Spiritual Mysteries

In around 1947, when I was 16, four years after I had immersed myself in it, I shook the waters of organized religion off my shoulders for good.
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Yet, eight years later, while I was in the Air Force, I up and bought a Bible.

Because of the fading but still legible lable on its box and also due to an inscription on a frontispiece page suggesting that the printers intended the book to be a gift to a child, I can tell you the exact date and place. -- February 19, 1955, at a big department store in downtown St. Louis, Missouri called Famous-Barr.

It was sold as "The Rainbow Bible," and though it only cost $3.00, it has ever since been one of my most valued possessions. That is not because I turn to it at every turn. Instead it is a tiny thing of beauty in itself. Falling slightly short of measuring 5 by 7 inches and about 1 inch thick, it is printed on paper that though very thin has not deteriorated in the least over all these years, and it has lots of colorful illustrations, plus the complete text.

At some point earlier -- probably while I was in basic training in western New York state, I also attended a Bible meeting, though just for a day or two.

Now at this late date I find that I have no idea of what either of those Air Force "spiritual" occasions was all about..

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