When I was a college student I fell in love with Mike Edge. I hated to be apart from him. When we went to our respective homes for school breaks, he would write me letters. I would squeal with delight when I heard from him, re-reading his hand-written messages to me over and over again. There was no new information there. I had already read it. But it didn’t have anything to do with the words. Hovering over those words was a way of being close to Mike, the person who wrote them! It was as close as I could get to him at that point. My roommate got letters from her boyfriend, but I never could get very excited about those letters…I didn’t know her boyfriend. I didn’t love her boyfriend. It wasn’t the words, it was the person behind the words, and the relationship with that person. That perspective changed everything!

That is how it is with God’s love letter to you and me, the Bible. Reading the Bible isn’t just about reading a book – it’s about being with a PERSON…the One who loved you and me enough to die for us! If you don’t know Him, or love Him, I guess the Bible could be like just reading any book, but not when you know Him! Not when you love Him! In Psalm 119:54-58 David says to the Lord, “Your [words} are the theme of my song wherever I lodge. ..In the night I remember Your name, O Lord…You are my portion…I have sought your face with all my heart.” David says, “Your words are a way to be close to You, Lord.” Like reading a letter from someone you love.

Whatever room you keep your Bible in, that is where Jesus sits, every morning, every evening, waiting for a personal visit with you. He’s there every day. Don’t miss Him. And let’s not ever again read the Bible as just words. It’s the heart of our Lord on paper…our way to be with the One we love! We long for the day when we will meet our Lord face to face, but until then, lets hang on His every word, sent to us in love and truth.

As I am fully retiring the end of June, 2022, this is the last message I will be writing as Communication Director. That being the case, I want to share a deep desire of my heart for each of you, my dear friends in the Wisconsin Conference, that is based on a message from Paul in Romans 10:1. It reads, “Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of {Wisconsin, my beloved church family} to be saved.” NLT  I long for us all to be united in heaven and to never part again.

Let’s all draw close to the One we love through His Word, encountering and loving the “Person behind the Words”

Juanita Edge, Communication Director