Perfect Aspect

I am continuing to be amazed by how grammar can help us in understanding the Bible. Just like knowing the Greek or Hebrew root form of words can help our understanding, so can recognizing the verb structure in our English translations.

Take a look at these verses:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” John 15:12

“Long ago the LORD said to Israel: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love, I have drawn you to myself.” Jeremiah 31:3

The verb phrases that are bolded display the perfect aspect. The perfect aspect is something that has concluded but has implications for now. From the verses, we know that Christ loved us in the past but because of the verb phrases, we can understand that Christ still loves us today. ❤

Archery as a Gospel Tool Pt. 1

Archery has a special place in my heart since I have been involved with the sport for over five years. I started in a beginner class in 2014 and a couple months later I moved up the JOAD (Junior Olympic Archery Division) program. It didn’t take long at all for archery to become my passion. I started participating in tournaments, teaching classes and volunteering at summer camps. Then this past November I had the opportunity to go with a team down to Mexico and help start an archery program.

Archery is more than just a great sport. What most people don’t know is that archery has strong ties with the Christian faith which can be used to share the gospel. This is why I am so passionate about it!

What to know more? It all starts with the history.

The History of Archery

The sport of archery goes way back to early civilization. The primary way that animals were caught was by either catching them by hand or by throwing spears. Obviously, it was very difficult to catch them by hand so spears were the main tool used. But this meant that they had to be close to the animal to make their mark. From spears came javelins (longer spears) that could be thrown from farther away and still maintain accuracy. However, even these longer spears had to have close range.

Most likely from experimentation came the first draft of a bow – the longbow. Basically, a long stick bent with twine from end to end. The flying missiles were “small” spears or now known as arrows. This new technology made it possible to kill animals from an even further distance.

As time went on, new stronger bows were developed that could shoot arrows faster, straighter, and from further away. This all increased the accuracy of their shot. The bow and arrow became a tool that provided people with food to eat.

Now imagine this –  two young boys are out playing with these tools. One of them makes a comment that he thinks he could hit the tree three yards away. His friend takes it as a challenge and makes the comment that not only could he hit the tree but land his arrow on the knot of the tree. And the competition began.

In the early days of the sport, a competition was shot in “ends”. They had two sets of targets on the field. Since they were such a far distance apart, the archers would shoot to one end, walk down, score their arrows, then turn and shoot back down the field. They shot end to end which is why we now use the term “end” in archery. During these games, if an arrow missed the bullseye of the target (the center of the bale), it was called a sin.

Do you see the connection yet? In life, if we miss the mark, it is called sin. So just like the arrows didn’t hit the middle, we can fail to do what honors God. Anything that doesn’t honor God is a sin.

This is just the first of many connections we will see with the sport of archery. In Pt. 2  of this series, we will begin looking at our bow and how that can determine where our arrow flies.

With love,

Catherine

 

Letters from College #3

If I were to take a survey, how many of you would say that you have read the entire book of Matthew in one setting?

My guess is going to be not many of you. I know that we have all read the book of Matthew multiple times over the course of a couple days, weeks, and even months since is it one of the four Gospels. We have probably even read several chapters at once. However, the 28 chapters that make up the book of Matthew make it a long book to read in just one setting.

It took me 4+ hours to read the book of Matthew from start to finish. I have actually read the book of Matthew three times this past week. I know this shouldn’t have been surprising, but it was actually refreshing. It was very neat to be reading a chapter and be like – “Hey! I recognize this. Something similar was said earlier or this story seems oddly familiar.”

#Truth: When you read through a book at one time, you notice things that you wouldn’t notice otherwise.

Here are just a few of my observations of the themes throughout the book:

Where The Evil Ones Go

-“Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.” (Chapter 3)

-“Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will let the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.” (Chapter 13)

-“Then the king said to his aids, ‘Bind this hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Chapter 22)

-“Now throw this useless servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Chapter 25)

Jesus Feeding the People

-Feeding of the 5 thousand (Chapter 14)

-Feeding of the 4 thousand (Chapter 15)

The Faith of the Gentiles

-The Roman officer (Chapter 8)

-The Gentile Woman (Chapter 15)

Healing

-Leprosy (Chapter 8)

-Demon Possession (Chapter 8 v. 16-17 & v. 28-34)

-Demon Possession (Chapter 9)

-Demon Possession (Chapter 12)

-Blindness (Chapter 9)

-Blindness (Chapter 12)

-Blindness (Chapter 15)

-Blindness (Chapter 20)

Jesus Questioned By Leaders

-Temptation in the wilderness (Chapter 3)

-Fasting  (Chapter 9)

-Healing on the Sabbath (Chapter 12)

-Inner-purity (Chapter 15)

-Divorce and marriage (Chapter 19)

-Taxes to Caeser (Chapter 22)

-The resurrection (Chapter 22)

-The most important commandment (Chapter 22)

-Before the Council (Chapter26)

These are just a few of the repetitions that I noticed while reading the book in depth this week. You get such a different perspective of the book if you read it as one entity rather than separate parts of a whole. When you read each story, you have the context of what has happened before to guide your understanding. It is certainly a powerful lesson to learn and I am so glad that I spent nearly 5 hours of my day reading Matthew in this way!

I highly encourage all of you to try this at some point and see how it affects your understanding because you might just be surprised. ❤

Have a blessed day friends!

Catherine