The John Squad
(Please click here to chart your own progress!)
My Progress:
Oh yeah - Chapter 3!
I spent several days reviewing Chapters 1-3. It was amazing how rusty some parts of the first chapter were already, so I'm going to have to consciously slow down new memorizing in order to incorporate a little review each day. I have now begun to memorize the first couple verses of Chapter 4. This is a long conversation with the Samaritan woman. Dialogue is always a problem for me (remembering "said" vs. "replied", "answered", "declared". So I think it will be slow-going for a little while. But I am not overly concerned with deadlines - only that I am spending some quality time each day with my focus on memorizing the Word.
Some Thoughts:
I'm only in the initial stages of this passage, so I don't have any deep, theological thoughts yet. However, one thing really struck me as I began reading it over several times.
Jesus sat down by the well because He was tired. Read slowly here: Jesus was tired, so He sat down. That just blew me away. Knowing how strong, mighty and powerful Jesus is makes it hard to believe that He ever got tired at all. But after thinking more thoroughly about His "human-ness" and remembering verses about Him sleeping, or going off by Himself to rest, I realize even more how His earthly body of flesh must have been such a cage for Him. And it really blows my mind when I think about how He is infinitely stronger than we can imagine because of the fact that He allowed Himself to be so weak. That must be the strongest strength there is!
Additional Thoughts:
- It finally happened. Bible verses went through the wash. I knew it was only a matter of time. But when I pulled out the laundry the other day and saw little pieces of fuzzy white balls all over our clothes, I knew immediately what had happened. My husband and I both carry our verses around in our pockets so we have them on-hand whenever a moment for study might arise. I was thankful that they were his verses and not mine. hehe
- I had to stop listening to my husband's Bible on CD because all I ended up doing was mocking the guy's voice. Leave it to my sinful, wretched self to make fun of the Bible. So I try to avoid that situation altogether now.
- My 6-year old daughter did something very out-of-character one day so I turned to her and asked, "Who are you?" She non-chalantly replied, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert 'make straight the way for the Lord.'."
