[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Friday, May 2, 2014

[Paul]

Hello and good day to you all on this Friday or, for you in Australia and New Zealand, a Saturday morning.  I hope and pray that, by God's matchless grace and His providential care, that you are all doing well today.

Cathy Mogus, a writer from Canada who we have featured here before, graces our screen readers, Braille displays and our hearts with her article entitled "Mother's Bible," rendered as follows:

My parents are now both pushing 90.  I have no idea how they plan to divide their property and possessions among their three daughters when they die.  But I do wonder who will get Mom's Bible.

Dad gave the small black leather King James Version to Mom for her 18th birthday--the year they got married.  That makes it over 70 years old.  It's worn and tattered and held together with a rubber band.

I can still see Mom reading that Bible while sitting in her rocker by a living room window.  Her morning ritual also included silent prayer while looking out at the yard and our neighbor's pasture.  My sisters and I knew this was her time with God, and our time to leave her alone.

Mom's favorite verses are underlined in those thin dog-eared pages, and for good reason:  she believes them.  For example, Isaiah 53:5 (KJV) says, "He was wounded for our transgressions ... and with His stripes we are healed." My mother firmly trusts Christ to heal both soul and body.  When we were children, she dished out more prayer than aspirin.  "Do you feel better now?" she'd ask after praying aloud for one of us.  We usually did!

Another marked scripture is Malachi 3:10 (KJV):  "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse ... and prove me ... if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing ..." My parents always gave 10 percent of Dad's modest wages to their church, and their offerings to missionaries.

"God will bless you if you tithe," Mom taught us.  She often claimed that her and Dad's good health, lovely home and enjoyable trips are linked to "Seek ye first the kingdom of God ... and all these things shall be added unto you" (Mat. 6:33 KJV)--another underlined verse.

Many of the highlighted passages in Mom's Bible are also underlined in mine, such as John 3:16 and Romans 3:23.  But it's the obscure passages that Mom marked that interest me the most.  For instance, why did she underline Joshua 24:12 (KJV)? It says, "Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day." Her reason:  Up until my teens, she and Dad rented a farmhouse on a small acreage.  It was Mom's dream to build on their own land.  So, after hearing a preacher relate how Caleb spoke up for his piece of the promised land (Josh. 14), she prayed, "Lord, please give us a mountain!"

God was listening.  Their landlord offered them 40 beautiful acres of treed land, most of which was on a hill, for $3000.  They paid $50 down and $50 a month, which made it possible for Dad to build a mortgage-free home.  Even in the '60's, that was considered a miracle!

I think of stories like that one when I thum through Mom's little black Bible.  Like the pot of manna, Aaron's rod, and the stone tablets in Israel's Ark of the Covenant, they are reminders of God's faithfulness.  I may or may not inherit The Book, but I have already reaped its blessings.

And there you have it for today.  My Mom inherited a Bible from her mother which was carried by an unknown soldier in the Civil War.  As the story goes, an unknown soldier gave it to the grandfather whom I never saw during the Battle of Antietam in September of 1862 with the request to take care of it.  There are still faint traces of blood stains on it.  That Bible now belongs to my brother George.  Although he's not a Christian yet to my knowledge, I often wonder what he did with it or is doing with it.  Well, unless they contact me I probably will never know, as they (George and his wife Brenda) stay aloof from the rest of my family.  I wouldn't be surprised if George would start reading that old copy of the KJV and, in reading it, would put his trust in his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  George is a voracious reader, as is my brother Lou and the undersigned, a trait inherited from our mother's side of the family.  Legend also says that one of Mom's ancestors was Lord Beaverbrook, who had a fairly large library in Frederickton, New Brunswick, Canada.

And that will do it for now.  In the meantime may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Tomorrow there will be another Daily Thought message for you to ponder.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul