Goodbye to 35 Years of Files
January 13, 2009
The six inches I saved from the last 35 years of filing.
Last week I mentioned that we were in the throes of a massive housecleaning, reorganizing and downsizing project. The process continued over the weekend, and as of tonight we are almost finished. Already we have thrown away bags and bags of unneeded and unused clothes, books, and assorted paraphernalia from the last 35 years. Along the way we’ve stacked and folded and decluttered almost everything.
This afternoon I spent hours going through six containers with sermon notes and articles covering my entire ministry. As the hours wore on, I grew ruthless. What started as a calm appraisal ended up with me pulling out hundreds of manila folders, glancing inside, and quickly throwing it all away. I don’t think it’s any exaggeration to say that there were thousands of pages that I hauled to the dumpster. The contents filled eight or nine garbage bags plus I threw away hundreds of hanging files along with the plastic containers. As I perused those folders, I discovered that I have gone through three periods in my filing:
1974-1985. I would estimate that 80% comes from the early period that includes my seminary years, my first pastorate in Downey, California and the beginning of my pastorate in Garland, Texas. That roughly corresponds to the period before my first computer, a beautiful Atari 1040 ST (anyone out there remember those?). Back then I tended to file everything, most of it written by hand. It includes 70 sermons on Acts, 60+ sermons on Hebrews,and notes from the “7:27 Express” service at the church in California. I also filed away most of my papers from my years at Dallas Seminary.
1986-1991. This would be another 15% covering the rest of my years in Texas and the beginning of the ministry in Oak Park. This period is mostly sermons–40 sermons on Ephesians, 18 on 1 Peter, and so on.
1992-2000. The final 5% covers the middle part of my years in Oak Park years and consists entirely of sermon notes.
There is virtually nothing after 2000. Starting in about 1986 I typed most of my sermons on a computer–first the Atari, then an early Mac, then a PC starting in 1994. I discovered that quite a bit was lost during the transfer from one computer to another. As I became more dependent on the computer, I stopped using my filing system. And by 2000 I didn’t use it at all, not even to file hard copies of my sermons. Meanwhile I continued to lug those bulky containers whenever we moved even though I probably looked in the files maybe once a year.
I always knew I was going to go through those files someday and get ride of most of it. It’s not like my boys are going to want to go through my scrawled sermon notes after I’m gone. I can’t even read what I wrote 30 years ago. So I did them a big favor by getting rid of it myself. I had a simple rule. If I haven’t looked at something in 30 years, I probably won’t look at it in the next 30 years, so out it goes. I decided not to save my handwritten notes from Matthew, Zechariah, and a lot of those early sermons because I can’t read them, I don’t want to read them, I know I’m not going to read them, so why keep them around? Out it all went, folder after folder, including my large folder on dispensationalism (forgive me, Dr. Ryrie. I still believe, but I’m not keeping those notes anymore.). Out went files covering almost every book of the Bible and every major topic in theology plus folders for all my sermon series. I threw away all my seminary papers, most of which definitely shouldn’t be saved. I did happen to find a final exam written using a blue composition book (remember those?) for Dr. Pentecost’s class on “Transitional Problems in the Book of Acts.” I opened it, couldn’t decipher anything, and threw it away, but not before I saw this notation on the front: “Exam A, Sem A.” That made me smile.
So what’s left at the end of the day? I rescued a handful of sermons that I may add to the website. I found a series on the life of Samuel that I had completely forgotten. I found my ’Holy Land Diary’ and a diary from 1986 called “Adventures in Haiti.” Those two could be scanned and added to the website. I’ve got a folder of letters I wrote to various publications. And I also found some printed studies on Titus and Psalms that I can use. So out of perhaps 32 feet of material, I’ve saved about six inches that I will put in the filing cabinet in my office. That’s it. Six inches from the last 35 years.
Everything else is in the trash. I don’t have to lug that stuff around anymore and our garage is clean.
I think I’ll sleep well tonight.