Reading the Bible Through

 This morning, 2 friends and I met to complete our reading through the Bible in 2023. We each read a chapter. Unfortunately, I had to leave abruptly to get to work in time. Still, I found it a beautiful and meaningful way to end.  It has been to difficult to keep up with reading/listening and blogging both. I prefer to lay in bed and listen to the Bible, but I can't blog laying down. I got behind in reading/listening and blogging. It was easier to catch up with the reading/listening than the blogging. The blog didn't go how I had hoped. I would have liked more discussion. I wish I hadn't been so behind in the New Testament, that I rarely made a substantial comment. Still, I'd' wanted to do this. I'm glad I did it.  May the Lord of Heaven and Earth bless you. Amen. 

Tomorrow, I'm going to meet for breakfast with 2 friends who have also been reading the Bible through this year from cover to cover. 

 Almost done...

 Merry Christmas!! Celebrate the birth of Jesus the Messiah!!

 Almost done. 

 Finishing up now.

 Who are the 7 churches? What do they symbolize? Could it be the walk, and, perhaps fall, of the Christian? 

 Made it Revelations!

 Almost there...keep going...

 So close!! I do love 1st John with it's focus on love!!

 Closer, almost there

 Getting there

 Getting there, so close....

 Almost there...just a little bit more...

 Getting closer...

 Getting there...

 Trying to finish this before the year ends...

 I find Hebrews a difficult book to read. The "faith chapter" doesn't particularly move me. 

 Philemon is a curious book: sending a runaway slave home as a Christian brother. 

 Admittedly, somewhere along the line, I ran out of steam, but, right now, for me, the important thing is finishing. 

 Getting closer...

 Getting there

 Getting there

 Heading down the home stretch...

Pushing to the end...

Just trying to finish!

 Coming down the home stretch...

 Just trying to finish before year's end. 

 Catching up.  I've found Galatians to be helpful with differentiating between true and false guilt. 

 Still catching up....

 Catching up. I'm still gonna make it by the end of the year. 

 still catching up

 Still catching up...

 Catching up

 Catching up...

 Catching up before the end of the year. 

 Still catching up. Was behind, got COVID. 

 Getting close to the end...

 Catching up....

 Still catching up. Gonna make it through by the end of the year!

Romans 10 - 12   Do not respond to evil with evil, but rather with good. Much easier said than done, but so beautiful. The older I get, the more I want to respond out of my good character rather than responding to other's negative behavior. 

 Still trying to catch up. Today is really 12/5/23. I should be reading somewhere in Paul's letters. 

 Still trying to catch up. I think I should be in Thessalonians by now. Still, I'll make the Through the Bible by the End of the Year. 

 Still trying to catch up to finish before 12/31/23.

Acts 26 - 28   And so ends the book of Acts. Paul is under guard, but given liberal privileges. 

Acts 23 - 25   I have always wondered why Paul appealed to Caesar. This seems to make it clear that a trial in Jerusalem would have been a kangaroo court. 

Acts 18 – 22   Still catching up in the story of Paul

Acts 15 - 17   I'm still catching up. 

Acts 12 - 14   Wow! This covers a lot. I wonder what the people who left Paul for dead thought when they learned he was still alive and witnessing for Jesus?!

Acts 9 - 11   This covers a lot! The conversion of Saul never fails to be amazing!

Acts 6 - 8   Today, I am struck by the idea that it was some internal strife that got Stephen to the place where he was stoned. It seems to me that we always read about the Stoning of Stephen, but not what happened to bring it about. 

Acts 3 - 5   Why do Ananias and Saphira lie? 

John 21 -Acts 2   Greater is He that is in me

John 16 - 20   Pilate does not wash his hands of Jesus' fate here. 

  John 13 – 15 Tonight I am struck by the juxtaposition of Jesus washing the disciples' feet, a lowly task, while his betrayal is clearly on his mind.