and so.

Since people always say new believers / seekers should always start with the book of John, I decided to try to read John as if I were reading it for the first time. Besides discovering that John starts off and progresses the same way Genesis did, I also discovered that:

It's almost the same as reading the Jurisprudence article Ms Sharon made us read. (and I'm only in Chapter 1)

Or maybe I need new glasses. I can't see very well these days. (public: "oh, first you were lame, and now you're blind too?")

glasses like the guy from star trek's would be cool.

Since I'm on the topic of reading, I may as well try to correct a common misconception.

People,

I don't read a lot.

I read cases fast because I skim through them. It's called pseudo-speed-reading. (i came up with this term myself. *waits for applause*) 

Skimming is easy. Reading is hard. 

And that's why...

The only subjects I've ever finished studying in 15 years of school are Chemistry and Banking Law.

Anyway, 

I foresee a more difficult time reading John than Mark, cuz Mark was so straight-to-the-point, it was like reading those Pelangi KOMSAS books. In comparison, reading John is like reading the full text of Di Hadapan Pulau. (which I didn't manage to do cuz I read so slowly I lost interest quarter-way through the novel)

Reading John, though, I can't help wondering what John himself was like. Everybody knows he was the 'disciple Jesus loved' - why not Peter? Andrew? James? Why John? And what was it like writing about someone he'd shared such deep affection with? 

I mean, it'd be different if John had kept a journal. Then he would've just copy-pasted bits and pieces of his journal. But he hadn't kept a journal. And he wrote about Jesus many years after Jesus had gone away.

Jesus was there one day, and gone the next - died while John watched on helplessly, because he was right there by the cross. Then John continued to feel helpless for the next two days, and suddenly Jesus was walking and talking with him again. Then off He went again, promising that they'd meet again, in a loud voice, no doubt, since He was rising into heaven and the clouds must've made some noise. 

How does someone like John write about someone like that after something so bizarre had happened?

...Maybe that's why the Gospel of John is so bizarre.

Because the gospel really is, bizarre.

And John did have a bizarre good friend.

I mean, He is God. Your good friend is God. It doesn't get more bizarre than that.

(with all this going through my mind as i read, let's play the guess-how-long-hwei-will-take-to-finish-reading-John game)