The Word Of God

Listening to an audio Bible & translating a sermon
from English on a Swazi homestead.

I remember that Sunday when I got my first Bible.  I was being promoted in Sunday School to the 3rd grade.  Now I could bring my own Bible to church.  

Bzongo listening to his audio Bible for the first time.

I remember getting my first adult Bible as I graduated from high school.  One with a black leather cover and my youth pastor had written a quote from DL Moody in the front cover.  

Ntombi, an illiterate disabled woman receiving a new audio Bible.

I remember that night in my college dorm room, as a 19 year old who had grown up in church my whole life, that I started reading the Bible for myself, discovering & encountering a fullness of God that I had never experienced before.

 

          

I remember my grandma, sitting in her wheelchair, in front of the big window in her bedroom, giving me her personal Bible that had "Clara Zeiler" embossed on the front.  I cherish that gift from her months before her death.  

 

I remember finding the ancient German Bibles in the trunk in the upstairs bedrooms, the Bibles my great-grandparents brought to the US with them as they immigrated from Europe.  Too fragile to use, I was captivated by their underlined verses as I carefully turned pages.  

Siphike listening to & cleaning his new audio Bible.

I remember my study Bible that my mom gave me for my seminary graduation, with my name embossed on the front.  

Mxolisi explaining to Joseph how to work the audio Bible for his homestead.

I remember my other grandma, barely able to stand up, giving me an old Bible from her side of the family on the day of my ordination.

Rachael & Nokwanda with her new study Bible.

I remember passing on one of my personal Bibles to my young niece as she was in elementary school.  She was excited to see the things I had underlined and the prayers in the margins.

Nothing can capture the look in someone's eye or the joyfulness in their heart as they receive God's word for the first time.  

I have been humbled to have been a link in the chain to get the Word of God into people's hands & ears & hearts over the last few months.  

We have been able to give Bibles, study Bibles and audio Bibles to several people who have never had a Bible of their own.

"For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than a double-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."  (Hebrews 4:12)