Expand Your Spiritual Library and Readings Better than a Billionaire

Good morning, Happy Souls!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

While visiting in South Florida, my son took me to a class in developing your Christian faith that he helps facilitate. Most people who attended were newly reborn Christians. They had that bright light in their eyes that makes it such a joy to work with those who have found Jesus.

The subject was baptism, an area that many people feel is pretty cut and dried. The session began with a multi-media presentation of the basic points about baptism, and then the class broke up into round table discussion groups where a moderator raised questions, encouraged everyone to participate and shared deeper knowledge.

Our discussion leader was Tim, and he immediately impressed me. He was excited to play this role. You could feel the fire of the Holy Spirit within him. He showed an astonishing knowledge of the Bible. Since baptism is a Christian rather than a Jewish practice, I naturally expected that we would be only hearing about the New Testament. But Tim pulled in material from the Old Testament with equal avidity and grace. Without any notes, he could refer to chapter and verse in an unerring way. He also cited books that he had read about baptism and referenced powerful metaphors to help explain the Bible's injunctions about baptism. He surprised most of us with reference to the appropriateness of baptism by sand. We ended in extended prayer. It was both a holy and a wholly satisfying experience.

Tim's ability to access biblical verses made me realize that perhaps I should expand my reading to non-biblical texts that focus on Christian topics of importance to me. Although I doubt if I will ever have the memory that Tim displayed, I could certainly begin to have integrated and more detailed views of what the whole Bible says about various important subjects.

Yesterday, I wandered over to the religious books section of Barnes & Noble and was immediately impressed that it was one of the largest sections in the store (even bigger than best sellers, dieting, relationships and self-improvement). I was fascinated by what I found. There are texts for finding texts. And of course, there are books on every possible Christian subject.

A thought hit me: Why not give Christian books as gifts for Christmas this year? What could be more appropriate?

But what books? I'm not familiar with these texts.

I realized that I need to speak with my minister and seek some guidance.

But I also think I'll ask Tim. I'll bet he's read quite a few books and knows which ones are best.

Let's make it a New Year's resolution, also, to expand our spirituality by adding books and reading them that help us understand the Bible better.

Can a billionaire do any better? I doubt it.

A billionaire can certainly afford to buy all of the in-print books in the world. But that doesn't mean that the billionaire will have read and understood those books. And while the billionaire is doing her or his reading, contemplating and praying, he or she runs a large risk of being distracted by some minor matter related to vast wealth. I would rather be solely focused on God.

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N.B. As you can tell, I'm experimenting with color. Let me know what you like and what I should change about my use of color. Many thanks to Linda Grace for her suggestions which I am following!

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

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Remember to also visit

Be More Successful than a Billionaire at http://bemoresuccessfulthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Create Your Own 2,000 Percent Solutions at
http://2000percentsolutions.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell