I Wanted to Check out of this Hotel Called Earth

I will be changing the format on my author site. I need to get back to sharing with you about my book, Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World.

In about two weeks the book will be officially in the marketplace.

It has been a hard, long road I have traveled to get to this point. I started writing, Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World, almost ten years ago. It will be ten years next March.

Why did I start writing the book? I am glad you asked.

I was at the end of my rope. I didn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. I felt the ship sinking and I didn’t have a life jacket.

I was having weekly pity parties, and no one was showing up to help me celebrate.  I was fighting self-doubt, anxiety, fear, failure, depression, hopelessness, and the many other usual suspects.

I was ready to check out of the hotel called earth.

I was in a school parking lot on March 31st 2001 sitting in my Ford Explorer considering suicide. I didn’t want to face the trails of life any more.

I had retired from teacher, and was going from one job after another searching for something that I could feel good about after retirement. Nothing was working for me. I failed at each job I partook in. I even started my own business of find funds for businesses when they needed some while waiting for their invoices from costumers to come in. That failed because I couldn’t see taking money from them when they desperately needed cash at that time.

Every job I tried I needed to try to convince people of getting something they may not need. I worked at a department store in the housewares department. I sold pots and pans, coffeemakers, knifes, etc. I was pretty good at it. I even earned a seven day free trip to a health spa for me and my wife because of my efforts.

One Christmas Eve, I was working the late shift. I noticed that there weren’t any women shopping in my area. It was all guys desperately looking for something for their wives at the last minute. I had a field day. I came up to a guy and asked him if I could help him, and he said, Yes! please find something for my wife for christmas. I can’t think of anything! I saw dollar signs in my head, and directed him to the sets of pans. I convinced him his wife would love a $500.00 set of new pans.

There were several men just like him wandering around, lost in my section. I sold something to eveyone of them. I set a record for sales that night. They bought from me because I was  a man and they trusted me.

I went home that night and wondered, What have I done? I sold a bunch of men something their wives probably didn’t need just so I could make another sale. I was very upset with myself, and quite the job a couple of weeks later.

( Men…never buy your wife something for the kitchen at Christmas. Go down to the jewelry department. You will be rewarded much more if you do that.)

So I went on like this, going from one job after another in sales. The last sales job I had was in leasing, and the same nightmare was forming while doing that. I was trying to have someone lease something when it may be better to buy it outright.

I hit rock bottom on March 31st. I drove to that parking lot I told you about. I was sobbing so much I could hardly see out the window of the rig. I stopped and parked, and was on verge of doing something very drastic.

I finally cried out to God, “I can’t take this anymore!” There was a sudden calmness inside my rig, and in me. The air even seemed different. It was as if God was saying, “It is about time you came back to me. Now let me carry you the rest of the way.”

The rest is history. I started writing Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World, a couple of weeks later.

It took me almost ten years to get my thoughts down, and organized. There were doubts along they way. Satan did every he could to stop me, but I prevailed, and now you have to chance to read my story and learn for yourself how to survive in a not so friendly world.

I hope you will read it and let me know what you think of it. I have been blessed with some very impressive endorsements written in the book. I have had many authors and important people in the publishing world recommend the book.

You can preorder Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World, and save 27% by going to www.winepresspublishing.com. Go to the top and click on “bookstore.” Write in the search area, “Signs of Hope.” That will take you right to my book page. The book will only cost $14.59 there for a short time, and then it will be $19.99 once it is public. Take advantage of that now.

God bless you nad NEVER give up. Fight back the attacks of Satan and turn to God to supply you with all the armor you need to survive.

 

Is it OK to Disagree with Another Christian?

Is God Ready to Spit you Out of His Mouth?

Our luke warm devotion to God of the Bible makes Him upset and He is ready to spit us out of His mouth.

Are you even a threat to Satan? Is he even aware of You? He doesn’t bother with those who don’t resist him.  If you are resisting him he will work overtime to keep you and your love for Christ from threatening his interests.

Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees. William Cowper (1731-1800)

It is hard at best to be strong against the temptations that Satan sends our way. He keeps telling us it is Ok to have a little fun, or a small sin won’t hurt anyone. He likes to divide us and conquer us. 

It is a battle that can’t be taken on alone. What can you do? Who will help you?

You may feel very alone. You may even feel like a speck of sand on the beach of life when it comes to God caring for you. There are millions of people worshipping Him, but He still loves you as His own.  God wants us to plead with Him when he appears not to care.  When we feel the most sinking feeling that God is far away is when we should seek Him the most.

Actually God checks on us days, months, and even years after we have been saved to see how we have progressed.  He may not seem near, but He is and He does care enough to worry about how you are growing in the knowledge of Him, and in the love you should have for Him.

God wants to grow enough that we will come out of our comfort zone. It is easy to stay where we are and not grow. God made many people in the Bible come out of their comfort zone.

  • David was forced to hide in a cave until he realized that he needed to call on God to rescue him. Then he was brave and eventually became king.
  • Moses felt he wasn’t qualified to even speak to the people about God, but he led them out of Egypt into the promise land.
  • Jonah even tried to run from God because he didn’t want to do what God asked. A huge fish swallowed him and later spit him out. Jonah went on to speak for God to the people.
  • Noah was just and ordinary man that did an extraordinary thing.  He was ridiculed by all of his friends, but he still obeyed God and saved all the animals and his family.

What is your comfort zone? Are you staying where you are because it is much more comfortable for you?  

Don’t stay in just one spot. Come out of your comfort zone and take the step of faith, knowing God is there with you. Also realize that your comfort zone changes. What you comfort zone is now may be totally different a year from now. God will be helping you grow and you will seek new horizons down the road.  When God taps you on the shoulder, obey! Growing for God can be like peeling the layers of skin from an onion. There is a new layer each time you shed the old one.  Each new one is a new comfort zone. 

No matter what you think about yourself, God made only one you, and then He threw away the mold. You are one of a kind, and you are the child of God. He made you in His image.

I had another thought tonight…..

If I accuse you of being a sinner because you have a meal with one, then I am wrong. If I try to make you feel shameful because of whom you choose to spend time with, then I am wrong. If you and are threatened by someone’s success and say “They are of the devil,” then we are both wrong. If another Christian disagrees with me and I think he is not a Christian because of that, then I am wrong.

We are not to judge or choose our friends on what they do or think. We should be open to anyone, and try to share with them the love we have for not only them but for God. Then we shouldn’t condemn them if they choose not to agree with us at the time.

If we just reflect the love of Jesus in our faces, hearts and lives, people are going to want what we have.