The Journey

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
                                                              Psalm 119:105  

Wow!  What an amazing launch to our Journey through the Bible.  I saw so many of you with your Bibles and even your own copy of The Grand Sweep.  In fact, the response has been so positive that we ran out of the 400 books that we ordered.  Don't worry, we are ordering more today.  Let me reiterate what I mentioned yesterday about our year long trek.

 WHAT TO PACK FOR THE JOURNEY:

1) Your Bible - I recommend both a Bible in print and an audio Bible for your CD player, computer, MP3 player, or smartphone.  The print Bible will give you a place to take notes and do your reading in a quiet place every day.  We use the New Revised Standard Version for Sunday morning worship, but feel free to read the Bible that most ministers to you.  For the most accurate word for word translation, I think the New American Standard Bible is still at the tops.  For a very good paraphrase, you might like Eugene Peterson's "The Message". The audio Bible will help with those passages filled with difficult names and allow you to hear the Bible on the road.  I downloaded an app for the iPhone entitled "SpokenWord Audio Bible" (Old Testament and New Testament.  It is free and easy to use (requires no streaming).  Tammy uses the Holy Bible app from LifeChurch.tv.  It is good, but does require streaming. Feel free to share what print Bible and what app/audio Bible you prefer.  Be careful not to overpack for this journey by using Bibles with more notes than you have time to read the scripture.  If you have the time and the desire, by all means study as much as you want.  However, I have seen too many people abort the journey because it got to require more time than they had.  Our goal is to read through the Bible in a year and let it speak to us. 

2) The second item you need for your journey is a copy of "The Grand Sweep: A Bible Study for Individuals and Groups" by Ellsworth Kalas.  This contains just a few paragraphs of commentary/devotion and a sentence prayer related to each day's journey.  We are ordering more of these but in the mean time, please follow this link for an excerpt of the first four weeks  - http://am-umc.org/journey/grand-sweep-week1-4.pdf  This will carry you until the books arrive - they should be available this Sunday.  If you prefer that I email it to you, let me know.

 3) The third item you will need for your journey is the Weekly Devotional Guide that is included in every Sunday's Worship Guide.  The WDG contains questions for reflection related to each day's reading as well as some suggestions to be included in your prayers for that day.  These are also available on the church website, under the sermons tab, or simply follow this link -
http://am-umc.org/devos_weekly.htm

 4) Prayer.  This is the fourth item for your journey.  Ask God each day to open your eyes to what it is that God wants you to see on this day's stretch of the journey.  Do not try to take this journey without prayer.  You would miss out on so much.

 TWO OTHER RESOURCES PROVIDED FOR THIS JOURNEY:  

1) Weekly Sermons.  Every Sunday in 2012 will serve as a campsite for our yearlong journey.  There will pause and look at around at one of the scriptures that we read the previous week.  Yesterday we look at the story of Cain and Abel, a story that Steinbeck wrote, "Haunts us throughout our lives" because there is always the brother, always the sister.  Our podcasts are available of each week's sermon and CD's of the entire service can be obtained by calling the church office (979-846-8731) or by emailing Cindy Allen (office@am-umc.org). 

2) Wednesday Pastor's Bible Study.  Beginning Wednesday, January 18, Kathleene and/or I will lead a Brown Bag studies from 12 - 1 pm and an evening study from 6:15 - 7:00 pm.  These studies are designed to answer any questions that may have arisen in the previous week and lift up notable themes in the readings.  The Wednesday study will focus on the readings for the week that concluded on the previous Saturday.  NOTE: If you have questions that you would like addressed, please email Kathleene at kathleene@am-umc.org or me, kipgilts@am-umc.org  before the study so that we will have time to research the answer. 

If you have yet to begin the Journey through the Bible for 2012, it is not too late.  If you are already in the midst of it - keep up the good work.  I am praying for God to use this in a mighty way for your life and for the life of this church.