Day 2 – Thankful For God’s Word

This is part of a series called 24 Days of Thankfulness. These posts are in RANDOM order, NOT priority order. Each is something I am thankful for leading up to Thanksgiving.

DAY #2: God’s Word

I have loved God’s Word since childhood. I remember being encouraged to mark up my Bible as a boy with underlines and highlights and I got so carried away with it, even illustrating it with stick figure drawings of the stories that my dad once commented, “Karl, it will be easier if you just highlighted the stuff you didn’t like.”

I am thankful as well to teachers like Helen Reed and Margret Bramble and Charlie Hann and my Aunt Linda (and of course my parents) who made learning fun as well as challenging so that the Word of God was always relevant to my life.

When I turned twelve and became a man (I was never a teenager, but that’s a post for another time) my dad presented me with a Thompson Chain Reference Bible and said now I was ready for a Man’s Bible. I was in awe! 25% of the Bible was study tools, and there were linked chains of references on every imaginable topic you could follow all through Scripture! I followed each and every one, highlighting as I went. Now, writing DiscipleTown is such a toy as I bathe the curriculum in Scripture because I know the Word forward and backward because of the vast hours I spent in the Bible as a young man.

When I got to Bible college I was shocked to discover the Bible was such a strange and mysterious book to many of my fellow students when I had to sit through “intro” classes.

I beg you – don’t let the Bible be just verses in a PowerPoint to your students. Let it be a book your students STUDY and fall in love with, as it has the power to change their lives!

Let me also add, I am thankful for Awana, as it also played a key role in my love for the Word of God as I memorized countless verses to earn awards. For those who are against “rewards’ in children’s ministry, let me gently say – I’ve long since forgotten and lost the temporal rewards, but the REWARD of having memorized all that Scripture is now blessing countless children as I write curriculum for hundreds of churches across America. Rewards work – and ultimately reward children spiritually for all of eternity because kids hide God’s Word in their heart where it will not fade!

My love of God’s Word has never faded, and it began as a child from adults who inspired me with what a wonderful book it was. I’m thankful what God’s Word has meant to me, and for those who introduced me to it!