His Word Together

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  • Readings for August 2 – August 8

    Readings for August 2 – August 8

    The dog days of summer.

    Hot, slow, the kind of weeks where not much feels urgent and it’s easy to let things drift.

    That’s actually fine for this.

    The readings don’t require energy or a clear head or a good morning. They just require sitting down for a few minutes.

    On the days when motivation is low and the heat is high and nothing sounds appealing, twenty minutes of quiet reading is about as low a bar as it gets.

    If you’ve been consistent, keep going. If you drifted a little over the summer, this is a good week to get back in it.

    The schedule is still moving and you can rejoin it right here.

    This Week’s Readings

    Date Proverbs / Psalms Weekly Readings
    Aug 02 Proverbs 2
    Psalm 121    		 Jeremiah 2–6
    Aug 03 Proverbs 3
    Psalm 122    		 Jeremiah 7–11
    Aug 04 Proverbs 4
    Psalm 123    		 Jeremiah 12–16
    Aug 05 Proverbs 5
    Psalm 124    		 Jeremiah 17–21
    Aug 06 Proverbs 6
    Aug 07 Proverbs 7
    Aug 08 Proverbs 8

    Keep Reading.

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  • You’re Not Vouching for Anything

    You’re Not Vouching for Anything

    Recommending most things comes with some risk. You suggest a diet, a productivity app, a book that changed how you think, and if it doesn’t land the same way for the other person, that’s on you a little.

    This is different.

    There’s nothing to oversell here. No promise about what it’ll do for someone, no outcome you’re putting your name behind. It’s just a structure for reading the Bible. Either it’s useful to someone or it isn’t, and that has nothing to do with you.

    That makes it an easy thing to pass along. You’re not telling someone this will change their life. You’re just handing them a plan that’s worked for you, with no expectation attached.

    If it fits, they’ll use it. If it doesn’t, nothing was lost by mentioning it.

    Just send them this page from your phone, they can sign up below if they like it:

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  • Behind Compared to What?

    Behind Compared to What?

    People say they’re behind on their Bible reading, but behind compared to what exactly?

    There’s no other reader to measure against. No version of you that did it perfectly this year that you’re now trailing. The only thing “behind” could mean here is behind some imaginary schedule where nothing ever interrupts you, and that schedule never existed for anyone.

    Real weeks have sick kids, late nights, trips, days that fall apart for no good reason. A plan that assumes none of that happens isn’t a realistic plan. It’s a trap that makes you feel like you failed at something nobody could have actually done.

    This one doesn’t work that way. There’s nothing to be behind on, because there’s no finish line you’re racing toward. You’re not behind. You’re just wherever you are, and the next chapter is right there waiting whenever you pick it back up.

    Stop comparing yourself to a version of the year that doesn’t exist. Just read today’s chapters.

    If you’d like the weekly readings delivered to your inbox each Sunday, you can sign up below.

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  • Readings for July 26 – August 1

    Readings for July 26 – August 1

    Isaiah wraps up this week and Jeremiah starts.

    Proverbs also resets on August 1, so if you’ve been reading since earlier in the year you’ll notice the chapters cycling back around.

    That’s by design.

    Same ground, different read.

    One thing that’s easy to forget after a few months of doing this is how short the actual reading is. It starts to feel routine, which is good, but routine can also make it easy to keep pushing it to later in the day until it doesn’t happen.

    The days with passages are twenty minutes. The Proverbs-only days are five.

    Neither one requires much.

    It just requires doing it.

    This Week’s Readings

    Date Proverbs / Psalms Weekly Readings
    Jul 26 Proverbs 26
    Psalm 117    		 Isaiah 50–55
    Jul 27 Proverbs 27
    Psalm 118    		 Isaiah 56–60
    Jul 28 Proverbs 28
    Psalm 119    		 Isaiah 61
    Jul 29 Proverbs 29
    Psalm 120    		 Isaiah 62–66
    Jeremiah 1
    Jul 30 Proverbs 30
    Jul 31 Proverbs 31
    Aug 01 Proverbs 1

    Keep Reading.

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  • Digital vs Print

    Digital vs Print

    It doesn’t matter which one you use.

    Some people like having an actual Bible in hand. Turning pages, writing in margins, the weight of it. Others read on a phone or tablet because it’s already in their pocket and there’s nothing else to carry around.

    Both work fine for this. The plan doesn’t care what format you’re reading in, and neither do I.

    If you’re inclined toward print, a basic copy works. You don’t need a study Bible loaded with notes and cross-references, since the point here is reading the text without anything stacked on top of it. If digital is easier, any Bible app with the right translation will do the job.

    The one advantage digital has is convenience. If your phone is already with you most of the day, the reading is too. That removes one more excuse for skipping it.

    The one advantage print has is fewer distractions. No notifications, nothing else open in another tab.

    Pick whichever one you’ll actually use. That’s the only criteria that matters.

    If you’d like the weekly readings delivered to your inbox each Sunday, you can sign up below.

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  • No One Will Ask You About It

    No One Will Ask You About It

    There’s no discussion group waiting for your take. No one is going to ask what you thought of yesterday’s reading or quiz you on what happened in the chapter.

    That changes how you read.

    When you know you’ll have to explain something, you read differently. You’re scanning for the takeaway, the thing you can say out loud later to prove you did it. That’s not a bad way to read, but it’s a different activity than just reading.

    Nobody is checking here. You can read a passage, not fully understand it, and move on without needing to produce an answer for anyone. You don’t owe an explanation to a group, a pastor, or an app.

    That sounds like it would lower the stakes, and it does. It also removes a layer of performance that gets in the way more often than people realize. A lot of reading turns into rehearsing what you’ll say about the reading. Without an audience, that goes away.

    What’s left is just you and the text, which is the part that was supposed to matter in the first place.

    If you’d like the weekly readings delivered to your inbox each Sunday, you can sign up below.

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  • Readings for July 19 – July 25

    Readings for July 19 – July 25

    Halfway through July.

    If you started this in January, you’ve been at it for about seven months, which puts you further along than most people who said they were going to read the Bible this year.

    That’s not something to make a big deal out of.

    It’s just worth noting that consistency compounds quietly.

    You don’t notice it week to week, but it adds up. Seven months of steady reading is a different thing than where you were in January, even if it doesn’t feel dramatic.

    Keep the same structure going this week.

    This Week’s Readings

    Date Proverbs / Psalms Weekly Readings
    Jul 19 Proverbs 19
    Psalm 113    		 Isaiah 28–33
    Jul 20 Proverbs 20
    Psalm 114    		 Isaiah 34–39
    Jul 21 Proverbs 21
    Psalm 115    		 Isaiah 40–44
    Jul 22 Proverbs 22
    Psalm 116    		 Isaiah 45–49
    Jul 23 Proverbs 23
    Jul 24 Proverbs 24
    Jul 25 Proverbs 25

    Keep Reading.

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  • You Already Did the Hard Part

    You Already Did the Hard Part

    Finding a reading plan that actually sticks is harder than it sounds.

    Most people try two or three approaches before something works, if they get that far at all. A lot of them quit before finding anything, not because they’re not interested, but because picking the right structure on your own takes more effort than just starting.

    You already went through that. You found something that works for you and you’ve stuck with it.

    That’s the part most people are stuck on. Not motivation. Not interest. Just the absence of a starting point that doesn’t require figuring everything out themselves.

    You can hand someone that starting point in one text message.

    Just send them this page, they can check it out and sign up if they like:

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  • You Don’t Need to Start in January

    You Don’t Need to Start in January

    January works fine. So does July.

    Most people who are waiting for January to start reading the Bible have been waiting for a while. Last January came and went. This one will too, probably, unless something changes before then.

    The appeal of January 1 is that it feels like a clean slate. You’re not behind yet. Everything is still possible. But that feeling lasts about a week, and then you’re just reading in January instead of July, which isn’t actually different in any way that matters.

    This plan runs on a yearly cycle and resets every January. Which means if you start now, you’ll come back around to what you missed. You’re not joining late. You’re just joining where we are.

    The middle of summer is actually a reasonable time to start. Schedules are a little looser. There’s less pressure than the fall and winter tend to bring. You’re not fighting holiday routines or end-of-year chaos.

    You just start with this week’s readings and keep going.

    The right time to start is when you decide to. That can be today.

    If you’d like the weekly readings delivered to your inbox each Sunday, you can sign up below.

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  • Readings for July 12 – July 18

    Readings for July 12 – July 18

    Still summer.

    If you’ve been consistent, you’re well into a rhythm by now. If you’ve been spotty, this week is as good a place as any to get back on track.

    The readings on the heavier days take about twenty minutes.

    Most people who put it off end up spending more time thinking about whether to do it than it would have taken to just read it.

    That’s not a knock. It’s just how it works.

    The decision is harder than the reading.

    Pick it up and keep going.

    This Week’s Readings

    Date Proverbs / Psalms Weekly Readings
    Jul 12 Proverbs 12
    Psalm 109    		 Isaiah 5–9
    Jul 13 Proverbs 13
    Psalm 110    		 Isaiah 10–15
    Jul 14 Proverbs 14
    Psalm 111    		 Isaiah 16–21
    Jul 15 Proverbs 15
    Psalm 112    		 Isaiah 22–27
    Jul 16 Proverbs 16
    Jul 17 Proverbs 17
    Jul 18 Proverbs 18

    Keep Reading.

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