I just put the finishing touches on my Historical Biography of Jonah paper.  It was supposed to be 15-25 pages, and it weighed in at 28.  I was also hoping to finish it on July 23, and right now it’s technically July 29.  It’s not due until Monday, but I start RD Retreat that day and was hoping to finish my other 15-25 page paper by Monday, too.  It looks like I’ll have to start it this weekend and continue working on it after RD Retreat and before RA Retreat.  Hopefully I can finish by the August 7 deadline.  I’m not looking for pity.  Studying the historical context of Jonah was absolutely fascinating, and I’m looking forward to digging into Deuteronomy 6:6-9 later this morning after getting some rest.

With August fast approaching, I don’t know how much time I’ll have for blogging.  At the same time, I learn so much during this busy month that it has to spill over somewhere.  To let it overflow in public writing is one of the most profitable ways to let it out, in my opinion.  There are other ways, but this can be a good one, too.  I’ll wait and see how the Lord leads.

Sometimes I sense that this blog has grown less encouraging and more trivial.  That certainly hasn’t been my goal, but I think that the intensity and depth of the posts has started to pale.  If that’s true, I sincerely hope to reverse it.  Every day there are new post-titles that spring up in my head, but I haven’t been faithful to meditate on them and write them out.  I’ll try to do that more often, not because I believe that anyone out there is hanging on my every word, but because I do think that there are a few out there who can be encouraged from day to day in the same way that I’m encouraged by some of the blogs I visit regularly.

For now, I’ll leave you with words far better than my own.  These are the words that I’ll be spending a lot of time with over the weekend.  It is my earnest hope that these words are what will characterize my family as well as the local covenant communities that we get to be a part of throughout our lifetime.  Certainly the words of God are more precious than gold.  If you have them and understand them, you are richer than you know.

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates (Deuteronomy 6:6-9).