Broken Wheel?
Welcome to the substack for author, Hunter Carl. If you’d like to read some of my recently published short stories, you can here and here.
But you didn’t come for that; you came for Broken Wheel.
What can you Expect from Broken Wheel?
Weekly posts on the Book of Ecclesiastes
Pithy, 2-4 minutes of your time
Summaries of each chapter (Subscriber Only)
Future?
Book reviews
Thoughts on Writing
What is Broken Wheel?
Well it’s a metaphor and a reference.
The metaphor points to something sturdy, ancient in our lives that we depend on that has fallen apart.
The reference is to my favorite book in the Bible, Ecclesiastes.
When I was young, I read my Bible… well religiously. I made a point to read several chapters each day.
As I got older, I did what all mature Christians do. I found a plan to read the Bible in a year. I didn’t half-way it either, King James baby.
I grew up, got married, and kept on reading. One day I thought, “Well, that went so well the first time, why not again?” I grabbed the CSB and slogged my way through it.
Two times through the whole thing cover to cover. Without thinking, I thought I’d might do it again, this time with the ESV, when two thoughts arrested me.
1) Is this it?
2) How could I read my Bible better?
Not something you like to feel when it’s your religion. I couldn’t deny my feelings though, nor my reason.
We believe as Christian’s two truth’s about the Bible (alright fine, we believe some other stuff too). First, it’s God’s Word. Second, it’s inexhaustible.
And so, I thought, “In what way could I read the Bible, so that I couldn’t exhaust it before I die?”
Like thunder, I had an answer.
I woke up the next morning, and I started reading Ecclesiastes. I read the first verse. I read the verse in KJB, CSB, and ESV. I read the Hebrew words and their meanings. I read 5 commentaries on the verse. I wrote my thoughts down in a digital notebook.
A year and a half later, I had read the entire book.
I can’t say it’s for everyone, but I think the searching I had for something more is shared among those of us who have a ritual of engaging with the Bible daily.
Why is that? Well, allow me to summarize what should be a blog post unto itself.
The Church in many ways is like a Broken Wheel.
Shouldn’t the next step in my study of the Bible been obvious? Why wasn’t someone there to guide me past this malaise?
I’m writing Broken Wheel for a lot of purposes. One is to share what I’ve learned about Ecclesiastes. Another is to encourage you to read your Bible deeply in new imaginative ways.
If you made it this far and your intrigued, it means a lot, and I think you’re the right person to sign-up for the newsletter.
Thanks, and God Bless.