Brian Hardin - The One Year Adventure with the God of Your Story

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The One YearAdventure with the God of Your Story

Copyright 2019 by Brian Hardin. All rights reserved.

A NavPress resource published in alliance with Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

NAVPRESS and the NAVPRESS logo are registered trademarks of NavPress, The Navigators, Colorado Springs, CO. TYNDALE and The One Year are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. One Year and The One Year logo are trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Absence of in connection with marks of NavPress or other parties does not indicate an absence of registration of those marks.

The Team:

Don Pape, Publisher

Caitlyn Carlson, Acquisitions Editor

Elizabeth Schroll, Copy Editor

Jennifer Ghionzoli, Designer

Cover and interior illustration of art deco patterns copyright Cartur Argi/TRNTFF/Creative Market. All rights reserved.

Designed by Jennifer Ghionzoli.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Some of the anecdotal illustrations in this book are true to life and are included with the permission of the persons involved. All other illustrations are composites of real situations, and any resemblance to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

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Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-63146-837-7

Build: 2021-04-21 22:32:42 EPUB 3.0

For the Daily Audio Bible community

DECEMBER day 0

WELL, HERE WE ARE. Together at the beginning. You may be feeling daunted by the idea of reading through the entire Bible over the course of this next year. And the Bible is an ancient, oversized book, to be sure. Thats the problem most of us face when approaching it. We struggle to know how (or where) to begin. Part of that is because the Bible isnt one singular book, but rather a collection of sixty-six different writings, originally inspired in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek over millennia. Those different writings contain historical narrative, poetry, apocalyptic literature, wisdom tradition, public and private letters, prophecy, and Gospel narratives. Of course its confusing! The Bible is a massive corpus that spans thousands of years of time and covers thousands of miles of geography.

But the Bible is a lot more approachable than we might think. You see, the Bible captures and preserves the account of Gods unwillingness to be left out of the human story and when we realize that, we soon discover that God is also unwilling to be left out of our own story. Understanding this changes everything, because the stories found in Scripture mirror our own lives profoundly.

If we approach the journey ahead as a relationship rather than a chance encounter or as a symphony rather than a pop song, we will quickly settle into a rhythm that will carry us from the first verse of Genesis to the final phrase of Revelation. And believe me, you will find much treasure between those two points as the God of your story reveals Himself.

Using these daily readings in conjunction with your own daily reading from The One Year Bible, you will be able to enjoy and appreciate the entire Bible without getting lost and perhaps for the first time, the Bible will speak to you on its own behalf. Each day, well conclude with something to further think about or a moment of worship or prayer.

Obviously, well encounter all the famous stories we learned growing up. Well also pass through all the famous passages that we quote to one another continually but well experience them in their native context and understand why they were written in the first place, which is surprisingly important to how we understand their power in our lives. Even if were students of the Bible who have spent much time and energy attempting to distill theological understandings, we still must remember to slow down and allow Gods Word to unpack us, rather than the other way around.

If well settle into this rhythm, over the next year, the Bible will begin to have its own voice and it will be the voice of a friend who is always honest. Many days, we will wonder how we ever negotiated life without this daily honesty in our lives.

This is the journey we are about to embark on. Our voyage will take 365 days and will be the journey of a lifetime. Its much easier to dream about than to do, I admit. But this can be your year. You really can do this. All you have to do is show up every day. The Bible you might have been avoiding is about to become the best friend youve ever had.

Having said all that, a final word of counsel before we begin: Look in the mirror. Look at yourself inwardly and consider how your life feels right now. Perhaps you are anxious about the future. Maybe, for the first time, you feel lost within your own being. Perhaps the past year has brought you bloodied and limping to the Bible as a final hope. It doesnt matter. You are here now. Right now matters. Everything that comes next matters. Take a mental snapshot and remember this moment and how it feels. Three hundred and sixty-five days from now, you will look in the mirror and see a different person if you show up every day.

This book comes from fourteen years of showing up every day, seven days a week, and allowing the Bible to speak as Ive given it voice on the Daily Audio Bible. It also comes from two hard years of distilling what has come from that spoken work into written form. I have done my best to show up and offer a pathway through the Bible that will allow irreversible change from within. The rest is in your hands. The choices you make over the next 365 days will determine the story of your year. Make the Bible a daily decision. The journey awaits.

For ease of understanding, I sometimes interject the speakers name when quoting Bible passages in daily readings.