This is one of my favorite Bibles. It is sitting on my desk right now. I've been thinking about it a lot. It belonged to my friend Tony Sharp.
One of the great honors of my life as a pastor is to help families at the time of death by preparing memorial services for their loved ones. One of my habits is to borrow the Bible of the individual who has died and preach the service using their Bible. It started as a way to feel a little more connected to the person, but then I began to look inside those Bibles and found a rich treasure. They are often a spiritual diary with notes written in the margins. The Bible I have been using to study recently is my father's and it is filled with his notes as he prepared to teach his Bible Study class. Sometimes they are filing cabinets filled with bookmarks, newspaper clippings, and inspiring quotes. Other Bibles are nearly pristine but in close examination one can detect fingerprint oil on many of the pages. Other Bibles are nearly in tatters from frequent use (notice the duct tape on the spine of this one).
Tony's Bible has all the characteristics of a book that has been well-loved. It does have one distinctive characteristic that I have never seen. Near the back middle is a large worn spot. It took me a bit to work it out. It is the place where his thumb rested as he held it to read. He did not sit it on a table, or rest it in his lap, but grasped it in his hand to read it. This was his daily habit. Over years of use, his thumb drilled through the cover and reached the layers beneath.
I was reading a study that concludes, "The pattern is clear – print reading is better than digital reading for comprehension." The results were determined by analyzing 54 studies involving over 170,000 participants conducted between 2000-2017.
The season of Lent begins on Feb 14 this year. I'm going to take the physical Bible reading challenge. Instead of doing my daily bible reading on my phone, I'm going to use a print Bible. I'm going to be asking everyone to bring a print Bible to church as we help people create a marked New Testament of the Roman Road (Tony's Bible is marked in this way). I'm praying that God will help me comprehend His Word more and more. I'm thinking it might be interesting to have a Bible gallery in the back of the Worship Center - if you have an interesting Bible to share, bring it on Ash Wed and help us drill into God's Word.
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