Reflections
Dear RTB’ers,
No scheduled reading today. Evidently STS is set for 365 days and February 29 this year claimed one of those days. So today we reflect on 2024.
Thus far we’ve read one Gospel (Luke); Acts; nine epistles (I and II Thessalonians, Galatians, Romans, I and II Corinthians, I and II Timothy, and Titus); five Old Testament books (Genesis, Exodus, Amos, Hosea, and Micah); and 41 Psalms. We’ve averaged about 25 verses per day; that average will go up in the next two years as we read longer sections. We’ve been largely chronological in our readings in the Old and New Testaments (separately), but not totally so. And we’re one-third of the way through our companion book, Search the Scriptures.
We added about a dozen new RTB’ers in 2024, people who had never done RTB with us before. Not everyone who joins on January 1 stays through the year, but at least they begin a Bible reading process. Hopefully we’ll get some more newcomers in 2025. I’d encourage you to reach out to your friends and fellow parishioners. Daily Bible reading is a good spiritual discipline to encourage. You’ll never know what a blessing you might be to that one other person.
And as to that one other person… Years ago I met a young 6- or 7-year-old boy (Josef, aka Joseph, Pepe, and “Noname”) who had started attending Mark Bruner’s “English Camp” in the Czech Republic. We grew closer over the next few years as Carol and I helped with the Camp. That young boy is now a college student in his late-teens or early-20s and we’re still in contact, albeit erratically throughout the years. Carol and I met him for coffee this past October and I challenged him to read through the Gospels with me in 2025. He accepted – I just now got his affirmative reply that he’ll read with me every day. I’m excited for him and for me!! It never hurts to ask!
Have a blessed New Year’s Eve!!
Blessings!