Killing Two Birds with One Stone

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Romans 10:17

I have struggled most of my life with weight issues. In elementary school I was chubby, and into adult life I have battled with my weight. I moved from being called chubby to being called “rotund” and last year my grandkids called be “fat.”

Over the past year I have been working at the weight thing and have made progress with the eating issues and have dropped some significant weight. But I am a long way from getting to where I believe I need to be.

I have also done battle with exercise. I have all the tools at my disposal, but they won’t do me any good if I never use them.

So this year I set a goal to exercise regularly. I am not telling you what that means for me – that’s between me and the Lord. But like any other goal, having it on paper doesn’t mean a hill of beans if I don’t move it from a goal to an action item.

So during my vacation I took the plunge and I am on a roll.

Now being the obsessive compulsive that I am, I now have had to figure out how to fit it all into my day without stressing so it doesn’t become a drudgery, or fall by the wayside.

This week I had an amazing discovery. Could I combine my Bible and devotional reading with my exercise, particularly my walking on the treadmill! Yes! I found a neat app on my IPad called Bible.is. This week I have done my daily Bible reading (Keswick list), a chapter in Proverbs, and reading through a book of the New Testament.

I was amazed at how quickly the time passed, but more importantly, I was amazed at the benefit of both hearing and reading the word. It forced me to slow down (I tend to be a speed reader) and in slowing down, connecting what I heard with what I read = greater comprehension for me.

I read that we remember 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see, and 50% of what we see and hear. Wow.

So I am going to try to add the audio link for you for the Bible Reading Plan listed below. It will be from the ESV – so give it a try and let me know what you think. My guess is that like me, some of you will benefit from this approach to your daily time with God.

What are some of the ways that you have found to help you in developing your time with God? I know that we would all benefit from hearing your ideas.

Running the race with joy,

Bill Welte
President/CEO America’s Keswick

Daily Bible Reading: Isaiah 34-36; Mark 9:1-29

Quote of the day:  With God our trust can be abandoned, utterly free. In him are no limitations, no flaws, no weaknesses. His judgment is perfect, his knowledge of us is perfect, his love is perfect. Eugenia Price

Bible Memory: Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word. Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things from your law. Psalm 119:17-18