Since I like to travel, I often spend the night in hotel or motel rooms, and one of the first things I do after getting to my room, is look in the drawer of the bedside table to see if there is a copy of a Gideon Bible. 
This came in very handy the night I was staying alone in a Tulsa motel, preparing to fly out to the Winter Olympics, in Vancouver, Canada, the following morning. I was on a ground level room, with a gigantic window, adjacent to the outdoor pool. It was dark, and I had the curtains drawn, but when I heard gun shots, that sounded like they were right outside my door, I ducked for the floor, and turned off the lights in the room, scared to death. I crawled to the phone sitting atop the bedside table, and dialed 911. Then I remembered the Gideon Bible in the bedside table drawer, so I grabbed it, my pillow, and a blanket, and spent the rest of the night in the bathtub---away from that plate glass window! After a while, the police dispatcher called back and said they had gone to check out the reason for the gunshots, and apparently there had been a disturbance in the hotel's bar/lounge, but the situation was stable now. But the Scripture the Gideon Bible referenced for a scary time was Psalm 91. (Pictured below) Now I am able to remember the Psalm 91:1 Scripture reference for times of danger, because it is the same phone number you call in an emergency---911 !
So I must have read Psalm 91 dozens of times that night, trying to calm down. The phrase that stuck in my mind (verse 5) was not to be afraid of the "terrors of the night", or the "arrows that fly by day". That is because being terrified by the gunshots that night, I was experiencing "terrors of the night". Likewise, I was concerned about leaving my room before daylight, in a few hours, to get to the airport. But verse 5 gave me hope! So the next morning as my plane lifted above the Tulsa Airport, I looked down and saw the the long terminal, with planes jutting out diagonally that gave the appearance of an arrow! The Lord knows I like visual aids, and He provided a great one that morning!(See overhead photo of an airport below)
The Gideon organization was started by two traveling salesmen in Wisconsin, in 1899 (John H. Nicholson and Samuel E. Hill.) In 1908, their organization started "The Bible Project", which had the goal of placing a Gideon Bible in every hotel/motel room across the USA. The first Bible they ever placed, was in a hotel room in Montana. Now, their Bibles are distributed worldwide to all continents, including Antarctica! Decades ago, when I first became interested in Gideon Bibles, I asked a Gideon member if they could provide Gideon Bibles in Antarctica. He replied, "We only place Gideon Bibles where there are people, and there are no people living in Antarctica." Then I told him I had a friend who was currently living in Antarctica at McMurdo Station ( www.usap.gov ), the Gideon member apologized for his misinformation, and went about remedying the situation, by sending a Gideon Bible to that research station!
One reason I became interested in the ministry of the Gideons International is because I observed my husband spend about an hour looking through a Gideon Bible, when we were visiting the hospital room of my mother, back in the last century. After that I started noticing Gideon Bibles in the hotel rooms where I stayed, including luxury hotels, such as the one in French Lick, Indiana. One author called this "Hope found inside the bedside table"! I try to always leave a note to the hotel management in such properties, thanking them for providing a Gideon Bible in my guest room. Since the Bibles are provided free of charge to hotels, it seems this is a valuable amenity to offer their guests!
Also, the beautiful oceanside property of Avista Resort, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina:
And, of course, there was a Gideon Bible in the Stone Castle Hotel, in Branson Missouri:
With the popularity of smart phone apps, the Gideon organization also has developed a Gideon Bible app, and often the hotel registration desk will have a small card holder, showing the QR code that the guest can scan with their phone to download the app.
The Gideons also provide Gideon Bibles free of charge to public transportation modes. It was interesting to me that the one I saw on the ferry in Wisconsin, was in the room sat aside for persons who might not be feeling well, as it was next to the "emesis" bucket, one would use for motion sickness!
The torch light represented on the logo of Gideon Bibles is also referenced in a stained glass window in the Cadet Chapel, at West Point, in New York state. (See far right artistic representation of GIdeon in photo below, that I took when touring West Point. It is interesting to note that stained glass windows in places of worship started hundreds of years ago, before there were individual Bibles for each worshiper. The windows told the story of various Biblical events.)
The torch light is significant in the story of Gideon in the Bible, which you can read in the sixth and seventh chapter of the Old Testament book of Judges.
The torch light represented on the logo of Gideon Bibles is also referenced in a stained glass window in the Cadet Chapel, at West Point, in New York state. (See far right artistic representation of GIdeon in photo below, that I took when touring West Point. It is interesting to note that stained glass windows in places of worship started hundreds of years ago, before there were individual Bibles for each worshiper. The windows told the story of various Biblical events.)
The torch light is significant in the story of Gideon in the Bible, which you can read in the sixth and seventh chapter of the Old Testament book of Judges.
Throughout the Bible--from Genesis to Revelation--- God shows his love for all His works--the earth and its people. Therefore, I am using this blog about Gideon Bibles as the visual aid for my First Place 4 Health (www.FirstPlace4Health.com) memory verse from Psalm 145:8-9 that says, "The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works."
If you would like to donate to the Gideon organization, they provide special occasion cards and memorial cards so that you can honor the name of someone with your donation. More information on this outstanding organization is available at www.gideons.org . A photo of the special occasion card rack that I see regularly at the church I attend, is shown below:
Knowing that God loves me, and being able to help provide God's Word through the Gideon organization, gives me "MILES OF SMILES"! Tricia
Knowing that God loves me, and being able to help provide God's Word through the Gideon organization, gives me "MILES OF SMILES"! Tricia
