Picking Through Fossils

Picking Through Fossils

Psalm 104:24 KJV

Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.

   The boy did not want to go on the science field trip.  Field trips were always boring.  Science field trips were the most boring.  Today’s trip was going to an archeological site to climb around on rocks and look for fossils of animals dead a long time.  Big deal!  Nothing interested the boy less.

   Then, something surprising happened.  The boy was the first one in his group to find a real, genuine fossil.  He held the rock in his hands and traced the fragile trilobite fossil with his finger.  No one really knows how old this was, and there are no trilobites alive in the world today.  He was enthralled by the sight, and a new love was born in the boy’s heart.  He saw the earth as a treasure house of wonders too magnificent to understand.

   I remember sitting in church as a boy listening to preachers and teachers droning on about dead people and things that happened long ago and far away.  Big deal!  What did this have to do with me, anyway?  I saw the Bible as a dead, dusty book full of stories from, “long, long ago.” 

   My attention was elsewhere.  America was in a race to space with the Soviets and there were many other exciting things happening in the world around me.  Who cared what Moses said; I wanted to know what Kennedy said! 

   I felt studying the Bible was as exciting as picking through fossils.  Then something wonderful happened.  My teacher started to teach the Bible as a book of people, real people.  People like you and me who faced real life situations and had real life decisions to make.  And I made a connection.  I fingered the Bible I held in my hand and traced the life of Elijah, and then the life of Elisha.  They were the first two people to come alive before my eyes.  They went from fossils to people.  They went from dry and dusty names to vibrant characters. 

   Have you discovered the joy of reading the Bible?  Pick a story or a character and trace from the account from beginning to end.  If you think as I did that the Bible is a moldy oldie and not worth your time, then I beg you to try it just once.  If the life of Joseph or the story of Esther doesn’t excite you, you’re either dead or comatose.  Run your fingers over the texture of the stories and let these dead people speak to you.  Their lives were recorded to give you direction.  Learn from them.

Stephen Cram                                      October 5, 2014                                            

Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, following the tradition of men according to the rudiments of the world, and not in accordance with Christ. 

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is from the New King James Version of the Bible.