My Bible "Reading" Plan

For the past few years I try to read completely through the Bible over the course of the year. I've read The Message, the TNIV, and the ESV (in chronological order). Part of me liked the chronological thing because I got a real sense of the story of the Bible. But honestly, it was hard to stick with it because it was fall before I got to read anything from the New Testament.

Anyway, this year I decided to read through the ESV again using one of the reading plans from the ESV website. (http://www.esv.org/biblereadingplans) There are several to choose from and I chose the ESV Study Bible reading plan. Each day includes a reading from a psalm or wisdom literature, Pentateuch or history of Israel, Chronicles or Prophets, and Gospels or Epistles. It's usually about 5 chapters and only takes about 15-20 minutes. So far, I've enjoyed the daily sampling from different parts of the Bible.

The other thing I like about the ESV reading plans is that the daily readings are sent to my iCal calendar on my MacBook. The complete text and audio also comes to my email through an RSS feed. I LOVE THIS! Now every time I check email, I'm reminded to read my Bible and I do it right there in my email feed.

ALL THAT TO SAY THIS: A few weeks ago, I got several days behind in my reading. I decided to get caught up by taking advantage of the audio of the reading that is also sent to my email each day. I started listening when I went to bed or when I was doing mindless office work. I've enjoyed it so much that I've decided to finish the year listening to the Bible instead of reading it. It's a whole different experience and I'm finding it to be a refreshing way to have my devotional time!