"Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" (Luke 24:32).

Not only is that one of those verses about Jesus from the New Testament that many Christians wish they could experience. It's also one that many have experienced. Like me.

I didn't have a personal encounter with the risen Saviour, as the two first-century followers did who are talking in that verse from Luke's Gospel. After leaving Jerusalem following the crucifixion, dejected, wondering perhaps how their Master was unable to save himself when he had saved so many others, they received the ultimate sermon—from Jesus himself, explaining the Hebrew Scriptures in light of his mission.

What happened to me was that, centuries later, I encountered a Sunday School teacher who had found the same message of Christly inspiration through studying her Bible. She taught us with such a firsthand love and knowledge of the Scriptures that she moved me to make my first major decision—to major in Biblical studies in college. It was a choice I've never regretted.

It was only the beginning. Deep, prayerful research in both the Bible and a companion research text, Science and Health with key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, has been the most consistent thread of my life through the intervening years. My appreciation of the stories, the history, the examples, the human flaws of character, the missteps, the triumphs, the battles, the yearnings, has only deepened. I'm now convinced that those 66 books of my Bible constitute the most remarkable collection of histories, poetry, and parables ever published. And for me, Science and Health has enriched the spiritual meaning of those 66 books as no other text has.

This heartfelt resonance with the Scriptures began even earlier in our family. Mother was an early widow who longed to provide stability for her two young children. My happiest childhood memories include bedtime prayers—recitations from the book of Psalms, night after night, until they became committed to memory. Little did I know that the spiritual foundation my mother was helping forge would come to my aid as a teenager.

For example, when I was lost one day on a mountain, this idea sustained me: "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help" (Ps. 121:1). And, as a college student afraid of an academic assignment that seemed beyond my reach, I was strengthened by this thought: "Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence" (Ps. 94:17). Both experiences eventually had great outcomes.

When I was a young adult building a career, the stories about Bible characters such as Abraham leaving all that was familiar, setting off for new lands, and listening for God's direction, seemed totally normal. This approach directly helped me as various jobs took me to new cities repeatedly over a ten-year period.

Knowing more about the "surrounds" of the Bible—the history, politics, geography, and culture of Biblical lands—has helped me want to dig deeply into language and customs that initially seemed foreign. It's like being a spiritual archaeologist: Below the surface of the Bible verse is the spiritual gem capable of uplifting, comforting, guiding, healing us. That search has never disappointed me. It has yielded only more riches.

I've found that the Bible is a roadmap for my life. Whatever wilderness I'm crossing through—in health issues, relationships, work, finances—figures such as Moses, who have been there before, are beckoning me. They're showing how a complete reliance on God sustains people and provides better direction than any human source possibly could.

Various facets of the Bible—the exodus, judges, monarchy, prophets, exile, rebuilding, Jesus' teaching and healings—parallel the life journey of people today, and can show us the way out of any dead end. Why? Because our ultimate journey is to know God, to experience His love firsthand, to feel our hearts "burn within us."