Joni reflects on how Grandma Grace’s century-old Bible shows that Jesus’s love is timeless, powerful, and just as fresh today as it was a thousand years ago.
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SHAUNA: Welcome to Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Here’s Joni with an old song folks have been singing for over a century.
(Joni sings:)
Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
Calling for you and for me.
See on the portals He’s waiting and watching
He’s watching for you and for me.
Come home, come home
Ye who are weary come home
Earnestly, tenderly Jesus is calling
Calling O sinner come home.
You know, this old song reminds me of an old sweet story about a special Bible.
Years ago, when I used to travel with my friends Bev and Francie [Oh boy, I’m crying already]. We would always enjoy heading back to our hotel room after a busy day of appointments and speaking engagements. And we’d put on our pajamas, and we’d pile into bed together [like I don’t know; we were high schoolers on a sleepover], and we would open up the Bible for devotions. But one evening it was Francie’s turn to lead the hymns and the scripture reading. She rummaged through her suitcase and brought out an old, tattered Bible. She plopped into bed and said, “This is my Grandma Grace’s,” she snuggled real close to Bev and me.
Francie gently cracked open the old book. The leather was dry, the binding was torn, she was careful to turn each delicate page. She tilted the book so we could read Grandma Grace’s faded scribbles in the margins. In old-fashioned script, we got an up-close look at this elderly woman’s love for Jesus. Her words were nearly a century old, but the love of which she wrote was anything but obsolete.
As Francie read aloud her grandmother’s personal notes, I felt as though this woman was sharing the rhythm of her heart with me, like we were kindred spirits. We could have been best friends. And her notes weren’t reminiscent of dusty days gone by, each word was powerful and poignant, a reminder that Jesus touches hearts in much the same way, no matter what century a Christian lives in. It’s why Hebrews 13 says, “Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.” There’s nothing old or worn out about the love of God. His love has not yellowed with age. It is not dry, nor is it fragile or ragged at the edges. God’s love is as current now as it was a thousand years ago, as fresh today as it will be tomorrow. And that night in the hotel, before we turned out the lights in our hotel bedroom, we praised the Lord that He is always the same, always loving, always merciful, and with Him there is no shadow of turning.
SHAUNA: Oh, friend, I just love this story about Grandma Grace’s Bible. And I wonder what our children or grandchildren will think when they, one day, flip through the pages of our Bibles? It reminds me, don’t forget to download Joni’s Bible reading plan and ask for our Bible overview pamphlet. Just go to joniradio.org where you can do both! Listening friend, we want to pray for you. Go to joniradio.org today and leave us your prayer request. And while you’re there, check out the many resources and radio programs there at your fingertips. And be sure to share that link with a friend in need of encouragement too. It’s joniradio.org.
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