I’ve always thought about reading the Bible through, but usually I drag someone else along with me. I’ve bought two “Bible in a year” books. One gave you specific chapters to read on each of 365 days…a little old, a little new, a little Psalms and a little Proverbs. The other was a straight read through Bible. I never made it far.

I almost always talked friends into trying with me. When my friend would start falling behind with the set schedule, I’d either slow down to let them catch up, or I’d get discouraged and quit.

Maybe as many as ten years ago, I heard about “The Message Bible” being easier to read, then I found a “The Message Remix Bible” in contemporary language for $5 on the discount table at the Christian bookstore. I picked up a copy and decided I’d read that one….I made it to Genesis 19 and haven’t picked it up since.

I like to do topical Bible study. I’ve got a situation, I research keywords, I find answers…I hear a sermon, I look into those verses. I hear about a cool story, I read that. I’m sure I’ve read most of the Bible at least once. I’m sure I’ve never read all of the genealogy…I tend to skim it. I’m sure there are portions of the Bible I have read 100 times or more. But never all of it, in order.

I like the NIV. Any verses I have memorized came from the NIV. Several years ago I bought a Bible called “The Story: the Bible as one continuing story of God and His people.” I planned to read it every night with my girls as bedtime story. They started whining, rolling eyes and acting irritated and that’s not the enthusiasm I want them to have about God’s word, so I laid off the idea.

I got the idea on October 20 to pull this version of the Bible back out and to read it through. Because I don’t want to ask someone else to commit to such a monumental task, and I don’t want to be on a time schedule, and I want to read when I want to read, but I do better sticking with things that are social, I decided to read the whole Bible on Facebook Live.

I’m not sure Facebook isn’t gonna give me the boot for taking up too much bandwidth, but if they do, I can leave my chapter summaries, delete old videos every once in a while and if people wanna listen as I read they can. If no one listens, that’s fine too.

I’m learning SOOOO much! I made it through the 50 chapters of Genesis and now I just finished chapter 6 of Exodus. So many things are coming together for me and I know that if I slow down, I’ll have a harder time connecting the dots, so I’m taking every opportunity.

The really fun part is that my girls, morning and evening have been listening, either in the room or from another room. Sometimes engaged and sometimes passively, but without asking them to listen, they are.

I’m thankful for access to God’s word. I’m thankful for this really fun to read version in contemporary language. I’m sure there’s things that theologians would raise their eyebrows at, but it’s got me back in the Bible more than ever and actually understanding what I read. #thankful