Day 1 of Reading Hebrews for 30 Days

Today is June 1, and I began a 30-day challenge to read the book of Hebrews every day. I want this to be more than checking off a box or completing a reading plan. I want it to become an exercise in biblical meditation: slowing down, paying attention, and noticing what happens in me as I sit with the Word.

What surprised me on Day 1 was not the reading itself, but how hard it was to stay present. I realized very quickly that my mind is more distracted than I usually admit. Even while reading Scripture, my thoughts kept drifting—to responsibilities, random concerns, and things that had nothing to do with the text in front of me.

So I decided to measure it in a simple way. Every time I caught my mind wandering away from Hebrews, I wrote down the verse I was reading and what I had started thinking about. It was a small act of honesty, but it made the experience much more revealing. Instead of pretending I was focused, I had to face how often my attention was being pulled somewhere else.

In a strange way, the distractions became part of the meditation. What kept coming to mind revealed something about what I am carrying, what I am worried about, and what fills the background noise of my inner life. I expected this challenge to teach me more about Hebrews, and I still believe it will. But already, on Day 1, it is also teaching me something about myself.

I do not want to judge Day 1 too harshly. If anything, I am grateful that this challenge exposed something real so quickly. My hope for the next 29 days is not that I become instantly perfect at focusing, but that I become more aware, more patient, and more willing to return my attention to God each time my mind drifts. Maybe that is part of meditation too—not never wandering, but learning to come back.

I started reading today at 4:19 AM and finished at 5:45 AM. That is a long time for 13 chapters, but it was not wasted time.

Here is my account of my distractions:

• Hebrews 1:18 — My mind wandered. I remembered that I need to record the summer message for the Wildflower Center first thing when I log on for work. I plan to write this on a card and place it on my UT computer.
• Hebrews 2:3 — I thought about walking with Sue and Chelle at 6:15 AM. I was still in my pajamas and wondered if I would finish reading and get dressed in time. How embarrassing.
• Hebrews 2:4 — My back tooth started tingling again. I need to make a dentist appointment this week.
• Hebrews 2:8 — I was distracted by the lowercase “him” in the text and wondered why it was lowercase here but uppercase elsewhere.
• Hebrews 3:1 — I thought about making a deep-dive outline of Hebrews. Maybe by the end of the month I will be able to do something like that.
• Hebrews 3:8 — I wondered what genre Hebrews would be if it were a movie.
• Hebrews 3:9 — I thought about Jesus being tested by Satan in the wilderness. I knew the passage was talking about Israel, but I realized I was distracted again.
• Hebrews 3:15 — I worried about being late for walking and decided to set a 6:00 AM alarm to remind me to get dressed.
• Hebrews 4:3 — I thought about Moses neglecting to circumcise his sons and how Zipporah did it.
• Hebrews 4:12 — I remembered that the cables I had been discussing with J.D. were SpeakON cables, not XLR cables. I have no idea why that came to mind.
• Hebrews 6:17 — I thought about the TV in the great room at church and how much I dislike it. I plan to switch it out.
• Hebrews 7:7 — My ears itched, and I thought about needing to clean them later.
• Hebrews 8:8 — At 5:00 AM, my daily Google alarm went off. I had already been awake since around 4:00 AM, so I did not need it, but it interrupted my distraction. It reminded me how easily my mind drifts and made me think I should set more alarms for meetings and important events.
• Hebrews 9:14 — I thought about Harley, the girl at Sports Clips who gave me my last haircut. It was her first day cutting hair, and I was the first man whose hair she had ever cut. I could tell she was nervous and not fully prepared, but she seemed very sweet.
• Hebrews 9:15 — I realized I was distracted again, this time thinking about transcribing the sermon and Q&A evening service because it was so rich and I would like to read it again.
• Hebrews 10:5 — I thought about making word-frequency charts for different translations of Hebrews: NIV, NASB, KJV, NKJV, ESV, and NLT. I could compare word counts, repeated words, and major themes.
• Hebrews 10:28 — I became thirsty and distracted again.
• Hebrews 11:1 — I remembered Sue’s printer issue and wondered whether I could re-flash the BIOS so it would stop looking specifically for HP ink cartridges. What a scam.
• Hebrews 11:12 — I thought about how Mormons distort this verse.
• Hebrews 11:18 — My back itched, and it became distracting. I rubbed my back against the chair.
• Hebrews 11:21 — I wondered how many chapters are in Hebrews. There are 13, so I realized I was almost done.
• Hebrews 13:11 — My back started itching again. I thought about rubbing it against the doorpost and using the bathroom at the same time.
• Hebrews 13:7 — I am not entirely sure where my mind went here. I think I was thinking about the love of money and consumerism, and how easily people can place their faith in a monetary system instead of in God’s provision.

I was able to finish the book of Hebrews today.