“There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away,” writes Emily Dickinson in her poem “The Book.” And even before I knew those words of hers, I believed them.
Here are my top 5 that allowed me to travel to another land and understand something on a deeper level.
Then there are the Gospel stories—the most magical ones of all—where Jesus walked and talked, and water became wine, and fish and loaves multiplied in one great picnic with leftovers galore. Where blind men got their sight back and where the wildest waves imaginable were tamed by a word from the one who made them.
My other books did indeed take me worlds away, but only the Bible had the power to bring its Protagonist into my world and change it—and me—by his presence. Other books were for a time, and that time has come and gone. But I can’t imagine a day when I won’t ask this book to tell me its old, old story all over again.
The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish. JOHN 1: 14, MSG
I would love to hear back from you. What books have allowed you to travel? What books have changed you in some way?