Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Paul Simon On His Lyrics & Songwriting

Coinciding with the release of a book collection of his lyrics to date, "Lyrics 1964-2008", Paul Simon sat down with Katherine Lanpher for a "ONE-ON-ONE" interview about his career, lyrics and songwriting. The interview took place Thursday, November 13th, 2008 at the Barnes and Noble bookstore located in Union Square, New York City, with a live audience present. Since I work in Manhattan, I had hoped to attend, but the timing (during work hours) proved inconvenient. Fortunately, Barnes and Noble (as well as enterprising You-Tubers) have recorded the whole interview on video.

If you're a Paul Simon fan (personally, he's my favorite songwriter, other than Paul McCartney) I think you'll find the interview fascinating and full of interesting details-- among other things, Paul tells funny stories about his early career, talks about his songwriting process, performs old songs like "The Only Living Boy in New York" and even a new song titled "Love and Hard Times". Great stuff!

You can watch a high quality video of the interview right here:



For videos put togther by fans, I've collected a bunch on this YouTube playlist: Paul Simon at Barnes and Noble in NYC- Nov 13, 2008.



Saturday, January 10, 2009

Unlikely Pals



This is hilarious... that rat really loves that cat!

Friday, January 02, 2009

Bible Reading Plans- Read Through the Bible in 2009

At the beginning of a new year, many set the goal of reading through the Bible in a year. Reading according to a plan can help make this challenging task more manageable and accomplishable. And now, more than ever, there are so many excellent resources and plans available, especially on-line, for reading and study of the Bible.

But if you're like me, you may have often started a reading plan but not completed it. Rather than feel guilty, you may want to try an alternative approach. If reading the Bible according to a yearly plan doesn't appeal to you, check out Noel Piper's or Dan Edelen's articles below.

The important thing, really, is to read the Bible consistently and to get something out of what you read-- to encounter the Lord in your time in the Word, so that your life is changed as you take it to heart and apply it to your life. Find the reading approach that helps you as an individual to best accomplish this.

For those who do want to attempt a yearly plan, much assistance is available. Justin Taylor of Between Two Worlds has written a useful article in which he directs readers to resources for reading through the Bible in a year. He especially likes the ESV Bible reading plans (I do too), and particularly recommends these plans: ESV Study Bible, Daily Reading Bible and the M’Cheyne One-Year Reading Plan.

Here on Jordan's View, I always have on my sidebar numerous Bible Study Resources, including links to Devotionals, Bible Reading Plans, Scholarly Sites and Audio Resources.

But with the New Year now here (wow, 2008 went by in a flash!), I want to highlight the many available resources on the web.

May 2009 be a great Bible reading year for you (and me too)!

Bible Reading Resources

Effective Bible Reading

How to Use a Study Bible by Al Mohler

Tips for Effective Bible Reading

Reading Between the Trees: The Bible from Beginning to End

Profitable Bible Study by R.A. Torrey


Bible Reading Plans


ESV Bible RSS Feeds

Bible Reading Plans from BibleGateway.com

Bible Reading Schedules from Realms of Faith

M'CHEYNE Daily Bible Reading Plan (19th Century Scottish minister, Robert Murray M'Cheyne's popular plan takes readers through the New Testament and Psalms twice a year, and through the rest of the Bible once each year.

How to Study the Bible by Mike Aldridge

Bile Reading Plan through Christianity.com (requires a login; you can track your progress)

OneYearBibleOnline.com

Never in January by Noel Piper (A different approach, for those who don't like regimented plans)

The World's Best Bible Reading Program by Dan Edelen (alternative approach that focuses more on what you get of or your Bible reading than reading through the Bible in a year but not really getting much out of it).

Yearly Bible Read Through (lets you custom-design your own, track-able plan)

Daily Bile Readings from Crosswalk (lots of versions, but not the ESV/includes audio)

Daily Bile Readings from Crosswalk (with tracking/needs registration)

Miscellaneous Bible reading plan links

Bible Reading Plans for the New Year: A Resource Guide for Pastors

Bible Readings sent via email (customizable)

52 Week Bible Reading Plan
(PDF file)

TableTalk (Ligonier Ministries) Bible in a Year (PDF file)

BibleReading.com

Advice on choosing a Bible reading plan

A Chronological Bible Reading Plan