Wanna Play?

"And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to the Ethiopian Eunuch and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹ And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

Acts 8:29-31

I pedaled as fast as my elementary aged legs could go. I was setting land speed records with each trip around the block. Except for the span of about three houses. For this stretch I went as slow as I dared. New neighbors just moved into the middle house and the rumor was they had a boy my age. Oh how I wanted to meet him. I wanted to ask him to play. But I was way too passive to make the first move. Instead, I rode around and around with strategic stalling in front of his house. I was hoping he might make the first move.

He didn’t.

Thankfully, my mom was amazing. I walked in my house, defeated and dejected. And mom grabbed me by the hand and we walked right over to the new neighbors and she rung the doorbell. Matt and I developed a great friendship over the years. It became second nature to go and ask if he wanted to play. But not that first time. That first time was intimidating.

Making friends can be really hard. Inviting someone to play—especially that first time—is really hard. But like so many other things in life, repetition makes things easier and easier. The same is true when it comes to investing time in the Word of God.

Staring at your bible—especially if its been a minute since you’ve opened it up—is really intimidating. It is such a huge book. It has the added weight of being the Word of God so there is expectation that it ought to be understandable and discernible. Guess what, it isn’t. Understanding the Bible is hard. Really hard. And it is intimidating. Knowing where to begin is challenging as well.

This is the introduction to my next publication. I'm still working on it, but it is a reading guide for scripture. I've chosen a number of key stories from the Old and New Testament. I provide a little background or a helpful antidote to help explain the context and/or meaning of the lesson. I'm happy to play the role of my mom. I'll help introduce you to the story. But the real power is when you play with the scripture yourself. P.L.A.Y. is the framework for bible study that I developed. It is an acronym to help you study and grow with the Word. I'd be delighted to give it to you. It's a free gift for signing up for these weekly emails.

I assure you, having Philip jump in a car with you to open up the scriptures would be better. But this is a start. You can download the P.L.A.Y. framework at the bottom of this email and use it for the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8:26-40