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I said that throughout our Bible Exploration I would probably share some tips to keep us all on track and moving forward. Even though we don’t start until tomorrow I wanted to offer something that I find very helpful.

Tip: Write down the passages for the week.

And then keep it in the bible that you are using for the the years reading. Or keep it in your jacket pocket or purse or whatever you may have with you everywhere you go. As you read each passage cross it out. This way you will always know right where you are know…matter where you are.

You can use and index card like pictured. You can write it in your notebook that you will be writing in throughout this process. Or type it up and print it, which is the one I will probably do in the future.

To help all of us out, I will post the coming weeks passages right here each Sunday. This way you can print it or copy it but at least we will all be on the same page. Below is our reading for this week.

Daily Bible Reading for 1/1/08 to 1/6/08

Happy Reading!

Most people don’t realize that my cat Azha actually has a sweet side. She she could never be classified as a lap cat but here she is all cute as my laptop cat. You can click the thumbnail for a larger image.

That’s right and I am extremely excited about it. If you plan on being a part of the group doing this with me be sure to let me know.

As promised, here are my favorite 12 posts from Kevin. No, I will not throw in the gimmicked 13th post.

1. Stay the course - One ship drives east and another drives west/ With the selfsame winds that flow./ ‘Tis the set of sails and not the gales/ Which tells us the way to go. –Ella Wheeler Wilcox
2. When Christians Attack - Not only is it stupid, it’s counter-productive.
3. Let’s Play Pretend - …
4. The Miracle of Community - Truthfully, I believe that if we start cultivating this one the rest will follow.
5. The Discovery Channel - The Lost Tomb of Jesus - Or, How much bad information can we put into one show.
6. Way of the Master vs. The Rational Response Squad: Round 1 - Some of you may be aware of the friendly and yet poor debate that we had with self-proclaimed historian Rook Hawkins. Well, this is the post that started it all although Rook didn’t comment until here.
7. On “Proving” God’s Existence - Kevin tackles the big question…Can Science prove the existence of God? No. But read the post to see why.
8. What the Church Can Learn From… An Abandoned House - My favorite line, “It’s amazing how quickly a beautiful house can turn into an eyesore when people stop living there.” How many Christians and ministries decay because “people stop living there”?
9. Church Membership? pt 1 - This definitely breeds a “be served” rather than “be  a servant” attitude.
10. The Rantin’ Remnant - These people are everywhere. They say “they want a revolution” but really they’re just “waiting on the world to change.”
11. It’s Boycott Time Again! - We expect unbelievers to act like Christians when most of us Christians don’t even act like Christ. I think we should boycott ignorance.
12. Ministry Time Doesn’t Equal Personal Time - I am reminded of this in every trial I face.

There you have it. These are my favorite 12 posts by the amazing writing of Kevin Dwight Stover over the past 12 months. I suspect he will have some even better posts in the year to come, although I don’t know how that would be possible.

In Kevin’s attempt to out do my My favorite 12 posts written by me post, he accidentally added a post that was written by him. It appears that after writing over 180 posts Kevin can no longer tell my posts from his own. I’m ok with that since he is much smarter than I am.

Tomorrow I will post my favorite 12 posts written by Kevin. I promise that they will all actually be written by him.

I know it seems a bit strange to post a list of my own posts but if I don’t…who will? As I said yesterday, we have now been blogging for one solid year and a lot has happened and some of it has made it to this blog. Here are my top 12 posts that I have written over the past year. Most of these are on the list because they were responses to life circumstances. I hop you enjoy.

1. Darkness Falls - Everyone sees spiritual parallels in the Matrix but God talk to me through horror movies.
2. New denominations for the 21st century - Why I hate labels.
3. 5 Characteristics of Highly Critical People - I have met my fair share and sadly used to be a card carrying member.
4. God is F@&$ing Awesome! - I just like saying it. I would actually like to hear more people express themselves to God that honestly.
5. Do Less for More. - I am still learning that LifePoint is not called to do everything.
6. Haircuts and Quiet Time with God - What my hair stylist must think of me. That’s right, I said stylist!
7. Are you the one? I’m not. - And still ain’t.
8. Everything isn’t “High Priority” - But you wouldn’t know it watching me stress out.
9. Fashion Jewelry Christianity - This post was me for so long and my desire to is to lead people out of this mindset.
10. There goes the neighborhood - What you do with your house says a lot about your view of the neighborhood.
11. Your log, their speck, my opinion - Careful…the splinters are flying.
12. Tent City and Delayed Reactions -What would it be like if we cared before it became an issue?

So there you have it, my top 12. I have written 250 of the 430 posts in the past year so you can imagine the amount of garbage I had to sort through to find these 12. ;) Which ones are your favorite?

Today our blog turns 1 year old. If someone told me then that we would have written so much over the last 12 months I wouldn’t have believed it. Where would we find the time? I’m not sure where it came from but we definitely found the time.

Since this day last year we have written 430 posts, received 292 comments, made dozens of new friends and even a few ministry partners.

This week, in honor of our 1 year of consistent and continued blogging, I will be posting the best of Verge. This will be a smorgasbord my favorite posts and happenings of the year. I am sure Kevin will chime in as well with a few favorites of his own.

To get us started here are the top 12 strangest search terms used to find this blog, in no particular order.

1. fighting fundamentalist – LLEETT’SS GGEETT RREEAADDYY TTOO RRRRRRRRRUMBLE!
2. rook hawkins credentials – The reason this one is so funny, especially if you have been following some of our friendly debate, is that he has none.
3. cheap way to hang” – I know how this term found us but we were talking about signs. I don’t know what these people were looking for.
4. adult study on life of apostle Paul – What exactly is an “Adult” study and do we really want to involve the Apostle Paul.
5. aim lower get a cup of coffee – They must have meant non-Starbucks coffee.
6. driving subconsciously – Perhaps this is a missing gift of the Spirit.
7. forced or punishment haircuts – Let is never be said that LifePoint doesn’t believe in church discipline.
8. how to irritate pastor – I just hope this wasn’t a LifePointer searching for this term.
9. scary looking people – Look no further, you found us.
10. lifepoint cult - Shhh. You’ll blow our cover.
11. what is happening when a person is coughing up blood – Any number of things all of which you should see a doctor about.
12. white christians attack – This Spring on Fox.

There you have it. Tomorrow I will showcase what have come to be my favorite posts that I have written in the past year.

Merry Christmas to all of our readers. Other than this post I will not be posting until after Christmas. December 26th marks the 1 year anniversary of the verge blog and I will be posting some highlights starting then and through the end of the year.

It has been a great year and I can’t even express how excited I am at what is to come in 2008.

Once again, Merry Christmas and I will see you soon.

Tip #5 – Keep a record of your thoughts as you read.

So let’s flash forward 6 months. Are you going to remember that really cool revelation that you had back in Exodus? Perhaps, but for every neat thing you remember you will forget 5 others. Keeping a journal of some sort ensures that you will be able to recall that neat thought at a later time. Here are some ideas to help you keep track of those thoughts.

1. Keep a specific notebook just for this reading plan. Write everything in the order that you are reading and you will always be able to close in on those once profound ideas.
2. If using YouVersion.com then type your thoughts in the Journal tab or privately in the My Version tab. Better yet, post it publicly in the My Version tab and allow others to benefit from your findings.
3. If you decide to use E-Sword you can use their built in notes section. These notes can be linked directly to a particular verse or in a general list of notes.

It really doesn’t matter how you decide to take notes just that you do it. Another point to this is not to take thorough notes but to write down general observations as you go. If you try to make your notes to in depth you will actually stifle your reading time. Keep them brief.

That is all there is for now. I may share some more tips throughout the year to keep us improving our reading skills but this should get us started. Are you ready? Be sure to let me know if you will be joining me in this Bible Exploration.

I know we all have our opinions on the war in Iraq but this letter has to make you think, there is always more to the story than we are being told.

The place I work received this thank you letter (click the image to enlarge) after we had sent a care package to some of our troops stationed in Iraq. It’s always interesting to me when I hear the news and the subsegment polls that follow about the war and the failure that it is and then read a letter like this from someone who is actually there.

It’s just something to think about.