Win Your Very Own Bible!

We are now ready to begin official preparations for The Bible in 2008! I have over 100 Bibles (NRSV with apocrypha) to give away to folks connected with First Pres. We'll get more if we need 'em. You can get your very own Bible by sending the church ten bucks or by completing a quiz! By the way, you can always donate to our Bible fund so we can keep the Bibles a-comin'. I'll wager that I'll give away more Bibles than Bob this year!

Beginning January 1, 2008 we will begin reading the Bible front to back and I am producing a guide to go with it. Each month there will be a little quiz and prizes for those who have turned in the quiz! A big prize at the end for all who have finished. We will read with an historical/critical/metaphorical eye. More information in our September 2007 newsletter

But you need a Bible first. So, to get one, complete the word find below. Find thirty books of the Bible in the following paragraph:

There are 30 books of the Bible in this paragraph. Can you find them? This is a most remarkable puzzle. It was found by a gentleman in an airplane seat pocket on a flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu, keeping him occupied for hours. He enjoyed it so much he passed it on to some friends. One friend from Illinois worked on this while fishing from his john boat. Another friend studied it while playing his banjo. Elanie Taylor, a columnist friend, was so intrigued by it she mentioned it in her weekly newspaper column. Another friend judges the job of solving this puzzle so involving, she brews a cup of tea to help her nerves. There will be some names that are really easy to spot. That's a fact. Some people, however, will soon find themselves in a jam. Especially since the book names are not necessarily capitalized. Truthfully, from answers we get, we are forced to admit it usually takes a minister or a scholar to see some of them at the worst. Research has shown that something in our genes is responsible for the difficulty we have in seeing the books in this paragraph. During a recent fundraising event, which featured this puzzle, the Alpha Delta Phi lemonade booth set a new record. The local paper, The Chronicle, surveyed over 200 patrons who reported that this puzzle was of the most difficult they had ever seen. As Daniel Humana humbly puts it, "The books are all right here in plain view hidden from sight." Those able to find all of them will hear great lamentations those who have to be shown. One revelation that may help is that books like Timothy and Samuel may occur without their numbers. Also, keep in mind, that punctuation and spaces in the middle are normal. A chipper attitude will help you compete really well against those who claim to know the answers. Remember, there is no need for a mad exodus; there really are 30 books of the Bible lurking somewhere in this paragraph waiting to be found. God Bless…

"I'll be expectin' that all y'all are readin' your Bible?"












I also have plenty of Family Story Bibles for every kid in church second grade and under. We have a whole nest of babies in the nursery these days. You can barely keep yourself from steppin' on one of the critters. They can read the Family Story Bible along with their parents and win prizes each month too!