Graduation Countdown

In case you are not counting like we are the latest count is 9 days till I graduate and 17 until Jordan graduates. Needless to say we are super excited at the proximity of both. We are also excited for Jordan's brother Micah who will be graduating from Mary-Hardin Baylor this weekend. GO MICAH!!!
So, last time I posted that it was a crazy Tuesday well I stand on this side of the day able to say that I survived, and learned several good things throughout that day.

1. don't procrastinate....i say this, but i never seem to learn this when it comes to papers and projects they always seem to still need work up until the due date.

2. It's amazing how many things you can accomplish in a day....20 page paper, parenting project, work, and study for a final the next day.

3. You should read the whole book before reading a portion of the book....I say this as my lesson that i have been learning all week. It's funny how we approach the Bible in chunks and sometimes you have not taken the time to read the entire book. I was just thinking this week as I began my hermenuetics paper on James 3:1-12 about how we study small passages and yet we neglect to study the book as a whole...For myself this is often true of the Old Testament than the New Testament. Yes, I have read each of the books of the Bible in entirety, but have you every reflected on the length of time that goes by between each reading and how much we learn new each time we open that book and based on the other books they sometimes enlighten us on events and characters in the others.
This all comes about as I focused on the passage I was assigned to write about by my professor, but as I studied it I realized how much the entire book plays a role in the meaning of the passage by this I mean the authorship, the time period, historical context, audience, background issues. Each of these are so important to understanding the meaning of the scripture and helping us as the reader today to know how it applies to our current context.
It was just a ahh ha moment as i sat before 20 resources that needed to help me understand all of those things and bring them all together in one paper.
So for those of you who are interested in knowing these things when reading in your daily study may i suggest two books that i found handy in my research. Actually Dr. Norman Blakaby suggested the same books to me last night when I ask him what he used for a quick reference of the same.
The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament