I am a gun-owner though I am a little embarrassed by some of my fellow gun-owners and their rhetoric of fear.  To listen to some of the advocates of the second amendment, you’d think we’re one step away from a home invasion and firearm confiscation.  I have wondered from time to time what would happen if we treated our Bibles like we treat our guns.  Do we carry?  Do we inspect them often?  Do we practice to improve our skills in dangerous situations?  Do we care for them?  Do we have more than one?  Are they stashed in appropriate places?  What if we learned “they” were coming for our Bibles?  Would people buy more of them?  Would we stockpile?  Would we read them to find out why “they” were coming for them?  Would someone have a bumper sticker that said, “You can have my Bible—when can you pry it from my cold dead hands?”  These are probably silly questions produced in an over-active imagination but I wonder sometimes how much we actually value the “Word of God.”  Was David speaking in hyperbolic metaphor when he wrote that the Word is more precious than gold and sweeter than honey?  I wonder if we know what we have in our hands.  A 2017 Barna Survey revealed that 87% of American homes have at least one Bible.  They also reported that only 20% use it more than 4 times per week.  As you think about what you would like to do in 2018, is the Bible a part of that vision?  We should never worship the Bible itself but it is the Bible that reveals how to live in an interactive fellowship with the Creator and Sustainer of the universe.  It seems prudent to pursue that kind of life.