The Word 365

Enter 2009!

I don't know about you but I'm quite hopeful about this year. Usually I start off January feeling a bit grotty but I'm quite excited about all the possibilities another year can bring.

I'm a planner, so one thing that's helped is that I've put dates in my diary. I'm attending the S.A.'s first ever UK youth worker conference in February, at Easter we hope to bring some of our youth to Ireland, we're working on a new school musical for our local primary school, Andrea and I are off to Andrea's cousin's wedding in Italy in May....the list goes on.

Lots of things to look forward to.

I'm not good at resolutions but I do have a few things I want to work on this year.

- Being a better husband.
- Being a better leader.
- Taking more rest.
- Getting fitter....again!
- Knowing God more deeply.

The last one may be helped by something I've just signed up to.

You may have thought by the title that I want to talk about bringing back the ultra-cool 1990s Channel 4 show 'The Word' every day for the next year (Terry Christian and Dani Behr hosting of course).

Alas, my title is about things a little more heavenly!

I came across an initiative by Holy Trinity Brompton (www.htb.org.uk) and have signed up to it. They have launched the 'Bible in a Year' initiative and are encouraging people to sign up to commit together to read....you got it- The Bible in a Year!

I've always wanted to do this but haven't had the time, committment or accountablity. I've signed up to this because:

a) I really believe getting into the Bible more is the best way to start my year.
b) I thrive in community. I'll be joining hundreds from all over the world as we do this together; keeping each other accountable and sharing our thoughts, confusions, insights etc.
c) There are lots of posts from bible teachers to help you get the best out of the passage.

I sent a quick email to my small church community and already 5 others have said they'd like to join me in the challenge. We're gonna meet for coffee every now and again over the next twelve months to talk about what's helped us and what we have discovered or struggled with.

It's very simple to register. Maybe you'd like to give it a go as well.

I'm just a bit worried I'll give up at Leviticus. ;-)