It’s Just A Book

06/15/2006

I’m not a great cook but I can cook, really I can, for those of you who know me well and have never actually seen me cook anything. There was a time in my life when I cooked dinner every night—the boys were growing up, Jim was working and I was a full-time Homemaker. Granted, I cooked the simpler meals, and if we wanted something exciting Jim would do his thing in the kitchen--those were the better nights to be having dinner at our house.

Jim was recently out of town for two weeks. He was in training for a new job he just started. Before that, he was doing most of our cooking, because he likes it, and he’s good at it. When he was gone, I cooked almost nothing. One omelet, maybe one other thing, I don’t remember now. When Jim got home, he opened up the refrigerator and exclaimed, “It doesn’t look like anything has moved in here.” Well, he was wrong, there was a container of leftover Mexican food in there, and I had used a couple of eggs!! I then reminded him that when we were ordering our RV, I suggested we get one without a kitchen. He didn’t like that idea at all! He knows the best thing I make for dinner is reservations! But anyway, where am I going with this…?

Because I don’t like to cook, I don’t like to read magazines with recipes in them. When I look at them and see a recipe with more than three or four ingredients, it’s too much for me. “You mean I’d have to go to the grocery store, buy all those things, chop them and slice them and dice them, combine them in just the right way, and then cook them at just the right temperature for just the right period of time?” That’s way too much thought for me. Just give me a bag of microwave popcorn, and that will do just fine. If I need something nutritious, I can find it somewhere else.

But, I have to realize that to those who love to cook, as Jim does, recipes are fun! They are interesting! They can bring joy to a day, to a meal and to whomever it is who is there to eat the finished product. Now, I do like to watch some of the cooking shows, so when I see something interesting, I point it out to Jim and he loves to get the recipe off the internet and give it a try. God had a perfect plan when He brought the two of us together! God didn’t want me living on microwave popcorn!

Recipes…they’re just not of much interest to me…but there is something that does interest me…it’s God’s Word--the Holy Bible—and the reason I am thinking about this tonight is because recently someone said that the Bible is, “Just a book.”

“It’s just a book.”

That’s what I heard…and my mind went blank. I had no witty comeback, no words of great truth, no plan to convince this person that it was so much more than that. I was drawing a total blank--absolutely nothing came to me.

As this statement was made upon our departure from a friend’s house one evening, we were soon driving home and I was not happy with my reaction to such a statement. I thought, “I read the Bible almost every day. I love God’s Word. It is everything to me, and yet I had nothing to say. What’s wrong with me? Where was the Holy Spirit inside of me with all His wisdom when I needed Him?” Really, I already knew the answer to that question because there have been times in the past when words were needed, and He filled me with exactly what was required--but, there have been times in the past when being silent was what was required. I have to believe this was one of those times. Who can know the ways of God, but I know that I trust Him for whatever way it should be, and knew I must rest in that.

But since hearing that statement about the Holy Bible, God has not let it rest in my heart without the urge to someday address it. And of course, because I enjoy writing so much, I had to smile…I knew God would continue to work that thought through me until my fingers began to type out what He was putting on my heart, which brings me to tonight.

When I arrived home from work, I was alone. Jim was taking a late call and I had some time to think about God’s Holy Book. I picked my Bible up in my hands and looked at it for a few moments, and it felt like a good friend to me. It’s not an old Bible; I purchased the one I’m using right now in February of 2002. I wrote on the “Presented to:” page, that it was presented to Diane Shore on the occasion of… “Needing larger print.” Obviously, this Bible was not a gift except to me from me, and I was being honestly funny. Even with my reading glasses, large print makes it easier to read.

As I started to leaf through the pages this evening, and all the things of “importance” that I’ve stuck in here since I bought it, I found such a history of the days that have passed just since 2002. I wondered, do I do that with any other book I own? No, I don’t… I started to think about what other books travel with me, what other books do I write life’s moments in, what books do I write God’s lessons in, my struggles in, friend’s names in, prayers answered in…and the list could go on. There might be one…perhaps a journal, but what’s so different about this Book is that God has written to me in it. God speaks to me about so many things in His Book…He comforts me with His words, encourages me with His stories, helps me with His strength, heals me with His Hope, and the list could go on and on.

When I read any other book, I’m usually done with it, besides what I carry away from it in my heart. I’m not one to read a book even a second time, although many people do. But, when I read the Bible, I’m never done with it, because each time I read it, it could even be the very same page, paragraph or sentence, it can help me in a way that’s totally unexpected and different from the last time I was there. God’s Word is alive with His Spirit. It’s an amazing Book!

For the word of God is full of living power. It is sharper
than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost
thoughts and desires. It exposes us for what we really are.
Hebrews 4:12 (NLT)

There’s only one other book that has been with me for a long period of time, and that’s “My Utmost For His Highest,” by Oswald Chambers. I am reading that through for a third year in a row as a devotional. But as I thought about that, it too is loaded with Biblical verses and references, so it is similar in a way to my treasured friend, The Holy Bible.

As I open the front cover of the Bible I am now using, the first thing I see is a sticker. It was recently placed there after the birth of our first grandson. It says, “Visitor” on it, it has my picture, and the date and time of our arrival, 04/21/06 22:28:28, which means that we arrived just thirty-six and a half minutes before Jackson entered this world. I didn’t have to put this sticker in my Bible, but I thought it would bring back a special memory when I saw it in there, so I did.

The other thing I see immediately is a phone number and a woman’s name, given to me by a friend. A woman that I have spoken with because she too has lost a son. Then there are papers, really too many papers, but which ones do I throw away or place elsewhere? There are notes from a Charles Stanley sermon on “Success God’s Way” from July of 2004, an e-mail from a friend that’s about making right choices by Max Lucado--a wonderful Christian author who has taught me so much. There are notes on songs that I’ve written, other poems that I’ve written, sermon notes from churches we’ve visited, including an awesome page of notes from a sermon by our friend and Pastor, Dave Haney, on what a good counselor is. He said, “A good counselor does four things. He Shows Up, Asks penetrating questions, Allows for the grace of self-discovery, and Restores Hope.” How this has spoken to my heart when I need to be there for someone and don’t know what to say…I keep reminding myself what Dave said, “It’s never convenient and never easy, it’s always a sacrifice, but 80 percent is just listening.” That gives me courage, because if nothing else, I know I can listen. That may be all someone else may need on that day.

Leafing through what’s in my Bible tonight reminds me of the day I sat in a memorial service for my Grandma. She lived to be 89, and had an amazing walk with God through the years. She saw the worst of life, and the best of life, and she was an example to us all. The day of her service, our family Pastor used her Bible in the service. He talked about all that she kept in her Bible, and read a letter that one of my brothers had written to her. She had never let it get too far away from her because he had written to her about how much she meant to him and how much she inspired him by the life she lived. It was a tearful yet joyful part of her service. She also had a letter or two from her great-grandchildren in there, our kids, and other special remembrances. I too carry a letter in my Bible, written to me from another one of my brothers. He is not a writer, but he took the time to actually put old-fashioned pen to paper and send me some words of encouragement. I keep it close and safe, in my Bible also. So many treasures…

Then there is actually something I just jotted in my Bible today, something that was part of a gift given to a friend during a painful time in her life. On this gift was written, “A Bible that’s falling apart, usually belongs to a person who’s not.” I loved that, because as I leaf through my Bible, I find the days when I was falling apart, the days when I jotted things such as, Phil is not there in the ground – it is only the part of him that has died, next to 1 Corinthians 15:37 which says, “And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a dry little seed of wheat or whatever it is you are planting. Then God gives it a new body—just the kind he wants it to have.” (NLT)

On another day when I needed to know more about Jesus, I jotted down, How many times do we not recognize things for what they are, next to John 1:10, “But although the world was made through him, the world didn’t recognize him when he came.” (NLT)

And then on another day, I wrote, It’s not my battle, next to Galatians 3:3, “Have you lost your senses? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?” (NLT)

There’s history in the Good Book, God’s, and our own, and it can help us remember things we’ve learned and where our focus should be if we will use it as our recipe for life. How many books are there that cover every subject ever thought about or questioned? Can you think of something that is not addressed in the Bible? I don’t know that I can. As a friend asked me one day about an unhealthy habit, and what the Bible has to say about it--I don’t think there is a passage of Scripture that says whether we should do that, or we shouldn’t, but there is Scripture that talks about our bodies being God’s Temple. And then in 1 Corinthians 10:23, it is written, “You say, ‘I am allowed to do anything’--but not everything is helpful. You say, ‘I am allowed to do anything’--but not everything is beneficial.” So we can take some wise advice from God’s Word there on what we should or shouldn’t do in many situations. It’s not too hard to figure out.

And I don’t know about you, but I love bookmarks, and my Bible is full of them! I’ve got bookmarks from special friends, from our granddaughter with her school picture on it, and many other things that wouldn’t even be considered bookmarks, but are used that way—there are cards with prayer requests, lamented cards with God’s many names such as Jehovah Jireh (The Lord – My Provider) and Jehovah Shammah (The Lord who is Present). I’ve got a card with a prayer on it that at one time I used every day because the words it contained were the words of my heart… “O my Savior, Help me. I am slow to learn, so prone to forget, so weak to climb. I am in the foothills when I should be in the heights; I am pained by my graceless heart, my prayerless days, my poverty of love, my sloth in the heavenly race, my wasted hours, my unspent opportunities…” and it goes on. I loved pouring my heart out to God through this prayer that was taken from “Valley of Vision—A collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions.” That prayer card has been in my Bible since July of 2003. It will remain a while longer!

There is a piece of paper in my Bible that was written out by a friend at a service we attended on February 9, 2003. It was a small church, and the Pastor spotted me and another friend I was with in the service. He was talking about a painting he had in his home, which depicted Jesus with living water coming out of his wounds rather than blood. He then went on to say to the two of us, “Jesus wants to pour out this living water, His Holy Spirit upon you – be blessed – He wants to bless you.” Just about two weeks ago I ran into a friend who still attends this church here in the Bay Area and she said this young pastor just died from cancer. I was shocked, but also still blessed by him because his words to my friend and me are still with me to this day…safe within the pages of my Bible.

The Word of God starts in Genesis with, “In the beginning…” and ends in Revelation with “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all.” (NLT) In between Genesis and Revelation is the recipe for life. A recipe that does not interest some, just as a recipe for food is not of great interest to me. Some may say the Bible is Just a book, but “Historians who have studied the four Gospels have generally judged them to be highly reliable historically, with stronger textual support than any other work of classical literature, including Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Caesar and Tacitus.” (Flory & Monroe) The difference with the Bible, and just any other book, is that it is a life-giving, energy-building, hope-filled message that can help us through each day.

I’m really not trying to survive on microwave popcorn. I don’t have the most balanced diet, but I do try to eat what is more energy giving on most days. On the days when I don’t, and popcorn is my food of choice, I know it’s not the best one and I need to soon get back to a better way of eating. On the days when I’m not in the Word, I know that’s not my best choice, and I need to always try to make a point of getting back to a more balanced diet of being in God’s Word--not just T.V. watching, or e-mailing, or whatever else it is I might be doing during the day.

God left us with the best recipe ever!! One that is satisfying, energizing and full of ingredients that makes life interesting and exciting! And just as we jot down the name of who gave us the recipe and the date we got it, or whatever other information we might want to save, we can do the same with God’s recipe. We can use it, and spill stuff on it, and mark it up, and make notes as to what works best, and who we’ve given it to, etc…after awhile, our Bible starts to take on the same look as those old recipe cards that we don’t want to get rid of because they remind us of all the holidays we made those cookies, or the New Year’s Eve’s when we shared our cheese fondue with friends, or the birthday when we cooked our child their favorite dinner and we dripped part of the sauce on the card. The recipe cards become a part of our family history, just as our Bible becomes part of our history if we will use it as God intended…often!!

As I flip through the back part of my Bible, where there were once blank pages, I suppose for notes, because that’s what I used them for, I find all kinds of things I’ve jotted down, as well as little quips that I heard along the path of life. I’d like to share a few with you here:

He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
Jim Elliot

Wisdom – Making a choice now I’ll be happy with later.
Joyce Meyer

Faithfulness to God is God’s will for our lives, even if we never end up doing exactly what we had planned.”
Gerald L. Sittser

We all need to begin the rigorous but sternly magnificent work of converting the “desert of loneliness” within into the spaciously beautiful “garden of solitude” where the true self comes forward and flourishes.”
Listening Prayer

The glory of God is man fully alive.
John Eldredge

Life gets harder and it also gets better.
John Merritt

Activity is the enemy of thought.
Anthony Hopkins’ movie.

Lord, is there anything in me that is not according to Your will, that has not been ordered by You, or that is not entirely given up to You?
Andrew Murray

Your Word tells me what to do
Your Word speaks to me when I can’t hear You.
I can read through what Your people have done.
I can learn from all the races they’ve run.
Diane Shore
(Just thought I’d add that one in there!)

“It’s Just a Book”…those were the words I heard, and my mind went blank…what was I to say to that? It seemed at the time…nothing.

Until now…because it’s more than:

Just a book…It’s a Book so filled with love and hope and encouragement that when I hold it tight to my chest it seems God’s promises fill me up inside as nothing else can even come close to.

Just a book…It’s a Book so precious that when this one wears out I will go and buy another one, and another one, and another one until my dying day, and when that day comes I hope and pray that someone will love me enough to sit by my bedside and read the words I can no longer read, and soothe me with the tender mercy found within the pages of God’s Holy Book.

Just a book…It’s a Book so wonderful that when I had no words to offer to my own dying son, I could read it to him and he was comforted by it as no medicine could do, and as I spent that time with him, he said, “Mom, I never read the Bible much, but I wish I had now.” And later, as his death drew nearer, he said, “Everything you’re reading to me answers every question I have in my head.”

Just a book…No way, no how, not at all. It’s a book full of miracles from days of old, and so full of God’s power and might that miracles still happen today just by opening up the pages and spending time with our Lord in His Book.

Write in it, doodle in it, put pictures and letters and notes and photos in it, even put passes from the hospital when your grandchildren are born in it, but be IN IT!! Stay IN IT!! Live it, eat it, breathe it, love it, and you will discover something so magnificent within the pages of God’s Holy Book that words won’t be able to describe it.

I had no words on the night I heard, It’s just a book, but this is my heart-felt attempt now, to tell you it’s so much more. This is for you, “M,” with a hope that you are, or will soon be, discovering for yourself that the Holy Bible is so much more than just a book!

Loving His Book,
Diane