Five Thousand Text Messages

Every morning, my uncle sends me a text. From what I’ve gathered, some of his friends and relatives receive a daily message, most often Scripture from what he’s read.

It’s remarkable because my uncle never read the Bible until he was forty-seven. A seizure led to a hospital visit which led to nineteen years of sobriety.  

I spoke with him on the phone last week. He retraced the timeline. Some of the stories I’d heard before, some aspects I heard from my mother, before her cancer.

The part I want to record from my uncle’s legacy is that God seeks people he made. When all seems lost or late, God unearths and recovers. God initiates.

My mother never knew her brother until fourteen years ago. It’s a story that’s not mine to tell—a story of a family that never appeared whole. And yet, what defines wholeness?

Daily, my uncle texts a brief sentence or two. Words from Scripture, bringing value. I’m reminded of what God values, and of my uncle’s simple trust, his faith audible in a text notification.

I asked my uncle if I could share this short piece. He specified that the Bible he first opened at age forty-seven was a gift from a hospital chaplain. My uncle kept the Bible, yet kept the Bible closed, until one day God began to stir in him a new beginning.

“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” (Eph 2:8-10, NLT).

Also remarkable is the word “masterpiece” for those whom God has created anew.

A masterpiece painting beckons praise for the Artist, as does my uncle’s story of transformation, along with his five thousand text messages.

My uncle says inside the Bible he was gifted, the chaplain inscribed, "Ephesians 3:20."

"Now all glory to God, who is able through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more that we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21, NLT).

New to reading my monthly blog? Subscribe for free. Future posts and newsletters sent to your email.

(Photo on Unspalsh by Amandine Bataille)