Shortly before New Year’s, a pastor told us we should read through the Bible in a year, this year. He quoted some Scripture to support the call to read the Bible, and he gave out reading plans so we could be sure to get through the whole Bible before 2015.
I listened to the idea, but I wasn’t convinced. I didn’t think it was a bad idea. I just didn’t hear anything that made me think that I was supposed to take up the challenge this year.
I was in South America at the time, traveling. A year feels like such a long commitment for that sort of project. And I’ve already done it. I wasn’t feeling super inspired.
A week and a half later, reporting on the beginnings of the project, the same pastor mentioned, offhand, that we could even read it in Spanish or, since there are plenty of free audio versions available online, just listen to it. He quoted Romans 12:17: “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”
That’s when the inspiration hit me. I’ve never listened to the Bible for any length of time.
I immediately started doing the math. I wouldn’t do it in a year. I’d do it in a month, like most of my experiments. How many hours each day would I need to listen in order to complete the Bible, cover to cover, in a month?
My initial calculations said I’d have to listen to about five or six hours of audio to get to the end in a month. That seemed like a pretty huge commitment. Not impossible, but definitely a major challenge.
Doing the calculations again more recently, it looks like I should be able to do it in just two and a half or three hours per day. That’s doable.
So, here I am, top of March, starting a new experiment. I’m planning to listen through the entire Bible before the end of the month. I tried it for a few days to hear how well it would go. I think it’s going to be good. I’ve needed a reset from Saudi for a while, and I think this might be just the way to do it.
