I have had a number of people ask me what Bible Study I am planning to do while I am in PC. My answer to this question has been that I am going "Back to Basics". The only official study I wanted to take was my bible. I have one main reason for doing this and one accompanying reason.
Main reason:
Some of you are in the know about when I became a Christian. I had a conversation with God, a kind of demanding conversation on my side, wherein the answer I received was that, "The bible is the truth." Now, along the way I have changed this to hear, "The church is the truth.", "The River of Life is the Truth.", "Insert name of someone I admire is the truth." All of which were greeted with a reminder that this was not the lesson I had learned on that fateful day in June of 2008. When I think I know what matters in life I go back to basics. I read just the bible and ask for truth in that. I set aside what the world says it means to be a Christian, or a follower of Jesus, and I go back to what I know. It's really not a big deal (though it is a BIG deal), in that I just mean that I don't think God meant being a Christian to be a challenge or that every Christian is meant to be a cookie cutter version of each other. I find that i lose myself and I lose God when I try to follow the mold of traditional Christianity. Let me and God decide what that means for me, please. Also know that at the basis of my faith I have that I want to give more to the people of the world than I take and I want all humans to be treated like people.
Accompanying reason:
At some point in my life, I can't remember exactly when, Mac at the River of Life church in Springfield, KY put forth a challenge to the people in his life and his church to read the bible in 90 days. I participated. I read it cover to cover once. I remember siting in that sun lit room at St. Catharine College (For those of you familiar with the school I was doing desk duty at the end of Siena). I read for hours each day. Well, probably hour. I remember a Facebook page devoted to the challenge acceptors. Each day Ray Hamilton was the first to post that he had read and that was a bit of a motivator to follow behind him and not that I too had read for the day. I think 8 people finished, but for me, it was a personal success. I learned so much about myself, my faith, and my God. I brought myself back to basics and I took away the "You are a Christian so you must be like all the other Christians" mentality I easily fall into.
Fast Forward to the now. I want to read the bile over a year. Though 90 days was wonderful and I was able to get the entire story, I want a bit more time to process the process. I have to shake expectations and just be me. One of my good friends from high school, Nikki has a mother (as many do), and her mother gave me a read the bible in a year devotional. It is entitled "Our Daily Bread". Though I am not going to follow the plan as they lay it out (Because I don't like mixing old and new testaments as a way of forcing some kind of emotional connection), and I am not actually going to start on January 1, I am going to use the journal as a way of writing some thoughts, getting in some time, and keeping track of my progress. Also, I am just going to go ahead and start in the morning, and not wait until PC to start. I try to be a do it now kind of person, so hopefully that is happening tomorrow.
Now, I answer this question because it has been asked of me more than thrice now. It is a helpful question from many (though not all) who care about me. I don't know that I will necessarily update often on this aspect of PC life. "Is Amanda doing her daily reading?" Well, we won't know, but I do know that if I get a reading in that day or not isn't going to change God. God, in my opinion, created us to live in the world so that's what I plan on doing, while at the same time, morals and life goals I had way before I gave God a chance lead me to want to give the people of the world the time they deserve, so I plan on doing that also.
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