Michael Spencer, famed blogger at www.internetmonk.com, wrote a wonderful reflective piece on a special Bible in his life. And here was his challenge at the beginning of the post: “I wonder if any bloggers out there would like to devote a post (and maybe a picture) to a Bible that has a special place in your spiritual journey?”

I want to devote this post to a special Bible in my spiritual journey, because it is connected to a very special person: Ken Pelton.

None of you know of Ken, nor will you ever meet him. Ken died of lung cancer two week ago, and he was the first person to involve me in ministry and is probably one of the single most dedicated followers of Jesus I have ever known.

One summer (I think it was the summer of 1997), Ken reached in the back of his car after arriving at the county jail to give me the Life Application Bible (NIV) you see pictured above. No, he was not taking me there to get “booked” and giving me my only life line, nor was he picking me up after a royal screw up! Instead, we were going together, along with a few others, to hold “church.” Ken was the leader of my childhood church’s jail ministry, and because I could sing and won a preaching award in Junior High (which I guess, in his mind, meant I could preach, too) Ken involved me in the ministry.

So for three or four summers I would go with Ken and a few others to a few jails a year, boombox, accompaniment trax (as in the songs of Rich Mullens, Ray Boltz, Michael English sans singing/words), Bible and all, to provide a church service for 30-60 men in an afternoon or evening. And the man was stellar! He chummed around with the guys, showed concern for their families and prayer requests, and taught the guys about Jesus. His passion was infectious, and I’ll never forget those rides to the county jails and first exposure to real-life ministry work.

But that love of people and God never ceased until his last breath 2 week ago.

Even though he was hooked up to an oxygen-tank-on-wheels Ken STILL sang in the choir. Yes, you read it right: the man was 76, breathing through tubes, and singing his tenor heart out in glory and honor to God and for the enjoyment of His community. Unbelievable!

But it doesn’t stop there. He also taught an adult Sunday School class and was still involved in the county jail chaplain ministry! He was literally serving the Lord right up until his time was finished.

I hope I end as well as Ken did.

I hope my heart is so grafted to the heart and mission of Jesus that NOTHING will stop me from singing to the Lord until my lungs give out…even if they physically do like Kens did.

I hope I keep it simple like Ken did. He made no monumental achievements. Ken was an automotive instructor at the local community college. Nothing special. But for years and years and years he poured his life out as eucharistic offering into the lives of men whom society had thrown (and locked) away. Ken knew what was important, and he gave his life for them, right up until the end.

In one of Jesus parables, he instructs his followers on our responsibility to be faithful with the life (singular) we’ve been given. In response to the servants in Jesus’ story who handled their tasks responsibly, the master character replies, “well done my good and faithful servant.”

Ken Pelton is the embodiment of this parable. If any of you need something physical to understand what it means or looks like to be someone who is good and is faithful enough to hopefully one day hear these words from the lips of our Master, think of Ken. I know without a shadow of a doubt the first thing Jesus said to Ken was, “Welcome home, my good and faithful servant, welcome home.”

I’m thankful for the Bible that Ken gave me a decade ago, because it largely influenced my spiritual growth for the next several years. But beyond the physical book, I’m thankful for what Ken gave me for my spiritual journey: a lived, enfleshed understanding of what it means to be a good, faithful servant and follower of Jesus, right up to the very end of life.