Blog No. 40 - Reading Time: 3:20

Well, I’m quite late posting this blog, but I do celebrate the fact that it’s my 40th blog post since I began posting once again the first of the year. Like so many things in my life, they are born out of discipline. As you well know, there are things you feel like doing and there are things you don’t. That’s why we have schedules.

After a getaway last week to Mackinac Island in Michigan, Susan and I returned with a lot of catching up to do. Although that’s more of an excuse than a reason, for me when I sit down to write, I feel I need to have something to say. I know lot’s of people who can say many words without having anything to say. However, I try to at least have a point and a context whenever I speak or write.

Yet, here I am, writing my overdue blog without anything much to say. Again, it’s a discipline in my life. So, bear with me, I’ll be brief, but I will also be rambling.

I could tell you of all that we saw, and learned, and ate while we were away. I’m not much on people who post pictures of food, but I have done that a few times. As far as scenery, you can get many videos and pictures online that far excel anything I took. Also we learned a lot about American history, but you probably had a class about that while you were in school.

First Impressions

So, that leaves only my impressions of what we experienced and my personal feelings while I was away for a time of physical and mental refreshing.

My first impression is that people in the past had it far harder than anything you or I have lived through. In our modern times, with all the communication sources we have, it’s hard to even understand the perspective with which those who have gone before us lived with.

For me, it’s like looking into the Bible. My studies to develop context for what was written by the authors of our Bible leads me to studying their history and culture as well. I know that I need to make it relevant to our current way of life, but sometimes we need to just understand their way of life and how they took what was said and what was written to them.

So in line with that, my second impression is that to properly understand what they said and what they meant in the past, we need to know what they thought about, what they valued, what they hoped for, and even what they feared.

More Than You Know

In the need to keep this brief, I hope I’ve rambled enough to show you what is on my heart today, and actually what I brought back from my getaway. In our attempt to be relevant with our experiences and knowledge, “we must seek first to understand, then to be understood.” *

Too often we go to the Bible to find what we need, whether it be comfort, guidance, or some other thing to benefit our lives. Seldom though do we study the Scriptures to understand the depth of what it meant to those who lived in those times and then relate those thoughts to our experiences. However, in doing this on a daily basis, whether we have a current felt need or not, we develop not only a deeper understanding of the context around what was written, but a greater depth of fellowship with the Lord who inspired what was written.

Of course all this reminds me of is that I need to catch up on my own Bible studies and prayer times since I’ve been away.

Until next Monday, may the Lord bless you! Pray for us!

Pastor Brian Jenkins

Calvary Assemblies of God

* Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

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