I'm doing a visual Bible study

Yesterday was a rare occasion for me: I went to church and actually paid attention to the sermon.

I know how bad this makes me look as a Christian.

However, I refuse to put on a front that I am perfect, have "it all figured out," OR that living a life following Christ is easy for me. I am far from perfect, I most definitely don't have even the slightest clue what "it" is much less do I have "it" figured out even partially, and living my life for OR by Christ is easy, simple, or clear cut. It's just not. It's just not.

For some months now (maybe even years?) I have had this inspiration to study scripture in a way that I feel is a little more approachable for me - one that is wholly grounded in visuals.  The idea is that I would do the following:

• Read scriptures from my life-application study Bible on a DAILY basis
• Meditate on said scriptures
• Create something from what I get from the messages that I am reading - that can be drawing, painting, sculpting... ANYthing that is visual and made by my hands, heart, and imagination.

Yesterday when I was sitting in church my pastor brought up the topic about how Christians generally don't know the Bible even close to well enough. He said that there are agnostics and atheists who actually know God's word better than most Christians. He went on and on about it but the jist of it all was that I am not reading enough of my Bible and therefore am not learning anything from it. To say I felt convicted by this would be a gross understatement. And honestly? This very feeling has been weighing on me for some time now. I am terrible at Bible study, I know it, and I have done pretty much nothing about it. Still, that doesn't mean that I don't want to be better at it. I absolutely do and it is just about me stepping forward in confidence that even though I can fail, that doesn't mean I am a failure because I can turn things around and do better and BE better.

So, I've finally done it. The "brainchild" I have carried with me for long enough has finally been born into a new blog. *Seriously? Yes. ANOTHER blog for me to keep up with and maintain!*

To my credit (and in my defense), I am doing a scripture study in this way so that I am a little more accountable to what I'm doing, how I'm doing it, and IF I am doing it. I'm not doing this blog to build up readership or as a possible future source of revenue. I'm doing it because scripture study is what I'm supposed to do and that's that. I won't be linking it permanently on this blog though I might mention it every now and again in blog postings but if you are curious about it or just want to join me, we could form our own online community for visual Bible studying and call ourselves "How Great Thou ARTists," y'think? *I know... I know... so punny, yet delightfully appropriate...*

Here is a screenshot of my new blog: How Great Thou ART. Bookmark it, blogroll it, visit it, JOIN with me!

So that's what I've been doing this weekend on my end. Just wanted to share it with you all.