Tom Rupp commentary: I have it on file

While in college 45 years ago, I began saving articles of interest for future use in sermons and studies. At first, it was not an organized effort, just some manila folders. Soon, however, I used four shirt boxes to sort them out a bit by topic. Every once in a while, I came across an article or clip that resonated and called out, "Save me for the future." So save them I did, and over time the topics grew and became more specialized. The next step was getting an old metal file cabinet. Just as Parkinson's law states that, "Work will expand to fill the time allotted for its completion," so the files began to expand to fill the four drawers. These articles and clippings often came in handy in the preparation of sermons and classes. As I read various books and journals, I would copy certain pages and place them in the appropriate topic. There is so much knowledge and wisdom available, and the main key to their retrieval is organization. "The next-best thing to knowing something is knowing where to find it," Samuel Johnson said. This became an easily accessible treasure trove of information. Over the years it grew to 230 topics, religious and secular. Some of my favorite non-Biblical topics included Success, Mental Health, Life, Humor, Learning, Writing and Personal. Carol also helped by purchasing Rubbermaid tubs, 15 total. These recent years, the process has slowed down as my teaching and preaching careers seem to be locating themselves in my past. And now I have begun the slow, arduous process of going through them and thoughtfully discarding them. This involves looking over each page and throwing away most of them. What seemed important and relevant years ago no longer holds sway. It took decades to amass this collection, so it will take awhile to sift it out. For instance, files marked "Management" and "Spring" are now gone. Others are in line for removal (Art, Culture, Movies, etc). The files for each Bible book and Bible-related topics will likely never go. Until I die, that is. These include study notes and sermon sheets. Although, like Moses' manna, they tend to go bad if you hoard them. Here's a fun fact you might want to file and keep - today is Carol's birthday, so happy birthday to my biggest fan. How old? Funny, I can't seem to find that on file. Tom Rupp is a Folsom resident and a weekly Telegraph columnist. You can reach him at truppfolsom@yahoo.com.