Red Letters/Black Letters: It's Coming

The first why:

If you are like me you may be asking yourself, 'Why in the world does Kenny need yet another blog?' This is a fair question. I could in fact fold in the posts that will appear in this space into my original blog, but I have chosen not to. Why? Because every single post on this page will have a concurrent theme, whereas my other blog is rather scatter shot.

The what:

After reading the previous paragraph your next question may be along the lines of, 'OK, let's say we give you the benefit of the doubt and allow a third [THIRD!] blog, what exactly will this unifying theme be?' Again, another fair question. In simplest terms, this blog is a devotional. Each post will start with words that Jesus spoke that are recorded in the Bible. After the scripture will be a devotion that is written off the cuff. Say what? What I mean by off the cuff is that there will be no in depth study of the scripture, I will not consult commentaries or books or anything but the corners of my mind [and my years of study and my faithwalk]. After said devotion, there will be a series of questions, sometimes just one, sometimes many. The point of these questions is to get you, the reader, to think more deeply about what I said and ultimately what Jesus said.

The second why:

So, now that you know why a third blog, and what it is going to entail you may be thinking something like this, 'Why are you doing this in the first place?' The million dollar question. I suppose it goes back to shortly after the beginning of the year when I had the brilliant idea of writing a devotional booklet for my church to go through in order to have a 'spiritually intense' month. It was to be a month of study and prayer and fasting. And it was a big task, one which soon got me thinking that I couldn't do it on my own. I then set out to recruit help in the writing, I asked many friends of mine, both within and without the world of ministry, and got a grand total of two devotions. I was once again responsible for the writing of at least 27 devotions, without having a clear concept of what they would be about, except I had some idea about a unifying theme of journeys.

Several months passed and I had a total of 8 devotions, 2 that were written by friends and 6 that I had written myself. I was beginning to think that the task was just too big until I decided to go to Half Price Books one day in order to sell a handful of items I no longer wanted or needed. As I was perusing the shelves, waiting for the buyers to decide how much my stuff was worth [$10 if you're curious] I came across an oddly lone copy of a devotional titled The Sayings of Jesus. I say 'oddly lone' because it was sitting on one of their end-caps, which are usually reserved for books they have multiple copies of. It may be that they had a plethora of these journals and they were sold one after another until this lone copy remained. Or, it could be that someone came across it in another place and decided not to buy it and placed it down in the closest free space. Whatever the case I decided that it might be good for me to buy, and I did, accounting for more than half of the money I was about to receive.

I got it home and after awhile I decided that I would begin writing each day and after a month I would have a devotional ready for my church. After a little more thinking I decided why not share it with the rest of the world after my church has benefited, hence the decision to do it in the form of a blog. But, if you have been paying attention to Facebook, and since you are reading this I assume most of you have, I no longer have a church. So, now the only people who will read/gain from this devotional is you, my online community of friends.

The How:

I am two weeks into the journal, so starting tomorrow I will be sharing one blog a day for the next 100 or so days.

The final why: 

You may not always agree with the way I read the text, and I welcome your interpretations. Feel free to comment when I say something you think is crazy, or if you prefer just track me down on Facebook or email and complain to me personally.

On the other hand what I have to say [type] may strike a chord in your heart and help you to understand what our Jesus has been trying to say to you. Again, feel free to comment or track me down. It is my fervent hope that you will be inspired by what I and Jesus have to say.

Thanks for showing up, we start tomorrow. Walk with me as I walk with Jesus.

Blessings to us all.