New Bible

I have had my bible since the summer of 1996. That's right, my youth pastor at Sondays church camp gave a bible to all the graduation seniors that had attended church camp every year since they had been in the First Baptist Woodway youth ministry. Gotta love Bob Johns and rewarding the faithful. So I had this awesome NIV Ryrie Study Bible that had all my notes and a wonderful concordance (special section where added info was given for the verse). I had always heard to get rid of your bible every 7 years. But I continued to hang on to old faithful. And to top it off, my maiden name is on it. So the last 8.5 years that I have been married, Shannon Smith has been engraved on my bible. I finally told Derek that I wanted a new bible for my birthday this year. The time had come - pages were getting loose, the edges were fraying, and the binding was getting undone.


So I now I get to sport this new number around with me! There are no underlined passages, no circled words, no arrows pointing to added info to help me with a verse. I'm in a new chapter of my life, and I need a fresh word on verses that I seem to skim over due to their "redundancy" in my life. It's a shame when the Lord's Word can do that. But I'm ready for new notes. This past Sunday, I was almost embarrassed to open a clean, brand new page to read the passage. I looked like a non-note taker. But I'm starting over. And I love it!


I love this phrase that my pastor just gave us: "Christian living is us getting out of God's way." So here's Shannon Michaelis, trying to get out of God's way. Bring it, Lord!

Side story: I was reading my Bible this morning when Justin came in my room with Derek. Justin wanted to play, but I asked him to close the door until mommy was through reading her Bible. I think it's important for our kids to see us reading our Bible. So anyways, I finish reading and go out to play with Justin. Justin then grabs My Utmost for His Highest, one of the daily readings I use during my quiet time, climbs in my bed, and tells me to close the door because he is going to read his Bible. And when Derek had to open the door to go get his shoes, Justin politely told him that he needed to leave because he was reading his Bible. Such sweetness!