This post is a couple of days past due, but if you are thinking about executing a read-the-Bible-in-a-year plan for 2007, here is an interesting resource that shows various plans visually.
Also, here is a useful post from Justin Taylor on RSS and audio options.
And here are some reading plans from Discipleship Journal. You do not have to purchase them. Simply click on a plan, then click Preview Free Sample. You’ll see the whole plan.
I’m doing Back to the Bible’s chronological plan.
Thanks for the call to intentional reading this year, Eric.
I started 2007 using the Discipleship Journal plan, which gives you four readings a day for 25 days each month.
When you brought up the chronological plan I was very intrigued, but I’m sticking with my original choice for a couple of reasons:
* It gives me more time in each of the NT books. On the chronological plan, for example, December 16 is the only day you peek into Ephesians. By contrast, the DJ plan has me in Ephesians for the first two weeks in June.
* There’s no built-in margin. I know I’m going to miss days, and there will be some days when I just want to linger on a particular passage.
But in the end, what matters is that we’re continually in the Bible: which plan you use is far less important than that you have one. If you’re anything like me, unless you’ve got a plan, nothing’s going to happen…
Yeah, I can appreciate those aspects. I like the chronological plan because it will help me grasp the flow of history while progressing through the year. I also like the continuity taking entire books at a time, which this plan mostly does (except when there are parallel historical accounts).
For some, it would be a detractor that this plan has you work through the OT before the NT, but that suits my personality. I’ve read the entire NT and listened to it on audio several times. I really need work through the OT systematically. The NT will be like dessert at the end of the meal.
To the missing days along the way… I totally agree. I’m treating the current day’s prescribed reading as a progress indicator. I’m going to try to stay ahead of it–the more the better. In fact, I’d like to be on a pace that has me finish before December. I think this works well with the chronological plan I picked.
And I couldn’t agree more with your final point. Reading plans sometimes come off as reading as duty instead of for the shear love of it (i.e., reading to to get boxes checked off each day), but with young children, a demanding career, a busy church-life, I’m not too proud to lean on the crutch of a reading plan. And now that I (and you) have gone public on our resolutions, we have the power of shame on our side. 🙂
Here is something you can add to your reading to help retain and apply it. This particular church calls it Life Journaling. If you don’t read through the whole Bible, they offer a daily reading.
They offer the acronym of SOAP but I don’t agree with their description of Observation. I would rewrite it as:
Whether you blog your journal or keep it in a locked diary, it is valuable to be able to look back and see where you’ve been over the years.