Fifty years ago my dad and mom gave me a new Bible. It was my senior year in high school, the first week of two-a-day football practices, and I crawled home that day, bone tired. Mom made a special dinner for me, since it was my birthday, and dad gave me a Bible with the following inscription:

Bud, nothing could be greater than to have a son—a son who loves the Lord and walks with him. Your mother and I have found this Book our dearest treasure. We give it to you and doing so can give nothing greater. Be a student of the Bible and your life will be full of blessing. We love you. Dad
9/7/66
Phil. 1:6

As I read these wonderful words from fifty years ago, it never occurred to me to think, "Dad doesn't really believe that. It's just religious talk." I knew he meant it, because I watched him live it. He was a student of the Bible, and his life was full of blessing, and I wanted what he had. It took me a few more years to get clarity in some ways, not surprisingly. But on this day so long ago my dad said something to me that left a deep impression. It moved me then, and it moves me now.

Ray Ortlund, "Fifty Years Ago Today," Gospel Coalition blog (9-7-16)