Dear Friends,
Tucked away in the Apostle Paul’s closing remarks to Timothy is a
verse that is easy to miss. Paul writes, “When you come, bring the cloak that I
left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments (2 Timothy
4:13). Scholars suggest that the parchments may have been part of the Old
Testament. In any event, this got me to thinking about the importance of good
books and what friends they have been to me over the years of my ministry.
Some of my friends have been sitting on my shelves for over 50
years, but like the Word, there some things that never grow old.
There has always been a battle brewing in the Crenshaw household
over the number of friends I have brought home. I remember as we were leaving
Fort Lauderdale to retire 12 years ago, I found an old cardboard box my wife
had dumped in the corner of my office with a note that said, “Sort out the most
important 100 books and put them in the box and give the rest away.” Those
words struck terror in my heart. Get rid of my friends. Send them packing. “No,
no, no, I can’t do it,” I cried.
The retirement part didn’t work out any better than her efforts to
ditch my friends. Most all of them traveled north with me and found residence
on a new set of shelves that take up most of my office.
Only a lover of books can understand and appreciate how difficult
it is to give your books away. Maybe I am just selfish for I know my
library takes up considerable room in my office, and now in my apartment, but
you can’t just walk away from your friends.
Long ago I copied down a quote that has stayed with me to this
day. It was Mark Twain who said, “The man who does not read good books has no
advantage over the man who cannot read at all.” That caught my attention the
first time I read it, and it still resonates with me today.
Last night at our Men’s Spiritual Leadership Class, the lesson
from Oswald Sander’s book was on “The Leader and Reading,” and we spent the
evening discussing the value of reading. We all agreed that leaders are
readers, and the more we read the better leaders we will become.
One of the questions we discussed was, “What books have had the
greatest impact on your life and why? As we shared some of our favorite books,
I found myself hard pressed to limit my answers for there have been so many
books that have shaped and impacted my ministry that I wouldn’t know where to
begin or where to stop.
A.W. Tozer was wise when he wrote, “The things you read will
fashion you by slowly conditioning your mind.” And how true were his words. I confess that if there is any wisdom that
comes from my mouth, it has almost always comes from someone I have read, and
while I may not know his or her name, their wisdom has permeated my mind and
left its imprint on my thinking.
And the late Chuck Colson writes “Next to acquiring good friends,
the best acquisition is that of a good book.” He was right.
As we closed our evening last night, we had fun discussing the
following question. “If the notes and files of your reading were to be turned
over to a detective-psychologist for character analysis, what would they
conclude about you?”
That’s a good question for a small group, and it’s a good question
for you to think about today.
Let me hear from you as I would be interested in hearing your
answers.
To be continued tomorrow…
Yours in faith and friendship,
Tom
P.S. Do any of you know any good 12 Step Programs for book
hoarders like me? Just asking!
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