The Lost Bible

Another post from a different blog.  The events happened sometime in March 2012.


How does a Bible get "lost"?   Read on and find out hoe this Bible taught me about God's love, Grace and mercy.

I was leaving a friends house around 9 pm on a Wednesday night not long ago when I saw an object laying in the middle of the road.  It was dark, the road has been faded by the sun to a dull grey and this object was brown...it would not normally be obvious but on this night it might as well have been painted safety yellow with reflective stripes.  I DON'T stop to pick up things off the side of the road, I just don't.  That night was different, something urged me to stop...STOP, rewind that thought....not something, the Holy Spirit prompted me to stop.  I walked back to pick up this item and find it is a Bible in a nice brown zipped leather case.  Once again my thought was "Yes, Sir".  I look through the Bible and the only identification I can find is a check made out to a church...in North Carolina and I am in a town several hours away.  How did this Bible end up here and how am I going to get it home?  I remembered seeing people in a church parking lot just a short distance up the road so I start my search there.  No one knows the person whose name is printed on the check.  Strike one.  I look up the church the check is made out to and place a call expecting to get an answering machine (it's after 9:30pm).  Someone answered the phone.  I explain the events of the night and they inform me that not only do they know this person but that he leads the Chinese service at the church on Sunday nights.  They look up a phone number for me and we say goodnight.  I am still wondering how this Bible got this far from home on a Wednesday night.  I place a call to the phone number the church gave me and get the answering machine.  I leave a message and wait.  3 or 4 days later I get a call from the owner of this Bible who tells me that her husband works in a large city about an hour away from me and that he leads a Chinese Bible study on Wednesday nights at a church here in town.  I let them know that I am going to leave the Bible in the church office here and that he can pick it up there the following Wednesday night.  She thanks me and asks me for my address so she can send me a thank you note, which I tell her is unnecessary.  She insists so I give it to her.  A few days later (it may have been close to a month, I am not good at keeping up with time) I get a package from her.  Included in this package is a short note which spoke volumes to me and brought tears to my eyes as it reminded me of just how much God truly does love us.

Here is the note:

  Dear Mr. ________,

I truly appreciate your selfless act of random kindness.  You have blessed me in so many ways.  You heard the prompting to stop your car in the middle of the road and picked up my Bible; you took the time to call ________ _______ Church to find my phone number and called me right away; you spent the time to make the trip to _________ __ _______ Church to leave the Bible in the office…..All these are God’s grace.  All these are God’s way of speaking to me, through your gracious acts that He cares. If he cares enough for letting me recover my Bible, He cares even more for the everyday challenges in my life and those sometimes heart wrenching situations in my life. (And in your life too, I hope you see that as well.)  Your selfless act of random kindness encouraged me and set a good example for me.  You have been a channel of blessing, I hope and pray that I can be too.

I missed using my Bible for quiet time with the LORD. (I’m still waiting for my husband to bring it back to N.C.)  My ragged Bible may not be worth anything to anyone else, but so comforting to me when I see all those highlighted Word that had spoken to me.  And in the future when I hold it, it will always remind me that it was something lost but found, of God’s grace and your kindness.

You have truly blessed me by your obedience to Him.  I can only pray and hope that He will bless you in return in so much more ways and in many more folds.  I hope you will enjoy the music CD I enclosed.  I am not familiar with the music group, but I like the title.

Easter is this weekend.  I wish you and your loved ones much blessings in our Resurrected Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and a very Happy Easter!

Sincerely,

_____ ____

My wife and I have been saying for a while now that we need to get more Christian music for our car when we travel.  The CD she enclosed is by Mercy Me.  According to the note she doesn’t know anything about the group and could not have known that it is one of my favorite groups…but God knows.

The title of the album is more fitting than I could have imagined…."The Generous Mr Lovewell"