Editor’s note

Today, the Tribune-Herald launches a new, occasional feature highlighting the sacred texts of Central Texans.

From the Bible to the Talmud to the Quran to other volumes that have special meaning in our spiritual lives, we offer glimpses of these texts and the stories they tell about our faith, our families, our culture and our places of worship.

If you know of someone with an interesting story involving a sacred text, please e-mail mcopeland@wacotrib.com or call 757-5736.

Chaplain Ron Hill of Bluebonnet Hospice in Waco holds up two of his well-worn Bibles.
Duane A. Laverty/Waco Tribune-Herald

Who

Pastor Ron Hill, 62, who has preached from Battle Mountain, Nev., to Wichita Falls and is now at the First Baptist Church of Eddy as well as chaplain of Bluebonnet Hospice.

What

The New International Version of the Bible.

How was it acquired?

Hill bought it at a Zondervan Family Bookstore in Riverside, Calif., more than 30 years ago.

Secrets about his Bible

“I don’t use notes when I preach. I write reminders in the text,” Hill said, adding he wants to make as much eye contact with the congregation as possible.

Hill said he has thought of buying a new Bible and even recently scouted out a few.

“But I couldn’t do it,” he said. “One reason is that when I stand before people, I want them to know how important the Bible is to me. This old, worn Bible is a psychological reminder to them.”

God at work

Hill nearly lost his Bible in 2007. A homeless man, who was living with Hill, drove off one day with Hill’s SUV. His Bible was inside.

“I put a telephone on the pulpit and told the congregation at First Baptist Eddy that if it rings on a Sunday morning, that means someone has found my SUV and my Bible,” Hill said.

Months went by then Hill got a call from an abandoned-vehicle storage facility in Fort Worth where his SUV had been taken. The SUV “was all messed up, and the tires were flat, but the Bible was still inside. That was God at work.”

These two Bibles belong to Hill, who has filled them with notes and holds them together with tape. The King James Version of the Bible (left) was presented to him by an aunt in 1968. But for more than 30 years, he has used the New International Version (right) that he bought in a California store.
Duane A. Laverty/Waco Tribune-Herald

Favorite verse

Romans 8:31. “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Autograph, please

Hill has a hobby of asking pastors and evangelists to sign his Bible and write a brief note about what they believe is a preacher’s top priority.

Noteworthy

Hill, who grew up in Floydada, located 53 miles northeast of Lubbock, actually has an older Bible — a 1968 King James version, which is also filled with notes, colored markings and taped-together torn pages. Hill loves that Bible, but he uses his NIV in his ministry.

Reading it all

Hill estimated he has read his Bible all the way through, from Genesis to Revelation, at least four times. That does not count the multiple times he has read verses preparing for sermons.