The Two Week Bible

MY SPECIAL BIBLE

I’ve had this goal for 2009. Read the entire original books of the bible. Though I sometimes neglected it, with the Lord’s grace, I had read through the entire New Testament and then I had began the Old Testament. Since I was reading through a bible that did not have all the original books, I knew that I would have to buy a bible containing all the books. I didn’t know when to buy it, earlier or later, so I left it up to God through prayer. I prayed for the Lord to show me the bible that I am to buy. Help me decide when and where to get the bible.

About two weeks before I boarded the plane to Guyana, I had found a bible that I felt called to. A Catholic edition with all the original books, and even more enticing, one with thumb tabs! This was the first Catholic edition I had seen with thumb tabs. I was called to purchase it. But with a 45 dollar price tag, I thought otherwise. Maybe EBay was cheaper. So I left.

I asked the Lord for wisdom in this matter. God do you will me to purchase this bible? Will I find a cheaper one? A week later, I went back to the store, prayed to God that his will be done, and I purchased the bible. Two Jacksons and one Hamilton. I still thought it was too expensive. Plus it was plastic wrapped, so I couldn’t see what the print looked like. But the enticing thumb tabs were great.

When I got home that evening, I opened the bible I had been reading. The night before, I had arrived on Ezra- the first page. I unwrapped the new bible and I opened to the page where it’s ribbon marker had been placed. To my astonishment, the ribbon marker had been placed on Ezra, the second page. THE NEXT PAGE! I had been reading the bible since December and on this exact day when I purchased this new bible, the new bible happened to have its ribbon marker on the next page. I praised the Lord for this occurrence.

I felt like this was a divine passing of the torch. I was now to read the new bible. But, what was God telling me in all of this about this bible?

So now I had a new bible, one I liked because it contained the original books, and because it had thumb tabs and the pronunciation of names. I thought I better take extra care for it because it was so expensive. I wouldn’t physically abuse it. I needed to ensure the longevity of it. I would PRESERVE it.

“I will use this one for MANY years,” I thought.


MY BEHIND BARS BIBLE

When I ended up in the Trinidad prison system, God helped sustain my sanity through the bible. Although I had left off in Maccabbees, I chose to read Job since I thought of Job’s distress. I began on Friday night, the first page of Job. When I tired, I used the bible as a pillow. I was leaning on God for all my understanding- LITERALLY.

I was transported to a different cell on Saturday and I stayed there until Monday. In my cell of 5 inmates, we read the book of Acts when the apostles are in prison. They pray and sing hymns and miraculously are let out. This strengthened our jail’s faith. The inmates asked for passages on forgiveness, so we read parts of the Gospels on Jesus speaking about repentance and forgiveness. And when a cell mate mentioned God and another god, we read the 1st commandment- there is only one God. Other inmates read the bible. I noticed they looked at Psalms. I was amazed at God’s living word inside the cell.

We also prayed the Our Father, and the Hail Mary and asked God for mercy and just punishment. The inmates wanted to pray communally so often that I even told them, once that we’ll pray later. I didn’t have the zeal at the moment. Shame on me!

On Saturday night, another inmate used the bible to lean on- literally. And on Sunday night, another inmate too. Wow, the bible must make for a great pillow. As for the physical care for the bible, I had meant to do. Well, we ripped out pages in the appendixes and used them to write on. One inmate wrote a powerful letter, to himself and to God, hoping to change. We spoke about sin, and our struggles with sin. I wrote down a prayer of repentance and asking the Lord for help on one of the pages and I handed it to him. We also used a page to write addresses on them. One I still have. So I PRESERVED that one!

On Sunday late night when three got bailed out, and two new inmates came into the cell, one of them, a scrawny dark skinned boy asked if he could read the bible. Jon-Jon was his name. For the next few hours, I would look over to the cement bench, only to see a dark skinned body and the bible in front of his face! As I and another inmate were getting transported to the court jails, he asked me, “Can I have this bible?”

KEEPING MY SPECIAL BIBLE

All my plans of using the bible for many years came to mind. This bible was SPECIAL to me because it had all the ORIGINAL BOOKS, it had THUMB TABS, it showed me PRONUNCIATIONS of names, and I couldn’t give it away because it cost a whopping 45 BUCKS. Plus, I would need the Living Word while I was in the different prison cells. So I told him:

“Yes, you can have it.” His zealousness was overflowing and I couldn’t deny him the Living Word.


MY PLANS

I had been so eager to go to Guyana. These were my plans.
Yet, I never made it to Guyana. I made it behind bars.

I was so eager to read through this bible for years. These were my plans.
Yet, I never got to read it through. It made it to a boy behind bars.

I had the bible for 14 days. Two weeks. It was the Two Week Bible.


MY LESSONS

I learned to be flexible to God’s will. “Just Do It”, even if it is not your plan. Because that is God’s plan.

It brought me to think about life, how we have plans for our own life, yet we face detours and abrupt stops. What gave me peace was doing God’s will even though it was in the middle of a stench of urine-rearing, mosquito-infested, air- humid like butter, mattress of concrete, place behind bars. It wasn’t what I planned.

I also learned that just like learning skills to be used later for a job, so too are we learning skills to be used for God. Every time we read the Holy Bible, attend church, pray, confess, repent, enjoy fellowship, take the Holy Communion, all these moments can be preparing us to be used for God. All the faithful events I had did in my life, all the faithful training had come into purpose inside the jail cell. Even my struggles with sin, I had learned from and used for God.

THE END

Who would have known about the detours of my plans? A prison? That was the last place I would have imagined to go?
And who knows where that bible, the Living Word is today? Maybe in the hands of a new inmate, maybe in the streets of Trinidad.
Who knows?
Only the one and only, Our Creator and Sustainer….. and Redeemer knows.


May the Almighty God bless you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.