Amen

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. – Revelation 22v21

I started this journey through the Bible on the 1st of May 2005. This is the 1.590th entry in my journal. Fifty-two months have passed. A lot has happened since then. We have added a daughter-in-law, a son-in-law, and three more grandchildren. I started this partly because I was a relatively new grampy and I wanted to leave a legacy for my family. For my family I call these devotions Grampy’s Gleanings.

Well Grampy’s Gleanings I has come to a close. It is time to get them proof read, corrected, printed, and bound. Grampy’s Gleanings II start tomorrow.

What can I say in conclusion of this first volume? I can’t think of a more fitting word that John’s Holy Spirit inspired word at the very end of Revelation. That simple word is ‘amen.’ Amen is a ancient word that crosses cultures and religions. Whether sung in a classical aria or modern song, shouted in agreement, or printed in a book it means the same thing. Whether pronounced a-men, ah-men, or aaaaa-MEN it means the same thing. Amen means ‘so be it.’

So what better way to wrap it up? God says, so what more can we say than ‘so be it?’ Any other response is futile. I used to see a bumper sticker that read ‘God said it, I believe, and that settles is for me.’ That’s a nice thought and a simple statement of faith. I think however that to be more accurate we might say – “God says it; that settles it, so I believe it.’

Amen and amen!