Happy Birthday to the Gideons!

In my previous job I traveled constantly and every hotel room I visited had a Gideon's Bible in the sock drawer. (Giving me a fine alternative to watching the "Girls Gone Wild" commercials which seem to be the only thing on at night in hotels.)

This year, the Gideons celebrate 100 years of service since the first Gideon, a traveling salesman, started placing Bibles in hotels for his own spiritual encouragement and to help others who might stay in the same room. Knoxnews.com has a good treatment of the story, including this bit:

Elliott Osowitt, 59, pastor at Faith Fellowship in Jefferson, N.C., said when he used to work in the tourism industry, the life he led "involved loose living and immorality." His wife eventually kicked him out of the house on Christmas Eve in 1996.

His daughter had also been sent to prison during that time, and Osowitt felt he'd failed as a father and husband. He was going to shoot himself in motel room that night, but before he did, he saw a Gideon Bible laying on a television, he said.

"When I looked at it, I thought who needs that and threw it on the floor. It fell on the floor and it still stayed open, like it was beckoning me," Osowitt said. "It really made me mad, so I kicked it, but it hit this wooden box frame under the bed and popped back on the floor."

He then picked it up and was about to throw it when he looked down and started reading a passage from the Gospel of John.

"It caused me to stop. It caused me to cry. When I read it was Jesus, I had a hard time with it," said Osowitt, who converted from Judaism to Christianity and became a Southern Baptist minister.

"It literally began a process of healing that eventually led to the reconciliation with my entire family. I just thank God for saving me and the Gideons for being so faithful."

Steve Smith, director of communications and development for the Gideons, said the group has thousands of similar recorded testimonies.