The Story Behind the Personal Promise Bible
The Personal Promise Bible is the vehicle God has given us to reach souls for Him. We want people to know that God loves them and desires a personal, intimate relationship with them and that with Him they are “more than conquerors” over any adverse situation.
The Story
On March 4, at 4:30 a.m., a police officer knocked on our front door. Panic rose up in us: “What’s wrong?” The officers informed us that our son, Paul, a licensed minister, had been in an accident and had massive head and internal injuries and that his fiancée, Amy, also a licensed minister, had been killed. We were living any parent’s worst nightmare. Paul and Amy were heading home to spend spring break with us. Because they did not want to give even the appearance of evil by stopping at a motel together they had chosen to drive all night. At 3:30 a.m. in Montana, a drunk driver traveling east-bound in the west-bound lanes hit them head on. Our first response was denial, then shock. This couldn’t be! Paul was only 22 years old. He had his whole life in front of him. He was graduating from college, had his wedding planned and was moving out into full-time ministry. Our hearts said Amy couldn’t be dead and Paul could not die.
However, for the next three days we stood at Paul’s bedside, keeping an ever vigilant watch on all the monitors they had hooked up to Paul’s body and seeing them continue to climb as the pressure in his brain continued to increase.
The Christian World Prays for A Miracle
At 10:00 a.m. on March 7th, Christians all over the world joined us in prayer for Paul to be healed and raised from the dead. You see, all of the tests confirmed that Paul was brain dead. We knew the power of God was there to heal and raise him from the dead but we had given Paul the choice to either go home to be with Jesus or to return to us. At 10:15 a.m. with many tears we turned his body over for organ donation. Paul at a very early age made sure that we knew he wanted to be an organ donor. For him, giving the gift of life to others whether it was by working as a life guard, donating blood or sharing the Word of God with people to see them born was a priority to Paul.
The Hardest Thing
The hardest thing in the world was walking out of that room with Paul’s heart beating knowing that we would not see him again this side of eternity. The last thing Gill did before releasing his body for organ donation was to put his head on Paul’s heart and say, “Someday, I’ll hear this heart beat again.”
Often times we don’t realize the power of our words, but in mid-November, Gill’s prophetic words became a reality. Suddenly, this story of tragedy became one of victory in the midst of tragedy. We received a call from Roy asking if they could come over. We assumed it was a couple we knew that had moved from the area and were coming back to visit. A half hour later, a couple with five children in tow came through the front door. We had never seen them before in our lives! We asked them, “Who are you? Why are you here?” Linda was Paul’s heart recipient. That night we heard Paul’s heart again. And Linda is still doing great.
A Big Change Is Coming
The end of October we were in our Sunday evening service when Gill heard the Lord say, “There is a big change coming, beware of the counterfeit.” Two days later Gill’s boss came into his office and told him that due to restructuring, his position was being eliminated. After nearly 22 years with the same company, at age 54, Gill was laid off. The world says that two hits like that in a year will kill you. But God says in Romans 8:37, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (NKJ). At first Gill looked for work in his field, but after about two months we came to realize that the “counterfeit” was settling for the world’s security of a regular paycheck, vacation, insurance, etc. The Lord was calling us to depend on and put our trust in Him. For some time before Paul’s death, Gill had been working on a personalization of the Bible to give to family members and friends. It would just be an electronic version with their name merged into the Scriptures. We knew, however, that the Lord was calling us to step out of our comfort zone and to publish this Bible. Following that decision, God has revealed His favor by opening door after door. Our training in the world in no way prepared us for what God was asking us to do. Gill was an engineer and Corinne was a teacher and homemaker. However, 1 Cor. 1:27 tells us, “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty” (NKJ).
God Is Faithful To His Promises
We believe God is faithful to His promises to us which is why this Bible is named the Personal Promise Bible. One of those promises is found in Isaiah 61:3, “To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified"(NKJ). This Bible is the beauty for the ashes of Paul and Amy’s deaths and our greatest desire is that God be glorified through it.
While Paul was in the hospital, we stood on Psalm 118:17, “Paul will not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.” (PPB) This was not answered the way we hoped, but Paul could only have reached so many in his lifetime. However, the Personal Promise Bible is in 90 nations and expanding. Regularly, we receive testimonies of how it is touching hearts and changing lives around the world.
Our greatest desire is to see the passion for souls that was upon Paul’s life to be continued. Paul ended almost all conversations with “Remember, Jesus loves you.” Those words in addition to Paul’s awesome hugs were his trademark. The Personal Promise Bible is dedicated to Paul and Amy’s memory. Through it, their vision and passion live on. God’s Word accomplishes what it is sent to do. (Isaiah 55:11)
Gill & Corinne Keith
http://www.personalpromisebible.com/about/
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