Expand Your Spiritual Library and Readings Better than a Billionaire

Good morning, Live Better than a Billioniare-a-Holics!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

While visiting in South Florida, my son took me to a class in developing your Christian faith that he helps facilitate. Most people who attended were newly reborn Christians. They had that bright light in their eyes that makes it such a joy to work with those who have found Jesus.

The subject was baptism, an area that many people feel is pretty cut and dried. The session began with a multi-media presentation of the basic points about baptism, and then the class broke up into round table discussion groups where a moderator raised questions, encouraged everyone to participate and shared deeper knowledge.

Our discussion leader was Tim, and he immediately impressed me. He was excited to play this role. You could feel the fire of the Holy Spirit within him. He showed an astonishing knowledge of the Bible. Since baptism is a Christian rather than a Jewish practice, I naturally expected that we would be only hearing about the New Testament. But Tim pulled in material from the Old Testament with equal avidity and grace. Without any notes, he could refer to chapter and verse in an unerring way. He also cited books that he had read about baptism and referenced powerful metaphors to help explain the Bible's injunctions about baptism. He surprised most of us with reference to the appropriateness of baptism by sand. We ended in extended prayer. It was both a holy and a wholly satisfying experience.

Tim's ability to access biblical verses made me realize that perhaps I should expand my reading to non-biblical texts that focus on Christian topics of importance to me. Although I doubt if I will ever have the memory that Tim displayed, I could certainly begin to have integrated and more detailed views of what the whole Bible says about various important subjects.

Yesterday, I wandered over to the religious books section of Barnes & Noble and was immediately impressed that it was one of the largest sections in the store (even bigger than best sellers, dieting, relationships and self-improvement). I was fascinated by what I found. There are texts for finding texts. And of course, there are books on every possible Christian subject.

A thought hit me: Why not give Christian books as gifts for Christmas this year? What could be more appropriate?

But what books? I'm not familiar with these texts.

I realized that I need to speak with my minister and seek some guidance.

But I also think I'll ask Tim. I'll bet he's read quite a few books and knows which ones are best.

Let's make it a New Year's resolution, also, to expand our spirituality by adding books and reading them that help us understand the Bible better.

Can a billionaire do any better? I doubt it.

A billionaire can certainly afford to buy all of the in-print books in the world. But that doesn't mean that the billionaire will have read and understood those books. And while the billionaire is doing her or his reading, contemplating and praying, he or she runs a large risk of being distracted by some minor matter related to vast wealth. I would rather be solely focused on God.

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N.B. As you can tell, I'm experimenting with color. Let me know what you like and what I should change about my use of color. Many thanks to Linda Grace for her suggestions which I am following!

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Here are some upcoming subjects:

Tomorrow, we'll consider better ways to pick a good book.

Tuesday, let's look at how to run a short meeting better than a billionaire.

On Wednesday, you and I will look at how non-billionaires can do more than billionaires to solve some of the world's most difficult problems.

Thursday, let's look at a public high school that's better in many ways than the world's most elite academies where billionaires send their offspring. You'll be thankful that such a wonderful approach is available to our young people.

Friday, I'll write about how to do your Christmas shopping as inexpensively and luxuriously as possible.

If you are new to this blog, be sure to check out the updated table of contents entry that I posted on November 16. The table of contents will help you find earlier entries that may be of interest. I'll update this table of contents every week or so for your convenience.

August 31 was the most frequently read blog entry to date. Be sure to check it out!

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it. E-mailing your favorite post to them is a great idea.

Check out the latest index at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005/11/latest-table-of-contents-to-this-blogs_16.html to pick out your choice.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

Remember to also visit

Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Be More Successful than a Billionaire at http://bemoresuccessfulthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Create Your Own 2,000 Percent Solutions at
http://2000percentsolutions.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on living better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day, creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell