How many Bibles do you have? I really don't know how many I have but I know there are a lot of them. They are not all in the same place of course because, well, they just don't seem to fit together.

I have my grandfather Cordrey's Bible. It's a King James Version and I confess that I have been more than happy to escape the "thee" and "thou" pronouns as well as much of the formal (old) English. So I don't read it very often. But I like having Poppop's Bible. I have a picture of him and me all ready for church. We both are holding our Bibles. We went to Epworth in those days. Down Laurel Street to the boardwalk and on down to Epworth. It makes me feel good to see it, so I keep it on my dresser in my room.

I have Mother's NRV. It has a red cover and all of Jesus' quotations are in red. When I went to the nursing home to visit Aunt Sara after church on Sundays, I always took Mother's Bible. For those who didn't know her, my Mother's name was "Sarah with an 'h'." That's how she often said it.

I was not related to Aunt Sara and Uncle Tom. They were aunt and uncle to a friend of mine. But they became "family" quickly. Aunt

Sara always made a fuss over Mother's Bible. She was a wonderfully sweet lady -- a retired nurse. Now when I look at that Bible, I think of two ladies named Sarah and Sara.

There are several other older family Bibles in my "collection". Several are quite old -- coming through Mommom Cordrey's family, the Wells and the Whites. I just like to touch them sometimes and wonder about my ancestors who held and read them. I don't often have them out. The old black covers get so dusty and brittle. You can't stand them in a bookcase either.

I have at least 6 that are mine personally. The oldest one is a little New Testament that I kept in my desk at work. It was a gift to each of us in our Sunday School class. Inside the cover, it says "From Miss Mae Everhart, 1953." Miss Everhart was our Sunday School teacher when I was 12.

One day at a Presbytery meeting in one of the smaller churches, I was sitting next to Frank in the "folding chair section" and when we were asked to take out our Bibles, there were no pew racks to reach for. So I reached in my purse and pulled my handy little New Testament. And it was an NT reading. I think Frank was a little surprised. I don't carry it as often as I did because the front cover is coming off. I couldn't bear to use scotch tape on it.

At our Confirmation in 1958, Lawrence S. Lee, Sunday School Superintendent, presented each of us with our own "adult" Bibles. I still have mine and keep it out also. That was the one I am holding in the picture with my grandfather. I don't read that one much either -- King James, you know.

I have three study Bibles. Two were gifts from friends, the Oxford and the King James (oh dear, there he is again). I used the Oxford exclusively until I had to have an Access Bible for my Old Testament class. Fortunately, they are all hardbound and will stand on a bookshelf with other texts.

And the 6th one. I just bought that several months ago to take to Guatemala with me -- it is bilingual (Spanish and English) but NRV. While I was there, I bought a Guatemalan Bible cover for it and it is the one that I cart around now. I had tried to buy a Mam and English bilingual but they didn't have one.

Reverend Pedro is currently working on the Mam translation. He, by the way, rescued me when, gripping passport holder, water bottle, and camera, I kind of did a slide down the mountain path. He insisted on holding my hand the rest of the way down. Fine with me!

Peace,

Sally

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