ROAD notes -- taking up the practice of writing things down

It was over coffee sometime near the end of last year.  The kids were playing in the background and we were enjoying a second cup.  My brother and sister-in-law still had their journals and Bibles on the breakfast table and were filling in a few lines while we talked.  I was so intrigued, I just had to ask.  I mean, I journal, have journaled for years, but never at the breakfast table with relatives sitting nearby and kids' games going on just feet away.  It gave me a whole new set of possibilities for writing things down.  

Previous to that, I had always envisioned the journaling experience as something that really ought to be done in private, in silence (maybe with some music, I suppose) and definitely in an environment that was conducive to very reflective thoughts.  

It had just never occured to me that this could be done in the midst of everything else.  

My assumptions about the necessary conditions for journalling are exactly why I was journaling less often since our lives became filled with young boys.  I still don't journal at the breakfast table.  It just doesn't work for me.  

But I am more likely not to wait until everything is "just perfectly suited to journaling" because that time will never come. 

Now, during this season of Lent, this season of laying things down in order to receive something new, this season of getting out of a rut by following the well worn path, is the time to write more than the hasty text messages you send and the administrative emails you have to respond to. 

This season of honesty and humility can be strengthened by identifying your thoughts, observations and questions in writing.  It is sometimes only by writing that we gain clarity on what we were thinking.  This is the mystery of holding swirling thoughts and taming them into words and phrases.  

So, that's when I quickly jotted down these ideas in order to help me (and hopefully others) read the Bible and then take a few notes to engage and remember what was read.  

This is where ROAD notes come in: 

ROAD NOTES  ... for the Gospel of John

One of the best way to internalize what you read is to engage it through taking notes or journaling.  Try following the ROAD.  

Read - Read the passage. Head over to Bible.com to begin reading (or listening to!) the gospel of John.

Observe - Make one or more observations.  For example, "I think it's interesting that Jesus says What do you want?  Or, I have never noticed the part about   “The verse about God wiping away all the tears really stands out to me.” 

Ask  - Ask a question or lots of them.  For example, How do we know if we're born of God? Or,  Why would John the Baptist have been baptizing before Jesus said, "Go and baptize?"  

Or, What did baptism mean before Jesus got there?

Desire - Finish with desire.  Let your heart yearn for God’s presence and to know God’s character.

Ask yourself, what is it that you want to tell God or to hear from God?  Desire doesn't necessarily have to be an emotion that is all awash in glowing contentment; desire could be your urgent need for connection with the one Being in the entire Cosmos who truly understands you.  Let whatever emotion surfaces be the thing that pulls you toward God.  Anger, confusion, questioning and contentment: all of these things have a place in this expression of desire to know God and to be loved.  

 

You can write the notes in a journal or open a file on your computer.  You could even put a few ideas into a “note” on your phone.  It’s the process of articulating what you’ve observed and setting it down.  What we like about the acronym “ROAD” is that it gets at the idea that we’re on the way to somewhere.  We are “followers of the Way” and we’re on a journey together.