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A while ago I read and bookmarked a blog post by Joe Suh. Joe’s a co-founder of the social networking site MyChurch.org. He told the story about how he manages to religiously catch up with web feeds throughout his day, but struggles to find the same devotion to reading scripture. It struck a chord, and it’s got me thinking.

The RSS reader, that eternal fountain of information, can be a dangerous thing. Keeping track of hundreds of fascinating blogs and other content sources is made all too easy - I just have to click on the next unread post and absorb the nice fresh pile of words (while the next lot quietly downloads in the background).

So what if reading the Bible could be that easy? I mean, we’re supposed to be redeeming technology for God’s purposes, right? Here’s my new strategy:

1. Clear your head. If you’ve been sitting at the PC for a while, get up and get some blood flowing. Pray for understanding and for the Spirit to reveal something new.

2a. Go to thebiblepodcast.org and start listening to a chapter of the New English Translation streamed straight from the website. What I’ve done is subscribe to the podcast’s feed, which prompts me every day that there’s a new chapter ready to listen to. If that sounds like a reasonable idea but you’re not too sure about this whole podcast-feed-RSS-nonsense, we’ll have a nice beginner’s guide to getting into podcasts in another post soon, just for you.

2b. If you’re not tethered to the computer and one of those more out-and-about types, you could also subscribe to the Bible Podcast in iTunes, sync with your iPod and listen on the go.

3. Serving suggestion: In a new window or tab, open up www.bible.org and jump to today’s passage to read along with the audio. I find this helps me to focus and get a better understanding from the way the text is laid out.

Now I have a feeling that reading your Biblepodcast may be a bit of a cop-out, and it’s surely not for everyone. There’s a lot to be said for your real-life, leather-bound version. If I read one chapter a day this way, it isn’t even going to get me through a third of the Bible in a year. But it’s a whole lot better than no chapters a day.

Let’s hear from you. For fellow victims of information overload out there, what are some of the ways you try to make sure the Word of God doesn’t get blindsided by the thousands of other voices shouting for your attention daily?