Temple Baptist Life

Recently our youth group was given a fresh way of looking at the Bible. It happened at Acquire The Fire. It was a video clip that only lasted a few minutes but had incredible power to what the bible is.

As the lights dimmed in the auditorium, the sound of warfare grew loud. Machine gun fire and explosions filled the air and on the screen we could see a soldier in the midst of battle in the middle of a city. Smoke was all around him and bricks and debris were falling with each explosion. The soldier was wearing full body armor and a helmet so we never could see his face. As he was advancing through the streets firing back at the enemy a nearby blast knocks him down and he stumbles through a doorway of a building to find temporary shelter. He reaches down to his chest and we see blood on his hand were he touched chest. We realize he is wounded and the soldier reaches into his pocket and pulls out a journal and opens it up to the next blank page. He begins writing.

We here the words the soldier is writing. “Though we will not be able to see each other face to face, know my child that I will be with you always. Every day you will be in my thoughts. My love for you is greater than you will ever know. I will be with you always.” With the final entry the soldier reaches into his pocket and pulls out a picture and places it in the journal. His head then slumps over.

A short time later a squadron of soldiers comes through the door and finds the soldier. One of them checks his pulse and we realize the soldier has died. The journal is opened and we see the picture is an ultrasound picture of an unborn baby and we then realize why the father had never met the child.

As the video clip ends the lights come back on and Ron Luce begins to speak. He states “If this was your father, can you imagine how you would feel if a relative came to you once you were a teenager and said they had a gift for you. They waited until you were old enough to understand and appreciate the importance of it. They give you the journal and tell you that your father began writing this journal knowing that you would one day be born. He wrote in it every day and it is overflowing with the love he has for you. The journal is filled with everything your father wanted you to know. It tells you who he is, who you are, and how to live your life.”
Ron asked, “Wouldn’t this be a gift that is more valuable than any other gift you could ever receive? Wouldn’t you treasure this gift and read from cover to cover? This is the very gift that your heavenly father has given you in the Bible. “

What a powerful way of thinking of the bible. Truly it is a great gift that we all should treasure. Through several authors God has written a journal of the things he wanted us to know. I realize that God didn’t write this for all of humanity but had me in mind and wrote it just for me. He had you in mind and wrote it just for you also. I hope and pray that we learn to treasure it as God had intended.