Just talking..

 Today, on the way to work, I had nutella and peanut butter toast.  It was so good!  It started my day off right!!  It was a fun night last night, hanging out with some fun people who love photography.  I have a feeling that some of them will be better than I am....hahaha, which is why you shouldn't volunteer to lead a group like that!  Today I really don't have much planned, so I am looking forward to relaxing this evening...maybe catching up on my bible reading.  I tend to be a rebel.  To turn from authority.  Well, I had planned on concentrating on a couple books of the bible this year, all year.  I had it all mapped out.  Then, out of the blue, our pastor comes up with the challenge of the bible in a year.  And as he said it, I immediately thought, "I know I'm a leader, but I am not doing that.  I already know what I'm doing this year.  People get so caught up with reading the bible in a year that they miss what they are reading....(on and on my devilish inner monologue went...)Then my pastor said this:"My daughters read through a 400-500page book a in a weekend.  But they are having a hard time with the bible.  But they have committed to it.  And they are having fun."  I thought about my NOOK.  And all the useless time I spend mindlessly reading "The girl with the dragon tattoo" or even logical, biblically based books like, "Redeeming Love" or the "Mark of the LIon Series" (Ps, I know that book titles should be underlined, but I'm feeling lazy, so I felt like quotations would be an acceptable replacement....).  These books are LONG! Thousands of pages, but I read through them in a month.
And I have never read the bible cover to cover in a measurably short amount of time.  I read my bible almost daily, but not in a very intentional way. I am (sometimes) one of those prideful Christians that thinks that the challenge that the pastor is giving must not be for me.  It is for new believers, or people that aren't in the word already.  But then the Lord completely convicted me.....I often feel unfulfilled after reading my bible.  I don't get much out of it. I jump around a lot. I didn't go to church when I was little, so when people refer to bible stories, I nod and smile but don't have much to add in.  Sometimes I think I should read a children's bible to understand it in a simplistic way. 
So I decided that I better turn this thing around.   I decided to accept the challenge.  On January 15th or so.  But....better late than never, right??  I am on January 26th in  my reading plan...so I have done 26 days since January 15th.  I find myself sometimes not wanting to put my bible down!  I want to finish the story.  It is great! I think it is the most effective time I have ever had as a believer....teaching myself...outside of a bible study.  But honestly, God's word ON IT'S OWN...is so much more powerful than a study.  Because it is the real deal.  Not to discount a study...it is where the majority of my growth as a believer has come from... All that to say...Exodus is not so boring after all... :) 

I hope you have a wonderful WEDNESDAY!