A personal library is a long look into the life of the person who put those volumes together.  It is a portrait of that person’s heart.  When the book titles are reviewed, you can see the parts that make up the soul of the collector.

For the last several days I have been consolidating my “stuff.”  Getting ready for a physical move makes the parrying down of possession sensible.  I took a long look at the hundreds of volumes of books that I have amassed over forty years of ministry.

 Separating myself from my books was a long and hard decision.  But, I did not procrastinate.  Once the decision was made I acted upon it. 

I set up two long tables to help me do the unloading.  Then, I put a door on two saw horses for added space.  A smaller table became my sorting of boxes of books.

Some of my books that I was handling for the last time made me laugh.  Charles Schultz and his Peanuts creation has a volume or two in my library.  Some of my books were gifts from friends long ago.  Many of these volumes helped me through Bible College, Seminary, my first time as an Assistant Pastor, my first time as a Sr. Pastor, my time as a Professor, as a Seminary President, and through the discovery of many sermons delivered all around the world.

If I wasn’t going to read the book again I stacked it up on the sorting table.  The few that I kept in my study library I set aside.  It was a more difficult time than I had expected.

Ken came to collect the books for the Michigan Theological Seminary Library.  He asked me if it was hard to come to this decision.  I gave the polictically correct answer.  He could see through my words.  We both know the value of a personal library in our calling in life.

To part with our library as a minister is like a carpenter giving away his tools.  Or it may be like a biker handing the keys of his motor to another.   Or it is like a lifetime cowboy, riding shotgun in his son’s pickup, watching his faithful steed in another man’s corral growing smaller in the rearview mirror. 

This was a good decision.  Many new leaders will learn from these pages as I have learned.  But, it was still a very tough farewell.