When have I learned enough?

When I was a youngster of 7 years, I was the popular kid in school. Everyone hung around with me and wanted to be my friend. I was just starting to develop a love of sports and had some marginal talent in that regard as well. Looking back, I could have potentially become the big-man-on-campus sports jock, president of the student body kind of guy. As a 7-year-old, my future looked bright. 

Then I believe God intervened. While playing with two of my cousins and my brother, I caught a stick in my right eye. The damage was pretty severe  — I am legally blind in that eye still today. After surgery and an extended recovery period, I returned to school wearing glasses. In the 1960s, glasses were definitely not cool for a 7-year-old. My popularity tanked, and the course of my life was forever changed  — for the good. 

It was during this early time in my life that I believe that God preserved me from the dangers of too much popularity amongst my peers and the temptations of social pressure that come along with that as I later moved into my teenage years. 

It was also a time where God instilled in me a love for reading. That first summer of gaining glasses and losing “friends” was when I made my first trip to the local library. It was only a block from my house, and it became my new “friend.” I would spend hours at the library and then spend many more hours sitting up in a tree in my backyard reading the books I had checked out. I was forever hooked.

I have never found a cure for this “addiction,” and I hope I never do, as it has served me well in my calling as a pastor. Groucho Marx once said, “I find television very educating. Every time someone turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” 

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