A friend of mine has had a "come to Jesus" recently after relocating from Arizona to New Mexico to get his life together after some missteps related to drug abuse. He has found himself among others in a similar boat who have all turned to Jesus. He's been studying the Bible both as a student and also as a teacher. You would understand that this is quite a turnaround if you knew his previous history.
I do not look back upon my history with religion favorably. When I was growing up, I had to go to a Pentecostal church, the congregants of whom are sometimes referred to as the "holy rollers." These are the churches where you see people "speaking in tongues" and "jumping up and down the aisles." I can tell you I don't understand it anymore now as an adult as I did back then as a kid.
My dad, on the other hand, must have been quite religious or at least very interested in studying the Bible. The evidence is one of the few surviving artifacts from his collection--his personal Bible. I found this tome encased within a black leather carrying case that seems bespoke. Inscribed on the first page of the Bible is the date August 21, 1951. This suggests that my dad received this Bible when he was 16 years old.
What is remarkable about this Bible is that nearly every page is full of my dad's tiny handwriting in the margins. I would need a magnifying glass to read most of it. His notes are in pencil, and certain passages he underlined in red ink that is now faded into a pinkish hue.
My friend asked me which version of the Bible it is. I opened the title page and told him it's the authorized King James Version. I noticed also on this title page a custom stamp, like something you would see done by a notary. It's a round stamp that produced a raised impression of two circles enclosing letters. The inner circle surrounds three letters: H D W, which are my dad's initials. Between the inner circle and the outer circle, it reads "LIBRARY OF" and on the bottom "DEAN WILSON."
I've heard of people writing their names in books or attaching a sticky or notecard, but this stamp is definitely old-school and rather cool in my opinion.
This is another mystery about my father that I will never solve. Despite this attention and deep study he once gave to the Bible, we had few conversations that I can remember about the Bible, God, or religion in general.
I do not look back upon my history with religion favorably. When I was growing up, I had to go to a Pentecostal church, the congregants of whom are sometimes referred to as the "holy rollers." These are the churches where you see people "speaking in tongues" and "jumping up and down the aisles." I can tell you I don't understand it anymore now as an adult as I did back then as a kid.
My dad, on the other hand, must have been quite religious or at least very interested in studying the Bible. The evidence is one of the few surviving artifacts from his collection--his personal Bible. I found this tome encased within a black leather carrying case that seems bespoke. Inscribed on the first page of the Bible is the date August 21, 1951. This suggests that my dad received this Bible when he was 16 years old.
What is remarkable about this Bible is that nearly every page is full of my dad's tiny handwriting in the margins. I would need a magnifying glass to read most of it. His notes are in pencil, and certain passages he underlined in red ink that is now faded into a pinkish hue.
My friend asked me which version of the Bible it is. I opened the title page and told him it's the authorized King James Version. I noticed also on this title page a custom stamp, like something you would see done by a notary. It's a round stamp that produced a raised impression of two circles enclosing letters. The inner circle surrounds three letters: H D W, which are my dad's initials. Between the inner circle and the outer circle, it reads "LIBRARY OF" and on the bottom "DEAN WILSON."
I've heard of people writing their names in books or attaching a sticky or notecard, but this stamp is definitely old-school and rather cool in my opinion.
This is another mystery about my father that I will never solve. Despite this attention and deep study he once gave to the Bible, we had few conversations that I can remember about the Bible, God, or religion in general.
I laughed in a few places when reading this. Good writing