My Study

By Dan Betzer
Guest Columnist

CBN.com -- In my early ministry years, my office consisted of one corner of a large work area in the church where I served as youth pastor a long time ago. There was no privacy in that study area.

Then, I began pioneering churches. I had a study in my first pastorate in an alcove above our house. If you stood in the center of the room, the ceiling was eight feet high. If you moved very far to the side, the ceiling was four feet high. I learned how to work with recurring headaches in that place. Ah, but a lot of years -- decades, in fact -- have passed.

I am now blessed with a study that I consider a cocoon or a "womb room" with my beloved books, several thousand of them, and my collections from around the world including a real African lion. (No, I did not shoot her. She died early in life on a lion farm near the border of Botswana.) I have my "Africa wall" with a painting of elephants by Craig Bone, the Zimbabwean artist, and some magnificent carvings of wild animals. Also pictures, all of those wonderful pictures taken with athletes, entertainment stars, government officials, and church leaders. And, last of all, my trusty old word processor upon which I bang out ByLine scripts, sermons, and books, among other things.

I have a neat little stereo with superb sound playing soft background music while I am studying. A man needs a place like this. It just takes a while to get it. In my case, it took about forty years!

Be patient for those good things in life. Instant gratification will cost you in the long run. The Bible says, "Run the race with patience...." I have, and has it ever been worth it!