Jon C. Swanson's Blog, page 314

A prayer for Friday morning

First published February 6, 2009

Father God,

It’s the end of the week. But I haven’t gotten everything done that I would have liked to get done. I have gotten done things that I probably shouldn’t have.

I think that Jesus never felt like this on Friday.

I think that when he got to the end of a week, as he prepared for the Sabbath to start, he thought “I did what I needed to do.”

Why could he think that and I don’t?

I mean, there were people who weren’t healed. In fact, the number of people that he...

Revisiting “A Great Work”

I wrote a book last year about Nehemiah. It’s called A Great Work: A Conversation With Nehemiah For People (Who Want To Be) Doing Great Works. Some of you have seen it and have even read it. I am very grateful to you.

I haven’t talked about it for awhile but I wanted to give you an update.

Back in February, a few people read it together.Right now, a bunch of people at a church in Michigan are starting to study it together. And others have shared it with friends and family members. I’m grateful...

a couple answers

I often ask questions that I have not yet answered. Monday’s post asked two such questions, about Spartan races and ninety days.

As I thought about the Spartan question, I realized that the extreme experiences created in this country are often everyday life in others. For example, traveling three or more miles under barbed wire, through mud, and over obstacles can get you a finishers medal in a Spartan sprint, or it can keep you alive in parts of Africa.
Trying to figure out spiritual Spartan e...

Consider the birds

Our backyard was a bird sanctuary on Sunday afternoon.

Our city is a commuter stop for rose-breasted grosbeaks. Our yard was hosting a few. Our goldfinch regulars have just turn gold for the summer and were enjoying the brightness. The sapsucker was working its way down the oak tree. The sparrows were trying to make up in motion what they lacked in color.



It was a perfect show. And Nancy wasn’t home. She was working her own show, helping at the Spring concert of a couple hundred members of the...

What do you need from the next ninety days?

“What would be a spiritual Spartan Race?”

That was the question I asked a group of 18-24 year olds Sunday morning. We had been taking the previous week about Spartan races and tough mudders. They are obstacle races through mud, past barbed wire, across logs. They demand teamwork and endurance and preparation and work. A couple people from our group have done them. And I wondered, “What would be a Spartan race for people following Jesus?”

After we talked about that for awhile, I asked “What do y...

Why variety

We love variety. Maybe it’s a first-world thing – I know that my friends in rural Kenya do not suffer from quite the addiction to variety that I seem to have. However, I know that God loves variety as well. Think about it – He created seasons. The perfect spring day is so vastly different than a day in the the dark depths of winter. His creation reflects variety in so many ways. Flowers alone have such a vast assortment of textures and colors that gardeners (and observers of their art) never...

Thinking about a fading fire.

This is the last post of a series on how I write about the Bible.

In his letter to Timothy, Paul tells Timothy that he misses him. He affirms Timothy’s faith heritage. Then, because he is confident of Timothy’s faith, Paul says, “I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands”.

When I read this, I wanted to understand the image. Was Timothy loafing? Was Paul concerned that Timothy was complacent, that he was coasting? Was Timothy being too pass...

Mark and Paul and Luke and Timothy

The other day, I said that part of how I write stories from the Bible is by looking at the context of the text. And in the post last week about Paul and Timothy, I connected the “spirit of timidity” with the story of Jesus and the disciples in the boat (see yesterday’s post). So what makes me think that Paul and Timothy might have heard that story from Mark? Since I don’t know for sure. And, while we’re at it, how did I put Paul and Timothy and Mark by a campfire?

As I was looking at the text...

A reflection on timidity.

(Part 2 of a series on how I write about the Bible, looking at a story about Paul and Timothy.)

I always smiled when I read Paul telling Timothy that “God did not give us a spirit of timidity.” I thought it was delightful wordplay from a guy often accused of being intense. So I looked at the word. It’s deilia. Which means that it is not a pun at all. Deilia sounds nothing like Timotheos.

But I looked at deilia in Vine’s. It turns out that the word Paul uses to describe the kind of spirit that G...

How I write about the Bible

Last week, I shared a bit of a letter from Paul to Timothy. Because the post had some story-telling that isn’t seen in the actual letter of 2 Timothy, I decided to let you see how I go about doing that kind of writing. This post is the first of several that will walk through the study. Some will be longer than 300 words. I apologize in advance.

+++

I was working on a study on self-management for a Church Administration course I’m developing. I decided to use 2 Timothy. It’s a letter from a ment...