The truly rich are those who enjoy what they have.
Yiddish proverb
Finally my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you. (Philippians 3:1 NAS)
The apostle Paul did not mind repeating himself. He knew that when it came to the Word of God and living a righteous life through Jesus Christ, that hearing the same thoughts over again could deepen their foundation. To me the Bible is not just a book to be read, but also a book to be studied. I use it like a textbook. A textbook is a book that you dont just read once, but refer to it many times. Most textbooks that are used regularly will have bookmarks, passages underlined, and notes written in the columns. All of my Bibles are marked and underlined as I have read them. I have many different translations in my collection of Bibles, but the book that is most dear to me is one that I bought for myself for my forty-ninth birthday in 1995. It is a Nelson King James Study bible and it looks like a mess, but it has been my life preserver over the years. It has helped me weather the stormy seas of life. When I first bought it for myself I was attempting to get clean and sober from a serious addiction to alcohol and meth. I remember at that time using a ballpoint pen to underline. In November of 1995 as I was in the grips of a relapse, someone lit a fire in my wood stove on which my Bible was sitting. The back cover got burned and many of the back pages scorched. That same day my ex-wife died of an accidental overdose. In 1996 I received my last DWI and went to drug rehabilitation and carried the Bible with me. I underlined at that time with an orange pencil. Later I had to go to jail as a result of my DWI and I underlined with blue and red. The red being scripture verses that I put more emphasis on. I relapsed in April of 1997 and the Bible sat on the shelf for seventeen months. In September of 1998 when I again came back into recovery and went to treatment my Bible once more became a part of my everyday life. At that time I underlined with a green pencil. In July of 2000 as I continued in my recovery I started using a brown pencil to underline. Later in 2000 I started reading the Dake Bible and the New International Version. In 2002-3 I read the New King James. In 2004 I read the New American Standard. Today I love all my bibles, but the old one with the back cover burned has special meaning to me. It is like a road map through my recovery. When I see the ballpoint pen marking I know that that was when I first got the Bible. The orange when I was in treatment, blue and red in jail, green the first couple of years of recovery, and the brown as I continued to read one day at a time to maintain my spiritual condition so necessary to my recovery. Today as I look at my old bible lying on my desktop, I realize that of all my tools, it has been the most effective in working a change in my life. I am grateful today as I am reminded by the apostle Paul that it is good to go back over the important things in my life. That way God can do for me what I could not do for myself .JRE
Solitude liberates us from entanglements by carving out a space from which we can see ourselves and our situation before the Audience of One. Solitude provides the private place where we can take our bearings and so make God our North Star.
Os GUINNESS
Yiddish proverb
Finally my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you. (Philippians 3:1 NAS)
The apostle Paul did not mind repeating himself. He knew that when it came to the Word of God and living a righteous life through Jesus Christ, that hearing the same thoughts over again could deepen their foundation. To me the Bible is not just a book to be read, but also a book to be studied. I use it like a textbook. A textbook is a book that you dont just read once, but refer to it many times. Most textbooks that are used regularly will have bookmarks, passages underlined, and notes written in the columns. All of my Bibles are marked and underlined as I have read them. I have many different translations in my collection of Bibles, but the book that is most dear to me is one that I bought for myself for my forty-ninth birthday in 1995. It is a Nelson King James Study bible and it looks like a mess, but it has been my life preserver over the years. It has helped me weather the stormy seas of life. When I first bought it for myself I was attempting to get clean and sober from a serious addiction to alcohol and meth. I remember at that time using a ballpoint pen to underline. In November of 1995 as I was in the grips of a relapse, someone lit a fire in my wood stove on which my Bible was sitting. The back cover got burned and many of the back pages scorched. That same day my ex-wife died of an accidental overdose. In 1996 I received my last DWI and went to drug rehabilitation and carried the Bible with me. I underlined at that time with an orange pencil. Later I had to go to jail as a result of my DWI and I underlined with blue and red. The red being scripture verses that I put more emphasis on. I relapsed in April of 1997 and the Bible sat on the shelf for seventeen months. In September of 1998 when I again came back into recovery and went to treatment my Bible once more became a part of my everyday life. At that time I underlined with a green pencil. In July of 2000 as I continued in my recovery I started using a brown pencil to underline. Later in 2000 I started reading the Dake Bible and the New International Version. In 2002-3 I read the New King James. In 2004 I read the New American Standard. Today I love all my bibles, but the old one with the back cover burned has special meaning to me. It is like a road map through my recovery. When I see the ballpoint pen marking I know that that was when I first got the Bible. The orange when I was in treatment, blue and red in jail, green the first couple of years of recovery, and the brown as I continued to read one day at a time to maintain my spiritual condition so necessary to my recovery. Today as I look at my old bible lying on my desktop, I realize that of all my tools, it has been the most effective in working a change in my life. I am grateful today as I am reminded by the apostle Paul that it is good to go back over the important things in my life. That way God can do for me what I could not do for myself .JRE
Solitude liberates us from entanglements by carving out a space from which we can see ourselves and our situation before the Audience of One. Solitude provides the private place where we can take our bearings and so make God our North Star.
Os GUINNESS
