Ken reading his Bible

Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119:105)

Many times I have been asked what my favorite hobby is. Whether it was a friend, family member, colleague or some survey, my answer has always been reading. I have loved to read since my parents began to teach me as a 5-year old. I started with the typical children’s books—although they were nothing like children’s books today. But I quickly graduated to a slightly higher level of book. We had a small library across the street from my house and the librarian was a little old lady who lived 4 houses down the street. She loved to see me read her collection of kids’ books. Eventually I read through them all and, though I was technically too young to actually take books out of the library, she allowed me to do so. A whole new world opened up for me. I raced through the mysteries of the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift and even series for girls like Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden. But I soon ran out of them as well. Then I graduated to the “Perry Mason” novels by Earl Stanley Gardner, then the books by Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and H. G. Wells. I never realized that this was pretty heady stuff for a preteen. But it did provide an opportunity to develop a wide-ranging vocabulary and to give me a little knowledge about a lot of things. I now read best-sellers and obscure novels. I read books in a series and short stories. Long books and short ones. Basically, I read thrillers, mysteries, adventure, westerns, science fiction, horror, fantasy, biographies, historical novels, drama, classics, and comedy. But I’ve found that the one best seller that I read over and over again is the one the Guinness Book of Records claims has sold over 5 billion copies—the Bible. It’s a book of history, tragedy, prophecy, instruction and wisdom. While other books may challenge my intellect or my imagination, the Bible challenges who I am, why I’m here, and what I should be. And it never goes out of date or needs revision.