My 2014 Reading Plan

Usually at the outset of the year, I come up with some sort of plan for the year ahead. This year is no different. Often, I deviate from the plan, but revisiting focus is often a good idea. Here are my intended themes for the year.

1) Morning Bible Reading. One of the most important habits I have ever developed is the morning ritual of reading my Bible and praying. People often ask why I awaken so early in the morning. This is why; I cannot wait to spend time with God. This year, I intend to work through a Bible reading plan that I developed. I plan to couple this with listening to Psalms and Proverbs, writing in a journal, and prayer time based around The Valley of Vision.

2) New Books: I have several books on my shelves at home and at work that I haven't read yet. I plan to work through several of those, though probably not all of them (there are several books on my shelf that I have gotten for free that I thought looked interesting, but not interesting enough to read them now). I suspect I will also continue to purchase new books as they become available. Matt Rawlings has a list of 14 books he's looking forward to here.  I agree with several of these, especially JP Moreland's book on the soul.

3) Old Books: I guess these aren't all old, per se. Rather, they are all books that I have read previously. At home, I have a goldmine of books. CS Lewis said, "I can't imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once." I have several that need to be revisited. I am particularly interested in going through the reading list from the Centurions program again. I enjoyed the books the first time through, though I think now in looking back on the program, it may be interesting to revisit them again.

4) Mastering the English Bible: I have written about this program before. I first read about it on First Things in an article from Joe Carter. I then purchased the book upon which the program is based. Essentially, Mastering the English Bible was a short book put together by James Gray. How he managed to get a book out of the suggestion to a) read a book through, and b) repeat 20 times I don't know. I figured out this week that if a person were to do 10 chapters per day, it would take about 6.5 years to get through the Bible, but hey, what's the hurry.

So, here's the plan: I am going to continue to do #1 every morning. Then, I plan to rotate through 2, 3, and 4. In other words, I will read a new book, followed by a previously read book, then go through a book of the Bible 20 times. Repeat.

I'll see how long this lasts, but it gives me a jumping off point.

Do you have a plan for reading?