The first Sunday in August we were in Dodge City, planning to drive home that evening/night. In church service that Sunday our pastor announced a church-wide Bible reading plan: 40 days of us all reading the same thing. It would start the next day, and follow a certain program on a certain website. Our pastor would also be blogging about it at another site.

Now, we’ve done this sort of thing before; not recently, but we’ve had times when everyone in the church was supposed to be reading the same thing, either something in the Bible or a book for a study. When the reading was a programmed Bible reading, I generally have had trouble keeping up with it. My normal Bible reading is to take a book and read it on my own schedule. Maybe some much per day; maybe till I’m ready to stop. Right now I’m reading the major epistles, currently reading a chapter a day as a devotional reading.

But, when I get a programmed Bible reading, for some reason, I can’t do it. I fall asleep while reading. I let my mind drift. I get nothing from the reading. I seldom finish the program.

This time, when we got home from our trip, and by the time I looked at e-mails and newsletters and found myself already behind in the reading, I almost didn’t start it. However, wanting to participate with the others, I started a few days late and determined to catch up. I did so within a week, and am on schedule, slightly more than 1/2 way through.

The surprising thing is I’ve been able to read and enjoy it. When reading, my powers of concentration seem good. My mind doesn’t wander, and I get through it all. This is a strange thing for me. But I hope it continues, through this program and in the future.