"Life is Like a Roll of Toilet Paper"

It was an otherwise uneventful trip to Dallas. Granted, I was only there for one night and the hotel we'd picked turned out to be a major loser. But, even if I'd tried a little harder, I still don't think I would have enjoyed that city.

But there was one redeeming factor. My boss and his wife, whom I was traveling with, had been in contact with author and theologian Dr. Charles Ryrie. They called him up and asked if he was interested in going to dinner with us.

I guess I've not spent true leisure time with any renown pillars of the Church (or whatever you'd title someone like Dr. Ryrie), and I don't know what I was expecting to see. He was a dignified man, around 80. Not stuffy, not conceited, more than willing to spend some time with a few blood-shot out-of-towners like us.

He took us to one of his favorite restaurants. It was an Italian place not far from his house. I probably let out a little gasp when I saw the menu. Maybe, I thought, Dallas uses pesos. But I didn't think so.

A few other people there stopped to talk to him, but for the most part, it was a quiet dinner. We talked a little about his teaching and traveling ministries, his grandchildren, and his books. He made us feel more than comfortable. I worked up the courage to ask him to sign my Bible - even though it didn't have the word Ryrie on it. By then end, we were feeling at ease enough to split chocolate cake.

After dinner, he invited us upstairs to his home. It was a quite place, full of art and other curiosities. He had shelves of books and they weren't the type thing you see in Christian book stores today. They were mostly "classic" theology. Browsing around his house made me realize how much material for study the Bible has in it and how little I've read.

There are an incredible number of books he has authored. He gave Curtis and Jenny each a book. He gave me a copy of "Miracles of Jesus" and signed that for me too.

Dr. Ryrie said one particularly noteworthy quote. "Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end, the quicker it seems to go by."

There's a lot you can say about a quote like that, but I'll end with this, I think someone who has devoted that much of their life to the study and application of Scripture has nothing to fear from the end of the roll. And as my life gets slowly used up, I hope I spend lots of it with men like Dr. Ryrie and not much of it in Dallas.