“SELL YOUR BED AND BUY BOOKS!”

That’s what my Homiletic’s professor declared to the whole class.    Another student had asked what we should do if we wanted to be good pastors.  “Get books, big books, thick books, good books, lots of books and read them. Sell your bed if you have to, but get books and read!”  Much to the chagrin of my young bride, I bought that one hook, line and sinker.  His admonition helped to forever alter the course of my money.    My freshmen year in college I bought over $700 worth of Biblical reference works (back in the mid 80’s!) that I was not required to have for class!  I didn’t sell the bed (though I would have definitely traded it for Kittel), but I did eat a lot of popcorn for breakfast.  So began my love affair with books.

It would be my Greek teacher who would have the most profound impact on me.  It happened when he uttered this statment on the first day of class:

“Your challenge is not that the people in your congregation WON’T believe what you teach.  Your challenge is that many people in the congregation will Read the rest of this entry →