Handle With Care

        This is my Lord's Day offering and it's from October of 2010:


         At my first holy communion in the second grade the custom was to receive a Bible. It was my uncle who provided me with one and I remember being somewhat disappointed for it was pocket size and very unreadable. I can't remember why it was that I desired a regular Bible but the desire was real. In grades three through six we would attend Mass every morning and I did have a missal that was a prized possession. I liked its smell and the thin pages and was particularly impressed by the Latin that was recited from the altar and repeated by us in the pews. In high school. we were given two paperback textbooks, one was the Old Testament and the other the New Testament and we studied them for their literary content. I still had no concept of the Bible and no personal Bible of my own.      
         Scan ahead to about 23 years of age when I had come out of the army and started at Pitt. My habit was to stop in the National Record Mart on Forbes Avenue in Oakland and browse their books before catching the bus home. I often came out with a purchase and one day it was a modern language paraphrase of the New Testament. I have this paperback in my hand now and can remember the feeling then of holding something special but not really knowing what that was....
         I've told this story before....my wife and I were on a Caribbean cruise and a severe storm rocked the ship as we rounded the western end of Cuba. We even had difficulty retreating to our staterooms. Things were sliding off of the table. I opened the drawer in the table next to the bed and there was the ubiquitous motel room Gideon Bible. Opening it up and reading from where my finger had wound up, I read from the 93rd Psalm,

The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
The floods have lifted up their voice;
The floods lift up their waves.
The Lord on high is mightier
Than the noise of many waters,
Than the mighty waves of the sea.

         As a new Christian, God was gracious to give me this glimpse of His Word through an unorthodox method, a method that I would not presume upon now for I no longer pick up his Word without knowing that it is not a mere book but God breathed words to his people.....please consider these words from Hebrews 4:12 For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
         If one wants to remain in rebellion to God one would do well to not pick up His Word, for, should God will it, it will make very clear the folly and repercussions of holding on to our own autonomy. It will convict the conscience. On the other hand, if one desires to see just what is in this perceived time capsule, as I had for so many of my early years, it will be an illumination that is easy on the eyes, sweet to the pallet, exhilarating to the touch, soothing to the ears and of a pure aroma of cleanliness. It is powerful and will remain powerful even into old age. It is provision for all that we will need on this journey. It is nourishment. It is radiation to kill cancer cells and minerals to build bones. It is exercise, laughter and fulfillment. It is knowledge and understanding, intellect and emotion, humility and motivation. It is oxygen itself to the Christian life but it is kryptonite to Nietzsche's uberman. It will not only cause you to love but define love itself. Its unity will bring division. Discerning its division will bring unity to the mind. So, the next time that you pick up a Bible, please know that if you are not careful, an ax may be laid at the root of your paradigm of life.