The Marked Bible

Today I'd like to provide a brief synopsis of a classic book about the
Sabbath; The Marked Bible.

The story was written by Charles L. Taylor sometime in the 40's, but
it takes place in the early 1900's, during the days of long travels by boat
for journeys across the ocean. It is a true story and it is full of fateful
twists just like real life often is.
It begins in the early goings with a very young and very bad boy named
Harold Wilson, who does nothing except give headaches to his saintly mother.
The young boy soon turns into an adult and decides to go even deeper into a
life of crime. Very soon he hits the end of his rope here in America and
decides to join a ship as an ordinary deck hand. Before he boards his ship,
"The Alaska Transport," his mother gives him a precious gift: A Bible.
But it is not just an ordinary Bible. It is a Bible with the best passages
specially marked for Harold Wilson to focus on those particular
teachings. Harold said goodbye to his old mother and took the Bible with him
on board, but a few days later he was fed up with life and he decided to
throw the Bible overboard in a rage of anger.
A few months later he received news that his mother had died. He returns
home, but mother is not around anymore. She has been buried. He finds
himself in trouble again. Then decides to board another ship bound for the
far east. As he's walking around the San Francisco wharfs, he stopped by
a passengers' reading room, which had some Christian literature freely
available. Very quickly his eyes were drawn to a Bible strikingly similar to
the one his mother had given him before. He opened it. To his astonishment,
this Bible was also marked and, not only that, it was marked in the very same
passages and the same way his mother had marked the Bible he had previously
tossed into the ocean waters. Now he was deeply moved. He took the Bible with
him. This time he read it and learned from it, drinking daily as if from a
fountain of living waters. On board he became an evangelist and
missionary to the other passengers who had far more education than
him. During the course of the trip he explained to them, drawing
from scriptures, the rich message of salvation found in the observance
of the Sabbath day. It is a beautiful story.

We will start making some entries and comments on it on our next post.

God bless you and happy Sabbath.