Building A Blank Bible for My Dad

Before Christmas this year, I was talking to my dad about a Bible he was looking for: a wide-margin Authorized Version Scofield Reference Bible with updated wording. I searched for hours, scouring eBay and Amazon and hundreds of websites in between. I found some used copies, and I found some really expensive new ones, but nothing I could settle on. So I decided to make him a Blank Bible like Tony Reinke and Stephen Newell have both documented.

I started this adventure at the SBTS campus LifeWay book store where I picked up an ESV large-print pew Bible. I found it during the ETS sale, so the price was excellent!



Next, time to remove the binding. I feel like a heretic!





Brandon can't believe I cut up God's Word!



After I removed the binding, I set out for the nearest Staples. They used a laser to cut the paper! The cuts were nice and crisp, but the way they clamped down the block of paper caused the pages to be cut unevenly. Some of the pages were cut a bit too close to the words, but thankfully the holes didn't encroach so much on the text that it was unreadable.



Brandon was happy to come to Staples with Daddy and help (i.e., play on his Leapster).



Here's my stack of pages on the right, blank pages above, working stack in the middle, and finished stack on the left:



Whew! I finally finished stuffing the blank pages after a few hours...



Now it's time to decide where to separate the volumes. Since Staples only had 1" spiral binders, I ended up with eight volumes.



After several hours of work, I was very pleased to present this blank Bible to my father for Christmas. Now it's his turn to work on it! I expect it to be full when I get it back in twenty or thirty years! :-)

Owing Grace

On Saturday night, our Sunday School class celebrated Christmas with a class party in our fellowship hall. What a blast! Several ladies worked really hard to set the mood with candles and decorations. We had "heavy hors d'oeuvres" and desserts, and the food was excellent!

This was our second annual Christmas party together, and we continued another tradition as well--we collected money to help provide for a family in need during the Christmas season. In light of this, I felt led to lead our group in a short meditation on God's gift of his Son and the immediate implications. Here's a summary:

Luke 2:29-32 describes Simeon's Holy Spirit empowered revelation that this little baby, Jesus of Nazareth, conceived out of wedlock, was God's gift of "salvation, that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel." God had just presented the world with "a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11).

This brought to mind Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." This salvation is a gift, by grace, through faith. It is not a result of our own works; it is purely God's doing.

As a result of this gift of grace, Paul instructs us in Romans 12:1-8 to present our bodies as living sacrifices. We are called to die to self and live for others! We are exhorted to be transformed! We are commanded to humble ourselves and serve one another in the ways that God has gifted us, and we are to display these gifts in love for one another!

I wrapped up this mediation with three thoughts:

1. We cannot repay God for his incredible gift of grace!
2. We become debtors to others because of God's grace to us...
3. We must become living sacrifices, giving our lives to serve others...

. . .

What a debt we owe Christ that we can never repay! Let us then seek to bestow upon others a similar gift, and in so doing maybe we can give the gift that lasts for eternity!

May we ever be owing grace!

Todd