A Bible Story

A couple of days ago I went to pick up a new chair that someone gave to us. We still have some furniture that is 36 years old from when we got married, including a sleeper sofa. However, in general, we are always looking to upgrade if something is available. The friend who was giving us the chair was not home. She told me the chair was in the garage and two pillows for it were in her home, both of which were unlocked. When I went in the house to get the pillows I saw a Bible on the table. It was a month earlier that she told me we could have the chair, so I know she had not set the Bible out to make her pastor think she was reading it. Going to get the chair was a last minute decision. She had obviously been reading it.

I want to tell you a Bible story. The Bible has the name, “Carol Browning” printed on the front of it. It is no longer Carol Browning’s Bible. When I was the pastor back at Mason UMC (I left there in 2013), Carol gave me the Bible. I do not remember how she came to have it extra, but she did. It was a study Bible and she gave it to me. I used it some, but it was not my main Bible. I write in my main Bible and had not written in this one. Seven or eight years ago this friend who goes to Wesley Chapel here in Short Gap mentioned wanting a nice study Bible. I said, “I happen to have one if you do not mind the name of one of the saints of the church I have met along my journey on the front of it.” This friend said she would be honored to have the Bible with Carol’s name on it. So since 2014-2015, this Bible has been helping to form this Believer who is now the next generation of Saints.

It did my heart good to see that Bible on the table. It reminds me that God has a purpose for everything. There is nothing He does not have a purpose for. When Carol gave me that Bible in Mason County, God knew He was going to send it to Mineral County on a U-Haul. He knows what He is going to do with every pain, every dry season, every loss, every apparent defeat… everything. This is a good word for all of us who have felt like we have been wandering in the desert for the last couple of years through Covid, or for whatever it is that you are going through. God has a plan and He is doing something to fulfill His plan, for His glory and for our good. Amen.