For those who have been following along with these 'pastoral thoughts’ you may remember that I was searching for a small black Bible that a friend gave me as a gift years ago. At that time I said that I believed that the Bible was in my office.
So, I looked everywhere in an attempt to relocate it. I opened all my drawers and boxes in the closet. Peering in with my iPhone’s flashlight, I looked in the deepest recesses of my desk and file cabinet hoping to find the lost Bible. I wanted to find it; I felt that I needed to find it so that I could go outside, sit in the chapel, and read it. But why????
To this point, I still haven’t found it. Resignation has come. I assume that I lost Dan's gift, this Bible. And losing a Bible is out of character for me. I never, and I mean never, lose a Bible.
Years ago I worked for an auctioneer who attended my church. His name was Britt and he told me that he cannot sell Bibles in his auctions for some reason. He would leave them in a box so someone would have to take the Bible home because they bought that box. Only later would he find that same Bible resting on a table hear his truck. He said, ‘People don’t want them, and I don’t know what to do with ‘em. I won’t throw them away because their Bibles, but what should I do?”
So, I took the Bibles home every time the Britt couldn’t sell them and gave them out. I still have a few of them in my office right now. I have family Bibles scattered around my shelves as well. They hold a special place for me. Bibles from my family’s military service. Bibles with handwritten notes in them. I have Bibles here from church members whose parents used them and after their death, the family didn’t know what to do with them. I even have a Bible from a couple who I served 10 years ago as their pastor. Both individuals have passed away, and yet, Jim and Jean’s Bible still is wrapped in its Wal-Mart bag to keep it safe.
I tell you this because I don’t lose Bibles. I never lose them. Yet this one is still missing. . . And my mind is clouded because I cannot find it.
I tried to ’shake off’ the condemnation and frustration that I was feeling because I couldn’t find the Bible and tried to get some reading and preparing done. But the missing Bible haunts me.
This makes me wonder if you share my frustration. . . Not do you lose a Bible, but do you find something trivial happening to you and then cannot shake that feeling away? Why is that? You didn’t miss that thing yesterday, but now it is in the front of your mind. I wonder why do we hold some things in such a sacred place when that same item has been neglected for so long?
If you do keep misplacing something, and if you mind wanders away to it over and over again, don’t let it win the day. Deal with the issue and then return to God. I am sure you will find Him waiting and looking for you anyways…
Blessings
Rev. Derek
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