I've had my Bible for 10 years. I got my Student Bible just before my second mission trip to Botswana. It has served me well this past decade, traveling with me throughout Africa, Europe, and America.

It is well-worn and comfortable. My notes, underlines, papers, highlights, photos, and stickers that completely surround and fill my trusty Bible have made it my own. When the cover started falling off, I patched it with duct tape. I've had to add many layers of duct tape since, the most recent being right before we left for the States in August.

I decided the time had unfortunately come for me to retire my Bible. I found and purchased the replacement: a compact NIV Study Bible in black leather with silver trim. It's much nicer to look at than my old Bible -- and much more useful, with all its notes and a concordance actually worth using. But it's not very comfortable...

I need to make it my own. I need to transfer my thoughts and heart from my old Bible to this new one. In thinking through how best to do this, I decided on methodical and orderly -- going through my old Bible, page by page, and copying my underlinings and notes into my new one. This will take me a while.

I've breezed through Genesis and Exodus. I know some books will be fairly quick (not a whole lot of underlining action in Leviticus). I am, however, a bit concerned about Psalms...

Eventually, my new Bible will feel more like it belongs to me, like I'm at home in it. Someday I'll be able to easily find verses in it as well -- verses that I can quickly turn to in my old Bible simply because I know where they are on the page.

For now, I'll keep using my battle-scarred, duct-taped, comfortable Bible...