Books are my friends

Are you a lifelong learner?

My late mother in law used to tell my kids books are your friends. She had a big influence on my kids’ lives. If they threw a book, she would pick it up, and pat its covered gently and say, no, no books are your friends.

Although my own mother wasn’t a reader, she instilled in me a love for reading that has continued till this day. Here’s how she did it. 1) she took me to the library regularly and said she would pick me up hours later. I would have a stack of books with me when I left. 2) you know, those school book clubs? She let me order as many books as I wanted and gave me cash.

Right now, in my home, I have three bookcases, full of books, and a couple of boxes of books for donations. So the answer is yes I  am still learning even though i am retirement age almost.

But there’s one book that I read on a daily basis. The Bible is God’s word and should be consumed daily on an empty stomach. Before I eat any food, his word is consumed.

Have you heard about the Dead Sea Scrolls?  These were early manuscripts that were found in the caves of Qumran in 1946 to 1947 in the Judean desert. The result of this find is the Bible that we have now matches, what was found in the cave of Qumran. The Bible is not corrupted they found. It was preserved accurately.

This word is a lamp to light my path. It’s a sword to cut away what doesn’t belong in my life and convicting me of sin. It’s a character changer. It’s a curse breaker. That’s why I need it every day.

So books are my friends, but the Bible is the center of my life. The world has copycats for everything.

The world offers alcohol, but Jesus tells us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The world offers magic, but the Holy Spirit does miracles. The world offers mediums crystals and reiki but they all come with a demonic payload. The Holy Spirit accomplishes what a medium does without the diabolical payload. And Jesus doesn’t need a rock to convey healing power to you. Reiki is just tapping into demons’ power and it’s temporary, but what god does is more powerful and it is forever.

Books are my friends.  At any given point I am reading several books. I’m currently reading about four. When I finished those four books, they’ll go on my shelf and stay there until I give them away. But there’s just one book that I read from cover to cover every year.

I challenge you to do the same. May God’s word, save you and light your path.