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I haven’t blogged much this spring because I’ve focused on completing my book that is to be published this year. I’ve recently submitted my second, entire draft. My publisher and I will be discussing it in a week. Thank you to all of you who are praying for this book and the ministry it can have to help many people. My book, A Traveler’s Guide through Suffering and Joy, develops a theology, an organized way of viewing, interpreting, and coming to terms with suffering and joy.

You can take any topic and develop a theology using the topic as the focal point. Theology is the study of God in relation to any topic. Nothing exists outside of a theological perspective. We need to ask:

“How biblically tethered is any given theology?” “How biblically tethered am I?”

First, we need to know what to do with the Bible.  Some Christians feel ambivalent about God’s Word. Many Christians and nonChristians hold prejudices against it or assume untruths about it. Why? It is a book that is talked about but not read much.

You can get away with that with The Republic, by Plato: just read some online summaries.  This approach will not work with the Word of God. So, I was thinking about a five or six step approach to God’s Word that is so straight forward. I learned several versions of this from Dr. Howard Hendricks, but I’ll give you my simple starter version.

Use your right hand for counting, and start with your thumb and go to each finger and finally the palm of your hand. What do I do with the Bible?

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Today is a gorgeous, sunny day, here in Fort Wayne, Indiana!  So I wrote a week ago! I typed out a few more sentences, took some photos to share with you, and put away the article to finish another day. The day was gorgeous, but I was exhausted.

Showing God’s Glory

A week has passed during which we have experienced two days of  winter-retro: snow turned our green lawn white!! I put on a snuggly sweater. I wanted to start a blaze in the fireplace. Nonetheless, it was another gorgeous day– of a different sort.  Snow playfully dusted the pink and white blossoms of our ornamental crab apple and pear trees. “Hmm. If it keeps up,” I thought,  “we may receive much more that a light coating. I hope our plants and trees aren’t damaged.”

That night, the dusting turned into a thick and rich coating. In the morning, everything glistened. By the end of that day, most of the frozen elements had melted, moisturizing the land, appearing to cause little harm and mostly good. I’ll add some pictures of our contrasting gorgeousness below. (I wasn’t able to upload my new pictures, but I’ll include some from last spring. Hopefully, I”ll include the new photos in my next post.)  But first….

You’ve heard of “breakfast” – breaking the fast. I’ve been on a “post fast” and it’s time to break the posting fast.The last article I posted was on February 28. Paul and I were still in Florida, and in that post you can view a few pictures of palm trees and sights from a lanai in The Villages in central Florida (which I wanted to contrast to views from here in Fort Wayne!). I believe this is the longest break I’ve taken from JNC.  Keep reading. I’ve been praying and cooking up a few “new” ideas. So…

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Sometimes my learning curves take me in circles! However, the circles often roll forward. Not always. This is what I call the “recursive process” — of writing, of learning — of life.

For much of today, Ive been exploring my WordPress blog operations, trying to make some ideas work. I wanted to add some pictures to my Photo Gallery found when you click on my Gravatar, that picture of my face, below the header.  I couldn’t figure out a way to add pictures. I don’t know how those pictures that are there got there!

Finally, I decided to try another avenue. I started a new “page,” added pictures and some text, and thought I sent the post to you! It is there on JNC now, but it did not get sent to your email box, so you don’t know I made a new post, on a new page within JNC.

I’m sending you this from my main page to inform you, that if you click on “JNC Special Pictures” which is hanging above the header (the picture of the mountainous, Pacific coastline), you will find today’s post, which is on a different page. Apparently, somewhere in my “dashboard,” there is presented a way to add this page to my mailing list of readers. Someday, I may figure this out, but I’ve done enough figuring out for one day!

So, click on JNC Special Pictures, Continue reading →

Dear Reader,

I am considering making some changes to this blog, so I need your input.

JNC, was birthed on Novemeber 1, 2011 as a part of the ministry of Troy Christian Schools in Troy, Ohio. As the school’s Curriculum Director, I was the author of each post, hoping to encourage parents. After I retired in the summer of 2012, the school turned it over to me at my request to develop on my own. JNC has no connection to the school, so I am free to shape this blog as I see fit.

Not only do people have many reasons for writing blogs, readers choose to read for various reasons. So, please respond to a few questions listed below. Continue reading →