Scripture.

"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people."

-Proverbs 14:34 NKJV

"Every word of God proves true. He defends all who come to him for protection."

-Proverbs 30:5

"It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible."

-George Washington

"The whole inspiration of our civilization springs from the teachings of Christ and the lessons of the prophets. To read the Bible for these fundamentals is a necessity of American life."

-Herbert Hoover

"In regard to this great book. I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man's welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it."

-Abraham Lincoln

"Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet-anchor of your liberties; write its precepts in your hearts and practice them in your lives. To the influence of this book we are indebted for all the true progress made in true civilization, and to this we must look as our guide to the future. Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people."

-Ulysses S. Grant

"If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury our glory in profound obscurity."

-Daniel Webster

"The Bible is worth all other books that have ever been printed."

-Patrick Henry

"The Bible is a book in comparison with which all others in my eyes are of minor importance; and which in all my perplexities and distresses has never failed to give me light and strength."

-Robert E. Lee

"It was the Lord who put into my mind (I could feel his hand upon me) that fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies. All who heard of my project rejected it with laughter, ridiculing me. There is no question that the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit, because He comforted me with rays of marvelous inspiration from the Holy Scriptures."

-Christopher Columbus

"The meaning of the Bible must be known and understood if it is to make a difference in our lives, and I urge all Americans to read and study the Scriptures. The rewards of such efforts will help preserve the heritage of freedom and signal the message of liberty to people in all lands."

-Ronald Reagan

"I have made it a practice every year for several years to read through the Bible."

-John Adams

"The Bible is God's chart for you to steer by, to keep you from the bottom of the sea, and show you where the harbor is, and how to reach it without running on rocks or bars."

-Henry Ward Beecher

"Our faith is not dependent upon human knowledge and scientific advance, but upon the unmistakable message of the Word of God."

-Billy Graham

"In this age of space flight, when we use the modern tools of science to advance into new regions of human activity, the Bible . . . this grandiose, stirring history of the gradual revelation and unfolding of the moral law . . remains in every way an up-to-date book. Our knowledge and use of the laws of nature that enable us to fly to the Moon also enables us to destroy our home planet with the atom bomb. Science itself does not address the question whether we should use the power at our disposal for good or for evil. The guidelines of what we ought to do are furnished in the moral law of God. It is no longer enough that we pray that God may be with us on our side. We must learn again to pray that we may be on God's side."

-Wernher von Braun

"Every word of God proves true." What a treasure we have in the Bible. The men who founded America and the great men who shaped America knew the value of the Scriptures. The Proverbs often compare wisdom to gold and silver: "Happy is the person who finds wisdom and gains understanding. For the profit of wisdom is better than silver, and her wages are better than gold. Wisdom is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her" (Proverbs 3:13-15). Oh, the value of wisdom and, oh, the worth of our search for it.

Here at our house we have no rubies for which to search. We may have a silver serving tray (wedding gift from 1967) and our gold is very limited: my wedding band and Margaret's wedding ring, both purchased at Wright Patterson Air Force Base for $9 and $92 respectively. We do have a rooster however.

This is not just a rooster. This is the rooster: Solomon. Solomon is the defender of the chicks. He has his nine wives and is the equivalent of a Navy Seal when it came to protecting them. He is so good at this homeland security stuff that he has our grandkids sneaking through the woods and running through the yard to get to the house before he spots them. Margaret's time to get from the car to the house has been cut to an Olympic record. He's bad . . . but he's good at being bad. That's what God designed him to do.

Solomon disappeared last Tuesday. When I closed the door on the chicken coop Tuesday evening and took roll call, only nine of the ten inhabitants were present and accounted for. Nine hens, "present." One rooster, "absent." Well when a rooster or hen doesn't show up at the end of the day we all know what happened: it has joined the ranks of KFC or Chick-fil-A for some sneaky critter who by now was lounging in the woods burping chicken feathers. I knew Solomon was gone. Another rooster could easily be purchased but Solomon could not be replaced.

Wednesday morning I walked through the woods looking for a pair of white chicken legs and a pile of feathers. I walked by the creek and through the woods trying to figure out where I would eat chicken if I were a fox or raccoon. I didn't do a very good job because I came up featherless. My excuse was . . . fifteen acres is a lot of ground to cover.

Wednesday afternoon while outside with Ryan and Drew, two of our grandsons, I thought I heard a rooster crow. I said, "Ryan, Drew, did you hear that? That sounded like Solomon!" Sure enough, we heard it again. I have heard Solomon's crowing enough that I could tell it was him. He was out there, across the creek, in the woods somewhere. We crossed the creek and just as we started looking, Solomon quit crowing. Every time we heard the crowing, we went searching. I even went out at night with a flashlight, looking up into the trees hoping to find this prodigal rooster. No luck. I was encouraged because I knew Solomon was still alive . . . for now. The longer he was in the woods at night the fewer his chances of survival.

Early Thursday mornings I meet with a friend, Olan Miller, and we pray together. On the way home from Olan's house I get a phone call from Carey, my daughter, and she said, "Dad, I'm in the woods looking for Solomon. I hear him crowing." I told her I'd be home in about five minutes and would join the search . . . again. When I got home, Carey was about forty feet away from the chicken house but across the creek. Solomon crowed again and Carey said, "He sounds like he's under the chicken house." I checked and he wasn't.

I said, "No, it sounds like he's out in the woods behind you." After a long search I found no Solomon so I headed back to the creek to cross over to the chicken house side. Then I heard Solomon crow again. I thought, "He's over there by the chicken house somewhere! Where? I bet he's somewhere in that tree by the chicken house." He wasn't.

Standing on the bank, about twelve feet above the creek, Carey and I both heard Solomon crow again and we immediately looked at one another and said, "He's down there!" I climbed down into the creek and heard Solomon crowing up in the ground! It seemed like the more we talked, the more he crowed. We located the hole where the crowing was coming from. We think he accidentally fell into the creek and being a non-swimmer, luckily got out of the water and climbed up into a washed out hole, probably for refuge while the creek waters were high, and stayed there, most likely for all three days! Carey went for a camera, a flashlight so we could see up into the hole, and some pruning shears so we could cut roots away from the hole to allow me to see where he was. Carey came back, climbed down into the creek, and by the time she had the camera ready, two white chicken legs appeared in the hole. He was dirty, a little thinner than before but still his loud, pushy, rooster self. (Jessica Webber said Solomon would not have been lost as long but, like most males, he wouldn't ask for directions!) I picked up Solomon, carried him to the chicken coop, released him, he crowed and immediately began chasing the hens! The rooster was back!

You're most likely asking yourself, "Okay, what does that have to do with wisdom?" Simply this, each time I was walking through the trees and thorns and ferns in the woods looking for a chicken, I kept asking myself, "What if I searched the Scriptures for wisdom like I'm searching the woods for one rooster?" Wisdom is worth more than gold and silver and for sure, it's worth more than one loud rooster.

I also realized that what I was searching for was less than forty or fifty feet from where I was standing. I walked through those acres of trees at least eight times looking for something that was literally right there under my feet. Wisdom is not far away. Take a seat on the couch, grab the Bible, ask God for it (James 1:5), and read. It's easier than finding a rooster!

Quieter too!