This goes back to when Lady Mae and me
were still flying commercial.
Never again, thank you Jesus.
[CHUCKLES]
First Lady says never again.
Thank you, Jesus.
And this man sees me poring over my Bible-- I was getting
ready for my sermon on Sunday-- and he grunts
at me-- sipping on his wine, said, are you one of them
Bible bangers?
[GROANING]
I said, well what's a Bible banger?
He said, you know, one of those people that bangs people
on the head with their Bibles.
And this made me so sad, to think that's what the Bible is
to some people-- something they think
someone's gonna be beating on them with,
beating them on the head.
Now, imagine that you were born in a real small town.
And on the first day of kindergarten,
you're standing on the milk line,
and the little kid next to you in line
says hi and starts talking to you.
And it turns out that he likes the same cartoons as you.
[LAUGHTER]
The same flavor ice cream.
[APPLAUSE]
Say video games.
It's like you two were made for each other.
Yes!
Yes.
So you start to go to each other's houses after school.
You become friends.
Best friends. -Yes!
That's right.
And then when it comes time to graduate from high school,
now you have to-- you have to stay in town
because of a family business, and your friend
goes off to college--
Mm-hmm.
--and then gets a job on the other side of the world.
But you keep in touch, email each other once a week or so.
Yes.
And at the end of every email, you say, I love you.
I miss you.
Please come home.
After many years of this, one day you
get a email from your friend.
He says, I have-- I have some business gonna
take me through your area, and I was
wondering if I could see you.
[APPLAUSE]
So on the day your friend is coming to visit,
you drive three hours to the big airport.
Yeah.
And you stand there outside security by the baggage claim,
and you wait.
And all these people are coming through the doors.
And you think, well, maybe there's a problem.
Maybe I got the date wrong. But then--
[ORGAN PLAYING]
--way back--
[APPLAUSE]
--at the back of this river of people, you see your friend.
[SHOUTING AND APPLAUSE]
And oh, how your heart feels!
You see, the Bible is not a rulebook.
The Bible is not a bunch of myths.
It's not even a work of literature.
That's right!
And it certainly isn't something to be banging
people over their heads with.
[APPLAUSE]
The Bible, praise God, is like bunch
of emails from the best friend you ever had,
saying I love you.
I miss you.
Please come home.
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC - "RIVER"]
Now, I don't know who I'm preaching to today.
Maybe I'm preaching to myself.
But if there's anybody out there today who's thinking I
want to come home--
[APPLAUSE]
--I'm so tired of being out there by myself,
fighting by myself; I just wanna go home and see my friend,
well, I'm here to tell you, come on home.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
Come down here, because Jesus wants to welcome you home.
Come on.
Come on down here.
Come on while there's still time.
Come on.
Come on, now.
Come on down here, child.
That's right.
Come on.
[LAUGHS]
Oh, come on.
[INAUDIBLE]
Oh.
Just pray with me, child.
Heavenly Father, we thank Thee.
Welcome home, baby.