Before We Begin: A Study of Philippians

Back in grade school I was taught to write stories using the five W’s: who, what, when, where, and why.  It was a great way to remember all of the important bits to writing a story that would impress my teacher. 

It’s rather funny, but studying a book of scripture requires a remarkably similar approach if we want to get the most out of our reading.  We need to know who wrote it, what sort of writing it is, when it was written, where it was written from and for whom (if applicable), and why it was written in the first place.  

A Bit of Background on the Philippians

 

I’m not much of a history buff.  Actually, it would be more accurate to say that, until quite recently, I detested history.  Back in my school days (oh, so long ago!) I found the study of history to be nauseatingly dull.  However, as I’ve ripened with age, I find history to be rather fascinating, likely because after almost half a century on the planet, one has amassed enough general knowledge to understand its value.

Living and Active

Every culture and subculture has their own jargon, words and phrases that don’t make a lot of sense to those outside of it.  Christianity is no exception.  We use a lot of language that makes sense to us, but the meaning behind some words or phrases are really hard to articulate.  The concept that God’s Word is ‘living and active’ is one such stumper.  We accept that the Word is indeed living and active because it says so.  But what exactly does that mean?

Spiritual Cannibalism

Like many in the Christian community, I was devastated to hear of the passing of TobyMac’s eldest son, Truett, on October 23rd this past year.  I hesitate to use the word devastated, but that indeed is how I felt for his family that day.  He was 21 years old, same as my own boy, and I could empathize on that rare gut level, that place we connect as parents.

Our Burning Bush (2019 Beautiful Truths #5)

 

When I was a child, the church folks told me the Bible was God’s love letter to mankind, which seemed a bit odd to me with its stories of strong men with gouged out eyes, decapitated giants, and mighty warriors felled by tiny women and tent pegs.  Not to mention the incest and adultery that ran rampant through the Sunday school stories.  A mighty odd love letter indeed!

Toenail Fungus and Salty Speech

 

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about toenail fungus.  If you’re a reader of my blog, chances are this has crossed your mind as well.  A dear friend of mine sent me a screen shot of the ad that appeared smack in the middle of my last post:

Off-Road Homeschooling (2019 Beautiful Truths #4)

In my last post I wrote a  grand set up for this 2019 Beautiful Truths #4, and now I find that I’m struggling to put words to it.  In my attempts to narrow down and actually define this truth, I have lots of words and phrases that run through my head.

The Myth of Giving 100%

My beautiful truth #4 of 2019 actually started a couple of years prior, so I thought I’d write a post to segue into it, rather than try to cram it all into one epically long post. 

A Few Thoughts on Perfectionism and Leaders Who Lead

When I decided to jump back into the blogosphere, part of the deal I made with myself was to stop obsessing over every post.  As a recovering perfectionist, I do tend to obsess at times, and with my writing it manifests as going over a draft multiple times, finding just the right words, the right pictures, changing words and formatting and just generally tweaking.  One post could take me hours to get just so.

Nothing New (2019 Beautiful Truths #3)

 

Last year my husband and I celebrated 25 years together.  In honor of this marital milestone, we decided to go big and booked an 8 day cruise from Athens to Rome.  We spent a couple of days on either end to make for a two week trip.  I could probably write a gajillion posts on this adventure. For us small town homebodies, this was indeed an epic odyssey!