Zeke, home with me last night and they REALLY wanted to go to Vanguard house
church. After they asked me for the 10th time and we really didn't have other
plans I decided that perhaps we ought to go. So, off we drove to go be a part of
another community of believers in the Edison neighborhood (the downtown/inner
city part of K-zoo). My dear friend, Holly Platte, cooked ALL the food to feed
around 30 people. Her son had spent the night at my home and when I dropped him
off at 11:30ish she had already gone shopping and begun the cooking ( and she
does this every other week....AMAZING!) When we arrived there at 6pm. we
were greeted with this scrumptious table of chicken and rice, corn on the
cob, watermelon, sweet peas in the pod, cookies AND cookie DOUGH. Many people of
the neighborhood, people who might never be a part of a church had it not been
for VanGuard, sat around the tables chatting and laughing enjoying the food and
company. There were many things about this evening that made it wonderful for me
but there were 2 things I would love to share with you.
After dinner, the kids left to go do their thing and the adults sat around
discussing James 3. I sat back and took in everything that was said in the
discussion about "Taming the tongue," and being very, very careful about the
words we say. I was relishing every moment of observing these precious people
interact with the Words of God. After reading, "Out of the same mouth come
praise and cursing. My Brothers, this should not be," one of the men said, "I
never noticed this before. This should be highlighted in purple. It's like He is
saying, ' This is how it should be and this is how it shouldn't be.' " Then the
words came that made me want to shout the BIGGEST AMEN!!! This guy, Terry, who I
learned has come from a very rough past and has recently become TRANSFORMED
through the word of God, said,
"The whole Bible should be highlighted in purple."
I AGREE! I AGREE! I AGREE! I AGEE!
All throughout Scripture God and Jesus are using the terminology, "Listen", "Pay
attention to this," "Above all else," "Be careful...." "I tell you the TRUTH,"
"ALL SCRIPTURE is God breathed and is USEFUL for teaching, rebuking, correcting,
and training in righteousness...." 2 Timothy 3:16
God desires each one of us to take His words soooooo seriously as if EVERY
SINGLE WORD was highlighted in PURPLE ( I don't think the man who said this even
thought about the color purple, although maybe he did, but that is the ROYAL
color, the color of a KING) and meant to be taken SERIOUSLY. He has the key to
life, to REAL life...to joy, peace, love, everything good and beautiful, right
and worth anything. God says in Isaiah 48:18;
"If only YOU had PAID ATTENTION to MY COMMANDS, your peace would have been like
a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea."
At the end of our time together, this same man who said this verse should be
highlighted in purple, thanked God for His Words and said of them, "They bring
such joy and delight to my heart." I wonder if he was quoting Jeremiah who said,
"When your words came, I ate them; they were MY JOY and MY HEART'S DELIGHT."
Jeremiah 15:16
or I wonder if he is just a man LIKE Jeremiah, a man like you or I who have
"Tasted and seen that the Lord (and His words) is GOOD." Psalm 34:8
May I encourage you to highlight EVERYTHING in your Bible the color purple (not
really). I do encourage you, however, to take God's words seriously. He has
given them to us to bring us the most abundant life here on earth. Ask yourself
if God's words are your joy and your delight? Oh..because He wants them to be.
He loves you sooooooo much.....more than you and I can quite grasp.
Blessings from Bombadil. Kristy Link
"I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so
that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on
account of me." Phillipians 1:25 & 26
