NOW, ABOUT THOSE NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS...

Many years by January 14th or so, my resolutions are out the door. The weight loss, the workouts, the weight lifting--all those good things for the body have fallen by the wayside. But it's not too late for 2008.

Three years ago I decided to read the Bible in one year. You see, here I was. A church goer my whole life, but I had never read the Holy Bible all the way through. Not in 56 years. I had read a ton of other books in my undergrad and graduate studies in English, but I'd never read the Holy Bible all the way through. So I decided to do it all in one year.

There are several ways to do it. And you can start today. One is the way it was written from OT to New Testament. That's the way my wife read it through the first time. My first time was the chronological approach. There's also The Bible in One Year. There's a Bible in 90 Days that I started last year. Care to guess how long that lasted? Well, I still have 89 days till completion.

This year I am reading it according to the Daily Bread. So far it's Genesis and Proverbs Sunday through Friday. The New Testament is read only on Saturday. Isn't that something? That you can read the entire New Testament for 20 minutes each Saturday.

Yet other ways are the Living Bible on CD. A friend of mine is doing that first thing every morning, and he's enjoying it so much that way. Another way is to read just the footnotes at the bottom of a Study Bible, though many would say that's not being in the Word. I'd agree, but it's still edifying.

So go ahead. It's not too late. Read the Holy Bible this year. Remember the Word was Jesus in the flesh. That should be enough to get you started. You'll be glad you did. I promise.