4.23.18 | Y'all, I did it. I have finished the Bible.



I can't believe I really did this. On February 13, 2015 I started this journey that I've always wanted to do, and here I am, just over three years later, having accomplished such a profound and inspiring part of my life. It's surreal, and I'm kinda emotional about it.



Over this time, my faith has grown exponentially, and I feel so much more rooted and at peace with my Truth. It's brought perspective, assuredness, contentment, and clarity to my

4.23.18 | Y'all, I did it. I have finished the Bible.



I can't believe I really did this. On February 13, 2015 I started this journey that I've always wanted to do, and here I am, just over three years later, having accomplished such a profound and inspiring part of my life. It's surreal, and I'm kinda emotional about it.



Over this time, my faith has grown exponentially, and I feel so much more rooted and at peace with my Truth. It's brought perspective, assuredness, contentment, and clarity to my life. It's a fulfillment that can't really be compared to anything else I've ever experienced.



Of course, I'll always continue to study the Word of God. Finishing this read-through isn't the end by any means. I look forward to looking more in depth into the different books and studying from new angles. And I'm looking forward to reading the thoughts of Biblical scholars. This is only the beginning of a lifetime of further developing my relationship with God.



As for updating on Goodreads, I likely will leave this review as it is. It has served it's purpose, and I'm happy with putting it to rest. For anyone who's maybe followed along this whole time, thanks for keeping up. Know that it's not the end for me.

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3.31.18 | It's the last day of March, and Easter is tomorrow! It felt like a good time to update, especially since it's been about a month and half since the last. I have finished what I mentioned in my last update - reading through the end of Acts along with the various other Books I wrote about. I've also moved on just a few more days and have read Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians, and Philippians. This brings me to just two more weeks of reading days!!



I know I said last time that I thought I was still on track to finish by mid-April, but I don't think that's the case anymore. At this point I think beginning of May is much more likely. I'm working hard to read at least three times a week, but like I said in February, daily life has gotten much more demanding. But still, let's hope for May.



Looking ahead, I'll be reading 1 Timothy, Titus, 1 Peter, and Hebrews. I'm not sure when I'll update next, but considering I'm nearing the end of this journey it shouldn't be too long.

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2.11.18 | This update is LONG overdue. To give you an idea of how my reading that I mentioned in my last update went, I did finish the Gospels in mid-January. I had a good feel for how long that would take me, and I finished right when I thought I would. As much as I obviously enjoyed reading the Gospels though, it was difficult. My reading plan was very intermingled, and the commentary website I've been using had a completely different set up for the Gospels, so it was a chore to get my reading done and read the commentary. I ended up having to make a big chart to make sure I didn't accidentally skip over anything. But now that the Gospels are done, the second half of the New Testament is business as usual and has been much easier to work through.



I started the Book of Acts after the Gospels, and I'm just over halfway through with it as of today. Reading Acts, so far, has also been broken up with the Books of James and Galatians. Looking ahead, Acts will continue to interrupted with other Books including 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Romans before I wrap it up in another two and a half weeks of reading days. So let's leave it at that as the current agenda.



My reading as slowed down a lot since the start of the year, but it's for exciting news. I FINALLY FOUND A JOB! My prayers have been answered, y'all! I'm so glad to have that stress lifted off my shoulders, but naturally my new schedule has meant having to develop a new routine. Rather than reading in the mornings, I'm reading once I get home from work. However, I have a long commute, house chores that still need to be maintained, and I've started doing OrangeTheory. Needless to say, actually reading every day when I get home from work doesn't always happen. I suspect it will continue like this, and I'm not necessarily looking to be more strict with myself. I'm still reading about three times a week at a minimum, and weekends provide a much needed time to catch up if needed. I'm still hoping to finish the Bible by mid-April.

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11.13.17 | I realized on my last update I did not include any info on my reading moving forward. Today I started the Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Since all four of these Books are about the ministry of Jesus and different perspectives of the same events, they are read together. I have three months of reading days left of the Bible, and the Gospels will take up half of that - six weeks to get through them. I'll likely not update until I'm done with them as there really isn't a stopping point or midway point or any other significant moment to update on my progress. Each day I'll read from either one, some, or all of the Gospels, and frequently I'll only be reading partial chapters. It's definitely mixed up quite a bit.



As much as I would love to finish the Gospels by the end of the year, I just don't think it's going to happen. In order to finish the OT by my birthday, I really pushed myself to get through my readings on time. Getting into the New Testament has had me excited in part because I'd not be under the pressure of a self-imposed deadline, and I'm mostly ready to not feel pressured to read every day or read double days to stay on schedule. And with the holidays coming, I think it's best to give myself a break from a strict reading timetable. With all that said, it's likely I'll finish the Gospels sometime in January, so that will be when I update next. My ultimate goal is to finish the Bible sometime in April at the latest, and I'm certainly on track for that.

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11.10.17 | Umm, my birthday is tomorrow, and I just finished the Old Testament?!?! YEAH! First of all, I am SO excited that I met my goal to finish the OT by my birthday. I stuck with my reading plan and even read double days just to stay on track. I feel proud of myself for seeing it through.



Even though I still have three months of reading days left before completing the entire Bible, getting through the Old Testament is such a big accomplishment. The OT takes up the vast majority of the Bible. I mean, it is huge, y'all. And considering I formally started this journey in February 2015, getting to this moment has been a loooong journey. It has always felt so far away, but now that it's here it's surreal.



I've learned so much about my faith: the origins, the history, the teachings, the prophetic implications... Having all of this knowledge... Knowing my religion for myself is liberating, and the confidence I have in my beliefs has increased 100 fold. I still have the entire ministry of Jesus to learn about. I still have all the teachings of the disciples to learn about. But even having so much more to learn, I feel grounded and secure in what I know now. And I can only imagine the enlightenment that will come over the next few months as I connect everything that happened in the OT with all that's to come in the NT. And then to be able to apply everything I'll have learned... This has been a deeply personal journey that I've always wanted to embark on; the realization that I have finally pursued it and that a day is coming soon where I can say "I did that" is wild to me.

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10.23.17 | I'm in the homestretch! As mentioned in my last update, I've now completed 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles; I've also gotten through Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Lamentations, and Ezekiel. And today I read the short, three-chapter Book of Joel. I now have just 17 reading days left of the Old Testament! My birthday is in 20 days, so I am on track to meet my goal with a few days of cushion thrown in. The final Books are Daniel, Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, Esther, Nehemiah, and Malachi. I'll also read the last two Psalms that I've yet to get to - 137 and 126. It's been ages since I've read a Psalm; I almost forgot that I had a couple left.



It's exciting to be so close to such a big benchmark. I can't believe it's almost here. Just a few more weeks...

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9.15.17 | Wow! I didn't realize it had been so long since I last updated. Well, I've certainly covered a lot more ground since June. So I've completed 1 Kings, Song of Solomon, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. I'm also nearly done with 2 Chronicles and 2 Kings, which picked up right where 1 Kings left off and has been read alongside Chronicles. I'll actually do my final reading of these books in a little over a week of reading days. I've also read a TON of Books from the minor prophets - Obadiah, Jonah, Amos, Micah, Hosea, Nahum, and Zephaniah. All of these are pretty short and were read in just one or two days. But I've also read the big Book of Isaiah; at 66 chapters, Isaiah took me nearly a month of reading days, which were often broken up by the other mentioned Books.



Today, I started the Book of Jeremiah. It's not quite as long as Isaiah, but it's still 52 chapters and will take a couple weeks of reading days to finish. Like I said, I'll finish 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles as I go through Jeremiah. I'll also read Habakkuk and Lamentations before my final "big Book" - Ezekiel. I'm nearing the end of the Old Testament, and I'd love to have it done by my birthday on November 11, so I'm working to be really disciplined with daily reading and even reading double days if I miss a day, which usually happens when we go out of town on weekends to visit family or go camping.

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6.20.17 | This past chunk of reading has seemed to have taken me forever. I've now read 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles, and I've also read a TON of psalms. I think the psalms have really slowed my pace. I've read multiple psalms at least every other day, but many times I've had them to read for days in a row. So I'm pretty exhausted from this most recent section of reading that I've done. But looking ahead, the remaining psalms will be spaced out much more. This is a relief. On my next reading day, I'll be starting 1 Kings, and it will be read alongside 2 Chronicles. But it will take me quite awhile to read these two Books as it looks like they are frequently interrupted by the starting and finishing of other Books. Coming up most immediately, Song of Solomon, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. I'm excited about Proverbs since it's so often quoted.

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4.21.17 | So I've now read the Book of 1 Samuel. There were also 24 psalms intermingled with my reading. Up until this point, my chronological reading plan has basically followed the order of the Books with the exception of Job and a few psalms. Looking ahead though, it looks like the plan is going to start bouncing around more. I'll be starting 2 Samuel on my next reading day, and it will be read in tandem with 1 Chronicles as well as many more psalms.

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3.20.17 | It's been just over a month. I've now read the Books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth.

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2.17.17 | I first started the Bible on February 13, 2015. I was on a pretty consistent reading pattern, but then in May of that year I got my first full-time job, and slowly but surely, my reading got more and more sporadic to the point where I went months at a time without reading a single verse. Flash forward to the beginning of this year, I've now quit that job and have gone into real estate full-time. This has allowed me to have more control over my schedule, and I'm prioritizing my Bible reading once again.



This is my first time reading the Bible, and I've decided to take on the journey with a chronological reading plan. I've also found a great commentary website to follow along with to help me better understand each day's reading and how to apply what I'm reading to my life as a 21st century Believer.



Over the past two years, I've read the first five Books and the Book of Job. In order: Genesis 1-11, Job, the rest of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers 1-15, Psalm 90, rest of Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Psalm 91. After finishing Deuteronomy a few weeks ago, I decided that I wanted to reread the commentary I'd covered up to that point to refresh my memory before continuing on with the Book of Joshua. And that's what I finished today. Even though I was a little impatient with my commentary rereading, I'm glad I decided to do it, so now I can move forward with everything I've learned thus far fresh in my mind.



I don't have the Bible on my "Currently Reading" shelf because it's much different than your typical novel, and I do want to always be reading God's Word. But this also means I can't really update my progress as I go, so I've decided to update here in this ongoing review. I can't really say if I'll mention insight or anything like that in these updates as I go along, but I want y'all to know that I am at least progressing, and if that opens the door for someone to ask me about God, then I want that to happen, too.