The Bible

The Bible is a love story, said Roma Downey, of Touched by an Angel fame. I agree and based on Mark Burnett’s and his wife’s, (Roma Downey) biggest challenge, that of putting the Bible into five two-hour episodes, they have done that and more! Though I have only seen the first two hours I have come to the same conclusion that the entire Bible is truly a love story and look forward to seeing the rest of the episodes. I decided to write about this in my blog because I want to encourage you to watch it too. You’ll be starting at Joshua’s taking down of the city of Jericho and you will have missed the stories of Abraham and Moses so I hope that you will get the chance to see the first two- hour episodes too.

You can see The Bible on your History channel next Sunday, March 10. Look for the time but it should be in the evening. I hope many of you have already seen the first two episodes. I have heard people say God is not a loving God because he had all the people drown in the story of Noah and he had Abraham sacrifice his son, but he had all the wicked people drown and he didn’t allowAbraham to kill his son. He wanted to test Abraham’s faith.

I saw Jesus in both of these stories. In having all the wicked people drown I saw that those who refuse to accept the fact that Jesus died for their sins and rose again will again be lost and those who do accept will be saved, not in a boat but in heaven. Abraham was told by God that he must sacrifice his only son. Just in time he didn’t but sacrificed the lamb that appeared nearby. This told of Jesus death. Jesus was God’s own son that he allowed to be killed for the sake of all of us. If we look at both of those stories we will see God’s love story.

The Bible shows the good and the evil sides of mankind and the redemption of evil to good. Look for this in each of the stories as Mark Burnett and Roma Downey have portrayed them.

“It felt like a call” said Mark Burnett In a Guideposts article. “I couldn’t get it out of my head, as though the Holy Spirit was saying “Yes, Mark, Yes.”

Mark Burnett is best known for the two TV programs he is producing, Survivor and The Voice. “This time it would be with a project that gave back to God for all my many blessings,” he wrote in Guideposts Magazine.

I hope I have whetted your interest and that you will watch The Bible on Sunday March 10th. You will not be sorry. I believe this is just what we need at this hour in our country.

How I Managed Without Speaking

I read an article in Guideposts the other day that told about a man who couldn’t talk for 7 weeks and it brought to me a memory of the time I couldn’t talk. I decided you might want to read about this.

I was just starting my new career after my husband died suddenly of a heart attack while he was still in his 30’s. At that time I had three children, Jim was 13, JoAnne 10 and Ron 4. My new career was as a Parish Worker at a Vancouver, Washington church. The work consisted of visitation, teaching, youth work and I directed 3 choirs. All had to do with my voice.

The work was progressing nicely and the children and I were developing a pretty good schedule as a single parent family, but I was noticing a hoarseness in my voice that was getting worse every day.

I finally went to the doctor who told me I needed an operation to remove a polyp, a growth in the lining of my throat.

“Will my voice be okay after you operate?” I asked knowing my job description needed my voice, plus my three children would operate better if I could talk! And I did want to sing.

“You will be okay after 6 or 7 weeks starting today with your beginning preparation for the surgery. But you must not talk at all during that time,” was his reply.

How on earth will I ever manage that? I thought on my way home. I prayed that God would make all things work out and He did! I told the kids they would have to answer me like puppy dogs with a whistle and I bought a pretty loud whistle and tied it around my neck. Ronnie would come running if I blew it only once. JoAnne answered to 2 blasts and Jim answered to 3. Besides what I wrote in a notebook, we managed pretty well.

My whistle worked pretty well at work too. When my choir members didn’t pay attention to their orders which were written down for them, I’d give them a blast of my whistle and things would get better. A choir mother helped quite a bit too. But my visitations proved to be harder. It would do no good to blow my whistle when I came to a new family home! I had things printed up for me but for that time I visited with only members of our church and I used a notebook and pen to talk to them.

I was extremely happy the day the doctor told me I could talk again! And I could sing too just the way I did before.
I knew then that God was with me every step of the way. Sure, I had to be a non quitter too, but that is something we all have to do, no matter what happens in our lives. Are you a non-quitter?