This year over 300,000 English books will be printed in North America and added to the vast array of literature that grace the shelves of libraries, homes, offices and bookstores. The sheer amount of material available is beyond comprehension. With all this at our disposal, how does anyone ever decide what to read?

The many choices can be overwhelming. Most of us depend on recommendations from friends, trusted colleagues and periodicals. And every once in a while we make the decision to 'read a classic.' Which makes me ask, "What is a classic and how did it become one?"

We use the word classic to describe all kinds of things. A car can be a classic. Something that identifies a generation, like a film or art work can be a classic. We sometimes just say, 'that's classic' to describe some situation or person. Usually we think a classic is something old, or something that just stands out above the rest. At the very least it has stood the test of time and still has meaning.

When it comes to books, we wonder if there is a 'top ten list of books that we should all read'. With all the books in print it is hard to imagine that anyone could come up with such a list. I could try to list some classics here but I'm sure I'd miss the mark.

I've tried to read what others have called classics. I have to admit that while it felt good knowing that I was reading these great tomes, in the end I didn?t always 'get it'. I didn?'t see what others were seeing. I felt lost actually.

With that as my background allow me to share with you a short list of some of the books that have been classics for me in the sense that they changed my thinking. These are books that are worth reading more than once.

Answering God - Eugene Peterson. I picked up this book many years ago, when I was into my 'read through the Bible in a year' phase. While reading that much of the Bible might be a good practice, this book brought me up short and showed me that the Scriptures can be (and should be) read slowly, contemplatively, musing over a passage for days, weeks, years if necessary -  growling over the word as Eugene translates Psalm 1. No one is being graded on who reads the most. It changed the way I approached my Bible reading and still resonates with me today.

Miz Lil and the Chronicles of Grace - Walter Wangerin. In this beautifully written autobiographical work, Wangerin tells the story of his life as a white, Lutheran pastor in a black inner city church. The book is arranged such that you get one chapter set in his parish, with the next chapter set in his growing up years. What becomes so evident is that as a boy he always seemed to get what God was doing but as a pastor he rarely does. So many rich characters. Such wonderful prose. This book should be required reading for every pastor (how about putting it on the ordination reading list!).

Sacred Journey - Frederick Buechner. Somewhere along the way I began to realize that just about every book I was reading had a quote in it from Buechner. And they were poignant quotes! I didn't know much about him until one day a friend gave me the Sacred Journey which tells the early story of Buechner's life up to his conversion. I soon began to see why he is quoted so much as his understanding of life and faith is rich and compelling. I have read this book over and over and read it aloud in more settings then I can remember.

Divine Conspiracy - Dallas Willard. Of all the books that I have read in the past twenty-five years, this one might have had the biggest impact. Talk about changing the trajectory of your thinking! It's a weighty book indeed (truth is I had to take a couple of runs at it before I really got into it and it still took me six months to read). But once I got there my eyes were opened to a vision of the Kingdom like I had never seen before. I genuinely believe that it is the best book on what it means to be a Christ follower in the world.