I couldn’t wait to get home from school, turn on our black & white TV & hear that famous phrase, “Hey, Kids, What Time Is It? It’s Howdy Doody Time!” This followed with music & kids screaming for joy. The Howdy Doody Show was the most popular children’s program from 1947-1960. Howdy Doody, the puppet had it all. There was Buffalo Bob, Mr. Bluster, Clarabelle & others plus the Peanut Gallery. For years I wanted to be one of the kids in the Peanut Gallery. 

After I grew up and worked, I looked forward to the weekends, vacation, or a particular event. Now retired, my weekly calendar has 6 Saturdays & 1 Sunday, but I still need something to look forward to. So, what do you look forward to?

Every fall, right before we start a new Bible Study Fellowship study, we have a Bar-B-Q Kickoff. It’s a special time. I love to watch how God works. It’s a mixture of guys returning for the new study & new guys for their first study. For the guys returning it’s incredible. These are guys who previously had nothing in common, but now were bonded as brothers, through God’s Word. There are the new guys watching this joy take place in front of them. It’s something many have never experienced or found in the world today. It’s the joy & expectation that God has & is moving in the lives of His people. In the words of Howdy Doody, it’s “Cowabunga.”

This fall, as in previous Kickoffs, I will say to the men, “You will only get out of this study what you put into it.” “This is the Living Word of God.” Every year men come up to me with a twinkle in their eyes and say, “I’ve never read the Bible like this before. It’s incredible.” Yes, it is. It truly will speak to you. Listen to these words from God.

“Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.” Isaiah 55:6

“God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us.” Acts 17:27.

“You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1

God has given us His Word, the Bible, His love letter to reveal the depth of His love through instructions, warnings, illustrations of people’s lives and His Glorious Way of being Right with Him, Jesus. If you would like to seek Him through a unique way, I encourage you to click on the link (https://www.bsfinternational.org/) for a study group near you or on-line. This year’s study is an Old Testament study of the Exile & Return of God’s people to the Promise Land. Maybe you fell alone & forgotten. God has a way back.

What time is it? Isn’t it time you looked forward to something that was bigger than you? Isn’t it time you discovered God’s Truth that provides the “peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.”? (Philippians 4:7)