This Old Worn Out Bible

A gift from my mother and brothers when I was 6 years old.

I already had that marking thing down!

I just loved the pictures because they matched the Sunday School Lessons and the Fans that we so used in the hot sanctuary when I was sure the pastor was going to pop a vein!

I don't know how it happened exactly, but at some point in the last 7 years I have become something of a Bible magnet. I don't even go out looking for them and somehow they find me. In recent months, two or three Bibles that I owned previously in my life have floated back into my hands. Perhaps they were never really lost, but I certainly had forgotten about them.

The first is pictured above. It is an old children's Bible, King James version (of course). It is the kind with pictures all around and inside and I received it when I was 6 years old. The dedication is to me from my younger brothers in my mother's handwriting. It is precious. It has places where it has been swapped around, first to my younger brother who hastily marked my own name out and inserted his instead. Then, to my cousin's only son who marked it in 1982. Somehow, in the time and passing - the tiny little Bible found its way back to me. I was very delighted to see that I have been marking Bibles since I was six, even if the markings only appear in the Table of Contents... LOL! The other Bible (Below) is special because I carried it along with a larger similar style NIV during my early days of ministry. This particular one helped me to find my way with many youth who are now my girls. They are precious to me as are my memories of them. It is well marked and that particular year, I took it to youth camp where I learned to mark it for evangelism. It is noted with Scriptures and prayers and well, as can be easily seen - the pages are crumpled and tattered a bit - but I can look upon it anytime and remember those wonderful days early in my ministry walk when God taught me so much about Himself and His love. Precious.

My youngest daughter has claimed the black Bible for her inheritance, though I am sure there will be more than enough to pass around. I own at least 31 different Bibles and those are just the ones I could count today. Some belong to relatives, a legacy of faith. Others just crossed my path at the local Lifeway store and well, eventually they made it to my bookshelf. There is the NIV study Bible that I carried when my husband was saved. There is also the two versions of the Parallel study Bible each with KJV, NIV and NASB - one with Amplified and the other NLT translations - (I own two because at that time I had determined to buy a new Bible every year so I would not go over my old markings in a new season of study- yeah right!) That was my "had to know more phase..." which led into the purchase of the Key Word Study Bible and the Complete Word Study Bibles - Old and New Testament KJV editions. I also have a Scofield Study Bible and a Thompson Chain Reference Bible because well, that day, I just couldn't decide which one suited me best in the NKJV. I orderd a Max Lucado devotion Bible from a book club in the NCV. I also had to have the Archeological Study Bible NIV. I picked up, somewhere - probably Mardels, a Personalized Promise Bible (various translations) and the One Year Reading Bible in the ESV. Then there are the dozen or so various copies of the NIV and KJV Bibles that I had before I became a collector of sorts. An old worn out copy I received with love and grace from a Mission Church where I served for the first time as a Sunday School Teacher. The forementioned children's Bible and my mother and my father's cousin's Bible. I have our Family Bible of course and a teacher's Bible in the HCSB translation. I also have my husband's grandmother's Bible that we bought for her. It is precious to me. Recently I had determined that I might just have "enough" Bibles since they litter most of my end tables and take up almost two shelves in my office space. But, then I ran across "The Spirit Filled Life" Bible in the NKJV (which is the translation of choice at our new church home...) It called my name and I made the rounds until I found a thoroughly unique copy. I have been breaking in the new pages with delight as I discover Word study and notes all in line with what I am reading in my daily times with God. Glorious! Just Glorious! There is just something inside of me that has to know more, has to learn more - I want to get every view, every angle --- every possible insight there is into the Mind of Christ and the Heart of God and His Word is the only place I know to look. My children groan miserably when they discover a new Bible box stored on a shelf or in the garage... "You didn't!" They exclaim. "I did..." That is my typical response, and I know someday when I have long since made the journey Home they will search out those precious copies of God's Holy Word and find the insights of a lifetime that God and His teachers have given me.

Have a Blessed Day!

This is just one of the many marked pages in the Little Black Bible from youth camp.

It rides along happily in my purse or sometimes, it sits idly on a table in the Living Room waiting for me to bring it to life again. I almost always do...

The tattered Black Bible with the Children's Bible my aunt found in her garage.