Reading

I have always loved books. I think it began with my Mom buying the complete set of Dr. Seuss books for me. From that beginning I have vivid memories of sitting down with our brand new set of The 1965 World Book Encyclopedia and thinking how great it would be to read all of them. No, I didn't do that but I think it says something about my personality that I would value such and undertaking.

Well, it has been a long time since then. Through Bible College and three different seminaries I have come to amass some 4000 volumes. More than once I have had church people ask me if I have read all of them and a few have questioned the sense of having so many. I always think of that question in terms of my older brother. He is now retired from a career at Ford Glass Plant where he had been promoted up to doing "tool and dye" work. Over the years he began to collect tools and now he has a workshop that is literally crammed with everything from a metal lathe to a belt sander, to two different sorts of table saws, and hundreds if not thousands of other tools. He enjoys making knives, all sorts of wood working, and compound bows. I have told him he ought to go into making golf clubs, but there just isn't the interest.

Now, here is my point. Some of the same folks who would question my book collecting would admire my brothers arsenal of tools. What they ought to understand is that my books are my tools. Preachers work in words and those books help me in the process. I have all of my books cataloged in one fashion or another and everyone of the volumes of sermons is indexed by text, author, and title. I bring the content of perhaps a dozen books to bear on the production of every sermon. I think that makes me a better preacher. Some might argue that I could get by with less and that is probably true. But, let me ask you, have you ever been doing something for which you knew there was an ideal tool and you didn't have one? You might be able to improvise but the finished product may not be as good as it could have been if you had that tool. There is also a strong possibility that your improvisation will take longer than the same task done with the right tool.

So, have a sold everyone who might ever read this blog on the value of reading? Probably not, but I do hope that I have made my "biblio-mania" seem a little more normal.

Lingering Over Leviticus

This morning I completed reading through the book of Leviticus. I have been pursuing a plan for a number of years which keeps me on track to read through the whole Bible about twice in each year. Sometimes I do more than that, sometimes less.

I always have a hard time with Leviticus. I suppose the initial reason for that was that it seemed so remote from my experience. After all, I have never sacrificed an animal or been involved in any sort of religious service that was nearly so liturgical as what the OT Jews went through. The book became a bit more understandable when I realized that it was essentially an outline of the proper way to approach God. My Presbyterian friends use something they call the "Regulatory Principle" to guide their worship, which I believe originated in the Westminster Confession. Leviticus is something of an expansion of that idea.

Even knowing that, I was still a bit uncomfortable with the book. Then I decided to highlight the times that the word "holy" occurs. It is amazing how often Moses returns to that word. It is easily the key word to the book, and perhaps it is the major reason that I have a hard time getting through Leviticus. While the books speaks of holiness in all sorts of ways I am increasingly convicted about how unholy I am.

I want that realization to do more than slow down my reading. I want it to change my nature. I don't know who first said it, but I remember reading the analysis of one Christian writer that the world is made up of only two groups of people; there are sinners who think themselves saints, and saints who think themselves sinners. If being part of that latter group is the first step toward holiness, then I have made it. I have a feeling I will be lingering over Leviticus more in the future.

The Paramore Principle

In my sophomore year at FWBBC I met Sterl Dixon Paramore, Jr. Little did I realize that he and I would develop a friendship that would last from then till now. There is just something about our senses of humor that resonate off of one another. We have jokes that we have been laughing about for better than 30 years.

Of course, it has not all been laughs. Both of us have been very transparent about the hard times we have been through. In 2005 I was told that I would have to have by-pass surgery and I called Sterl, along with a number of other friends, to ask them to pray for me. Even though Sterl lives in Cookeville he drove to Nashville to see me before I was rolled out of the room a little after 6 a.m. on a Monday morning. That really meant a lot to me.

I don't really know why some friendships last and others don't. I would have told you that I had closer friends than Sterl when I was in college, but some of those are just an occasional meeting at the National or a friend request on Facebook. The older I get the more I value those who have a long track record with me. I suppose I would say the bottom line of all of this is that I thank God for all of my friends, but especially for the one that "left a good job in Memphis..."