Yes, the year is coming to a close. 2011 is nearly finished and a brand new year is just a couple days away. 2012. My goodness; I remember when I used to dwell on the year 2000 being such a huge occasion. There were times in high school I realized that I'd turn 42 during the year 2000. Now it's twelve years after that and, Lord willing, still more to come.
It's interesting how we make such a big deal out of New Year's Day. For millions, perhaps, it's just another day. Calendars are hardly used because one day more means another day they didn't die of disease, starvation, war or some other malady. For over 1 billion Chinese, our new year isn't the right one. But for us, especially here in America, we'll market anything until it breaks.
I don't spend a great deal of time reflecting back upon previous years (probably to my detriment, I suppose). Journaling has been a discipline(?) I've yet to conquer.
However, one goal I set for myself was to read the Bible through this past year. I began the year using Prof. Grant Horner's Bible Reading Plan. It was intense and I'll confess, I fell off this plan after about four months.
However, at the end of the summer, I discovered another reading plan, one in which you read through the entire Bible in 90 days. As I looked at my calendar, I realized I could do this in the final 100 days of the year. And I have! With two days to spare, I completed reading through my ESV Single-Column Reference Bible. It required about 13 pages per day. Some days this would take about 40 minutes. On other days (1 Chronicle Days), less than 30 minutes was needed.
Some have asked me: do you absorb anything by reading that fast? Let's put it this way: meditation was not my goal in this personal challenge; getting through was. Reading in this fashion gives one a very big picture on the whole story, but you don't have time to dive in deep at all. That comes through other times of study and reflection.
I might try this again, but not this year, at least. In 2012, I'm returning to Grant Horner's reading plan and joining with 100s, perhaps even 1,000s of others, following this plan together. Tim Challies issued the challenged a couple of weeks ago. A Facebook group has been assembled and we'll be posting updates, discoveries, encouragements and observations on occasion. If you'd like to learn more, check out Tim's challenge, Horner's system, the Facebook page, even a sample of bookmarks to be used.
Here's to reading God's Word together.