By Rev. J. Pete Hyde
Before the sun is even thinking about coming up, it finds its way to the driveway. All alone and exposed, it lies in the scary darkness waiting to be noticed and picked up. It shivers against cold concrete. Its light outer covering is barely any protection from the relentless early morning rain. Sometimes its covering is not enough to keep the cold moisture from soaking through to its very center.
It watches as the garbage truck makes its rounds through the neighborhood about 6 am. Unable to move, it just waits patiently. As dawn begins to lighten the night, it is confident it can’t be much longer. It hears the door of the house open and footsteps approaching. A hand reaches down and grabs the corner of his covering and lifts it in the air while shaking it vigorously to rid it of the remaining raindrops.
Inside the warm house it is laid on the table next to some great smelling breakfast. If it could talk, it would say “I am finally getting to fulfill my purpose.” The hand turns its pages as it reveals information about the world, the state of the government, local events, and which merchants are discounting their merchandise this week. 15-20 minutes pass and it is folded up and laid in a pile with its older brothers and sisters and quickly forgotten.
Like clockwork the routine will repeat itself each morning until the entire family is placed in a paper bag and taken to a huge metal trailer and rudely dumped together with rest of the extended and now useless family.
It lies on the table next to the pile of newspapers religiously read each morning. Its ornate leather covering is far superior to the thin plastic coverings of its very distant cousins. It sits there patiently twenty-four hours a day waiting to be noticed. Every once in awhile it is opened with a creak of it’s binding to the very middle. There are recorded significant events of the household. Sometimes there is joy in the face of the recorder. Sometimes teardrops fall and wrinkle the gilded pages. If it could it talk, it would say, “I am important enough for you to record important events, but my pages are never read or even scanned. My distant cousins are read daily and discarded. I contain news of life.”
Another week goes by and another pile of daily papers is stacked and hauled away on cleaning day. It still sits on the table watching the comings and goings of the household.
One day a new set of hands picks it up. It hasn’t been picked up in years. “Could this be the day?”
A young voice says, “What are we going to do with this old Bible?” “Just put in a box with the rest of the books. Wrap it in some of the newspaper stacked next to it. We should have helped mom clean all this up after dad died.” The lid closes on the box and it sits in darkness.
How many of us spend more time reading the paper than we do the Bible? Yes, the newspaper contains the news of the world. But, the Bible contains the Word of God – the GOOD NEWS. Take a few moments each day this week to pick up your Bible and read few verses. I know you are busy. But you have time to read the paper. Have a great week.
Rev. J. Pete Hyde, Senior Pastor Santa Rosa Beach Community Church
850-267-2599; srbcc.com
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