..............................Persis is married!..............................

Friday, June 01, 2007

Tribute to my best friend

Money spent: about 60 pounds over budget, but I won at poker over the weekend. Distance run: 7.1 miles since last update. Words written: 3,203 (still pushing chapter deadline today - am very tired!). Currently reading: Freakonomics (Steven D. Levitt, Dubner).


This is my oldest and favourite Bible. It was my first Bible. Eszet, who is still my best friend after 17 years (!), gave it to me when I accepted Christ in 1994. It's falling to bits now. A few years ago, I sewed a cover to keep it together, and did some cross-stitch on it which was meaningful to me then. I need to put it in the wash - it's getting a little dirty. The insides are covered with a multitude of colours, lines and scribbles. In the front, I have a cheesy PIO card that says "What you are is God's gift to you; what you become is your gift to God". There's also my name in arabic and chinese, and a love note from an anonymous man. A page of sermon notes (on Genesis 1). A bookmark from a child. My McCheyne reading schedule. Two highlighters guarding its sides (pink and orange this time round). A lot of tender love. Every time I want to buy a new Bible - to start afresh, you know - something always pulls me back to this one. My first Bible. My first love.

The fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure. (Isaiah 33:6)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My darling Persis -

Forgive my being a bit uptight here, but I might point out that what you become is also God's gift to us, not ours to Him (per the CIO card you mentioned). In other words, your sanctification i.e. growing in Christ throughout the rest of your life, and your justification, i.e. the fact that you know Christ as Lord and Savior, are both gifts of God's mercy, graciously given to us through faith. I'm being picky only because so many Christians seem to take a mindset of 'God gives me salvation, now I perform good works on my own' mentality, rather than recognizing the paradox: We are called to grow in holiness, but that growth can come only from God Himself. Thus Paul could write in Philippians 2:12b-13 "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." cf. 1 Corinthians 15:10. All my love my sweet!

The Boy