The Baptized Bible
I was given my hunter green NIV Bible my sophomore year in college. It even had my name engraved in gold in the lower right corner. My parents gave it to me for my 20th birthday. It traveled the following summer to Alaska, where it was baptized by an unsecured water bottle in my backpack. It dried out eventually but to this day, it has waffled pages that testify to that water bottle incident two decades prior. This Bible has been the one used for most of my life. I received it around the time that I remember experiencing a new intimacy with God that I hadn’t known before. It was my companion for that journey, and nearly every other significant transition in my life thus far. I leaned into it, and every word Elizabeth Elliott had ever written, as I was falling in love with Matt Roberson, desperately trying to keep my head and heart upright through the process. That Bible went with me as a new wife and a new nurse to Frisco, Texas. We moved there when Matt was hired as a worship pastor. It anchored me through those first years of being a naïve and nervous staff wife. It counseled me through arguments and challenges as a newly married couple. It secured my swirling mind when we got pregnant with Chloe while I was in graduate school. It was there with me again when I was pulling my hair out with a willful two-year-old, and discovered blessing number two was on its way. It assured my heart of the provision of God during financially tight seasons. It taught me to follow my Shepherd closely into and out of places of ministry. There are pen marks across Isaiah that Claire contributed as a toddler. There are initials and dates written beside countless verses---prayers for me and for my husband, for significant events in our lives, for my children and for girls I discipled. I can’t even describe how precious this Bible is to me. Several years ago, I received a Lifeway gift card from my high school girls’ group to get it rebound. I think they were tired of looking at my sad, waffled pages and the dried flaking leather leaving a trail everywhere I went. But alas, it was too expensive to have rebound, and I bought some books with the gift card instead. I eventually added clear packing tape to the spine to contain the flaking and keep the binding intact. Classy, right?
This Bible represents so many seasons of transitions. They were transitions that made my insides feel shaky. But the God this book revealed to me, and continues to reveal, is faithful, unchanging, and trustworthy. That is what I recall most when I look at that weathered, tired Bible. I’ve since transitioned to a previous Bible of Matt’s that he was no longer using. It has a few notes and highlights marked by him that I always enjoying stumbling upon. But I am making my own notes and markings, hopeful that at some point in the future it will look tired and weathered as well. And it will testify to transitions and faithfulness, to promises kept and the character of a God who is worthy of the pursuit along the journey. No better companions for that journey than a tired Bible, and the faithful God that it reveals.
“Ancient Words”
by Lynn Deshazo
“Holy words long preserved, for our walk in this world
They resound with God’s own heart; Oh, let the ancient words impart
Ancient words, ever true; changing me, changing you;
You have come with open hearts, let the ancient words impart
Holy words of our faith, handed down to this age
Came to us through sacrifice; Oh, heed the faithful words of Christ
Holy words long preserved, for our walk in this world
They resound with God’s own heart; Oh, let the ancient words impart
Ancient words ever true, changing me and changing you
We have come with open hearts; Oh, let the ancient words impart.”
