File: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db940209.txt
          -------------------------------------------------------


          OUR DAILY BREAD                   Wednesday, February 9, 1994
          ---------------
          Read:  Psalm 119:97-104

                                    MARY'S BIBLE

                     I will delight myself in Your commandments,
                                    which I love.
                                   --Psalm 119:47

          When  Mary  Jones was 10 years old, she began  saving  money  for
          something  special  she  wanted  to  buy.  She  babysat,   tended
          neighbors' gardens, and sold eggs from her own chickens.  By  the
          time she was 16, she had accumulated enough money to get what she
          so desperately wanted.

          Was it a new car?  A fresh wardrobe?  A Nintendo?  No, Mary Jones
          was  16 in the year 1800, and what she had been saving for was  a
          Bible.  But  there  was  no place to buy one in  the  tiny  Welsh
          village where she lived, so she walked to Bala -- 25 miles  away.
          There  Rev. Thomas Charles had one Bible left to sell, and  after
          some convincing, Mary talked him into selling it to her.

          Because  of Mary's hunger for the Bible, Rev. Charles and  others
          began  discussing the need of making the Scriptures more  readily
          available.  The  British and Foreign Bible Society  was  started,
          and  during  the  next 100 years it  distributed  more  than  200
          million  copies  of God's Word worldwide.  To Mary,  nothing  was
          more  important  than the Bible, and her  persistence  paid  huge
          spiritual dividends.

          Do  we treasure God's Words as much?  How often do we  even  walk
          across the room to pick up the Bible and read it?

          Lord, help us to cherish Your Word.

          Author:  J. David Branon

                     Cling to the Bible--this wonderful treasure
                      Brings life eternal and saves fallen man;
                      Surely its value no mortal can measure--
                    Seek for its blessing, O soul, while you can.
                                       --Anon.

          THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
          -------------------
          Many  people  store the Bible on the shelf instead  of  in  their
          heart.

          THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:  Leviticus 1-4


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our Daily Bread, Copyright 1994, used by permission of Radio Bible Class,
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49555, USA. Written permission must be obtained 
from RBC for any further posting or distribution. RBC provides a variety
of Bible resources, which are free of charge. RBC is not funded by any
group or denomination, and support comes voluntarily from its Members
and friends. Write for more information, or call 1-800-598-7221
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------