In my parents' den hangs a framed Hebrew bible.
It's mounted on a red velvet backing, opened to the center.

Right through the middle of the thing, there is a hole -- on both sides.

That hole is a bullet hole... an imperfection sustained while my great grandfather wore it over his breast, in his jacket while he fought in WWI. The Bible didn't completely stop the bullet -- he was injured -- but it slowed the slug enough so that it didn't reach his heart.

In a very real sense, without that bible, my grandfather and therefore my father, myself, and my children would not be here.

My grandfather carried it with him in WWII.
And my father carried it with him in Vietnam.

I'm hoping that is the last action that bible will ever see...

Now, like I said, it hangs in a frame on the wall in my parents' den.

I was looking at the bible last night and thinking about all this. And I wanted to tell the story to y'all, as I think it's a pretty good one.

My wife's stepfather has had shrapnel in his ass, knees and spine since 1967.

Is that where he was hiding his bible?

Naw... he should have torn the pages out and taped them all over his body, apparently.


Just a story about the freakish coincidences (or fate?) that brings us all to where we are... or even brings us here in the first place.

first thing i thought of when reading poptodd's tale was pulp fiction.

nobody better shoot me because i don't have a bible

But at least my wife's stepfather lived. The rest of his platoon didn't, so that's something.

Hell, that's pretty cool Todd.

I should post the picture on my office wall of the dudes who called the artillery onto their own position.

In my stepfather-in-law's case, the young soldier who was tent sentry that particular night had just gotten a Dear John letter from his girl back home. He was distraught and left the tent without securing the outer flap.

A huge no-no in Vietnam at night. All it took was a few moments of light cracking out for VC Mortar to come sailing into the tent.

Killed everyone except my relative. Can't remember how many were in the tent, but it was a bigger one, an operations one.

Maybe he had Bibleman Willie Ames armor on or something and was saved. He is a pastor now, anyway.

im gonna tape a few together to make a shirt

Too bad it didn't have a new testament...couple more books might've stopped the bullet.

awesome tale.

I, too, ended up thinking of Pulp Fiction.

if todd's grandfather had been a buddhist would I even know who shrimpboat was?

"And at the end of the first quarter it's Lives Saved By the Bible: 1, Lives Destroyed...well, let's just cut to the Maryland game now"

wouldn't it just be a Torah? or is it the whole bible in Hebrew?

the jews call the whole OT the bible.

torah is just the first 5 books.

smart. That's why Christians call their bible "Bible XXL"

and catholics "supersize" with the apocrypha.

That's only so they charge retail.

heh heh.

Seeing as how the New Testament tells the story of Jesus and his teachings, and the main difference between Jews and Christians is the belief (or non-belief) in Jesus as Savior... it makes sense.

That, and the sports gene.

It was two rolled up copies of Variations that saved my uncle's life in An Loc.

For the most part, yes.

But may I submit to you:
• Sandy Koufax
• Hank Greenberg
• Red Auerbach
• Red Holtzman
• Ken Holtzman
• Mark Spitz
• Sid Luckman

SOURCE