Member-only story
(A Letter To Erin)
Christmas Eve, 2003
Erin,
Tonight I watched you open some Christmas presents. One of them was a new Bible. I watched you smile and hold the Word of God with joy. It was a wonderful sight! I love watching people handle God’s Word with tenderness, respect, and familiarity.
In the conversation that followed, I learned that you have not yet had the pleasure of reading the entire Bible through, from beginning to end, both Old and New Testaments. So, as I drove home this evening, I knew that I would write you this letter to encourage you to read it completely during the coming year.
Of course, if I’m going to be a credible persuader, it is first necessary that I establish my qualifications to address the subject. Yes, I have read the Bible from cover to cover myself; many times. I used to keep track of how many times I read it, but a number of years ago I lost count. To some degree, I lost count on purpose. I felt guilty about keeping count, because I knew my counting stemmed from a certain spiritual pride. I used to find ways (which I thought were clever) to work it into the conversation with my Christian friends: “I’ve read the entire Bible. So far, I’ve read the Old Testament six times and the New Testament nine times.” You know, that sort of thing. When I realized what I was…