Welcome to today's word of encouragement from your friends at Our Daily Bread.

Today's devotional titled I Am was written by Kenneth Peterson.

Jack, a professor of philosophy and literature, had a brilliant mind. He'd declared himself

an atheist at the age of 15 and in adulthood adamantly defended his atheistic faith.

Christian friends tried to persuade him. As Jack put it, everyone and everything had joined the other side.

But the Bible, he had to admit, was different from other literature and myths. About the

gospels, he wrote, if ever a myth had become fact, had been incarnated, it would be just like this. One Bible passage became most influential

to Jack. Exodus 3. God was calling Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses asked God,

Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh? God responded, I am who I am.

This passage is a complex play on words and names, but reflects God's eternal presence from the

beginning.

Interestingly, later Jesus echoed the same when he said in John 8, before Abraham was born,

I am. Jack, better known as C.S. Lewis, was deeply persuaded by this passage. This was all that the one

true God should need to say, simply that he is the I am. In a life-changing moment,

Lewis gave in and admitted God was God. This was the beginning of a journey for Lewis

toward accepting Jesus. Perhaps we struggle with belief, as Lewis did, or maybe with a lukewarm faith.

We might ask ourselves if God is truly the I am in our lives.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from the second book in the Bible, Exodus,

Chapter 3, verses 11 through 15.

Moses said to God,

Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?

And God said, I will be with you, and this will be the sign to you

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