Accepting The Challenge

I've always admitted to being a competitive person. As the perfectionist that I've grown to be, I've thrived - even prided myself - on opportunities to show my strengths and gifts. But when I received the phone call from Tiffani, and she challenged me to a "race" through the Bible, I uncharacteristically hesitated. This wouldn't be a simple challenge. Rather, it would be a tremendous commitment to myself, to Tiffani, to others, and ultimately to God to devote myself to reading my Bible - and much more of it than I normally do.

I'd be lying if I said that I'm an avid Bible-reader. Yes, I've read through the Bible twice and several parts of it more-so throughout my life. Growing up in the church and then attending a Christian University doesn't lack opportunities for scripture reading. But too often in the last couple years I've allowed the busyness of life to consume time that I could have - should have - been reading my Bible. Busyness is a choice, however, and by accepting this challenge I'm finally choosing to make time in God's Word a priority in my life. Yes, I'm always busy. There's always things I could do between home, work, marriage, and life. But above all those things is an amazing God, our loving Father who has been calling me back to Himself - into a relationship that has been quite disconnected for too long.

In the last three months, God has been revealing Himself to me, and drawing me back to a deeper communion with Him. My prayer is that this experience and challenge of reading His Word will awaken my spirit and renew my mind. Echoing Tiffani's post, this is a friendly competition. But we both hope and pray that others will join us in this journey from Genesis to Revelation. I've never kept a blog before, so this will only add to the challenge for me. But I pray that this experience will encourage others where they are at in their journey, and hold me accountable to the task that lays ahead.

I hope to read with untainted eyes, that God would speak to me and reveal things to me that perhaps I never saw before. I'm anxious for this challenge, but excited in how God will use this now and in the rest of my life. I pray that reading will be a lifelong habit as much as it will be in the next several weeks.

So please follow me - follow us - as we challenge one another through God's Word. I ask you for prayer and encouragement, and for accountability to "keep at it" even when life gets busy. Let the race begin!