Wednesday, April 7, 2010

"This is my Bible..."

Once upon a time and long ago, I did indeed attend events where unbearably enthusiastic Believers would wave Bibles above their heads while chanting, "This is my Bible! God said it! I believe it! And that settles it!" It has been years since I've thought about that slogan.

In fact, I searched Google this morning because I could only remember the opener which, once I read the rest, is probably a good thing but let's not go there. And I only found myself searching Google after hearing, "this is my Bible" running through my brain on continuous loop.

You see, over the weekend I decided to be done with the Bible I've been using for personal prayer.

Never mind that I'd probably get another one exactly like it; same translation (NIV) and type size (Giant Print); use the same page clips to find my way through it. As for reinstalling Bible-index tabs? Not at all a problem. Fun!

The (alleged) problem is that I've been scrawling notes in this particular Bible for 15+ years and most entries include the date, time and circumstances of my encounters with scripture. Believe me, it's one thing to rediscover passages I've been led to during times of great joy; quite another to stumble upon ones I've clung to during times of pain, grief and other apocalyptic emotions.

Enough already.

Maybe not?

This morning, I unzipped the case and opened my Bible with every intention of removing all the stuff tucked into its pages, recycling the Page Nibs and then oh, I don't know maybe retiring it to the basement? But I never got that far because all I could hear was, "This is my Bible..."