Lost and Found

Tucked in the corner of our church's library stands a table of misplaced sweeties. Some are old and dusty. You can tell they've been around for quite a while. They have notes scribbled in, and pages all wrinkled and torn. Then there are the youngin's, all shiny and new with a name engraved in gold.

Then there are all of the ones in between, the student editions, the King James and study mix all sandwiched together in one pathetic line. The larger ones tower over the pint size, but all are equally as important - and were at one time treasured by somebody.

I speak today of our lost and found table which is full of misplaced Bibles. Having lost my own Bible last week, my heart aches with the sight of them. I know that somebody, somewhere must be missing these little beauties. I wonder if they feel as lost as I do.

We have had several people call withing the past week or two, saying that they have lost their Bible. It must be an epidemic or something . . . maybe there is some kind of a Bible caper out there, scoffing up the Word. But I keep thinking that if somebody found my Bible, surely they would want to return it. In the same way, I think about the table sitting in our library. Surely these Bibles belong to somebody - why are they all still abandoned?

Hey, are you thinking what I'm thinking? If I am missing my Bible, and these all need homes then I should adopt one. But I don't think I could really bring myself to do it. I mean to use somebody else's Bible would be like brushing my teeth with a used toothbrush. There is something so intimate about a person's Bible, don't you think? I know that I wouldn't want the person who found mine precious Bible to go fondling through the pages. Those notes were private, between me and the Lord. I would never want to violate somebody's privacy.

I liken this whole scenario to the world's hunger problem (although I know that is a stretch). We do what we can by feeding one child at a time, but what about the millions who go to bed starving every night? It is kind of the same with these Bibles. I look at that table and think, what a waste! These treasures are just sitting on the shelf of life, waiting to be reclaimed. How could I even scratch the surface of a problem this large?

Sitting on a lost and found table or not, I think the Bible gets a great deal of neglect. I am sure that in our home we have at least a dozen, maybe more laying around. What about people in other countries, or even in our own city who have never seen or heard about the Word of God? Just like with food, we could make a difference . . . one Bible at a time.

I am going to pray over that table of Bibles tomorrow. Maybe there is something special God would have me do with that bunch. Putting them into the hand of someone who is starving for a little bit of hope would be a good way to start scratching that surface.