The Bible In 90 Days

Ninety days seems like a long time. That’s three months. I’ve gone for spells of reading three or four books a month before, so surely one can get through the Bible in three months. I ran across this reading plan toward the end of May and decided to give it a try. I set June 1st as day one, but I didn’t really start until several days into June because of work, so I had a little catching up to do. Like I said, I read a lot, and this plan took a pretty good chunk of time each day, but I figured that I could just give up my normal reading for the next three months and devote it all to reading the Bible.

I forgot to mention, that was June 1, 2009. One year and seven days later I’m in the book of James. Things were going well in June and July. I got through much of the Old Testament of the Bible, but I really got stuck in Ezekiel. I’m not blaming the prophet, but I just happened to be attending summer camp with our Youth during this part of the reading plan, and that week was focused on the book of Judges.

So I slacked off for a while. Enjoyed the end of summer, began a new school year, and finally as the end of fall approached, I resumed my schedule of reading. I wanted to finish the Old Testament and read through the stories of Jesus by Christmas. I made it to the minor prophets.

With Lent approaching, I decided that would be a good time to finish my commitment to read the Bible in 90 days, so I managed to finish the Old Testament and read most of the gospels by Easter.

I’m not good at Lent, and I really begin to feel like a failure when I fall short on my Lenten commitments. So I continued reading slowly but steadily. The timing was good when I began Acts on Pentecost. A renewed commitment pushed me to finish the Bible by June. Maybe 90 days was a bit too ambitious, but lots of folks read the Bible in a year. There wouldn’t be any shame in saying one year later- “I made it.”

Did I mention that I’m in the book of James? If you hold a Bible, any Bible, and pinch it at James-Revelation, looking back at the amount of material that I’ve read is enormous compared to what is left. I’m almost there. I’m going to finish, and soon. Is this a failure or a success? Go ahead, you can judge. But I’m nearly done. And I’ve learned much from this experience. Maybe this post is just a way of putting it out there for public consumption so that I have a little accountability. I can’t quit now, even though I feel like the guy at the marathon who struggles to crawl over the finish line hours after the last runner has already finished.

So I will finish, and when I do, I will share what this journey has shown me.