Adventures with my Tiny Traveling Blue Bible

How I got My Tiny Traveling Blue Bible

When I was getting ready for my first Euro Trip in 2019, I thought, “Hmmm. I’m gonna be living out of a backpack. I’m gonna need a small bible. Nah. It’s gotta be tiny.”

I made a post on Facebook asking friends and family if they would be willing to give me a small pocket-size bible that I could take on the trip. Multiple people responded, and I ended up with 3 small bibles. My favorite of the three, though, is an electric-blue, leather-bound, NIV bible. This thing was so cool! It didn’t look like a boring old Bible, you know, brown leather with gold edges, and all. Rather, it looked like a small unique blue leather book. So this little book became my tiny traveling blue bible.

The First Adventure

The majority of my trip would take place in Germany, but I started in Italy. After spending a week between Cinque Terra and Venice, my tiny blue bible and I ended up in the city of Como. This was my first solo trip, so I was exploring the city alone. I asked some of the locals for things to do, and multiple times I was recommended to visit Villa d’Olmo.

Villa d’Olmo is a castle that belonged to some really rich people a long time ago and they used it as a summer home. The gorgeous yellow and white building towered above the shore of the equally majestic Lake Como. Surrounding the castle were many gardens and lawns where people were running, picnicking and relaxing. I walked around and found a map that told me that there was a Cedar of Lebanon on the grounds. When I read that I got really excited. I thought “Heck, I’ve gotta see that!”

The Cedars of Lebanon

Many times in the Tanakh the Cedars of Lebanon are mentioned. As a child I heard some stories in the bible that I could never really fathom what they meant. Even as an adult there are many things that are still mysteries to my understanding. The Cedars of Lebanon were always one of those mysteries. These trees are always referred to as being gigantic and having majestic strength. Isaiah 40 says that all the trees of Lebanon would not suffice for the fire needed to make a sacrifice big enough for God. We don’t make sacrifices anymore, but the emphasis is on the size of this fire that would be so big that a whole forest of giant trees could not be big enough. Well, how big are we talking about here? Or is there something significant about the size of the trees? 

I walked and very quickly found the tree. It stood alone in a field of short green grass. No other trees or plants were near it. Apparently, according to a small sign, the tree was a gift to the owners of the house in the 1800s. The tree was planted to be displayed, and somehow the tree seemed to be proud to be the center of attention. It was imposing, thick at the trunk and its branches spread and created a broad canopy. I sat at the base of the massive tree and marveled at its beauty and size.

“They that dwell in the shelter of the Most High will live in the shadow of the Mighty One.”

Before I started the trip, I had given myself the task of memorizing scripture, and I was memorizing Psalms 91. The opening line of which says: “They that dwell in the shelter of the Most High will live in the shadow of the Mighty One.” It was then that I had the thought that surely King David was sitting under one of these trees when he wrote that line.

What else did people have to compare to back then? The landscape of Lebanon, or the Eastern Mediterranean shore in general, is very mountainous, but besides the mountains, there wasn’t much else of a large scale besides the trees. No cruise ships on the seashore, no skyscrapers in the cities, no B-747s cutting the sky. It must have been that people, as they traveled north and south and east and west during those days, would look for and seek refuge under the branches of a Cedar of Lebanon.

Psalm 91 in Real Life

Surely, these giants were a comfort to those seeking shelter from a storm. How long did David run from Saul and his armies through the wilderness? Is it not possible that at least once he laid down to sleep between the roots of one of these trees? When he found peace, and he was crowned king, one day on retreat from his kingly duties, he might have been on a stroll through the forest. And there he saw a Cedar of Lebanon that reminded him of those times when he found refuge when he had nowhere else to go.

Reminiscing and remembering he might have been drawn to it, and sitting down at the base of the tree, King David started to write “They that dwell in the shelter of the Most High will live in the shadow of the Mighty One.”

This excerpt from Psalm 91 rang in my heart that day like never before, and I’ve had a different perspective on that chapter ever since. 

My Tiny Traveling Blue Bible in Liechtenstein

In 2020 I had the privilege of living in the Principality of Liechtenstein. Among the chaos of it all, I was given the opportunity to go work there for one year. I lived on the third story of an apartment building set at the foot of an alpine mountain. The room was a studio apartment that had two windows. One was a small one that looked out at my neighbors kitchen, and the other was an apartment-wide window with a door that opened to the balcony. The view from this window looked directly west over the green fields of the Rhein Valley, and on to the ridges of the Swiss Alps. 

The first time I walked into that apartment I was being ushered by the person in charge of my visa. It was the Golden Hour of a gorgeous August evening, the sun was nestled in between the peaks, and the sunbeams were piercing through the clouds like a Renaissance painting.

It was no accident that I lived there. Seasonal depression is no joke, and it was 2020. I wanted to be ready for lots of alone time. I had prayed that I would have a room where I could sing, and where I could get some sun. The idea I had of my prayer being answered was far inferior to the gift that God had given me. Every day for a whole year I got to look out of my window and be bathed in this awesome view.

An Open Window and Psalm 19

Well, my tiny traveling blue bible had also come with me. The scripture that I was memorizing at the time was John chapter 1, but as with any balanced meal for the body, one should also balance the meals of the soul. I went back and forth between the New Testament and the Tanakh. In the middle of my searching the words of of Psalm 19 stood out:

1 The heavens declare the glory of God;

    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

2 Day after day they pour forth speech;

    night after night they reveal knowledge.

3 They have no speech, they use no words;

    no sound is heard from them.

4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,

    their words to the ends of the world.

It’s hard to explain beauty to someone using only words. Sometimes you just have to go see it to understand it.

The Mystery of Beauty

Much like the mystery of the Cedars of Lebanon, these verses had only somewhat made sense to me for most of my life. I have known natural beauty before in the beaches of west Mexico, or camping under a starry autumn night in Arkansas. Maybe I just didn’t appreciate it when I was younger, or maybe I didn’t linger in the weight of these words long enough to let them have such an effect on me. I have been among mountains before either in Mexico or in the US, but I had never lived among them. Somehow this Lichtenstenian landscape was more spectacular, and I was gripped by beauty like I have never been before. 

For that whole year I never closed the blinds to my balcony window. Every day I woke up to an open window that allowed me to look at the mountains. I got to see their faces be painted in pink and red and orange and green and gray and white and navy blue. Every day I got to see them being rained on, snowed on, climbed by cars and cyclists and herdsmen with their cows. The mountains reached to the sky as if their hands were stretched out to the heavens. Every day their beauty was relentless.

The mountains don’t do anything. They’re just there. They don’t move, they don’t sing, they don’t talk. Yet, their voice is loud and clear. “Look!”, they say. “Look at this and wonder!” “How not to marvel at this?” I thought.

I’m excited for all the many other adventures that I will go with my tiny traveling blue bible.

It is not necessary to speak English to understand beauty. Beauty always manages to bring us to a place of awe. When we are gripped by beauty we wonder “How is this possible?”. And wondering is a good thing. It makes us ask questions. It makes us seek out this beauty more. I’ve learned that when beauty grips us it is simply inescapable. And sometimes beauty points at something. It doesn’t use any words or speech.

4 “Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,

    their words to the ends of the world.” 

This little book has come with me in many other adventures, but these are two that really filled my heart with joy. I’m excited for all the many other adventures that I will go with my tiny traveling blue bible.

P.S. If you don’t have a bible, but want one let me know!