​This week has helped realize, one more time, that I am a human.

A broken one at that.

There is a line in a song that I've often used with other people.

I like the line.

Really I do.

But at the same time, I do not like it applied to me.

Want an interesting experience that takes you out of the country...without leaving the country?  In Kansas City, there is a place called the City Market.  Not only is it the location of the wonderful Steamboat Arabia Museum, with is worth the visit all by itself, but City Market also boasts international cuisine and a unique collection of products.  This is not Disney's EPCOT, however:  this is raw and unsanitized for tourists. There is a great view of the city skyline, and if you go on just the right weekend, a farmers market fills the stalls in the center of the area - with much more than your run-of-the-mill tomatoes and cucumbers.

Harry Truman's presidency was fraught with surprises.  Even the way he became president was unplanned.  During a war, when President Roosevelt died, Truman was suddenly thrust into the top position.

He soon received the letter here, telling him about a new technology that could change the outcome of World War II - an atomic bomb. Soon, the president was deciding whether or not to use the technology against Japan.

Following the Joplin tornado of 2011I spoke to an elderly gentleman named Bernard.  He and his daughter were looking for assistance after his assisted-living facility was destroyed by the winds.  In our conversation, his daughter revealed that Bernard was one of the first people to visit Nagasaki and Hiroshima after the bombings.  I could not resist asking the question:  "Everyone says Joplin looks like an atomic bomb hit it," I said.  "Is that an accurate description?  Is this what Japan looked like?"  He responded that it was indeed.  I included my encounter with this interesting old man in my book, Out of the Wind.  From that conversation, I developed a larger interest in the bombing.

Nearby in the museum is a floor plaque (right) from the USS Missouri.  This plaque was located on the ship in exactly the space on which Japanese authorities signed surrender during the war.

​Another sad chapter is a Purple Heart and an accompanying letter from the disgruntled father of a soldier during the Korean War.  After losing his son, he sent the Purple Heart to the president along with the statement, "Our major regret at this time is that your daughter was not there to receive the same treatment as our son received in Korea."  Harsh but honest, raw feelings from a mourning parent.

This was one presidency that must have taken a toll on the man in the office.

​This book, constructed by President Thomas Jefferson - self-proclaimed author of America's religious freedom - is a painstaking endeavor to fulfill a promise to an old friend.  It was one man's effort to understand the Bible more clearly.  In doing so, Jefferson left a document that tells us more about his thoughts and opinions of the Christian religion.  It is not a Bible and he he did not title it as such, but is does include the four Gospels, arranged chronologically.
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Dr. Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence, encouraged his friend Thomas Jefferson to formulate his beliefs in writing.  Jefferson promised to do so. With knife in hand, Mr. Jefferson set out to construct a document that he respected and understood to be true.  He put together a book of interlinear columns representing four of the seven languages Jefferson could read, those languages becoming a part of the real title as he assigned it:  The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth Extracted Textually from the Gospels in Greek, Latin, French, and English.  Mr. Lincoln constructed a chronological account of the four accounts of the Gospel from the New Testament of the Bible - but he purposefully omitted sections he did not believe were true.
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That is to say, President Jefferson cut out any reference to miracles.  He cut out most references to angels.  You won't find water turning to wine, blind and lame people being healed, or any reference to a resurrection as reality.  In the light of this,  (or at least the one column that I can read), I am somewhat amazed that he left references to a God who resides in a Heaven.
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There are several versions of this book with a variety of covers and bindings.  I chose this one because it contains a photographic copy or the original text, complete with Jefferson's handwritten labels.  I can turn to any page and find his knife cuts.  I became interested in this volume when I discovered the National Museum of American History link to the story of the "Jefferson Bible".  The site contains information about the meticulous restoration of the book, complete with ink-study, binding, and more.  As a part-time preacher, history buff, and teacher of American history, the book interests me in all three.  It is a beautiful and compelling peek into the mind of a national genius.

I may not share Jefferson's opinion of miracles, angels, and resurrection, but I must appreciate the lengths to which this man went to study the words.  Few people I know have spent the hours Jefferson did in discerning the Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth...

What special features help us navigate the Bible today?​ Many of those features - chapter and verse divisions, for example - find their origins in Medieval times. Most of the material about these manuscripts of "special interest" will come from our text, How We Got the Bible​, but these videos should also enhance our understanding.

I had the privilege of tagging along with the Neosho Christian School's high schoolers for a field trip to the newly remodeled Harry Truman Presidential Library and Museum.  No changes were made to the exterior of the museum except to move the entrance from the front to the side.  This allows for the Thomas Hart Benton mural in the front to be better protected from the sunlight and makes for a more convenient entrance from the parking lots.  Some of the exhibited material is the same, but things are not nearly as cluttered as they were before (I prefer the clutter.  There are not nearly as many artifacts to see now.)  

In fact, the Holocaust "bunkers", one of the items I was certain would remain, are completely gone.  The 1940s "lifestyle" area is completely gone.  All is different in the name of gaining more spacious visitor areas and more interactivity (but at the loss of authenticity).

One area that was better presented than before is the area that displays the acknowledgment of the State of Israel.  There are items in and around the area, mostly gifts to Truman, that represent authentic artifacts from the ancient world - a Roman helmet, some pottery, and a scroll with a reading stylus.  Prominent is a press release acknowledging and legitimizing Israel as a nation.

Another unchanged area is the little courtyard in the center of the building.  Off to the side, visitors can still visit the office where the former president conducted business as the library/museum was being built.  The office has been left in much the same condition to show what it would have looked like when Harry used it.

Outside of that are the graves of Harry, wife Bess, and daughter Margaret (and her husband).  The graves are accompanied by a flame that constantly adds to the ambience of the area.  My daughter and I made it a point to realize that this is as close as we will ever come to the 33rd president.

The Peshitta
The word Peshitta means "simple."  Our text tells us, "It is a revision of the Old Syriac, based on Greek manuscripts that attest to an early form of the Bysantine-type text.  There are more than 350 manuscripts of the Peshitta..."

Naturally, as we dig deeper into the manuscripts, we continue to discover the vast numbers and wide distribution of copies of the Bible.  It is to be noted that these particular manuscripts rank as secondary as witnesses to the text.  One should understand that these are translations.  They still attest to the wide range of devotion that existed in the young church.

There is a great deal that we will not cover in this course, including the rich history of a man named Jerome.  Jerome is the man who produced the Latin Vulgate.  See more about his story on pages 70 and 71 of our text, How We Got the Bible.  Jerome's Vulgate underwent several revisions through the years, but in 13th Century Paris, with the need for a Bible that could be more easily used, another man, Stephen Langton, arranged the Vulgate into the modern chapter divisions still in use today.  Our book outlines the transitions from Old Latin to the Latin Vulgate on page 73, culminating with:​