How to read the bible for all its worth

So i have just barely begun to read Gordon Fee/Douglas Stuarts "how to read the bible for all its worth" and i have already enjoyed its aim and direction, heres why

~The concern of the scholar is primarily with that the text meant; the concern of the layperson is usually with what the text means. The believing scholar insists that we must have both. Reading the Bible with an eye ONLY to its meaning for us can lead to a great deal of nonsense as well as every imaginable kind of error-because it lasks controls.

~Interpretation that aims at, or thrives on, uniqueness can usually be attributed to pride. (an attempt to "outclever" the rest of the world), a false understanding of spirituality (wherein the Bible is full of deeply buried truths waiting to be mined by the spiritually sensitive person with special insight), or vested interests (the need to support a theological bias, especially in dealing with texts that seem to go against that bias). Unique interpretations are usually wrong. This is not to say that the correct understanding of a text may not often seem unique to someone who hears it for the first time. But it is to say that uniqueness is NOT the aim of our task

Just by reading the first half of the first chapter, i think that i should have been required to read this book (and practiced) on my DTS.
later
nic

go, do. reconcile part 2

I'm finding more and more people my age who have grown up "christian" and yet, are scared to admit that they have questions and doubts about whats been TAUGHT. Why are we (christian collective) so nervous to admit that we may be lost amongst our own faith? Doesn't questioning refine truth? Why do i feel like im faced with frustration when i ask fellow christians where they get their definitions of the basic definitions of our faith from? (faith, love, holy spirit, revelation, etc.) I ask, not (usually) because i think i have a better answer and i want to chop someone down, but i honestly want to know. I want to know if we (collective) are using words to its true biblical definition, or, by its christian culture definition, potentially misinterpreted and misunderstood. 'Cause if theres a whole handful of a "churched" generation that, after 20 odd years don't have the confience in the general preached doctrine to stand by their beliefs, then we may need to wipe the slate clean and start with the Bible, read in context.
Reconcile is a word found in scripture, which, in dictionary terms, suggests "coming back to" or "living in harmony with."

2 cor 5
16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sin[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

So, in short, i'm trying to figure out how to "go, and do" reconciliation. I'm learning, it starts with me no longer sitting and waiting.

go, do. reconcile part 1

To my seemingly best ability, i am trying to live by a godly standard. (Standard DOESN'T have to imply negativity or obligation) A new way that i have been trying this out is meeting new people, OR, better yet, meeting the people i kind of interact with, yet do not know well enough to feel obligated to converse with. Example: Almost anyone in any service industry- yes they are my server and they have to be nice to me while they make my coffee, but they are needing real interaction as i do. Example: My back yard neighbor. Me and my friend sara decided it would be a great idea to sleep outside last weekend, no tent, just blankets and mosquito spray. Ironically, my backyard neighbor decided to have a bonfire with some friends. Sara and i were too lazy to make our own fire that night, but i did go and buy smore stuff in case a fire occurred, so, after psyching myself up for 15 minutes, i walked over there with my bag of smore stuff and just gave it to them, and they were very grateful, and we ended up joining them for an hour. But in order for me to go over there, i LITERALLY had to ask sara, "okay, whats the worst case senario if i go over there to give them this food?" Why? Why whould i be so hesitant to do something nice? Why do i sometimes avoid eye contact with random people i recognise from high school?
I'm going through a phase where i would rather go and do than sit and wait for people to interact with me. I'm thinking that this may be spurred on from the fact that for the last 2 months, i feel like i keep running into very random people from high school in very random places. I think it's also from my observation of the people Christ was focussing his attention on while he was on earth. Of course we READ he was with lost sinners; tax collectors, the poor, lowly citizens, but, at least for me, i get this Monty Python and the Holy Grail-ish/Life of Brian imagery of dirty people with the creepy cackle when i think of the crowd he preached to. I have only recently thunk (i know) to modernize this imagery.
I have come to recognise that, if i'm aloud to pick out a "people group" that i care for and hope "bring to the understanding of Christ" (ugh, cliche) it would be the ones who have been "churched" their whole lives and yet feel like there are too many unanswered questions for "christianity" to be worth betting a soul on: The people who are extremly interested in talking about religion and life, yet, are 1) too old for youth group or drop in centres 2) too uncommited to christianity to join a "college and career/young adults" church group thing, or 3) too frustrated or stubborn with the idea of going to church as a whole. Of course, some people (myself included) use these 3 situations as an excuse not to try any venues. I didn't have any desire to go to church for 5 years, under of the "too stubborn and disagree with church" excuse, until a co-worker at the time/christian challenged me by saying that my protest towards "the dumb way church is" by simply not going was accomplishing nothing, that if i saw a need for change, i should stop my complaining and start going to a church so i can start implementing change.
Well, duh. Shut up and do something about it if it bothers you so much.

Title

Hello world. I have officially moved out of doug and kathie mays basement, where i had lived for the last 15 months. (which happens to be the longest i have stayed in one place since high school)
Though i love Niverville, i decided to move home to my mothers in Steinbach a little bit early, just so i can settle in my boxes of stuff and things before i take off to the wild wild west. Plus, i missed my Steinbach house, and mom...hopefully we will get used to living together again quickly.
So, for the next 7 weeks, my life will primarily consist of working, still at the daycare, but i will now be carpooling with someone, shuffling and cleaning my room, drinking coffee at Lekoka so i can use the Internet, and hanging out with my few steinbach friends I've collected over the years. Sounds pretty relaxed.
I have recently found out that i fellow Nivervillian will be at turner valley with me in fall, Ms. Steph Armbruster. She has signed on to staff, So that should be an interesting adventure in itself. It will be nice to have someone who knows who I'm talking about when I'm reminiscing about home.
I am hoping to plan a farewell fundraiser in september before I go to alberta, so, look out! I'm hoping it will pull together nicely, but i still have some time. I'll just leave it at that for now.