I'm off on another business trip, which tends to slow progress. I brought my paper and template so I could keep up with the writing.
Unfortunately, the first order of business this evening was to redo my last page of Matthew. I somehow skipped part of a chapter when I went from the front to the back of a page. The thought completed on the front side, and when I flipped, I apparently picked up in the wrong place. So I ended up with a skipped section.
I guess my plan to use loose paper is paying off. I only have to redo the messed up page, and toss the erroneous one! It's hard enough to keep this up -- but having to redo work is frustrating. I'm fixing it, though, and moving on.
This time the photo is an iPhone pic. I have my 7D with me...but thought I would go iPhone tonight.
As mentioned previously, I use a template under the page I am writing on so that I can keep things straight and consistent. I have received requests to provide this template, so here you go!
You can download the pdf version by clicking here. I find that when I print it, it works best if I choose "actual size" rather than settings that try and "fit to page".
Here is a jpg representation so you can see what I am using:
I thought I would provide a status update. I'm still chugging along, but as I expected life's schedule makes it difficult to spend a lot of time in one session. Right now I'm trying to commit to a front and back page each time I sit down to write. That may not sound like a lot, but it does take a while.
I had to stop for a moment to reflect on Matthew 6:9-13, The Lord's Prayer. There is something about this passage that resonates with so many people, whether prayed in its literal form or used as a model for prayer as laid out by Jesus Himself.
A friend of mine sent me a YouTube link because she said that reading my blog reminded me of this 5 minute video. I was in awe by watching this.
The task that I am enjoying of hand-writing the Bible is a very simple one. It's a monkey-see-monkey-do sort of endeavor. I read the text, I write the text. This video highlights the fact that not all people are so lucky to even have a text that is in a language which they can understand.
The Kimyal Tribe of Indonesia didn't have a Bible they could understand. They didn't' have the luxury... the joy ... of being able to sit down and just read God's Word. In 2010, the New Testament was translated into their language and delivered to them. What a powerful moment that must have been! It is awesome to see the Gospel continuing to spread around the world. Of course, what amazes me most is the fact that this tribe was worshiping God even without the Bible in their own language!
As you will see in the video, when the New Testament was delivered, the tribe's Pastor, Siud, said a prayer. Here it is.
O God, O God
The plan which you had from the beginning regarding your Kimyals,
which already existed in your Spirit.
The month that you had set, has come to pass today.
O my Father, my Father.
The promise that You gave Simeon that he would see Jesus Christ
and hold Him in his arms before he died
I also have been waiting under that same promise, O God.
You looked at all the different languages and chose which ones to be put into Your Word.
You thought that we should see Your Word in our language.
Today, the day you had chosen for this to be fulfilled, has come to pass.
O God, today, you have placed Your Word into my hands, just like You promised.
You have placed it here in our land.
And for all this, O God, I give You praise.
Amen.
Regarding that promise... These verses come immediately to mind:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (Jn 1:1)
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." (Jn 1:14)
So indeed, Jesus is the Word, and as the Kimyal Tribe grasps the New Testament, they are in fact seeing Jesus Christ and holding Him in their arms!
As of last night I am up to Matthew 6 in my scribing effort. This is a marathon...slow and steady.
How blessed am I that I have the privilege to hand-write the Bible as a devotional and personal experience?
Did you know there are many people in the world who live in areas where it is illegal to even own a Christian Bible? Of course you did. So did I. The revelation I have today is that I can choose to do this. I have the freedom to do this.
I was researching this morning, and there are tons of stories on the Internet detailing how persecuted Christians around the world are forced to create and read hand-copied versions of the Bible -- even today. There are stories of Christian prayer meetings raided by government agents and police where participants are imprisoned with charges that relate to attempting to disrupt or overthrow the government. Bibles are not readily available in these locations, and they must be smuggled in. Often there may be only one real Bible in a particular area, and Christians must copy by hand the books or scriptures they want to keep for their own personal reading and study.
Then, I look around my home office, and count Bibles I have just in this one room... There are at least 12 Bibles just within view of my chair. That doesn't count the electronic versions that are at my fingertips at any given moment, or the 3-4 in the living room, or the one in my car. I count myself blessed to have the Living Word of God so accessible to me at all times, yet feel condemned by the fact that there are times in my life where I am "too busy" to read even one of them.
People are dying in the streets and in prisons because of this Book. Those people would do anything to get their hands on one -- even a hand-written version that is hardly legible. Let me not forget the value of this Word that so many people are willing to die for.
I was thinking about how to make ink the way they did when the Bible was actually originally penned. I decided it might be fun to make my own ink from blackberries. Nah...I'm kidding. I just ate them. I was in the middle of scribing the Sermon on the Mount, when it seemed like a good time to stop and have some of these gorgeously fresh blackberries my wife brought home from the store yesterday.
Sorry. My blog can't be all business. That just wouldn't be me! ; ) Now...back to Matthew!
