Motivational speaker Charlie
“Tremendous” Jones often commented, “Five years from now, you’ll be the same
except for the books you read and the people you meet.”
Obviously, other factors can influence our lives, but
there’s a lot of truth to Jones’s statement. Being an avid reader, I’ve been
dramatically affected by many books I’ve read and the authors who wrote them.
If you’ve seen many of my posts, you know the Bible has been the single most
influential book in my life. But there have been many others as well.
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| Books can take us to new worlds and transport us to different times. |
I remember reading classic books like Treasure Island, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Hans Brinker
and A Tale of Two Cities that whisked
me to other lands and other times. As an adult I spent some time experiencing
the horrifying worlds of Stephen King, and novels by John Grisham made life
with lawyers and judges seem exciting. Uplifting works by the likes of Philip
Yancey, Walter Wangerin, Oswald Chambers, C.S. Lewis, Charles Swindoll and
others informed and challenged my understanding of God and true spirituality.
It’s sad that reading has become a second-rate pastime for
many people, because every book I’ve read gave me something to think about and
in one way or another, made me a bit richer person.
The people I’ve met have had an even more profound impact on
my life. I’ve already written about teachers and college professors. But employers,
work colleagues, friends and family members have had an impact on me no words
could ever fully express.
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| People we encounter from day to day enrich our lives. |
As a journalist it’s been my privilege to interview numerous
well-known people, many worth knowing – and some that weren’t. Hours I spent
with individuals like Jesse Owens, U.S. Senate Chaplain Richard Halverson,
Charles Colson, Archie Griffin and others left strong, positive impressions.
I’ll never forget the words of Joni Eareckson Tada – a speaker, author, artist
and singer who became incredibly accomplished despite becoming a quadriplegic
as a teenager. She told me, “I shudder to think what my life would have been
like if I had not become paralyzed.”
Wow!
But it’s the “everyday people” who’ve come into my life,
sometimes just briefly, that have had the greatest impact of all. A kind word
here, a wise rebuke there, a casual comment that echoed long after they had
departed. Voices of experience and insight, counsel from people who’ve “been
there, done that” to help me in working through various problems and decisions.
The apostle Paul apparently also understood the importance
of books we read and people we meet. Writing to his disciple, Timothy, he said,
“When you come, bring the cloak that I
left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments (the
equivalent of books at the time)” (2 Timothy 4:13).
Earlier in the same book, Paul vividly described the
multi-generational impact people can have: “And
the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to
reliable men who will be qualified to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:2). When
Jesus instructed His followers, “Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19), He was
already envisioning the countless millions through the centuries that one day
would commit their lives to Him by faith.
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