When someone sees me with my Bible open in front of me they always comment how tiny it is and my reply is something like, “I bought it when I had 21 year-old eyes and could see the print much easier.  Now I have to really work to see the words.”  I’ll hold the book up to my face and squint my eyes ever-so-dramatically to show what it’s like when I read.

I bought this little travel Bible before I went on my first mission trip to Kosovo in 2001 and it’s ventured with me ever since.  Together we’ve ‘hopped the pond’ multiple times, been way down south in Mexico, and even further in to South America.  We’ve made a round trip drive of the Al-Can highway and we’ve spent solitary time in the Valley of the Gods in Utah.  Within five weeks we traveled roughly 26,000 miles through 36 states as I went through a career-crisis and attempted to be a semi-truck driver.

On all of these trips and adventures I’ve brought this Bible with me, but to be honest, even though I had it with me I never read it that much.  I would pull it out now and again, briefly read a short passage or just one verse, and tuck it back into my suitcase.  If anything, I would return to my favorite verses or passages and re-read them, but I would never be in deep study – highlighting and making notes – with this book.

Truthfully, this little Bible has been less about the words that it contained and more about the promise that it held: the promise that God will always be with me.  In all those lonely times, in those times of fear, in those times of desperation and feeling lost, God and this little book have been my constant companions.

I don’t know where we’ll head to next (truthfully, this adventure to the Lone Star State has been a big enough ride for a while), but I keep it with me and hold tight to the promises it holds on my life.  May God always remain close to us in the travels we go on in body, in spirit, and in heart.

much love. sheth.