Bible Study progress

I haven't said anything about my Bible study for a while. So I will take this morning to update whoever might be curious.

First off: Never be concerned or ask yourself, "Did he stop his Bible study?" This pattern has become so tremendously engrained in me that I could not imagine starting my day any other way. I started this method of Bible study around the time son#2 was born and he will turn 30 next month. Granted, I stopped doing it for a very few years; and granted, even when I was doing it I was not quite as regular as I am now. But since getting back into it, I find it has become as linked with my mornings as getting dressed (which I pretty much always do!).

So I finished the book of Joshua last week, on Thursday. And started on Romans the next morning, Friday the 13th. It's always kind of a mildly momentous day for me when I finish one book of the Bible and start on the next. It means switching from OT to NT or vice-versa. And I always mention it to bw; although I'm not certain that she recognizes any significance to the event. And I'm even less certain that I could explain the significance if she were to ask.

But the real reason (I suppose) that I'm writing about it today is that today I finished chapter 5 and did the first half of chapter 6. Now chapter 6 of Romans holds special significance for me: It was the first chapter I memorized. When we lived in Billings, I started memorizing it (in the NAS translation). But I got bogged down because the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs start out so similarly. (Granted: That's just an excuse.) Then after I got the NIV translation (not that the particular translation gave extra motivation; instead it made it more difficult), I started memorizing it again. This time there were parts that were easy to recall because they were the same as in the NAS; but there were other phrases that were very difficult because they were slightly different and my brain had to re-program. Well, that effort stalled after a while again.

Then in about 1989, I finally succeeded in memorizing the whole chapter. We were living in Tecate, Mexico, and I commuted to LA every week to work. I was facing some specially difficult and intense spiritual battles (and not doing so great on that score). So I dug back into Romans 6: "What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?" Do you see how it relates? Well this time, the combination of having worked on the first portion previously added to the fact of my desperation to see some spiritual victory(ies), I had that chapter down pat very quickly. It helped that when I was in LA, I was staying at a house about 3/4 mile from my work and generally I walked from one to the other (right alongside MacArthur Park, but that's another story). I mention that because as I walked from home to work and back, I would quote the chapter out loud. Well, in LA--especially in that area--you can walk along the street, talking to yourself (which is what it looked like when I was quoting Romans 6) and even gesturing vehelmently (which I did as pnemonic devices), and no one even notices that you're doing this. The person who does these things is just another pedestrian. So I was just fitting in each evening and each morning (I worked through the night) as I walked to and from work, quoting Romans 6 out loud and gesturing with big gestures to help me remember each section. Finally, the day came when I had the entire chapter memorized. It had taken almost 2 full weeks.

In the years since then, I have gone back a few times to review and refresh my memory. But meanwhile, I have gone on to other chapters and memorized them (the most recent being Psalm 51).

So, it was a special event for me this morning to get back into Romans 6--in the NIV. I've done it in my Bible study in other translations/paraphrases. But this time I'm doing my Bible study in the NIV. So it was especially enjoyable to work through it again. I stopped half-way through the chapter, just because of other factors that don't enter in here. But that means I get to look forward to doing the last half of the chapter tomorrow!

Well, that's where I'm at these days. Thanks for reading.........