In the Beginning

          Day one is officially in the books.  As per my normal procrastinate or die attitude I've waited until the day is almost at a close before beginning my Bible reading.  I am however going to pat myself on the back for not totally chickening out and quitting before I even began.  

          Today, well tonight rather, I read the first five chapters of the book of Genesis.  It was a little difficult to not just glaze over chapters one and two which are home to the creation story.  It's a biblical story that I've heard probably since I was in utero.  Even so, I did try really hard to read it as though it was new to me.  I tried to imagine how my five year old - who at the moment is 100% obsessed with stars, planets and anything outer space - would read it, if he could read. When you look at it that way it's pretty darn cool to realize that there's someone who made all that stuff! The genius and artistry it must have taken to arrange everything perfectly so that everything complements and works with everything else. Amazing. 

          Considering the fact that I just gave birth three months ago, I'm sure most of you can figure pretty quickly which part of chapter three automatically gets the stink eye from me.  "To the woman [God] said, 'I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children.'"  Billions of women have cursed this lady during childbirth for thousands of years.  But in all honesty can we really say that we wouldn't have tried the apple too? Ask any parent of a teenager and they'll agree that the quickest way to get them to do anything is to tell them they're not allowed to do it.  I'm pretty sure that my curiosity would have eventually overwhelmed me as well. This coming from someone who is terrible at Rook because I always overbid on the nest cards at the beginning of the game.  I just have to know what cards are in that pile!  

          After the expulsion from the Garden of Eden things just go downhill fast. We see the first example of hatred, jealousy, and murder when Cain kills his brother Abel and is cursed to wander the earth for the rest of his life.  Goodbye perfect world where you can walk with God everyday and hello fallen existence full of scary stuff.  I have to admit this excites the adventure/fantasy reader in me just a little bit. But, when I think about it and realize there's nothing fiction about this book, I'm a little kid hiding under the sheets again. 

          Yay for day one complete. I'm quite proud that I've actually started this.  Let's stay faithful and see this thing through to the end. What do you say people?           

Hello Fellow Scaredy Cats

Just to be clear, I'm terrified to do this...

           Before I say anything else I want to say this to you: Hi! Anybody taking the time out of their day to even get this far into reading what I'm writing deserves a big giant hug.  So this is me hugging you. Or maybe shaking your hand if you're uncomfortable hugging a stranger.  Thank you for being here with me and holding me accountable to this thing I've attempted to begin. 

          I guess I should probably introduce myself.  I am the wife of a sailor in the U.S. Navy and we have been married for 6 years.  I am the mother of two boys, ages 5 years and 3 months.  I am a law school graduate who currently orks as a full time stay at home mommy and a part time volunteer legal research and writing attorney.  

          Being the daughter of a small town Southern Baptist preacher/blue collar worker and a working mother, I have been a Christian since the age of about 4.  With the exception of my wayfaring college years I have always thought of myself as a decent Christian.  I go to church regularly, I'm nice to people, I pray at least a little bit everyday.  That's good enough right? Not really.  Apparently those words and stories in that big book are pretty important and I've been mostly ignoring them for the 28 years of my life.  Don't get me wrong I went to bible school as a child. I had to recite memory verses and I can still say most of the biggies from memory. I also participate often in Bible Studies at my church.  But, I read the Holy Bible of my own accord nowhere near the amount of time that God wants his followers to read it. There are weeks that I can't even remember if I brought it into the house after church on Sunday.  There are other weeks where I can't even find it to take to church with me. 

           During church this past Sunday, the bundle of awesomeness that is my Pastor gave me a little nugget of info that I could not stop thinking about. It was so poignant that it inspired this Facebook status of mine later that day (I joke when I'm nervous):

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: 784 pages and read in roughly 24 hours. Breaking Dawn: 756 pages, read in 48 hours and then read again 3 more times. My edition of the Holy Bible, 1500 pages and in 28 years I have never read the whole thing. Wow.

           I have always been terrified of the thought of reading the entire Bible from beginning to end. Growing up with the King James translation made the thought even scarier.  Just like Velma here, I've been running away screaming from the Word as a whole my entire life.  It's finally time to stop running and face this fear of mine.  I'm going to read all 66 books, including each of the 1,189 chapters and every one of the 31,173 verses in those chapters (yes I googled).  I will do this from beginning to end all in the order they appear without skipping a word.  

          Those of you who have never read the Bible in its entirety before are welcome to join me.  I hope that this will offer you encouragement and motivation to attempt it yourself.  If I can do it surely so can you.  To those of you old pros who have done this already or who do it regularly, join me to give yourself a good laugh. Who knows maybe I will even make you a bit nostalgic.  Please check in on me from time to time to make sure that I'm not hiding scared under a rock somewhere shaking in my sneakers.  

     Here's a bon voyage toast before we start.  I'm raising my glass to all of you - here we go.