Useful Things from 2024

I haven't managed to blog much this year - hopefully I'm going to up my game a bit in the New Year. However, I thought it might be worth blogging about a few bits and pieces that I have found useful this year.

Podcasts

I've found two podcasts really helpful this year.

1. The Bible Overbrew - This is actually much more than a podcast. It's a Bible-in-a-year reading plan with accompanying YouTube videos (or you can find the audio on Spotify etc.) to give you weekly input on the section you've been reading. These videos take the from of a discussion between Rachel Redeemed and Matt Searles, which I think hit the right level of detail to get a useful overview of what the Bible is saying as you read it in a year and to feel like you are responding to the word and being changed by it as you understand it better. There's a pdf for questions to guide you with your reading and also if you're too stretched to read all the section in a week there are key chapters to focus on. I think for reading the Bible in a year this is a brilliant resource and I hope people keep using it. I read through the whole of the Message translation with it this year, because I'd never really got to grips with why people like it (I still haven't to be honest, it's my least favourite of the paraphrases I've read), but it's probably better with the NLT, NIV, ESV or CSB.
2. Into the Word - This is a chapter by chapter podcast on the Bible. The whole Bible isn't covered yet, but lots of books are complete. It's fifteen minutes of well-informed comment including application on the chapter by a pastor in Canada called Paul Carter and you can get it via the website, app or lots of podcast providers. I guess you would say it's aimed at pastors or at least people wanting to teach the Bible and I've found it an interesting and informative way to get into chapters I've been studying or teaching.

Books

I've read 50 books this year and am quite a way through a number of others. Most have been average to pretty good, but let me recommend a couple I've found helpful.

1. God's Story by Matt Searles - To be fair this is a kind of extension from the Bible Overbrew podcast above. This is a beautifully illustrated (although you can get a version without the pictures), very helpful and engaging Bible overview. I read it alongside reading the Bible in a year and it probably hits my favourite Bible overview book for helping me get the big picture of a book or author. There's plenty in there I hadn't spotted or thought about before and it's an easy and relatively short read. It was really good for reading while doing something like a Bible-in-a-year plan.
2. The Branch Exposition of the Bible by Michael A. Eaton - Quite some time ago I got a deal on this two volume commentary on the whole Bible, although I only recently got the volume on the Old Testament. Eaton was an African missionary and Bible scholar. He writes from a more Lutheran view of the Law (which was obvious in Galatians) and I think he would be gently charismatic. They are written to help you preach the text well and written intentionally not to reflect a British or American perspectives. I've been using the New Testament volume on and off and really enjoying it because Eaton loves the text and wants you to teach it well. These commentaries wouldn't be my only source for teaching something, but for me they make a refreshing evangelical but somewhat alternative view and approach to most of what I read.

Exercise

I guess this is a bit of a random addition, however I find as I get older that keeping fitter and healthier is more important, but also that my time is more squeezed than it used to be. I got pretty fit in lockdown because where we lived at the time allowed us to do some fairly tough hill-walking straight from the front door. When we moved to our current house and I was engaged in renovations and planting a church I pretty quickly lost the fitness.

I find I want to be able to do about half-an-hour per day and the most practical way to do that is running two or three times a week and flexibility and strength stuff two or three times a week. To get running again I used the Couch to 5K app, which I've done before and is a brilliant graded way to get yourself to running a good distance. I have to admit it's getting harder to get myself there, but I got myself to 5K from spring to summer and have kept running since (I usually do slightly shorter runs now, but can still do a 30 minute 5K pretty easily). I track my runs and walks with the free version of Strava now. I just use YouTube videos for flexibility and strengthening exercises.

For me, I find it helps both my physical and mental health and I've been glad to get on top of it this year.

None of these bits and pieces are necessary to your life, but you never know, they may be useful for you in 2025.