A Red Letter Bible and My Dad

But where do I begin?  I found that the red letters began in the third chapter in the Gospel of Matthew.  Jesus met with John the Baptist and wanted John to baptize him.  That is exactly what my teacher told me.  “Bobby, after you profess Jesus as your savior, you should follow Jesus’ example by being baptized.”  I continued reading the fourth chapter and
found that Jesus was tempted of Satan three times in a wilderness.  And each time Jesus was victorious over the
Tempter.

This was so exciting.  All the stories that I had heard in Sunday School and from my parents were right there in my own Bible.  In rapid succession I read about Jesus calling his first followers by saying, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  Peter, James, John and Andrew left their work and followed Jesus as his disciple.  Oh this was so thrilling until I turned the page and found that the next few pages in my Bible were all written with words in red ink.  I thought that maybe there was a mistake and took my Bible to my dad.   I said, “Dad, there must be something wrong with my Bible”.  “Why do you say that?” he responded.  “Well I have found that there are just a few words written in red on some of the pages, but all of a sudden there are page after page full of red letters.”  I remember my dad was pleased with my question.   He took the time and said, “This is one of Jesus famous teachings.  It is called the Sermon on the Mount.”  Then my dad painted the most amazing and beautiful image about the scene of Jesus teaching on the mountain side that I will never forget.

Father’s Day is June 19^th.  My dad has been with the Lord since 1984 but I still fondly remember that first Bible study with my dad.  Each year when Father’s Day rolls around I journey back in my mind and joyfully remember the study of the “words written in red” with my dad.