Bodwin

I was recently disturbed at my personal dearth of reading. I found myself thinking, "So, I'm preparing for seminary and future pastoral work, but I'm not reading much at all? That doesn't make sense." I almost find an exclusive dichotomy of either reading Scripture or reading Christian living/Theology titles. Seldom have I read a good mixture of books simultaneously. I think I'm OCD enough that I want to finish something I've started, not start something else prior. So, I'm changing it up this summer. My goal is to read from (1) Scripture (2) Theology (3) Christian Living and (4) Devotional. These are prioritized by amount of reading, but by importance of reading, though 3 and 4 are able to be swapped. Scripture -- Paul's Epistles (ESV Journaling Bible) Theology -- Polity (ed. Mark Dever) Christian Living -- Wordliness (ed. CJ Mahaney) Devotional -- The Bruised Reed (Richard Sibbes) I'm also desiring to enlist the help of The Valley...

The Google quote of the day comes from George Aiken . He states: "If we were to wake up some morning and find that everyone was the same race, creed and color, we would find some other cause for prejudice by noon." I was reminded (and encouraged) that the Gospel does not ignore or replace things (as in a simple swap). It eradicates them, putting into its place not only an acceptable thing, but the very best thing -- the way it was supposed to be. The Gospel does not cause within us a desire to ignore race as a part of a person. It produces within us a love for the person of the race, embracing the diversity as a reminder that Jesus is the Savior of the world, that is, He came to save people from every nation on this earth. This is an amazing fruit of the Gospel in the church.

My devotional reading often begins with the widget on my Mac "Of First Importance" from firstimportance.org. Every day, this site is updated with a Gospel-centered quote, which is usually a portion from a book or either a Scripture passage with subsequent comments. I have found that even if I preach the Gospel to myself on a daily basis, I am still in need of someone else to preach the Gospel to me. I need the perspective of another brother/sister. I need them to see my life and arrange the pieces so that my attitudes and thoughts line up with Gospel realities. The piece from today was taken from the Heidelburg Catechism, Q/A 60: “Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God’s commandments and of never having kept any of them, and even though I am still inclined toward all evil, nevertheless, without my deserving it at all, out of sheer grace, God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as ...

Tomorrow, I begin the Fall semester to continue my M.A. in Theology at Bob Jones University in Greenville. Here's my course line-up with professor and curriculum included: New Testament Introduction | Dr. Brian Hand | An Introduction to the New Testament (Carson, Moo) Hermeneutics | Dr. Kenneth Casillas | The Hermeneutical Spiral (Osborne) Christian Discipleship | Dr. Jim Berg | Changed Into His Image (Berg) I'm only taking 6 credits this semester, but I think all 3 classes will be good, given the instructor, course and curriculum.

Duke basketball released their schedule for the '08-'09 season today. I've been waiting for this at least two weeks now. I've been to a Duke home game the past two years at Cameron Indoor Stadium. I'm be shooting for the 3-peat in 2009, as well as trying to get down to Clemson on Feb. 4th to see that game.

If the idea of Preaching the Gospel to Yourself is new to you, read The Gospel Primer. This is an official book recommendation. If you are familiar with Preaching the Gospel to yourself, you still need to read the book. A couple of Brief points to make: - "Primer" is pronounced 'primmer,' in the same vein as "The New England Primer" that you learned about in elementary school. - The book is not designed to be read in a couple of sittings. It was designed to be a guide to stimulate Gospel-centered thought as you interact with God through prayer and your own Bible study. Leave comments if you've read the book.

You gotta get a load of this. A Raleigh, NC teen dropped out of school with his parents' consent to go pro with Guitar Hero, albeit he's never actually played a real guitar. Read the News & Observer story.