Seventy Four Hours.

Our church just finished doing something incredible.  It’s the first time I’ve ever heard of a church doing this, and at it’s conclusion, I think it’s something every church should consider.  We read through the whole Bible in 74 hours.  Non-stop.  They put up a sign up sheet with 15 minute time slots starting on Thursday and going thru Saturday.  They placed a Bible on a podium on the stage of the church.  Once the first person started reading, they read until they were relieved by the next person who would pick up where they left off.  We finished on Saturday with worship and communion.  I absolutely loved going by the church those three days because there was always, no matter what time of day, a car or two there.  It’s pretty comforting to know that the church I go places priority on reading through the Word of God every year.

I wanted to share quickly something that happened to me that I thought was awesome.  About a month or so ago I was reading in Job, I got to the part where Job’s friend, Eliphaz, tries to encourage him after his life had fallen apart (Job 4, 5).  I won’t go into detail of all that he says (you should read it yourself) but know that he dropped some truth down on Job.  He reminds his friend of who God really is, and I remember reading it and thinking, “I like that guy”.

So, last week as I was thinking about reading through the Bible with the church, I was wondering where I would be reading.  I didn’t know if I would get stuck in the geneologys or if I would be reading all the prophecies in Isaiah (I figured I would be in the Old Testament because of where I signed up).  A quick thought ran through my head, “that would be totally cool if I read through that same passage in Job”.

My time to read was 1:00 am Friday morning.  So, I decided to go about an hour early and listen to the person reading and pray a little.  I was just asking the Lord for direction in my life concerning different circumstances and thanking Him for all that He’s been doing in me and with me here in Ocala.  I wasn’t paying attention to the person reading, and I had no idea where they were reading because you don’t know until you get up there.  But as I was praying, once again, that Job passage popped up in my head, and again I thought, “I really would love to read that again”.  Then I kept praying.  When I finished up praying I decided to try to figure out where the person was reading, finally after a while I realized it was in Ester…and it still didn’t click yet.

When it was my turn to read, I went up and relieved the person (who had been reading for 45 minutes because someone didn’t show )and started on my 30 minutes.  As soon as I sat down, I realized there were only two chapters of Ester left, and as I turned the last page of the book of Ester I realized, “Holy Cra*, I’m going to get to read Job 4, 5!”  It was awesome!  I think I smiled a few times while I was reading it and more truth stuck out to me than did the first time.  Unbelievable.

I don’t know why God decided to do all that, but I thinks it’s pretty rad.  I haven’t learned any crazy lessons from it yet other than the fact that God loves us so much, He even cares about the little details that make us smile.

What are the little details in your life today?

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