“A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.” —Unknown Author
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My dad was a hard-working farmer, one of what is often referred to as the Greatest Generation. Growing up during the Great Depression, his formal education ended after the eighth grade because his help was needed on the farm.
When World War II broke out, my father proudly served his country on the European front. After the war ended, he returned to the farm.
One Sunday night (several years later) while visiting a church in a neighboring community, my father spotted a pretty brown-eyed girl. Too shy to ask her for a date outright, he went home and wrote her a letter. Apparently that approach worked—my parents were married several months later.
My mom was a hard-working farmwife, working alongside my dad on many farm tasks. At mealtime she would then hurry back in the house to serve a hearty meal of meat, potatoes, and homemade bread.
After the meal was done, my dad read from the Bible. Even though he washed his hands before each meal, residue of machinery grease and oil often remained. My mom had covered the Bible with paper from a brown grocery bag to protect it, but before long the cover and inside pages bore black smudges from those work-stained hands. When it became too difficult to read the soiled pages, that Bible would be put away and a new one brought out.
God’s Word remained precious to my dad throughout his entire life. Often, when I went to visit him at the nursing home, I would find him sleeping. His open Bible would be laying across his lap.
I still have the last Bible my dad owned. Its cover is also worn from much use. There are no black smudges on the pages of this one, but countless chapters are marked with an x to indicate that my father had read them. Some Psalms are marked with several x’s. Those psalms apparently were ones that were especially dear to my dad.
The Bible is sometimes referred to as the bread of life or as our daily bread. I’m thankful that for my father, the words of the Lord’s Prayer signified our need for both physical and spiritual sustenance. “Give us this day our daily bread…”
Please allow me to close this tribute with the words of one of my Dad’s favorite hymns. Sometimes we’d be talking to each other on the telephone, and he would suddenly begin to sing these words.
When we walk with the Lord in the light of HIS WORD,
what a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
and with all who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
—Written by John H. Sammis (1887)
Giving credit where credit is due:
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