When I was 5 years old I opened the door to my father’s office. He had a small office on the other side of the living room. I wasn’t in school yet and was told that the offfice was “hands off”. But I liked to go in there anyway.
This day, as I opened the door, I watched as I saw my dad doing something I had never witnessed him do. He was on his knees with his eyes closed and his hands folded together. I learned later that he was praying. For 10 minutes he just knelt in silent prayer. As I observed I could almost feel the presence of someone else in this very room.
Later that day I peeked into his office again and this time he was sitting on a table in deep concentration studying a huge black book. He was so deep in thought that he didn’t even notice I was there. After what seemed an eternity, he looked up at me and smiled. “What you doing, Dad?” I asked. He smiled and motioned me over. I relaxed. He had his warm dad face on and not his strict father face. I ran to his side and he said, “I’m reading the Bible. Do you want me to read to you?”
I sat in his lap and he turned towards the back of this big black book and read the story of Jesus letting the children come to him.
Later that week he brought me a gift. A Bible of my own. I couldn’t read it yet, but, I just loved to carry that little black book around (it was one of those Gideon Bibles for kids). Later, as I started to learn to read I would again sneak into his office and turn to that same passage and read it for myself.
I was fascinated with the Bible. I couldn’t get enough of it. My piano teacher, Mrs. Hilton, noticed and signed me up for a mail-in Bible memory class. I’d get a verse in the mail. Memorize it. And then have my mother sign off when I had it memorized. I’d mail it in and a week or two later I’d get a prize and another Bible verse. I was fascinated by the Bible. I was curious as a cat!
I read a description of a 21st century disciple the other day and in the description they used this phrase among others: “a 21st century disciple doesn’t have to belive that the Bible is the inerrent word of God, but they do need to cultivate a child-like fascination for the Bible. A disciple stays curious!”
Hmm. Makes you think doesn’t it?
As I look back at my faith journey—- the times I seemed the most alive with God’s presence were also times when I held a fascination for the Bible.
Hmm. Maybe it’s time to turn off my adult-like mind and try again to come to this book with the same curiousity I had when I was five, and 7, and 13, and 26, and 37….
Your friend and pastor, pondering on ways I can stay curious, Brook
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