My “Read It Through” Story by Blake Thomas

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing “Read It Through” stories from some of our Second Baptist members. First up, Blake Thomas generously shares his story from the past year as he has begun a regular habit of reading the Bible. Thank you, Blake, for sharing your story!

Last February, I asked Jason if there was a version of the Bible that I would find easier to read. He recommended “The Message” by Eugene Peterson. I bought it on Amazon and loaded it to my iPad. I read it straight through in 2021 every single morning and finished it in November. During the rest of November and December, I kept my reading up every morning by going back to chapters I didn’t understand and those I really enjoyed. I’m now going back and reading the Bible through again in 2022. This time I have been following Eugene Peterson’s Bible Reading Plan for a year. In January, it has me reading from Matthew, Acts, Psalm, and Genesis each day. His format guides you to read from four different books each morning. I’m liking this format better than reading it from cover to cover.

I’m an early riser and get up around 5 a.m. each morning, so I spend around 30 minutes reading the Bible plan for that day, plus an email from I-Bible.com that I get each morning. It was a little over a year ago when I first started getting the I-Bible email each morning. I didn’t pay much attention to it for a week or so, but then I started reading it each morning. It’s short and gives me something to think about. I don’t know who had it sent to me, but I would like to thank them.

Devoting those 20 to 30 minutes a day each morning to I-Bible.com and the Message really helps me start the day on the right foot and has brought me much peace. I know my mom and dad followed the same practice during their lives.