By the kindness of God, to provide a skilled craftsman and a generous church, I will have a functioning study library soon. This will be the first time in all my days of pastoring that I will have a space for every book on the bookshelf at the same time. It’s not that I started out with this many books and it’s not that I’ve never had a book shelf before. It’s really that I’ve never had an office space quite like this.
Nathan Harden, a missionary with the North American Mission Board has been at Eastside since November of 2017. Nathan and his family have been part of our church and a great blessing in many ways to me and all of Eastside. They will be with us for several more weeks as much needed work on our original building has been long overdue.
Today, I thought I would give you a short pictorial of the new library Nathan built me. This is like nothing I could ever have imagined.
First of all: This was a full day project. In November I moved out of my office temporarily while construction workers were putting a new pitched roof on the original flat roof. While doing this it was raining and just as I had moved all my books out, the ceiling in my office collapsed. This was a kindness of God in many ways.
I spent a good bit of time thinking about how to set up my new office space and came up with a way to get seven full bookshelves, floor to ceiling, in such a way as to still have floor space for a table too.
This has given me the ability to separate my reference books from general subject books and even half a row of gardening books.
I will have room to purchase more books! The majority of my books have come bargain book tables, yard sale, second hand stores, friends, conferences, my dad and others.
The close up on the right is of three of my dad’s bibles and his library stamp to identify his books. The oldest of these bibles was given to him by one of his sisters in 1957.
The final photos are of each of the sections. The bookcase has a total of over 300 feet of oak trim detail. The pictures don’t do justice to the full effect of this private library. I may have to issue library cards to all visitors.
Apparently, I’ve been collecting hymn books. I have a full length shelf with hymn books from Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho. If your church is missing a hymn book I may have it. Come on by and I’ll be happy to return it.
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