I’ve got the NIV Study Bible in my PDA, Bible Gateway in my Firefox search bar, and a shortcut to BibleIn90Days.com at the top of my browser. Then there are the hard copy Bibles: paperbacks, hardbacks, the classic black leather with gold trim and red letters, thin line, giant print, military desert camo, woodland camo, children’s Bibles… NIV, NASV, TNIV, KJV, NKJV, Greek Interlinear. This isn’t a list of what is available at the local Christian bookstore, this is a list of a few of the Bibles in my house right now.

I’m Spoiled. Are you?

Do you realize that people die for the chance to own their own Bible? That’s not a metaphor or exaggeration. They actually give up their lives for the opportunity to read the Word of God. Entire villages share one copy of the book of John. And they treasure it. They hide Bibles in their mattresses, in holes in the wall, buried in the back yard. They risk imprisonment and death by smuggling the scriptures across hostile borders.

The Voice of the Martyrs prints scriptures on vinyl bags and fills them with helium. The balloons float into North Korea at night. North Korean soldiers scramble to shoot down the balloons before their message is received. They’re not just shooting the balloons. They’ll shoot those who try to gather them. This doesn’t keep everyone away. People risk everything by picking up the balloons, saving, studying, and sharing them. [source]

I read about these brave, persecuted Christians when I was a teenager. I dreamt of smuggling Bibles into China or North Korea. It sounded like such an important, exciting adventure.

Want to start smuggling Bibles but don’t have the resources for a trip to China? Here’s your chance:
Bibles Unbound

With Bibles Unbound, you mail New Testaments into restricted countries.

“The cost is only $30.00 per month for each pack of five Bible mailings and includes everything you need to participate in the program.”

“In cooperation with UPS and the international re-mail system, The Voice of the Martyrs is able to mail Bibles directly into many restricted nations using non-U.S. postage. And because the New Testaments are mailed individually and anonymously, issues of “illegal” distribution and citizens of the restricted nation having contact with the West are avoided.”

This would be a great project for kids. They can help get the packages ready and can track the Bibles they send online.

Please consider becoming a part of this program. If you have the money, but don’t want to spend the time mailing Bibles each month, then let us know. The kids and I will mail them for you. We don’t have the money to sign up right now… But guess what I want for my birthday…

Carnival of Beauty
March 1st Theme: Bible
Host: Marla Swoffer
Read the other submissions.

This morning began late. I awoke at the sound of knocking, hearing an unfamiliar voice say, “housekeeping.” Drat. It’s 9am. The breakfast bar closes at 9 at our old hall. It probably does here too. Determined not to make the same mistake again, I walked around the building looking for the breakfast bar and a sign telling the serving times. I couldn’t find any signs or even a place that looked big enough to serve breakfast.

[Later I found out that they don't serve breakfast here. I almost cried. We can't afford to lose that free meal or the free milk. Then I remembered Mat 6:25. No worries. Joel says we can just get up early and drive to a different hall that does serve breakfast.]

I came back to the room and started to plan… We haven’t bought any cooking or eating utensils yet and we’re running low on groceries. [We didn't want to stock up before finding out how big the fridge is.]

People, I need breakfast. I need eggs for breakfast more than coffee. It’s that big of a deal. If you think I’m obsessive about a good cup of joe… you’ve never seen me with a breakfast burrito. This is art.

Step One: Gather supplies.
* small Gladware dish.
* cutting board
* fancy police officer switch blade knife
* scissors
* plastic cups provided by housekeeper

Step Two: Dig through fridge.
* onion
* egg
* margarine [no real clarified butter... sigh]
* tortilla
* salsa

Step Three: Hope the eggs don’t turn green.
*Dice onion with over priced switch blade. Cut plastic cup and create a ’spoon’. Put spoon of butter and onions in Gladware dish. Microwave for around 45 seconds.

*Break egg into Gladware and stir with plastic-cup-spoon. Microwave for 1 minute.

*Top eggs with salsa and wrap in tortilla. Use cutting board as plate.

*Try not to notice that there is no sausage, beans, cheese etc.

Thank God we get paid today. I don’t want to experience life without cheese.

We’re in our new billeting now. [Army housing] It’s much better than I worried it would be. It is small, and it doesn’t have a kitchen, or many of the extras that our last place had… but it seems roomy. Instead of complaining, let me tell you some of the good things.

1. Great lighting. Dozier Hall is so dark. I couldn’t read in the bedroom and shaving was actually dangerous in the bathroom. Lighting is a big deal to me. My answer to depression, is turn on the lights, open the curtains and crank up the music. This is much more affective if there’s more than one little lamp in a room. Our new place actually has a ceiling fan with four light bulbs… four! Plus three more lamps in the room.

2. Dining room table. We’ve spent a few months eating at the coffee table… a real table with a couple of chairs seems like such a treat.

3. Lots of floor space. Or at least it seems like it. Room to spread out, play tag etc.

4. The mini fridge is a little bigger than what I expected. It can hold half a gallon of milk in the shelf on the door. And there’s a microwave stand with room for a little food storage.

Well, as I continue to survey the room, I’m running out of positive comments. I better stop here before I start telling the other side of the story.

Wait there’s one more great thing about this room:

4. Jeremiah just fell asleep by his daddy. Our family is together. That makes any cinder block wall little room good enough.

I’ve mentioned Squidoo several times . I’m really enjoying using the site. And now I’m bringing it up one more time… because if I refer you and you earn 15 dollars… We both get an extra 5 bucks. Woohoo.

So, after you sign up, make some lenses and come back here to tell us all about them. Then visit my lenses and rank them.

Google Video now has films from the National Archives. Jeremiah esspecially likes the United Newsreel Motion Pictures from WWII. After watching this video twice, Jeremiah said, “That was interesting!” Then he watched another one.

Update: Jer started watching the Department of the Interior films. He said that this one is better than Dora or Diego because it’s interesting.

Sarah got an orange at the breakfast bar. She played with it for hours. [If you think her kitty cat voice is annoying... you should hear her orange voice.] Finally, Jeremiah talked her into letting them eat it.

They gathered around me as I peeled the fruit. They acted as if they’d never seen or eaten an orange. I gave them a bowl full of the sectioned oranges and thought the excitement was done. Nope. Jeremiah decided to invent orange juice. [Novel idea.] The kids spent 20 minutes squeezing the juice out of that orange. [I made them do it in the bathtub.] They’re very impressed with themselves and their little cup of juice.

Oranges are free. I think we’ll make a habit of this.

Jeremiah and Sarah are looking out the window, watching the cars in the parking lot. In shock, Jeremiah just said, “Oh my goodness! The mommy was driving! The daddy was in the car but the mommy was driving!” He says he can’t believe it…

What have we unintentionally taught this boy?

The last time I drove when Joel was in the car he had just had surgery and was very well medicated. He kept giving me driving directions, and acting like we were about to crash… I almost left him at Walgreens when he went in to pick up his prescription. You try driving with a drugged up cop in the passenger seat.