THE B-I-B-L-E

In his book, The Wisdom Pyramid, Brett McCracken shares the following story about his father:

“I will always remember my dad's Bible. As a kid, it was a fixture in our house. Thick, black leather-bound, with gold leaf edges; stuffed full of church bulletins, Scripture, memory cards, and who knows what else. The well-worn pages were adorned with underlined verses, variously colored highlighted sections, and scribbled margins. I saw dad with it almost every day—studying during his quiet time, preparing a Sunday school lesson, or maybe leading our family in a dinnertime devotional. The presence of dad's Bible nearby was a comfort. I think it made the Bible more credible to me that, for my dad, it wasn't just a prop to bring to church on Sundays. It was his beloved source of guidance for everyday life. My life was full of the Bible: learning Old Testament stories on flannel graph in Sunday school; memorizing the order of the Bible's sixty-six books in Vacation Bible School; doing "sword drills" in Awana; memorizing the "Romans Road"; singing songs that went:

The B-I-B-L-E
Yes that's the book for me!
I stand alone on the Word of God: the B-I-B-L-E!

The Bible was the book that shaped my life more than anything else, which is odd looking back on it: an Oklahoma kid being profoundly shaped by an ancient collection of Jewish literature and two-thousand-year-old Mediterranean letters. But I was, and I am. And my story isn't unique. The Bible has been a treasured source of truth and life all over the world, across countless generations. It manages to speak to the soccer mom in San Diego as much as the truck driver in Taipei; it guides the life of a skateboarding teenager in 2020 Buenos Aires as much as it did the blacksmith in 1520 Liverpool. Everywhere you go in the world, people who share almost nothing else in common can say in unison: "The B-I-B-L-E Yes, that's the book for me!" This can be said of no other book in the world. No other source of truth is as universally beloved and consistently cross-cultural as the Christian Bible.”

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL BEGINS THIS SUNDAY… that’s significant because hundreds of children will be on our campus each morning from 8:30 until noon. And guess what they’ll be hearing about? The B-I-B-L-E! Each day they will learn about the scriptures and the love of God. They’ll learn about what Jesus did for them and how they can know God personally.

It has been reported that Vacation Bible School is still the number one way that we reach people with the good news of the gospel. And that is important because Jesus said… “And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.’ And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.”
(Mark 10:13–16)

With that in mind, let me ask you to pray for several things each day.

• Pray for the more than 127 workers that will be agents of God with these cherished little hearts.
• Pray for the more than 600 children that will attend either part of or the whole week.
• Pray for the parents who will join us for “Parents Night” on Thursday. Some who need Christ themselves.
• Pray for the protection and safety both physically and spiritually over VBS.
• Pray the many children will grasp the gospel and give their hearts to Christ.

God has been so good to entrust us with many little ones here at RBC… let’s be faithful with their souls!

And remember, God is always trying to take us someplace new. I love being your Pastor!

For God’s Glory Alone,
Pastor Ray


Image credit: Unsplash