New Year, Same Book

It’s the start of a new year symbolizing the start to a new beginning. My church a few years ago started a Bible reading program that would get you to read 55% of the Bible in a year. Guess what? We’re doing it again. My buddy John Rinehart actually wrote out the program for the year so I feel somewhat obligated to follow it.

My initial thought was, “I’ve read the entire Bible several times on my own, why do I need a program to do it this time?” Furthermore, I tend to be a reflective guy and don’t simply want to burn through books of the Bible to meet a deadline. I would rather take a year in one book in the Bible and have it impact me the way Romans impacted Martin Luther, who started the Reformation, instead of reading the entire Bible and have it impact me like Dan Brown, who wrote The Da Vinci Code.

In addition to the church program, my buddy Dom started a facebook page called, “The Bible In A Year.” The page is about . . . wait for it . . . reading the Bible in a year! Dom’s been posting his thoughts on the passages he’s been reading and inviting others to share in the process. My thought was, “I’ve been journaling for years now as a Christian but I’ve never asked to read anyone else’s journal, so why would anyone else care about what I think?”

Now here’s my counter argument to myself (and yes, I’m arguing with myself). It’s been a while since I’ve read the Bible straight through, and it’s about time I do it again. Furthermore, what better time to do it than at the beginning of the year along with your church? As Christians, we are called to be a body, a community for each other where we value one another lives and opinions. Each of us play a critical role for each other to be able to function properly the way God intended, namely, a family of believers.

So why not start a facebook page to help each other read the Bible as a community and use society media for God’s glory? Every time you log on you’ll be reminded to open the Word of God if you haven’t already and if you have, do it again. I’ll attempt to write my thoughts throughout the year in particular passages that I find personally edifying to my soul. I have no doubt I will also find the thoughts of other fellow believers to be edifying as well. Count me in on the reading program and committing to it for the entire year (I have a feeling I might have to pull a couple of all-nighters like back in college). So I’m boarding The Voyage of the Dawn Jammer (the name Dawn Jammer still cracks me up) to start the journey through the Bible and see what the Lord does and where we end up. Hey, I’m actually feeling pretty excited about this! Crazy.