Wouldn’t it be a wonderful sight to look out your window and see horses and riders speeding by with mail delivery? If we were alive on this day in 1860, we might have caught a glimpse of this as the Pony Express debuted.
The idea of this mail delivery system was devised by William H. Russell, William Bradford Waddell and Alexander Majors. Over 150 relay stations were established across Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California. The initial test of the system was an east vs. west competition. Riders in St. Joseph, MO and Sacramento, CA took off at the same time, headed to the other rider’s point of origin. The westbound rider won, completing the 1,800 mile journey in just 10 days and beating the eastbound rider by a whole two days. That’s absolutely amazing! I received a Christmas card and gift that was sent out from Bryan on December 21st, 2024 and I received it at my Stryker address on January 28th, 2025! Six miles and 38 days later, I got the card. Perhaps we need to re-saddle up the ponies!
“Riders were paid approximately $25 per week and carried loads estimated at up to 20 pounds of mail, were changed every 75 to 100 miles, with horses switched out every 10 to 15 miles.” The cost, though, was a bit brutal. “The initial cost of Pony Express delivery was $5 for every half-ounce of mail.”1 Today, we mail an ounce for 73 cents.
When God wanted to mail us a letter, He didn’t use the USPS or the Pony Express. He had a different delivery method. 2 Peter 1:19-21 tells us, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: (20) Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. (21) For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
We are told in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (17) That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” The transmission of the letter was direct to the human authors, then delivered either through a prophet in the Old Testament or through written scrolls in either the Old or New Testaments.
In the New Testament writings of Paul, God often gave the message while Paul was sitting in a jail cell. A friend and coworker would deliver those letters to the church that it was addressed. Imagine what it must have been like to read that letter for the first time!
Through the years, God’s Word has leaped from the original scrolls and the original languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek into the languages and dialects of many people groups. According to Wycliffe Global Alliance, 6 billion people have the full copy of God’s 
Word in 756 languages. There are 835 million who have just the New Testament in 1,726 languages and 468 million with a portion of Scripture in 1,274 languages. That means that 3,756 languages have at least a portion of God’s Word translated for them. This covers 7.3 billion people or 91% of the world population with a portion of God’s Word.2
That’s a great statistic unless you are one of the 9% who don’t have the Word of God. Each year, though, the gap closes.
Thank God today for giving us His Word and allowing us to be in a land where we have ample access to His Word. Pray for those who don’t have the completed Word of God and pray especially for the 9% that Bible translators would get the Word to them.
“O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” (Psalms 119:97)
1https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pony-express-debuts
2https://www.wycliffe.net/resources/statistics/
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