THE BIBLE IN MY LIFE April 28, 2003 Issue

Why the Bible is real to me

By Merelice

When I was growing up, I learned Bible stories, the Ten Commandments, and Jesus' teachings, healings, and parables. They came through my religious training, radio listening, and movie viewing. As I look back, I'm grateful for this basic foundation. But I don't remember ever actually holding or reading from a Bible.

Nor do I remember feeling a direct connection with the people of the Bible and their experiences. Most of them seemed other-worldly, saintly, and remote. Their lives were dramatic epics, not the everyday stuff of normal human beings. For example, I didn't picture Jesus' disciple Peter as a strapping man hauling fishing nets or struggling with self-will. Biblical events taught and inspired me, but the Bible was not a source of guidance in the daily details of living.

I was in my teens when the Bible became my friend, and I started to collect what I later called W. I.'s or "working ideas." The first W. I. I vividly remember was the exchange my mother and I had as I left for school each morning. One of us would start quoting Psalm 118, "This is the day which the Lord hath made," and the other would finish with, "we will rejoice and be glad in it" (verse 24). It was such an uplifting send-off!