Take Two

This has a lot to do with preachers but also has to do with speaking in general so feel free to indulge.  I am speaking church Bible study tonight so that’s probably the Genesis of this post but I also speak for conferences for work and church and this method works for me probably 80% of the time.  My study for tonight started this morning at about 4:00 AM.  I had a thought in my brain that would not let me go back to sleep and so I went down to my office (the joys of working at home) and looked up the verses that were the crux of my thought.  After that, I went back to bed.  I got up this morning (having left open my Word document and PC Study Bible) and did a little more adding to the message.  Since I have work things to do today, I have taken time to address those things all the while adding thoughts as they come to my mind.  In total, it will probably take about 13 hours to finish this particular lesson.  Like a stew, because it has been allowed to simmer and formulate over the course of the day, it will (hopefully) go over better than if I had forced it out this morning.

This is not to dismiss the times when you have inspiration and churn out a message or thought as fast as it enters your brain.  I have those as well but my experience has been that those are the exception and not the rule.  For most of what I write to speak (either church or work), it is a process of several (disconnected) hours.  I have also found that I have much better clarity when I take the day to meditate on what I’m going to say.

Okay, back to the stove.