I Have a Desk Job but Stand a Lot. Here's How and Why

Two years ago a blog post from Michael Hyatt came through my twitter feed that convinced me to act. The post was about sitting and how it isn't good for you. At the bottom of this post you'll see the infographic that formed the meat of the article from 2 years ago.

Most of us who have desk jobs know that sitting so much isn't good for us, but we also tend to do nothing about it. I certainly didn't do anything. But once I read the aforementioned blog post (and was sufficiently alarmed by the infographic below), I decided to start being proactive. Not only did it make more sense to me that sitting too much wasn't good for me, but I have struggled with a lower back problem since I was 22 and threw it out while working at a warehouse.

The first thing I did, and which I'd recommend to all those who have a desk job, is to put yourself on a timer. In my case, I purchased a nice little Mac app called BreakTime. I set this handy little app to 55 minutes. I then began getting up for 5 minutes every hour. Typically I would just get up and walk around the hall, or more often I would go an do the few little things I needed to do around the building. The 5 minutes soon expanded to 10 minutes every hour, and I began to add a little bit of easy exercise to get my blood flowing – running in place, jumping jacks, etc.

While this improved my day considerably and continue the practice to this day, I wanted to take the next step by trying to stand for most of the day. I had heard about standing desks and decided to request a new desk from my boss – and was very happy he said yes. I purchased my standing desk (the picture is my standing desk 😊) from updesk.com and have been totally satisfied. Buyers can get a manually cranking desk, or an automatic desk. I chose the automatic, and it has three height settings on it. I do have lazy days, but on most days while in the office I stand for 70% of the time.

Another good offshoot of my standing desk is it results in standing meetings. When people come to my office and I'm standing, we just continue to stand. This tends to make meetings briefer and to the point. And if I feel like sitting with my guest, the chairs are right there.

So this is how and why I stand a lot, even though I have a desk job. I'd encourage those of you out who have a desk job to consider a standing desk. Here is a Lifehacker article on some of the top standing desk sellers. If you like the idea but can't swing the cost, you can build one yourself for much cheaper (see this, this, or this). Good luck and keep standing!

Understanding Matthew's Genealogy and His "Creative Counting" in 1:17

Have you ever wondered why Matthew and Luke's genealogy of Jesus is different? It is clear to most scholars that Matthew is not intending to create and exhaustive genealogy of Jesus (or more specifically Joseph), but rather a dynastic genealogy. Matthew is using the genealogy to show how Jesus is in the line of dynastic succession. As such, the evangelist is not focused on an exhaustive list.

As some of you know, I am in the final stretch of my PhD dissertation. My study has focused on Davidic tradition and typology in the Gospel of Matthew.

Last week Craig Evans and a few of my friends (Greg Monette, Jesse Richards, Brian LePort) were at Bristol and told me about a presentation on Matthew's genealogy by the awesome NT scholar Francis Watson, as part of a forthcoming monograph on the Gospels. They were kind enough to pass along some of his handouts.

My first dissertation chapter is on the incipit and genealogy of Matthew and so I was interested to see what Watson thinks about Matt 1:17 and the 3 x 14 structure of Matthew. If you're quick at math, you'll see that Matthew counts 42 generations and herein lies the problem – there aren't enough names to get to 14 for the 3rd set. I argue in my chapter, along with other commentators, that Matthew was utilizing gematria (letters equalling numbers) on the Hebrew name David, which adds up to 14. But where there has been a wide range of opinion is how to understand Matthew's "creative counting." Here is a list of options:

• Matthew miscounted
• Textual corruption or scribal error. E.g. perhaps Jehoiakim or Abner was a name that got missed in early transmission. (Schonfield)
• Matthew "rounded up" the third grouping to stress the 3 x 14 pattern (Davies and Allison)
• Jesus counts as 2 (Jesus is one, Christ is the second) (Stendahl)
• Matthew counts Jechoniah twice. Augustine argued this. From the handouts I received I see that Watson also takes this position. And I noted a while back that Michael Licona stated this in a nice little YouTube video about the genealogy. (He explains gematria in the video quite nicely too!)
• The Holy Spirit is counted (Nolan)
• Mary is counted (Gundry)
• Jesus' "real" biological father is counted (Schaberg)
• Jehoiakim is present in the count but not Matthew's genealogy (Brown)
• The exile is counted as a generation (Chrysostom)
• David is counted twice (Schöllig)

All of the options assume two things: First, Matthew used a name to represent a "generation." Second, all of the options assume Matthew counted "creatively" by either double-counting one person, adding someone without naming them, or rounding up.

The last option was presented by Johann Bengel in 1858, by Hugo Schöllig in 1968, and was also presented by Stephen Carlson in 2009 at a SECSOR regional meeting (see his post). To this list you can now add Zacharias. And trust me, I'm right !  😏

In a nutshell, David and David alone should be counted twice because Matthew emphasizes David and Jesus as Son of David throughout the Gospel. In addition, David is the 14th name in the genealogy (remember Matt 1:17 and its 3 x 14 structure), and Matthew adds additional focus to David by utilizing gematria and calling him "the king" in the genealogy. But more important than any of that is this point: Matthew himself tells us exactly how to count the genealogy:

“Therefore all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ are fourteen generations.” (Matthew 1:17)

It can be visualized in this way:

View fullsize

This way of counting, Matthew's way, gives us 14 names in each division, with David being counted twice, just like Matthew tells us to.

So to sum up,  this is the best option available because:

1. It doesn't assume error by Matthew or later scribes
2. Doesn't assume a missing name
3. Doesn't arbitrarily choose to double-count a name (Jechoniah or Jesus) just to make the scheme work
4. Fits Matthew's continual emphasis on Jesus as the Son of David through the Gospel
5. Counts the "generations" exactly how Matthew tells us to

What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment below!

And finally, my favorite book on the genealogy is with fellow Highland PhD student (and now graduate) Jason Hood's published dissertation The Messiah, His Brothers, and the Nations. If you're interested in Matthew's genealogy, check it out!

Here is How You Can Harness Google Books in Your Academic Study

Google Books is an awesome resource to help you in your study. I am on the site constantly and have found it invaluable in my academic studies. Let me tell you how.

When I first learned many moons ago that Google had begun a major initiative to scan pretty much every book in existence, I was over the moon with excitement. If by chance you don't really know what Google Books is, Google has scanned almost every book in existence. They now sit on their servers and, depending on the publisher, you have a certain amount of access to the content of the book. For most books, you can do a full text search within the books, although how much of the book you can view is different based on publisher preferences – either full view, limited preview, snippet view, or no preview. Books that are in the public domain in your country are not only full view, but can be downloaded. All of the metadata is there for the books as well, so Google Books is a good place to import data about a book for bibliographic software.

So here is a list of the 5 ways I've used Google Books in my academic study.

1. Search and Find Relevant Resources. The first and most basic use of Google Books is to find resources for your study. The best way to do this from the front page is to use keywords for searching. Google Books uses the same kind of boolean searches as regular google. So quotations provide exact matches for phrases, you can use AND between keywords so that both words occur, as well OR to say "find either X or Y." You'll find lots of great stuff.
   While this is a post on Google Books, I would actually recommend that users use Google Scholar for this step if you want to look beyond just books. Google Scholar searches not only Google Books, but periodicals and journal articles that are available on the web. Using Google Scholar for this step will help you find both books and articles.
2. Search a book on your shelf. Because Google has scanned every book and made it text-searchable, Google Books is a great place to go in order to do a full-text search of a book you have on your shelf. If you ever remember something from a  book, but can't remember what page it was on – Google Books to the rescue! Google makes it easy to see your search results by highlighting the hits right in the book and all of the hits in a book can be navigated.
3. Search a collection of books (or your whole library!). An expansion on the first usage is to actually search a collection of books. Google Books has a feature called "My Library." It is a grouping of books that can be searched in isolation from the rest of Google's collection (You can also sub-categorize your "My Library" list in virtual shelves). In my case, I added to my library books of my shelf (I have most there but am working to get them all there). Depending on my current area of research – right now it's my dissertation – I create a shelf. Now all books in My Library can be searched, and I can further refine my search based on any shelves created.
4. Read snippets of "peripheral books". Google Books has been invaluable for checking out sources cited in footnotes. As I have been reading for my dissertation, on pretty much every page a book is cited that I don't have. Sometimes it is quite obvious that I need to get the book from the library, other times it is not so obvious. This is where Google Books has been invaluable – it has allowed me to browse books within seconds without leaving my office! This has yielded some great resources as well as pointed out some obvious flaws in how and why people footnote!
5. Cross referencing!  Google Books has allowed me to "peer in" to the academic conversation that surrounds articles in a whole new way. Let me give you a quick example. A chapter of my current dissertation is on the death of Judas in Matthew and its typological connection with the death of Ahithophel. Beyond brief mention in commentaries, I found no significant work on this. But all commentaries references two articles by L. Paul Trudinger and T. Francis Glasson called “Davidic Links With The Betrayal Of Jesus." These articles, though, were short critical notes only two pages in length. I had found nothing else. This is where I turned to Google Books. I wrapped the title of the article in quotations and did a search (quotations in google searches for the exact phrase). This resulted in a list of books that had these articles in their bibliography. I then went to each book, and within the book looked for the author's last name (so that I can find any footnote, including short-form footnotes). This helped me find a couple of significant works that discussed the issue in more depth. I simply would not have found these works if I hadn't used Google Books to do this type of cross-referencing.
   As in point #1,  Google Scholar is valuable here as well, as it will highlight journal articles in your cross reference search.

You may have more ways that you use Google Books that I haven't thought of – I'd love to hear about it! Please share in the comments below and spread the knowledge!

photo credit: FutUndBeidl via photopin cc

How to Set a Productive Mood on Your Computer

I’m not a fan of silence, particularly when I’m in my office working. But I’m also an easily distracted person. For awhile, I tried to multi-task my mind by listening to podcasts while working. While I enjoyed the podcast content, it didn’t take me long to figure out that this was bad for productivity. I then moved to just putting iTunes on random. While this was better, I would start to sing along or focus a little too much on the lyrics. I then tried to make a playlist of more ballad-type songs or hymns. Still not great. But I knew that what you listen to while you work can either help or hinder your productivity.

what you listen to while you work can either help or hinder your productivity —Tweet That!

It was then that I came across a little website which swiftly turned into a little app: Coffitivity. Coffitivity is a website, but is also a Mac app, iOS app, and Android app. Coffitivity creates white noise that replicates a busy coffee shop – which many find to be a great atmosphere for work. This set the right mood for me to be productive. It took away the silence that I dislike but didn’t distract me. This is a jewel of an app!

After using Coffitivity for awhile, I heard about Focus@Will. This web app creates several different tracks to listen to, and were created in partnership with a leading neuroscientist to try and help increase focus (read the sciency stuff here).

Focus@Will is free to use for a 60 minute session per day, or you can pay yearly fee of just of under $50 a year. I used Focus@Will for three weeks and liked it so much that I subscribed to it. I have not regretted it one bit. The only thing I didn’t like was that on my desktop, Focus@Will runs through the browser - it would be nice for them to have a Mac app that could run in the menu bar so that I don’t need to run the browser. But I took matters into my own hands and used Fluid to make the Focus@Will web app into a desktop app.

Once in awhile I go back to Coffitivity, but Focus@Will is now my main mood setter for a productive day. I would encourage you to check both of them out, as they are both great apps that may help you the way they help me.

How do you set a productive mood for yourself? 

jaronbrass via photopin cc

Demo Video for FlashGreek Pro

Most of you know that I publish mobile apps for learning Greek - one of them being FlashGreek Pro. If you have ever wondered exactly what FlashGreek is all about and how it might be able to help you, this demo video will explain it all. Please pass the video along to any Greek students, seminary students, and Bible College students that you know.

Mentoring Memories: my first big TA assignment for Dr. Craig Evans

A while back I was listening to a podcast about mentors by Michael Hyatt (one of my favorite podcasts) and it had me reflecting on people that have had an influence on me. One of the things Hyatt talked about was finding mentors and learning from people you don’t necessarily even know - learning through podcasts, books, etc. There are a number of people I would point to as being mentors in my life: people I try to continue learning from. From time to time on this blog I want to take time to reflect on some things I’ve learned from my mentors.

I have been privileged to have as one of my main mentors New Testament scholar Dr. Craig Evans. Being mentored by Craig was no accident. Near the end of my undergrad studies, I knew that I wanted to pursue graduate and PhD studies in New Testament. I also knew that I wanted to try and stay in Canada; I wanted to find a top-notch scholar; and I wanted a believer. Dr. Evans fits all of those criteria - and in my opinion he is a cut above top-notch. I originally planned to head to Trinity Western University, but after talking to Dr. Evans via email I learned he was moving to Acadia Divinity College, so I came here instead, and haven’t left!

Once I was here, I was very methodical. Not only did I want to learn from Craig, but I wanted to understand his work ethic and tricks of the trade. If you know NT studies at all, you know the name Craig Evans and you know that he is prolific. I’ll share about some other things I’ve learned from him, but today I want to focus on one thing in particular.

So, as soon as I arrived, I asked if I could be his TA. The spot was taken, so I TA’d for another professor for a year (which was great, as I was TAing for Greek). The following year I jumped into the TA spot for Craig. Two months into this new position, my baptism by fire came.

I remember it very clearly because it was so comical. I was sitting in one of our small classrooms with a few students, having just finished Greek class with Craig. Craig left the class and then swiftly came back. He had in his hand a 576 page manuscript for a book he had edited with Bruce Chilton called The Missions of James, Peter, and Paul (great collection of essays by the way). This behemoth paper stack was tied together with some string. He dropped it in front of me (almost cracking the table), and said: “Danny, here’s the manuscript we talked about. Brill really wants to have it ready for SBL. They would like the index to be done quickly. You have 72 hours."

After a bit of a chuckle, the reality sunk in that the next 72 hours of my life would be just this manuscript. I was shocked at the timetable (that was news to me), but fortunately I had mentally prepared – in particular I had figured out a way to do the indexing a little more quickly using a spreadsheet (I’ve since worked out an even quicker way - check out my guide, Scripture Indexing on a Mac).

I set to work immediately. Fortunately this didn’t set me back homework wise, as I generally worked ahead (check out my homework tips in Surviving and Thriving in Seminary). I worked on this non-stop. The first night, I went to bed pretty late. The next day I felt I was really behind and not going to make it - but I kept pushing. At home I sat at my desk and got to it. While I sat at my desk working on this, Craig was in his home office working as well. We were emailing back and forth every half hour or so. He encouraged me along. By 4am he decided to get a few hours of sleep. At 7:30am, I finished the index. I felt pasted to my desk chair. I got up, took a shower, and headed to class. As I sent it to Craig, I got an email back from Craig. He said that I was a mensch, in German a “real man."

I learned something about myself and Craig that day. First, I learned that sometimes you just have to burn the midnight oil. There are times when you just need to keep working. Craig knows how to work hard and long hours - that’s part of the reason why he is so prolific. And I also learned that when I’m focused and under the gun, I can work very fast. I know I have the fortitude to get stuff done when I need to. Craig really taught me the value of hard work.

From that assignment, I also learned the value of utilizing technology. I had talked to some previous students who had done similar work. They talked about days and weeks of doing these indexes. I got it done by myself in 72 hours. It wasn’t because I necessarily worked harder, but because, as soon as I learned I had to do this, I thought to myself “there’s got to be a better way beyond copying and pasting into a Word document.” A little bit of planning went a LONG way.

One other thing I learned is that it is good to “pay your dues.” No one likes to do indexing, but it is part of the publishing business. It builds character to “start at the bottom” so to speak. I did more indexes after that - I taught others how, and now I edit books and write them. Scripture indexing a book is a huge labor with little reward - but somebody’s got to do it. It makes the book much more usable for users.

So there you have it. My first assignment taught me 1) the value of hard work, 2) the value of utilizing technology, and 3) that it builds character when you “start at the bottom." 

Your Intro Greek Teacher Was Wrong: deponent verbs don't exist

Where Did The Greek Deponents Go? Answer - they never existed in the first place.

I learned Greek from David Alan Black’s book Learn to Read New Testament Greek. But over the course of teaching introduction to Greek and developing mobile apps to learn Biblical Greek, I have become familiar with all of the major intro Greek grammars and have now written my own too. For your information, Mounce’s Basics of Biblical Greek remains king, but Black’s grammar remains in heavy usage, followed by Croy’s Biblical Greek Primer. (This is not an official ranking - rather I rank it by the sales of my FlashGreek apps which I think provides a pretty good picture of adoption in the the US)

All three of these top-used grammars teach about the Greek deponent - a verb that is middle/passive in form but active in meaning (*but see my update note at the bottom*). The word most often used as the example in the grammars is ἐρχομαι. Daniel Wallace’s Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics (a book the sits open a lot during my study) teaches deponency in this way as well.

Up until a few years ago, I also taught this since I was at the time using Gerald Stevens’ New Testament Greek Primer, and it was even in my initial drafts of Biblical Greek Made Simple. But scholar Tim McLay pointed out a number of articles to read about deponency. These readings caused me to change my mind on deponency. If you are interested, I recommend the following articles:

• Pennington, Jonathan T. “Deponency in Koine Greek: the grammatical question and the lexicographical dilemma.” Trinity Journal 24/1 (2003), 55–76.

• Pennington, Jonathan T. “Setting Aside ‘Deponency’: rediscovering the Greek middle voice in New Testament studies,” Pages 181–203 in Linguist as Pedagogue . 2009.

• Taylor, Bernard A. “Deponency and Greek Lexicography,” Pages 167–176 in Biblical Greek Language and Lexicography: Essays in Honor of Frederick W. Danker. Edited by Bernard A. Taylor. 2004.

Stanley Porter, many moons ago now in Idioms of New Testament Greek (pgs 70 ff.), had already discussed this issue. This is reflected in his new intro Greek grammar Foundations of New Testament Greek as well as my own grammar. But neither my grammar nor Porter’s grammar are yet in heavy usage.

What’s the Issue?

As I mentioned, deponent verbs are taught as verbs that are middle in form (i.e. take middle/passive endings) but are active in meaning. This is not actually the case. These verbs identified as deponent actually are middle in meaning – they are regular old middle verbs. But in the process of English translation they sound active. Here is a quote from Porter’s intro Greek grammar:

“Some verbs do not have all three voice forms in every tense, and some older grammars label such verbs deponents. Deponency is understood to mean that the middle voice form (or sometimes the passive voice form) performs the function of the active voice, Some grammarians, however, have questioned the category of deponency, as do we. In our view, every verb expresses the meaning of its voice form, even when other forms — such as the active voice — may not exist. That is, in interpreting the meaning of a verb form, we should try to understand its voice. Often in English an active-voice translation is used for a Greek middle-voice form (e.g., “I became/become” translating ἐγενόμην), which does not mean that the Greek voice itself has left no nuance of its presence. The Greek middle voice is still being expressed, even if the English translation does not cap- ture its complete sense in Greek.”

What have been identified as deponent verbs are middle verbs after all, the proper designation being lexical middle. They are usually verbs which the subject does to or for oneself - like ἐρχομαι which means “I come/go.” You come or go somewhere based on your own self interest.

So by now you can see the issue. The top used intro Greek grammars teach about deponent verbs, a category of Greek verb that does not actually exist. Only the two most recent intro Greek grammars, which have not been widely adopted, teach (or don’t teach as the case may be) the middle voice properly. Which means that every year, seminaries and colleges continue to churn out students with this understanding. In the grand scheme of things, it is of course a minor point. But one which I and others hope to remedy.

Have any questions? Ask in the comments!

UPDATE: David Alan Black's blog type webpage (June 21st section) mentions my post and notes that I have not fairly represented him. He does use the term deponency, but nuances it. I take your correction Dr. Black! And thanks for your textbook – it is the textbook I learned Greek from!

photo credit: Kim Scarborough via photopin cc

Recommendation: The Critical Thinker Academy course

Full disclosure: I receive a small affiliate commission for all purchases of this course

I am a fan of video courses, and given my use of Udemy.com for my own courses it should be no secret that I’m a big fan of that platform. Over the next little while I will be recommending some video courses which will appear on my recommended courses page. The first recommended course that I want to recommend today is the Critical Thinker Academy.

I audited a critical thinking course in my undergrad and really enjoyed it. I made a mental note at that point to educate myself some more on the subject. That time came two years ago when I was driving to New Brunswick to teach a course. I wanted to find an educational podcast I could listen to and stumbled upon the Critical Thinker podcast from the Critical Thinker Academy. I listened to all of those podcasts and really enjoyed them. Once I got home I consumed more of the content from the website. The Critical Thinker Academy has 6 video courses in all.

Last week as I was browsing Udemy, I was really excited to come across Critical Thinker Academy and immediately purchased it. The teacher in this course, Kevin deLaplante, has bundled all 6 of his courses into this one Udemy course, which means it is full of great stuff. Here are the 14 sections of this course:

1. Introductions
2. Why Critical Thinking is Important
3. The Five Pillars of Critical Thinking
4. Cognitive Biases and Critical Thinking
5. Special Topics
6. Basic Concepts in Logic and Argumentation
7. Basic Concepts in Propositional Logic
8. Common Valid and Invalid Argument Forms
9. Introduction to Fallacies
10. Reasoning with Probabilities: What is Probability?
11. Reasoning with Probabilities: The Rules
12. Fallacies of Probability and Judgment
13. How to Write a Good Argumentative Essay
14. How to Cite Sources and Avoid Plagiarism

There is a whopping 141 lectures in all. But what is great is that these are all in bite-size portions: they range from 3 minutes to 25 minutes long, which are very manageable. I also like the range of videos - there is plenty here for someone coming to critical thinking for the very first time as well as some more advanced work. Finally, I was so happy to see that deLaplante included his courses on essay writing and citing sources - these are very valuable sections for students.

I highly recommend this course to anyone interested in argumentation and critical thinking, as well as for students who are looking to learn more about essay writing and citing sources. 

Getting Anti-Social to Ramp Up Productivity

One of the biggest impediments to my own productivity are the time wasting sites -– in particular Facebook and YouTube. I enjoy both sites, so I do not want to totally ditch them. Not only does Facebook keep me connected, but as I mentioned before, it is how I keep up on reading interesting articles.

However, during times of stress I tend waste even more time by checking Facebook way too often or getting lost down the black hole of amusing YouTube videos. This is why I now use an awesome app called anti-social (Mac or PC). Antisocial tells you to choose an amount of time, then choose URL domains to block during this time. It can also block you from email during that time. For me, it is Facebook.com and YouTube.com. I started with antisocial's suggested 45 minutes, but am increasing the blocks of time to one hour or more. This is about being intentional in using your time to be productive.

If you need even more restriction, you can purchase Freedom, which blocks all internet access. This doesn't work for me, as I am often doing academic research online. But this may work for you.

If you’re like me, sometimes you lose a little self-control during high stress periods. Using these types of apps can help you stay on target, keep focused, and be productive. 

Why and How I ditched my RSS Reader

For a long time I read blogs using Google Reader. Even before its unfortunate demise I found myself frequenting Google Reader less and less. And when I did go to it the feed list was so long I didn't end up reading much of it at all.

Once google Reader closed down I moved over with the rest of the world to Feedly. Then I had a thought - what if I just didn't bother? So I tried it out for awhile.

This choice coincided with my late adoption of Twitter. I decided to use others as funnels for interesting articles, rather than sifting it all through for myself. On Twitter I follow:

   * For leadership stuff I follow Michael Hyatt on Twitter
   * For productivity I follow Time Management Ninja on Twitter
   * For parenting and leadership I follow Tim Elmore on Twitter
   * For finance and debt stuff I follow Dave Ramsey and CanadianFinance
   * I follow others too, but these are some of the main funnel-type tweeters

In addition, lots of my Facebook friends are, naturally, interested in a lot of the same things I am. Plenty of my friends post good stuff on parenting. Lots of my students and colleagues share good posts on the Bible, Christianity, Biblical Studies, and Theology. And even my atheist brother posts good science and atheism stuff too :-) Because I am friends with numerous bloggers and scholars, my Facebook newsfeed keeps me well informed.

Moving to this type of method over an RSS reader also means that the better stuff is what I end up reading – the cream rises to the top, since at least one person has recommended it over the other stuff out there.

The last step in my system is using a Read Later service called Pocket. It saves articles for me to read later. It can waste a lot of time to read everything as soon as you come across it. Instead I batch it together at convenient times. Pocket is free and it is very simple to save articles (or anything else) directly from my browser or my twitter client of choice (Tweetbot for Mac and iOS).

This approach may not work well for you, but it has been great for me. About the only place I need to be careful is in the number of tweeters I follow. I try and be diligent to prune the people I follow if I'm not getting much good stuff from them but they post a lot.

I'm also careful to batch my Twitter scanning time. I've never had the temptation to check twitter more than once every day or so (not so with Facebook - I'll be posting about this in the future). Twitter, for me, is mainly about scanning through to find interesting stuff to throw into Pocket or to answer the occasional question that comes my way.

So there it is. Have you ditched your RSS Reader? If so, leave me a comment - and any suggestions for improving my system are welcome too.

andyi via photopin cc

Why We Limit Screen Time For Our Kids

Maria and I try our best to be intentional parents. We think about what we do and why we do it. We don't always get it right, and there are a few places I feel we need to improve. But one place I feel we got it right is in the area of screen time.

We limit screen time more than most parents. By screen time I mean TV/Netflix, movies, Wii, non-game computer usage, games on computer, games on mobile devices. Our kids have screen time on the weekends, and even then it is limited to only a few hours. In addition, we consider just looking at a screen to be screen time for our child - in other words if Jack wants to play Wii, he should not waste a lot of his time just watching Lex play because that counts!

Before I list some of the reasons and benefits of doing this, I'll also state some of the exceptions. When a kid is at home sick or when one or more of the kids get to go out to do something special, the remaining kids usually get screen time (which usually falls on the weekends anyway). The kids all know it works this way and we're happy to let them veg on the couch while nursing a flu. The other exception is if they are with friends - but even then screen time will only be a portion of their play time.

So, here are the reasons we have limited screen time, and why you should consider doing so as well:

• We see changes in behavior if our children get too much screen time, and I see it in other kids too. They often become more whiny and complain more. And a phrase that seems to become a favorite in kids with too much screen time is “this is boring.” I HATE when kids say that.
• There is only so much time in a day (especially school days!). If your children are spending hours on a screen, that is hours NOT doing something else. If you had to choose - wouldn't you rather they be playing outside, playing sports, doing a puzzle, reading, etc.? There's no better way to stifle kids creativity than too much screen time.
• Children are losing the ability to entertain themselves, and are instead continually seeking to be entertained. Don't let that happen to your kids! It is a joy to see that my oldest son Lex (the artsy one) grabs his drawing book or his notebook with the stories he's writing, instead of reaching for a mobile game device. But I know without a doubt that if there was no restriction, he'd be playing video games before and after school. 
• We have gotten to the point in society when we choose screens (games, social media, etc.) over live people around us. I want to teach my kids to value and interact with those around them. I heard a story of what is now a common scenario: a pre-teen or young teen girl's mom bowed to the pressure to get her daughter a smart phone so that she could fit In with her friends who are always on their phones texting others. What a shame that kids can’t just enjoy the friends that are around them!
• Many kids are lacking in the ability to carry on sustained conversations with their peers or older people. I'm proud that my kids can carry a conversation. This social awkwardness can be exacerbated by screen time and is not going to help our kids in the future.
• Unrestricted computer and smartphone access can be particularly harmful. There is so much garbage on the net and chances are lots of your children's online friends will share lots of crap with your kids that they think is "funny."
• Unrestricted smartphone and tablet access has resulted in children (and adults!) having addiction-type behavior. They can't seem to function without regular access to it.
• Because of how we limit screen time, it feels more like a treat for our kids rather than the norm. This means that it can be used as reward and actually feel special.
• Because we limit the screen, it often becomes entertainment we engage in together. We have family movie night and it actually feels special, we enjoy certain shows together (Cosby show is a favorite) and even video games become something often done together.
• We're fairly strict when it comes to tv and movie content - probably more than most. But I figure that as they grow up and have more freedom, they'll often be choosing those types of movies anyways. Restricting violent movies does not fall under the definition of depriving your children.
• Aim at making memories with and for your children. While I have a few good memories involving games or movies from my childhood, it was always because of the people I was with, not the content of the game/movie. Aim at making memories.

Whatever you decide about screen time, be intentional and stick to the plan —Tweet That!

I want to stress that we're not anti-screen - there are good things they can learn from videos and games. But make-belief play and outdoor play is always better. Some may think we're too restrictive. Whatever you decide about screen time, be intentional and stick to the plan. We talk openly with our kids and they understand the reasons, and they have begun to own the reasons for themselves. They can articulate why we do this as a family.

You may come to a totally different decision than we did - but as parents it is a decision you need to make for your family.

Photo Credit: The UMF via photopin cc

How to Keep on Top of New Journal Articles

Those of you in the field of Biblical Studies know that it is important to keep your eyes out on the latest journal publications. Even if you don't read every article, you want to keep an eye out on the articles coming out so that you can keep on top of areas of your own interest. Even for those articles that aren't in your area of interest, reading the abstracts quickly on new articles is a great practice to cultivate.

The reality is that for most of us, the art of browsing in the library is no longer a practice (something I do lament from time to time). But you can digitally browse periodicals by keeping alert as to when new ones come out. But there are lots of journals coming from lots of different publishers.

Enter me.

All you have to do is follow that blog to be alerted when new Biblical Studies periodicals are published —Tweet That!

For the past few years I've been organizing a simple blog that publishes the TOC of new Biblical Studies periodical volumes. It is built on a blogger site so that I can automate it a little easier. Check it out and subscribe to its feed here.  All you have to do is follow that blog to be alerted when new Biblical Studies periodicals are published. The service isn't foolproof - I can only post TOCs from journals that electronically publish their TOCs. That said, I do cover a lot of them and hope you find it useful.

Photo Credit: Thomas Geiregger via photopin cc

How to Find a Great Commentary

During my final year in seminary I watched a video that interviewed Dr. Andrew MacRae and several of the ADC alumnus. I don't remember the class I was in, and I don't even remember why we were watching the video. But there is one thing that stuck out in my mind, and it was a question they asked the alumnus they talked to: "what are some of the most important books on your bookshelf." Every single one of them said it was their commentaries. They said that they were continually going to their commentaries. We live in an age of a lot of NY times best sellers and lots and lots of hit Christian authors. Yet the reality is that when you are in the trenches of ministry, it is the Bible and books that are designed to shed light on the Bible that will be the most well-worn on your shelves (or virtual shelves if you're like me).

"Invest in good commentaries because they are the books you'll keep going back to in ministry" —Tweet That!

So yes, go ahead and read the next Driscoll/Chandler/Warren/Lucado whatever book, but don't forget to invest in good commentaries because they are the books you'll keep going back to in ministry. The key is to choose a good one, and there just so happens to be an awesome website that I tell all of my students about called bestcommentaries.com. You'll want to bookmark this one.

Lots of us tend to just jump on amazon or goodreads and read some reviews and look at the ratings. In the case of spending your money on a commentary, this isn't always a great idea. You don't know who rated that book or wrote that review or if they have any sort of qualification to adequately assess a commentary. That's why bestcommentaries.com is so great. It is run by Evangelical scholars who have degrees in the field of Biblical Studies. Some of the contributors are even commentary authors themselves.

Kinds of Commentaries

Not all commentaries are equal, nor should they be. Some are more technical than others. Some work on the finer details of the original language. Some focus more on the theology of the text. Others are more devotional in nature. Odds are a devotional commentary isn't quite going to satisfy a student working on an exegetical paper, but it may provide some good thoughts for someone preparing a devotion or doing their own devotions. Some critical commentaries avoid theology and practical matters all together – these ones will tend to have a lot of the original languages in their pages.

bestcommentaries.com helps you to make the right decision by tagging each commentary as:

• Pastoral
• Technical
• Devotional

In addition to tagging each commentary, they are given a rating. If you are like me and prefer digital over printed, the website will also identify if the commentaries are available through any of the major Bible Software companies.

If you want to do good and deep exegesis - your Bible's study notes are not going to cut it. Spend your money wisely by finding a good commentary to help you dig deep into God's Word.

photo credit: Ozyman via photopin cc

My Own Site and My Own Blog (again)

Hey, thanks for checking out my new little corner of the web.

I've actually been on the internets for quite some time. It was now many moons ago, but I (and my friend Paul Nikkel) were among some of the first bibliobloggers (i.e. folks blogging about biblical studies) around. Now there are hundreds. But I remember the time when there was only about a dozen of us (Goodacre, Davila, Carlson, Heard, etc.) It was actually kind of fun being an M.Div. student and having conversations with these scholars. The blog and website was called deinde.org (still sitting there but not really maintained anymore). What made it really fun for me as a junior scholar was going to SBL for my first time – people knew who I was!

My blogging slowly wound down as I got busy with life, but I started focusing on other things like creating free content (check out the freebies page for some examples) as well as starting to work on creating apps and even publishing.

Once I launched my first mobile app ParseGreek, I started www.NTGreekResources.com to house all of my Greek related resources. Once I did that, though, I realized that it wasn't really scalable in that it was specific to Greek stuff, and not necessarily the other content I was creating as well as some of my other interests. And I have thought about blogging again for a little while now.

Then it happened. The server holding www.NTGreekResources.com crashed. The server is owned by a friend, and I can't seem to get a hold of that friend. Given that I'm trying to promote all my stuff, not having a website isn't a great idea. So that pushed me to get this website up and going. So NTGreekResources.com will now point to this site, and I'll have a place to promo any stuff I'm doing, plus start blogging again (which I've been thinking about for awhile).

The topics will be varied, as the sidebar states. I'm obviously interested in Biblical Studies. But if you know me, you know I'm a bit of a tech geek too. I'm also interested in productivity as well as parenting and leadership. This blog will reflect all of that, plus I'll try and point out interesting stuff I find from time to time.