Have you read or listened to the whole Bible?

When I started seminary, I went to the bookstore to buy my books. A stranger came up to me as I was looking at the Bible section and asked me, "Have you ever read through the whole Bible?"

I am embarrassed to say that my answer was "No."

The kind person picked out the Chronological Bible and suggested that I read it. This Bible tells the story of good in order of time not by book, chapter or verse. So I bought it and began my journey of reading through the Bible. I read through it so many times that the binding was worn. 

I have been doing this for 33 years. I didn't always complete a Bible in a year. There came a time when God convicted me to slow down and take two. But, I have been faithfully reading His Word daily since 1992.

Did I miss days? Of course!

I discovered that God's Word nourished me in ways I had no clue were changing me. I was being fed mentally, emotionally, socially, and spiritually. I felt it in my bones when I heard truths that changed me and grieved it when circumstances hindered my time in the Word of God.

I know God is real because He has proven Himself over and over through His text as I searched out His story written in the sacred book called the Bible.