Monday, January 19, 2009

Bible reading progress report 1/19/09

Some poor soul asked me to give periodic reports on how my Bible reading plan (see also here) is working. Praise God, so far it's working very well, suiting me very nicely.

What I'm doing is reading three consecutive chapters a day at minimum, plus the day's chapter of Proverbs (i.e. today I read chapter 19, tomorrow should be chapter 20, and so forth).

Today I finished Exodus, which I guess means I've averaged 4.7368421052631578947368421052632 chapters a day (plus Proverbs). I've been able to do it fine so far. Reading was only rough for a few days around my daughter's wedding last week.

But I'm much preferring it over last year's M'Cheyne schedule, which I've done many times. Instead of reading in four places, I'm following a narrative, and getting a lot more out of it. I'm thinking of retooling the way I do Proverbs, though... but not sure how to. It's a funny thing, but my familiarity with Proverbs in part is working against me.

How are you doing with your plans?

16 comments:

Unknown said...

I am using the Logos Global Bible Reader and am enjoying the accountability of the project and the post of others as we read through the Bible together this year.

Dana~Are We There Yet? said...

I'm going through the MacArthur Daily Bible. I'm enjoying it very much, and am being favored with new insights even as I read familiar passages. I can't thank you enough for your timely encouragement to make a plan.

Connie said...

I'm really enjoying the plan I'm using this year--read 25 days a month following a handy bookmark system (HT: Justin Taylor's blog)--as it allows me time/freedom to take notes and make outlines.

Anonymous said...

I'm working through a 6-month plan generated by the QuickVerse software on my PDA. I'm partway through Numbers now. Why the fast-track? God has blessed me with the time to do so, and I have never read the Bible cover-to-cover in order before (I've read it all, but over many years and out of order). I really crave to see it all in context, and go back and examine certain parts after I do that.

Cowgirl RN said...

My first post ever on a blog. I am using Every Day in the Word from the ESV Bible web site. I am loving it. I print each days reading and use the options to remove the verse/chapter numbers. Printing it allows me to make notes and mark it up as God speaks to my heart. I also have started setting my alarm for about 45 minutes earlier so I have plenty of time to read and pray and meditate (only the Spirit of the Living God could get me up early in the AM). Unfortunately by the end of the year I will have used over 2000 sheets of paper and probably 6 ink cartridges.

CR said...

I'm doing pretty well, but I am one day behind which I'll catch up today since I'm off work.

I am using the ESV Study Bible Program which is 1 chapter from Psalms and Wisdom Literature, 1 chap from Pentatuch and History of Israel, 1 chap from chronicles and Prophets and 1 Chap from Gospels and Epistles.

I LOVE the fact that I can read but also listen to my readings through the ESVSB daily reading podcast.

Rachael Starke said...

Okay, for the encouragement of any lurkers who are reading about all this wonderful (no saracasm at all, it's a great thing) progress...

I'm way in the weeds.

Using the M'Shayne method and it's a lot more than I'm used to each day.

And I find that the more behind I get, the more discouraged I get about catching up.

So, I'm still in James for our weekly women's study, but for the rest I'm lagging (seriously, I'm at chapters 10/11) and not sure how/whether or not to catch up, or to switch to a diferent approach. I do like your idea about having more of a narrative...

Susan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kaffinator said...

Wayne Cordiero's method here (from his book, "Divine Mentor"). 19 days and haven't missed one yet. Just about to wrap up Genesis, most of the way through Luke, and a few Psalms sprinkled in. 40 minutes to read and journal.

I'm reading in the evenings. It's cutting into my television time horribly :)

DJP said...

People just seem to be wired differently. I know people who are evening-readers; thirty-five-plus years, I've never been. It's do it at the start of the day, or it probably won't get done.

That's even with not watching TV!

Moon said...

So far so good, the only problem is when I fall behind, much like with M'Cheyne, I have to spend and entire day trying to catch up. But I have no complaints with that. I'm loving reading the chapters first and then the study notes at the bottom of the page.
And as for the time in the day to read, it varies..sometimes in the morning but usually it's in the afternoon.

Unknown said...

Tried M'Cheyne, that wasn't going to work. Tried 3 chapters a day and that seems to be the ticket,was thinking of maybe four a day for 6 days and have a day rest, or catch up

Colloquist said...

I'm doing M'Cheyne for the first time. I've never done a Bible-in-one-year plan before, but so far, so good. This isn't a plan to get behind on, though. I'm using my brand-new ESV Reformation Study Bible and enjoying the insights in the notes.

I'm very grateful for the encouragement here.

Aaron said...

Mygoal was to read three chapters a day. I am reading at least three chapters a day sometimes as many as six a dayreading is really the high point of my day.

Jon said...

I debated with what plan to use, so I just ended up using my MacArthur Daily Bible as a guide to my reading. Since it's a NKJV and my MacArthur Study Bible is a NASB I just decided to read it out of the latter instead. It's a pretty light amount of reading per day, but it allows me to really delve into study notes from MacArthur, my new ESV Study Bible (IT'S HUGE!) and my Defender's Study Bible (Henry Morris wrote the notes and is surprisingly in depth, especially when it comes to creation aspects of theology).

I only fell behind a couple of days, but caught right back up again on Sunday afternoon.

I'm also taking the time to mark important verses (good thing I bought a pack of highlighters) that should be installed into my brain cavity.

My side-plan was to read one particular book each day for a month, bigger ones divided into sections of course, but that hasn't panned out so great yet. I started with Ephesians, but only read it through about three or four times before missing days. I think I'll stick with studying one book more in depth with study guides and reading them in full when time warrants.

Anyways, I hope we can all encourage one another in keeping us honest to our plans to read and study His word consistently for the entire year and beyond. God Bless!

trogdor said...

My reading plan is laid out here. So far it's going alright; I've got the last six chapters of Genesis, Song of Solomon, and a few Psalms to do in the next ten days, so I'm ahead of schedule. Not sure what I'll do if I get ahead, either dig into Romans more, or forge on into February's reading. Or maybe write something, I dunno.