While at Anna's soccer practice, I decided to work on some of my 5-year list. If it were a game, I'd be cheering and jumping up and down from the sidelines...but in practice, I'd look a bit odd doing that while she ran drills. And she'd disown me if I did. So I sat in the shade and made a list of books I wanted to write. The setting wasn't very conducive to actually starting the books. Or an outline for a book. Given the fact that I didn't have a computer or notebook with me kind of hindered that. So...on to another goal. Lucky for me, I have a list of 14 other things that I can work on. Ideally, I'd knock out #7 or #10 this week, but alas, I haven't had a chance to work on that vacation fund just yet. And besides, I still need to accomplish #2, so those items will just have to wait.
I had my phone, so I downloaded the Bible Gateway app and poked around on it. Lo and behold, there was a section for "Reading Plans," and in that section was "New Testament in a Year." What a fabulous tool! I can read a passage every day (and can even set a daily reminder), and in a year, I will have finished the entire New Testament. When I opened the plan, today's excerpt was 1 Corinthians, Chapter 4. I'm no Bible scholar, but I was pretty sure that wasn't the beginning of the New Testament. It took me awhile, but I figured out that if I just set the date to January 1, 2013, it started with Matthew. I'm a freakin' genius! :)
To make it even more interesting, I can choose between 30 versions of the Bible. So if I'm reading the NIV, and I have no idea what I've been reading for the last two paragraphs (which happens quite often...I'm not really a genius), I can switch to the Message version that explains things in a story-like way. And if mine doth feels so inclined, I can take a peek at the King James version. I don't necessarily understand it, but it stretches my brain a bit. Kind of like reading the Spanish version of an instruction booklet when putting a toy together.
So day 1 of reading the New Testament is complete...just 364 more, and I can mark off that goal! And more importantly, I hope to learn to be more like Jesus along the way.
New Testament in a year? Piece of cake! I did it in four months while also being a literature major and working part time. It's a wonder I didn't go blind from reading during college. ;P But seriously, I was a religion minor in college, and I have some wonderful supplemental reference books for the New Testament, plus I still have all my notebooks from lecture. If you would like to borrow any of them to supplement your reading, just ask! So glad you're tackling your bucket list!
ReplyDeleteI Corinthians wouldn't have been a bad place to start. I believe it's my favorite book of the Bible. I haven't done much extended reading of the Bible since I've been a full-fledged adult, mostly devotional stuff. Perhaps a full out read and study should be on my to-do list.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you didn't start with the 'write a book'. Your list made me tired just thinking about accomplishing all of those. This is a great place to start to give you the endurance to complete your bucket list. Keep writing, friend!
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