Well, I mentioned in my last post that today was a work day. Part of the reason we are taking a full month is so that I can get some things done that I just can’t do during the course of normal life. So I have 10-14 days out of this month planned to work on two big projects.
Project One
The first one is an in-depth study of Philippians. Since I plan to teach through the letter later this year, I need to do a full translation and exegetical study before trying to write any messages.
Today I made it through the first 26 verses of chapter one. This covers the two introductory verses (1-2) and the first two major divisions of the letter (1:3-11 and 1:12-26). There are seven major divisions. So I have my translation and technical notes, using three exegetical sources. I hope to finish all seven divisions before we leave.
Project Two
My second project is even bigger. Although it hasn’t sold a ton of copies, I have published one book already. What you may not know is that I have started on a second one, too.
My number one passion is helping people understand the Bible, and I intend for all of my writings to accomplish that a little more. My first book was on the biblical teaching about marriage, divorce, and remarriage. My second (as of this point) will be a major work on spiritual gifts.
My goal is to tackle the individual gifts themselves, but also the biblical concept of spiritual gifts in general. And because they are such a big issue – and I am asked about them very frequently – I will have a special section on the gifts of tongues and prophecy.
Now, I’m under no illusion that I’ll get very far on this, but I do have some specific goals in mind for this one, too.
Minor Project
OK, so I said there are two. On a smaller scale, I also have several books that I plan to read and review while we’re here. One of the publishers for whom I review books uses a blog tour method. Basically, they ask us to post all of our reviews around the same time period to generate lots of buzz about certain books.
So the week of June 15-19 I’ll be posting reviews on three books from Waterbrook-Multnomah. I also have one from Thomas Nelson to review, as well as two or three others that have been on my reading list for quite a while.
Needless to say, I have a full month planned. But don’t worry – there is plenty of relaxing time as well. But who said reading isn’t relaxing?
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