I grew up in a wasteland city, Sin City – Las Vegas, Nevada. Though the population has greatly increased the culture hasn’t changed. It’s just intensified. It’s a city that attracts the desperate. I listened to stories of transformed lives growing up in church and in Las (lost)Vegas that were mesmerizing and I had moments in my life that I tested the alluring waters and the beckoning bright lights of a Vegas lifestyle. But that wasn’t the story I chose for my life. Isaiah 57: 20 (NIV) says, “the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest.” I knew at an early age that I wanted to live a life that wouldn’t get ship wreaked so God blessed my life with Biblical sea legs.
Why does my story matter?
Maybe it is the theatrical actress in me or the Hollywood industry that I’ve work in at Cooke Pictures for 25 years, or perhaps it’s the realization that I’ve been married for 40 years to the man who is still the love of this life that has made me become more vocal. Maybe it’s been the joy that I’ve experienced in raising two incredibly talented well-balanced girls in the midst of the alluring lifestyle of Hollywood, or now being gifted the legacy of two grandkids, or of being able to travel the world speaking that has made me become so passionate about telling others that Bible reading is the ultimate guide to a fulfilling life. It’s the story that Jesus can be your dependable guide if you honor and engage with Him consistently. My story matters because it’s His story living in me. His story compels me to tell others so that they too can find clarity behind the deceptive bright lights that blind us from seeing truth – God’s.
In our global culture today the deceiver – Satan has found a new deceptive light that beckons us relentlessly.
This new light is the global city with its blue light called “Smartphone.” It distributes unending information and anything our heart’s desires with a click of the finger. We worship at its temple and sacrifice our lives at its altar as we eat and sleep with it and panic when we’ve been separated from it. We run to it for answers instead of seeking wisdom from God’s Word.
The CBE research confirmed we’re too busy and too distracted to read the Bible.
Overcommitted schedules and the bombardment of constantly blaring media and entertainment conveniently packaged in a handheld device has captivated us as no other addictive substance in history. The truths written in the Word of God seem ancient and irrelevant to our overwhelmed lives. We stay confused and unable to find calm seas. We’ve charted a course away from peace and wisdom found when we engage regularly with God and the true joy of sailing in the eye of life’s storms. Research revealed that Bible reading has become so foreign that most people don’t know where to begin. 93% of us have access to a Bible and yet admit to never opening one. We have almost 5 in our American homes yet over 50% of American Christians say they haven’t read the Bible cover to cover. It’s why I wrote the devotional, Hope 4 Today: Stay Connected to God in a Distracted Culture.
In the midst of living most of my life in two deceptive cities each beckoning to be the place to find lasting happiness – Las Vegas and Hollywood, my story is that God’s been my consistent sailing partner and His beacon of light has never failed.
Isn’t it time you get serious and choose the winds of Jesus and sail into His calm waters?
