Mark in the Margins

Mark in the margins... It is my g-mail address and now has become the name for my blog. Still, it seems as though some explanation is in order especially since there is significance to me and even multiple meanings to the name I have selected.

In 1969 when I was a boy I can recall my very first Bible. It was awesome... colorful and vivid was the picture of Jesus entertaining the little children on the outside cover. I longed to be such a child and especially be like one who was entertained by Jesus in that picture... (That story is one for another day). I was so proud of that Bible. I took very good care of it. I was cautious to never leave it out of place, and for a little kid that was nothing short of remarkable, and for certain never mark in it. After all it was sacred, the Word of God, His Word, and should never be defiled by pen or pencil... I even think I was taught this somewhere...

In December of 1986 at the first Christmas Tracy and I spent together she purchased me a Ryrie Study Bible with concordance and to this day that gesture ranks at the top of gifts I have received. I loved the significance of the gift and even more the words she WROTE in the front cover. Still, the tradition I had begun as a child so long ago remained intact and the Bible was not a place for me to transcribe my thoughts or impressions into language.

In 1992 something changed... after the 1st birthday of my second daughter several things converged to radically alter my life; I met a man named Chuck who ignited a hunger for me to be Baptized, I began meeting with a man named John who mentored me and exposed me to a doable format of Bible study, Scripture memorization and transparent life exchange with other believers, and we started attending East Valley Bible Fellowship (they later purchased land and changed their name to Church, but in the early days they were know as fellowship...) and I sat under the teaching of a man name Tom who invited me to learn from God's Word in a way that demanded I capture insights in the margins of the Bible Tracy had given me those years ago, but that still remained unmarred by pen or pencil.

Filling the margins of that Bible was a joy. I began capturing not only meanings and insights, but thoughts and convictions. I began to allow the Word to impact my life in new ways and the hunger for more began, albeit slowly and deliberately, to infiltrate not only my understanding of His Word, but also my desire for more in Life (again a story for days to come). The margins of the Bible Tracy gave me became a journal for me to mark the Ebenezer's of my journey of restoration and redemption that had come, came, and was to come.

In the Fall of 2009... I purchased a battery for one of my cars and paid a $9.00 deposit that I could recapture if I returned the old battery. I went home, changed the battery and placed the old one in the trunk of my VW to return as I could. While I don't recall how long it took me to return the battery, I do recall the efforts it took and the loss I felt as I purchased a huge bag of baking soda to nutralize the acid that had spilled as a result of that battery tipping over and damaging a ton of things in my trunk, including the Bible Tracy had given me so longe ago. It was a complete loss and suffice to say it was worth more to me than the $9.00 credit I would later receive. 'Nuff said... Also in that time, when the margins of the Bible I so cherished were lost I became aware of other margins that were all but gone... There was no space in my life. There was no financial space, no emotional space, and my spiritual space was fastly going too. I needed margin and I needed it in the worst way.

My best friend Russ came to me one day and shared something like '...if you take your favorite passage, poem, lyric, or text and write it down... single space it... no indentations... print it and when you do cut off the margins the printer leaves as it can't print within about .22 inches of the edge of the paper, so that there is nothing but your favorite writing (and no space) on the page...' He continued that I shoud then read it a few times and shared that before long it would begin to frustrate me or even cause me to lose enjoyment for that which I had previously so enjoyed. While I did not do that with the text, I was aware of the severe loss of pleasure I had been experiencing in my life... The margin was gone and so too was so much of what made me unique and a joy to be with.

And so this blog is a journal of sorts, of my pursuit of myself in the margins and a return to the joy that makes me unique and fun to be with.