Free Bible Study

If you want access to a free Bible study series I (Sandi) wrote that you can use with SPS, you can find one at bible.org, (a great place to get such resources). The topic is: Your Worth in Christ, and it explores how precious you are to God. Here are the topics and links:

Defaced But Not Erased (Lesson 1)
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made (Lesson 2)
Adopted as God’s Child (Lesson 3)
Disciplined as God’s Child (Lesson 4)
Restored and Rejoiced Over as God’s Child (Lesson 5)
Justified, Sanctified, and Headed for Glory (Lesson 6)
Broken but Usable For His Glory (Lesson 7)

Black History Month

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Black History Month.

So tell about an African American who has influenced you.

My pick is Sojourner Truth. I love her famous "Ain't I a Woman?" speech.

At the time people were saying God made women for protecting. That He made them weak. That He meant for them to be honored. Yet what they often really thought was that He made white women for such treatment. Consider Sojourner's words:

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen them most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

I'll have the Word with a side of...

My small group is going through Donald Miller's "Blue Like Jazz". In chapter four, he tells the story of how his friend, Penny, became a Christian. Penny started reading the Bible with her Christian friend, Nadine.

"Yes. We would eat chocolates and smoke cigarettes and read the Bible, which is the only way to do it, if you ask me. Don, the Bible is so good with chocolate. I always thought the Bible was more of a salad thing, you know, but it isn't. It is a chocolate thing."

The current online SPS group is going through Proverbs. In one of their recent IM chats someone said,

"Well ladies I must say this is the most unique context in which I've done Bible study...sitting in bed, with my laptop, 2 dogs, and a husband who just brought me a glass of wine."

My Bible goes well with a superb coffee crumb cake and a smooth cappuccino. It's easy to manage and taken in with small bites slowly over what seems like an endless amount of time. It has a constant underlying sweetness with mements of bitter.

So, what does your Bible go good with?

Rivers and Tides

Excellence in Creativity

Take some music, add four guys a bunch of treatmills and some innovative choreography. Voila! What do you have? Some serious creativity. If you haven't already, check this out. My favorite part is when they look like they're skating. Yours?

Imitation maybe a sincere form of flattery, but it sometimes just doesn't measure up. On the other hand, sometimes the imitation even includes some improvements.