To my recollection, I have only ever set one multi-decade goal, and I set it as a young teen.

I was reading a biography of the missionary Hudson Taylor authored by his son and daughter-in-law and read where they related that near the end of his life he finished reading his Bible one morning and, closing it, said, “That’s forty times through in forty years.”

The incident resonated so deeply that I still remember where I was when I read it. Something inside of me said, “I want to be able to say that forty years from now.”

As I remember, I was just finishing my first read through the Bible. Equipped with this newly-defined, long-range goal, I finished that first time through, noted the date in the back of my Bible, and began again the next day. Continue reading →

Twenty years ago, when I first began reading through my Bible in a purposeful way, with a commitment to myself to read through annually, I had no idea how significantly God would bless me through the pages of His Word.

Yesterday, however, as I completed my annual journey and recorded the date in the back of my Bible, I looked at the previous dates already recorded there, and I began to reflect on some of the events that had taken place during those years. 

These weren’t all easy years. 

Some were full of joy and others full of challenge. Some were downright tumultuous. 

But through the ups and downs, joys and sorrows of these years, I have had an anchor.  Continue reading →

Sometimes we say things because they sound good. Or because they seemed true when we viewed them through a given lens.

I did that once. Okay, I’ve done it lots of times. But there is one time in particular I’m remembering now.

I was teaching a lesson on Bible reading, and I repeated something I had heard someone else say. He had said that he had never met a teenager who had significant personal struggles who was regularly reading the Bible in a personal way on a daily basis. He had counseled a lot of teenagers, so I didn’t mind repeating him. And I even gave him credit for the quote, which turned out to be a good thing. Continue reading →

I don’t generally read my Bible standing in the stall of a public restroom, but I did on one occasion.

I was in sixth grade, and my family was at a conference at Park Meadows Baptist Church (a church that would later become our church home). After one of the sessions, I asked Pastor Davis to sign my Bible. He did, and when he handed it back to me, he said, “And the verse is for you.”

My Bible had many signatures in the front flyleaf. Many of those signatures had Scripture references with them—presumably the life verses of the signers. Sometimes when I was bored, I would even look up some of the references. But, to that point, no one had told me the verse was for me.

Suddenly, I sensed an urgency to know what this verse said. I thanked Pastor Davis, tucked my Bible under my arm, and made my way to privacy—the ladies room!

Without even looking, I still remember what verse it was: Continue reading →