Over the next few months, approximately 3. I am planning to read through the Holy Bible. The divine Word of God. To read it, study it and hear it on a daily basis. What an incredible opportunity to switch off the world and plug into The Word.
I have been blessed with an amazing friend with a loving heart who has cheerfully loaned me the use of a converted farmhouse in Brittany. I thank God for her friendship and me and my dog Bertie are on our way there in our homemade motor-home.
Today we have travelled across most of Normandy, setting off from Neufchantel en bray to a little village between Caen and Avranches named Guilberville.
Before we set off I had a look around the Le clerc hypermarket. Wow it was big! The selection of everything was astonishing. They even had an outside coin operated launderette to use on the front wall before you went in. It seems that everybody from far and wide use these hypermarkets to stock up for weeks at a time.
There had been a change in the weather as we set off. From the warm winter sun, to slate grey skies and plentiful showers. The roads are eaten up through the rolling countryside as we came through the Seine maritime region we passed an area that stated the Battle of Normandy. The thought of it fills me with both the horrors of war, but the necessity of it and in that the pride and gratitude for how we live today.
As we got nearer Le Havre, I was astonished at the sight I saw before me. An enormous looping double suspension bridge spanning over the incoming mouth of the Seine river. It truly is a magnificent piece of construction engineering. They are staggeringly steep! Any boy would have loved a scale model of these. The curve and loop were monstrously immense. I thought you could not have driven over these with a faint heart!
Guilberville is a typical lovely patriotic little village. At the very centre is the church sat on a little hill, which as usual seems way too big for such a little village and a hundred yards away is the war memorial adorned with the names of the battles of the Great War. Flandres, Somme, Verdun, Alsace etc.. There are blue painted statues , and a cross with Jesus as the central figure high above all else. I shall not dwell on the Jesus on / off the cross at this time.
There is a carved and painted simple inscription;
“JESUS _LA VUE_ LA VERITE_ LA VIE“
Jesus, the way, the truth, the life.
This is a key message that I have mentioned several times previously of the 30,000 + verses in the Bible. Like the statue, keeping Jesus central in our lives and knowing that He is the way, the truth, the life. Jesus the name above every other name. For there is no other name under heaven and earth for which there is to call on to be saved.
Amen.
I shall be more precise in the next day or so, regarding if you have never read through the Bible completely or if you want to read along with me on a daily basis. You will need quite simply a Bible and about an hour to spare.
God bless.