Many a sermon has told the old saw about the Bible in the breast pocket that saved a man's life by stopping a bullet--so much so that Woody Allen had this classic riff on it in his standup routine:

Years ago, my mother gave me a bullet...a bullet, and I put it in my breast pocket. Two years after that, I was walking down the street, when a berserk evangelist heaved a Gideon bible out a hotel room window, hitting me in the chest. Bible would have gone through my heart if it wasn't for the bullet.

Apparently the real deal just happened for real in Iraq, complete with the soldier having promised his mother to put the Bible there:

PFC Brendan Schweigart was helping to retrieve a tank in Iraq when he felt as if he had been hit with a sledge hammer.

It was deadly fire from an enemy sniper.

But this day called up a miracle for the young soldier who believes in God and the teachings of the Bible.

According to a report by NBC affiliate WGRZ, the bullet missed Schweigart's vital organs because over his heart was a Bible.

Scott says it's the one he got at boot camp. The Bible acted as a shield, that trapped the bullet. He had promised his mother that he would always carry his Bible into battle.

Perhaps it was one of these. (HT: Jennifer Rose Emick)