“As I finished the last chapter of Revelation this morning…I was reminded that my journey through the Bible this year is just like my journey through life as a Christian: There will always be the easy times when I sail through and enjoy being a child of God and then there will be the tough times when it becomes so hard.”
A Beautiful Journey – Dec 31 2010
This morning, I completed my Bible-in-A-Year journey. At the beginning of 2010, I had decided to read through the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation, using a reading plan I’d had for a couple of years.
(Editor’s note: For various tools and reading plans see this DT Article www.disciplestoday.org/content/view/2624/48/ ) 
I realised that I had a character flaw of starting lots of things but not finishing and I wanted to change that so I decided to start with this year-long journey. I had studied virtually all the books of the Bible at different times over the past several years, usually to learn about a particular character, a specific topic or a certain story. This time, however, I just wanted to journey through the bible and hopefully see God’s love letter to mankind through new eyes. And what a journey it was!
I experienced a whole gamut of emotions throughout my journey. I was in 
awe of the might and power of God through the creation in Genesis, I marvelled at his creativity and watched National Geographic with new eyes. I had tears in my eyes reading about how God’s heart was filled with pain and his grief at having created man when he saw how much wickedness there was on earth. I created a mental picture of the things I read and looked for visual aids such as the Ilumina Series which brings parts of the Bible to life.
I questioned the logic of some things but like Job, quickly realised that God doesn’t owe me an explanation and there are some things I may never understand this side of eternity.
Sometimes, I got really indignant when I saw how the Israelites were treating God and being unfaithful to him, but again I was quickly brought back down from my high horse when I realised that I too am, several times, unfaithful to him – when I doubt, when I fear, when I worry. I learned
to appreciate God’s grace and mercy more than I ever did before and I got to understand and appreciate even more, the man Jesus. I was inspired by people like David and his love for God (even though he messed up several times), Daniel and his strength of character and consistency, and even Hosea’s total obedience (marrying a prostitute and giving his children unsavoury names).
It warmed my heart to be reminded that I am special to God, he knows me by name, he holds me in his arms and disciplines me in love. I became so much more sensitive to those little things that God does that we are the only ones who actually see, and of course to be so much more grateful for the big things which demonstrate his faithfulness. I learnt to embrace challenges and hardships because I know they are good for my soul and character. I had lots of questions and put them to those whom I felt were more knowledgeable than me in the ways of God; some of those questions were answered, others were not. Yet, I went away with this – my eternal destiny is more important to God than anything else – material success, career, having a good and “comfortable” life and he will literally move heaven and earth to see me get to heaven. I realised that the only person who would stop me from getting there is me and even though my human nature tends to kick in
every once in a while, I return to the Scriptures again and again to renew my focus.
My journey was not all smooth sailing. Sometimes, I enjoyed the ride, breezing through a particular book I was reading (Proverbs, the gospels); other times, I struggled (Lamentations), not really understanding it all, but hanging on still. Several times, I veered off course in my journey; I would go days without reading but eventually would get back on track and spend the next few days catching up. Some days I was distracted by major events – burying my brother-in-law, taking care of my sister and her home as she lay in hospital. At other times, it was weariness or just plain laziness, but I hung on, determined to finish what I had started.
As I finished the last chapter of Revelation this morning though, I was reminded that my journey through the Bible this year is just like my journey through life as a Christian. There will always be the easy times when I sail through and enjoy being a child of God and then there will be the tough times when it becomes so hard. There will be periods of blossoming spiritually and other times of dryness where God seems to have gone on vacation and I can’t connect with him. I have learnt that through all these times, I must remain focused on my goal – finishing the race. I must keep walking even when it seems I am walking alone, because I know deep down I really am not. There will always be distractions but I can retain my focus if I only keep it on God and on my goal. I can keep that focus by training myself to see life through God’s eyes because everything we see is an illusion – the reality is found in Christ.
I didn’t memorise any passage, but I did mark my Bible everywhere that 
a verse jumped out at me and it’s amazing that those verses have come back to me at the times I have needed them most this year.
My desire and prayer is that as I start 2011 and continue this journey of mine, I can stay on course in spite of any twists or turns, curves or bends, steep climbs or sharp drops and get to the finish line a refined person who has done God proud.
I pray the same for you and would like to encourage you to embark on your own journey. Have a great and beautiful journey!
Happy New Year!
Lola Ade-Onojobi
Lolaadeonojobi(a)yahoo.co.uk
posted by Jerry Maday, Worcester, MA
