Explaining the Reading Goal

When I was a child, I read the Bible almost every day. My dad required my siblings and I to read at least one passage of scripture every day. He even bought us new new Bibles each year so that we could start afresh and see the Word with new eyes. My dad even asked us to sign the pages we had read for the day as evidence of our reading. This practice was one that was very important to my father, probably because of his grandmother's knowledge and understanding of scripture. From early on, I knew that scripture reading was an important practice.

Over time, however, I have gradually stopped this practice of reading the Bible. I still call myself a Christian. I go to church. I minister to others, and I try to live my life as a follower of Christ. I'm even a preacher's wife (Wow! Should I be admitting this?!!). But I have to admit that I have not been a faithful reader of the Bible. Part of my reluctance is because I'm married to a preaching minister who has a BA in Bible, a Master of Divinity, and a Doctor of Ministry. That's a lot of degrees in Bible. How can I compare with someone who knows so much about it? It's really easy for me to use that as an excuse for not exploring the Bible from my own perspective. But I do think that I might read parts differently. Even though he has all this theological training, surely God could speak to me through the text as well.

The other part of my sporadic Bible reading has to do with the busy nature of my life. I am a full-time professor at a prestigious university where I have to publish or perish. Work takes up so much of my time, and when I'm not working, I'm thinking about work and all that I should be doing to prepare for researching or teaching. I also have two small children (under 5). I cook dinner almost every night. I want a little relaxation time. And my husband is a minister, so we spend a lot of time with people. All this "already-filled" time takes away from reading the Bible (and other spiritual practices, such as prayer, fasting, and quiet time), and you might say that I have let my Bible reading slide. And what's strange is that I do see reading and meditating on scripture as important, especially since the Bible is God's word to us and a unique way that He speaks to us.

I was thinking the other day that if I read the Bible now, I bet I would have a different understanding of God, the church, people, and everything else that I'm dealing with in life. And that made me want to read it again. And then I got this idea to write about my journey. Partly because it would discipline me to do it, but also because I really want to read the Bible anew through my perspective today.

So, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to read through the Bible in 365 days and write about what I'm reading and learning. I hope that when these 365 days come to an end that who I am right now--on September 7, 2009--will be a person who has learned more about God and people one year from now. I'll be starting tomorrow, and I hope you will join with me on my journey.

Signed,
Kara