Pause: Review

Some days ago, my lovely friend Angie asked how I was getting on with Pause as my daily reading Bible. I am sure she will not mind my responding here instead of writing her a personal e-mail -- I want to share with you all just how good this Bible is!

It has taken me a couple of weeks to find the way of using this Bible that works for me but I think, tonight, I have finally got it sussed.

The first thing I have learned is that I do not want to share absolutely everything I learn from this Bible reading experience and, as you know, I have blogged about that previously.

The next thing I learned is that Bible reading in the morning does not work for me. Nor does Bible reading in the afternoon. What does work is reading the Bible after dinner and evening routine are complete. I worry a little that this means God comes last on my list of things to do but that honestly isn't the case. In the morning I am far too sleepy after the medication I have taken the night before to make me sleep. I cannot concentrate and praying just makes me want to sleep even more than I usually do. I have tried but it was not a good experience and I don't think the time I spent with God was quality time. Afternoon just didn't feel right. However, in the evening my anxiety is at its peak and I have found that reading the Bible and praying at this time relieves the anxiety as well as medication.

For a few nights, I went to bed as soon as evening routine was finished and read the Bible for a couple of hours before I went to sleep. The Bible is arranged in daily sections so obviously I was reading more than the suggested portion each day. There is, of course, nothing wrong with reading more of the Bible than you've been asked to! But I felt I was just skimming the surface.

This evening, I have tried something a little different. Instead of going to bed with the Bible, I have got it through in the livingroom and the computer. I have created a new section in Microsoft OneNote called, appropriately enough, Bible reading. I prayed and then turned to the next section of the Bible. I put the headset that the voice recognition software needs and read the Bible while speaking aloud the notes that I would like to make on it. I then went to want to answer the question relating to the Bible passage straight into OneNote. I found that this really slowed me down and I am still mulling over what I wrote. This can only be good, right?

So, now I have worked out how to use it properly, here is a little review of the The Message Remix Pause.

This bible bills itself as an everyday reading Bible in contemporary language. I think it does exactly what it says on the tin. Using Eugene Peterson's The Message translation, the Bible is arranged in segments to be read every day. The books are not presented in the order are found in most of today's Bibles. The reader begins reading Genesis interspersed with chapters from the Gospel of John. Although the Bible is divided into daily segments, there are further divisions within the text which would allow the reader to work through more slowly. After each passage from the Bible is a relevant and thought-provoking question. I feel that these would be appropriate for new or more mature Christians. Obviously, the more mature reader will be able to go deeper. All in all, I am very impressed with this book and am looking forward to working my way through it over the coming year.

Breath of Life

Genesis 6:3 (The Message)
The Message (MSG)

Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson
[The Message at Navpress] [NavPress]

3 Then God said, "I'm not going to breathe life into men and women endlessly. Eventually they're going to die; from now on they can expect a life span of 120 years."

I continued reading Pause today and we've come to the account of Noah and the Flood. Just before that account, however, I was struck by this verse. I also checked the NIV and NLT translations but I prefer The Message's rendering today. Because I can read right through in the NIV translation, think 'fair enough' and move right along to whatever else. In contrast, when I read the verse in The Message I had to pause and think.

What is it about the verse that strikes me?

Well, for me, the inference is that it's God 'breathing life into' us that keeps us alive. And I've not thought about that before. I mean - you're born, you breathe, you live, you stop breathing, you die. I've never thought before that God must breathe life into you every single day. And when He stops, you die. This really brings home to me the verse that says:

Matthew 6:27 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
[NIV at IBS] [International Bible Society] [NIV at Zondervan] [Zondervan]

27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[a]?

It's all about God. Each day, each hour, each moment is a gift as he breathes life into us.

Take a breath. Feel it? That's God.

KIP, RIP, BIP?

Knitting in Public (KIP) is de-rigour amongst the trendiest knitters. People who Read in Public (RIP) are a lot less militant about it. But they're still doing something slightly unusual in this iPod age. But I'm wondering ... Do people ever reading their Bibles in Public (BIP)? I'm not talking about turning to the lesson with the Preacher in Church on a Sunday morning. I'm thinking about on the bus. In the park. While you're waiting for appointments. Out there - where people can see you.

KIPers and RIPers will tell you that their hobby is so important they want to take it everywhere they go and engage with it at every opportunity. Should we not feel the same way about the Word of God?

These questions do not come to you from the pen of an intrepid Biblical adventurer. I've BIPed once and once only. The day I bought Pause, I went into a coffee shop for a sit-down and found myself drawing the new Bible out of my bag. I only meant to glance through it and then put it away in favour of something less obviously Christian but, before I knew it, I was reading the introductory pages. And then some of the text itself.

I continued to read on the bus home. And I found that I like BIPing. It made me very conscious of God being right there, right where I am at any given moment. I found myself reading a little and praying a little. For the people on the bus, for the streets we passed along, for the emergency siren I heard in the distance.

Isn't this what life's supposed to be like? Walking through each day with God at your right hand. I felt like I got a lot closer to God on that bus than I have for a long time. I'll BIP again ... and I strongly urge you to give it a try.

Self-help

Am I strange in really enjoying reading self-help books? I only like books that pertain to me in some way, I don't read in a general "lets learn about ..." manner. Although I suppose I could if I wanted to. But I, like most people, have certain problems and weaknesses and I enjoy reading books that address my issues. I like the feeling that I'm not alone in my experience and the reassuring voice of an author telling me that I can change if I only follow some simple steps ...

And I realised today that this is wrong.

I read the first day's message from The Message//Remix:Pause (hereafter referred to as 'Pause') today. And, yes, this is the post about it that I wasn't going to make. I read the first two chapters of Genesis and vs 1-18 from the first chapter of John. Pause posed a couple of questions relating to the passages of Scripture. And I found myself writing in my journal ...

Here's the deal. God created the world and everything in it. This includes me. God, therefore, knows how everything is supposed to work and how it actually works. Because you do know if you've made something yourself. God is, therefore, the authority on me. In fact, He is the only one who knows what I'm all about. And God wants to be in relationship with me. That's why He sent Jesus to die on the cross. He wants to be in relationship with me now and throughout eternity.

Now, if I'm in relationship with my Creator, why am I turning to the self-help authors when I'm in need of assistance? It's like asking a child to look at your car instead of taking it to a mechanic. And I'm sure (now) that it hurts God. Because He's right there beside me, just waiting to be asked.

I'm not going to ban self-help books. Because there are good, Christian authors out there whose work is helpful if if I combine it with seeking God for myself. I'm going to be a whole lot more discerning about my reading in this area and I'm going to school myself to Ask God First.

Sometimes ...

... you just have to accept that something isn't going to work.

I am just not comfortable blogging about my experience of reading the Bible as I had intended to do. I don't know why I'm not, I'm just ... not. Maybe it's too much pressure? Like having to write an essay and submit it to someone else? Maybe reading the Bible is a much more personal thing than I had expected? I think writing in a private journal will be fine. But writing here isn't. I feel such great resistance to it and it's putting me off doing the reading and this is, after all, counter-productive.

So, yes, I might blog about it one day. But I'm not going to be doing any regular, daily posts for the forseeable future.

Hurdle #1

Today I plan to start the Bible-reading plan I outlined to you yesterday. And I've met the first hurdle ... I've been awake for two hours, I'm on my third mug of coffee, and I'm still too groggy to focus on anything requiring more than one third of my usual brain capacity.

It takes me a long time to awaken - probably because I have to take medication to make me sleep at night.

The plan was that I'd read and blog each morning while having one of said mugs of coffee. But that just ain't going to work! So I will try again at lunchtime.

The Message//Remix:Pause

It's all about finding what works. I really want to be reading more of God's Word. I really want to read the Bible right through. I really want to be faithful with my reading and praying and studying. And I'm not.

I've tried so many different things. Read in the morning. Do it in the afternoon. Just before bedtime. Start in Genesis and keep going. Read chronologically. Read thematically. Just study one book but in depth. Use reading notes. Buy a study Bible. Get a different translation.

All of these have worked in part or not at all. Nothing has stuck. And I won't bore you with the reasons why. It's too hot.

I went into our semi-local branch of WesleyOwen on Friday. They usually have some items marked down in a kind of rolling all-year-round sale and I noticed two Bibles sitting on that shelf. I didn't buy either (didn't buy anything that day) as money is tight and I'm trying to teach myself to wait and see if I really want an item before making a purchase. And all weekend I've thought about those Bibles. The truth is, I want both of them. And they're both at +50% off the usual price. And Amazon can't beat the prices. But I had to choose. And I chose this one and made a plan to use it.

The Bible can be read at a variety of paces - anything from one to four years to get through the whole thing. So I'm thinking this is good because I can vary my pace as required. The readings are numbered rather than dated so I can start any time from Day 1 and should I miss a day, for some good reason, it isn't a disaster. It's a bit like FlyLady - you're never behind.

My plan is to read in the morning (before the day gets away from me) during my computer time. I usualy have a couple of cups of coffee while I go through my email (and snail mail when that arrives) so I will add this in. And I'll make it computer-y by trying to share some of what I read here. I doubt I'll come up with anything particularly profound but I shall try and be mildly interesting. Each day's reading poses some questions for the reader so I'll use those and we'll see where we go. People are welcome to answer the same questions on their own blogs and give links in the comments section of my posts.