Our church is just getting ready to start a 12-week series on the Book of Galatians.  Different people from our church will be tag-teaming on the teaching part of things... But we’re hoping to make this something more than a once-a-week sermon thing, too.  We’re asking our church’s life groups and communities to focus on studying Galatians during the fall, in addition to the stuff that we’re doing on Sunday afternoons.  And even beyond organized activities, we’re encouraging everyone in the church to be reading and studying and meditating on Galatians, individually.  The idea with all of this is that if we can approach things from this multi-level perspective, it will create a much richer learning environment.

But anyway -- one of the more unusual things that we've developed to support this particular series is to set up a Facebook discussion on-line, to allow for others to participate in -- or at least observe -- the teaching process, even as it’s unfolding.  It's supposed to be a sort of "open source" approach to biblical teaching.  We've never done it before, so I'm honestly not sure how it's going to work out (or if it's going to work out at all)... It's certainly different than how the Apostle Paul did things way back in the day!

At any rate, the discussion is open to anyone.  You don't have to be a member of our church community to participate -- and you don't even have to have a Facebook account.  You can just go to http://www.facebook.com/amsterdam50, and join in from there.  I'd be curious to hear if anyone has any experience with "open source teaching," like this -- and if any advice could be offered for how to best avoid pitfalls and maximize the educational benefits of such an approach to Scripture...

I'm officially half-way through my Proverbs 365 project!  For the past six months, I've been taking a Proverb for each day of the year and then considering it and applying it for 21st Century living. Continuing my monthly tradition, I'm highlighting three of my personal favorites from the past month (and hopefully, in so doing, encourage some cross-over readership!):

I've been submitting a number of my Proverbs 365 entries to the fiction critique group to which I belong.  And up to this point, one of their favorites has been P2815 - Papa Bear, a short story about a powerful dictator, a secret agent, and exploration of the subtle motivations behind tyranny.  The story, of course, is inspired by one of the Proverbs -- Proverbs 28:15, to be specific -- in which it says, "Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked man ruling over a helpless people." The story ends with something of a twist, but you'll have to go and read it if you want to find out what it is...

On a more personal note, I deal with some of my own issues of gluttony, greed, and social awkwardness in P2301 - Chastised Over Cheesecake.  I was reflecting on Proverbs 23:1-3, where it says, "When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what (or who) is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony.  Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive." And as I considered it, I was reminded of the time that I almost blew my relationship with the love of my life... over a piece of cheesecake.  Fortunately, we were able to recover from "The Cheesecake Incident" and even get to a point where we can laugh about it.  But it was definitely a learning experience...

Thirdly, I wonder:  How many of us have ever thought that we're never really ready to be "grown-ups?"  Personally, I can feel like this all the time!  It's hard to live with "grown-up" responsibilities.  It can feel really, really sad and lonely.  Not too long ago, I was reminded of this while watching the film "Mary Poppins" (of all things) -- and the film actually brought me to the point of tears!  But then, by God's grace, I found myself reading Proverbs 18:10 the very next day, where it says, "The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe." Meditating upon this Proverb, I came up with a post entitled P1810 - What to Do When You're Mr. Banks.  To me, it's brought a lot of comfort; maybe the same would be true for you, too...

For a more comprehensive listing of June's content, here are the titles of all 30 entries, along with direct links to the rest of the content.

• P108 - Family Heirlooms
• P209 - Righteousness, Justice, and Fairness
• P311 - Don't Resent the Rebuke
• P417 - Another Kind of Bread and Wine
• P518 - Hot, Passionate, Mind-Blowing, Biblical Sex
• P618 - Fabulous Fab and the Rest of Us
• P721 - Persuasive Words and Smooth Talk
• P802 - The Lady of Schiphol
• P906 - The Road out of Rijeka
• P1022 - All Yin, No Yang
• P1126 - Lessons from the Long Winter
• P1223 - Escaping the Aura of Egghead Eric
• P1313 - Considerations for Hiring, Appointing, and Enrolling
• P1404 - The Hard Work of Farming
• P1503 - Eyes Everywhere
• P1631 - Faith for the Middle-Aged
• P1728 - Internal Dialogue
• P1810 - What to Do When You're Mr. Banks
• P1902 - The Pace of the Proverbs
• P2018 - Seeking Advice
• P2104 - What's the Big Deal with Pride?
• P2207 - The Return to Indentured Servitude
• P2301 - Chastised Over Cheesecake
• P2427 - First Things First
• P2528 - Preventing Ourselves from Doing Things We Want to Do
• P2616 - The Problems of Haiti
• P2717 - Sharpening Experiences
• P2815 - Papa Bear
• P2915 - A Child Left to Himself
• P3015 - Insidious Insatiability

I've got to be honest:  at this point, the Proverbs 365 project is feeling kind of heavy.  Day after day of reading, meditating, and writing has started to catch up to me -- especially as other circumstances in my life become more time-consuming and stress-inducing.  But I am determined to press onward.  I'm half-way there!  Please know that your participation, feedback, and encouragement is greatly appreciated throughout the process.  I'm still working on July's posts -- but so far, it's looking like it'll be a pretty good month.  Check it out for yourself at http://proverbs365.ericasp.com. Please feel free to spread the word, too... One of the distinct advantages of the Proverbs is that it's easy to tune into them, whenever one might so choose. It's not like if you missed the first six months, then you're "behind" or anything like that. The Proverbs are just like these little power pellets that can be consumed and digested immediately. It's never too late to start enjoying them!

I'm not much into astronomy, but I was recently visiting the Huis Marseille -- a photography museum here in Amsterdam -- and I was absolutely blown away by an image of extremely distant stars and galaxies, as captured by the Hubble space telescope.  Take a look at the vivid color and intricate natural design in the photograph below:

And now, read the write-up of the image, as copied from the placard that accompanied the image at the museum:

Ultra Deep Field image of 10,000 galaxies in the Fornax constellation, a composite of 800 images taken between 24 September 2003 and 16 January 2004.  For these images, the telescope was pointed towards a relatively empty part of the sky.  After an exposure time of a million seconds (more than 277 hours), the space there proved not to be empty at all, but to be littered with distant (deep) galaxies.  -- Released 9 March 2004

If you want to be even more deeply impressed by this Ultra Deep Field, click here for a full-size (3100 x 3120 pixels) copy of this image.  It's absolutely incredible to see the beauty and complexity of our universe -- especially considering that this is a part of the night sky that would naturally appear to be "empty" to the human eye!

To me, it feels like a call to worship:  a graphic demonstration of Psalm 19:1, where it says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." Glory, indeed... Glory appears to be an understatement.

I've now completed the fifth month of my Proverbs 365 project: taking a Proverb for each day of the year and then considering it and applying it for 21st Century living. Continuing my monthly tradition, I'm highlighting three of my personal favorites from the past month (and hopefully, in so doing, encourage some cross-over readership!):

One of the past month's entries was especially helpful for me in working out some of the thoughts that I've been having recently, upon observing political processes both in the Netherlands and in the United States.  Honestly, I think a lot of people need to be challenged by Proverbs 24:21, where it says, "Fear the LORD and the king, my son, and do not join with the rebellious, for those two will send sudden destruction upon them, and who knows what calamities they can bring?" If you've ever said that you "hate" Barack Obama, or George W. Bush, or Geert Wilders, or Job Cohen, I would challenge you to read some of my interaction with this challenging biblical text at P2421 - Reprimand of Rebellion...

On an entirely different note, my post from the 21st of May, P2122 - The Old-Timers Versus the Young Bucks, combines three of my favorite things:  basketball, "armchair sociology," and biblical wisdom.  The post is based on Proverbs 21:22, where it is written:  "A wise man attacks the city of the mighty and pulls down the stronghold in which they trust." Since I don't have much experience in actual warfare -- I translated the concepts into the "warfare" of male egos, as demonstrated in countless YMCAs, recreation centers, and outdoor basketball courts around the world.  And honestly, it's pretty amazing how accurately pick-up basketball can illustrate the truth of this Proverb...

And thirdly, I might recommend a reading of P834 - Expectation, which attempts to illuminate Proverbs 8:34 from a more creative angle -- the story of an old man sitting in a diner and waiting for a mystery companion.  The Proverb itself says, "Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway." But instead of taking this at the figurative, symbolic level (talking about biblical wisdom), I tried working this out in a more literal sense.  What might it look like -- what might it feel like -- to be waiting at a doorway, watching daily for God's wisdom?  The result of this creative writing project helped me to get a better grasp on the Proverb; maybe it would be the same for you, too...

For a more comprehensive listing of May's content, here are the titles of all 31 entries, along with direct links to the rest of the content.

• P123 - The Guru's Rebuke
• P201 - Receiving Position
• P309 - Firstfruits
• P402 - Old-School is not Always Bad-School
• P505 - A Matter of Life and Death
• P617c - A Christian Apologetic for the Pro-Life Political Position
• P703 - 21st Century Tefillin
• P834 - Expectation
• P905 - Learning to Feast
• P1026 - Passive Aggression
• P1102 - Reality Check
• P1218 - Wounding Effect or Healing Effect
• P1314 - The Place for Preaching
• P1427 - Fountains of Life
• P1523 - Better than "The Editor"
• P1602 - A Question of Innocence
• P1708 - To Bribe or Not to Bribe
• P1814 - The Casualties of a Crushed Spirit
• P1909 - Worse than Homelessness
• P2009 - The Writing in the Dust
• P2122 - The Old-Timers Versus the Young Bucks
• P2201 - The Most Desirable Things
• P2305 - Money Grows Wings
• P2421 - Reprimand of Rebellion
• P2504 - How to Remove the Dross from Our Lives
• P2608 - About Slingshots
• P2705 - Open Rebuke > Hidden Love
• P2811 - Seeing Right Through Each Other
• P2926 - Issues with Authority Figures
• P3002 - Good-for-Nothing Oracle
• P3120 - Merciful Mogul

June promises to be another great month -- so check it out for yourself at http://proverbs365.ericasp.com.  Please feel free to spread the word, too... One of the distinct advantages of the Proverbs is that it's easy to tune into them, whenever one might so choose. It's not like if you missed the first five months, then you're "behind" or anything like that. The Proverbs are just like these little power pellets that can be consumed and digested immediately.  It's never too late to start enjoying them!

Link: http://proverbs365.ericasp.com/

It was bound to happen one of these days... And it turns out that yesterday was the day.  My Proverbs 365 project has now surpassed this blog (Amsterdam Asp) in readership.  I'm not necessarily presuming that it's permanent (yesterday also happened to have lower-than-average readership for this blog), but it's been building in that direction for the last couple of months -- and I'm actually kind of excited to see that it's happened now.  Just four months following its inception, it's now going and growing strong.

What can I say?  I enjoy the statistical side of blogging almost as much as the artistic (writing) side of things.  To me, the development of the Proverbs 365 project has shown that daily blogging with a highly-specific focus creates for increased internet presence.  And, if I do say so myself, I think it also happens to be a worthwhile project.

Have you visited Proverbs 365 lately?  The statistics suggest that there are more strangers visiting than Amsterdam Asp readers.  So maybe you need to be encouraged to check it out for yourself.  Consider yourself encouraged :-)