A Glimpse of the Past

dscf7953Last night, my mom and dad brought over a Bible.   Not just any Bible, but a Bible that has been in the family for a long time.  My Great-Grandfather was a Methodist Circuit Preacher in the early 1900’s.   The Rev. Jessee Morris traveled all around southwest Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee in the Holston Methodist Conference. He was born in 1877 and died in 1938, and was a true circuit rider.   The Bible that they brought and gave me was the main Bible he used.  My uncle was the last family member to have it, and he wanted to give it to me since I am a pastor.

As I held it in my hands and looked through it, I felt a strange connection.  I could see his sermon notes and ideas, and it was amazing to see his thoughts.   Even though we are generations apart, we believe in the same Lord and Savior.  This is truly one of the gifts that I will cherish and hold on to.  It’s in pretty rough shape, it was definitely well used, but I want to read through his notes and glean wisdom from what he learned.   I was surprised by the number of ‘facts’ about the Bible that he wrote.  Do you know what the middle verse of the Bible is?  What about the middle word of the New Testament?  How many verses end with a question mark?  All of these and more are written in the back.  I had to stop and remember that this was long, long, before computers.  But the question that kept ringing through my head last night was this, “Do we spend as much time in the Word as our forefathers did?”

I’m afraid that technology has made it easier to study the Bible, but made it harder to fall in love with the Bible.

Reflect and think on that last statement, and I pray that it will have the same effect on you that it had on me.

Here are some more pictures that show the notes and the inside of the Bible.  It is a King James authorized version with red letters in both the Old and New Testament.  I don’t know if I have ever seen a red letter edition that also has Old Testament verses in red as well.  It is truly a glimpse into the past.

Mike

I am a former design engineer who now pastors Cornerstone Community Church in Galax, Virginia. I'm passionate about following Jesus and I love technology. I've been married to Jennifer for 28 years, and we have three adult children.

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