One goal of many Catholics and Christians is to read the Bible in its entirety.  Not knowing where to start, many of us simply start at the beginning and try to read the Bible from cover to cover - like every other book that we've read.  We soon find out that this might be more difficult than we first imagined.  As a guide to help us understand the Bible, Jeff Cavins and Tim Gray have written an excellent book, Walking with God: A Journey through the Bible.

Reading the Bible from cover to cover can be hard for anyone to follow the narrative story of the Bible.  Walking with God: A Journey through the Bible simplifies this by grouping together major periods from Scripture and laying out the Bible as the beautiful story that it is.  If you're looking for an easy, fun way to really understand the history of the Church, from Adam and Eve to David, from Jesus to the early Church, this book is the answer.

Along with prayer and the Sacraments, studying Sacred Scripture is key to building a strong foundation as a Catholic.  There are many great resources to help us do this, but Walking with God does this from a Catholic perspective - ensuring that it is in line with the Magisterium of the Church.  At the same time, this book is a great source for Christians of all denominations.  In all my years as a Christian, I have never quite seen a book that makes reading and understanding the Bible as easy as this.

Walking with God is built upon the same system as the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, also by Ascension Press.  The system lays out each of the major periods of the narrative story, each one color-coded to make it easier to remember.  Each section tells you which books of the Bible it covers, and which books play supporting roles.  Reading Walking with God is like reading the Bible as a narrative story, in a way that anyone can follow.  The authors summed it up like this:

The key to every good story is its plot, which brings together the many details, events, and characters to give the story its meaning and power.  Without a good plot, we just close the book or turn off the movie.  The story of Scripture also has a plot, but it is precisely this plot that many people have difficulty finding and making sense of.  And if we cannot understand the plot of Scripture, we get lost in endless genealogies, names, and battles; we close the book and leave the Bible on the shelf, never learning God's story and our place in it.

Cavins and Gray makes some key points here.  First, how many times have we begun reading Scripture, only to become discouraged?  Second, certain portions of Scripture can get confusing, and we get lost in them.  We, then, have two choices:  skip past them or struggle to make sense of them - neither being the greatest of answers.  While I have studied Scripture rather thoroughly, this book shed new light on parts of Scripture that I had never really understood before.

I recommend this book to anyone who is seriously thinking about studying Scripture, whether you are new to Catholicism or a self-acclaimed Bible scholar.  Cavins and Gray do an excellent job of walking us through the Bible's narrative, from beginning to end.  You'll be amazed how Walking with God can revitalize your faith and make studying Scripture fun again.

To purchase Walking with God: A Journey through the Bible, check out Ascension Press's new website, or bookstores and resellers can find it at Catholic Word.

Disclaimer:  By day, I work for Catholic Word as an IT guy, but I'm a nerd - not a salesman.  I make no revenue from recommending this product; I simply think that it is a great resource.