What are some first impressions of the Bible? It’s a big book. It seems overwhelming. It’s filled with people and places that seem different than us and our surroundings. If we take a closer look and actually get into its pages, we discover it’s extremely personal, and the people and places actually look a lot more familiar to us than they did at first glance. But what about the overwhelming part? It can be hard to know where to begin or how everything is connected.
The One Year Bible is a great resource to help us engage with the Bible in a manageable way. It takes the entire Bible and breaks it down into daily readings. It sounds so simple, and yet it’s transformational. From seekers to life-long believers, The One Year Bible has helped people understand God’s story and what it means to each of us.
Dishy was not a Christian when he started reading the Bible. He questioned its validity and wondered why people would believe it’s true.
“I have spent much of my life wondering whether any of Christianity’s teachings were true or just wishful thinking, and perhaps also a good sales job perpetuated by ancient people with an agenda. But it’s quite easy to have an uneducated opinion about something you vaguely know about but haven’t actually read! So, I decided to start putting forth an effort to read the actual Bible, the whole thing, from beginning to end. I hoped that this exercise would put the issue to rest in my life and I would be able to decide once and for all what I thought about Christianity,” he said.
To do this he selected The One Year Bible and an NLT Study Bible to help him go to deeper into the context and meaning.
“I really like the read-it-in-one-year concept with scheduled daily passages. It is helpful to refer to a study Bible to occasionally get more background and explanation. This One Year Bible encourages me to keep up with it. Since the passages aren’t very long each day, I think Surely I can read this for 10 or 15 minutes. So, whoever thought of the concept had a really great idea.”
Is this still a good Bible for people who have been reading it most of their lives? Hank thinks so. He is a lifelong Christian and has read the Bible every day for almost 30 years.
“I love the Bible. It’s such a joy to read it, and I just want everyone to have that joy and understand what it can give you,” said Hank.
He started with his family.
“For 19 years I read a One Year Bible, and each year I dedicated it to a family member. The notes in the margin were personal, such as ‘This is my prayer for you.’ I’ve underlined, circled, and highlighted many passages, letting them know what inspires me. It is my legacy to them,” said Hank.
Through these Bibles Hank has inspired a love for God’s Word in others. Sharing his struggles, joys, failures, and triumphs as he moves closer to God has been a comfort and a catalyst for his family members to grow deeper in their understanding of God through his Word.
“When I give it to them and they read it, they always come back saying, ‘I didn’t know you were going through that’ or ‘when you wrote this it helped me to better understand what I was facing.’ The Bible gives me joy whenever I read it, and I get joy by sharing it with others. The more you get into it, the more your joy will grow,” said Hank.
The One Year Bible
