God Rocks!: From Slum to Slam Dunk

By Pidzar “Pete” Dremel

As I researched for the economy of Jesus, I came across an interesting discovery. The diet of the Israelites had dramatically changed from meat to fish. When you follow Jesus around the Sea of Galilee, you realize most of Jesus disciples were fishermen, and the two miracles of feeding the 4,000 and 5,000 were involved with fish and bread, and people from the neighboring ten towns flocked to Galilee for His healing, preaching, and an easy living. I was not surprised that the Israelites consumed fish extensively. It was Jesus way of creating that exuberant fish industry to draw people to Him and incubate more Christians than ever. He has promised us through the whole Bible that whoever believes in Him will have an eternal and abundant life. Today, I am not lacking because I have discovered His secret and would like to share it with you. But first thing first: believe every word in the Bible.

Some Christians may have heard of Qumran, commonly called the Dead Sea Scrolls, which prove the authenticity of the Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts of the Old Testament and the rest of the books in the Bible, but they may not have realized that hundreds of credited evangelical leaders, theologians, and scholars had agreed and signed off on the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. If you know the Bible we have in our hand today has gone through a long process of canonization, then you will look at it differently, and you will believe every word it says.

If you want that spiritually and physically abundant life, you have to believe every word it says. Look at the Biblical Patriarchs, did they have abundant lives or second-rate ones? Yes, we could have a better life, the secret is in God Rocks!

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 31, 2012
• ISBN: 9781449741945

Pidzar “Pete” Dremel

Pidzar “Pete” Dremel, Hong Kong born, planned to study literature, but her father said writers seldom make a good living, so she studied Business and received a B.A. in Business Administration. However, her passion is writing and ultimate passion is chasing God. When Jesus says (John 5:20) His Father loves Him and shows Him all things and greater works, she takes Jesus literally that she is banking on His promise. This book is a collection of articles from her church newsletter starting in 2005.

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Copyright © 2012 Pidzar Pete Dremel

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-4195-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-4194-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012903629

WestBow Press rev. date : 0/26/2012

Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

How I Started Writing

Food for Thought:

Pledge Allegiance to the Bible

Food for Thought:

God of Wonders

Food for Thought:

The Father of My Child

Food for Thought:

Indicted for Car Theft— A Stone in My Path

Food for Thought:

The Blessings of a Stinky Speeding Ticket

Food for Thought:

I Am a Paycheck Away from Being Homeless

Food for Thought:

Pretty on the Inside

Food for Thought:

You Can Have a Better Life

Food for Thought:

The First-Hour Worker

Food for Thought:

The Life of a Last-Hour Worker

Food for Thought:

From Slum to Slam Dunk

Food for Thought:

Learn from Your Children

No Excuse, Be Responsible

We Ask and We Shall Receive

They Know Not What They Do

The Truth Will Set Us Free

When We Sin, Sometimes Others Suffer the Consequences

God Sees Everything We Do

Food for Thought:

Raising a Parent

Food for Thought:

God’s Richness at Christ’s Expense (Grace)

Food for Thought:

Mr. Wise or Mr. Fool

Food for Thought:

I Know I’m Going to Hell

Food for Thought:

The Fear of God

Food for Thought:

Love The Lord With All You Have

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this book to my husband Garry and our daughter Mariah. Both have believed in me, encouraged me, and even edited my rough draft as many times as I requested. Thank you for loving me so much!

Acknowledgments

Many Christian friends have shaped my Christian walk, and this book is the result of their nurturing. One of them was Pastor Frank Robinson, a hair client of mine, was the pastor at Riverside Wesleyan Church in 1990. When Garry and I were looking for a pastor to marry us, he was the logical choice. His church was nearby, and the fact that he played Bob Dylan’s music was cool to Garry. After the wedding, he invited us to his church. We were hooked right from the first sermon, which spoke to Garry and made him cry like a baby. Pastor Frank had a gift of speaking to each one of us in the congregation without pointing a finger. And he knew exactly when to ask you for an amen or Yabba Dabba Doo to keep you engaged!

Behind every successful pastor, there is always a Proverbs 31 woman. His wife, Thelma, was that kind of woman who supported his ministry and honed her church ladies far sharper than diamonds. People who knew her often told me she was the shepherd dog of the church that could smell danger miles away and warn her flock. She had given me warnings in the form of courtesy advice. Looking back, I am glad she saw what was coming and gave me the simple advice that I think she might have forgotten, but I have not. It was a simple yet profound statement of maintaining one’s marriage in good condition. Forever am I grateful to you, Thelma and Pastor Frank!

Then there came a couple of godly teachers, Jim and Mary Digigorio, who discipled baby Christians like Garry and me through the book of Timothy. They probably did not know how much they had influenced us. Mary’s wisdom and tenderness of wanting to save everyone had saved us, and Jim’s straightforwardness had set us on the right path. Mary and Jim had a big positive influence on us, and they have faithfully taught many of us Bible studies for decades. If you are around Jim long enough, you will pick up his habit of researching almost every Bible verse. Thank you, Mary and Jim, from the bottom of my heart!

Taking the Good News or the Gospel to the street, I have to give credit to Daisy and Richard LaForm, who taught us courage to approach street guests, pray for them, feed them, and love on them. We joined the LaForms feeding the street folks since January 2000 at Budget Inn on Stockton Boulevard, Sacramento. When the inn became run-down and closed, we were blessed to have the permission from the pastor of Dream Center (Fifteenth Street and C) to serve his guests starting December 2007. Today, we serve three hundred to four hundred guests on the fourth Saturday of every month when their SSI money is pretty much spent. This couple has taught us the compassion of the Lord and plans to serve more in the future. Without Daisy and Richard, I would never have been able to personally witness Jesus at work. They are such an inspiration that I want everyone to know the Word of God. Thank you so much, Daisy and Richard, for your leadership!

This book would not be possible without God’s messenger. I told the Lord that I would like to compile all my articles into a book, but I would not do anything unless He told me so. I told Him that the message He gave me had to be clear from some authority—no friends, because some of them knew my desire. A month or so after that prayer, Pastor Mike Jamie came and talked to me one Sunday after church in the middle of April 2009. He said it was time for us to do a project together—to put all the articles into a book. I told him if that’s what he wanted to do; I would take care of it all. Pastor Jamie suggested that I provide a few inspirational questions after each chapter for devotion. I thought it was a great idea! I totally trust his guidance. He and his beloved wife Dani passionately love the Lord and have always found ways to serve Him, and I totally believe they are angels in disguise. Love you, Pastor Jamie and Dani. You are the missing link of making this book possible!

Among all my teachers, Dr. Nona Sall has impressed me the most. She has helped many foreign students with their English. My sister was once under her program, and that’s how I knew about Nona’s compassion for foreigners. She edited my first children’s story more than seventeen years ago. My Chinglish was so bad at the time that I was amazed she could decipher it. No matter how busy she gets, she always has time for her students. It is all because she is patient and loves the Lord! This woman has unfailing love for all! She sees something in everyone. She has touched me and made me feel special. She is all about others and less about herself. What a model of godliness! Her simple word, hug of love, and encouragement have a magical effect on people, and I can see Christ in her through and through. I totally believe she is God-sent to see me through this book project. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for editing my final draft. I love you very, very much, Nona!

Preface

Most chapters in this book are about my personal experiences. Some chapters had appeared in the Grape Vine, a monthly newsletter from Riverside Wesleyan Church (RWC). The original intent of putting pen to paper helped me vent my frustrations and soothe my soul. Little did I know some readers from our congregation, inspired by one of my articles, came forward and shared similar predicaments of caring for an aging parent, who could be a burden and a blessing. A church sister said she would bring out my article, God’s Richness at Christ’s Expense (GRACE), to calm herself whenever she felt the surge of frustrations coming on when dealing with her mom. Another sister gave a copy of this article to a nonbeliever friend who faced the same dilemma.

As you read the chapters, you will gather that I am a very transparent person. I write with the focus of a pure heart, a good conscience, an unfeigned faith, and above all, His love as commanded (paraphrased from 1 Timothy 1:5). All of the Scripture in this book is taken from the King James Version.

This book will give you a glimpse of how God has helped me to cope with the burden of taking care of my aging mom. She almost burned down my house. I found humor in all the silly things she did instead of anger. She killed my orange tree by watering it with concentrated sugar water, thinking that would sweeten its fruits. She turned my green apple tree into a porcupine by driving nails into its trunk, thinking that’s how it got iron to sweeten its fruits. I concluded that my mother’s Chinese cultural background and the physiological changes that came with age had contributed to her odd behaviors, and there was no way to reverse or control some of them. To combat the worst to come, I had come up with the best resource to deal with my aging parent. It is revealed in the chapter, GRACE, which is so near and dear to my heart that I cried incessantly when writing it.

If it is not my mother, then it is my daughter who gives me a run for my money. One day in 1997, my then three-year-old toddler urinated on my carpet. As I was cleaning the carpet, I turned to her and asked, Why did you do that? She answered without blinking her big brown eyes, Jesus made me do that! I was flabbergasted by the answer and told her that answer was not acceptable. She then gave me a better one! It was so honest and convincing that I had no problem accepting it. My husband has been using the same excuse ever since. He said if that works for her, it works for him, too. This excuse comes in handy; you may want to read the chapter Learn from Your Children and collect the excuse for later use.

There are many excuses for this global economic downturn, and it affects almost everyone. The idea of writing this chapter From Slum to Slam Dunk has germinated in my mind for months. Finally, I buckled down for two days during a Georgia vacation in June 2009. I locked myself in a room, prayed, researched and wrote, while my husband, daughter, and relatives were out fishing and swimming. Seeing quite a number of my friends being laid off, and being put on furlough myself, I knew the economy was worse than it looked. The fact that California suffered from the largest budget deficit ever was the telltale sign of the worst years yet to come. The economic distress had impacted many families and friends, and I felt compelled to urgently write this chapter to encourage and comfort them and share my insight of Jesus’ economy, which never fails.

It is exhilarating to realize how God created an exuberant fishing industry as a resource in Jesus’ time to draw people into the vicinity of the Sea of Galilee, allowing them to make a comfortable living, to be healed, and to be freed to listen to His preaching. The hills around the Sea of Galilee with their almost uniform height gently descending to the shore worked as sound panels of an amphitheater where everyone seated on the slope could clearly hear Jesus talk. During that time, Jesus preached and incubated Christians more than ever.

Another exciting realization came to me when I pondered on the dietary intake of His people at His time. From history, the main diet of the Israelites revolved around meat from their livestock, and the majority of them worked as shepherds. However, when Jesus came, their diet seemed to change from meat to seafood (mainly fish), especially around the Sea of Galilee. It was also a fact that the majority of Jesus’ disciples were fishermen. The two famous miracles that Jesus performed around the Sea of Galilee were the feeding of the four thousand (Matthew 15:29–39) and of the five thousand (John 6:1–14) with fish and bread.

Just think: if Jesus could change the condition of the economic environment of His time and place, feed the multitude of people with just a few fish and loaves of bread, and provide the local fishermen with an incessant daily supply of fish, he could also change your financial condition and provide you with a fabulous economic environment right where you are. But are our hearts conditioned for that change? If not, how do we accomplish that? The chapter, From Slum to Slam Dunk, will help you see the need of changing your heart for Jesus if you want an abundant life.

There is probably at least one chapter or perhaps many you may relate to. If you don’t want to miss out on His blessings, you may want to first read the chapter You Can Have a Better Life, in which you are reminded of many of your unclaimed gifts from God. The gifts could have changed your life had you claimed them in a timely manner. It is too late to claim those in the past (and you will discover why when you read that chapter), but it is not too late to claim those awaiting you now. And there are plenty!

If I could summarize all the chapters from this book into one page, I would, but then you wouldn’t discover the blessings you truly need from this book. Moreover, this book may help you avoid suffering the toils and snares I have gone through. It is well worth your time even if you gain just one blessing or one good experience out of the read.

The purpose of this book is to put forth His glory and help you to avoid the suffering I have gone through. I pray that God will enlighten your mind, open your heart, and bring joy to your spirit as you read. God rocks!

Introduction

I consider it a great honor to introduce you to my friend Pidzar Pete Dremel. Being around Pete is to be in the presence of someone who is always on fire for the Lord. Her personal commitment and resolve to