Rick Waggoner began driving his morning bus route just as he had for the last ten years. He was forced to pull over when his bus broke down. Three young men approached the bus and savagely proceeded to shoot Rick twice in the chest, once in the hip, and also stabbed him in the arm. Amazingly, the two bullets that hit his chest were stopped by none other than Rick’s Bible! He had a habit of keeping a Bible in his shirt pocket. Even though Rick said it felt like he had been hit with a sledgehammer in the chest, he was alive  Rick was then able to wrestle away the gun and knife from the young guys and chase them off.  Rick was saved, quite literally, by his Bible.

Even though this Bible saved Rick from physical death, this is not the main purpose of having a Bible, of course. The Bible provides other benefits which are exponentially more valuable. Billions of Bibles have been sold around the world. Billions of people own a Bible. And yet, how many of them actually know about the eternally saving power contained in this book? The number is tragically small.

The Bible tells us how to receive this eternally blessing from God, “Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brethren, what shall we do?’ Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 2:37-38).

Yes, apparently your Bible can stop a speeding bullet; maybe even two. However, the true benefits of the Bible reach well beyond this life and into eternity. Are we keeping our Bible close to our hearts or is our Bible dusty, forgotten, and perhaps even lost? Only when we study and apply the Bible to our lives can we be spiritually saved by this wonderful book.

Brett Petrillo