The Bible he was referring to is a pocket-sized NRSV that I have travelled with for probably 10 years. The feature I loved most about this Bible was that it had a zipper, so that the pages didn't get creased or bent in my suitcase or backpack, and it also allowed me to keep all sorts of mementos inside.
Of course, I told Mario I would give him my Bible when we left, so the night before our departure, I cleaned out all of the clippings from this Bible. I had a ticket from last year's mission when we rode up the train to visit the Cristo Redentor statue in Rio de Janeiro. I had my nametag from the event that I attended on the border in Mexico. I had a creased song sheet from back in the day when we led music at Frank Pais camp in Havana. I had a bulletin from my grandfather's funeral. I had a note from a young girl in Cuba. I had a boarding pass from Miami. I had a sheet of star stickers from who knows when. But I left a mark on the Bible, the masking tape nametag from last year's trip to Brazil, afixed on the outside leather.
In my experience, every Bible has a personality. I have a rose colored NIV that is terribly beat up, full of different colored underlining and dates that I read certain passages. I got that Bible when I was in sixth grade, right after I had an awakening experience to faith and committed myself to follow Jesus Christ, and I used it up until I graduated from high school. When I went to college, I got a hardback RSV, and my campus minister commented that this meant I was going to seminary, because that was the version all the seminarians read. I laughed at him; I wasn't going to seminary. When I was in seminary (who is laughing now?) I bought a cheap paperback NRSV, which is what I currently have beside my bed. It is absolutely falling apart; everything after Acts has become unbound and falls out if I'm not careful. (Side note: this is a great way to learn the order of the books in the New Testament!) I have written all over it, questions, dates, connections, themes.
It is sad to me when I think that many people's Bibles don't have a lot of personality because they are not used. You might not be as tough on your Bible as I am, but is there evidence that you have read it, studied it, grappled with it, been challenged by it or changed by it? Of does it still look nice and pretty, up on the shelf collecting dust or safely protected from wear?
When I gave my Bible to Mario he asked me, what is the first passage I should read? Good question. (And may I add, that this is a young man who recently turned 18). After a moment, I said decisively: Isaiah 43.
"But now this says the LORD,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and through the rivers,
they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through the fire
you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
Talk about personality.
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