The Book

It is interesting that Steve McGarrett waited until the sixth episode (not counting the pilot) to utter the now trademark "Book 'em, Danno!" And we all almost instinctively know what "Book" is meant, right down to me at the tender age of six when I first heard this words. More interesting is the trivia that Jack Lord called James MacAurthur's character "Danno" based upon a nickname he used for a childhood friend. In case you're wondering why the sudden interest in a TV series that ran from September 1968 to April 1980, Cynth and I have just finished the third episode on disc one of the complete 279 episodes. There is something very refreshing about the old TV shows- the music, we've noted, is better, and I like seeing the old carswith nothing but AM radios. Another interesting point: Although Ford Motor Company provided the vehicles for these first episodes, there were other cars featured prominently, such as a Chevrolet Impala and a Cadillac. Very nice, although I prefer Fords.

"Book 'em" undoubtedly is a part of our culture. Another phrase, not quite as popular, is prominent around our house. A variation of that phrase would go something like this: One of the kids - I won't say who, would always ask about spelling some word or another, and I would respond with "Look it up." This past week, some of you may have witnessed a true historic event with Cynth, Aaron and I as we watched the 112th Congress open its session with the word by word reading of the Constitution of the United States. Did you get some of the insanity from those who opposed such an action? Why! How dare we open a session of Congress by reading the governing document!

In the early eighties, the Christian band White Heart released an album whose title and lead song was "Read the Book (Don't Wait for the Movie)." the premise being that we need to turn off all the gadgetry and spend time in the Word rather than allowing some else dictate what we understand about God's Word. Further, if we think we can truly know God, understand our depravity, see him as our salvation well enough to respond, and have strength for this world without reading the Bible, then one day it will be too late. I realize it may not read like it, but God's Word describes God so we can see ourselves as we truly are, and then see his Word as his letter of love to us; it tells how far love will go to enter into relationship with an unruly people.

I had to do a little reading on my own this week. And I have to acknowledge that the heart of my discouragement earlier was simply this: "God, you have brought me to this point, and now where are you? I've endured twelve treatments, with barely any effect, been able to work, and I can't continue treatment now? And on top of that, I have this pain thing going, and shortness of breath?" and at the same time as those words were forming the basis of my discouragement, I was also thinking of how truly good God has been to us. So now we hit a bump, that does not change our faith except to make it stronger for we know God is faithful.

A good friend told me of his own struggle years ago. And how Psalm 88 gave him comfort:

O LORD, God of my salvation; I cry out day and night before you. Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry! For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol. I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength, like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand. You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape; my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon you, O LORD; I spread out my hands to you. Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon? Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? But I, O LORD, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you. O LORD, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me? Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless. Your wrath has swept over me; your dreadful assaults destroy me. They surround me like a flood all day long; they close in on me together. You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.

No cheeriness there, right? It doesn't even end with the Psalmist putting words to his faith in God. But he is crying out to God, even in the midst of his travail, and he is honest with God about how he feels. We should always go to God in reverence and awe, like Isaiah in chapter six, but we are to realize the relationship we have with this Holy God - that of Father and child - a father who delights in us and wants us to bare our soul before him. Thus, we need to read the book, really know this God, really know ourselves, comprehend what we've been saved from. Then it is easy to rest, even in our hurt, in the arms of him who first loved us.

In a right relationship with God, we too have been booked. Not entirely as McGarrett intended when he gave the order to Danny, not like a engagement booking, and not entirely as you would for a trip. But we are booked in the ultimately all important book. When we turn our life completely over to Christ, make him Lord of our life and he is seated on the throne of our heart, not only do we never have to worry or fret over the struggles in this life, but we are set for an eternity in his presence, having been booked in his book, what God's Word calls the Book of Life. That is a booking I am happy to have received.

Tonight, it was Hatch-Style Chicken Stew over rice with steamed carrots. The visit and chat were a great appetizer.