Daily Devotional

Karon and I have a 3,000-year-old bronze-age juglet from the time of King David. It was given to us by the grandson of the cobbler who first recognized the Dead Sea Scroll from a little Bedouin boy. You might say it’s our oldest treasure. In a very safe place, we also have an original leaf from the First Edition of the 1611 King James Pulpit Bible. It was given to Jim on his birthday by his oldest brother, Brian. It is the 400-year-old title page of the Epistle of James. It’s certainly a precious gift, as well. We are, of course, blessed with boxes of treasures of little value, except to “Grammy” and “Pa.” They fill our hearts more than they clutter our closets.

However, our greatest gift is our museum of memories—collected over a combined total of almost 150 years of life and a century of marriage and ministry. Unlike our other treasured collections, we realize the gift of memory is vastly fading or at least getting dusty. That is why we took on the challenge to write a series of books, entitled, “Telling Our Faith Story.” In the words of the old Chinese Proverb, “The faintest ink is more powerful than the strongest memory.” Thus, we hope you will also consider writing your own “museum of memories” for your family and the generations to follow. What motivates us to do this:
• We aspire to imitate King Solomon’s writing goal:

Ecclesiastes 12:10 - “The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly.”

• We are also challenged by King Solomon to point our readers to the Word of God:

Ecclesiastes 12:11–12 - “The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections (i.e., the inspired Scriptures) are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd. But beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body” (My addition).

• We are motivated by the words of Jesus to the healed man:

Mark 5:19 - “…Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.”

• We are hopeful our family and the generations to follow will be amazed at the goodness of God:

Mark 5:20 - “And he went away and began to proclaim…what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.”

Soli Deo Gloria! Glory to God alone!

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