I was reading on one of the Tapestry of Grace yahoo groups that Caroline – a homeschooling mother of six – is organizing a Bible memorization effort to encourage others to not only read, but to memorize the entire book of Philippians over the course of this next year.

She has set up a blog and will be making a reading schedule, 3×5 memory cards, etc. available there, as well as providing a place of fellowship and support.

I plan to join her!  Are you interested in memorizing Philippians?  The effort starts this Easter weekend, so make sure you check out the blog here!

It’s been a while since a Bible reading update, and it’s official – I DIDN’T make it through the entire Bible in a year, but I DID make it through the Old Testament in a year!  Right now I’m reading through the synchronized gospels in my Narrated Bible and am reading through Jesus’ years of active ministry.

So, I’m still plugging away, though my consistency has suffered again from the move/renovations/getting ready for new baby/pregnancy fatigue. Hrmph.  In any case, I’m still reading the Bible at a faster pace than ever before, and have read more if it than ever before, so I’m still very happy!

It’s been awhile since I’ve made a Bible reading update, and I’m sorry to say that with all this lack of mental clarity (hmm, but what came first, lack of Bible reading or lack of mental clarity?) my daily readings have really suffered.  I’m sort of hung up in the return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, I’m about to head into Daniel’s last vision, and on from there into the ‘restoration’ period.

But, oh, it has been slow going.  I still hope to get all the way through before October of this year (which will mean I’ve read through in one year), but in order to do that I’ll definitely need more focus (please, God!)

Well, I can see the end of the Old Testament in sight. It has proven to be far more fascinating than I thought it would . I have now finished Job, and am moving on into the last half of Daniel which deals with his future prophecies, then I think it’s Ezra, Esther, Nehemiah…and I’m almost done .

I really appreciate the deeper grounding in the historical narrative that reading my NIV chronological Bible has provided me with, and its also helped me to understand God’s consistent character throughout the Bible and into today where we can still find Him working in similar ways.

As my Bible reading progresses I’m now moving into the books of Daniel and Job. I found the account of Nebuchenezzar’s (no idea if I’m spelling this correctly!) madness fascinating, and his subsequent praising of God incredibly inspiring. That might seem like an odd response to an account of a man’s descent into temporary insanity, but God often brings us low in order to show us His sovereignty, and power, in order to turn our hearts towards Him – reminds me a bit of my own conversion .

Now I’m reading Job, which is also fascinating! What a man of faith, if only all of us could demonstrate this amount of concern for treating God with respect and fear while we pass through valleys and struggles.

Only a month and a week left of the Old Testament, and I’ve actually picked up a few days of missed readings over the past week or two. Daniel and Job have proved to be somehow more readable for me than Ezekiel, which I just finished prior to this.

Keeping on, keeping on.

Well, it’s hard to believe, but I just finished up Jeremiah and Lamentations, and there is only around 1.5 months of Old Testament Bible reading left for me this year!  It looks like I might be two weeks behind in all on getting through the Bible in a year, but who knows – maybe I can pick up some time when I hit the New Testament .

What I find so interesting is that I’ve always been a ‘big chunks of time’ person, I always feel like I need an hour or two for ANY task, and have a hard time breaking things up into small segments and consistently working on them.

This entire, reading the Bible in a year experience has taught me to just get started and keep taking steps each day. Homeschooling is teaching me the same thing with my children incidentally.  The big AH-HA! moments are few and far between, so much skill and knowledge building is cumulative.

Likewise, these haven’t been stupendously deep quiet times, they’ve been while nursing my toddler to sleep, before reading the children their bed time story, and snatches here and there, but they’re building a deeper understanding, bit by bit, and step by step.

Well, apart from losing a day or two every time we make a city trip, I’m still largely on track with reading through the Bible.  I’ve now made it into the book of Ezekiel, and while we keep making some smaller excursions into Jeremiah (wow, he had a long and ongoing ministry), it’s exciting to see what God is going to do through (and to!) this prophet in-exile.

Something I’ve noticed during my readings this year, is that while it’s wonderful to get a chronological connection between all of the books, I don’t find the Old Testament as spiritually nourishing as I do the Psalms and New Testament (particularly Paul’s epistles.)  Maybe next year I’ll do a One-Year Bible that mixes up OT/NT and devotional readings from the Psalms and Proverbs.

How do you prefer to structure your Bible reading schedule?

Well, I’m happy to report in for another semi-regular Bible reading update!  I have to say that mostly it’s still so far so good!  I hand have missed a few days here and there due to traveling andk being off schedule, but generally speaking I’m making good progress.

I’ve been reading through Jeremiah, just finished Habbakuk (around halfway through Jeremiah), and now I’m finishing up Jeremiah.  My Bible is arranged chronologically, so it’s a bit different, but I’m loving it!  As a pretty young Christian I need all the help I can get piecing all the books together in the historical timeline.

So far, it’s looking like I’m still on schedule to finish the Bible this year, if not strictly within one 365 day period – I don’t think I should be more than a couple of weeks ‘late’ though .  How’d your Bible reading coming?

As some of you know, I had to break up my reading of the Proverbs, instead of going through in a big chunk I’ve been interspersing them throughout my readings of the Bible narrative. A page here, a page there, three pages here, you get the idea. Now I’m almost through them, only 3 or 4 pages left to go.

In my narrative readings I’ve been reading some of Isaiah’s prophecies against the nations which also seem oddly co-mingled with his prophecies of the coming Messiah. Okay – I have no idea how to spell Isaiah! Ah okay, that seems to be the right spelling now! Along with those I’ve just started reading about King Hezekiah and his cleansing and restoration of the temple…but we all know what’s coming next!

How about you – how is your Bible reading progress coming?

Bible reading is still on track!  The kingdoms of Israel and Judah have divided.  God is bringing on the prophets with ever increasing intensity.  I’ve read through Jonah, Hosea, and am going to finish up Amos shortly.  Israel’s adultery is absolutely heartbreaking.  Reading through king after king turning to idols, and God’s frustrated warnings…I cried.

Based on width, I think I’m at the half-way mark .  I’ve far, far surpassed any of my previous efforts to read through in the past!  Thank you NIV!