Get Started

Through the years I have used a number of different plans for my personal Bible reading.  Right now I am reading through "Acts and the Epistles," a plan that comes with the YouVersion Bible app on my iPhone.  Yep, I often do my personal Bible reading on my iPhone.  What a great time to be alive.  I have the entire Bible with me everywhere I go through the technology of a smart phone. 

There are several good Bible apps available and a number of them offer Bible reading plans.  Need a plan?  Check your smart phone.  Don't have a smart phone?  You can still pick up the book form of your Bible or go online and follow a plan.  The important thing is not the choose the right plan, but to choose a plan and follow it. 

So, get started.  There is an unlimited supply of blessing to those willing to read God's Word.  Check out www.youversion.com for some ideas.

The Culture

I just took a quick look at the hour's headlines.  Quite frankly it is sickening.   I'm thinking, maybe that was a mistake.  And this day was going so well.

High ranking officials at Penn State University are accused of failing to report alleged sexual abuse by a former football coach at the same university.  There are several layers to this story which cause concern.  First and foremost is the possibility that a man sexually abused as many as eight young boys over a period of fifteen years.  That is horrendous.  If it turns out that others knew what was happening and failed to report it, as the media is reporting, then the level of outrage is multiplied. 

Just below this headline is the story about the allegations of sexual harassment that are being brought against presidential candidate Herman Cain.  Only a few know the real truth about that situation.  However, a close look reveals serious problems either way.   If the allegations are true then we now know that Mr. Cain has some serious character issues.  If they are not true, then the accusers are maliciously impugning the character of an innocent man. 

In other news, Dr. Conrad Murry has been convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson.  Wealth, popularity, power and prestige certainly played a part in the tragic end of a sad life. 

That is as far as I wanted to read.  This much I know . . . these events and so many others are clear reflections of the universality of sin and of the depths to which sinful people will fall.  Some want to naively believe humanity is on the rise toward moral purity.  Not so!  Left to ourselves we would plunge deeper and deeper into the abyss of depravity.  Praise God that we are not left to ourselves.  One of the great comforting statements in the Bible is this: Where sin abounds, grace abounds even more.  Grace is the great antidote to the guilt and condemnation that accompany sin. 

Praise God for His amazing grace.