Several years ago, I created a plan to read through the Greek New Testament in a year. For the most part, it tracks pretty closely with Lee Irons’ excellent schedule for reading the Greek New Testament in a year. My plan, however, varies a little bit. Because John’s writing is simpler Greek, my schedule goes through John’s Gospel at a faster pace than Irons’. As a result, there are no readings scheduled at the end of the year from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Eve. These open dates at the end can be used as catch-up days. The schedule is given in two formats below. DOC – Read the Greek…
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My Brief Thoughts about the “Unbroken” Movie
To understand my thoughts about the new movie Unbroken, you have to know a little bit about my expectations. They were low. Why? Because I loved the book and could not imagine a movie coming close to recreating Laura Hillenbrand’s wonderful narrative. For that reason, I didn’t expect much. So the film didn’t need to be great to exceed my expectations, and it did exceed them without being great. Still, I think you should see it. Here’s why. First of all, let me just say that I am grateful that Angelina Jolie got a fire in her belly about making this movie. The story has been languishing in Hollywood for…
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A plan to read through the Bible in 2015
In years past, my customary mode for reading the Bible through every year involved starting in Genesis and reading right through to Revelation. I estimated that about four chapters per day would get me through in under a year’s time. The method worked reasonably well, but it wasn’t without its problems. Sometimes I would miss a day (or days) and get behind, and I had no way to keep up with my progress. I needed a schedule so that I could keep myself accountable for finishing in a year.
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How ‘bout them Dawgs! LA Tech thumps Illinois!
How bout them Dawgs! My alma mater put put a licking on the Illini today in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. It’s our first bowl victory since winning the 2008 Independence Bowl, and it has been a long time in coming. I am really proud of this team and what they have achieved this year. Congratulations, Bulldogs!
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Top 10 YouTubes of 2014
It’s time for my annual posting of the Top 10 YouTube Videos of the Year (see last year’s list here). This ranking is totally unscientific. Only one person was polled to compile this list—yours truly (although my wife helped a little this year). This year’s slate of videos ranges from profound and poignant to downright silly. I have put the three serious videos at the beginning. The rest of the videos (numbers 4-10) are humorous. They’re not all actual YouTubes. They’re just internet videos. If you think I’ve left something out, let me know. I’ll think about adding it to the “Honorable Mention” category at the bottom. If you’re interested,…
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Let every heart prepare him room!
How could there possibly be anything more mysterious and wonderful than the incarnation of Jesus Christ? God became a man. God took on mortal human flesh and became subject to all the things that every other mortal is subject to. He sneezed. He coughed. He got headaches and an upset stomach. Every morning he got up, shook the dust out of His hair, and put his hand to the plow in his Father’s field. Jesus Christ was not only subject to sickness, but also to death. The eternal Son of God was die-able. In fact, he did die. And three days later, what was mortal became swallowed up by immortality…
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Mary’s crisis-pregnancy and noble Joseph
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her, desired to put her away secretly. –Matthew 1:18-19 The key thing to note about Joseph’s character is in verse 19. The text says that Joseph was “a righteous man.” A righteous person in Matthew’s gospel is one who has an obedient trust in the promises of God revealed in the Old Testament. A righteous person cares about what God says. He trusts what…
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Bibliotheca Update: Production begins this Spring
I wrote about the Bibliotheca Kickstarter campaign last summer (read here), and the campaign has been a runaway success. For all of you who ordered Bibles, you might be interested to know that a video update was released yesterday (watch above). It looks like they will begin production in the Spring.
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Five books I enjoyed in 2014
It is the time of year for lists. Here are five non-theological works of non-fiction that I enjoyed in 2014. 1. The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932, by William Manchester I love this book. How can you beat Manchester’s prose? To understand Churchill, you have to see that he was fundamentally a relic of a bygone era called to lead the greatest conflict of the modern era. But it was Churchill’s vision of England’s greatness that made him great and equal to the task. All of his upbringing and early political life is covered in this book. The book begins, however, with a fast forward to…
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The Sussex Carol
My wife was singing this line from “The Sussex Carol” tonight in our kitchen, and it was like a ray of light to my soul: “Then why should men on earth be sad, Since our Redeemer made us glad?” I hope it will be a ray of light to yours as well.