<p class="ql-align-center"><br></p><p class="ql-align-justify"><em>MIRROR STUDY BIBLE Volume 3 of 3 Featuring the writings of Apostle John</em></p><p class="ql-align-justify">I do not read music, but have often witnessed our son, Stefan, approach a new piece on the piano.&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">His eyes see so much more than mere marks scribbled on a page;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">he hears the music.</p><p class="ql-align-justify">His trained mind engages even the subtleties and the nuances of the original composition, and is able to repeat the authentic sound,&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">knowing that the destiny of the music would never be reduced to the page;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">but is always in the next moment,</p><p class="ql-align-justify">where the same intended beauty is heard</p><p class="ql-align-justify">and repeated again.</p><p class="ql-align-justify">The best translation would always be the incarnation.</p><p class="ql-align-justify">I so value the enormity of the revelation of the incarnation.</p><p class="ql-align-justify">Yet, before flesh, the Word was προς</p><p class="ql-align-justify">face to face with God.</p><p class="ql-align-justify">And fragile text</p><p class="ql-align-justify">scribbled thru the ages in memoirs of stone, parchment and papyrus pages -</p><p class="ql-align-justify">carrying eternity in thought</p><p class="ql-align-justify">and continues to translate faith</p><p class="ql-align-justify">to faith.</p><p class="ql-align-justify">Now we have the same spirit of faith as he encountered when he wrote...</p><p class="ql-align-justify">"I believe</p><p class="ql-align-justify">and so I speak."</p><p class="ql-align-justify">Conversation ignites.</p><p class="ql-align-justify">"Did not our hearts burn within our being when he spoke familiar text of ancient times, in the voices of Moses and the prophets and David and Abraham,</p><p class="ql-align-justify">who saw his day</p><p class="ql-align-justify">and announced its dawn in our hearts.</p><p class="ql-align-justify">The mystery that was hidden for ages and generations</p><p class="ql-align-justify">is now revealed.</p><p class="ql-align-justify">In dealing daily with ancient text,&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">rediscovering thoughts buried in time, I am often overwhelmed and awed at the magnificence of eternity captured in little time capsules,&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">opening vistas of beauty beyond our imagination- face to face with the same face to faceness of the Logos&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">and God&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">and us - conceived in their dream.&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">And irresistibly intrigued by the invitation to come and drink -&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">to taste and see -&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">from the source -&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">and to hear a saint reminiscing and reminding himself of the utterance of another earth dweller-brother, David, who wrote a song 1000 BC,&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">"Return to your rest, oh my soul.&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">I believe and so I speak."&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">And with fresh wounds bleeding from the many angry blows he was dealt with, Paul echoes,&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">"We have the same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, 'I believe and so I speak.' We too believe and so we speak."</p><p class="ql-align-justify">Let's celebrate the "sameness" of Jesus&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">yesterday - yes, as far as history and beyond time can go -</p><p class="ql-align-justify">and today. This very finite, fragile moment -</p><p class="ql-align-justify">plus, the infinite future.&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">Inexhaustible, beyond boundaries and the confines of space and time.</p><p><br></p>