Sam Henneman is surely one of a kind.

On the wall of his insurance agency office in downtown Victoria, MN is a certificate from the Guinness Book of World Records for the world’s longest marathon board game. 61 hours playing the baseball stats game Stat-o- Matic with his partner in 2012.

That’s impressive enough, but sitting on his desk a few inches away is the product of another even more extraordinary marathon. Five bound volumes comprising Henneman's own hand-copied Bible. Completed in 900 hours over four years,solo.

Sam Henneman’s reasons for copying out the Bible; 

I wanted to learn cursive and needed something to invest my time in that was healthy and beneficial. I was content but not satisfied.

I was inspired by my mother-in-law, Lloyd may who wrote to so many people, always with handwritten letters and thank-you notes.

Maybe I’m an “Old Soul.” I like that this was a bit different as well.

If I am going to practice what I can write, then I wanted a broad range of material that is worth copying down (The Bible).

I started with Obadiah because it is the shortest book, then Ruth (I have a niece named Ruth), and I could give the book to her as a gift.

He began writing on legal pads at first, but as things got more serious, Sam spoke with a binding company called E&L Brindley to truly understand what paper he would need to use to ensure the ink wouldn’t run through the page and that the pages could be bound together properly. Paper that would hold and not fade with time.

Working with 9 x 6 inch 24lb paper bought from Amazon. Running to 3218 pages in total.

Then he began to work chronologically once he had decided that he knew how to do it, how to do it well, and that he would finish what he started.

I didn’t know how long it would take, but started the book of Job in March 2017. Job was Lloyd my mother-in-law’s favorite book and also because the time of Job is the earliest time. I had it bound and then inscribed with a note for Lloyd.

The Process.

“I first began experimenting in 2016, and carried my paper in my “today folder” and would write whenever an opportunity presents itself during the day. I would need a half-hour window to complete the front and back of one piece of paper, and that was always my target. If I made a mistake, I would scrap that paper and start again. I wanted my copies to be as near perfect as they could be.”

Was it hard to find the time?

No, in reality, there is so much downtime in life, and I would find those moments and use them. Also, I would ask myself the question, “what should I do before I set aside time for my entertainment.

Sometimes I would get to the office early and write, and sometimes I would write at home while my wife was watching a movie. In fact, I’d say now I would sometimes do that to a fault.

Sam runs the State Farm Insurance agency in Victoria, MN, and during his training, while others were gathered at the bar, he would be in his room working on his Bible in 2017. He would also use time on the plane traveling to Texas for his meetings to write out sections. Breaking everything down into chunks of time that would go on two sides of the paper.

“It kept me out of trouble,” he said. “I would find pockets of time in the morning, the night, and during the day.“

“You build up physical muscles as your arm and fingers get stronger, so you can go for longer with less pain, and you also develop concentration muscles. By the end, I could sometimes go for 5 hours a day at the weekend. Doing 3 hours the next day.”

It is a physical as well as a mental and organizational challenge, and seemingly small things become very important when you are engaging in the same activity over and over. For example, the size of the pen really matters. “I tend to grip the pen very hard, and after a while, I needed to visit the chiropractor to have my grip released. My fingers were clawed together.”

Another surprise was that this activity really gets attention when you are doing it in public and opens up opportunities for conversations with strangers. Cursive writing is now so rare that it gets attention. It’s different from what the world expects. His copy practice became a talking point.

What stood out? And what did he learn from doing this?

Henneman says, “The same story arc is repeated again and again in the Bible: the exodus story, the sin of Israel, the redemption and salvation. The cycle repeats itself and asserts itself on you as you write. The sheer repetition builds up.”

The repetition not just of themes and story arcs but also of identical phrases and wording from across the whole range of the books.

He also felt the history of people who have had to write these volumes out down through time. The sheer process humbles you under the word. The weight of the importance of copying this down so others may read it and know the Lord. The importance of getting it right. The weight of that responsibility.

“I was just writing it for me, but even then, it would have to be right; everything would have to be correct. You can’t take shortcuts. Imagine that if others’ lives depended on it…as they did.”

Writing out the letters in the New Testament, Galatians and Philippians, you feel Paul’s pain. Even small things, like writing out the greetings and conclusions, is more moving than reading them. These were letters sent to real people from real people. Writing these out deepens the personal feelings you experience and the attachment of Paul to his readers.

You are able to better identify with the people who wrote the Bible. You have more time as you read, re-read, and double-check the writing for accuracy. You’ll read each passage at least 3-4 times and never take a word or punctuation point for granted. You literally sit with the passage and honor it with your time and consideration.

If it took me 900 hours to copy out the whole Bible, how long did it take Moses to author the original text? To consider, arrange and write it all out?

What reflections on the experience?

Outside of my marriage and my two children, this is the most important thing I have done. This was my 4-year college degree. This is the most fulfillment I have felt from accomplishing anything.

“But it's not about what I did, it’s about what it did for me. I have a much better understanding of grace and humility. You get so much respect for the holiness of the Lord and for the words he has given us. Words have meaning. The difference between words like “forgiveness” and “forbearance” is profound. Copying out the Bible has caused me to be more precise in my use of words.”

This was an exacting task that provided absolute fulfillment.

The most stressful part?

There’s a lot of decision-making. What paper, how many lines per page? How to bind the book? What pen to use? How to emboss the cover?

The highest point of anxiety was when He handed over the paper to the printer for the books to be bound. With so much invested in creating perfect pages, one at a time and knowing that he only had one copy of the document, handing over each book felt like handing over hours of his life.

Words have meaning

Having completed his first copy of the ESV, Hennemann has now embarked on completing a copy of the KJV, providing a Bible for his two children. Saying, “Outside of my marriage and my two children, this is the most important thing I have done. This was my 4-year college degree. This is the most fulfillment I have felt from accomplishing anything.”

“I also have a much better perspective on the need for, and value of, accurate Bible translation. How hard that work is, and what a profound responsibility it is to handle these texts.”

Encouragement

I'm not sure anyone is going to top a world record and two handwritten Bibles! But none the less, I hope you're inspired by Sam's story and his diligent persistence to put pen to paper this week.