The idea came to me at work; I am a maintenance guy who works for an apartment management company. Well, I'm kind of a maintenance guy; I do anything from basic maintenance to landscaping. Sometimes I assist the maintenance guys with their work—replacing outlets, tearing up carpet, what have you—but usually I landscape by myself.

And when I am working by myself, I listen to music on my phone.

But, as I start to become a crotchety old man who hates music, I wanted to explore different ways that I could keep myself company at work. I started thinking that I should listen to audio books, and that's when it hit me: one of my goals for the summer was to finish the Bible. Then I thought: what if I listened to the Bible while I work?

At this point, I had already read the New Testament and the first four books of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, but not Deuteronomy), but I was progressing at a snail's pace. I figure this: if I listen to the Bible while I work and read the parts I just listened to when I get home, I would get through Scripture pretty fast and have a good memory of what happened. I totally underestimated what actually happened.

In 5 days I listened to Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, and 2 Chronicles. That's almost a third of the Bible. Listening to it helps, oddly enough, to stay engaged during even the most dragging parts of Scripture (I'm looking at you, genealogies). It also helps get a good understanding of what is generally happening in one part of Scripture so you can focus on the meat and potatoes of what you read.

However, studying in this way becomes taxing, and for different reasons than you think.

Listening to multiple books in one day, especially the history books, truly challenges the foundations of your faith—and instead of wrestling with just one challenge at a time, you wrestle hundreds at once.

I have a lot of questions that I am still trying to answer. If someone in Scripture is considered a man of God, then why did they commit such atrocities and not become punished? Why are women more often than not persuading their husbands to do evil in the sight of the Lord? Why did all of these people have so many wives, even if they didn't love them? Why are people arguing with God ... and winning?

The list of questions goes on and on.

But, doing such an intensive study does provide insight on so many other things that I have already read.

It has given me a glimpse into the living word of God by showing me how the Lord changes from the Old to the New Testaments, it has shown me how to engage in a conversation with God as if He were human, and it has expanded upon the definitions of Grace in the New Testament by providing a context for all that happened leading up to the Messiah's coming.

Despite the cacophony, studying Scripture in this intensive way has strengthened my faith. In doing it this way, I have had so much of God revealed to me, and I notice miracles more and more in my daily life. I've noticed that whenever I struggle, God sends someone—believer or not—who answers my questions before I ask them. God has been helping me cope with my busy schedule by giving me weird periods of relaxation. God is also making me into a more confident adult—one who is developing their own interests and goals.

If you are ambitious like myself and want to read all of Scripture, maybe you would like to incorporate some of this method into your own study methods—God will reveal some pretty awesome stuff. After all, God is pretty awesome.

Here is a link to the recording I listen to. It uses the New King James Version translation.

May God bless your souls, and happy studying; I hope that I have helped you find a different way to study Scripture.