How Many Bibles Do You Have?

As with nearly everyone, Haiti has been on my mind a lot lately. Turn on the TV or log on to the Internet and the pictures and stories are inescapable. Rather than post about my children, our home school, or our family, today I want to post about a ministry that is close to my heart. I had fully intended to write about this ministry "at some point", however, with it's close ties to Haiti, now seems like just the right time.


My husband and I did a little research in our house recently to determine how many bibles we own. It turns out, our little family of five owns a staggering 21 bibles. There are differences between the Bibles. Some are small, some are quite large. Some are well read, some have barely been touched. We have study Bibles, children's Bibles, parallel Bibles, heirloom Bibles, and devotional Bibles. However, they all have one thing in common - they are all our native language, English.

I will be the first to admit that there are passages in the Bible that don't make any sense to me. I read them over and over, scan the notes in my study Bible, skim through a concordance (or two) and discuss them with my husband. Yet sometimes the meaning of certain passages seems just beyond my grasp. Even with all of these resources in my native tounge, I struggle sometimes to hear God's message in His word.

Despite these struggles I am still very blessed because my Bible, and all of these resources, are in my native English. Several years ago, I learned that there are millions of people throughout the world who don't have access to a single book of the Bible in their native language. (Remember the 21 Bibles we counted in our house?) Some of these people have access to Bibles, or portions of Bibles, in a secondary language. Others have only oral accounts or summaries translated in sermon form from local missionaries or pastors. Imagine how hard it is for these souls to hear God's message for their lives when they can't read from it in their own langauge.

Our church supports a mission outreach called Bibles International, which is the Bible society of Baptist Mid-Missions. If you are unfamiliar with this organization, you can learn more about them on their website, http://www.biblesint.org/. The mission of this organization is to create accurate, literal translations of the Bible without adding to or distorting the text.

At this point you may be wondering what any of this has to do with Haiti. For the last several years, Bibles International has been working to produce a translation of the Old Testament in Haitian Creole. There are already numerous translations of the Bible in French, a secondary langauge to many Haitians. Perhaps you took a year or two of Spanish in high school. If someone handed you a Bible in Spanish would you be able to gain wisdom and insight from it? This is the situations many Haitians find themselves in when presented with a French translation.

Right now, the people of Haiti have immediate, physical needs that must be met. Food, water, medicine, homes, clothing...the list goes on and on. These are urgent, physical needs that must be addressed right now. However, they also have spiritual needs that will continue long after these physical needs are addressed. I believe that having a Bible in their native language is one of these spiritual needs.

As you might imagine, Bible translation is both costly and time consuming. If you cannot personally financially support this ministry, I urge you to pray for it. Pray and spread the word, so they can spread the Word.

If you made it to the end, I thank you for indulging me as I jumped up on my soap box. This ministry is so near and dear to my heart that I just had to share it.