When Charlie and I were driving home from Alaska this fall, we stayed in lots of hotels. One night I flipped the remote and who should I see on the screen right in front of me but Billy Grahm himself. It was a rerun of one of his crusades back in the 70's. Behind him was a huge sign with his signature verse, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." As I watched the program, I thought about how many people came to know this verse through Billy Grahm's travels! Today millions are in a relationship with Jesus Christ through God's words spoken by this one man.
Listening to Billy preach brought to mind some memories of my own early years. I was a young girl - like grade school young. There were nights when my mom would send me to bed telling me that I had dawdled long enough. (Were there really days when I avoided sleep?) As soon as my lights were off and I heard her steps receeding down the stairs, I would reach under my bed and pull out my trusty transistor radio. We all had them in those days, the then I Pods of our lives. Pretty soon I would be listening to a fiery young preacher teaching the word of God and imploring everyone who listened to come forward and receive Jesus. I didn't have the foggiest what that meant but I was mesmerized by his way of speaking. I had never heard anybody preach like that. Sometimes I'd fall asleep and forget to turn the radio off.
Many years later, after I came to understand that knowing Jesus was not a religion but a relationship, I remembered that Billy Grahm tried to tell me that way back from under my bed on those summer evenings. "I am the way, the truth, and the light." I still equate those words with my favorite childhood evangelist when I read John 14 in my Bible.
Lots of thoughts come to me, but here's the one I'm going with today. Where would we be without the Bible teaching us the way and the truth and the light? What if God hadn't made the effort to communicate with us through the great love letter of His word? The answer is pretty obvious. We would all be stumbling around in the murky cesspool of darkness that we see around us today. There would be no way to discern our lifetime paths. No way to know what truth looked like. No way to light our travels as we journeyed - to where? "Teach me Your WAY, O Lord, And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies." Ps. 27:11. "And you shall know the TRUTH, and the TRUTH shall make you free." John 8:32 "The entrance of Your words gives LIGHT; It gives understanding to the simple." (That would be me.) Ps. 119:130
This Thanksgiving I have so much to be thankful for. But, chief above all, I'm thanking God for His persistent love that became His wonderful Word to us - the very very Holy Bible.
We've traveled together,
My Bible and I,
Through all kinds of weather,
With smile or with sigh,
In sorrow or sunshine,
In tempest or calm,
Its friendship unchanging,
My Lamp and my song!
So now who shall part us,
My Bible and I?
Shall "isms" or "schisms,"
Or "new lights" who try?
Shall shadow for substance
Or stone for good bread,
Supplant its wisdom sound,
Give folly instead?
Ah, no! my dear Bible,
Exponent of Light!
Thou sword of the Spirit,
Put error to flight:
And still through life's journey
Until my last sigh -
We'll travel together,
My Bible and I!
(Anon)
