Everyday with Jesus Bible- CSB

 


My friend Rhonda Stoppe once said that as the wife of a pastor who has a church in California that we were “called to California”. Still not a phrase I am completely comfortable with, but she isn’t wrong. 

California has held 7 generations of my father’s family, maybe 8. My husband’s pastorate will hold its 125th anniversary which is extra amazing given how many churches were destroyed in the fire of 2018 as it swept through our town. But I still don’t consider myself to be a Californian. Seven schools by age 7 can do that to you, let alone 2 continents and 3 countries.


Which brings me first to the artwork of the Bible we will look at in this post. I totally saw California Golden poppies. They are absolutely not botanically correct for a poppy. They aren’t even passable as a poppy but that is still what my heart saw. Silly girl.

Being the start of the Gregorian calendar year, this is often the season of new reading plans, new resolutions and goals. This seemed like a good time to start a new biblical routine cuz that is just what Americans do, right?


The Everyday with Jesus bible is set up in 365 readings. A portion of new and old testaments are paired with a small devotional from the writings of Selwyn Hughes. 

Who is Selwyn Hughes? I literally had no idea. The only reference to him is the back of the slip cover.


So I looked him up. 

Selwyn was born in 1928 Wales, and given the time and location he became a miner. But this was not to be his profession for long. He gave up the mines for Theology and pastored churches in Cornwall, Wales, Yorkshire, Essex and London according to Wikipedia. 

He also wrote a devotional entitled, “ Every Day with Jesus.” His wife and two sons preceded him in death. He remained strong in his faith.  He founded CWR (Crusade for World Revival) and he wrote 50 books!

So at this point I am a little embarrassed that I have no idea who this guy is and I just thought about the “not-poppies” on the cover. 

Wisdom from Selwyn:

“Life works better when we know how to glance at things but gaze at God.”

“ Sin can be summed up as a "Declaration of Independence"—an attempt to do for ourselves what only God can do for us. What happened in the garden of Eden is duplicated millions of times daily, not only in the lives of unbelievers but in the lives of Christians also—Christians who use self-centered strategies to satisfy the deep thirst that is in their heart for God. Almost every spiritual or psychological problem has at its roots this condition—the person is failing in some way to let God satisfy his deep inner thirst.”

“I wonder, am I talking to someone at this very moment who is hesitating or drawing back from something the Master has shown you that He wants you to do? If so, then let me give you the word that Mary, Jesus' mother, once gave to a group of interested but hesitant people: 'Do whatever he tells you' (John 2:5).”


Because there are no dates there are no looming deadlines or pressure to read a specific date. You can start it any day. Maybe you missed a day or a week of reading? No problem just read the next one. The goal is to pick it up, relax, and soak in God’s Word. It takes about 12 minutes a day to read through the Bible in an entire year. There are no maps or rabbit trails to distract you in the Every Day with Jesus bible. This is the perfect cup of tea, side table volume. 

And Selwyn as it turns out was a pretty cool dude. 


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