Two years ago as 2009 was winding down I ran across The One Year Chronological Bible at Barnes & Noble. This was at a point of change in my life: I had recently been laid off from ALSAC/St. Jude after 16 yrs and I was heading into a new year with a lot of uncertainty about what laid ahead of me. So, at that moment I made my resolution to read thru the Bible in a year, something of which I had never done before. I had recalled a time earlier in that year during a Christ College class when Iva May introduced this concept of reading thru the Bible chronologically, and I was intrigued but I also felt a little intimidated by the task. But once I made the decision and began praying about it, I remember my anticipation grew and I couldn't wait for the new year and my daily Bible readings to get started.
2010 will be a year I'll always remember. It was a year in which my daily quiet time became the best part of my day. For the past 10 years or so I had developed the habit of getting up early around 5-530 for a quiet time 5 days of week before getting ready for work. Now, the challenge would be to get up knowing I had nowhere to go for the day, but this Bible reading plan gave me something to look forward to. I began every day reading the assigned passage and followed Iva's daily commentary on the passage in her blog. I also began journaling again - occasionally recording my thoughts on the scriptures, and writing down my prayers for what was going on in my job search. It was truly a transformational year in my understanding of the Bible and my relationship with the Lord.
So here it is on New Year's Eve 2011, and once again I'm looking forward to the new year so I can begin my next journey through the Bible. This year I'm using my new ESV Study Bible (I read thru the NIV in '10), but I'm also taking a different approach. A few days ago I ran across this article on the Gospel Coalition Blog Bible Reading Plans for 2012 , and I was intrigued by one of the links -- a Two-Year reading plan. One of the drawbacks, or challenges, of reading thru the Bible in a year is on some days there is so much reading that you don't have sufficient time to reflect and pray about what you are reading...I recall some days I didn't have it in me and I just wanted to read the passage simply to get through it and not fall behind. With this Two-Year Bible Reading Plan , there are some "catch-up days" built in between the endings/beginnings of each new book, and also a daily Psalm or Proverb reading. Also, I'll be reading the companion book to this plan, "How to Read the Bible Book by Book", by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart in order to get a better understanding of how each of the 66 books in the Bible fit into God's grand story.
With this plan, my prayer is that I'll have more time for reflection, prayer and general understanding of the scriptures. Also, as the author of this plan, Stephen Witmer suggested, I'd like to look for a "best thought" for each day -- something to meditate on throughout the rest of that day...a key truth from the Word of God, or a promise from God, or even a memorable verse, or something that is applicable to my life and most importantly, something I might be able to share with my girls or anyone I may encounter who needs to hear the Good News.
I'm looking forward to what God has planned to teach me in the coming year -- or in this case the next 2 years. Happy New Year!
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