My wife and oldest daughter are in a fierce competition. They’ve been in this competition since January 1. They are trying to see who can read the most books by the end of the year. At the moment of this writing (8/16/25), they are essentially tied at about 72 books per person. I’m in their group chat and a simple text will go out: 70, 71, 72, etc. as the numbers are counted up.
The rules are simple. A book must have at least 200 pages. The books they read are typically between 200-300 pages. If the book is 600 pages, it counts as two and if it is 900 pages, it counts as three. They are on track to read about 110 books over the year. That’s over 220 books between the two of them!
In 1966, Margaret McNamara had an idea. She was the wife of United States Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara. While reading books to school children in Washington, D.C., she was surprised to find out that most kids didn’t have any books of their own.
With the help of three other women, McNamara secured a $150,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to begin a pilot program in the Washington, D.C. schools. On November 3, 1966, Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) was launched in three schools. Following the success of the program, the Ford Foundation granted an additional $285,000 which launched RIF into 10 model programs across the country. “At the time of McNamara’s death in 1981, RIF had provided “more than 3 million poor children with 37 million books… As of 2022, RIF has served 100 million children and distributed over 450 million books.”1
Today is National Read A Book day. Throughout the year, there are several national celebrations that book lovers would appreciate. Maybe reading isn’t your thing and you find it neither enjoyable or relaxing to read a book. Hopefully, you can at least say that you are a Book lover.
Psalms 1:1-2 says, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. (2) But his
delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” Seven times, Psalm 119 talks about delighting in God’s Word. Can we say that we delight in God’s Word? This is a choice we must make.
Psalms 119:16 says, “I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.” This is an act of the will, a decision, a choice that the Psalmist is making. Nobody can make this decision for us. We must make it on our own. And it should be an easy one to make when you consider that John 1:1, 14 equates the WORD of God with the SON of God. Loving the Word is loving the Son. Perhaps a good measure of how much we love the SON of God is based on our time spent in the WORD of God.
Now, I’m not trying to make anyone feel guilty. I know that there are individuals who have difficulty reading. There are some with dyslexia. Others just aren’t wired to learn from reading. Educators have recognized this and made adjustments. Why can’t we?
For those of you who learn better by listening rather than reading, you can still be in your Bibles every day and throughout the day. Gone are the days with the Bible on tape, narrated by Alexander Scourby and neatly arranged in albums. With the simple click of a button, you can access audio versions of the Bible online. Select your passage, click the play button, and LISTEN to the Word of God as it is read. With our smart phones blue toothed to air pods, we can actually “read” our Bible more than ever before.
Do you love the Word of God? Is it reflected in the amount of time spent in the text? Reading the Good Book is the BEST book you’ll read today. Be a Book Lover.
Psalms 119:162 says, “I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil.”
1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_Is_Fundamental
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