I hope this doesn’t sound too dorky but I’ve taken to listening to my Bible on my morning jog. That’s right, listening to selections from the Psalms, the Hebrew Scriptures, the epistles and the Gospels while I run.
Months ago I downloaded an app that gives me Scripture readings and for a while I would read them on my phone. Then I discovered a feature – I’m slow on the uptake with these things – where I could press a little arrow and hear the Bible on my phone.
Think about it. That’s how the Bible was originally shared (okay, not exactly on a phone). The words were read aloud. The gospels, the Psalms, the stories of Jesus. When Paul was writing his epistles back in the 50 A.D. he assumed that most people were simply going to hear his words.
Few people could read back then. And the costs of writing and copying something were enormous. Not till the advent of printing over 500 years ago did people really start getting the Bible by reading it. Not simply listening to it.
History seems to be reversing itself. The good old days have come back. With a twist. I can click on my phone and hear a man’s voice repeating Scripture that is some 2000 years old.
But why on my jog?
I confess I get a little BORED running. And need a little encouragement. I seem to get slower by the day and although my route takes me through a park with beautiful views, when I have to run up a hill, I’m thinking, this is too hard!
Instead of complaining, I take out my phone, push that arrow and hold the speaker close as I huff and puff and trudge up the hill.
I probably could use ear phones, but I hate having something stuck in my ears, and the voice reading the Scriptures is completely audible–until a plane flies overhead or a bus passes me.
It’s my morning prayer time. I lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence does my help come? My help comes from the Lord.
Just the other day I was running out of the park and a group of college-age kids were running in. All at once I heard one of them say, “Hey man, are you listening to the Bible on your phone?”
Yikes. All along I’d convinced myself that no one else could really hear. “Yep,” I said.
“Cool,” the guy yelled back. See? It’s cool to listen to the Bible. Who knew? Probably the first time anybody under 30 has said I was doing something cool. What an honor. Be cool! Listen to the Word.
