His first words to me?
"Did y'all eat yet?"
Over the following nine months + six days, we became the closest of friends.
{Maybe I'll share the whole story one day.}
Know this, I loved him first.
Know this, he stalked me.
He hid in the forest watching me to & from my car to know just the right moment to pop out and say hi.
He read my little MySpace "blog." (Always writing.)
He observed my life really, really well.
You can ask him if you'd like, but for the sake of this post, I'm gonna say that one of the tipping points that put him over the very risky edge of asking me to officially be his girl on November 10, 2005 was this one little rather inconsistent habit I
I read my Bible.
This may not sound that crazy or counter-cultural to you.
It may have been part of your upbringing, your every day.
But that's just not my story.
What may surprise you is that I grew up going to church since I was born. {I'm guessing my mama waited a month or so before taking me to church because, well, that's the kind of mama she is. [Consequently, the kind I am too.] She rules.} Anyway, yeah, I've been going to church for a mad long time.
I distinctly remember starting to read Genesis in my Precious Moments King James version of the Bible {Dear Precious Moments, why the King James for kids? I do not understand. I will not again attempt King James until age 35 at least.} Yes, my neighbor, Tyler, sister Calley, and Mama were waiting in line at the Burger King because we were craving salty fries. It was a Wednesday night post-G.A.s, third grade version of Ashley. I think she made it through Genesis 6.
I was heavily involved in two different youth groups throughout my teenage years. I was clinically depressed, parents yo-yo-ing between together and separate. (Note: God uses every little thing for good. Praise Him!) I was deeply entrenched in sin. Deeply. And while I am certain that many encouraged me to open my Bible for encouragement - to experience victorious living, to literally participate in the divine (as a teenager ... what!!!?) & escape the sin/depression that was currently weighing down my entire existence (2 Peter 1:4) - I also know that no one ever sat me down and showed me how to read the Bible.
I knew that this book was so full of good stuff.
I listened to sermons.
I knew a few right answers.
But I did not read my Bible.
I, therefore, did not know what it was to walk in Victory.
I also did not regularly hear from God.
Approximately eight months after the end of the darkest phase of my life (high school), I met Josh.
I also met a group of people at my college who were interested in having the right faith practices.
Reading the Bible was one of them, so I decided to give it a try.
Still having no example, and not much help/accountability.
So, I started reading a book (?????) by Beth Moore.
I was called To Live is Christ and it chronicles the life of Paul through the book of Acts.
For about two months, I read this book and highlighted almost every word of Acts in orange highlighter.
(Acts became my favorite book in the world and, after reading the whole of the Scriptures, it still is!)
Still, my time in the Scriptures would be sporadic and my reading largely guided by the emotional state of being on a particular day. {My emotions were a no-good guide because during these years, I failed every college class I took and was coming to terms with the sinful patterns in my life that God would use His Spirit and my Bible to break. I needed to carve out reading space even when I wasn't feeling it.}
Fast forward to Spring of 2007, I passed all of my college classes (two semesters straight ... all A's and one C {darn algebra}). I also met a young woman named Corby who changed my life forever. She taught me how to read my Bible.
Now y'all, I knew how to read.
I actually consider myself a voracious reader.
I read fast. I read hard. I read well.
But reading my Bible was a different kind of reading. It was spiritual work.
It took discipline and guts to do it everyday.
Corby (a nurse) decided that it was a great idea to meet my friend Mandy and me (two college students) every morning at 5 a.m. to enter into the habit of daily Bible reading.
We met at the campus housing (where Mandy lived) lounge. I lived in Pooler (only a 20 minute drive at 5 a.m.). I was late every. single. day. But y'all, I started reading my Bible and a really weird thing happened: I didn't get tired; I got free.
I traveled to China during the summer of 2007 to teach English, to pray, and to share God's love/grace/mercy in my daily encounters. I described my daily ritual to my travel buddies as "my semi-legalistic Bible reading routine." Reading my Bible was not yet woven into the fabric of my day. I was still weaving. Reading was still work.
But soon enough, I discovered that I couldn't wait to open the pages of that worn NIV navy blue pocket Bible. I like to describe my reading time as God's method for getting me in and out the weather. Without it, I'd literally be standing outside knee-deep in the March Michigan snow without my clothes on.
In time, my handsome boyfriend became a Bible junkie also. And now, he wakes before the sun to spend a good hour with Jesus and coffee {worn NIV navy blue pocket Bible in hand} before heading into the high school hallway where he makes our living.
He's such a stud that he developed a super helpful acronym to remind us how to read the Bible.
How? Isn't it simple, Ashley?
Yes, and this is the simplest illustration ever.
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| Photo by my awesome friend, Hannah. |
We are very spiritually hungry also. More so than we realize. God has made us that way so that we'd come to Him every. single. day. Just as the Israelites wandering in the desert had to collect manna each and every day, we also have to open our Bibles regularly. In other words, we cannot give ourselves a seven-hour Bible sesh once a week and expect our hunger to be satisfied. Our spiritual tummies rumble daily also.
B- Begin with prayer. This is a super simple practice for me. Each day I begin by reading my daily devotion from Jesus Calling. I cannot say it enough: BUY THIS BOOK! Sarah Young writes the things she hears from Jesus down for us to enjoy. I find that the practice of reading my devotion first puts me in an attitude of prayer. In other words, an attitude of humbly accepting the words God says to me. I then follow the example of King David (see Psalm 119 for examples) and ask God to speak and that I would listen. Simple.
R- Read the Bible. I love books, y'all. I read a lot of them. Some days I am even tempted to read another "spiritual" text about the Bible in lieu of the Bible. I fight the temptation because there is no other book that boasts the same usefulness: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16, 17). There are numerous other verses that promise the Bible will change your life. Read it and find out!
E- Examine what is says. HOWEVER (and it's a big however), we cannot just open the book, read it, close it and expect life change. The Bible doesn't work that way. We must think intelligently about what we've read. It's my daily practice to write about my reading in my journal. It also helps to talk about it with others (or with yourself - I fully believe in embracing crazy). We must live with the words God has given us. Joshua 1:8 says, "Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful."
A- Apply it to you life. "So that you may be careful to do ..." A wise man once told me, "Your Bible study is not intended to make you smarter. It's intended to change your life." If we come away from reading the Word of God daily and our life is not shifted in massively strange ways, quote me on this: We are doing something wrong. One of my touchstone verses for my life is James 1:22: Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. If I am not taking action steps after my Bible reading, I am the same as a non-believer: I am deceived. A true believer's life should be changing. Daily. Every time we open His Book.
D- Do it everyday. May we not be the kind of people who live off of yesterday's "quiet time."
It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees. Deuteronomy 17:19
God had this daily expectation of the king of Israel. I say, if it's right for the king (one desperate for wisdom in how to rule his tribe with excellence - sounds familiar as a mama), it's certainly right for me.
May I (and you) always ask at the end of any solid teaching/method/tool: What does this have to do with Jesus? So often we read all the books, implement all the strategies, and forget about Him.
Fortunately (for the sake of this post), Jesus is very interested in Bible reading, very interested in bread.
In fact, Jesus Himself says He is bread.
Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." (John 6:35)
He didn't stop there. In true Jesus fashion, He assigns a sort of offensive and grotesque task.
"Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever." (John 6:57, 58)
Jesus asked His followers to eat Him. Many stopped following Him that day, but a precious few understood Him. Simon Peter was among the few.
Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God." (John 6:68, 69)
Oh friends, if we claim to follow Jesus, we must eat the bread of His Word daily {often, so very often hard to swallow}. The words in my Bible testify about Jesus (John 5:39). May we come to them each day that we may know and follow Jesus. Amen!
My husband's first words to me have taken on new meaning.
Dear friends, did y'all eat yet today??
{Many, many more thoughts - practical & spiritual - coming on Bible reading. Stay tuned. Love, Ash.}
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