Must Have a Plan

So clearly I'm off to a slow start on my return to blogging, but in the meantime, we have managed to clean up our diet, start exercising again, catch up with friends we've missed over the holidays, clean out the attic, organize a few kitchen cabinets. And, man, does it feel good!

Also, I've started reading The Daily Bible again. I have to confess that I was never a consistent daily Bible reader until I had children. The years that I have been most successful are times that I started in January with a clearly defined plan. I've read the One Year Bible (not my favorite arrangement--little OT, little NT, Psalms, & Proverbs each day). I've used Memorial Road's guide that takes you through one book of the Bible at a time, alternating between the Old Testament and New Testament; I think Ben's going to use that approach this year. But my absolute favorite is this:

It's a chronological arrangement of the Bible, giving you a better feel for God's story of the world. It has a brief but helpful commentary. I used the skip reading the commentary, but I finally realized that most of the questions I had about tricky or confusing passages were actually addressed in the comments. This version also combines passages from different books that repeat the same accounts to give a comprehensive and cohesive story line.

So if you don't have a plan for Bible reading this year, you ought to try to get your hands on this gem. Of course the power is in the Word, but having a plan keeps me in the precious Word more consistently.