Ever have something just keep gnawing at you, saying, “Hey. You should be doing this?” The gnawing has been going on in my head since late October. Started with an email from someone who had recently taken my Falling in Love with God’s Word Workshop. The email told me about a former interim pastor at her church who does “Bible Read Thrus” and she pointed me to his blog and this article.
I read about how a few decades ago he (Ron Frost) was challenged by a missionary to “just read the Bible.” This particular missionary read the Bible two to three times – every year! I had done the Bible in a year before, but never anything like this. Gnaw. “You should do this Keith.” Gnaw.
Well, today is Day 5. Cracked open my Bible to Genesis 1 on Monday morning at 6am. Hung out in Genesis for four days. Finished Chapter 50 last night. I was surprised that reading out loud at a “normal” pace only took about 45-50 minutes a day.
This morning I walked thru the first 12 chapters of Exodus. Can’t say that I’ve ever sat down and read Moses story – from birth, to basket, to exile, to burning bush, to all 10 plagues, to the instituting of Passover – all in one sitting. It was amazing to see that much of the story woven together. A few different mornings this week I looked up thinking about 20-30 minutes had passed, only to find out it had been over 40! When was the last time you got “lost” in Bible reading?
Here’s my plan (in case you’re interested) :
-
Read the whole Bible in four months. Why four months? No particular reason, except that reading in four months is just under 10 chapters each day. Challenging…but doable. I’m trying to read a minimum of 10 each day, but this first week it’s ended up being just over 12. At the current pace, I’ll read Revelation 22 on Day 100.
-
Ask some guys to join me. Tomorrow, I’m going to be talking about this at my church’s men’s breakfast. My plan is to see who is willing to join me in the challenge – and get together early every Tuesday from now thru May 11th to talk about it. I know I’m way more likely to follow thru if I’ve got some guys doing the same thing.
-
Write about it here on my blog. I am a verbal processor. I’m really looking forward to the Tuesday AM chats, but I know I’ll need to process what I’m reading more frequently. Maybe every day. At least 2-3 times per week.
-
Ask you to join me. So…wanna join me? If you do, please let me know (you’re more likely to do it if you TELL someone!) and comment on my posts, letting me know what you’re reading and how God’s speaking to you.
So…what’s the fastest you’ve ever read thru the Bible? What was your experience like?
This is a great idea. I decided to read the Bible chronologically, more or less, so have finished Job and have two more chapters left of Genesis. The quickest I have ever read the Bible is in a year, and I had to read a lot in December to make sure I did it! My uncle, who is godly and a wise man, has read the Bible three times a year for years and years. Wow.
My take-away so far: God is sovereign, He uses whom He uses despite their “qualifications,” and He always keeps His promises but on His own timing. Good things for my own life…
[...] would definitely earn it’s R rating.” Actually, not sure it could even just be “R.” As I am reading through the Bible I am realizing again how horribly violent some of it [...]
[...] do “plans to prosper you” mean? 25 02 2010 I’m on Day 53 of my 4-month read thru the Bible. Today was Day 2 in Jeremiah and I came across the most quoted verse in Jeremiah (29:11) For I know [...]
[...] article he wrote was the tool God used to spur me on to do the 4-month Bible Read Thru that you’ve seen me write about. What an honor to share a meal and a couple hours with him [...]