Cool Christmas Gift

As a Christmas gift for hub's, I got him an unframed (we'll get it framed ourselves) leaf from a 400 year old Geneva Bible. (I clicked thru Shannon's site, to support this new business to get it.)

I really didn't know the history of the Geneva Bible, but it's really cool - all goes back to my rebellious Puritan ancestors. The Geneva Bible was written and used before the King James version; it was what Calvin and Knox would have used, John Bunyan, Shakespeare, and what would have been brought to America on the Mayflower. An unframed leaf was only $25, which I thought was a great price for something so cool.

I checked with the site owners to see if there was a way to select (even from a list of options) which passage we would be getting. I really didn't want to end up with a 400 year old page of the begots. It would still be cool, for just being a leaf from a Geneva Bible, but not nearly so cool as Jesus' birth, Jesus' death, the resurrection, any one of my favorite stories in Genesis or Exodus, a section of very cool writing by Paul - preferably one with a sarcastic comment included. As I was informed that there was no way to pick my selection, I ordered it anyway, trusting that the Lord was in charge of this too, and He would send the Word that was meant for Hub's and I.

When my leaf came, I couldn't figure out at first which section of the Bible it was from - there was nothing in the packaging that clarified. At first I thought it was Genesis (and I was very excited!) because it kept talking about Lot. Hubs loved the gift - thought it was as cool as I did. After all our breakfast was eaten and presents had been opened, we hoped on an Internet Bible search tool to figure out what Bible passage we had received.

It turned out that "lot" was referring to land, not the person. Oops. We got a section from Joshua, talking about the distribution of land. I don't even think I'd read this section before. As I read it online, I was disappointed. Who gets which piece of land is pretty close on the boredom-scale with who begot who. But then I kept reading and realized that this passage was meant for us and a big smile spread across my face.

On our leaf contains Joshua 21:43-45:

So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the LORD handed all their enemies over to them. Not one of all the LORD's good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.

I especially love verse 45: Not one of the Lord's promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.

What a beautiful promise from our Lord. He is trustworthy.

Merry Christmas to us!