Extending my Faith Journey

In most cases learning comes before teaching but in my faith journey these two activities have intertwined and often overlapped. In fact, I think my teaching taught me that I had much more to learn.

I have tried extending my learning by:

Reading the Bible in its entirety - I actually started with the New Testament and then progressed to the Old. I am not done yet. This is still a work in progress. I made this a goal when I realized that I had been taught or had actually taught only a very small section of the Bible. I needed to read it to more thoroughly (and truthfully, probably more than once – maybe once a year.)

Joining a Bible study class – Actually, the class would more accurately be described as comparative religions so far. This class has helped me to understand the development of religion in the world and has helped me to focus my beliefs by being clear about what I don’t believe. This coming year we are going to look at the gospels though in parallel form.

Beginning my day with the Upper Room – I find starting my day with God’s word focuses my whole day in the right direction. I love the Upper Room’s combination of scripture, commentary, and prayer.

Discussing my beliefs more openly – I have become more vocal in my beliefs and in doing ellicted others to share theirs. As I find myself questioning so much, hearing from others helps me think more about what I believe because they agree with me, they bring up something I haven’t thought about, or their perception seems so out of focus that it helps me bring mine into clearer vision.

Opening myself to learn more – As I have continued my journey, more things that can help me on that journey have appeared: books, movies, and friendships.

I cannot even begin to guess where I am on my journey continuum or for that fact if I have even left the starting line. It seems that the more I learn, the more I think I need to learn.

How have you deepened your knowledge, faith, and / or beliefs? Have there been any particularly helpful books or other resources? Has a person inspired you? Where are you in your personal journey?