That's a great question - I'm glad you asked 😬
Now remember, there is no homework for The Journey - no books to buy, nothing to read ahead of time, no "reflection questions" to fill out. So you don't even have to read the passage ahead of time. But in case you want to follow along, I will be posting the passages that we'll be looking at every week. I can't guarantee I'll post them too much ahead of time, but I will post them before we start each Saturday.
The base text I'm starting with is the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), but I will also regularly consult the New Revised Standard (NRSV), the New American Standard Bible (NASB), and when I'm in the mood to go old-school, the Douay-Rheims. But at the end of the day, I am able to translate the text myself from the Greek and Latin (and sometimes I will consult the Latin version), so the final text we read will be my own best-of version, which will take into account what the Original Christians were thinking when they read it....
Dear friends - Please take 10 minutes to watch this personal update from me:
I mentioned in The Journey that I wrote a song based on Isaiah 2, which is one of my favorite OT passages:
In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest mountain, and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it. Many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations, and set terms for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
I hope you like the song!
The problem with us men is that often we don't have the wisdom to be a father until we're a grandfather.
This may sounds like some ironic statement that makes you nod your head in agreement but shrug your shoulders in resignation, thinking, well there's nothing we can do about that. But the practical application of that is that it demonstrates how important it is for kids to grow up around their grandparents. But as in our culture the family becomes ever more fractured and spread out, that is harder and harder to do.
Lately I've been thinking that part of the problem is the whole concept of college. It used to be that everyone thought a person had to go to college to make a good living. Not only is that not the case (truck drivers make more money than I do) but now college has gone from useless to actually ruining our kids. But when I went to college, what you were supposed to do is figure out what career you wanted (as if anyone knows that at age 18) and then go away to the college ...
And don't forget, if you would like to read my latest novel:
The Sword and the Clover - just let me know by email.
I'm happy to send you the PDF version, even if you haven't been a monetary supporter of the community - all I ask is that you don't share it with anyone else.
My email address:
Keep in touch!
JIm
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