Floating Exam

In my Spiritual Disciplines class we have a floating exam that can be taken any time during the semester. We have to write out the books of the bible in order and spelled correctly, the ten commandments (short hand version), and quote 1 Tim. 4:7 and 1 Tim. 4:16.

Pretty easy right?

Well the reason the professor has this exam is because of a story he heard about a Ph.D student study for his oral exams. It takes a good six months to study for the exams and this student spent months and months cramming for this exam. When the time came for him to stand in front of the exam committee they said, “okay we’ll start you off with a warm up question, a “gi’me”, so just state the books of the bible in order please”. He couldn’t do it. After all of the study and knowledge he had learned about an abundance of different subjects he couldn’t give the books of the one book he was devoting his life to.

So in the spirit of not wanting to be like that fellow, here goes my studying, this is with out looking, completely from memory. Check me for order and spelling and let me know if i get any wrong.

*Note: Read as if the books were arranged in columns. Apparently wordpress doesn’t want to recognize the spaces that I inserted.

Genesis Ecclesiastes
Exodus Song of Songs
Leviticus Isaiah
Numbers Jeremiah
Deuteronomy Lamentations
Joshua Ezekiel
Judges Daniel
Ruth Hosea
1 Samuel Joel
2 Samuel Amos
1 Kings Obadiah
2 Kings Jonah
1 Chronicles Micah
2 Chronicles Nahum
Ezra Habakkuk
Nehemiah Zephaniah
Esther Haggai
Job Zechariah
Psalms Malachi
Proverbs

Matthew 1 Timothy
Mark 2 Timothy
Luke Titus
John Philemon
Acts Hebrews
Romans James
1 Corinthians 1 Peter
2 Corinthians 2 Peter
Galatians 1 John
Ephesians 2 John
Philippians 3 John
Colossians Jude
1 Thessalonians Revelation
2 Thessalonians

I cheated on the spelling of Philippians and Zephaniah.

Ten Commandments
1. No other gods before me (The Lord speaking)
2. No idols
3. No Lord’s name in vain
4. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy
5. Honor your father and mother
6. No murder
7. No adultery
8. No stealing
9. No false witness against your neighbor
10. No coveting

1 Timothy 4:7 “Discipline yourselves for the purpose of godliness”. (NASB)

1 Timothy 4:16 I don’t know yet, I haven’t looked at it intently for a while.

Just a little more studying and that’s the easiest 100 I’ve ever made.

Of course I say that, but I probably spell something wrong on the test.

Carnage Report: Appendix B

Okay, last phonebook related post for awhile.

I just have to finish up on this though.

The Rayford joined the club.

The Rayford suggested one with “the face”.

And if this just doesn’t put the cherry on top, look at what arrived at our doorstep yesterday…….

………More practice

There’s seven there if you can’t tell from the pic.

I thought that was the funniest thing, that right after we got through ripping all our phonebooks to pieces, twenty brand new yellow pages show up.

Manna.

Spiritual Disciplines

“The Spiritual Disciplines are the God-given means we are to use in the Spirit-filled pursuit of Godliness.”

1 Timothy 4:7 says, “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.”

As Christians we are called to pursue godliness. It is not an option or a track that super-Christians can choose. It is a God-given decree that we become more like our Savior, Jesus.

I’m in a class this semester that is devoted to teaching us the Spiritual Disciplines. We will cover the Spiritual Disciplines of Bible intake, prayer, worship, evangelism, service, stewardship, fasting, silence and solitude, journaling, and learning.

I’m really looking forward to the class because God knows how bad I need discipline.

My professor, Donald Whitney, is where I got that first quote from, the second one was from his book too, but first from the Bible of course. He’s written several books on the issue of the Spiritual Disciplines, and is very serious about the pursuit of godliness (AKA: Christ-likeness, spiritual maturity, and self-control).

I am fully expecting this course to crush me and convict me and teach me and guide me in the Spiritual Disciplines, which is awesome because that is exactly what I need.

Carnage Report: Appendix A

John Michael took it to heart, when in my last blog I said Rayford and JM couldn’t complete the feat….so today he completed the feat. I also ripped my second phonebook in half.

I’m not really sure how we got all these phonebooks in our apartment.

But they were like manna after we saw that Mythbusters episode.

Phonebooks will fear our apartment in the future.

This post is for you JM. Oh and I know I’ve already told you, but happy birthday

You too Matt.

Carnage Report

I ripped a phonebook in half today….

It’s not a joke, I really did rip it in half with my bare hands.

You can ask Rayford and John Michael.

Rayford and I watched a Mythbusters episode that tackled the myth of being able to tear a phonebook in half. And we found out that there is a trick to it. It’s not the easiest trick, it still took some man power, but I was able to get it, Ray and JM weren’t able to complete the feat.

They also did the myth that if you interlock two phonebooks page by page then it is impossible to tear them apart. It turned out that it wasn’t impossible but they had to hook the two interlocked phone books to tanks to pull them apart. It took 8,000 lbs of force to pull them apart.

All in all a pretty awesome episode.