My Bible.

In 1973 I had my then girlfriend and her mom drive me over to the Good News Bible and Book store. There I bought my second bible. My first being a green hard cover "Living Bible" a paraphrase version. I call it "Bible Light" the starter kit for a new believer. On this day I purchased a blue leather bound King James version Thompson Chain reference. Non-red letter addition with thumb guides to find the books of the Bible with ease. It not only looked good but I remember the smell of that leather. Now I had graduated from the "milk" to the "MEAT"...face it folks the Bible can be a tuff read. Without God's spirit you can easily get stuck in the weeds of thees and thous and who beget who. But under God's anointing His Word will jump off the page and change your life. I know it changed mine. In 1973 I was a mere lad of 17. I am now in my 50's. I have somehow kept that Bible with me all these years. I look at it now and see a "Life". Like me it has weathered many a storm. Still in remarkably good shape considering how old it is. Like my 1977 Martin D-28 that I bought new off the rack, It has gotten sweeter with age. I look at my bible and see my life. Many of the thumb guides printing has wore away from use(Pauls Epistles,the book of Proverbs,Psalms)Many of the pages were tore and repaired with tape that has grown yellow with age. I can see the stains from the time I dropped it in the mud. As I leaf threw it's pages I see a young man's journey. Books and passages marked in yellow pen with notes that tell where I was at in any point of my life then. As I reread certain passages and see what I underlined it takes me back to that day. Sitting in a coffee shop with Bible and note book. I read the Book of Hebrews where I learned the difference for the first time of the reason for a new testament. It was late at night and I was living with my lifelong friends Randy and Edy in a spare room. Other pages remind me of sitting in a shack,working as a flagman during the Trans Alaska pipeline days. I look at the first 4 books and see all the scriptures marked where I would learn how God dealt with the Children Of Isreal. I would embrace these truths and would see my life in them..deliverence from Egypt(salvation,the Promise) mount Sinai where they recieve the Law(princples) the wilderness where they are tested(problem) And finally the river Jordan and Cannan(the Provision) the law of the four P's something I learned from Bob Mumford. Years later I would stumble upon a Bible teacher from Scotland named Graham Cook who would use the life of Joseph in a simalar fashion. The Law of the 4 D's Declaration,Distress,Developement and finally Demonstartion..I seek my "Joseph Moment" that moment where God had been prepairing him his whole life to stand before Pharoh. With the act of Pharoh removing his signat ring from his hand and placing it on the finger of Joseph. All that Joseph had suffered, endured and learned would now be focused and used for a former slave to save an entire nation..from ex-con to vice president!!(to put it in modern terms)I look at the life of Abraham who would be the father of Faith and I would learn the Covenenat God made with him and what that would mean to me. I see my life in the pages of this old book. Like me it was fresh and new in 1973. It now has the look of age and wear on it much like me..grizzled and wore yet still whole and in good shape...my Bible,my Life...His Word.