On several other occasions, I decided to read my Bible straight through,  as it’s organized. One time I tried to read it on a more chronological track. These usually didn’t work either, mainly because the problem the One Year Bible tried to solve. Some books just got too long and too boring. Lists of names, chronologies, laws. It can get old after a while and if you aren’t focused and disciplined (I certainly wasn’t) you can fall off the wagon real quick.

In one of my classes in college, my professor gave us a simple outline for reading through the New Testament in 30 days. He challenged us of course to follow the reading plan for a month and share our thoughts. I took him up on that challenge and followed the reading plan. It was a really enlightening experience for me. Reading at that velocity really helped me gain some nice perspective on the text. Before, the New Testament wasn’t a huge piece of text, but it wasn’t small either. After reading through it in a month, this volume of holy writing became just within the periphery of my mind’s eye.

So, as I spent some time a couple of months ago reflecting on what goals I wanted to set for myself this year, I looked at myself through the lens of what would make me a better husband and father. Obviously, the big answer there was to follow Christ closer. I needed a tune up in the spiritual disciplines. This meant more reading, more silence, more conversations, and more prayer.

So in setting my reading goals, I remembered a book I ran across at Barnes & Noble a few months ago that contained a 90-day reading plan for the Bible, straight through. I thought and prayed about it, and found the reading outline on the website that promotes the book, and on January 1st, I started. As of tonight, I’m at day 50, a day behind the plan, but that’s because I lost a few steps when I had the flu last week.

I have to say that this is turning out to be a pretty sweet plan. I just started Isaiah and am looking forward to arriving at the New Testament in a few weeks. It’s very similar to what I experienced in the 30-day NT plan. There’s just something about burning through these texts at such a (relatively) high rate. I say relatively because for me, it’s only amounted to about 45 minutes of reading a night, which really isn’t that much.

This plan has really put a lot of things in focus for me regarding this Book. I’m not sure if any of it can be articulated here, but I think it all goes back to reading the Book as it was intended to be written. The Holy Bible is infinite in its resources, teachings, and power, but it’s still written as a story.

The word “story” gets tossed around a lot in spiritual circles these days, and frankly, I find it a little annoying at times. “Emergent” leaders and pastors everywhere are wanting to be “storytellers” and are constantly asking people to share “their story”. Heck, the new Communications Director at our church just changed his title to Storyteller. Honestly, I have no problem with the word “story”, but when passages in the Bible are frequently talked about in terms of “story”, sometimes in absence of biblical interpretation and application—I start feeling the rub. I think it’s become pretty popular and “enlightening” to sit around and talk about these holy passages in terms of story, while flirtatiously neglecting the importance of inerrancy, authorial intent, and pragmatic comprehension. That’s the reformed theology in me preaching.

But just because I get a little cynical whenever I hear the word “story” doesn’t mean the Bible isn’t one. It’s the greatest story ever told! But what makes it so great is it’s holiness and supernatural perfection.

But somehow, as I grew up in the Faith, the Bible became more of a volume of reference more than a story. Sure, I was taught Bible stories as a child, complete with felt-board figurines and pageants. The majority of all of the sermons I’ve heard in my life have been based on a story in the Bible. But I’ve rarely looked at this Book as one overarching story. I’ve long been taught and encouraged to think in these terms, but I’ve never been able to get my arms around it. I’ve long tried, but my mind always defaulted to the “reference volume system” instead. Maybe its the chapter and verse structure. Maybe it’s because of my brief stint in Bible Drill. Maybe it’s because I watched my friend Steele memorize hundreds of verses with flash cards when we were kids. Whatever it is, my mind can’t shake this mentality of viewing the Bible as a sum of smaller parts, rather than one grand tapestry.

Until now.

Reading the Bible in 3 months is beginning to get me there. I may not get all the way there when I’m done, but I’m thinking of making this an annual discipline for me to make sure I do get there. As I’m following this reading plan, I’m realizing that I’m reading one book, not a collection of chapters and volumes. There’s something about reading about Joseph and Moses in one sitting. Knocking out Psalms in less than a week. Before, if my I could take a snapshot of how my brain viewed the panorama of Scripture, it would be filled with a lot of dark fuzzy spots. I knew where the stories were, but I wouldn’t be able to connect some of the dots. Now, I’m beginning to see things as one seamless arch, beginning to end. Less dark fuzziness. Those dark nooks and crannies are getting dusted out and it feels really nice!

Of course, my secret weapon in this task has been Eugene Peterson’s powerful tool, The Message. This has been the text I’ve been using for my daily reading and I’m just now beginning to understand and appreciate the gift Peterson has given to us in this paraphrase. I’m not sure I could have done this without it and achieved the same effects. Modern language really makes this Story spread like butter and that makes a huge difference when you’re reading at this rate.

So, I’m thinking you should take this thing out for a spin too. The key, like any other discipline, is to be disciplined. I start my reading when Katy puts Caelyn down to bed, so I have that evening ritual to use as a crutch. When Caelyn goes to bed, my brain tells me to go pick up the Book. Hopefully you can figure something out for yourself.

A PDF of the reading plan can be found here, but I also made a Backpack page for the outline for easier reference, so you can feel free to bookmark it for your own use. Give it a try and let me know your thoughts!

• Become an early riser
• Read through the Bible in 90 days
• Read a book a month
• Journal more
• Lose more weight/exercise

I’ve actually done a pretty good job with most of these. I haven’t done any real exercise but I’m eating right and I’ve dropped a few pounds since the holidays. I’m on track with my reading and journaling too. The one thing that I’m having a problem with is the early riser thing, but not because of the typical reasons. I actually haven’t had much of a problem with laziness and discipline. It’s been fairly easy for me to hop out of bed early every day. Going straight to the shower is the key. Coffee helps too. I actually want to get out of bed just so I can pull a brew a fresh cup of joe.

The problem with the whole “early morning” program is preventing the wife and kid from waking up too. This isn’t a big deal when you have a house and some square footage to help dampen the sounds of running water and tinkering in the kitchen. But when you live in an apartment you’re less than 20 feet away from anything else in the place, so you pretty much have to be a ninja in order to get anything done while the “light sleepers” of the family are still slumbering.

Light is also an issue. I need light in the kitchen to make coffee. I also like spending my morning time doing some reading and writing. I have found that this also requires some form of illumination. Oh, and showering in the dark isn’t cool either.

I’ve tried a combination of different stealth techniques in order to avoid disturbing the rare and precious season of infant sleep in the early morning hours of our home, but I haven’t found the solution yet. I’ve tried different coffee brewing methods and even abstaining from coffee altogether (craziness). I bought a book light. I’ve tried moving to different areas in our apartment (of which there aren’t many).

Sadly, it seems that no matter how finely I tune my ninja skills, the little one is always quick to wake up with me, and she isn’t happy about waking up either.

It’s pretty frustrating for me, because for a few days at the beginning, my early routine worked without a hitch and I was able to taste what it was like to have that early time in the quiet once again. Reading as the sun lifted from the horizon, sipping a fresh cup, and clearing my head for the day ahead. I’m not going to lie. It was awesome.

Not only was it great for my soul to have that early time, but it did wonders for my workday. Those first two weeks of this month were unbelievable in terms of productivity. My workload has been pretty heavy lately, but on the days that I had that early start, I almost always finished early, even though I started working the same time I always had. Quitting early gave me time to do more reading, writing, or planning for my next workday. For those few days I was getting way more done and feeling way less stressed. Again, I’m not going to lie. It was awesome.

Unfortunately, waking your baby too early not only prevents me from having that one hour of peaceful meditation, but it also makes for an entire day of stress and frustration for Katy. Caelyn already doesn’t take good naps, so subtracting even more sleep adds up to a pretty grumpy baby.

So I’m pretty disappointed. I was really loving being an early riser and really excited about how I wasn’t struggling much with what I thought would be my most difficult resolution for the new year. But Caelyn wouldn’t have it, apparently. I’m open to advice on this but unfortunately the rules seem too restrictive. You can add this as reason #137 for Why I Want a House.