Year of 5,000 Books

A book I remember from college days, age 18 or 19, was "Letters from Prison" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran Pastor and my hero, who was imprisoned because he dared to stand up to Hitler's blatant evil regime and was willing to die rather than just go along with the program, play it safe and save his life. I will never forget the statement he made from his "Few Articles of Faith on the sovereignty of God in History: "I believe that even our errors and mistakes are turned to good account. It is no harder for God to cope with them than with what we imagine to be our good deeds. (This one got my attention even back then, and I still like to remember it. I believe that God is not just timeless fate, but that He waits upon and answers sincere prayer and responsible action." Wow, we need more men like that!

In Angola, where I was a short term missionary for the Methodist Church (about age 21) I had been given "Letters to Young Churches" by J.B. Phillips, a translation of the New Testament Epistles into "the English of today" which I devoured! It was so apropos to my ministry, seeming to be the answer to every question that came to mind. It is "dog-eared" and falling apart, but I often go back to this book even now to reread what I underlined and wrote in the back and margins.

Here is my list of books that have fed my soul in this last year at age 77, drawn me closer to God, and helped me hear His voice in a new way. They are, 1) Abiding in Christ by Andrew Murray, led to; 2) Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray; 3) Into the Depths of God by Calvin Miller; 4) The Power of Prayer and Fasting by Ronnie W. Floyd. As you can see, God is showing me so many things! I am still very much a "student" of what He has to teach me. Because of that, these books seemed to fall into my lap.