Rte 66 - Rest Stop 1

I wrote not too long ago about my plans for a complete read-through of the Bible (see The Message). This plan flowed forth from an initial thought that I had at the end of last year to walk through the book of Psalms. That lead to a grander notion of reading through the entire Bible from start to finish. However, to approach things from a slightly different perspective, I decided to read a modern translation of the Bible by Eugene Peterson known as The Message. Given that the combined Old and New Testaments contain a total of 66 "books", I am referring to this lengthy trek as my Rte 66 journey (thanks to my blogging friend Bill at Cycleguy's Spin for telling me about this clever name).

One of the difficulties that I have with such an "assignment" is that the overachieving student in me likes to bubble up to the surface and run amok. Instead of pacing myself and carefully poring over the lessons, the history, and the opportunity for worship, my nature says to try to read through the whole book in a couple of sittings. So far, however, I have been reading smaller amounts and stopping when I get fatigued or when I am just not in the proper frame of mind.

So, as I have arrived at the first "rest stop" along the way, I thought I would update my progress. Presently I have finished reading through the first 18 books of the Bible (Genesis through Job) and am now working my way through the book of Psalms. So we are a third of the way through the calendar and I am about a third of the way through the Bible. I have found this reading most enjoyable and challenging. I have also enjoyed my time so far with The Message. I will touch base with you all again when I reach the next rest stop a bit further up the road.