It is widely accepted that the best kind of learning comes from experience. Andy Andrews, through his character Jones in “The Noticer” refutes this claim, saying it is better to learn from other people’s experiences.  I tend to agree with this assessment.  Especially since this approach has the potential to keep you from repeating the same mistakes that others have made.

Inspired by the real-life Jones, Andy Andrews has read over two hundred biographies, learning valuable life lessons in the process – some of which he has turned into a couple of New York Times bestsellers.  Imagine the number of lifetimes a person would have to live to amass the knowledge that he was able to absorb in just a few years, just by learning from the experiences of others.

When you think about it, most of the Bible is biographical, and many Sunday school lessons and sermons are based on this very same principle – that we can learn from the experiences of others.  The Bible is a great resource for this type of learning.

I have recently adopted this approach to learning. I’ve read several ’spiritual memoirs’ written in the past few years. I’ve also read some books that are focused on specific issues of spirituality, but include elements taken directly from life experiences. I’ve also been reading some ‘classics’ from other Christian authors on a variety of topics.

As it happens, I think I may have actually have learned some things.  I will be writing about some of this newly-learned information in some upcoming posts called “Things I’ve Learned From Books” (catchy title, huh?) or TILFB.

I will say that the very first thing that I learned is – that you can learn things from books.  You probably already knew that.