Last night, when I got back to my hotel room, something unusual happened.

I wanted to read from a physical Bible.

That’s not my normal routine. After a long day, my first thought when I get back to the hotel isn’t usually to grab a Bible. I’m just ready to crash.

But last night, I felt the need to hold the book in my hands.

I didn’t bring one with me, but thank you, Gideons.

I reached into the drawer, pulled out the ESV Gideon Bible, and opened it.

Not thumbing through.
Not closing my eyes and pointing to a random verse.
Not searching for something specific.

I just opened it.

And it opened to 2 Kings 22.

A passage I’ve preached from before. A passage about a young king named Josiah, a time of repairing the temple, and a book that had been in the house of the Lord all along but had been forgotten.

The Book Was in the House, But They Didn’t Even Realize What Was Missing

2 Kings 22:8-11 (ESV)

"And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, 'I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.' And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it."

"And Shaphan the secretary came to the king and reported to the king, 'Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord.' "

"Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, 'Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.' And Shaphan read it before the king."

"When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes."

They were busy working for the Lord and didn’t even realize what was missing.

The book was there. The truth was there. But they had been operating without it.

And it made me think.

I’m in the Word. I study it. I teach it. I preach it.

I probably own 50 to 100 physical Bibles if I had to guess.

And that doesn’t even include my 6,000-plus digital books in Logos.

The book is in the house.

But when I spend time in Scripture, it’s almost always digital.

As I sat with that thought, something stirred in me. It wasn’t just about being in the Word. It was about how I engage with it.

Because when I read on my iPad, my phone, or my laptop, emails pop up, texts come in, and notification badges pull my attention away.

Even when I’m in the Word, I’m not fully present.

I didn’t even realize how much distraction had become normal until last night when I sat with a Bible that had no notifications, no interruptions.

It was just me and the book.

This Morning, It All Came Together

When I woke up, I found myself reflecting on two things from the night before—a dinner conversation and a simple moment in the hallway.

At dinner, Pastor Jason asked a question.

How many of you actually read from a physical Bible while preaching?

Almost all of us admitted it wasn’t our norm.

Most of us use our devices because that’s where our notes are.

I didn’t think much about it at the time.

But then, later in the evening, something else happened.

The Sticker I Almost Threw Away

After stepping out of service for a moment, I was heading back in when a young lady stopped me in the hallway.

She wasn’t standing at a table. She wasn’t handing out stacks of stickers.

She was just there, in the middle of the hallway, holding one sticker in her hand.

As I came down the hall, she looked right at me and said, I have a sticker for you.

I smiled, took it, and thought, what am I supposed to do with this?

It wasn’t until I was walking into the sanctuary that I glanced down and saw what it was.

A sticker of a Bible.

For a second, I almost tossed it in the trash. Instead, I slid it into my pocket and went back into service.

At the time, I didn’t make any connection.

But this morning, as I woke up and thought about the hotel Bible, the dinner conversation, and this sticker in my pocket, it hit me.

This Was Absolutely a Divine Encounter

That sticker wasn’t random.

It was a symbol.

It represented how I engage with Scripture digitally, how I spend time in the Word in Logos, scrolling through commentaries, searching key terms, and cross-referencing in seconds.

And don’t get me wrong. I love Logos. It’s an incredible tool. It has helped me and so many others dive deeper into the Word.

But in that moment, the Lord was showing me something personal.

It wasn’t about the tools themselves.

It was about how I often approach time with Him—distracted, multitasking, checking texts in between verses, skimming when I should be sitting still.

It’s not that I don’t have access to His Word.

It’s not that I don’t study it.

It’s that I rarely sit with it—undistracted, uninterrupted, fully present.

The book is in the house.

But am I truly engaging with it?

A Lifelong Struggle and a Word From the Lord

Here’s what really hit me this morning.

I’ve always had a lot going on.

Between district work, pastoring, school, business, and family, people ask me all the time, how do you do it all?

The truth is, I don’t know how I’d get things done if I didn’t have a lot going on.

I need the pressure.

I struggle to find motivation when I don’t have that pressure.

It’s the time constraints, the deadlines, the full plate that keeps me moving forward.

And that’s not just a recent thing—it’s been a lifelong struggle.

Rachel has told me more than once, you have ADHD.

I’ve never been diagnosed. I’ve just always chalked it up to being wired differently.

But here’s where this gets real.

As I sat with the Lord this morning, He dropped something in my spirit.

If I would be disciplined in this, He would do what only He can do.

That He’s delivering me from a lifelong struggle of distraction.

That if I would intentionally sit with His Word, free of distractions—not from an electronic device, but just with Him—
He would help me.

Not just with all that I have to accomplish.
But with what has been a lifelong struggle.

I’m Not Sure I Was Even Supposed to Share This, But…

This wasn’t just about reading a physical Bible.

This was about God calling me back to focus.

Calling me to be fully present in His presence.

Calling me to remember that the tools are there, but the tools don’t matter if I’m too distracted to use them well.

I don’t know if all of this was just for me, or if I was even supposed to share it publicly.

But I felt led to.

And I hope by sharing, it might encourage someone else.

Because His Word is waiting.

Not just on your screen.
Not just in your study notes.
But in the stillness, in the quiet, in the moments where you truly sit with Him.

The book is in the house.

Let’s make sure we open it.

Prayer for today

Lord, help me to be fully present with You. In the middle of everything I have going on, remind me to slow down, to sit with You, to listen. I don’t want to just study Your Word—I want to encounter You in it. Deliver me from distractions, from divided attention, from rushing through what should never be rushed. Teach me to be still. To be focused. To be with You. In Jesus' name, amen.