How many Bibles do you have?

According to this article, the average American Christian has 9 Bibles and many are actively looking for more. At the same time their are Christians and even entire churches in other countries that don't even have one. As Chris Salzman of thinkchristian.net says, it's like we that "Oh, that? That's my Tuesday Bible."

I know that I probably am at or near the average. I have 4 Bibles that I use at least every once in awhile. I have the Archeological Study Bible as my "primary" Bible. I've only had that one for about a year. Before that I used a Thompson Chain Reference Bible. It still sits by my bed and I pull it out from time to time to use the chain references to help prepare for Quest. I also have a Message//Remix. Cheryl and I are using that one for our read through the Bible this year because it puts things in a different light. It is letting us see some things that we haven't seen before. And I also have an NIV/NASB/KJV/NLT Parallel Bible. Again, I pull that one out from time to time when I'm preparing for Quest to see how each of those 4 translations handle a particular passage.

The very fact that I use four different Bibles while people in other parts of the world don't even have access to a single copy is probably a little troubling. But then on top of that, we have a bunch of Bibles on our bookshelf. They are in different sizes and different translations. They are rarely, if ever, used. Some were presents, others were giveaways at various events, and some are old, "retired" Bibles. Now part of the reason I have them is so that I have Bibles to give away. Just recently I had the opportunity to give one of those Bibles to someone who was interested in reading the Bible but didn't have one. That's always a really cool opportunity. But that kind of opportunity doesn't happen every day.

Christian Resources International has come up with a way for people to put those extra Bibles to good use. Their Operation Bare Your Bookshelf will send you all of the materials you need to send a Bible to someone overseas. The Postal Service has an envelope that will let you send up to 4 pounds of books to anywhere in the world for $11. All you have to do is to put a new or gently used Bible in the envelop, pay the postage, and stick it in the mail. This is a really simple way help a fellow follower of Christ. You can find more information about Operation Bare Your Bookshelf here.