BERNARD SHUFORD

Looks like I’m not alone in my disappointment with Thomas Nelson’s Bibles.  I do really like my King James Study Bible, but not the fact that the pages come out very easily.  Seems like a few years ago (mine is about 8 years old) they must have had some difficulties.  Don’t know if they used a cheap glue, or what.

NOTE – I posted my situation in the comments above and received an offer from Mr. Hyatt within 10 minutes to replace the Bible.  That’s exceptionally good service for a Saturday morning, especially since I wasn’t even thinking of any such thing.  I’m impressed and pleased.

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As I write this, I’m sipping a cup of Yuban organic coffee.  Whatever that is.  It’s good, much better than the stuff I usually grab at the convenience store on the way to work.  (That stuff isn’t half bad, for convenience store coffee, though.)

But I have a problem.

I love coffee, but I still have a weakness for sucrose.  I’ve gone through spells of drinking coffee black in an effort to establish my manhood, but I always fall back on the crystalline improvement.  It just goes down better for me.

Maybe someday I’ll wean myself, but who knows.

Sometimes the Bible is like that for me.  It just goes down better if we add a little something to it.  Now, I know that there’s a Scriptural command to not do that, and I need to establish that I’m talking about something a little different.  I’m really referring to our tendency to let somebody else read the Bible and do the hard work of studying it for us.

It’s easier to read ABOUT the Bible, for me, than it is to read the Bible.  Makes it a little easier to swallow.  I don’t have to endure the bitter parts.  It adds a flavor that appeals to me.  I can appear to be a real Bible student without having to ever actually be one.

I don’t at all mean to imply that we shouldn’t read writings about the Bible.

But I do want to make sure I’m actually more concerned about GOD’S Word than I am about what a given commentator thinks about God’s word.

Let’s lose the sugar.

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So, it’s Friday night before Valentine’s Day, and we’re sitting here staring at three inches of new white stuff.  It’s not whipped cream, either.

I’m absolutely sick of snow, but it keeps coming.  I dread reading the Weather Underground email every morning, because it seems to always indicate snow within the next week.  There seems to be no relief.

While I know we have an absolute breeze compared to the monstrous events in Washington, DC, in the past weeks, it still takes some “getting used to”.  Our schedule is subject to much more variation than we typically encounter.  Basketball games are being rescheduled, church service variations are being discussed, community college events are canceled, and the thought of living without electricity is continually in the back of my mind.

Sin is like snow.

That’s not to say that snow is sinful, nor to say that sin is pure.  Or even white.

But sin just keeps coming.  We can’t stop the temptations any more than we can stop the snow.

But we can prepare.  We can study the Word to use it as a defensive tool, and we can pray desperate prayers to connect with God in a way that helps us be strong.  Store up for the tough times.

The Christian forecast – 100% chance of temptation.  Sin Storm Advisory until the resurrection.  Always carry a Survival Kit in your car.

Be prepared.

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Interesting choice of language by Paul in 2 Timothy 4:3.  “Itching ears…”

When my ears itch, it drives me to insanity until I find a solution.  Something to soothe, something to comfort.

Still trying to break down what this means. We all tend to look for an answer that makes us feel comfortable, and even more so after we become Christians.  The initial decision to become a Christian requires a huge crisis of faith, but after that, we can respond in “the easiest” way, if we’re not careful.

It’s still an interesting piece of language, the more I think about it.

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I like to write the date at the top of a chapter in my KJV Study Bible when I read it.

A lot of chapters have multiple dates.  I’ve been doing this for a long time, but there have been a lot of times where I’ve used different Bibles, or I’ve neglected the practice, or I’ve simply not been reading the Bible enough.  Uggh.

There are also a LOT of chapters that don’t have a date.  Yet.

I’m working to knock off as many of those chapters as possible, but not just in a dutiful sense.  I want to really see what is in those chapters.

How do YOU spur yourself to read “cover to cover”?  Sequential reading plans don’t seem to work for me.

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