The Fierce Urgency of Now

By J. Henry Cook

The book give a detailed account of the life of a well sought after musician/executive up until the injury of the massive stroke is incurred. Several encounters with life and death are dealt with head on and there are lessons taught by the Most High that are priceless. You must be in it to win it because as you go through your situation you will definitely grow through your experience with God. The book deals with the issue of time. The hour is far spent and it is high time that you make a move now. Do not fall in the trap of thinking that you have all of the time in the world to make your move. I am here to tell you that you do not and the situation is more serious than you think.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 14, 2011
• ISBN: 9781452098678

J. Henry Cook

The author is a well accomplished musician, licensed and ordained minister of the Gospel, and a former Campus Life Director and Executive Director of a Chamber of Commerce. His life was changed suddenly by a massive stroke which left him in a COMA for a few days and paralyzed on the entire right side. While having a near death experience and being unconscious for a time, he had a personal encounter with the Most High during a three month stay in the Intensive Care Unit where he learned first hand several key life lessons. Foremost he learned that you should not prolong what you can do today for tomorrow because your tomorrow is not promised. It may be too late. All you really have time for is what you have time for today!

Book preview

Contents

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE

HOPE WHEN THE SITUATION SEEMS HOPELESS

CHAPTER TWO

FOR THE SAKE OF THE CALL

CHAPTER THREE

IT’S TIME TO GO PUBLIC

CHAPTER FOUR

GET BACK IN THE SADDLE

CHAPTER FIVE

CHILD’S PLAY

CHAPTER SIX

COMING OFF THE SIDELINE INTO THE REAL ARENA OF LIFE

CHAPTER SEVEN

YOUR SECRET IS SAFE WITH ME!

CHAPTER EIGHT

FIRST YOU WORSHIP

CHAPTER NINE

GOD VERSUS MAN

CHAPTER TEN

THE FIERCE URGENCY OF NOW

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CONFESSION IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL

CHAPTER TWELVE

IT’S IN MY MIND

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

THE GIANT IN MY LIFE

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

STRAIGHTEN MY LIFE AGAIN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

BE FAITHFUL, EVEN IF IT KILLS YOU!

INTRODUCTION

THE FIERCE URGENCY OF NOW IS a detailed account of my life as a well-accomplished musician, minister and executive leader, reaching the height of my career, only to have it abruptly delayed by an Intra-Cerebral Hemorrhagic Stroke. In layman’s terms, a blood vessel leading to my brain burst, flooding my brain with blood, thus damaging the brain cells that control all movement and range of motion on the right side of my body, including my mouth. Within three hours of time, I had lost my speech, hearing on the right, all movement in my right arm and hand, and all movement in my right leg and foot. As I rapidly slipped into a coma, I had to be placed on a life support system. A tracheotomy tube was placed into my throat to assist my breathing, and a feeding tube inserted to maintain nourishment to my body. The next 72 hours of my life were in a balance, a matter of life and death.

I never would have thought for one second that my life was going to go through the metamorphosis it did on March 14, 2007. Thank God I was in a public place and not alone somewhere by myself. I was unquestionably going to put God through the test. If there was ever a time when I needed to see if God was for or against me, it was now! I was certainly out of my zone, or in another world, so to speak.

I am grateful today, that my wife of eighteen years, Terri, two of my children Joseph-Michael and Mariah were present with me. Other family members quickly arrived at my bedside along with my best friends. Thankfully, I was also covered with a prayer blanket by some strong and powerful sisters and brothers in the Lord.

The Bible says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Those who come to Him must first believe that He is, and He is the rewarder to them who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:1,6 NKJV) Never take the devil and his imps for granted! He knows everything that is being said about you aloud and your future. He will do everything in his power to stop your plans from happening. He begins first by stealing something of yours, then ultimately destroying you. He tried to begin his work on me by sending three of the hospital’s finest doctors to meet with my wife and family. They told Terri that I wasn’t going to make it! They asked her if I had a will. My wife is a strong believer, but she lost her faith for about three seconds, then replied, Yeah, he has a will! A will to live! The fight was on!

There were several great lessons that God had in store for me during this ordeal. I’m a firm believer that whatever you are going through, keep on going, because it’s for a purpose! God has great things in store for us! We can make a difference in the lives of others by making the right choices in what we do. I was always taught to be a part of something bigger than myself; to be a part of something larger than what I could see.

There are so many wonderful and supernatural things in store for us right now. Eyes haven’t even been illuminated nor have ears heard literally; it hasn’t even entered into the minds of men of all the magnificent things God had planned for us. The Bible declares that we are going to be strong in the power of His Might, and perform exploits before God (Daniel 11:32).

Now is the time in your life where you are going to stand for something or fall for anything! You will either have to go for what you know and be responsible for your decisions made or allow the enemy to win the battle. A wise senior pastor told me one day When you’re in a war, don’t let your enemy determine which weapons you use to fight! He went on to say that until you stand up and fight for yourself, you don’t know who is with you. The people you think are for you don’t necessarily have your back, it may just seem like it. Nobody will stand with someone who won’t stand up and fight for themselves!

After you have done all you can do, stand, because if you are a believer, you bear the name of Christ; and if God is for you and on your side, nobody can come against you or win the battle against you. The victory is yours! Jeremiah, the prophet broke it down like this in Jeremiah, chapter one, verse one, "Before I formed thee in thy mother’s womb, I knew you were destined to be great! Before I formed you in the womb, I sanctified you."

He set us aside for something big--to do great things! Now is the time for you to live an abundant life and proclaim the miracles of the Lord. For He must reign until every enemy is under His feet, and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. ( I Corinthians 15:25-26 NKJV).

Now is the time to hold fast to your confession of faith. Without faith in God, you can’t get close to Him. If you believe there is a God, and that He exists, you will know that He rewards those who earnestly look for Him. Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do for God today. Tomorrow is not promised! God doesn’t lay us aside for illness, He calls us aside for stillness! Now is the time, when you hear the voice of the Lord, to do something for Him, not to harden your heart.(Hebrews 3:8).

> CHAPTER ONE

HOPE WHEN THE SITUATION SEEMS HOPELESS

(DIVINE APPOINTMENTS)

IT HAS BEEN SAID THAT EVERYONE has a divine appointment in life. This is normally referring to your appointment with death. Hebrews 9:27 says, "It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment." It doesn’t matter how much money you have in the bank. It doesn’t matter who your parents are or what level of education you have, you won’t miss this appointment. Don’t worry, I’m not the grim reaper. I just don’t understand why everyone always equates divine appointments with death. They occur many times in our lives--we are just not sensitive to the hand of God in our lives, and don’t recognize them.

Let me tell you about one of those appointments in my life. Recently, we had the opportunity, not by choice but of necessity, to give away one of our pets. This was partly due to my condition of hemiplegia, which requires a lot of time and care, and due also to restrictions placed on us by the apartment complex we were living in.

The pet we had to give away was a dog named Grace. My wife and children named her Grace because of the mercy and grace God had shown me in giving me another chance to live and overcome the stroke I had suffered. She was an eight-month old chocolate Labrador Retriever, and very smart. Even though she was only a young puppy, she was humongous, and only going to grow more! Grace knew that I was the man of the house, and not well. She would sit beside me and play with me on my unaffected side. You could tell that she knew there was something wrong with my right side. Sometimes she would simply sit by that side and lick my arm or leg. Grace was a God-send! She had such a sweet spirit about her. She was being used by God to bring healing to my spirit when I needed it the most.

The apartment complex we