Saturday, July 10, 2010

My summer challenge

I know I haven't been posting in a long time. I have found that quick status updates on facebook are a bit easier and the instant gratification of response and comments is fun. I wanted to check back in here because I am attempting to "eat an elephant" and I wanted to share a bit of the process. I have been a Christian for many many years but have lacked the discipline to read the Bible through from cover to cover but once or twice. That probably includes the time it was required reading for Bible classes in college and I was merely moving my eyes across the page and got not much, if anything, out of my reading. I found out about the challenge over at Mom's Toolbox and decided that summertime is the best time for me to read through the Book that I supposedly base my life on. I want to read it through to see ALL that God recorded for me, and in a short enough time to be able to remember what I have read and see the correlation of Old and New Testaments. I began this challenge on Monday and am excited to say I am up to date as of today. This whole decision may mean that I don't get through the stack of "fluff fiction" that I checked out of the library for the summer, but I am confident that in the long run I will be the winner and will know I have chosen well how to spend 3/4 - 1 hour a day from now till October.
I decided as a way to keep myself accountable and so I can be reading with purpose, I am trying to post daily on my facebook status the chapters I read that day and then highlight one verse or thought that stood out to me. I think, at least as long as I have easy internet access, I will post those quick updates on here as well. I love reading the blog posts over at Mom's Toolbox and her SOAP approach, but I know that I need to focus on the reading and even that much of a post would bog me down and I might end up just giving up. So, I am going to keep the blogging bites REALLY small and make the reading "bites" great big bites until this Bible Reading elephant is devoured once and for all.
You're welcome to download a schedule and join me on this challenge.

Here are the facebook updates from the first week of my Bible reading.
day 1 of the Bible in 90 days challenge -- Gen 1:1 - 16:16. I think I will try picking a verse or thought from the day's reading as a status. Gen 4:7 If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.

Day 2 Gen 17:1 - 28:19.
Gen 18:14a Is anything too difficult for the LORD?

Day 3 Gen 28:20 - Gen 40:11
Gen 39:9b How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?

Day 4 Gen 40:12 - Gen 50:26
Gen 50:20 And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.
Joseph sure had the right view of trials and the right response to his brothers. May I do the same when in trying times.

Day 5 (posted a day late) Ex: 1:1 - Ex: 15:18 Hard to pick a verse to highlight ... thought about Ex: 15:2 but Ex 14:14 caught my eye and I keep thinking about it. "The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent." Hmmmmm Can't resist posting this one too
Ex 15:2 The Lord is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation, This is my God and I will praise Him; My father's God, and I will extol Him.

Day 6 Exodus 15:19 - Ex 28:43
Reading all the specifics of the Ark of the Covenant, the curtains, the lampstands, etc. makes me a bit snoozy, I admit .... until I read Ex. 25:5 and 26: 14 Excuse me, but where did the Israelites get PORPOISE skins?

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