Daily Routines

In the past couple weeks, I've had to adjust to a summer routine.  Since my typical ministry obligations take the summer off, this means I have a few more hours during the week to, well, do whatever I want.  This summer, I've been working on a few projects at the house.  So far, I've put curtains up and removed a few blinds, cleaned a couple closets, and reworked things in the backyard.

My Dad has been very helpful as he has installed a new garage door opener, put up a trellis, and removed a hideous "fence" off of the patio.  In the spirit of recycling, the fence lattice work became the trellis!

I have also sought to discipline myself to do more bible study.  Each night, I'm trying to do some non-school reading (right now it is Bryan Chapell's Christ Centered Preaching), and do some devotional reading.  I found that if I use a daily reading (one on saints and one on contemporary issues), it helps apply some of the things I am learning in class.  I've also been reading a chapter of Romans.  While this sounds like a lot, I can do it all in less than 30 minutes.

One area I've failed in discipline is preparing for the Bellingham Bay Half-Marathon.  Hopefully, I can do a better job sometime soon!

Spiritual Discipline: Scripture Memorization

A few posts ago, I commented that I wanted to rethink how I do my own spiritual disciplines and look at how we teach spiritual disciplines in the modern American church.  My first stop is scripture memorization.

My church is currently doing a sermon series on Romans 12, and as part of that, we read/recite the first two verses each week.  I think this is a good (and sneaky) way to get people to memorize scripture without even realizing it.  The repetition over several weeks certainly helps people think about the verse, and possibly commit it to memory.

I know that many churches have Awana programs that help teach and reward children for scripture memory, but I'm not sure how many programs exist for adults.

I never attended Awana, but we did do some scripture memory at church.  I am always surprised when a verse pops back to me (not always with the correct citation) in times I need it.  But I have recently felt the need to add more time in my schedule to devote to scripture memorization.

Of course, with anything I do, I have to figure out how to make it work in my schedule and not become another thing to check off.  I suspect many people don't do scripture memorization due to the time involved.  My current plan is to tape up a verse near my bathroom mirror to recite each morning and night.  My hope is that within a week I will have memorized it and can move onto a new verse.

In the past, I have tried memorizing while I walk on the treadmill.  I tried this first in law school when I was memorizing terms and concepts. A friend of mine and I would go to the gym with stacks of cards (available in any fine law book store) and study them, swapping decks half way through the gym session.  This approach did seem to work, but my treadmill walking has fallen off during the nice weather outside.  Never fear, this is Iowa and the weather is due to change any day now, making this method a possibility again too.

So how do you sneak a few verses into  your memory?  How do you think the church should encourage scripture memorization?