B90X: Day 11

Hehehe,

        Today's reading was great, right? I personally enjoyed it. As well as several others. I thought this reading was so funny. Now I understand why Samson was as stupid as he was in the story with Delilah (we'll be coming to that story soon enough!). Samson was an idiot almost as much as all of Israel were idiots. They repeatedly, time and time again, in today's reading complained to God, specifically saying "We would have been better off dying in Eygpt!". That alone after the second or third time saying it and getting in trouble for it should have clued them in on how upset this made God when they said it! Instead of thinking, even for the smallest second, there were those among the Israelites that were pig-headed enough to complain to God. Not once, twice, three, but at least four times! (Extra Credit for anyone who can tell me how many times the Israelites complained to God in Leviticus).

      Well, let's see if any of you can answer these questions!

1. Who did God claim as his own in Numbers 8:16?
2. How did the Israelites know when to break camp and move the Tabernacle?
3. What happened after the Lord sent quail to fill the bellies of the gluttonous Israelites? What did God do?
4. Why is Numbers 12:3 a hilarious passage? (YES, this means go look it up and read it again really quickly. It's one verse, you'll manage)
5. What did God tell Moses and Aaron to do to get water to come out of the rock, and what did Moses do instead?

And of course, we can't forget the answers from yesterday...

1. Who wrote the book of Numbers? Moses
2. In Numbers ch. 1, what was Moses supposed to record? All those who were old enough to be Warriors in the tribes
   
3. Which clans were recorded? All of them but the Levite's
4. What would the woman have to drink in the test to see if she was faithful to her husband? Bitter water, although I believe some translations read "dusty water"
5. What happened if she lied under oath? It meant she had been unfaithful to her husband.

B90X: Day 10

Hey guys!

Wow! We're in the double digits! Can you believe it? The party is practically over! What a bummer! (lol, that was for the P90X grads).

Anyways, truly, we have come a long way, but we're not done, yet. We've got a lot still to do. Today was Leviticus 26:27 to Numbers 8:14. This is a short email (I'm trying to recover from writing that last one.), so here are the questions.

1. Who wrote the book of Numbers? (you should know this if you've been paying attention to past emails!)
2. In Numbers ch. 1, what was Moses supposed to record?
3. Which clans were recorded?
4. What would the woman have to drink in the test to see if she was faithful to her husband?
5. What happened if she lied under oath?

And of course, here are the answers to yesterday's questions.

1. How often was atonement made for the children of Israel? Once a year
2. Where is the life of a creature? In it's blood.
   
3. What is said of sexual relations with someone of the same sex? "Such things are detestable". No, we Christians aren't just making this up.
4. The Israelites did all of these things to be holy. Why are we to be holy? What do we have to do to stay holy today? We are to be holy so that we may have eternal life in Christ. We cannot ever be Holy. Jesus, however, is holy and covers our sins. Through him, we can be made holy.
   
5. How was the law different for a stranger? This is the trick question. It wasn't different at all. The laws for a stranger were the same as those of an Israelite people. (24:17-22)

B90X: Day 9

Alrighty!

     I can't believe that it is already day 9! We're already a tenth of the way there! Keep going strong everybody, you're doing great! Today's email will be slightly on the longer side, I am have a few things to share, as well as a few cool links for you all to check out! Firstly, I'd like to let you all know we have a new member joining us. He is a friend of mine and my siblings, and he is all-around a really cool guy that goes by the name of Scott Kardel. Scott has worked hard and has managed to get caught up to us in just two days! That is incredible! Everybody give Scott a hand! Well done, Scott.

     Also joining our group is another friend of mine, Lauren Kramer! She is a cool girl who has tried this program before and got to day 16 before she got to busy and had to quit. This time, it's round two for her, and she is joining us on the 16th, ready and pumped. :)

   Alright, next I wanted to share a link that a good friend of mine, Joshua Kaufmann, shared with me. It is a link to a Bible reading program. If you get behind a day or two, and you want to catch up, the hard way would be to try and do double or maybe even triple the Bible reading in a single day. This is a mistake! There is a much more productive way of getting caught up, and this is it. This program will take whatever verse you are starting at and will look and see however many verses it is to get to wherever we are currently in the program. Then, you set the day you want to be caught up by, and the program will count an even amount of verses out for every day that you can read. In doing this, you can read just a slightly larger amount over the next few days while you get back on track, and then go back to the normal schedule once you are all caught up! The best part? It's free! Definitely worth a look, at the very least. Here's the link.

http://www.readingplanner.com/

For those that don't know, today was Leviticus 14:33 to Leviticus 26:26. For those of you that don't know the reading schedule, I have posted it several times on the fb page. I'll give you the link here as well so everyone absolutely has the reading list. Here it is.

http://www.stevenfurtick.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/B90X.pdf

I personally found all of this stuff quite interesting. Can you imagine having to sacrifice something every time almost anything went wrong? That is just crazy! Let's see how well you guys were paying attention in this chapter. Riddle me this, what are the answers to the questions below? ;)

1. How often was atonement made for the children of Israel?
2. Where is the life of a creature?
3. What is said of sexual relations with someone of the same sex?
4. The Israelites did all of these things to be holy. Why are we to be holy? What do we have to do to stay holy today?
5. How was the law different for a stranger?

    Alright, one of these is a trick question as well. Let me know if you can answer any of these questions! Here is the key to yesterday's quiz. I think it's worth taking a look over, because some of the things I found were quite interesting.

1. Who is credited to writing Leviticus? Actually, this is question does not have a straightforward answer. It is presumed that Moses wrote the first 5 books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), but many modern Christians believe they actually had multiple authors. So for now we'll just say... tentatively Moses. ;)
2. How many days is a woman unclean after having a baby boy? 33 days
3. What about a baby girl? 66 days*** See note below
   
4. On which day should a baby be circumcised? The eighth day
5. Which of the following animals was generally considered clean? Camel, Dove, Cat, Pig A Dove was generally considered clean

 

"I was in a group and a feminist brought up this law as ‘sickening’. I had no response, but a woman who was an obstetrician who worked in Afghanistan noted that in Afghanistan (a culture similar to the O.T. Jews by today’s standards) if a woman has a girl the man will want to get her pregnant again immediately, which isn’t good for the woman. If she has a boy, there is no felt need to have another child right away.

Similar views of women were prevalent in that time too. If a girl was born the husband would want a son right away, which isn’t good for the woman. The obstetrician said the extra days unclean would mean that the man could not touch her for that entire time, giving her time to rest before trying to have another baby."

So a likely explanation is that God added the additional time for the woman's safety. Since guys were obsessed with having sons at that time, it could have been dangerous for the woman to be released so quickly after child labor. Again, I can't say for sure that this is the reason behind it, but it seems likely enough.

Keep reading strong, and I apologize for the unusually long email!

 I along with a few others were curious why women had to wait twice as long when they had baby girls. When I looked it up, I mostly just got a ton of women right's forums bashing the Bible and saying it is demeaning, and I couldn't really find an answer, however, one woman made a very interesting theory which I can see to being a very plausible answer, but of course, we aren't certain of anything. Read above to hear what she had to say.

-Your B90X Trainer

B90X: Day 8

Hello everyone!

Leviticus 1:1 to Leviticus 14:32 was today's reading! Hope you guys didn't skim it. It really wasn't all that bad. And just think! All of these sacrifices were things we would have to be doing if Jesus didn't come for us to be our ultimate sacrifice. Thank you God for forgiveness! Well, here are a few questions to see if you were paying attention.

1. Who is credited to writing Leviticus?
2. How many days is a woman unclean after having a baby boy?
3. What about a baby girl?
4. On which day should a baby be circumcised?
5. Which of the following animals was generally considered clean? Camel, Dove, Cat, Pig

And here are the answers to the last email's questions.

1. What is at the top of the Ark of the Covenant? Gold Cherubim
2. What color was the priest's robe? Blue
   
3. What made the Israelites feel compelled to make a golden calf? Because they didn't know what happened to Moses
4. Who was Moses' successor? Joshua
   
5. How many years did the Israelites wander in the wilderness? 40 years

B90X: An encouragement

Dear B90Xers,

I just wanted to say something simple:

You can do this.

I know that this might not have as much to do with some of you, but I kind of got a sense that maybe there were a few of us struggling to keep up with the program. I know that I have found myself busier than I expected, and have been having trouble sometimes. I also wanted you to know that, even as one of the authors on this site and supposedly helping to lead this, I fell pretty dramatically behind in the reading. I think I was 3 or 4 days behind, even in the 1st week of the program. However, I caught up. I just want to encourage you, even if you are struggling or falling behind, you can do it. Don't be discouraged! I get the feeling that there is some spiritual warfare going on, since there are many of us trying to get to know our God and our faith in a deeper and more personal way. Please, join with me to pray with everyone who is doing the B90X! Also, please pray for the two leaders of the B90X sections. They are both putting a lot of effort, time, and work into the reading and the things that they send out to us all.
Thank you so very much.
God bless you all.

May our Lord and Saviour go with you,
-Lilly

B90X NT Matt 13-15 answers, 16-18 questions

Here are the answers for Day 4

1) Simon Peter, Andrew, James, John, Phillip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James, Thaddeus, Simon, and Judas Iscariot.

2) John the baptist was beheaded at the request of Herod's daughter, after she danced for him and he promised her anything she wanted in return for the dance.

Here are the questions for day 5, Matthew 16-18.

1) What did Jesus mean when he warned his followers about the "yeast of the Pharisees"?

2) How many times are we to forgive each other, not the multiplication fact, but the solution to it. ;)

God Bless! Today's reading is Matthew 19-22.

~DB

B90X: Day 7

So, I totally thought I blogged this day, but apparently I didn't. This is yesterday's (Monday's) post. I thought I sent it last night, but for some reason it didn't actually send. So you'll be getting two posts today from me. Sorry for the confusion.

Hello all!

So today we finished Exodus! Great job everybody! I know there were parts that may have been on the dryer side (like all the dimensions and rules and such), but we got through it! Who's still with me, so far? If you're behind, catch up! Here are some questions to ponder after you've finished your reading.

1. What is at the top of the Ark of the Covenant?
2. What color was the priest's robe?
3. What made the Israelites feel compelled to make a golden calf?
4. Who was Moses' successor?
5. How many years did the Israelites wander in the wilderness?

Keep up the good work, see you soon!

B90X: Day 6

Comrades!

   How's the reading going? I know this is a late email, but I just barely got my reading done today. It was Exodus 15:19 to Exodus 28:43. It almost made me feel like I was at Harvard studying law... God's law. It definitely was detailed though! Think about it, we know everything about how God wanted stuff handled. We know what most pleased Him, we know what he wanted His temple to be like, and we even know the exact size and shape of the Ark of the Covenant! :) This excites me. Well, here are a few questions to all those that are still with me. If you're behind, it's ok, but be prepared for some double reading ahead of you!

1. Where did the Israelite's arrive, only to find the water was too bitter to drink, whereupon God caused it to turn sweet?
2. What did God provide for the Israelite's meat in the wilderness?
3. What guided the Israelite's through the wilderness?
4. When there was no water to drink, how did Moses provide water?
5. On which Mt. did God give Moses the Ten Commandments?

Hehehe, so how many of you thought I was going to ask to name all ten commandments? Well, I didn't, but if you'd like to learn a cool memory aid in memorizing the ten commandments, go here! http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/how-to-remember-the-ten-commandments-rusty-tardo-sermon-on-commandments-general-100607.asp

Well, I know you're all probably curious as to what the answers are from yesterday, so let's take a peak, shall we?

1. What was the name of Joseph's brother? Hahaha, well, I meant to ask what was the name of MOSES' brother, but nobody called me out on it, so yeah. The answer would be Aaron.
   
2. Who rescued Moses as a boy in the Nile? Pharaoh's daughter, the princess.
3. How many plagues did God send on Egypt? There were ten plagues total.
   
4. What happened to the serpents when the magician's "magically" turned their rods into snakes as Moses did? Moses' rod at the other magician's snakes.
5. Many people believe that Moses and Aaron went directly to Pharaoh as soon as they were told what to do, but who did really talk to first, before asking Pharaoh? The elders of Israel.

Good job everybody, so far! We're almost through Exodus! Only one day left! What a bummer! Keep up the good work!

Sincerely,
-A fellow Believer

B90X NT Day 4

Hey everyone! I took advantage of one of my grace days this week, so that's why I'm late getting this posted. I hope that y'all are enjoying the reading as much as I am! Here are the answers to the questions for days 2 and 3

DAY 2

1) The Aramaic word for idiot or fool is Raca.

2) The Roman Officer of great faith asked for his servant to be healed.

3) The Officer knew that his servant would be healed, because he was in command of many men himself, and he knew that Jesus would be able to order things under his command, and they would obey.

4) This question doesn't really have a direct answer. Please tell me what you guys think!!

DAY 3

1) The scripture Jesus quotes in Matthew 9: 13 is Hosea 6:6

2) Again, no direct answer for why Jesus used this scripture in relation to the pharisees, but I think that it is because the pharisees always offered sacrifices, but they never really applied God's love to their hearts.

3) Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath.

Questions for day 4:

1) Can you name the 12 apostles from memory?

2) Why and how was John the baptist killed?

3) Which of the parables that Jesus told stuck out to you most of all of them.

God bless you guys!

~DB

B90X: Day 5

Hello guys!

Well, today was an interesting chapter. Sorry for sending this out so late, but I'm sure it doesn't really make THAT big of a difference. :) The reading was good, a little repetitive I thought, when it came to all the different plagues, but when you actually step back and imagine how terrible all the plagues were, they were anything but boring. I laughed out loud when I tried to visualize the frogs being everywhere. It almost seems like God was trying to be funny. "I am God, watch me invade your house with... frogs." Hahaha. He could have picked anything. Lions. Snakes. Wild pigs. And yet he picked frogs. While frogs don't seem so terrifying, just think about this for a second. Pharaoh and the Egyptians were so distraught with frogs being everywhere that they were willing to let all there slaves free, literally there only source for getting things done, just to get ride of the frogs. Wow! That is a lot of frogs! Anyways, that is just an observation I had. On to the questions!

1. What was the name of Joseph's brother?
2. Who rescued Moses as a boy in the Nile?
3. How many plagues did God send on Egypt?
4. What happened to the serpents when the magician's "magically" turned their rods into snakes as Moses did?
5. Many people believe that Moses and Aaron went directly to Pharaoh as soon as they were told what to do, but who did really talk to first, before asking Pharaoh?

Well, that's it everyone! If you haven't finished your reading yet, hurry! It's Exodus 1:1 to Exodus 15:18!

God Bless,
-Michael
P.S. here's the answers to yesterday's quiz questions, see how you did!

1. What did God create on the fourth day? The Sun, Moon, and Stars
   
2. What was the name of Cain's son? Enoch
3. Many people believe that only a pair of every type of animal was put on the Ark, but how many animals did Moses actually take on the Ark? Moses didn't take any animals on the Ark! :) Did I get you?
4. Who was the oldest man in the Bible? Methuselah
   
5. You'll notice, one man never dies in the book of Genesis. Who was he, and how did he avoid dying? Enoch, he was a righteous man that God directly took to Heaven, without him ever dying.
   
6. Which of his wives did Jacob love more? Which became pregnant first? He loved Rachel more, but Leah got pregnant first
7. Which of the brothers did not want Joseph to die? Rueben
8. What land did Jacob (Joseph's father) ask to be buried in? Why? The land of Canaan, to be buried with his wives and ancestors
9. How old was Joseph before he died? 110
   
10. What did YOU get out of this chapter? I personally just loved connecting how everyone was related to each other. It's nice to be able to know who was the father of Abraham, and how many wives Jacob had. :)

B90X: Day 4

Hey folks!

Well, today we finished up Genesis! Give yourselves a big pat on the back, there's only 65 left to go... ... that didn't come out right. Hahaha. Most of the books in the Bible aren't even half as long as this first one was, so don't be discouraged! How did you all like Genesis, though? Anything in particular that you'd like to share that stuck out to you? For the celebration of the first book that we completed, I compiled a bunch of cool facts that you may or may not have previously known about Genesis.

• Genesis is a greek word for "origin" or "beginning"
• You just finished reading 1,533 verses! That is 38,267 words, give or take a few for different translations!
• The book of Genesis covers a greater time period than all the remaining 65 books do put together!
• You just read through 4,100 years of Bible history!
• The author of Genesis is believed to be Moses

Ok, since we're at the end, I'll give a few last questions about Genesis, to see how well you retained it. Don't be discouraged if you can't remember them all! This was a lot to cover, and the idea was to just get an overview of Genesis, not memorize the whole thing.

1. What did God create on the fourth day?
2. What was the name of Cain's son?
3. Many people believe that only a pair of every type of animal was put on the Ark, but how many animals did Moses actually take on the Ark?
4. Who was the oldest man in the Bible?
5. You'll notice, one man never dies in the book of Genesis. Who was he, and how did he avoid dying?
6. Which of his wives did Jacob love more? Which became pregnant first?
7. Which of the brothers did not want Joseph to die?
8. What land did Jacob (Joseph's father) ask to be buried in? Why?
9. How old was Joseph before he died?
10. What did YOU get out the book of Genesis?

Hehehe, so one of these is actually a trick question. Look closely to see if you can spot it. ;)

Well, there you have it. Round one out of the way. Genesis, I feel like that was a leg workout. Long, but sooo good. Heheh, perhaps I'm stretching this workout analogy too far. Anyways, unfortunately, we aren't able to stop and just let this stuff sink in, we are boldly pressing on towards our next book. Exodus! Just a little history behind Exodus to get you pumped for it.

• Exodus is greek for "departure" or "going out"
• There are 40 chapters
• 1,213 verses, approx. 32,692 words
• Exodus takes place 300 years where Genesis left off
• Because of the death of Joseph, due to a change in power, Israel has been put into slavery, and are being abused!

This just sounds like an exciting story!! What a cliffhanger! If you thought the USA channel could come up with good cliffhangers, wait till you read Genesis' sequel! This is going to be great, guys! Enjoy the reading tomorrow, and in case you haven't finished up the reading today, it is Genesis 40:11 to Exodus 1:1

Praying that you all stay with it,
-Michael

B90X NT Day 3

So, because I just posted the questions from day two, I'll post both the answers for today and yesterday tomorrow. Here are today's questions.

1) What is the reference to the scripture Jesus quotes in 9:13

2) Why do you think Jesus used this scripture in the context that he did?

3) What act did Jesus perform that drove the pharisees to plot to kill him?

God bless you on your journey!

~DB

B90X NT Day 2

Hey Guys! Sorry this is late! Here are the answers to the questions to day one, and the questions from day two! I hope you're enjoying your reading! Don't forget that today's reading is Matthew 9-12 (If you haven't done it yet) and tomorrow's is Matthew 13-15.

Answers from day 1:

1) 5 women were mentioned in Jesus' genealogy. They were Tamar, The wife of a son of Judah; Rahab, the prostitute who helped the spies escape from Jericho, and survived by hanging a scarlet chord from her window; Ruth, who was faithful to her mother-in-law, Naomi, and married Boaz; Bathsheba, who David married adulterously; and Mary, the mother of Jesus.

2) Jeremiah foretold the murder of boys at the hand of Herod in Jeremiah 31:15.

3) The pharisees thought that they could escape God's wrath because they were "son's of Abraham."

4) The first four disciples/apostles were: Simon, also called Peter; his brother Andrew; James; and His brother John, who were the sons of a man named Zebedee. All four of them were fishermen.

Before I get started on the questions for day 2, I wanted to mention something that stuck out to me. When reading the beatitudes in most bibles, it says "blessed are", however in my NLT bible, it says "God blesses". I prefer the NLT, because it makes more sense to me. It makes those traits listed in the beatitudes even more desirable, because it is God who is directly blessing those who have them.

On to the questions!

1) What is the Aramaic word often used in place of the word "fool" or "idiot" in Matthew 5: 22?

2) What did the Roman officer (centurion) of great faith ask Jesus for?

3) Why did the Roman officer know that what he had asked would be granted?

4) Why do you think the people in the town in chapter 8 asked Jesus to leave after he cast the demons out of the two men?

I would love to get feedback from you guys, please let me know what you think of these questions, etc.

God bless!

~DB

B90X: Day 3

Comrades,

    Today's reading was intense! Less chapters, but I felt like it took longer to read than the last two days. My suite mates got a surround sound system today, so studying on my entire floor has become virtually impossible. Even with two pairs of noise canceling headphones, pillows stuffed under the doors, and asking them to turn it down, I can still hear every word coming out of that system. Prayer would be nice, because if this keeps up I'll be severely tempted to accidentally throw the sound system out the window maliciously. Oh well. At any rate, the reading went great today! What about you? Chapter 36 was a bear to get through simply because it was chalk full of names and ancestry. I'm actually quite proud I got through that whole chapter without skimming, if you didn't, that is ok, but shoot for no skimming! The rest of the stories were actually quite interesting, but not all would be what we'd call child appropriate, due to the multiple wives and various different people having sex. However, this is a real account, so I think it is important to read... just, perhaps not to a child. :)

I've gotten zero responses on the questions so far, anyone getting any use out of them? Should I continue them, or am I just wasting my time with these? Does anybody want me to send the answers to the questions in the following day's post?

1. Which sons of Judah went on a rampage after their sister, Dinah was raped? What were their names?
2. Which of Joseph's brothers name means "praise?"
3. Which of Jacob's sons is Jesus descended?
4. Who is the father of Joseph?
5. What was Isaac's wife's name?
6. Who was Jacob's daughter?
7. Who was the father of Joseph?

I hope you all enjoyed/enjoy your reading today! For those of you that haven't done it yet, it is Genesis 28:19 to Genesis 40:11. Don't forget!

God Bless!
-A friend

B90X: Day 2

Hey guys!

    How was today's "workout?" I personally got a lot out of this. As silly as this will sound, I never connected that the Isaac from the story of Jacob and Esau was the same Isaac of Abraham that was to be sacrificed. For some reason I never made the connection. This is why it will be so much fun reading this! You not only get to read it and learn about it, but you get to know the context which truly can enlighten you.

   Needless to say, if you haven't read today's chapters yet, they are Genesis 17:1 to Genesis 28:19. You're in for a real treat today, the reading was great, it was uplifting and I really got a lot out of it! If you like it, I'd love to hear about what you got out of it and why you enjoyed it. Perhaps you had more fun than I did (debatable)!

   I also wanted to mention something about the footnotes. I have an actual Bible that I am reading out of, whereas some people are reading online, or on their phones and such. I must say this. I really enjoyed reading the footnotes, because when you know little things, you can connect the dots and see the end picture much clearer. It really is a wonderful feeling when you can come across a term and say "Oh yeah! I know what that means because I remember it from 4 chapters ago."

Here are a few questions. If you can answer them all, bravo for knowing your history and/or reading the footnotes. Since I've only had a few people comment back on the quiz questions, and they all said it was easy, I decided to make them a little tougher. :)

1. Many people know that Abraham means "father of many", but what was Abrahams name before he was Abram AND what did his original name mean?
2. Why was Isaac called Isaac, and what does his name mean? (HINT: If you know one answer, you know the other)
3. Lot's daughters each had a son. How many sons did they have total, and what were their names?
4. Here's a tough question. How much did Abraham pay for the land in which Sarah was buried?
5. What did Sarah's name mean? (Ok, so all the Sarah's reading this will probably think this is an easy question, dweebs)

I hope you enjoy the readings! Be sure to make time for it!
-Mike Horton ;)

B90X: Day 1

Hey guys!

    So today was the first day of B90X! Who's finished their reading already? Who's still got to do it? It's ok if you haven't yet, there is still time! The first day is always the hardest! I know you all can find the time for this, so if you haven't read Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 16:16, be sure to do it today! I got a lot out of this, and I sure hope you did to! If you struggled to get through it, that is ok. I have eye issues with tracking the words across the page and haven't ever gotten it completely fixed, so I probably am the slowest reader here. It took me an 1hr and 30min to complete the first day's reading. My sister, who has always been a fast reader finished it in 26 minutes flat. If you fell somewhere between these two extremes you are probably an average reader. If you fell somewhere largely outside of these two extremes, please take some time to consider your options. You can always try the easier version of B90X if you can't commit the time. Rachel Hardy has started just the New Testament B90X (the reading plan can be found here http://churchofcelebration.com/pdf/b90x%20program-1.pdf ), and my brother Jonathon will be starting an Old Testament B90X this coming week. If either of these two options interest you, and you'd like to switch to one of them instead, shoot me an email, and I'd be more than happy to give you more information on the subject.

   So, for those of you how have already completed your reading, how was it? If you'd like to put your memory to the test, let's see how much you really got out of the reading. Here's a quiz, class is in session!

1. What were the names given in Genesis of the three children of Adam and Eve?
2. What is the name of the tower that men tried to build to "walk up to heaven?"
3. What is the most cunning animal made by God, as mentioned in Genesis?
4. With whom did God make his first covenant?
5. What was the name of Abraham's nephew?

   Well, that is all for today! Your reading begins tomorrow with Genesis 17:1 to Genesis 28:19! Good job everybody! Keep up the great work!


-A fellow believer

Day 1 New Testament

Hey everyone! Gotten your reading done yet? I'm going to do my best to post about what we've read on the day we read it, but I have scheduled to read the chapters at 10 every night, so that may be difficult if there's a lot to read. Here are a couple questions about the chapters, just for you to check and see how well you comprehended the passage. I'll post the answers and if there was a significant reason why I chose these questions tomorrow.

1) How many women were mentioned in Jesus' genealogy, and what were their names?

2) Which prophet foretold the killing of two year old boys and younger at the hand of Herod?

3) What fact made the Pharisees think that they were safe from the wrath of God?

4) What were the names and professions of the first four disciples/apostles?

And here's just a random question for me to get a little bit of knowledge about you all. What version of the bible, or versions, are you using in your B90X journey? I'm using the New Living Translation and English Standard Version. Don't forget that tomorrow's reading is Matthew 5-8!

God bless!

~DB

New Testament Schedule

WOW! The fourth is tomorrow! I'm really excited to start this journey. I have a few tips myself.
1) Set a specific time every day to read your Bible. I know that if I don't work something concretely into my schedule, then I'll never do it.
2) If you miss a day, KEEP TRACK of what you missed. Write it down somewhere.

I've made my own chart of the B90X New Testament Schedule, you can view it here: http://www.scribd.com/full/46245544?access_key=key-jll60r1imwf8hg7rdvd

I thought that the chart on the church's website was kind of whack, and difficult to keep track of, so I made my own. I hope you appreciate it, God bless you on your journey!

~DB

Getting ready for the journey!

Hello Comrades,

    Welcome to the journey of a lifetime. Tomorrow (Tuesday the 4th) your reading starts for possibly one of the most intensive reading challenges you've ever had. Don't be discouraged, I'll be right here with you. Each day I will be sending you and email with encouragement. It will highlight key points of encouragement, gentle reminders, and also may have occasional few trivia facts to see if you were reading your Bible with any attention. I don't have a set time that I will be sending out these emails, because my school schedule will be a hectic one this year, so it may be early morning, or you may not receive an email until well after midnight, regardless of when it gets out, it will get to you. Below I have included a few tips to keep in mind while reading to help you stay focused and on top of your reading.

• Open in prayer. Before you begin your reading, ask God to help you focus. This is probably one of the most important tips I can give you.
  
• Find your setting! Everyone reads differently, some like a little background noise, while others need total silence. Whatever it is for you, be sure to find a spot everyday the night before you are reading your next chapter. That way, you won't have to look for that spot the following day and waste more time.
• If you are the type of person that needs music while reading, BE WARNED! Everyone wants to be able to say that they can do this, but there are few people out there that actually gain anything by listening to music while reading. While you may be capable of reading and listening, this may not be the best time to use this skill.
• If you're a techy, you might like the idea of just slapping the Bible on the computer or your phone or i-pod and reading it on there. Technology in this case, however, is not your friend. Recent studies have shown that reading screens on monitors or phones/i-pods can result in a 25% reading ability. This means that you will understand less, and have to read longer. Since this is the case, I urge you to crack open that dusty old Bible of yours (the real one) and blow off the dust. Try it old school and save yourself a ton of time and frustration.
  
• Keep a glass of water at hand, and possibly a healthy snack, like an apple. I don't know about you, but if I have a bag of veggies in front of me while I'm doing something, I'm more inclined to nibble on them, than when I am forcibly trying to get myself to eat something healthy. Having water and food on hand will greatly limit your reasons for interrupting your reading.
• Follow me as I blog out the B90X experience at http://myb90x.blogspot.com/
  
• PLAN YOUR READING THE NIGHT BEFORE YOU READ IT! This is SO important! If you don't plan the time that you are going to set aside for your reading, it won't happen. There are plenty of distractions in this world, and trust me when I say that Satan himself will be throwing all of them at you over these next 90 days. Don't fall into the trap of just "hoping" to get the reading done. Set a time, and stick to it. It doesn't have to be the same time every day, but at least have a set time the night before you read.
• Keep a journal! It doesn't have to be anything fancy. It just will help you with your attention. You can write out every verse that you like in your daily reading, or just write the reference. It's your choice, just do something!
  
• Make a pouch or bag full of what you need. It shouldn't be a backpack, or a suitcase. Just a simple pencil pouch will do. Keep your pencils, pens, highlighters, bookmarkers, and journal all in here, that way you don't have to go collecting them before each reading.
• Close in prayer, and thank God that you completed successfully another reading session! Take in the fact that you just did it.

So that you are aware, it takes me about an hour and 20 minutes to get through a days worth of reading, however, I am a very slow reader so this may not be accurate for you. My sister reads very quickly, and she demoed the first day and was done in 26 minutes flat. It will be different from person to person. I pray that you all will have the strength to stick with me, God bless and good luck!

-Your spiritual personal trainer :)