It is September.
Here in England, the football season is up and running and the academic season is about to get going for most children and young children. There were some significant changes in my life over June and July, which left August as a month of adjustment. It’s fitting that after the adjustments in August, there’s now a hope that things will settle in September.
On this blog a distinct pattern of content has been established:
- Sunday – A Dryden Blog Conversation.
- Monday – Old Testament study
- Tuesday – About That Quote
- Wednesday – New Testament study
- Thursday – Dryden Links
- Friday – Free Hit
- Saturday – Dryden Shorts
These elements have had at least four shots over the last month to establish themselves. Here are some thoughts.
A Dryden Blog Conversation – This was an idea I shared with my brother, David. It’s been a delight to produce content with him so far. There doesn’t appear to be any shortage of material for us to consider and the quality of his responses challenges me to up my game both in reflection and contemplation of what matters to me. A highlight for me this month from what I’ve written is the one on Rights and the Music of My Mind. I particularly enjoyed just going on about what the music that ended to crop up. For what my brother wrote, everything he wrote was golden – and that’s not hype or bias. I commend to you what he wrote on the pursuit of justice. It’s a brilliant piece of writing and should challenge readers as to what their take on justice is. I’m enjoying the conversation and hope that it can continue for a good while yet.
Old Testament Study – Exploring the book of Daniel was something that cropped up in the middle of July. I love the Word of God and I love the approach of reading it and noting it on the blog as part of what this offers. It does not reflect how I’d approach it if I was teaching face to face necessarily, but it’s still a good working out of how I engage with the material. The questions at the end of each entry is something I’m particularly pleased about as it digs deeper not just in what is said, but how it hits our heart and our relationship with God. In August the post I’d point you to get an idea of how I’ve approached the exploration is Episode 4 looking at the image that Nebuchadnezzar demanded should be worshipped and how that meant three Hebrew men had to go through the fire to express their ongoing faith in the only God worthy of worship. That study should hopefully keep going throughout the rest of the book.
About That Quote – Where I was coming from with this entry was giving some kind of link to wisdom and what can be learnt from quotes where wisdom was concerned. As I did entry after entry it just occurred to me that this slot shouldn’t be limited to quotes as a launchpad for exploring wisdom. I didn’t dislike what I was writing as such. It just felt like there should have been more scope to write what I wanted to write about – namely wisdom. So going forward I’ll retool this entry to reflect that desire. We don’t just walk by faith, but we make progress because of the wisdom made available.
New Testament Study – Studying the seven churches at the start of Revelation is something that’s dominated fellowship thinking where I’m at since the start of the year. It was mentioned regularly and the idea was to begin studying it in July. So it made sense that as we looked at it as a fellowship, it can be the source of focus for the NTS slot here. If you read what’s been written in August you may notice not a lot has been done on the churches themselves, but it was worthwhile offering the context and the build-up to what Jesus would say to the churches. Those pieces have been particularly challenging to write and got me blogging in a way I haven’t before. A very good example of that would be the entry I’d refer you to where I considered three factors to bear in mind before getting into these letters. I’m very excited to be getting into the churches based on the ground work that has been laid. The idea as ever with what’s written here is not just to offer information, but to challenge us to see Jesus again in the light of what He says about His church.
Dryden Links – The thinking about the pacing and nature of the entires over the week is to mix it up. Not have the same length of blogs or degree of intensity in the blog. What I want to do a lot more is to share the good works that others have done. That’s the explanation for Dryden Links and the beauty of it is that I’m not holding myself to only share up to date material, but leave it free and open to share good things I’ve come across,whatever it is and whenever I came across it. Feel free to have a look at the list of Links that have been posted so far. With the lack of limit on what can be shared, expect to receive more recommendations in the weeks to come.
I don’t really need to say that much about the Free Hit Friday slot. It’s a place I’m glad for to express whatever might have been bubbling in me over the week as well as what may have come to mind on that day. Time for an Upgrade is one of the pieces that was particularly pertinent to me in this season and something I’m glad God gave me the words to write about. As well as that though, You Cannot Be My Disciple was another entry that hit the marks I was looking for. That’s certainly a slot that’s not going anywhere for the time being.
Dryden Shorts is not a new slot for the blog. I think it’s been going for two years now and I like its place at the end of the week. I also like how it challenges me to get to a point in the limit. Over the previous month one that I particularly liked putting together was how things are In Hand. Good little piece that – in fact people into puns might suggest it was a handy little piece, but you know I wouldn’t put that kind of cheesy joke in a blog entry. There’s not plans to do anything with the shorts for the time being.
There’s the offering available on this blog for teh time being. It’s an organised way of seeing what’s available here. I’m not guaranteeing it will always be the case – hence these times for a review. I can say that it’s good to have a structure to blogging. It’s also good to have a structure when it comes to things related to blogging and I hope to have positive news on those developments in the coming weeks and months. It’s all about one step at a time, though. It’s all about acknowledging that after a brief time of adjusting it will be good to see how things settle.
Your prayers as ever are appreciated with that as they are for all of my life being lived out to the honour and glory of God. Thanks again for your time in reading this blog.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
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