He Wanted a Bible

 This morning Jonathan drove to Mission to pick up a man that, for his privacy, I will call Ike, from the shelter. Ike is a good mechanic besides someone who is trying to straighten up his life, and Jonathan has hired him different times to work on several of our vehicles. 

So after Jonathan had helped me with the morning chores, he brought Ike to work for us, and on the way, Ike was wondering where he could get a Bible. Pastor Keith in Mission has been mentoring Ike and by now, Ike is wanting a Bible. He has never had a Bible. That set Jonathan to thinking that in fact, we had just wrapped a Bible to give to another man, but the other man has not showed a lot of interest in God, and the Bible was still sitting among the tools in the garage--waiting for the right time and the right person.

We invited Ike in for both lunch and supper, with brats for lunch and chili for supper. The photo above is actually borsch but since I changed a name already in this story, I'll also have the borsch identify as chili for the story's sake so there will be an illustration. :) :)

Anyway, at both meals, we took opportunities to try to speak encouragement into Ike's heart and life. He has had a lot of losses in his life, especially in January, a month in which he's lost close relatives, including his father. His mother left the home when he was just two years old, and he doesn't even remember her voice. 

How difficult is that, never to remember your mother's voice? Ike says that Pastor Keith is planning on having him pray for the meal one of these Sunday evenings, and he is jittery about that. 

So we had him pray for our meal at supper, and let him practice. He was quite unsure of himself, but managed through and we encouraged him. 

"How do I finish?" he worried at the end of the prayer. "In God's name, Amen," he decided. We assured him that was fine, and later I added that usually Christians say, "In Jesus' name, Amen," and that there was something in Scripture about that. 

I said that we try to base what we do on Scripture so it isn't just our opinion or just what we do. Then I got our own Bible and hunted for the verse which I finally found in John 16, where it talks about asking "the Father in My name." That is where we base praying to our heavenly Father, I said, in the name of Jesus. 

I think it is important to teach the people we mentor the whys of what we do. To us who have been raised in Christian homes, do we ever pause to consider, why do I finish prayers with "in Jesus' name, Amen"?

It's so common to us, but what does it really mean? Is it Scriptural? Why do we do that? Why do we include that in a prayer we may be teaching 

Ike was very happy with the Bible. Just before he left, as I was pulling the Bible out of its packaging so I could put a bookmark where the New Testament started at the book of Matthew (where we recommended he start reading). When I mentioned the name Matthew, Ike showed us a wristband he was wearing. It said "Matthew 11:28," and he said he had found it in a bag of toys for children and decided to keep that to wear in memory of a fireman friend named Matt who had died not long ago. 

I explained to him that the number "11" after the word "Matthew" meant chapter 11, and I showed him how the chapter numbers were at the top of the Bible pages. Then I found Matthew 11 for him, and then I showed him that within the chapters were verse numbers, and I showed him verse number 28, and I read it out loud, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

You should have seen his eyes, as it dawned on him that the numbers following his friend's name on the wristband meant something! It was a reference to a beautiful Bible verse!

Ike remained in something like awe on the way home. "I didn't know those numbers meant something!" he said to Jonathan. "How much should I read every day in the Bible?" 

Jonathan suggested one or two chapters. 

Ike had told us that another man and he are keeping each other accountable about working at not saying curse words. They quickly catch themselves and apologize if they do!

What a day it has been! What a joy to give a seeking heart a job to do that he would be paid for, and to have the opportunity to share with him why we Christians do what we do--why we pray in Jesus' name, why we go to church, why we sing, how we read the Bible. 

What a joy it is to be a missionary and to discover someone who really wants a Bible!