UNDERSTAND THIS

I was wearing my UNDERSTAND THIS t-shirt on Friday night, and it elicited many questions, including the question, "What was that website on the back of your shirt?"

Well, it's understandthis.net, but that address no longer directs you to the site that Jef and I (well, mostly Jef) made. But the site is still up!!

So if you wander there, you can still see how much we loved our friend Vince (who was also our college pastor). And if you wander to the "Media" section, you might hear a familiar voice rapping (err, trying to) in the "MP3" section. :) (These are some songs we wrote for our friends.)

Anyway, enjoy. Let me know what you think.

Started reading Twilight...

Since I minister to teens, I thought it would be prudent for me to familiarize myself a little more with teen culture...

...all this to say, I just started reading Twilight. As I mentioned before, it doesn't seem like the healthiest book for teen girls to be reading.

When I finish it, I may have the distinction of being the only male to have ever read it! :) At least, that's how I feel. Well, good thing that at the library, I just used the automated check-out system and didn't have to face a real, live person and admit that I'm reading the book. :)

I may post a few comments on the book as I read it. All I've got to say for now is, wow, Meyer really likes emphasizing how "beautiful" Edward is! And she finds different ways to say it! Every few pages or so! This is definitely not written to appeal to teen boys. :)

Join a Bible reading plan with me!

Want to try something hard but rewarding? (No, it's not climbing a tall mountain and then watching the sunrise. Well, it's sort of like that.)

Start following a Bible reading plan this year! This is helpful for me, because if I didn't try to follow a plan, I'd end up just reading random parts of the Bible. And/or reading Romans over and over again. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, but there's also a lot more that God has given us.) Here are a few different Bible reading plans you can choose from and/or modify.

You can't get "brownie points" with God by doing this--Jesus died and rose so that we would be completely accepted by God, even though we don't deserve it. So we don't need "brownie points," and you can't get them by following a Bible reading plan. But you can get a lot of blessing through this. You can get to know God better through this.

Want to follow along with me? I'm doing Year 1 of this plan (which, for those of you keeping track, is the M'Cheyne plan cut in half). If I follow this plan for two years, I'll have read through the New Testament twice, the Psalms twice, and the rest of the Old Testament twice. Follow along with me, and we can talk together about what we're learning!