About Janice Green

    I remember well when I was a kid.  That may be because I never stopped being a kid.  At any rate, I remember getting my first Bible and being excited to get it.  It had a zipper and some really beautiful Bible story pictures in it.  But I didn’t read it very often. 

     My new Bible had very small letters, big words, and lots of strange words like ”thee” and “thou” and “whither” and ”verily.”  Since I didn’t understand it I didn’t spend a lot of time trying to read it, and I grew up thinking that the Bible was just too hard to read.  Someone else would have to tell me what it said.

      Then a new Bible came out with cool stick people pictures all through it.  It was a new translation (or paraphrase) called the Good News Bible.  This translation re-wrote the Bible using words that were easier to understand.  “Thee” and “thou” became “you,” “whither” became “where,” “verily” became “surely,” and so on.  That was great, except now I had another problem. 

     Some preachers were telling me that I didn’t know enough to understand the Bible for myself.  I needed first to study the history of the Bible and a whole lot of other stuff before I would get the right meaning from it.  They also said you could use the Bible to prove anything.  But they were wrong.

     Sadly, I went a long time without reading the Bible.  I even quit going to church and began making a lot of bad choices about how I should live. One day I was very upset and mixed up about something that was too scary to even write about here.  I prayed for God to help me, yet I didn’t feel anything at all.  I then got more and more upset.  God was suposed to answer my prayers and all I felt was more scared. 

     Then I got really serious with God.  I knew something was wrong and I promised myself and God that I was going to be in church the next morning (which was Sunday) and every Sunday from that time on.  I was going to find out what was wrong between me and God that he wouldn’t help me in my prayer. Though, really he did help me.  He knew that what I needed all along was to come back to church and to get serious about the Bible and my relationship with him.

     You will never guess what I learned!  The Bible really wasn’t that hard to read and understand.  Those preachers who told me it was too hard to understand were so wrong.  The Bible has become my strength through many hard times in my life–but it didn’t just happen.  I found some friends to study the Bible with me and to help me to grow in my Christian walk.  The more you learn from the Bible, the faster you find help in it when you need it.

     I hope you will let me help you read and understand the Bible.  I will try to start with some of the most fun verses first.  If anyone wants to suggest some favorite verses–or some hard verses–or just some questions,  just post them in a comment below and we will see what we can learn together.

     Oh, yeah.  Other than my short testimony, you might want to know a little more about me.  I am a Christian.  I love many church denominations, though I am presently a member of a Methodist church.  My Bible study friends who helped me grow so much in the Bible were from Methodist, Baptist, Penticostal, and Presbyterian churches.  I am presently an elementary school library media specialist who would like to retire and become a full-time writer.  Please pray for me that I might be able to do this before I’m too old to think straight! 

Copyright © 2008 by Janice Green