Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Theology in the Raw

Home
Evangelical
This Year’s Gonna be Better

This Year’s Gonna be Better

Last updated on: January 1, 2016 at 5:00 am by Preston Sprinkle

This Year’s Gonna be Better 2015-12-30T00:55:15-06:00 Preston Sprinkle

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Last year I posted a blog about all of the books I was going to read. Well, I failed. Like,

Miss Auras, by John Lavery, depicts a woman reading a book. Public Domain.

miserably failed.

I set out to read through the New Testament four times. I only made it through once before I fell super far behind and couldn’t catch up and pretty much sucked at reading the Bible for my “quiet times” the rest of the year.

I was adamant about reading through Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics volume 4.1 “Reconciliation,” which is like 800 pages. Well, I think Karl could have made his point in less than 150 pages. Don’t get me wrong. It was good. Some parts were really good, while other parts were like “seriously, couldn’t you have said that in like 2 paragraphs instead of 10 pages?”

Anyway, I made it just past page 200 by May and didn’t pick it up since. I read enough to know that I think Karl Barth nails it. At least, 90% of the time he nails it. For the other 10%, he might have nailed it but I just couldn’t understand what this Swiss-German dude was saying.

I did get through some of the other books I had on my list, like Megan DeFranza’s Sex Difference in Christian Theology and Mark Yarhouse’s Understanding Gender Dysphoria. And I read a whole bunch of other books (or parts of them, at least) that I wasn’t planning on reading, like Gabe Lyons’s The Next Christians, Derwin Grey’s The High Definition Leader, and David Kinnaman’s You Lost Me, and many others.

I think I only read like the first 2 pages of Dostoevsky’s Brother’s Karamazov. I know I should read more fiction, but with so little free time on my hands, it’s hard to carve out space.

“Hey dad, can you play Uno with me?”

“Sorry, sweetie, I’m knee-deep in a 19th century Russian novel. Go find something else to do.”

Some guys live this way, I guess. But I can’t.

Anyway, having failed to read through the Bible in a year the past two years, I’m going to give it yet another whirl this year, following the reading program of the We Are Church schedule. We’ll see how it goes. If I can’t do it this third time around, I might just renounce my faith.

I’m also going to (finally) read through the Harry Potter series. I’m ashamed to say I haven’t read them yet, despite their highly acclaimed literary brilliance. As a writer, I should pay attention to such phenomena. More importantly, one of my daughters is totally enraptured by the books and desperately wants to watch the movies (which, of course, I said she can’t until I read the books so that I can watch the movies with her). I thought I’d go for father-of-the-year and read along with her. So far, she’s 2 books ahead of me. She’s on book 3 and I haven’t cracked a page. But I will. I promise. Or…I mean…I’ll try to.

I’ve come to realize that I’m not a very good “goal oriented reader.” It’s too cumbersome and stifling. I tend to read books that strike me in the moment, meet a particular existential need, or contribute to a topic I’m currently researching—which I can’t always schedule in.

I think I’m done with the “goals approach” to blowing through books. I might need to be content with reading in the moment and letting the Spirit direct my ocular urges. Except for the Bible, of course. I’m definitely going to give this one the good old college try—One. More. Freaking. Time.

Because if a Christian doesn’t have time to read through the Bible in a year, which takes like 20 minutes a day, then can we really say we have our priorities straight? Seriously, I think I spend more time on Facebook and Twitter. Twenty minutes a day. Come on, soul! Get your act together!

Join me this year. Read through the Bible with me. And together, we can nurture our souls on that which is more delicious than fine food—the infallible nectar of heaven.

Previous Post

December 30, 2015

Romans 13 Doesn’t Tell Christians to Kill their Enemy

Next Post

January 6, 2016 The Few. The Proud. The Plowshares.

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 40 Questions A Letter to my congregation adoption Alan Chambers Alcohol America american Jesus andrew marin angels Anne Paulk Annihilation apology Apostles creed atonement AudioFeed Balkhu Baptism bastard being biblical believer's baptism bible Bible College biblical love biblical studies Boise book review Books buzzwords called celibacy Center for Pastoral Theologians Charis charleston shooting cherubim christian movies Christian teens Christianeze Christmas church Church Refugees civil rights college debt communal faith Conditional Immortality conference david gushee debt free education Dechurched derwin gray desiring the kingdom Discipleship Don Miller Dones ecclesia and ethics Erasing Hell Esther eternal conscious torment Eternity Bible College ethnic diversity ETS eunuch evangelicalism Fight Four Views on Hell Francis Chan Francis Watson Free Bible Resources French Quarter grace gran torino gun control haters hell holy war homeschool homosexuality house church immigration Incarnation individualism Infant Baptism interpretation Intersex Israel James Dunn james smith Jerry Fallwell Jr. Jessica Minassian Jesus Jesus refugee Joey Dodson John MacArthur John Piper John Stott Josh Packard Joshua Ryan Butler judgment Justification Karl Barth Ken Wilson Kevin DeYoung Lance Hancock Leper lesbian LGBT LGBTQ Life Love God liturgy living in a gray world Luke 22 martin luther king mary magdalene Matthew Vines Megan DeFranza Michael Bird millennials Ministry Missions mixed orientation marriage movies Multiethnic churches Music Festival My Exodus N.T. Wright nationalism New Perspective New Year resolution nonviolence obedience Old Testament Online Biblical Training orlando massacre Pacifism parenting pastoral ministry Pastoral Theologian patriotism people to be loved personal relationship with Jesus politics poverty Prayer Preston Sprinkle Project Bayview public square Q Conference qualifications for ministry Racial Reconciliation radio show Reading reading plan real Christianity Reformed refugee refugee crisis rick hogaboam robb bell robert gagnon Romans Romans 13 Romans 9 sam allberry same sex attraction sanctification school segrated churches seraphim sex Sex Difference in Christian Theology sexual fluidity Shawn Gordon short term missions Skeletons in God's Closet Slums Sodom Speaking syrian refugee crisis technology teen girls texting The Bible Project The Gospel Coalition the high definition leader theology Third Way Tim Mackie Touch Nepal trols UK Tour Uncategorized Urban Ministry Us vs. Us Vieux Carre Baptist Church violence vocation Waiting warfare welcome the stranger women women in ministry worship songs writing

Select a Month August 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which book in the New Testament is the shortest?

Select your answer to see how you score.

3 John 2 John Jude Philemon