The Journey Begins

Friday, Jan 1st - 1 Lu 1:1-4 & Jn 1:1-18

Saturday, Jan 2nd - Mt 1:1-17 & Lu 3:23-38

Sunday, Jan 3rd - Lu 1:5-25

Hey ya'll! Glad you're along for the ride with us. Ron has challenged us this year to consider reading through the New Testament in this next year as a chuch. Click here for the plan we're following. We might not write much or post each day, but the goal is to drop some comments, direction and pondering throughout the week as we can here on the blog.

That all said...

The first three days of readings may have already given you a bit of a challenge. Partly if you aren't used to trying to find time each day to crack open your Bible or possibly because you've already been graced with a fair dose of names and geneology in our reading. Many of us might not be all that interested in our own family trees. Some of us struggle to stay totally coherent for the millionth retelling of that Uncle Ralph story that gets recounted each family gathering. But in the end one thing is forsure. Family matters and especially to the Jews that seem to make up Matthew's audience. Family was everything and where and who you came from wasn't just about pride but central to your identity. Even John shares a bit of Jesus' "roots" in typical John fasion, but with less begats and more flashbacks to the creation story.

While you may find some of the reading a bit dry from the last few days don't overlook it. There are still some important nuggets worth mining for and ponderings worth chewing. Ask yourself...

Any names you were surprised to see in Jesus' Family tree?

Did you notice Matthew & Luke's records of Jesus geneology differ?

Why might they be different? And is this a problem?

Notice anything in John the Baptist's story that you didn't before?

(Seems like his early story gets swept over in the Christmas Narritive)

We'll start our first full week tomorrow! A few words of encouragement for you (We'll hit some more later):

Miss a day?

Just pick back up on the current day and catch up on previous readings if you can and where you can. We're trying to develop a lifestyle that has a steady presence in God's word, not win a contest.

Mornings not your deal?

People talk about there "morning quiet times" but maybe you arent a morning person. While there are some great advantages to starting your day meditating on God's word you don't have to feel constricted to morning. Pick out the time of day that you know you can be most consistant and succesful at showing up and digging in. Maybe you're an after lunch person or after everyone esle is in bed type. Whatever works for you and you can be awake enough for is just fine.

Excited to be on this journey with you!

Luke