Read the Bible, Get Motivated, and Win

You Bible is sponsoring a 21 day reading challenge.

If you've gotten behind this is the time to turn that around and get back on track.

And as a bonus, they will draw some names to win prizes from those who complete the challenge.

Wow! Is that in there?

I was struck several times this week by verses. Since I'm reading on an electronic device, I've been trying to capture those as notes so I can keep a record of them. Whether this is the first time you've read through the Bible in an organized fashion or you've done before, you are sure to come across those moments. Each time I do it, there are new ones.

I thought I'd share one from this week.

Now as Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him. [Genesis 32:1 (NASB)]

That's from when Jacob is returning to see his father and Esau after having been with Laban for twenty years. I was well aware of the later encounter of Jacob with the man who wrestles with him, but I had never noticed these angels who met him prior to that.

If you can easily capture these verses, I encourage you to do so (although I would discourage anything that makes you less likely to read).

Slow Start

This is my second post and I wanted to ask how everyone is doing and in particular ask if anyone has had trouble starting or keeping up.

Photo of a Florida Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina bauri). Taken in Jacksonville, Florida, USA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Last week's post drew one comment on that problem. I'd like to encourage all of you to take a look at those comments. If you have more ideas please post them. While I've done this before, I am not an expert and can use all the help I can get.

I'm of two minds about a slow start. First you might need to rethink your plan or at least put a back up time to read into effect, or think of a way to remind yourself daily to do your reading (if you use a electronic calendar either on your phone or computer that would be simple to do).

However, I would not rule out the fact that it is hard to establish a habit and you need to push through some of the slow start and continue on until doing your reading is routine.

I can't tell you which is the case, but I can encourage you to think and pray about both.

Keeping New Year's Resolutions

In case you want more ideas about how to stick with your reading plan, here's a good article on Keeping New Year's Resolutions from the Uncluttered Blog

What's the Purpose of All This?

A friend told she didn't have time to post any insights into her reading. It made me realize sometimes it isn't clear what the purpose of these Read Through the Bible posts is.

While it is nice if folks post insight, my purpose is to motivate you to keep reading and stay as close to on track as you can.

So you never have to post at all. This is especially true if you stay on track.

But if you haven't read for a week or more, please post and ask for help from others. It's easy to forget and then realize after a month or more you haven't been reading. Post as soon as you realize and we can encourage you and suggest both tactical and psychological approaches to getting restarted and making the goal of reading through the Bible.

If you have to restart 20 times this year and don't get finished until June of 2015, you'll have still finished. That's my purpose in writing these posts.

First Half Week

I usually try to post over the weekend, so it hasn't been a full week since our kick off.

However, I'm aware that sometimes getting started is the toughest part of any new thing. So if you, gasp, hasn't read a thing yet, this is the post for you!

Thanks to the extra days in the schedule you aren't behind yet. Start now! Start today! By the end of the month you'll be on target.

For those of you, who have started, have you already recognized a sticking point? Can you identify it? And think of a way to defeat if? Make adjustments to your plan early, before you are behind.

Getting the Plan

Discipleship Journal is reorganizing their website. Until that is done, try here  to download a copy of the plan.

You can also go to their download page. They've even got a larger print version.

They're Off!

English: Horse race. Canterbury Downs in Shakopee, Minnesota. Canterbury Park. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Happy New Year!

Today is the first day of your Bible reading plan. By this time next year you will have read all the way through the Bible.

Oddly, today maybe a tough day because it is a vacation day and so your regular reading time might not work. If so adjust and do your reading!

Finally, thus far, I've done a lot of writing here, now it's your turn to post. Tell us a bit about when and how your will be reading, where your problem areas might lie, and what you are excited about.