I'm Reading More

There are so many books I want to read right now. I used to have a horrible habit of buying books and not reading them. For a while, I got better and stopped buying books but would stop reading them halfway through. Now I rarely buy books, maybe 3 or 4 a year from either Amazon (used of course) or from Borders with their killer weekly coupons, and slowly read through them. Luckily I’ve been progressing and have been reading a lot more lately and it’s been great!

This may sound weird, but I actually carve out 3-4 hours a week in my schedule to read. It’s weird that I have to schedule reading times for myself but I think it’s important, so I pencil it in my calendar. That’s a screen shot of my iCal above.

Madeline and Natalie, Pajjar’s younger cousins (pictured above, they just got done with a makeover), told us that they have to read at least 30 minutes a day because their school makes them. I personally think that’s a great idea! If you think about it, it’s pretty easy to read 2-3 hours a week, I think most guys spend that much time REWATCHING Sport Center for the 2^nd & 3^rd TIME TODAY. Give it a try; carve out 2-3 hours next week strictly for reading. You don’t have to read 3 hours straight, but try to read 3 hours total next week.

Here are some book I’m reading at the moment:

Proverbs – I heard Pastor Andy Stanley say that the book of Proverbs has 31 chapters, which is perfect for reading on a monthly schedule. So if today is the 22^nd, then read the 22^nd chapter of Proverbs. If you miss a day, it’s okay, just read today’s chapter, there’s no need to read missed chapters. I’ve been doing this off-and-on for a while now, and for fun, I keep track of how many times I’ve read each chapter (that's what the picture above is, me keeping track oh how many times I've read each chapter of Proverbs). I also have a Bible on my iPod Touch, so one of the first things I do at work, if I’m able, is read my chapter of Proverbs for the day.

Note: I always try to read my Bible first thing in every reading session, if I haven’t already read it for the day. I usually will read my chapter of Proverbs for the day and another chapter or 2 from some other book, and then I’ll start to read my other books.

The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey – I really want to get out of debt. Pajjar and I have a lot of debt… AND I MEAN A LOT! I’m a little embarrassed to say how much, but my very close friends and family know how much debt we have. Let’s just say that Pajjar and I have a medium-sized mortgage worth of debt, granted 98% of it is school loans, but I still rather be debt free than own a house at the moment.

Today Matters by John Maxwell – This book has been really insightful, mindblowingly inspirational at times. I really want to read the rest of John Maxwell’s stuff, but his stuff is just so practical and full of wisdom that you can literally chew on a single chapter for a good couple of weeks and try to think of ways to implement it into your life.

Wild at Heart by John Eldridge – I bought this book a long time ago and only read the first few chapters. But now, us Thursday night Bible Study guys are reading it together and it’s been challenging and fun, reading and discussing this book together.

How to Build Effect Pedals… by Brian Wampler – I’m a nerd at heart and have been really motivated lately to build my own guitar pedals.

As you can tell, I like to read various things all at the same time. I heard that a lot creatives like pastors, musicians, business people, cultural architects, etc. love to read! Some can focus on one book at a time, some, like me, carry multiple books in a messenger bag or in a Kindle or in their iPad.