There is my pink "Women's Devotional Bible". Remember those? They came out about thirteen years ago for everybody under the SON...the "Men's Devotional Bible,"(in green) the "Couple's Devotional Bible"(in blue). I have all those and the reason I remember the pink one is because it was the Bible Wayne bought me about two months after we were engaged. I've got Bibles in every color you could imagine with my name engraved on them. Wayne also presented me with the first Bible with my new married name engraved on it. It was navy blue leather. I've got many - not all - translations...King James (the ONLY version according to my parents), the New KJ, the NLV, the Message, the NIV, the NLT, and XYZ.
But here is a pic of my favorite, greatest Bible of all time.
This Bible has been to every Beth Moore Bible study that ever existed. It has been -accidently - set in a puddle of water on the kitchen counter and soaked through to the beginning pages of Genesis. My old notes written in hot pink, green, and blue ink, now look like a colorful rainbow. It has gone with me to Women of Faith Conferences and was tucked away in my suitcase for who knows how many business trips and vacations. It holds so many precious mementos: both my Grandpa's obituaries, a newspaper clipping of my dad in 1979, a bookmark that Kate Russell made me when I use to babysit, another beaded bookmark from my best friend, Leigh, as well as a letter I wrote to my father-in-law a few years after he died. As you can tell, my favorite Bible has just about had it!
I remember a friend in one of my Sunday School classes making the comment that one of her most treasured possessions was her Grandmother's Bible. She said that her Grandmother's Bible meant so much to her because inside the Bible, her Grandmother had made notes in the margins, written dates of significance, and these handwritten notes were special because they represented her Grandmother's life. I remember that comment as if it was yesterday and that day, I vowed to start "writing" in my Bible. Now, I come from a family with parents that said "writing in your Bible is a no-no." Every now and then I can remember my mother underlining a verse in hers during a sermon, but for us kids, we just didn't do it. "Maybe" John 3:16 might be highlighted (Heaven forbid!) but other then that, we just didn't write in our Bibles. So, after that particular comment was made, I went to town and I started marking and highlighting and writing all in my Women's Study Bible. I've got every color highlighter, every color ink, Beth Moore quotes, Bill Dye quotes, John Doe quotes written all over the place. On some pages, the margins are completely filled up. And I've also made notes from my own study times and quiet times with Him. And you know what? That friend was right. My Bible has become my life. It is my world because it represents all the things that I have learned and discovered in this Journey about my God. It is personal. It is a part of me. And that is why I just can't seem to part with this particular one.
I asked Wayne one Sunday when we were pulling into our driveway after church if he had any duct tape. That day, the maroon binding had torn off and I was so sad about it. When he asked me why, I told him what my plan was - to tape my Bible back together - and he said, "Laura, that would be sacrilegious to do that. You've got so many Bibles. Just use another one."
About two years ago, Ruth gave Wayne his daddy's Bible - just like it was the day he died - with all the papers still stuck in it. Wayne wasn't home that day when she brought it by so I showed it to him when he got home that night. I noticed a while later that he disappeared to our bedroom with his dad's Bible and when he came back into the living room I could tell that he had been crying. On that day, he understood the importance of a Bible and I don't think all the duct tape in the world would have been enough to hold in the love and significance of holding that black book in his hands the way his daddy had.
There is just something to be said about God's written Word. It is everything that He says that it is. It does not return void. It cannot be added to or deleted from. It DOES endure.
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