I can remember even before going to first grade, sitting quietly holding a picture book with a little yellow duck on the front. And I remember the storybook of the Three Little Kittens who have lost their mittens.
I remember walking to the library in the city hall. I loved walking the halls of the library, reading the names of the books in the dark wooden shelves. Starting with the Bobbsey Twins series, I read through series after series—the Nancy Drew books, the Hardy boys. I read through a series of books written about the kings and queens of England and Frances. Then I read every book written about the early American heroes. I found books about archeology and dinasours.
My eyes were opened to the world outside of my little town of Vinita, Oklahoma. When I read, I was lost in a world I was had never known, and might have never had an opportunity to see or experience in real life.
I learned of the power of words.
In church, I was the student of a children’s teacher, Marie, who understood the power of teaching the Bible, the Word of God, to children. I also came under the teaching of a little old lady pastor, Elmira McDonough, who could see the possibilities in me and those few young people into whom she invested her teaching.
When I re-dedicated my heart to the Lord after a failed marriage, I again came under the teaching of the Bible, but this time my teacher was the Lord Jesus Himself. I still had that insatiable desire to read and study the Bible. I made a decision to accept the Bible as true and that brought me to the place where I recognized I had a choice. If I really believed the Bible was the true word of God, either I could do what it said to do, or be disobedient and not do what it said.
“Forever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven,” Psalm 119:89.
If the Bible is really the true word of God, the only choice we can make is to do what it says.
Lavon Hightower Lewis