“The Returning of an Old Friend”

So, I’m on my morning walk and I found a Bible lying on a curb near the gas station I pass every day. It had all the markings of an “old-friend” Bible.  Well-loved and familiar.  Scribbles in the margins, highlights, underlining, sticky notes, etc.  Knowing how precious such a Bible is to its owner, I picked it up and carried it with me for the rest of my walk, even though I felt reeeeeally strange carrying a full-size Bible and my walking stick.  If I didn’t look like someone impersonating an Old Testament prophet before, this certainly moved me closer to it.

Inside the Bible, the owner’s name was listed as Emma V. She hadn’t included her phone number but had written the phone numbers of two women on a sticky note on the inside of the cover. I called them both. Left a message at the first number and a woman answered the second. I gave her my name and told her the story and that I knew how special the Bible must be for Emma and that I wanted to return it to her. She responded with a warm “Ooooooooh,” and said she would call Emma and let her know. I left my number and a few minutes later I got a call back. The woman said she’d talked to Emma, who wasn’t feeling well but was “soooooo appreciative” I had found her Bible and called. She said Emma had given up on ever finding it again and had consoled herself with the idea that God had someone else in mind to have it now. But apparently God had just planned a happy reunion for her and her Bible.  Maybe just so she could love it all the more.