The One Thing I No Longer Need for Ministry: A Bible

My parents had recently taken over a small little congregation on the other end of town. How I hated the trip to those meetings. They took so long to get there and the scenery bored me stiff each Sunday. I could surely be sun tanning at home or catching up with my other teenage friends.

One Sunday though I got at least a bit of excitement out of the trip. Shortly after arriving at the meeting, my father discovered that he had left his bible at home! His notes were in it and the trusty leather cover hid a host of secrets and revelations scribbled and marked in it's margins.

Old Faithful

I knew that bible well. Where Dad was, so was his bible. It's dark red leather binding showed scuffs and every single page showed signs of wear. It was his trusty side kick and without it...he could not preach! So while the worship began, he asked me and my Mom (Daphne) to rush home and get it for him.

Well that was when I discovered a flaw concerning myself that has remained with me through the years. As it turns out I have absolutely NO sense of direction! Still new to town, Daphne was counting on me to help her navigate our way back. Well we got home ok, but the trip back was another story.

In my usual flamboyant and over-confident style I pointed out the route. Only catch was, I sent us in the OPPOSITE direction of where we were meant to go. I will give you only one chance to guess whether or not we made it on time.

Well Dad had to preach prophetically that day and we made it back in time for closing prayer.

Forget All This Flipping!

As I entered into ministry myself, my own journey began. There I was. Trusty big bible in hand. Each message began with a prayer, a bible reference and lots and lots of flipping as I and everyone else found the reference. Of course in between were always the whispers..."Does Joshua  come before or after Judges?" or..."What's your version? What page are you on?!"

Like I said. That was the old days. That was before technology! I remember the very first PDA I got. WHOO HOO! What a gem! I could read e-books, write notes and play solitaire all at the same time! Little did I know what a dynamic change this piece of technology would make to my life.

The moment I uploaded my first electronic bible to my PDA, my life was transformed. No more frantic flipping! Things went further. I started preparing my sermons on my computer and copied and pasted all the scripture references in I would need. Man I looked GOOD! There I stood and just quoted out those passages like a star.

Look Mom! No Pages!

Everyone was impressed. So was I. I never looked back. Today you will be hard pressed to find a printed bible in my house. My husband and I and even my kids have electronic copies everywhere. I started the kids on a children's bible, but sooner or later they also started finding that with a simple click, you could access any passage anywhere! Talk about freedom!

So yes, I do not use a printed bible anymore. But I DO have a full copy of many translations, Strong's concordance and the ability to make any notes any time. ( Extra Bonus: I can even do midnight and early morning reading in bed on my PDA and not disturb Craig if he is sleeping)

I have used the bible on my PDA when witnessing, sharing a principle with someone or just to prove I was right in the middle of an argument on scripture. I have it on me 24/7. Certainly a PDA is A LOT less intimidating to someone when you approach them than when you are wielding a thick, leader bound, brick of a book.

We even have the AMI Online Bible with so many bells and whistles you wonder how you lived without it.

So How About You?

What is the one thing you no longer need for ministry? And not only that, are you one that braves the electronic world? As Christians SHOULD we? Or should we stick to the flipping and page bending days?