I love books. I’m always finding a new book that I must have immediately. Philip knows this about me, and humors me in this. As proof that he really does listen to me rattle on (and I do rattle on, no doubt about it), about every two weeks or so I get a package from Amazon with a book that I mentioned to Philip that I wanted. We have books everywhere, stacked on our dresser, the nightstand, the computer desk, not to mention the wall-to-wall bookshelf in our downstairs den. I have more books that I want to read than I could possibly read in a year. Which brings me to my current dilemma. I have a habit of starting a book, getting about half way through it… and then getting distracted by a new book that I must have and start immediately.
So I decided to commit to finishing a book before I pick up a new one. (This of course excludes starting a work of fiction when I’m in the middle of a non-fiction book. Right?) After I made this commitment, the next book I got from Amazon was The Godly Home, by Richard Baxter. Baxter was a prolific English minister with amazing insight into the Christian life. The hang up is, the book was first published in 1673. Here is a quote from the book:
That Christian families are sanctified to God I prove thus: first, a society of holy persons must needs be a holy society. A family of Christians is a society of holy persons: therefore, etc. Second, we find in scripture not only single persons but the societies of such sanctified to God. See Deuteronomy 14. So the body of that commonwealth did all jointly enter into covenant with God, and God to them.
Um… what?
It’s possible that sleep deprivation has directly affected my ability to comprehend what I read, but seriously, what? I’m on page 78, and there are 224 pages. I am determined to finish it. Just, nobody ask me what the book was about.
