oops

I have been setting aside books to read during my sabbatical. These are books about faith, ministry, and theological perspective that I have told myself that I must read soon, really want to read soon, fully intend to read soon, but haven’t had a chance yet to get to them this past year. These are the books that until today I thought that I actually would read during my sabbatical.

The problem is that I just realized that I have a couple of dozen books piled up to read in 12 weeks. (My current list can be found here: Rick's Plan to Study )

Ooops.

If I weren’t spending most of my study time traveling to and interviewing leaders in other churches, I might have half a chance of getting half of these read. Every one of these books deal with some question I have about life, liberty, and the pursuit of faithfulness.

The older I get, the more exciting and numerous are the questions. I am more curious today about more things than I remember being curious about when I was younger. Hopefully, that means I’m becoming a more curious person, and not just more forgetful!

But this is one of the great blessings about being a Christian at this time in history. We have ready access to so much of the great thinking that has been done by spiritual giants of every nation and tribe, language, time in history, perspective or culture. In 1918 Young, Lewis, and Donaldson wrote, “How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paree?” The idea fits. If we expand our perspective about the world that God has made, if we expand our perspective about what God is doing, our vision will increase and we may not be able to settle any longer for the old life. We won’t believe everything we read, nor should we. But by listening, deeply listening, to the questions, longings, and spiritual experiences of others, our own soul may deepen. Our hearts may expand. Our perspective may shift.

Of course, that might be the very thing we most fear. What if our perspective is challenged? What if we change our mind? What if we discover something about others or ourselves that we don’t want to discover? Once when visiting one of my closest friends, I saw a book on his shelf that I had just read that year. My perspective on prayer had been greatly challenged by the author, and I was grateful for how my prayer experience had deepened as a result. Excited, I said, “Have you read this?” “No,” he said. “I started to, but realized almost immediately that it would profoundly change my life if I continued. And I don’t have time for that right now.”
I know how he feels. Who has time for their life to change? Who has time to deepen their thoughts, reflect on their perspective, or pursue the Christian life more profoundly? Surely the adage, “you can’t take it with you” doesn’t apply to books, does it?

So… are you reading anything new? Perhaps, like me, there is no chance that you can get your list finished this summer, this year, or even in your life. But I love swimming at the beach even if I can’t imagine swimming the entire ocean. So let's plunge in.

If you’d like to start wading into the gracious abundance of thought, perspective, insight, spiritual encouragement, check our website for ideas:
Booklist

The Lord be with you!