Sometimes my decisions seriously lack judgment. An example of one temporary mental lapse was when I decided to wait while the mechanic worked on my car. They said it would only be an hour to an hour and a half. No problem. I can keep myself entertained that long. It turned out to be exactly one hour. So far, so good. While I was in the middle of congratulating myself for escaping in a timely manner, they told me about the other problem they discovered. Shouldn’t take too long to fix. I agreed to wait. That was the real mistake.
After having read Time and an old Reader’s Digest, I decided to clean out my purse. That didn’t last long and then I was really stuck. This was before the days of smartphones and Angry Bird apps. That’s when I remembered. I carry a New Testament Bible, Today’s English Version, presented by the Baptist churches of the Wichita Falls area. That’s written on a label inside the Bible, otherwise I wouldn’t have a clue where it came from. I sometimes wonder if “they” would be surprised I still carry a Bible given to me in 1969 when I went to technical school at Sheppard AFB. It’s been all over the U.S. with me. Literally. But I digress. (What are the odds?)
Being an incredibly gullible soul, I knew I wouldn’t be waiting much longer, so I decided to read Jude. One chapter, 25 verses. My glass always half full personality hoped I’d be able to finish it, because, well…it would only be a few more minutes. As it turned out, I could have made quite a dent in the Old Testament, but that’s another story.
Have you ever read something you’ve read before, and it struck you differently than previous readings? Well, that happened to me. The light bulb lit up over my head. Jude 24-25 is one of the most powerful passages I’ve ever read. “To him who is able to keep you from falling, and present you faultless and joyful before his glory—to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, might, and authority, from all ages past, and now, and for ever and ever! Amen.”
Wow! The entire Bible is summed up in those two verses. God watches over and protects us, sent His son to cleanse us of all sin, was and always will be. If I wrote the Reader’s Digest condensed version of the Bible—that would be it. Even rereading it now, I am awestruck by the awesome power of those words and what they mean in my life. That’s my God Jude is talking about. Not some unknown figure in Heaven, but my Father who will always be there—and be there for me. What a comforting thought.
I had three things to be thankful for that day—the warranty I purchased for my car, a New Testament in my purse, and a passage from that Bible. It’s been a while, but I still find these words running through my mind. John 3:16 is probably the most quoted and best remembered verse in the Bible and I love it. But Jude 24-25 is the one that lives in my heart and my purse.