An Introduction

Why this project:
Last week, the women's Bible study group I attend finished a twelve-week study on the Exodus and it's parallels to our daily walk in this Christian life.  At the end, our pastor's wife encouraged us to come up with a plan to stay in the Word every day, now that our weekly study (which provided us five days of study each week) was completed.  My thought at the time was that I was always studying for something; it shouldn't be too difficult for me to stay in the Word.  And then a week passed.  To my shame, I must admit I only cracked my Bible for study only once.  I realized, I needed more help.

In comes this blog.
I knew that needed I needed two things to get me on track with reading every day.  It's something I've always struggled with as I didn't form the habit early (as I'm trying to encourage the girls in my small group I teach to do!).  First, I needed a plan.  Without one, I knew just opening the Bible to read would quickly fade to nothing.  I needed to have something to read, somewhere to go, every day in order to get this done.  Hence, the reading plan.  Second, I needed some form of accountability.  I have reached out a few times to people to act as my accountability partners.  Most of them petered out in a matter of weeks for one reason or another.  The most successful partnership I've had was with a friend who now lives in Germany.  Trying to coordinate her busy schedule, my busy schedule, and adding in the time difference took it's toll on our accountability.  We still keep up (obviously! We're very good friends!), but steady accountability isn't very viable anymore.

Why this plan:
I've always wanted to read through the Bible in chronological order.  I like history.  No, scratch that.  I love history.  So to go through the Bible as events and writings take place interests me.  I also like to see how the passages correlate along the timeline.  It makes far more sense to read Lamentations at the end of Jeremiah, in light of the end of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles.  Also, having those under your belt, reading on to Nehemiah and Ezra are far more enlightening if you keep in mind what has come before.

However, the Bible isn't laid out in chronological order.  In fact, if it were, it would be very choppy indeed!  Many of the books, especially in the Old Testament, cover the same time periods.  Therefore, a plan is needed to map out what sections of Scripture to read when.  For instance, as you follow me, you'll see that Job is intermixed with Genesis.  This is because Job lived during the time of the patriarchs, or actually, before them.  So, chronologically speaking, Job gets first audience.

I intend to read it over the course of two years.  Why two years?  Well, I've done one-year reading plans.  It's like boot camp.  You work really, really hard and by the end you're exhausted and you don't always remember what you've read.  I'd like time to digest and learn and enjoy, which means smaller chunks.  I also need to make sure I leave time to be able to stay up with study groups I'm in and those I'm teaching.  And as I'm a mommy to an infant, my time is limited.  I've also done three-year reading plans.  These take so long, you never feel like you see the light at the end of the tunnel.  And it's so long between 2 Chronicles and the Prophets, you begin to lose context.  Forget about tying New and Old Testaments.  So, two years seems a good, middle-of-the-road number.  I've adjusted the plan to fit a two-year scheme and rearranged some of the readings.  A further note on that later.  The reading plan is due to start May 1st.

Why this blog:
This blog is my accountability partner.  It is my insurance plan that I'll actually do the reading, and stay on top of it.  It is my hope that if I know I have to log on here every day and tell about what I read, that I'll actually dig in and try to say something worthwhile.  I make no guarantees!  As Mr. Koehn back at Grace University used to say in class, "I was born too late to be original!"  And the statement is certainly true to me!  But, I do hope it will be interesting.  Or at least incentive to anyone who reads to dive in and read the Bible as well.