Library and books

It's Monday. No Monday morning blues for retirees. I spent the morning getting my Bible summary ready for the Corps bulletin, then completed my sermon for Sunday. We shall be doing the meeting at William Booth Corps on 7th June. So after lunch, I took Bus No. 67 and headed straight for Choa Chu Kang Central.

Well, I have not been there for a walk for some time. The Plaza has changed a lot after extensive renovation. One thing about Singapore, nothing is left to deteriorate. I went right to the roof top garden and watch children play in beautiful garden, then came down floor by floor window shopping. Didn't spent a cent!

Then I went to the Library. We are blessed here with libraries. We have one right in our building - the SFOT library, only two floors down from our unit. A few bus stops away there is the Bukit Panjang Library. But the Library I like best is the Jurong Central Regional Library.
Anyway I spent some time at the Choa Chu Kang Library, enjoyed browsing through the books and certainly the air conditioning. It's extremely hot these days. The National Library and Woodlands Library are excellent, but rather far from where we live.

I didn't borrow any book today as I am re-reading my old books. I seem to have acquired a number of Philip Yancy's and its great to re-read them. I think most of them were gifts from Elaine one of our nieces who is a school teacher. I've been much blessed by Philip Yancy's writings.

At the moment our cell is using his book, "What's so amazing about Grace?" I strongly recommend you to get hold of the book and read it. As the leader of the cell group, I have to read and re-read each week and this has done me good. Grace is a big word and we cannot really comprehend grace. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound!

Our grandson David seems to have a real appetite for Philip Yancy's books and he has certainly acquired a number of them. Must be in the genes! I have borrowed one from him - Disappointment with God. Well, I am in the midst of reading it. Of course, nowadays as age catches up with me, I am much slower in doing anything, including reading. The eyes do get tired quickly, and I want to sleep at 10.00 p.m. as we wake up every morning at 5.30 a.m. to do our exercise.

I recall in my younger days, I used to have three books going at the same time - a devotional book, a biography or autobiography and a novel. O I used to love reading Pearl S Buck, A J Cronin, Charles Dickens. Nowadays, I might get a novel, perhaps by Catherine Lim and the like from the Singapore section. Yes, I do give myself a treat by reading a novel sometimes.

So much of my time is taken up with preparation for my weekly Bible studies, reading for leisure has to be sacrificed. One has to be selective.

And I love to keep note books. The problem is sometimes I cannot decipher my own handwriting. I use the computer so much, my handwriting has deteriorated terribly. I need to practise handwriting. Anyway, here's one from my notebook.

"Truly each book is as a ship that bears us away from the fixity of our limitations into the movement and splendour of life's infinite ocean." Helen Keller.

"A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man's mind can get both provocation and privacy." Edward Morgan.

Happy reading.