Today was the day to get the board out of mothballs.
I think I'm maybe fit enough to catch a few waves again. We'll see.
As I prepare to get back into surfing this summer, I'm reminded of a year that completely changed my life. It was the summer of 1968. I was 16. I can recall it as though it happened yesterday. That was the year I fell in love with the Bible. Not that I didn't love the Bible before that. I had been a child of God since I was 8. And from the beginning I had a Bible that I read often -- an old Scofield King James. But I admit I was a fairly reluctant Bible reader. And I never studied it. I never dug deep for myself. For that, I depended on pastors and Bible teachers.
Then one day, the Bible became a part of my life. I couldn't put it down. And through it, God began to teach me about his plan for my life. His plans included illness as much as health. His plans included threatening times as well as comforting times. They included unpleasant times as well as times of great joy and rejoicing that I didn't deserve. I began to understand that God's sovereignty was something to embrace, something that holds you and gives you peace and takes away your worries and cares. Even at 16, I knew that he was putting my life together and that my need was to fit into what he was doing.
This didn't mean that from time that forward I lived happily ever after. You wouldn't believe the testing I went through after I arrived at Biola and they led right on into more in the years ahead. If I had not believed that the Bible was the very word of God, and that everything it said was true, I would never have stayed in school. But through the Scriptures, God reminded me that he's always in charge. He is full of surprises, and it's not possible to guess ahead at what he's doing and where he's leading and what his plan includes. The good health I enjoy today might be gone tomorrow. The classes I teach might no longer be offered. The days of world travel might come to an end. But I'm not in charge. He is. The Bible assures me that he will lead me in the way I should go.
For me, the Bible is not just a historical textbook. It's not just another analyzable datum of scholarly investigation. Nor is it a rigid rule book. The Bible is the living, breathing word of God that serves as a direct pipeline to knowing and experiencing God. It fundamentally shapes our identity, offers active spiritual comfort, and anchors our lives in unchanging truth. Martin Luther said, "The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold of me." John Calvin wrote, "Scripture is the school of the Holy Spirit, in which, as nothing is omitted that is both necessary and useful to know, so nothing is taught but what is expedient to know." But maybe the best quote of all belongs to Charles Haddon Spurgeon: "Visit many good books, but live in the Bible."
The Bible is a true "home" where we can safely dwell, rest, and find permanent nourishment. It is God's personal invitation to bring us into a relationship with him and keep us there.