly enough, but I know that boys need books.  Books and backyards and mothers.  I don't have an exhaustive list of books for boys to share with you today, but I will offer you these few titles with my hearty endorsement. Order one today for your boys!

Books for Boys

All Creatures Great and Small or All Things Bright and Beautiful, by  James Herriot (ages 3-8)

Billy and Blaze, written and illustrated by C.W.Anderson (ages 4-8)

Swiss Family Robinson, by Johann David Wyss (Classic Starts Series, ages 8-10)

Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis (ages 7-107)

Little Men, by Louisa May Alcott (ages 8-16)

My Side of the Mountain, by Jean Craighead George (ages 9-11)

Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls (ages 9-11)

Summer of the Monkeys, by Wilson Rawls (ages 9-11)

Old Yeller, by Fred Gipson (ages 9-11)

Pax, Sara Pennypacker (ages 8-12)

Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen (ages 12-16)

Navigating Early, by Clare Vanderpool (ages 12-16)

My personal all-time favorite read-aloud: Saved at Sea, by Mrs. O. F. Walton

And one to help you understand the wild inside your men: Wild at Heart, by John Eldredge

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And now a poem that I wrote for my eldest, who loves to read and loves to be read to, and who cries at just the right spots. 

I finished it

He tumbled out of his room, wiping wet from his eye and smiled, accomplish, then sighed, “Well, I finished it.”

“Was it good?” I asked over the stove and he nodded it was so… so good, he’s sad he finished it.

Two dogs with their boy, a hatchet in hand So like my son who longs to be a man, but he’s not finished yet.

This growing up wild and growing up free and growing up reading in the crook of a tree till we’ve finished it.

But the day will come with he’s grown up and gone and the books on his shelf will sing out like a song, “Well, we finished it.”

by Wendy Speake