JOT Bible Life-Notes ™

When my free review copy of the new JOT Bible Life-Notes ™ arrived from JOT Publishing, my first impression was, “Nice packaging!” Removing the book from its attractive, plain black box, I saw – or, rather, felt – the genuine leather cover encasing the lined pages, sewn sturdily into place.

This innovative journal looks like a high-quality edition of the Bible with three ribbon markers but is actually a companion for keeping together your notes, inspired thoughts, and key words or phrases from any or every translation in one journal.

As God-incidence would have it, the book arrived just before our Bible class at church stopped using our regular curriculum to begin a consecutive study of Bible books, starting with Genesis. The leader encouraged each of us to bring our favorite study Bibles in whatever translation we preferred, so we could pool our resources, compare word choices, and collectively use informative footnotes to deepen and broaden our understanding of God’s Word.

With that in mind, I kept the JOT journal beside me as I read various translations of Genesis 1-2 along with study materials and other relevant info. More importantly, I contemplated each verse to see what God brought to mind for me to note.

Inside the journal, each page allows two full lines per verse with two to four lined pages for “Extra Notes" at the end of each book. So, beginning with Genesis 1:1, I wrote: “Before everything was, God is.” Then I made a note to myself about the possibility of God’s actions creating a “big bang,” especially since verse 2 shows the earth as “formless and void.”

To expound on this, I went to the “Genesis Extra Notes” page and wrote, “The first day of creation establishes a movement of energy and matter before time existed.” Then on day two, God created “the sun and moon as time clocks – makers of time, which earlier, did not exist.” So we have a timeless era outside of time before God shaped our earth and atmosphere or called on the land, seas, and sky to “bring forth.” As each part of creation obeyed, God called it “good” and mankind “very good.”

Jotting down those thoughts brought others to mind too, which is most likely what the creators of this Bible journal intended –- a place to “bring forth” insights and understanding of God’s Word. Furthermore, by constructing the journal for beauty and durability, these Life-Notes -– your Bible life notes –- could very well turn out to be a priceless heirloom for generations to come.

©2015, Mary Harwell Sayler


JOT Bible Life-Notes ™ with genuine leather cover



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