BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

December Read Through the Bible Old Testament/Psalms Mon 1 Dan. 9-10 / Ps. 119:73-96 Tue 2 Dan. 11-12 / Ps. 119:97-120 Wed 3 Hos. 1-3 / Ps. 119:121-144 Thu 4 Hos. 4-5 / Ps. 119:145-176 Fri 5 Hos. 6-7 / Ps. 120 Sat 6 Hos. 8-9 / Ps. 121 Sun 7 Hos. 10-11 / Ps. 122 Mon 8 Hos. 12-13 / Ps. 123 Tue 9 Hos. 14; Joel 1 / Ps. 124 Wed 10 Joel 2-3; Amos 1 / Ps. 125-126 Thu 11 Amos 2-3 / Ps. 127 Fri 12 Amos 4-5 / Ps. 128 Sat 13 Amos 6-7 / Ps. 129 Sun 14 Amos 8-9 / Ps. 130 Mon 15 Obad.; Jon. 1 / Ps. 131 Tue 16 Jon. 2-3 / Ps. 132 Wed 17 Jon. 4; Mic. 1-2 / Ps. 133-134 Thu 18 Mic. 3-4 / Ps. 135 Fri 19 Mic. 5-6 / Ps. 136 Sat 20 Mic. 7; Nah. 1-3 / Ps. 137 Sun 21 Hab. 1-3 / Ps. 138 Mon 22 Zeph. 1-3 / Ps. 139 Tue 23 Hag. 1-2 / Ps. 140 Wed 24 Zech. 1-3 / Ps. 141-142 Thu 25 Zech. 4-5 / Ps. 143 Fri 26 Zech. 6-7 / Ps. 144 Sat 27 Zech. 8-9 / Ps. 145 Sun 28 Zech. 10-11 / Ps. 146 Mon 29 Zech. 12-13 / Ps. 147 Tue 30 Zech. 14; Mal. 1 / Ps. 148 Wed 31 Mal. 2-4 / Ps. 149-150 “Read Through the Bible in a Year Plan” written by Marilyn Hickey, and used by permission. ******************************* ******article continues****** “If your son shows up at any school in Fort Worth, we’ll call the police,” his parents were told. Rick’s mother took him to talk to a nun. She prayed with him in front of a statue. But nothing changed. At her wits’ end, his mother prayed: “God, if You’re really there, do what You want with his life. I give him back to You.” Once he had been expelled, Rick spent even more time on the streets. Now, he had graduated to using cocaine and had gotten hooked on crystal meth. He met a girl whose mother was a Christian and she invited him to church. Rick had visited many different kinds of churches over the years, he said, so he didn’t mind visiting another. “The first thing I noticed when I got to Teaching Word Faith Center was that everyone was happy,” Rick recalls. “But the big draw for me was the music. In the past, no matter what kind of church I visited, the music was slow. This music was bouncy and loud! I loved it! I understood the sermon, and for the first time God seemed real to me. From then on, I led a double life. I went to church on Sundays and ran the streets with my gang the rest of the time.” Set Free On the Thursday night before Good Friday in 1988, the police raided a bar and caught Rick drinking beer. The beer gave them probable cause and they searched him and found residue of crystal meth. He left in handcuffs, and soon an iron jail door slammed shut behind him. Alone, depressed and coming off a high, Rick realized that at 18 his life had come to a screeching halt. He’d been expelled from school. He couldn’t keep a job. He and his father hadn’t spoken more than five civil words in a year. Now, his parents refused to bail him out of jail. Lying on a cot in his jail cell, Rick prayed: “God, if You’re there, give me something for my future.” The afternoon of Good Friday, a guard called his name. “Someone posted your bond,” he said. “You’re free to go.” Rick looked around, confused. His bond was $4,000. “Who paid it?” “I don’t know. Check with the bail bondsman. His office is down the hall.” The office was dark, the door locked. Another officer passed by. “The bail bondsman didn’t come in today. His office is closed for Good Friday.” Rick asked everyone he knew if they’d posted his bail. No one had. Touched by God Although he continued his life on the streets, Rick started having vivid dreams. In one dream, he saw himself killing a man during a robbery. Rick also saw himself kneeling before Jesus and hearing Him say, “Don’t be afraid of Me. I didn’t come to scare you. I love you.” In another dream, Rick heard his father speaking perfect English, although he only spoke Spanish. In the dream, Rick’s father said to him: “Your heavenly Father loves you. Look to Him.” When he went to church the next Sunday, the pastor taught on Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams. That day, Rick rushed to answer the altar call. “I thought my friends would make fun of me for being born again,” Rick admits. “I told them, ‘You are my friends, my brothers, and I love you. But I need to follow God.’ They were cool with it. One of them asked jokingly, ‘Hey, Pastor Rick, do you want a beer or do rabbis not drink?’ Believe it or not, that was the extent of my persecution. “By then, a lot of my friends were getting arrested and going to prison. I would have gone too, except they covered for me. I heard that someone was getting paid to earn his GED and I went to sign up. They asked if I wanted a GED or a diploma. I didn’t know a diploma was even an option so I chose it.” Rick was given an entrance exam, and the results of his testing stunned everyone. “You scored at a college level!” he was told. 24 : BVOV

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