Many friends tried to encourage my wife, Joann, and I to write a book about our son Johnny’s life for many years. We never felt compelled to do so, until shortly after his graduation to heaven. We completed the book at the end of 2016 and it has been in print for the last 6 months. We have gotten very positive feedback from many, and by God’s grace it has help people.
Those that have known our family for many years could really enter into many of the situations that we wrote about, because they walked through many of them with us. Having intimate knowledge of a person that is writing or speaking about their life gives a very different perspective on what is said. Close friends and family would say, “Reading the book is like sitting down and having a conversation with John.” There is a special insight into the stories, a closeness to the situation.
There are other people that may have read the book that were friends many years ago that we have lost contact with, that might think, “This isn’t the same couple I knew 30 or 40 years ago.” I like to joke that any of my English teachers would go into shock if they heard that I have written a book.
Then there are those that don’t know me or Joann at all. But, through reading the book they gain an insight and knowledge of us that they would have never gotten had they never read it. It is our prayer that all three groups of people have been blessed by reading the book and that it will help many more lives as they go through their trials.
I find the Bible to be very similar. 2 Peter 1:20-21 “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” The Author of the Word of God is The Lord Himself. Knowing Him in a personal way, brings a closeness that gives the reader a special insight to the accounts of Scripture. We didn’t live through the situations ourselves, yet we can enter into them and the Lord enlightens us as we read. Jesus said in John 14:26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” Many people find the Bible hard to understand, but if you know the Author, it comes alive to you.
Then there is a group of people that knew the Author in a personal way a long time ago. They remember bits and pieces of the Book, but haven’t been in it in quite a few years. It’s words seem foreign to them in some way. Some of it is familiar, however it doesn’t have the same impact that it once did. Maybe now would be a good time for that person to take a look at his relationship with the Author and seek to get that closeness back. The apostle Paul says in Philippians 3:10 “ That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;” It may be that we just need to get reacquainted with the Lord in a more intimate way so the Word of God can come alive to us again.
Then there is the group who know nothing about the Lord. The Bible makes little sense to them. They have a difficult time reading it because it seems as though it is written in a different language to them. The stories seem to be fairy tales and they don’t get the point. The beauty of the Word of God is, that anyone who approaches it to find the God of the Bible, He will show Himself in the pages of that blessed book. Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The faith needed to believe comes from the Word Itself.
Knowing the Author is the only way to really gain wisdom from the Word of God. What He has placed there for you to find and learn will astound you! Friend, go to the Bible with a desire to find God. You will not be disappointed. Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
I wasn’t alive when any of the Bible was written. But, I do know the Author, and I keep learning more about Him every day.
To purchase a copy of the book John and Joann Ashley have written, click on the link below.