As many will understand, we pack our old Bibles when we evacuate for hurricanes not because they are irreplaceable, but because that Bible is like a close friend. We even packed our Bibles, while the family pictures were left when we evacuated during Hurricane Katrina. Even when we get a new Bible, the older one is kept because the Lord showed us what we needed during difficult times through that specific Bible.
Since I was a small child, I can remember finding my mom reading her Bible at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee before anyone was up for the day. She had so many notes in that Bible. Even though she received new Bibles as the years went along, that first one always had a special place for her. She used it during her first bout with breast cancer. In fact, her co-workers saw her reading it so often in the mornings that they often remarked on it and asked her many questions about her faith.
During her remission, she went to a co-worker who was having his own battle with cancer and offered for him to use her Bible because he could easily understand and follow mom’s notes. As the month went by, my mom realized he must have confused her loaning him the Bible with giving him the Bible. Mom’s cancer returned and I knew she missed her old Bible. I even asked if she wanted me to contact her co-worker. She said God knew where the old Bible would end up. She really believed he would eventually give it back at the funeral. I was skeptical at best. Why would a man bring us back a Bible? A Bible he now used? Mom continued to believe and even said that she wanted that Bible to go to my brother.
So, my sisters and I prayed for the return of her old Bible. God heard our prayers and during the wake of my mom’s funeral, her co-worker walked up to me with the old Bible in his outstretched hands. With a grateful heart and tears in my eyes, I was able to hand my mom's Bible to my brother.
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