On November 17 I should be finished with my bible in 60 days project.
Just last night I hit a significant landmark – I finished all of the Hebrew Scriptures.
It felt really good to do that and it gave me an added boost to keep going.
When I first started, many were curious and even critical at times that I was taking on such a project.
Some gave me verbal support, asked me questions about what I was reading or where I was in my reading, and some even started a two month project of their own.
The critical raised arguments that I anticipated and preemptively addressed in my initial article on the project.
As weeks went on, general curiosity died down and even on a personal level the initial excitement of starting such an ambitious project fizzled out.
For the first few weeks I often found myself ahead of schedule. After a while, and especially during my two week trip to America, I found myself struggling to keep up or even falling behind the schedule.
I know I would be disappointed in myself if I started this project and then lost endurance and gave up. Finishing the Hebrew Scriptures was a big boost.
I've written a couple of articles on what I have learned from this project.
The two topics I wrote about (The Kings of Judah and Evil Women of the Bible) are definitely obscure and aren't even necessarily linked to this project itself entirely.
Since the actual reading takes up so much time, I hope that I can make written reports on more general and well-tread topics later such as the patriarchs, the prophets and perhaps Messianic prophecy after I am finished.
More likely, if I write other articles about the Hebrew Scriptures they will be on niche topics that I personally find interesting and exciting as I have done for preceding articles.
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For now, thank you for those who have supported me.
Specifically I would like to mention David Harville who when staying at my house as a guest was willing to put up with me being a little antisocial so that I could keep up with my reading schedule. He showed his support through words and even joining me in the reading of the books of Joshua and Judges together. After his brief stay at my house, he told me that he will start the project as well. I have been too hesitant to ask him how it has been coming along. Maybe I need to have a little more faith in him. :)
I would also like to thank Sergio Praena.
Sergio is my good friend of many years who is now serving as a special pioneer in an Asian land.
His words of support were brief and over Skype, but they were definitely helpful. :-)
He has started the project, as well as several other friends of his.
If I remember correctly he said he knew of 8 people doing the same project.
I'm very happy to hear that my Instagram posts and blog posts have inspired these people to start Bible reading projects.
Perhaps the primary and biggest thanks of all should go to Jennifer and Justin Eirhart. They are the ones who inadvertently by their good example inspired me to start such a project in the first place.
They introduced me to a schedule where the Bible is read over the course of three years. I initially started this project and then, out of ambition, decided to try the schedule that I am doing now.
The Eirharts are a family of four that have been serving here in the DR for over a year.
Unlike the many single people here with fewer responsibilities, Justin and Jennifer came here with two small children under the age of 10. They decided to make serving where the need is great work even though they had children.
Some of you may have seen slides of their children from the video presentation I gave in El Cerrito, at Jaron's house in Emeryville and at the Tishmack’s place in North Dakota.
More than being great examples in self-sacrifice, they have invited me (as a single person) to join their family worship sessions and come over just to hang out, play UNO and watch movies.
Little stuff like that definitely makes a big difference in the needgreater life.
There are others, such as the many who made positive comments on my Instagram post, my mom (who repeatedly said how she was encouraged from my blog posts regarding this project), my dad (who seemed to express a certain rightful pride in his son by the fact that I was undertaking such a project), Elisa Gonzalez (who read the entire book of second Samuel with me and then started the project on her own), and many others whom I unfortunately cannot recall due to my imperfect brain and/or laziness. I am especially grateful to those that not only expressed their words of support but also undertook the project themselves.
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With all of that said, one fact now becomes obvious: I'm still not done with the project!
The Christian Greek Scriptures are something that I am really looking forward to. I hope to finish the four Gospels of Matthew Mark Luke and John over the next two or three days.
Thanks to all for your support and thank you for reading. :-)
