Friday, January 23, 2015

"So...What's in Your Bible"?

Recently, I was speaking on the phone with my older sister Kay.   She lives a two or three day drive away so talking on the phone is the best way for us to stay in touch.  When Kay and I talk on the phone, we usually get around to telling stories about our family.  Our sister, Carol, who was the middle child, died three years ago and our parents died some years before Carol.  We really miss them all and retelling the stories helps both of us. 

During this last phone conversation, Kay asked if I remembered the story mother used to tell about the man who left a $100 bill in a bible.  I asked her to repeat the story because, I sort of remembered, but wanted to make sure.

The story goes that a wealthy man gave his son a bible for his high school graduation present.  The son, who had his sights set on something more impressive and expensive was not impressed with the gift of just a bible.  The father told the son to be sure and read the bible when he went to college and offered no explanation for the meager gift.

The son goes away to college, forgets all about the bible and eventually graduates from college.  After some years go by, the son comes across the bible while going through some old things.  Life has not been going well for the young man and he decides to look through the bible.  When he turns to the back of the bible, he finds a $100 bill.  His father had placed it there for him before he left for college.  Now the point sunk into the young man’s mind that reading the bible was more “valuable” than just getting money as a graduation gift. 

I did remember the story and hearing mother tell it to encourage bible reading.  Kay asked if I knew the “rest of the story”.  She told me that one year mother gave Kay and Carol each a new bible for their Christmas presents.  Since they were in high school, they weren’t impressed with the gift much like the son in the story.  Not too long after Christmas though, Carol shared excitedly with Kay that she had found a $100 bill in her bible.  Kay, of course, started looking through her bible for her $100 bill.  Kay said she kept looking through hers but never found a $100 bill.  She always wondered why Carol got the $100 bill and she didn’t.

Fast forward several years after both our parents had died.  While going through the mobile home our parents had as a vacation getaway in south Texas, Kay found one of mother’s bibles.  She decided to place it in a prominent spot as decoration and in memory of mother.  Five years go by and Kay, and my brother-in-law Jerry, are at the mobile home.  Kay had been trying to read through the bible and hoped to get some reading done while they were down there.  But she was disappointed to discover she forgot to pack her bible.  Realizing her mistake, she looked over at mother’s bible on the table and thought to herself, “I’ll just read mother’s bible.”  

After doing some reading, Kay started to put the bible back on the table but it slips out of her hand, falling to the floor.  Bending over to pick it up, she sees something sticking out of the bible.  You guessed it, a $100 bill was stuck in the back of mother’s bible.

Kay said her reaction was to say out loud, “That stinker.”  (This was a phrase she usually didn’t use but it was one of mother’s favorites.)  “Mother, you knew someday after you were gone one of your kids would go through your bible and they would find that $100 bill.”  We both had a good laugh and she told me the $100 bill was still right there in the bible.

Mother was always an avid reader, especially the bible and books about the bible.  She was well versed in bible history always enjoying learning more.  She trusted Jesus just a few years before I was born.  It was then she became a student of the bible.

And she didn’t just read the bible- she studied it.  Her bibles, and there were many,  are all marked up and underlined, notes in the margins, notes on the blank pages both front and back.  Most of her bibles include notes from bible preachers and teachers she listened to over the years.  She eventually became a bible teacher herself and a good one.  She taught as long as she was physically and mentally able to teach.  

I was always impressed by her hunger for the bible and her personal journey to continue to learn more.  She valued education and was a life-long learner.  Surprisingly mother was not a high school graduate.  I didn’t find this out until I was grown because she conveniently didn’t talk about it.  Few people who heard her teach the bible would have believed she had so little formal education.  She may not have had a diploma but she had a strong grasp of the scriptures and the gift of sharing that insight with others.

Remembering these stories rekindles the desire to read the bible myself.  Don’t get me wrong, I read and study the bible.  We all periodically need a renewed fresh hunger to spend time in the scriptures.

I want to encourage you to read your bible.  We hear a lot of talk today about “spirituality” and “self-development” but too many people are not investing time to read the bible for themselves.  Why?

Maybe it’s because we think:

  • "I don’t understand the bible.”  The bible includes sixty-six books written over hundreds of years by many different human authors.  We do need instruction and some understanding of the history behind the stories of the bible to get a grasp of what is being said.  It’s hard just to pick up the bible and start reading without some kind of background information.  But there are so many resources available today that a basic foundation is readily available.

  •      “I get more out of listening to someone talk about the bible.”  It’s true that good teaching can help open up the scriptures to us.  But nothing can replace going to the bible yourself, reading it and discovering God speaking directly to your heart.

  •      “I don’t have time to read the bible.”  That is an excuse but not a reason.  The problem is not a lack of time.  What would happen if I spent ten minutes every day this year reading something about butterflies?  After a week I would have learned some things but you might not be very impressed with my knowledge of butterflies at this point.  But after one month, I could tell you some things you had never heard about the little creatures.  After a year of me reading ten minutes a day, I bet you would begin avoiding me.  Who wants to hear all those details about butterflies?  The point is--reading a little bit each day makes a huge impact over time.  The problem is not the amount of time but our consistency of reading the scriptures.

Reminder from mother: “Be sure and read your bible”.  Does this reminder sound quaint or “old school”?  Yet reading the bible is not optional if we want to grow and mature as followers of Jesus.  We are bombarded continually with self-centered thinking and lies from much of what we hear and view.  If we don’t saturate our minds with the word of God, we will fall into self-deception and not even be aware of it.

It ultimately comes down to what we value.  How much do we value the bible?  Are you reading the bible regularly?  What if I told you there was a $100 bill tucked in your bible somewhere?  Getting the bible into our hearts and minds is so much more valuable than putting a $100 bill in our bank account.

Let me add this.  It’s one thing to challenge ourselves to get into the scriptures and another thing to know how to get started.  Here are some resources I have found helpful:


So what’s in your bible? Let’s find out.

Advancing the kingdom,

John P. Holsey

Thursday, January 15, 2015

God Chose You!

(A quick personal note:  You may have noticed a lack of postings.  The last three months have been a recovery time for Donna who had surgery on her foot.  Then we capped it off with a week of flu bug nonsense... so I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.)

I'm not a science guy by any means.  But when I saw the picture taken by the Hubble telescope of "The Pillars of Creation" I was mesmerized.  I kept staring at it..."googling" it and trying to understand what I was looking at and why it had got my eye.  Here's the picture below:



This picture shows three giant columns of interstellar gas and dust.  They are named "Pillars of Creation" because the gas and dust are in a process of creating new stars while also being eroded by scorching ultraviolet light from nearby stars that have recently formed. 

Got it?  Wait...there is more.  There are stars being born deep inside those columns.  Not just some stars but massive amount of stars.  They say that our sun was probably "born" in a similar mass of gas and dust.

So we are seeing a snapshot of massive amount of stars being born.  This is happening a long, long, long way off...about 6500 light years away.  How long is a light year? One light year is 5.88 trillion miles long.  Multiply 5.88 trillion by 6500 and...well, let's just say it's a long way off.  

And how's this for size.  That first column on the left. is four light years in length.  4 X 5.88 trillion miles.  That's really long.  

You may be wondering about the title of this post "God Chose You!" and what this has to do with this picture and gigantic numbers that make your head spin just trying to think about it.
When God created the universe and this planet He could have chosen something this
massive and powerful to reflect his image.  The "Pillars of Creation" are huge beyond imagination and God is bigger and more magnificent.

God did not choose anything else in all creation to reflect His image other than people. When I saw this picture I remembered Genesis 1:27, "So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." 

There is something unique about you because God chose you to be a reflection of His image and not some massive, powerful display of interstellar gas and dust.  When God wants to display His exceeding riches of grace in His universe--God shows what He did in us through Jesus Christ.

Don't believe it?  Ephesians 2:4-7 says,

"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." 

"The Pillars of Creation" are sure something to behold.  But they are nothing compared to what God sees in you as His chosen in Christ Jesus.

Wow...God chose you and me.

I would love to hear any of your responses to this.  Looking forward to a great year.

John P. Holsey