Deuteronomy!

I've finally gotten to Deuteronomy!
Ali and I have been reading on our own, so as to catch up a bit, since reading out loud is somewhat slower, and we both have to have time to do it. I must say, I think Deuteronomy will be a bit easier to get through than Leviticus and Numbers...

Behind

We're behind. Majorly behind. It's terrible, awful, irresponsible. But, can you blame us? We're university students trying to keep up with our studies and homework and also attempting to read through the Bible in a year. And we're stuck in Numbers. I have to say, I'm getting very tired of Moses' writing style. Repetitions anyone? In my opinion, Moses could have seriously edited down his writing for more conciseness. He definitely could have used a couple English classes like Expository Writing and Creative Writing. But things could be worse. We could still be back in Leviticus. That's where we started getting stuck. Somehow we managed to finish that book and move on to the fourth book of law, and for that I am truly grateful. Anyway, here's the thing. Jonathan and I are on Numbers 13 (supposed to be read for Feb. 28) when we should be reading Deuteronomy 30 for today. So we might try a new tactic. On days that we can't manage to find time to read the chapters together, we'll read them separately and then blog about what we found surprising or interesting or uplifting, etc. We need to update this blog more often anyway. So that's our current plan for staying on track when we're too busy to read together out loud. We'll let you know how it's working in a week or two.

State of the Dead discovery

Job still isn't my favourite book but I am getting more out of it than the last time I read it. In today's reading (Job 14-16) I discovered that the book of Job talks about death as a sleep (Job 14: 10-12). I never realized that before. I still wish that Job had been written more as a story and less as poetic dialogue, petitions, and prayers but I'm doing my best to try to gain something from each reading.

Have to do a better Job

It's only the fourth day of our reading-the-Bible-in-a-year resolution and I've already messed up. Last night I opened my Bible to Genesis 12 and read the four chapters I thought I was supposed to read for January 4 plus an extra one because I got to the part about Hagar and Ishmael and couldn't just stop without reading that chapter, too. I didn't actually go check to make sure it was the right reading for the day, but just started where Jonathan and I had left off the day before and read five chapters, which I assumed was more than the allotted reading for the day. I was feeling pretty good about how well I have kept up with this project so far and mentioned to Jonathan this evening that I'd even done a little extra reading in Genesis last night. "Ali, the reading for yesterday was the first five chapters of Job," he set me straight. "Job? Already? Man, here I thought I was ahead and now I find out that not only am I behind by a day's reading, but I already have to start the book of Job?" I questioned, watching him nod as I finished my mini-rant.

I've read Job once. Several years ago, likely when I was still in high school, I read the book in one sitting when I decided to read through several books of the Bible on a Sabbath afternoon. I wasn't impressed with much of the book after the first two chapters. This time around I'm going to try to keep a more open mind so I can learn from Job's conversations with God and the dialogue between Job and his three friends. Besides Job was included in the Bible so that must mean there's something (probably a lot of things) I can gain from my second time reading through the book.

A new year's resolution / In the Beginning

Ali and I decided to read through the Bible this year, going by historical order. I'm pretty excited about doing this, and hope that it will be a great blessing to us!

Today we started with reading Genesis 1-3. Chapter 1 outlines what took place in the six days of creation. Chapter 2 kind of expands on certain aspects of that, and also describes the countryside surrounding the Garden a bit. Finally, Chapter 3 tells the story of Adam and Eve's fall, and God's curse laid on them, on the earth, and on the Serpent.