The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Journaling with Scripture: A Fort Knox For Truth

Episode Date: October 22, 2021

Have you ever come across a wise insight in your reading or prayer but had no way of remembering it? Jeff shares with us today a practical tool help us capture powerful insights so that we can can hold on to wisdom and truth, and also pass them down to future generations. Snippet from the Show We have to recover the art of gathering wisdom and passing it down to future generations. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

You're listening to the Jeff Kavan Show episode 242, The Insight Journal, of Ford Knox for Truth. Hey, I'm Jeff Kavins. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven show. I love meeting with you on a weekly business. basis as I get to sit in my office, whether I'm out in the woods, which I'm not today, but in my office at home, and sitting here and thinking about communicating to you some things that are going to make a big difference in your life, whether it's Bible study or studying the catechism

or applying the truth to your life, living as a disciple, or sharing Christ with other people. I've been about this now for a long time, and since I was 18 years old, my life has really centered completely around the Lord Jesus Christ and studying and reading and teaching. And I've just never found anything in life that so captured my heart as the Lord. In fact, Emily and I, when we met, we were 18 and 17 years of age, and we got married when we were 20 and 19, and we got married really with the idea that we would serve God together. And so this has been my life, all of these years. And one of the beautiful things about the podcast here is I get to share some of this with you and in getting your email and your comments. You get to share with me. and I love that relationship.

You know, as I am sitting here in my office, I've got hundreds and hundreds of books that I have read and some that I have not read. And I also have a stack of, several stacks, actually, of Molsky notebooks and other kinds of small notebooks. And in those notebooks, over the years, I have written down a lot of things. There is schedule things.

There is things about weddings and baptisms and reminder list, things to do, and all that. And then tucked in there among all of the ordinary things are some interesting quotes that I really wanted to write down at the time. And I might have heard a talk or I heard something on TV or a great quote on a movie or, you know, in a book. And so I have been collecting those for a lot of years. And then I also started to develop a file in my computer where I would keep track of quotes and insights for living that I thought were very, very valuable. Well, you know how it is over the years. You start to collect these things in all kinds of different folders and journals and files in the computer. And here we are, 43 years later, and I've got them everywhere.

But I realized not too long ago that I really didn't have one. one place where I could really put the gold or the insights or those truths that I never wanted to let go of. And I actually started to do something a couple of years ago in making one notebook, the place where I could keep track of those insights and the gold that I didn't want to forget. I just didn't want to forget it. In fact, I wanted to pass on these insights in this this spiritual, intellectual, gold, you know, to other people like my children or my grandchildren. Father Mike Schmitz this last year,

we've been through quite a ride with Bible in a year, and we've been able to produce a number of tools that will help people in a Bible in a year. But over the years, Father Mike and I have been talking about journals and ways of keeping track of really the insights in our life that we don't want to let go of. And so we started doing, you know, a type of journal where you can write in there and half the journals for ideas, half is for daily things, and just a whole smattering of different kinds of ideas. In the end, I think we both agreed that there really isn't that place where everything goes.

And we know that when we grab that small notebook or journal, that everything in there is gold. Everything is so valuable and we want to keep track of it. Well, this year we put together something that I would like to share with you and tell you a little bit about it. It's called the Insight Journal, and it just came out from Ascension Press. And Father Mike and I worked on this, put it together, and it is available now. And I wanted to tell you a little bit about it and why I think that the Insight Journal could be, just could be, one of the most powerful tools for you to witness to your children. to your grandchildren and other people.

And by the time I'm done with this podcast, telling you a little bit about it, I think you'll agree that this is an amazing tool for keeping track of the good things you don't want to forget and a wonderful tool to pass it on to the next generation. How many times do you hear something or you see something and then you think, oh, man, that's good, you know, I've got to remember that. And later in the course of a conversation or presentation, we want to recall that nugget or we wanted to share it with our kids, that gold. We want to share that beautiful insight, but we forgot it.

Or I can't remember. I think I wrote it down on a napkin. Oh, it's out in the car. I think it's in the car, only to find out it was thrown away with the sandwich wrapper. Well, for many today, the sheer volume of information that we take in, literally drowns out the important insights that we have gained, and it keeps us really dull to the truly amazing wisdom that we encounter. And occasionally, we hear, or we watch, or we read something that rises above the noise. Maybe you know what I'm talking about. You heard something

in a movie, or you read something in the Bible, or read something in a book, and you thought, whoa, that is so good. And that insight is like gold, and will significantly, impact your life if you incorporated into your thoughts and your deeds. And in fact, it will become something very powerful to pass onto your kids if you remember it and you have a chance to pass it on. Well, without a way of capturing the gold that you encounter, your insights may likely drift away and get lost in the current of everyday life, like a lot of mine. And I know of some quotes that I wish I could find right now. They had such an impact on me 15, 20 years ago. And for the life of me, I cannot find him. I can't find him anymore. There was one that

was relating to O.J. Simpson years ago of what he was saying just prior to getting into trouble, you know, in the case where he was tried for murder. And for years, I've been looking for that quote. I never found it. But if I had a way of recording it, I could go back and find that very, very quickly. Well, you know, the Insight Journal is for the person who wants to keep the Golden Insights close and easily accessible. It's a tool that enables you to capture the treasures that you don't want to lose. The Insight Journal literally is for me, and I hope you find it as well, a Fort Knox for ideas, a Fort Knox for inspiration. And it's for everyone, no matter where you are spiritually or how advanced you are in your journaling abilities.

I want you to think of the Insight Journal as a tool to help enhance your relationship with the Lord. And you have to admit, if you were following the Lord, as the early disciples did, you would want some place to keep track of the ideas that he taught and the way he interacted with people. You'd want a place to store all the golden nuggets of discipleship to help you as an activated disciple. today. I'm reminded of what Paul says. In Ephesians chapter 5 when he calls us to be very mindful of the life of Christ when he says, be imitators of God. For me, this new Insight Journal that we have developed, and I'll tell you how it's put together here in a moment, this journal can be literally the recording place for the wisdom needed for good decisions and prudent actions as you imitate God,

is you imitate God at home, and you imitate God at work, and you imitate God among your friends. We need to be purposeful about the way we live and the way we conduct ourselves and the wisdom that we live by. I think that the Insight Journal is very simple, to put it this way. It's simple, it's flexible, providing an easy way to be creative even in gathering insights and putting what you've gleaned into practice. And recording your thoughts in the Insight Journal will expand your Bible reading experience and help you capture memorable moments

from whether it's books, TV shows, podcasts, or lectures. And for those of you that have gone through Bible in a year, it would provide for you, if you decide to go on this again, a place where you can write down the gold, the things that that rose above everything else. And one of the beautiful things about this Insight Journal, by the way, it comes in two colors right now, a beautiful gray and a beautiful maroon, like a wine color.

It has a strap to keep it together. It has a little like an envelope in the back to keep receipts. And I'll tell you about that in a moment. But pictures and that type of thing that you want to remember. And then it has a number of tools inside that are easy, simple, flexible. Because there's nothing like picking up a journal and someone telling you, this is the way you've got to use it. And you think, I don't know, I'm not so much.

You know, I want to be a little bit more free in how I use that journal. That's something that we kept in mind when we made this Insight journal. So your recorded wisdom and insights can be, this is cross-generational, they can be for your children or your grandchildren. By dedicating a journal to a specific person, you can create a heartfelt gift for someone special in your life. So, for example, I have three grandchildren. And I'm just being honest with you. I'm telling you how I use my Insight Journal.

I have three grandchildren. I have an Insight Journal for each one of them. At the time of this broadcast, they are three, seven, and ten. Okay. And that means that my three-year-old has another 15, 16 years before she's 19 years. years old. My seven-year-old grandson, you know, he's got about another 12, 13 years, and then my 10-year-old has another 9, 9, 10 years. And so what I have been doing is, you know, I've been writing down in my Insight Journal. I've been writing down the insights that I want to pass on

to my grandchildren, quotes, insights for living, something that a saint said, advice on marriage, a little insight from scripture on finances or decision-making. And throughout the course of life, watching them play soccer and going over to my daughters to eat with them, I'm always thinking about things that I wish they knew, but they're so young. And so in creating this insight journal, and not only do I have one for myself to keep the gold in my life, but I have one for each one of them, and get this, over the years, I'm going to be writing down insights. I'm going to keep track of a prayer list that I'm praying for them.

I'm going to I'm going to put together some quotes from some of my favorite saints that I think will be helpful to them. And then when they are about 18, 19, 19, 20 years old, maybe they'll be in college. I don't know exactly yet. I'm going to take this well-worn, beautiful cloth-covered journal and i'm going to hand it to them and i'm going to say honey sweetheart i want you to know grandpa has been thinking about you all these years i've been praying for you when i came across something that i thought wow you would love to know that especially since you're going to get married you would love to know that or or you're going to start this business there's some stuff in here that is going to help you i want to give this to you now now think with me for a moment

wouldn't that be one of the greatest gifts that you could ever receive as if your grandfather or your grandmother or mom or dad handed you a journal that they had been living in for 15, 20 years? And they have been thinking of you and praying for you. And they have been keeping track of wisdom and insight for you all these years. And maybe you remember some of it. Maybe they said it along the way. But now they're handing to you. you a copy here now of that journal a real real journal not a copy but the journal that is golden right there and as i started to share this with other people what i was doing literally you could see the look on their face like i want one of those i want to do that i want to create an insight journal for my grandchildren or for my children or i want to create one for my own life because i'm i'm like

you jeff all my all my different you know insights and all that the golden nuggets they're all over the place and I have no way I have no way of finding all of that but now with the inside journal I can put all that in one place and when I need to be encouraged I can go in there and it has an index at the front that keeps track of all of the insights by topic date where in the journal what page it's on I can go through it really quick and I can find all of the insights and the quotes about love finance, about marriage, about grandchildren, about prudence, about wisdom for relationships, all of it. And I love that. I love that idea. Inside of the journal, let's do this. I'm going to take a break. Now, when I come back, I'm going to give you a description of what is in the journal

and why this can have an impact on your life and those that you love as a gift. And on the front of the journal, there is a picture of a tree, not just any tree. It's a special tree. I'm going to tell you about it and why I think it really is a tree that is indicative of what is inside the covers of this journal. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Hi, I'm Sonia Corbett, the Bible study of Angelista and a Baptist turned Catholic. As a Baptist, I thought that Catholic beliefs were invented, that they came out of nowhere. and had no connection whatsoever to the Bible. I also happened to believe that the Old Testament was about rules, rituals, and sacrifices that the New Testament gave us permission to ignore for a

personal relationship with Jesus. It's a long story, but as God began connecting the Old and New Testaments for me, I was stunned by the beautiful consistency of God in the Catholic Church. I can't tell you how exciting it was when God opened my eyes to the incredible ways the Old Testament foreshadows God's plan for the New Testament and for his Catholic Church. In my book fulfilled, uncovering the biblical roots of Catholicism, I explain these amazing connections and I share how those connections helps change my life. If you read this book, I promise that you will come away with tools to help you share your Catholic faith easily, answer questions about how your Catholic faith fits with what's in the

Bible, and most importantly, grow deeper in your relationship with Christ. If you're interested in learning more or ordering a copy of fulfilled, uncovering the biblical roots of Catholicism, you can do so at ascensionpress.com or on Amazon. All right, today we're talking about journals of all things. Of all things. How many, when you were younger, did you journal? Did you have a diary? When I was younger, I know my sisters, they had diaries with a little key, you know. And one thing for sure, they would make sure that I didn't get into their diary.

diary. Their key was well hidden. They didn't want their brother in their diary. Well, if you didn't have a diary, you didn't write. And likewise, we're talking about the Insight Journal here today, which is really not so much a diary as it is a Fort Knox for ideas and insights and the golden nuggets that you get along along the way. And I have started to use my Insight Journal in earnest, and I have three of them, one for each of my grandkids, and I'm creating an Insight Journal for each one of those. Father Mike Schmitz and I were talking when we were planning this a while ago, and he came up with an interesting insight, I might add, and that was, and we both concurred on this, and that was that if you don't have a set place to write things down, let's say you want to gather some wisdom for your grandson. I have a grandson Francesco, and I have a grandson, Dominic, and Fiona, my granddaughter, and if I don't have a place to put the information, and the nuggets that I want to share with them, I don't have a tendency to listen very well or look out for those insights. But Father Mike said something I thought was interesting. He said,

if you have a place to write down these insights in the gold, then you are more apt to hear them and look for them. And isn't that true? I really think that's true. If you don't have a place to gather all of the insights together, you don't listen for them. They just kind of go off of you like water off a duck's back. But if you have a place to keep track of them, it's amazing. How many you start hearing and you want them. You want to gather them like scripture says about wisdom, gather wisdom, get wisdom. There's so much trivia in the world today that is, frankly, useless.

We as Christians, as Catholics, should be about gathering wisdom, insights for living, and then share that with the next generation. And in the Insight Journal, you can do exactly that. Now, the way it's put together is you have the lion's share is the insights. You have an index at the very beginning, and that index has a number of categories, and it gives you the page number. The insights are from page 1 to 227, 1 to 227. This is about the size of a moleskin notebook, or if you're into bullet journaling, it's about the size of a traditional bullet journal, and it has 227 pages for just insights. And on the index at the beginning, you can keep track of the date of the insight, the number

one insight, number two, number three, number four, it's all numbered in the index. You got the date, the topic, the source, and the page number in the journal. So you can quickly look down, you can see all your topics of the gold that you've got over the years, whether for yourself or in the Insight Journal for your grandson or for your daughter, before she gets married, maybe you want to give this to her. You've been keeping track of all these insights for marriage, for your son. And now he's getting married. And you want to hand him the journal and say, I've been doing this for five years now for you. love you this is the best i want to give it to you i'm so excited about this i don't know about you this stuff excites me a lot and you're going to hear more in the future i'm sure for me and

father mike because this has been a passion of ours so you've got the number of the insights you've got the um the source the topic and the page number and that's the lion's share to be honest with you of the insight journal and then there is on page 228 there's a section for favorite saints Now, I call them my posse. They're my posse. And I've got five. And so I collect quotes and insights from my posse. And there's a couple of pages there, two or three pages for you to get some quotes from your favorite saints.

There's also a small section at the end on praise and Thanksgiving. And that is things that you are very grateful for. There's nothing like changing your life and your whole attitude and perspective on things as praise and Thanksgiving. giving God praise, giving God thanksgiving. So there's a place for you to list these things that you are thankful for. And when things are tough or things start going south in your life, you can go back and you can get literally a look of all the things that God has done in your life. There's also a very small section in the back called the will of God.

And that is insights for you according to your vocation. Are you a priest? Are you a deacon? You single? You're religious? Are you married? it's always important to go back and to get that gold concerning my marriage and as a father. And I appreciate having a place to put that.

I also have a small place in the back for favorite life verses. What is a life verse? Well, a life verse is a verse in the Bible that you come upon and you think to yourself, wow, I'm never going to forget that. That has had a major league impact on me. Like for me, it's Galatians 220. That is my life verse. I have four or five other ones, but that one is the life verse for me.

That I have been crucified with Christ, and it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and delivered himself up for me. That, my friend, Galatians 220, is my life verse, and then I have a number of other ones that I would consider life verses. But now I got a place to put them. And someday, my kids are going to see the verses that really mean. meant a lot to me. In fact, they may say, Dad was always quoting Galatians Chapter 2, you know.

And then finally, at the end, there is a section for prayer intentions because that is so important. You know, as you're journeying through life and you're gathering the gold and the insights, you've got to have a place where you can list the things that you are praying for. Now, can you imagine

handing this to my grandson in 15 years from now? And he sees a list in the back there of all the times when he was growing up where I was praying for him and interceding for him. You see, that's a legacy gift. This is a legacy gift. Very, very powerful. So all of those sections in the Insight Journal are very, very important. Now, it's made out of a beautiful, beautiful cloth cover, and it has a ribbon on the outside that keeps it all together. It has a pouch in the back where you can put pictures or I'm going to put pictures of

my grandson, the times I've been with them, maybe a receipt from going out to eat or go into the state fair or something like that or a funny thing he sent me. And I'm going to collect all this stuff in my insight journal because someday he's going to get it back and he's going to see the heart of his grandfather. He's going to see that my grandfather loved me. He was always thinking of me and praying for me. It might be for your kids. It could be the same thing. I'm just telling you what I'm doing right now. I'm probably going to be doing more inside journals. But let me tell you about the cover for a second, because there is a tree on the cover, and it is one of the most noticeable trees, if you know, trees. The tree on the front is a tree

from the Bible, and it's called the Acacia tree, A-A-C-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-Tree. Now, this unique trees, flat top canopy, provides shade for weary travelers in the Bible. This is one of the reasons I chose the acacia tree. It's beautiful. I'll put a picture of this in the show notes for you. Beautiful acacia tree. And it was designed by a wonderful friend of mine, Cece, an artist in Dayton, Ohio, who designed this acacia tree. And thank you to her. She did a phenomenal job. And underneath it, It says, Insight Journal. Now, the unique flat top canopy provides shade for the weary travelers. Its dense, strong wood makes it useful for building structures in the Bible,

structures that endure the test of time. The unmistakable silhouette of the acacia tree is synonymous with the wilderness journey of the Israelites and God's provision for them. Amidst danger and hardship, guess what? God met his people. Now, during the construction of the tabernacle in the book of Exodus and the book of Leviticus, during the construction of the temple, anyone who had acacia wood brought it to the artisans to help create the very heart of Israel's worship. The ark of the covenant itself was made with enduring acacia wood, overlaid with gold. And on top of the ark was the mercy seat, the very place

where God dwelt in the midst of Israel. Now, there were three essential items that were connected with the Ark of the Covenant. Get this. You got to say, hang with me here. This is good. A copy of the Ten Commandments, a bowl of manna, and Aaron's budding staff. Now, these items, God's word, provision, and priestly leadership would contribute to Israel's formation. And while essential to Israel, they were also a foreshadowing of what was to come, Jesus Christ.

the Word of God, the bread from heaven, and the great high priest. Now, as modern explorers are still searching for the Ark of the Covenant, so too do men and women continue to search for wisdom and keys to living. God has given and will continue to give you insights. And now you have a place to put them. Now, my prayer is that your Insight Journal will endure as well, as the truths that rest in its pages. And every time that you see or you hear an insight and you put it in your journal, you'll take comfort knowing that just as the acacia would brought shade to the

traveler, your insight journal is a resting place where you can meet with God. So needless to say, Father Mike and I are excited about having a place to put the insights in our life. And I'm really excited to introduce this to you. We've got some wonderful examples of how people are using it that are coming out from Ascension Press. Stay tuned on that, by the way. And if you've already received your Insight Journal and you're already using it, either for yourself or for somebody else, give us some pictures and a shout out as to how you're using it. We really believe that something big is happening here as people are keeping track of the insights and the gold in their life and sharing it with other people.

I know of a young couple in Minneapolis that are using this together. And it's really amazing. She does a podcast and she's keeping track. He's a singer-songwriter, and he's keeping track of the gold in his life. And I know another beautiful young Christian who is single,

thinks she's going to get married, and she's created an Insight Journal for her future husband. Now, that is cool. That is cool. And you'll probably hear from her at Ascension. You know, she's really big into this. And we have DREs that are using it.

And we have moms and dads and CEOs of companies that are using it. And we have some priests and some seminarians using it. And they are now collecting the wisdom during their seminary years that hopefully they'll be able to use when they become a priest. Well, excuse me for my exuberance, but I have really been looking forward to sharing this with you. I'll put the link in the show notes. You can go and look at it yourself. And if you think that an inside journal would benefit your spiritual life, if you're a teacher, you're a speaker, you're a writer, you're a mom, you're a dad, you're a grandpa, grandma, you're a priest or deacon or religious or single, there's got to be gold in your life. And there's got to be a place to put it.

and I encourage you to start that today. I'll share with you in the future some of the things I'm putting in my journal. I love to hear what you're putting into your journal as well. So, I'm excited. I've been looking forward to this for a while. I've got to admit, I'm like a kid in a toy shop. And now I'm looking at all these other ones from the other years, and I'm wondering, man, should I go through those and dig out some of the gold

and put it where it really belongs where I can get it? I think I might do that. and I'll share that with you as well. All right, you can go to ascensionpress.com to get your insight journal and give me feedback. Love to hear it. Let me pray for you. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Jesus, we love you,

and we thank you for taking us on this journey in life. And as we come across the insights that really tell us who you are and what is expected of us and insights for living, we thank you, Lord, for giving us a place to put them and to pass them on to the next generation. we love you Jesus we pray in your name amen name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit I love you my friend God bless you we'll see you next week