The Marathon of Biblical Proportions

Genesis 1:26 (New International Version)
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

Today is the first day of The Marathon of Biblical Proportions!

A few months ago, Susan, our daughter-in-law, began an odyssey with a few of her young friends from church. None of them had ever read the whole bible, from cover to cover. They decided to do it together.

Thus began an adventure, many questions, reference books being pulled out and research being done.

As the year drew to an end, she and Peter felt led to invite the whole church to start the same journey on January 1st. They called it The Marathon of Biblical Proportions and had a sign up sheet at the back of the church for those who wanted to join a journey that would result in reading through the entire bible by December 31st 2008. They asked for email addresses and plan to keep in touch with regular emails of encouragement to their fellow marathoners. As well, they have started a blog: http://hillsidemarathon.blogspot.com/

I hesitated, having my own daily reading pattern, but I just couldn't resist being part of this, and furthermore, there was Sue, standing at the door to the foyer on Sunday, next to a podium, signing people up. Our granddaughter Katherine was right there. What would she think if her Omie didn't join? And so I became number 22 to sign up, and was given a "Tour Sheet" with the daily reading schedule and a book mark--with the number 22 on it. I plan to still read a chapter from the gospels and the epistles as I love to dip into these daily.

The "Tour Sheet will be posted on the blog in case anyone is interested in joining. Some of the teenagers in our church have joined the marathon, which I think is very cool.

Today I began the epistle, or letter to, the Colossians, after the Marathon reading in Genesis. How cool it was after reading the story of creation, and of God making man in his image, to find these words, written about Christ:
Colossians 1:15-17 (New International Version)
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Lord, I thank you for the gift of The Word, preserved through the centuries by the blood of martyrs. I pray that your Holy Spirit will bring it alive to us as we read it. Please speak to us this year in a powerful way!

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