I Did It! (And I'll Probably Do It Again)

    Sixty-six books, 1,189 chapters...in 90 days?   It's possible.  I've known people who have done it many times.  But for me, it took 564 days.

   What am I talking about?  The Bible of course.  Specifically reading the Bible from beginning to end.

    Reading the entire Bible from beginning to end was something I had never done before.  In late December, 2009, I had the desire to read through the entire Bible.   I love to make personal goals for myself, especially those that help to improve my walk, and especially at that time of year.

   So I hooked up with a group of people on Twitter who were going to read the Bible in 90 days. (Isn't it great when the internet is used for the glory of God?)   I printed off a sheet to mark the divisions and waited excitedly for January 1, 2010 to roll around.

    I was of course behind in the first few days.   The first 90 days came and went and I had barely started.  The second, third, fourth, fifth and even sixth 90 days passed by and still I trudged along. I used three different Bibles; two different translations.  I read during idle times by downloading YouVersion on my phone.  I listened on my phone as I took walks.   I listened to Bible Gateway's audio Bible as I rested or sewed or did something with my hands.    I am a BIG note taker but didn't do more than underline a few key words or verses.   I also did not often even look at commentary, maps, biographies.  What I DID do was try to share daily with the children something interesting that I had read that day.

 As I read, I learned a few things about this process:

• Reading the entire Bible in 90 days is a LOT of daily reading!  We're talking entire books in a day.  Now I consider myself a fast reader; I comprehend well.  But the Bible is something to savor, not gobble down.
• Reading that much in a day was frustrating.  Having been doing a small group Bible study with Community Bible Study for the past five years, I learned to dig deep into passages, reading cross references, analyzing, synthesizing, applying.  Reading so fast doesn't leave time for this.
• I obviously needed to learn and practice self discipline in reading daily.

    Mind you, I WAS reading my Bible.  During this 90 days+ extended period of time, I:

• Finished the second half of an in depth study of Revelation
• Finished a 30 week study of Daniel, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Peter
• Did an overview of the history of the Old Testament with the children.
• Looked up passages with the family and discussed.
• Memorized scripture.
• Previewed and reviewed sermons

  So, what did I get out of reading the entire Bible? 

• It was AMAZING to see God's love for us and plan for salvation from beginning to end.
• It was WONDERFUL to read again those books I had studied in depth.
• It was BEAUTIFUL to read the verses that I had heard many times or had memorized in their context.
• It was THRILLING to read the Gospels and see the harmony from four different viewpoints.

Would I do it again?  Yes.  Probably not so fast.  Probably in a different way. Probably with and to the children.  But yes, most definitely.

So what's next?   I am planning to read Romans.  I've always wanted to dig deep into Romans.  Since our family is not doing CBS this year (as of this writing..you never know ;) ), I feel I can and NEED to dig deep.   I borrowed from the church library for a long, long, they-called-me-because-they-wanted-it-back time so I finally bought Rick Warren's Bible Study Methods at my favorite Christian used book store.  I am going to pick one to use as I study.  Probably one that I can teach the children.