It’s been over a week since I last posted. This is the longest I’ve gone without posting since I started the blog. I’ve been physically and mentally tired. Tired of life but by God’s grace doing well spiritually.

I had facet joint injections on Monday which did no good. Next Wednesday I will have sacroiliac joint injections. I’m a human pin cushion. I’m getting sick of all the doctor visits but I know it could be a lot worse.

I will be doing a review of Keener’s NIVAC Revelation commentary just because I liked it so much. I’ll also be reviewing In Christ Alone by Sinclair Ferguson which is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.

I’m still plugging away learning Greek. I’m going very slow and it’s difficult when I’m mentally tired but I manage to at least work on vocabulary every day.

Many of my blogging friends are writing some good posts. Maybe if I didn’t look at so many blogs I’d post more myself.

Photo/Illustration © Jeff at Scripture Zealot

In a discussion on 1 Corinthians the topic of gifts was being explored. Most people felt that prayer isn’t a sprirtual gift. But most people don’t pray much and have difficulty praying. There are a few who have no difficulty and pray a lot for others. Would you consider this to be in one of the categories of spiritual gifts or just something that some people have any easier time with, like Bible reading?

I like to read commentaries all the way through. There I said it.

After reading a lot about Jesus (The Historical Jesus? Christology? I’m still confused on the terms.) and the Gospels, I started reading regular commentaries with Romans and went all the way through Revelation. A review on Keener’s great Revelation commentary is forthcoming.

Now I want to go back to the Gospels and read commentaries on those and Acts. I just got done finishing a read-through of Mark. I was mesmerized. Wow. I don’t know how to describe it. Mainly, the Holy Spirit illumined things that I hadn’t noticed before, as happens to all of us.

I was going to try to read as much as I could at once to get a good overview but needed to slow down to savor it. Just the first two chapters are so rich.

I also think that reading commentaries has helped me learn how to better read the Bible in some respects. To me it’s like reading the Bible in slow motion with a learned scholar leading me through how to look at the details, read things in context, think about what the author meant to say to his original audience etc. (And education of these things is sorely lacking in the church.) I can’t say how much this has helped. And I haven’t even gotten into hermeneutics proper yet.

Now I will be starting with a commentary on it by Alan Cole.

I’m getting injectionated tomorrow morning. I will have cortisone injections into my facet joints at L/4-L/5 and L/5-S1. These will also be diagnostic as he will be injecting numbing medication so that if it greatly reduces the pain temporarily, we’ll know that’s where the pain or part of it is coming from.

The hardest thing for me is not thinking ahead. Although the surgery for the herniated disc did what it was supposed to do, it seems there are at least a couple of other problems and they’ve gotten worse at a pretty fast rate since surgery. I wonder about what will happen if this doesn’t work at all. Or if it does work, what if it’s the most minor problem etc. Stop it!

I’m not concerned about needles or pain even though the last injections were more pain than I’ve ever felt in my back because of the fluid pressing on my nerves in the epidural space which my doctor said was very unusual. I just love almost always being the odd one. This should be different, but I am often “the 5%” as I like to say. Pray for whatever you would like. You know how it goes. Thank you.

Matthew 6:34
Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

This is news to me:
High-quality, FREE commentaries at Word and Spirit

They’re basic, but might serve as a good resource when another commentary needs to be consulted.

If you don’t happen to have DeYoung, Restless and Reformed on your blogroll, this is a very good post. I was trying to pick out a quote for people who want to see what the post is about or for people who don’t have time to read the whole thing, but it’s all one quotable quote and it isn’t that long of a post.

I identify with everything he says and think it’s good for those who are non-Reformed to know where some of us are really coming from. (This isn’t to say that many non-Reformed don’t hold to the same tenets.)

Why I Am a Calvinist (And a Lot of Other Christians Are, Too)

This is one of the funniest, saddest and most well-written pieces I’ve seen in a long time.
Look, It’s Rubbish! at reformation 21

The article is about how theology affects worship and academics.

Being a former musician and still an anti-fan of Kenny G, those parts of the article were especially funny and I’m glad I didn’t have any food or drink in my mouth.

(Minors meaning things, not people.)

This and other things I’ve been reading have caused me to put less importance on the “minors” as referred to in the quote below and spend less time reading blog posts and articles on them, although each one of us has a different version of what the minors are. I realize there are places for them and they shouldn’t be ignored altogether.

I’m not saying that the minors that bloggers write about are false teachings, I’m just going with the basic premise here:

Do you know the Christ of the Gospels? Or have you fallen into the trap to which Christians (especially, perhaps, Reformed Christians) who love doctrine and systematic theology are sometimes susceptible (unlike John Calvin, it should be said): fascination with dogmatic formula at the expense of love for the Savior’s person?

It is not accidental that Hebrews’ words about Christ are followed by an exhortation not to be ‘carried away by all kinds of strange teachings’ (13:9, NIV). False teaching, be it doctrinal or ethical, always will have the effect of making us ‘major on minors,’ obscuring from us the central glory of the Lord Jesus Himself. We cannot always easily articulate what is wrong with such influences. But the context suggests we should ask: ‘Is this teaching by which I am being influenced leading me to love and trust Jesus Christ more? Or less? Have I exchanged communion with Christ for caviling about incidentals?’

By the same token, growing in faith and love for Christ, revealed as He is in Scripture, will be the greatest of all preservatives against being led astray. The person who is saturated in the teaching and spirit of the Gospels will have his or her senses ‘trained . . . to distinguish good from evil’ (Heb. 5:14, NIV) and to know what is truly Christ-like and Christ-honoring. That, too, is an implication of knowing that ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.’

From first to last, then, fix your eyes on Christ. He never changes!

–In Christ Alone by Sinclair B. Ferguson

Not that we shouldn’t know what we believe:

I’m concerned that the attitude that ‘no one can really know the truth’ has seeped into the evangelical mind. From the (correct, in my opinion) premise that no tradition gives us exclusive access to absolute truth, some infer (incorrectly, in my opinion) that it really doesn’t matter which, if any, tradition we inhabit. For my own part, I’d rather reside in a house with a leaky roof or basement than rough it on the street. . . .

–An Interview with Kevin Vanhoozer at Between Two Worlds

For those of you who don’t like him–I like to think of him as a work in progress. If nothing else this video has some humor in it.

I’m very humble but thought I’d show it to those of you who struggle with pride.

I updated my blogroll. I know that some people like to look through them if they’re looking for reading material. I’m letting you know in case you’re using Google Reader or another feed reader and would want to come and check it out.

Here are some lists:

• Biblioblog Top 50
• Biblioblogs.com
• Top 100 Theology Blogs
• 100 Enlightening Bible Study Blogs
• 300+ Bible Bloggers: A List

I’ve heard many a pastor and others lament the fact that men go wild while watching sports (as much as I love sports, I’m more introverted) but are very subdued in their worship. As if this means they are more passionate about sports than God. Maybe that is so for some people.

But maybe it’s also because about half of the people in a congregational worship setting, namely men and probably some women, don’t get into singing ’sentimental lovey dovey songs’ regarding churches who are into that kind of thing.

See an article related to this:
Men want ‘macho’ hymns, fewer flowers and less dancing in church

HT: reformation 21

OK, I like flowers. This was taken two days ago.

I found this today and thought I would pass it along to anyone who may be interested in reading and reviewing the book:
Bloggers and other media – receive a free review copy of I Want to Believe

Mike Aubrey suggested I save a search for Calvin’s Institutes so that I would get an e-mail message each day notifying me of new items up for bidding. I’ve bid on a few and most are going for about $40 which is more than I want to pay much less the $50 new on Amazon.

So I saw one come up with a Buy It Now price of $25 plus $4 shipping in like new condition. Since that’s so much lower than what they’ve been going for I thought I better get it while I’m up with this dreadful insomnia.

I probably won’t read it until next year but at least I have it now. After that I’d like to read some of the earlier Puritans and move on to a book or two by Jonathan Edwards.

I’ve read about and heard from so many people who seem to have a hard time having a ‘quiet time’ (I prefer devotional time) every morning.

Even though morning is a common time for prayer (Psalm 5:3), maybe this isn’t the best way to go about it for those who have difficulty. Some might not be morning people. Some may have to get up very early and deal with little munchkins running amok. Some may have a really hard time concentrating.

For those who have a difficult time with it, there is no rule that you must have a 30 minute quiet time in the morning. For some people, feeling a need to “get right with God” by having a quiet time may be bordering on legalism.

If morning isn’t a good time, maybe it would be good to pray some Scripture before even getting out of bed.

Then it might be good to do Bible reading during lunch if possible.

A more concentrated time of prayer could be done after work.

Bible study could be done certain nights during the week and on the weekends.

Some of these things may not be feasible but you get the idea.

I have an hourly chime on my watch and also on my computer for memorizing Scripture. I briefly go over whatever I’m working on at the time. (This method works better for me than repeating something ten times, once a day.) If I start to get so used to the sound on the computer that I don’t hear it, I change it. This also keeps Scripture going through my head much of the day.

Then it’s good to pray right before bed. It doesn’t need to be a lot. I like the idea of praying three times a day.

If you need some inspiration on Bible reading you can find some quotes here.

Obviously this isn’t for everyone but I wanted to post some thoughts based on experience.

Do you have unconventional ways of exercising spiritual disciplines?

Sometimes the Bible translation The Message gets it right when most or all others don’t in the opinion of a couple of bloggers. Here are two examples:

• Awkward Translation: Ordering Arguments and other Goodies
• Psalm 119:92 with a surprise ending

God So Loved the World, Part 1

 at:

I don’t like to bore people with too much personal stuff but I will here.

As some people know, I had surgery to repair a herniated disk three months ago. The surgery was successful. I think that now my body is pretty much recovered as far as all the stuff that was cut up. I still have strange nerve pain in my foot and other areas that crops up but this is normal and may or may not go away, although the pain in general wasn’t completely eliminated. I can stand up straight without nerve pain because of the herniated disk shooting down my right side. I’m so thankful for this and for the means to have it done.

At the same time, I have two other back issues that seem to be continuing to degenerate. I have pain going all the way across my lower back (where before it was mainly the right side) and also pelvic floor pain or what I call sitting pain if in mixed company or butt pain if I’m being more crass. This has gotten worse at an alarming rate. I can’t even sit in a recliner for very long without pain. I will be seeing a pain specialist on Monday. The doc I’ll be seeing is the guy who did the cortisone injections which were unsuccessful but there are many more options. I would appreciate prayer for this. I’m concerned because it seems like a complex issue with more than one thing going on at once. I need to trust that God knows exactly what’s going on and let Him do whatever He would like. My appointment is Monday.

Sleep has been terrible. My normal insomnia has been much worse since the surgery. I’ve read and heard that anesthesia can cause this but it’s been quite a while since the surgery.

Also regarding sleep–I’ve never really slept well my whole life and plan on doing a sleep lab/study at some point soon. I’m sure it’s not sleep apnea so I hope they can see something else that might be going on.

I’m very tired of all this though I’m aware it could be a whole lot worse. I’m so tired mentally and blog posts have been more sparse. At some point I plan on doing one to three posts on 1 Peter 1 which I did some of my own exegesis on. I’m about done reading Keener’s commentary on Revelation and love it. If I don’t do a review of it or any substantive posts I’ll at least type out some of my favorite quotes. Within the next couple of months I’ll be reviewing In Christ Alone which is a Reformation Trust blog for a book arrangement.

I often thank God for bringing this blog about and for all my blogging brothers and sisters. Thanks for reading, commenting and the writing you do on your blogs.

Here are some things I’ve collected on prayer and I thought I would list them here. Prayer is one of my top four subjects of interest so I’m always looking for good reading.

• Seven Principles of Prayer D. Broughton Knox at the BRIEFING
  HT: Between Two Worlds
• Prayer List by John Hendryx
• Prayers at Suffering Christians
• Results matching “Lord’s prayer” from Ligonier Ministries Blog (scroll down a ways for the posts on The Pattern of Prayer and then back up for The Practice of Prayer)
• Effective Prayer by Charles Spurgeon
• I’ve listed some books at the bottom of this review.
• Don’t forget the Puritan Prayers that are here.

This is new to me. When searching for a subject, the titles aren’t very helpful because there is no listing of the author or any type of description but maybe there will be some items of interest here. There are plenty of books and articles related to Christianity.