Do you journal?
Admittedly, I am not consistent about writing all the things that go on in my life in a journal. I write the BIG things in a quasi-journal. Sometimes I write my prayers, but it seems like I can say a whole lot more when I talk to God rather than writing. I am a tad envious of those who journal consistently. They appear to eloquently pour out their thoughts and musings into a beautiful leather-bound volume that one-day might be proper material for publishing.
Me? Not so much. My musings are more like ranting, whining or complaining. Rarely do I journal anything that would ever be of interest to another person.
All of that is why I am so excited to share with you a new product I happened upon about 3 months ago. I was reading Jeff Randleman’s blog (if you don’t read Jeff’s blog, you should) one day and he was introducing the Journible.
Whaaat??? A Journible? It sounded like someone had been sipping vodka out of a cereal bowl when they decided to talk about their journal. However, because I know Jeff consistently puts out top quality blog posts, I kept reading.
“The idea for th[e Journible] comes from Deuteronomy 17:18, where God commands the kings of Israel to hand-write their own copy of the Torah, or book of the law. The purpose of this was so that they would carry it with them always, read it, learn from it, and lead the people accordingly. It’s interesting to note that 3400 years later, educators have been discovering that most people learn kinesthetically, by doing or writing things out for themselves.”
Click on this video to hear how the Journible series began:
Journibles are beautifully bound, hardback volumes that allow the user to handwrite the Scriptures. Each Journible has pre-formatted, lined and numbered pages on the right side that correspond to the number of chapters and verses for the specific Bible book being ‘scribed’. There is ample space to write each verse with only a few exceptions. On the left page, there is tons of blank line space for the users personal meditations as they scribe the verses. There are occasional thought-provoking questions posed by the creators of the Journible that appear on the left side.
I was HOOKED!! I love writing. I love the Scriptures. I purchased my first Journible in late May of 2013. I chose the Journible that includes 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and Hebrews. This was an obvious choice for me because of my focus on the book of Hebrews in the latest Bible study I am writing.
Blank pages of my Journible
My Journible
Thus far, I have scribed 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus, writing from 2 to 5 verses each day. What a blessing! I have seen things in the text that have spoken to me in the deep recesses of my heart. I can almost imagine the original author painstakingly writing each letter to its intended recipient. As I write the text, I am moved to further research words or phrases to find out how they apply to my life. In short, my Journible has been an amazing addition to my daily quiet time and I eagerly anticipate interacting with the text of Scripture each morning.
While not every book of the Bible is currently available in Journible format, there will certainly be something for most everyone. I think my next Journible will be Romans. I hope you will visit the Journible website and check out this fantastic resource. Order yourself one; order one for a friend. I promise you will grow in your knowledge of Scripture as you write out the ancient words.
This review was not solicited by Journibles, nor was I compensated for the review. I did it simply because I love the product and believe it is a valuable tool in the study of Scripture.
