I’m currently reading Ben Franklin’s Autobiography on my iPad Kindle App. I had forgotten what an accomplished man he was since learning about him in my school days. (100’s of years ago it seems.)
Here’s a few of the many nuggets I picked up.
His list of accomplishments and inventions is ridiculous; bifocals, Franklin stove, fire department, fire insurance, library, gulf stream maps and more. I feel like such a time waster looking at his life.
He seemed to believe in God but didn’t attend church. One of the reasons was he found most preachers to be boring. I wonder how many people want to believe today but our methodologies keep them away?
He came up with 13 virtues he desired to follow in life. He has a system where he would spend a certain time mastering each one. I have adapted this and started to list certain skills I need for being a good children’s pastor. I am organizing my reading and learning around that list of skills.
I taught these things about Franklin last year to my high school English classes. Too bad I was far more impressed with his accomplishments than my students seemed to be…