Dust collector....

Psalms 119:16 (HCSB) -  "I will delight in Your statutes; I will not forget [neglect] Your word."

I was recently at a church meeting with about 35 people or so in attendance.  The speaker used Psalms 119.9-16 has his reference.  "How can a young man keep his way pure, by keeping Your Word."  His message was basically about how the Word should be an integral part of our lives as believers.  What was interesting, however, was that only a handful of the people there actually had their bibles.

I must admit at first I found it a little embarrassing, then I got "righteously indignant".  A church meeting, with a guest speaker, and only a few people thought it important to bring their bible?(!)  I couldn't believe it.

As the speaker went through his message he made references to a bible sitting on a shelf or on a night stand somewhere.  Just sitting, never being opened.  It was just sitting there that night, at home, just like every other night - neglected.

Chris Christian was a Christian Artist back in the 70's.  One of his more popular songs was "We've Got to Get Back to the Bible".  The gist of the song was that instead of just reading books about the Bible, we need to "READ THE BIBLE".  What a concept!

So I realized the very first thing to do in "fixing the Quiet Time"....how about "Redefining the Quiet Time"...sounds better....is we have to fall back in love with the Word of God.

That is my prayer tonight....

Wagman out

P. S. - I heard Dr. Tony Evans say one day that "people who have Bibles that are falling apart probably have lives that aren't".

Whatever happened to....

Wow!  I have a blog.  The guy who in high school once got a better grade in Spanish than he did in English.  But here goes anyway....

I got saved at the age of 15.  Didn't go to church a lot before then, but we went occasionally (thank you spell checker) and I had some "religious experiences" before then;  however, at 15 I finally got it.

Pretty much from day one I was blessed with spiritual mentors in my life (John Vermillion, David Ewing, Tim Hall, Tom Hall).  These gentlemen have taught with words and deeds what it means to be a "disciple of Christ".  I guess that is why Christian Discipleship has always been where my heart is.  I understand that means different things to different people, but I hope the goal is the same - "to live a life pleasing to our Heavenly Father".

John and David were my first "Paul's".  They taught me who, what, how, etc. of the Spiritual Disciplines - including the dreaded Quiet Time.  Although I have gone through periods of the last 30+ years where that didn't happen, I have practiced that discipline more than I have not practiced it.  Which leads me to my subject this evening.

In the late 70's and early 80's the Quiet Time was all the rage.  "How was your Quiet Time?" replaced "greeting your brother with a holy kiss" (thankfully).  Then all of a sudden it got hard to do (that is why it is called a discipline), someone decided it was legalistic (which is French for 'I don't want to do it and I don't want to be judge because of it so I will throw out a psuedo spiritual reason'), or I don't have time.  Then it was gone.  Mentioned only a few times a year has part of our daily walk.  So the question is, "Whatever happened to the Quiet Time?"  Does the concept (at least the way I was taught) have issues?  Absolutely!  So instead of fixing it, we have thrown it away!

So my goal is to fix it.....stay tuned......