New American Bible

On a Night Like This 2

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

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Guess where I am? No really . . . take a wild guess.

Downtown Franklin, you said? How ever did you guess that? It’s not like I go there at least once a week, right?

Oh wait. I do.

I had the new Court Yard Hounds album as the soundtrack to my trek from the Brenthood all the way to my favorite place on earth. And it’s not Disney World.

I had my favorite meal, corned beef and cabbage, at my favorite place to eat, McCreary’s Irish Pub. Just about everybody knows my name there, and I love it.

I detoured from my usual next step. Instead of shlepping over to Frothy Monkey, I hoofed it over to Sweet CeCe’s, where they did not, as usual, have my very favorite flavor– Southern Sweet Velvet a.k.a. Red Velvet. I nearly cried.

Not really. I just got Hershey’s Chocolate instead and managed to not fall over dead from extreme disappointment. Life goes on.

I got in my Quality Frothy Monkey Time, don’t you worry. I sipped on fruit tea and got caught up on my annual Bible reading plan.

This year, I’m reading through the New American Bible, a Catholic translation complete with all the deuterocanonical books. Or apocryphal, if you please. I read through most of Job, quite a bit of The Book of Wisdom, and a few chapters from Luke.

My lesson from Job? It’s better to keep quiet and make your friends wonder if you’re an idiot than to open up your mouth and prove it.

The Perfect Weather continues. It really feels like a sneak preview of fall, soon to arrive after another stint of hot stinky humid weather. And more rain. I’m eagerly anticipating the changing colors of leaves, crisp morning air, bon-fires, hayrides, corn mazes, good conversations with friends old and new, and– best of all– for Jesus to once again dazzle me with His love for me.

I may check out my favorite house to make sure the current tenants are taking good care of it for me. I may suddenly burst into a Dave Barnes song. You just never know with me.

I think the reason that I’m not filthy rich is that I’m already quite attractive, extremely witty, and brilliant. I would be most unfair for me to add immense wealth to that. So I stay broke as a kind of public service to all of you out there who would otherwise either die of mortal envy or perish from lusting after my hot bod.

God is whispering sweet nothings to me in the night air. I can feel His love and pleasure over me like a sort of comfy old blanket that keeps my heart warm. May you feel the same.

My you know fully the love your Abba has for you this and every night to come.

A Plethora of Bible Translations

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

I collect Bibles. I probably have too many already, but I can’t stop.

I’m trying to get as many different translations as possible. I have everything from the old King James Version to the very contemporary Message translation.

Recently, I picked up a New American Bible, which is a Catholic Bible which the extra apocrypha books added. It’s almost like a Director’s Cut of the Bible.

I’m looking for a full American Standard Version Bible with both Old and New Testaments. For some reason, it never caught on when it came out in 1900 and it’s next to impossible to find one. But not impossible. And yes, I am up to the challenge.

I personally think it’s good to read from more than one translation because none of them are perfect. Plus, you get a better idea of what the original authors were trying to get across.

I’d go with the New American Standard for word-for-word accuracy, the New Living Translation for readability, and the Message for its unique rendering of Scripture.

But as I heard somebody say, as long as it starts with Genesis and ends with Revelation, you can’t go wrong. The point is not to waste time looking for a perfect translation that doesn’t exist. The point is to find a Bible that fits you and then read it.

I’d be lying if I told you I read my Bible every day for hours and hours. I carry around my Bible and talk about it and read books about it way more than I actually read it. It’s fine to read commentaries and books about the Bible, but the Bible is the only book that is living and active and God-breathed.

So I will make a deal with you. I will read my Bible more and I challenge you to do the same. It doesn’t have to be for five hours straight the first time, but if it’s for five minutes here and five minutes there, that’s a start.

And as I heard a pastor say, all God needs is place to start.