http://www.crossway.org/blog/2012/01/4-reasons-were-excited-about-the-single-column-legacy-bible/

As for how things are working out during the week, my wife and I read all of the content on a regular basis. Also, despite our hectic week, we were able to make time and sit down and discuss what we had read separately. We have done this in the past but had gotten away from the habit. Also, I have some ideas about reading from this specific NIV Daily Bible and highlighting in it, and then doing some comparisons with other translation and commentaries later on. Still sorting out how this will work in practice, but I will probably try a variety of study techniques. I’ve got one other Bible related thing, but I think I’ll make a dedicated post for it.

I rarely mark in books, and if I do it is usually in pencil so that I can erase it. Our Sunday school class passed out a cheap yearly NIV Daily Bible for us to read this year. I’ve decided to start highlighting in it and the margins look wide enough to make small notes. The fact that this is a paperback, disposable Bible has helped me clear the mental hurdle in order to be willing to write in it. Basically I am approaching this as a workbook, with my regular Bibles still holding their normal place. Some of you may laugh but this is a very difficult thing for me to do, because the highlighter can never be removed and is permanent! The only major drawback I see so far is that the pages are so thin that the highlighter warps the paper a bit. I have tried to press down very lightly and it seems to help.

One of my strategies for Bible study in this fashion is to highlight points of interest in the text. I plan on taking an hour or two on Saturdays to reference highlighted portions in my commentaries in preparation for discussion on Sunday morning. I’m not sure how this plan will work out but it seems like a good starting point. I am very excited that all of our dozens of Sunday school members have one of these Bibles now. In a conversation last year it was quickly realized that only a small percentage of the class had ever read a significant portion of the Bible, much less all of it. I believe that biblical illiteracy is one of the major plagues of the modern church and I can’t relate how excited I am at the prospect of rectifying this situation in my own faith community. I’ll post updates on this method of Bible study as the year progresses.

I have been eyeing this theme for a few months now, and I have really enjoyed the dark grey background on my photoblog. I am switching over to this background color here to enhance the photos that I will be posting. I also like the way the sidebars and footers are situated. Please provide feedback on the utility, etc. with the new theme and layout.

By the way, this image was taken with a new lens that I got for Christmas. It’s extremely small and lightweight and I hope to take my camera with me more often with the new smaller size of my camera combination. This is the sunset from the first night I had the lens and I wanted to inaugurate the occasion.

For 2012, I will be starting an intentional effort to read the Bible in it’s entirety. It’s been a while since I’ve done this, and I imagine this will lead to a return of my blogging about religious topics in the coming year. My photography will continue to be a major theme of my free time, and I am debating how much of it to post on my school’s photo blog versus posting photography related things here on my personal blog.

I would really like to make a more concerted effort to blog on a daily or regular basis. If anyone has any suggestions, I could use some motivational speeches right about now. God bless and I hope everyone’s 2012 will go as well as my 2011 has gone.

Nirvana – MTV Unplugged In NY

Rage Against the Machine – Rage Against the Machine

Counting Crows – August and Everything After

Weezer – The Blue Album

The Crystal Method – Vegas

Primus – Tales from the Punchbowl

Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral

Interpol – Antics

mewithoutYou – Catch for Us the Foxes

Daft Punk – Alive 2007

…and finally the most influential from this year:

Skrillex – Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites EP

Bryan also had a post about Favorite 3 Songs, where I mentioned Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. I forgot to mention my favorite song of all time because I couldn’t think of it when I originally commented. It’s pure perfection, and in my mind music doesn’t get much purer than this:

Thom Yorke – The Clock

This leaves my spiritual growth somewhat lacking. To be honest I don’t really share my spirituality with anyone. Church on Sunday is pretty set in stone with very little time for interacting with people one on one. My wife and I would spend more time together on this if we weren’t so drained and exhausted in the evenings. Anyways, if you are the praying type, we could use some spiritual energy right now. It is well with my soul, but just a bit weary.

There is impending frost tonight and tomorrow so we had to gather our fall crops before sunset this evening. The tomatoes are mostly still green but hopefully they will ripen indoors. I had a nice collection of jalapenos considering how many of them I have used the past couple of months. I think Amanda and I canned three or four gallons of salsa this year and it has been a fun experience all by itself. I think what I will miss the most is the okra. I had one plant that produced enough okra to fry up a batch every two weeks and next year I’m going to plant a dozen or more.

Apparently this is my first blog post about travel (as far as categories go). I think at this stage in life, where I have young children, that travel is pretty limited. Perhaps when they are older or out of the house we will have some time to see the world. I was able to travel a lot in high school and college, to the point that I quit traveling because I was tired of it. I think the travel bug has finally returned though, and it is now a matter of time before I have the opportunity to see some new things.