Behind Door #3

Dear Brothers & Sisters:

The other day I bought a bible. The date on this bible is 1856. The
inscription by the owner is 1859. It is a "pulpit" bible, meaning it is
about 14x16" by about 5" thick. This is truly the epitome of the weight
of the word! As I looked through the many plates that are included and
viewed the verses, I realized the "history" this bible has. How many
people's lives were possibly changed by this particular book. The
covers are wood with a white stone in most of the corners. There is
something to draw your attention to God. I can not explain. It has even
opened a conversation with a Mormon amongst the many discussions
already. But, unless you desire to have your eyes opened or are
seeking, to anyone else this probably no more than a really cool old
book.

Yesterday I replaced my cell phone. It took almost an hour. Why?
Because while many consider me to have an edge on technology when it
comes to hands on, I am better with the stuff I grew up with. (I most
likely could rebuild a 1965 Mustang and never refer to a manual. Yet
as I read the "book" and I do mean book on this new phone, I gave up.
What is all this? My only reason for the phone change at all was to
significantly reduce my bill by upgrading to a new plan and the phone
provides better reception than my older model.

New. Old. The battle for my my mind is always teetering on what is new.
To be honest there are very few things out there that show up in the
ads that I say "I have to have that." (Though the new Mustangs are
pretty sweet.). And in my store there is a lot of old stuff and I am
glad that we can say "goodbye" to some of those things. (There is a 50"
TV in there that weighs less than my 25" at home.) Hollywood and
Manhattan are working overtime to make sure I have the latest razor and
my kids the latest toys. The part of me that likes familiar battles to
keep what I have.

And that old bible? It has the same words that my "new" King James
does. And the amazing thing is that the words are just as relevant
today as the day they were penned or appeared in that particular bible
in 1856. And while it would be kind of cool to keep this bible I will
probably sell it. But the words...they are etched and carved into my
heart. The relevance of God is forever. When we come to the end of our
rope and face the truth, that we have tried all the ways we know how to
be successful and still encounter our sin or have walked around the
mountain one more time, we have the opportunity to embrace the grace of
God and allow Him to change us.

Every day people come in the store and they either do not like the old
stuff or they "ooh" and "aah" about it. But with the word of God, it s
not whether we like it or not, but whether we allow ourselves to be
changed by it. To be in a position of receiving His grace. Some of my
friends would consider me to a grace grower, meaning I "do" things that
cause them to cry out for grace or they might kill me. On the other
hand I often find myself in the position of needing more grace, having
come to the end of my rope and realizing the knot is probably not going
to hold either. We come to the place of appreciating the value of the
word of God, it's correction and then dying to the law so that grace
might come.

Each of us, you and I have the opportunity to embrace the values of
history and apply them to our present so that we might have a tomorrow
worth living. If you have come to the end of the rope in your life,
here is an opportunity, not to get out of it, but to embrace it and cry
out for His grace to invade your life. With His grace we can overcome
the things that have stacked up against us. It is today we have a
choice. We can choose to do it the way we have always done, and get the
same old results. We can choose to add something new to our lives in
the hope that newer is better. Or we come to door three, which will
call for us to confront the issue of our life, let it die, allow grace
to flood us.

My prayer is that each of us today might open door three.

Blessings,
lee

http://www.pocafministries.org
http://pcfministries.blogspot.com/
http://compelthem.blogspot.com/
Lee & Tina Johndrow
www.vermontel.com/~servant/ministryopportunity
www.countryartifacts.com