I Am Thankful For...

This week, I am thankful for:

1. Friends.

Friday evening I got together with three co-workers and we had an enjoyable evening playing Dutch Blitz. I am getting better at this game, and came in second place, and wasn't too far off from the winner. We had a lot of laughs, talked and ate some snacks.

Saturday, three different co-workers and I got together for supper. We had good food (I had the chicken teryaki (sp?) rice bowl, which was delicious), good conversation and more laughs.

2. The Northern Lights.

Normally when my co-workers and I get together, we don't stay out too late. However, Friday night we left M's place shortly after midnight. I happened to glance out into the distance (we were on the outskirts of the city) and saw what I thought was just the glow from the city lights. I kept looking as I didn't think they were the lights. I asked A if I was seeing the Northern Lights or not, and she said it was. A, D and I stood there a few moments watching. They weren't spectacular and bright, just kind of pale green - almost white. They did dance in the sky a little, shifting and changing.

I've been living here for eight months now, and this was my first time seeing the Northern Lights! I'm able to cross that off my bucket list - sort of. I did re-add it and tweak it a little to now read that I want to see a spectacular display of them.

3. Rain.

I'm thankful for the rain, because it wasn't snow. And, we also need it (the rain that is, not the snow).

Of course there is a lot more I'm thankful for, but it's late and I'm just going to keep this post short. I've had a cold these past few days, though it feels like it may be going away now (hopefully). Wednesday evening my nose got quite stuffy - the way it does when I get a cold; but I didn't feel sick, didn't feel like I had a cold. I felt fine the next day (my nose wasn't stuffy either), but by the end of the day my throat was getting sore. So, I ended up getting a cold afterall. The sore throat is gone now, thankfully, and I'm taking some cold pills and they are helping. Hopefully this cold doesn't last much longer.

What are you thankful for this week?

Not That Anyone Is Reading

For a short work week, it seemed to drag on. Tuesday and Wednesday flew by, but most of Thursday and all of Friday was slower than cold molasses going up the hill backwards. And I don't know why.

I'm thankful this week that my class was pretty well behaved - no problems or anything. I hope it keeps up!

I've been quite disciplined with my goal of reading the entire Bible in the rest of 2012. I've got 22 books completed now, and I'm just about half way through Proverbs. I may have said before that I'm focusing more on reading the shorter books first, that way it will (hopefully) give me the motivation by looking at my list and seeing so many check marks for what I've read. It might help me to keep on going - especially when I muddle through the longer books in the Old Testament.

I'm also keeping disciplined fairly well in other areas in my life, which is also a positive step forward. I'll talk about those things another time, however.

We've been  getting good weather lately, however Friday night and yesterday we got snow! It wasn't really a lot, but any amount in April is too much in my opinion. Today only reached +3C, but it was enough to melt a good portion of the white stuff.

Well, I'm just going to keep this short for now. Hopefully I can update with a much better post next time. I don't have a lot of news, and I haven't read or been inspired lately to write a good post. But, I did want to update my blog - not that anyone is reading, but that's OK.

Have a Christ-filled day!

Thirteen Down, Fifty Three To Go

The night before last I had a difficult time sleeping. I fell asleep around eleven, but woke up about an hour and a half later and couldn't get back to sleep. Thankfully, it's still Spring Break and I don't have to worry about having to get up early to go into work.

After lying there a few minutes, I decided to get up and read to see if that would help me become tired again (like it seems to do lately; I think I need my glasses changed/strengthened, but that's a story for another time). I chose to read my Bible, praying for God to speak to me through His words.

I don't think anything specifically spoke to me, but what I did decide/choose to do was to begin reading the Bible with the goal of finishing reading the whole thing by the end of 2012. Sure, I've missed the entire first three months of the year, but there is still plenty of time. And besides, just within the last month or two I finished reading a few of the shorter books (like 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Philippians, Colossians) as well as just finishing the book of Deuteronomy the other day. So, those will count as well since I finished reading them in 2012!

This is definitely a challenge in which one needs to be disciplined. Some of the books in the Bible aren't all that exciting - at least I don't think they are. I struggle to make it through the genealogies (even though genealogy is one of my hobbies), the book of Numbers, Lamentations, Hebrews...but I try to remember some advice my BFF told me she was given by her aunt one time. She said, "When you struggle to get through reading some of those books, remember that God is in the details."

That's pretty good advice - and so very true.

I should note that this attempt at reading the entire Bible is not one of meditation. It's reading. Yes, there will be times when I sit and meditate on something I read, but the exercise is to read it through. I've done this once before, in my early years as a Christian, and I know I can do it again. I've actually probably read the entire Bible more than once over the years, but I've not kept track or done it on purpose. This is a time that I want to read with the purpose of reading the whole thing from Genesis to Revelation.

Thirteen down (as of this post), 53 to go!

Have you ever read the entire Bible through? How long did it take you? Will you do it again?