Week 2: Holding Steady

Day 12          Verses Memorized:  51          Working on:  Completing John 1

My Progress:  I'm thrilled with my progress so far.  I've continued to review the previous verses I learned and my confidence is growing each time.  I have a strong handle on the entire first chapter and will spend another few days making sure I have it down pat.  Some of it is getting tricky because the same phrase repeats but the wording is slightly different.  I really struggle with some of the dialogue because I can't remember if it's "said," "replied," "answered," etc.  But either way, I'm happy with how far I've progressed in two weeks.  I enjoy being ahead of schedule and feel good that I have a little insurance so if I get tripped up later, there is some room to relax without falling off my goal of 2 years.

Some Thoughts: 
After spending a week memorizing verses that were leading up to Jesus' appearance, I was honestly excited to see Jesus coming into the picture.  I got to the part that said "John saw Jesus" and my heart literally started beating faster. If that's how I felt after only a few days of just reading, I can't imagine how the actual people of that day felt when Jesus came for real!  (Then I began to think, "you know, Heidi, you have access to Jesus ALL THE TIME!)

How cool was John the Baptist.  I just admire him so much.  The humility he had in pointing others toward Jesus and not focusing on himself is so admirable.  I found it interesting that every time he sees Jesus, he says, "Look, the Lamb of God!"  It just paints such a clear picture of how he directed everyone's attention to Jesus.  As I was meditating on these verses, I kept questioning if my life points to Jesus in the same way that his did.  Unfortunately, my answer was no. 

Andrew and "the other disciple" (John) asked Jesus where He was staying and he said, "Come, and you will see."  Jesus was inviting them to come and spend time with Him.  He wanted them to get to know Him and build a relationship.  Isn't that how God treats us today? I have to admit, sometimes I ask God a question and get angry and impatient when His focus is on the journey while mine is on the final result.  If I were John or Andrew, I probably would've thought, "man, can't He just answer my question?  Why doesn't He just tell me?"  With Jesus, it's always about simply following, togetherness, closeness and an intimate, personal relationship.  While I may sometimes struggle with that in my task-oriented spirit, I'm thankful that He is who He is.

Additional Thoughts:
So after spending hour upon hour of memorizing Scripture, I was getting very excited when Jesus finally came on the scene.  I was expecting some deep philosophical life-changing words from the mouth of the Savior.  So I have to admit I was slightly disappointed when the first words he said were, "what do you want?"  It was a little anti-climactic for me.  (I hope there are no ultra-conservative people out there reading this who take offense.  I do indeed love God's word.)

The other morning I was doing my quiet time.  I am an early riser, so it was around 5:00am and I was sitting on my nicely made bed.  As I often do, I began drifting in and out of sleep.  I got frustrated with myself and aggravated that I had gotten up, showered, and set aside time to spend with God only to fall asleep and waste the effort.  So I prayed the usual prayer that I pray when this occurs, "God, please help me to be alert and stay focused on You."  I am not exaggerating when I say:  at that exact moment, I saw something out of the corner of my eye falling from the ceiling.  I looked up just in time to hear a "thump" and see one of those million-legger bugs land right on the bed about 6 inches from my feet and begin racing in my direction.  I instantly went from half-asleep to a full-body spasm as my arms and legs went flailing wildly in the air.  I had to use my Bible as a weapon to ward off the ferocious beast, which is probably still happily living somewhere under the bed.  Needless to say, be careful what you pray for!      Very funny, God.  Very funny...

Week 1: A Great Start

Day 5               Verses memorized:  28                    Working on:  John 1:1-28

My Progress:
Things so far are going surprising well.  I have a strong grasp of all 28 verses that were assigned for this month and am continuing to go over them to increase my confidence.  I'm pleased with my progress although I don't expect to keep up this pace.  I was very excited and extremely motivated to get started, so I figured I'd get as many verses in the bank as I could while I still had the energy!

I was using a CD but was having difficulty because the guy read it much differently than I would.  So I recorded my own voice reading the passage and that has been much more effective.  I listen to it while I'm cooking or cleaning up.

I began with the goal of reading the passage aloud 50 times.  That was working well but I got impatient and wanted to get to the real "memorizing" so I ended up straying from my initial plan.  It takes several minutes to read the entire passage.  There are times when I only have a brief moment to look over some of it but not enough consecutive minutes to read the entire thing.  So during those times, I'm going verse-by-verse.

My Thoughts:

• "The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."  All sorts of translations use different words for "understood".  I got a little aggravated this week because I realized I've misunderstood this verse for years as a result of a poor translation.  One would think this verse means that Jesus is the light shining in our dark world but the world doesn't understand who Jesus is.  But that's not what the verse means.  "Understood" is better translated as "Overcome".  Therefore, the real meaning of the verse is that Jesus is the light of the world and sin and darkness has not and will not overcome His light.
• "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" gives me chills no matter how many times I read it.  I don't even have words to discuss the significance of that verse.
• Being a mother of 4, I took notice of verse 12.  "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."  I was walking around the house Monday cleaning up and reciting some verses.  I had my baby boy on my hip happily bopping along everywhere I went.  When I got to the "children of God" part, I started thinking about how that baby is completely dependent upon me.  He would be lost and eventually die without me.  I provide for him everything that he needs and carry him with me everywhere.  The Bible is telling me that I am God's child.  What an honor!  He is all I need and I should follow Him everywhere.  It seems so simple - why do I choose to disobey and go my own way?

Additional Thoughts:

• I burned meatballs the other day because I was memorizing verses instead of watching them.
• I had to put a flashlight next to my bed so I can peek at the passage as I go over it in my mind before I go to sleep.
• Sometimes I wonder how on earth I'm going to memorize 879 verses considering there were multiple times this week when I found myself in a room and couldn't even remember why I was there.
• I flipped out on my husband this week (respectfully and submissively, of course) when he told me he was glancing at his verses while he was driving. 
• I admit I get frustrated when he only works on his verses during his 20 minute commute and comes home knowing more than I do when I study them the entire day.  Grr.  Then I found myself telling my 6-year old not to compare herself to others when she could only remember 2 verses.  I am a hypocrite indeed.
• All in all, this is fun so far.  It's fun to recite so many verses in a row without making a mistake.  I'm enjoying meditating on them throughout the day.  I'm finding myself more spiritually-minded and less distracted by the world. 
• I was amazed to hear our daughters fill-in-the-blanks when my husband and I practice and get stuck at certain parts.  Those little ears sure do listen and soak everything in.
• "John Project" already had great success in memorizing the book of John (partly why I am so encouraged and know that it can indeed be done)!  He has just begun memorizing the book of Mark.  You can check out his blog to keep updated on how he's doing.
• I'm just so thankful for my mind and that God has given me the desire, energy, and strength to do this.

An Overwhelming Response

It's a revolution!

I'm amazed at how many have come forward and made the commitment to join me in this endeavor.  To be quite honest, I thought I would be doing this on my own.  (Well, along with my husband, but we're one flesh so he doesn't even count, does he?) 

Since I had a small discussion at church and shared my thoughts regarding this experience, I have had an overwhelming amount of people volunteer to come alongside me and attempt this great and rewarding task.  (12 officially and several more considering it.)

I set out to simply obey.  I had a sense that I should invite others but didn't have any serious hopes that people would even consider doing such an outrageous thing.  I have had many tell me that they've been inspired.  I am truly humbled - I didn't expect to be so inspired myself by the outpouring of support and encouragement from my brothers and sisters.

Kevin (my husband) and I were talking yesterday and we were imagining what great things God could do if there were enough people deeply immersed in His word.  Imagine the positive changes that could take place within a church if enough of its body was diligently sowing God's word into their hearts. 

A very sincere "Thank you" to all those who have agreed to join me.  I pray for your success in this endeavor and am happy to have you along for the ride!