Did you know . . .
1) Psalm 118 is the middle chapter of the entire Bible?

2) Psalm 117, before Psalm 118 is the shortest chapter in the Bible?

3) Psalm 119, after Psalm 118 is the longest chapter in the Bible?

4) The Bible has 594 chapters before Psalm 118 and 594 chapters after Psalm 118?

5) If you add up all the chapters except Psalm 118, you get a total of 1188 chapters?

6) 1188 or Psalm 118 verse 8 is the middle verse of the entire Bible?

Should the central verse not have a fairly important message? "It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man." - Psalm 118:8

I admit it. It's official. I'm hopelessly behind. HOWEVER, I will say this, our mission for this challenge is two-fold.

Our secondary mission (of which I have my work cut out for me to accomplish) is to attentively read the Bible cover to cover in 90 days.

But our primary mission is more people engaging the Bible more.

Working for a Bible publisher, it's easier to put another Bible on my shelf and "look" spiritual. But I think God wants more than that from me. He wants to see me IN His word, listening to Him, coming to Him first with my concerns, and considering first His response to the situations and circumstances of my life. And in this regard, BIND has been a success internally, even if it doesn't look as successfully externally.

Sigh...I had such high hopes for the weekend. I did stay current on Friday and Saturday. On Saturday I spent the morning at a local day spa. When I returned to work after medical leave, a VERY good friend stayed with me for about 6 weeks to help me keep up with life (walking the dog, cleaning my house, laundry, remembering to eat...) because work so wore me out that I needed to hit the hay by 6pm each night. As a thank you, I gave her gift certificates for some serious pampering at the local spa. Usually it's a good time to catch up on People, InStyle and the like. Saturday, I was reading my Bible.

Okay, so I figured out the secret to making my reading time. Yesterday I grabbed my Bible, notebook, pen headed to Barnes & Noble. As an author, reader and publishing company employee, this store gets all my literary juices flowing!

I ordered a chai frappuccino as a nod to my friend, Chris, who is also taking the challenge with me. (Anyone know anything about the Nephilim?) An hour later, my 12 pages read and notes, I rewarded myself with a stroll through the store. In a minor miracle, I walked out without a purchase...(never mind, I got the frappuccino...)

Hey Challengers...one book down, 65 to go! (If you've kept up, that is...personally, all I can say is thank God for the Sabbath :-)

Yesterday, thanks to the fine folks at the Help Desk, we set up a Bible in 90 Days email address for the challengers here at Zondervan. As part of our no-guilt guarantee, we now have a distribution set up to correspond with only those employees who are taking the challenge. What's really cool is that we have 42 Zondervan employees (and 2 spouses) participating. Can't WAIT to see what does in us and through us in the next 86 days.The other cool thing is already we're seeing the conversations that are popping up around the water cooler as challengers discuss what we're reading (or not...whatever the case many be).

Okay, so it's already started...I'm getting behind. I knew the 90 day challenges was going to be a CHALLENGE, but I at least thought it would take me a few days to get behind. But, as Brian told us, the Bible team's mission is more people engaging the Bible more. So even though I'm not completely caught up, I'm still reading more of God's word than before, so it's a win.

That said, I think I'm going to have to be more creative in finding time and means to read. Yesterday I read a chapter as I was taking my car through the car wash...and it lead to a cool converation with the guy at the station. I think this challenge is going to give me a renewed sense of Sabbath since I think Sundays will be my catch up days!

You know, I've been a believer for 12 years and I'm surprised by how surprised I am when as soon as I commit to doing something for God, some bomb is dropped to discourage me. Wow...did I ever get a doozy yesterday.

Father, thank You for counting me worthy of the enemy's attention. Give me the strength to do what is right and pleasing to You, whatever the cost to me.

I can see already that it's going to be tough for me to keep up this journal and my reading. This morning I made the first of what I'm sure will be several sacrifices. I cancelled by Netflix subscription. Not only do I avoid the distraction of movies sitting by my DVD, but I'll save $20 a month too! That said, a few thoughts from yesterday's reading:

So it's 11:02pm on Easter Sunday and already I can see that making time to read 12 pages a day is going to take some intentional effort. Easter has long been one of my favorite holidays. As I child, I think I liked Easter because it was a "major" holiday marred by the divorced parent shuffle. Neither parent made a big deal of it. (However, my mom inadvertently started a tradition one year when hunger led her to bit an ear off my chocolate bunny. Now each year we race to see who can be first to send the first earless bunny. But I digress...)

Since 1991, when I came to understand on a personal level that Easter is more than chocolate bunnies and jelly beans, Easter has become my most significant holiday. Jesus' death and resurrection gave me a new life, a new identity, a new family. In many ways, I feel my life began because of Easter.

Two days ago, Brian and I presented the Bible in 90 Days Bible to the Zondervan team.
Yesterday, Paul issued the challenge to all of Zondervan at our employee meeting. It's been so cool to see folks get excited about digging into God's word. I feel a precious intimacy with my colleagues right now because I am keenly aware that we are more than co-workers; we are brothers and sisters in Christ.

Some of you reading this blog are Zondervan employees taking the Challenge with me, some of you are friends I've recruited. Some of you aren't taking the challenge. To the last group, I covet your prayers for us. Over the past few weeks I have been overwhelmed with a sense of how blessed I am to be part of a company whose products are making an eternal impact.

After much too long a break from daily Bible reading (long, but truly legitimate story), I have circled Easter Sunday as the day I will again return to my daily Scripture reading ritual. I've used many different reading plans over the past 12 years of Christian faith, including the one-year Bible, various check box systems, specific book studies and the old "open 'er up and read" plan.

I'm excited about the 90 Day Challenge I'm undertaking, not only to reinforce my daily reading habit, but also to get a good overview of the whole Scripture story. I don't think that I have a great grasp of how all of Scripture points to Christ and I'm looking forward to using the Bible in 90 Days curriculum to know more about the Savior I seek to serve.