Real Mentoring in Faith

By George Earl Johnson

Real Mentoring in Faith will inspire and delight your spirit, heart and soul. Real Mentoring will fully engage our intellect at the simplest level. Real Mentoring will cause you to laugh, ponder, dream and act. You will remember mentoring events in your life and be gla

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Jul 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9781637690611

Book preview

Psalm 1

True Happiness in God’s Law

 "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the way of sinners, Nor sit in company with scoffers.

Rather, the law of the Lord is his joy; and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted near streams of water that yields its fruit in season; Its leaves never wither; whatever he does prospers." (Psalms 1:1-3, NABRE)

The words above from Old Testament Christian Scriptures were written by or at the instructions of King David of Ancient Israel some three thousand years (3,000 BC\BCE) ago. They are seriously worth pondering and meditating over intentionally for all who mentor or are being mentored. Blessings Always...

What Others are Saying

As usual, in George Johnson style, Real Mentoring is well written, to the point, and very motivational and inspirational. God bless you, friend.

Bob Burke,

Attorney and Author

George Johnson has a very unique knack of educating and informing through his storytelling. He uses these stories to illustrate the values and beliefs that he has gained through a wealth of personal and professional experiences. Real Mentoring in Faith adds to his previous works by providing positive and thought-provoking stories, which will benefit readers of all ages, especially young readers. This great read will enrich the lives of its readers through the words of this talented writer.

Myron L. Pope, Ed.D.

Vice President of Student Life

The University of Alabama

While reading this book, whether you know it or not, you’ve entered the aura of this wonderful author, teacher, and mentor. And when you finish, you’ll realize you’ve just been mentored by a master who picks the right words, puts them in the right order and, in doing so, nudges the world one reader at a time. A master storyteller who, with humble wit and Christian spirit, reconnects us all with the pure humanity in communicating. And in reality, isn’t that what life is all about?

Richard W. Brundage,

President of the Center for

Advanced Media Studies

"Real Mentoring in Faith captures the essence of spiritual love. Not only does George Johnson captivate the reader with wonderful examples of dazzling leadership, but he educates and informs us through a precious and treasured gift: his own true-life stories.

The most valuable lessons we learn often come from stories. Young people today are not hearing or reading enough good, positive stories that can add value to their lives and futures. Through Real Mentoring in Faith, Johnson is not only able to entertain the reader with his unique style of wit and charm but shares personal stories of accounts and people that aided in shaping him into the dynamic and faith-filled leader we know and love today.

Real Mentoring in Faith is an excellent and easy read that I recommend to anyone who sees value in improving their own life through investing in the lives of others. A great book from a man who does not just talk the talk, but he walks the walk!"

Sheriff Chris West,

Canadian County Oklahoma

Career Trooper\Captain, Retired,

Oklahoma Highway Patrol

"Knowing George Johnson, as I have for twenty-five years, I thought I knew what I would see in his book. I saw everything that I expected to, but I also saw more than I expected to see. Having been a mentor for more than fifty years as an executive and leader in Boy Scouts of America and having been a certified coach to nonprofit CEO’s for the past fifteen years, I thought I knew mentoring. But what I read in George’s book, and what you must read also, is mentoring of a different sort.

My mentoring has been in a professional and business sense foremost, and the personal mentoring I have done has been a byproduct. What George demonstrates is how tightly woven all aspects of mentoring can be when faith is the loom upon which the weaving is done. George has done his part; now do yours and read this book!"

Paul Moore,

Retired Executive Director,

Executive Service Corps of Central Oklahoma

Career Executive, Retired, Boys Scouts of America

‘"My prayers are that you make the right choices.’ That quote from George Johnson in Real Mentoring weaves its magic into this page-turner of a life’s adventures. And through the stories told to you, know the author is smiling, observing, challenging, and mentoring. From using the Old Testament’s Proverbs 31, to a missed dinner with Zig Ziglar, to $100,000 worth of chills, George makes us appreciate life—our lives, and he challenges us to share our lives with all by mentoring intentionally and with purpose.

Because, as George says so well, ‘A faith worth having is a faith worth sharing.’ Knowing George, as I do, these pages unfold the words from the heart of a man steep in his endless faith of Jesus Christ, who is the Creator of all stories of life.

Thank you, thank you, George, for sharing your deep faith as you mentor each of us along life’s journey."

Princess Catherine

(My treasured nickname from George!)

Catherine Meloy,

President and Chief Executive Officer

Goodwill Industries of Greater

Washington, District of Columbia

"What a triumph! In a world of bad influence and endless deprecation, there’s George Johnson—Oklahoma’s indefatigable font of faith-drawn wisdom, sage advice, hard-earned lessons, and infectious joy. It’s hard not to be inspired by George’s lucid prose and abiding faith; his incandescent enthusiasm permeates every page. Maybe it’s because George is the best kind of ‘people person’—someone who can connect with others in ways that allow an evincing of truth.

Finding the extraordinary in daily life is a gift requiring keen observation, careful reflection, and a healthy dose of equanimity. That George possesses this gift in spades is apparent to anyone who journeys with him through this book, Real Mentoring in Faith. Consumed in whole or in morsels, George’s homespun stories will raise you to a nobler place. It’s a journey worth taking—a book worth reading."

Steve Blevins, MD

Associate Dean for Medical Education

University of Oklahoma College of Medicine

and Health Sciences

Oklahoma University Medical Center

Excellent read...George Johnson has a talent for leaving the reader with lingering feelings of hope, honesty, and care... He makes you reflect on those little life lessons learned, which are passed on from generation to generation. After all, what is real mentoring but life lessons.

Linda M. Davis

Senior Manager, Payroll Exam and Operations

Chicago Transit Authority

City of Chicago, Illinois

Opening Prayer

FATHER, HUMBLY, WE PRAISE Your Holy Name.

Your words have mentored since the beginning days

when I first heard Estelle reading the Holy Bible.

She prayed over me in her womb.

She corrected me when needed.

She blessed me. She prayed over me daily.

She always reminded me to pray and be thankful.

She guided me toward adulthood.

Thankful, I am Father, for Your Grace,

Your gentle kindnesses, and Your tender mercies.

I have sinned, been saved and forgiven through

Your Son’s suffering, death, and resurrection.

As people read any part or all of this book,

I pray Your Light will shine on them and

in them a little brighter.

I pray they will see You and Your Glory in the pages of this book,

through the mentoring stories being told.

All Praise, All Honor, and All Glory goes to You, Father.

Thank You, Lord.

We pray this in the name that You have placed above all names—

Jesus, the Christ, Your Son.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit…

Amen, Amen and Amen.

Acknowledgments

THIS IS A SMALL, thankful note to acknowledge a few of the many people who encouraged me to write my stories down after years of telling them across the planet. For years, Frosty Troy told me I needed a good book with my stories in it to get good speaking engagements. This is from a man who did more than one hundred fifty public speaking engagements annually across North America.

My dear declared friend and professional editor Stephanie Maria Jenkins Bond, MHR, MSW, LPCS, would always tell me, You should write that down, after I had told her another one of the stories from my life. For that, she had to endure her way through the first drafts of all the stories in my manuscripts, thus far. She did a great job with Only in America and now with Real Mentoring. Hugs and all, She has survived…

My son, George III, took me golfing one day and told me that my stories needed to be told. He said I had something to say, and there were people who needed to read them and hear them the way I told them. Pastor George, as of this note, I am still writing them down. Thanks son!

Mary Wahpepah Leaver, my dear friend, coworker, and mentee, deserves a special thank you. Mary added a fresh set of eyes and her "A-Game Spirit" to the final editing review of this book so that we would be able to present a cleaner text for your reading enjoyment. Mary is a real-life Native American Princess—in spirit, heart, soul, and life.

Many other names needing special acknowledgment and recognition are in the stories that follow. Mentoring is all about what’s in the stories. Some of the world’s best mentoring is done by those who have accumulated a treasure chest of stories. Mentoring is always a multi-dimensional, 360-degree spherical experience. When told, the stories always fit the mentees who listen and observe. The people and stories that follow had more positive impacts on my life than can be counted. The experiences are still evolving in my life and the lives around me.

Let’s pray, in faith, these stories have great positive results for you too.

To all who read or hear these words, I wish you God’s Shalom Peace and an eternity of His blessings flowing through your lives…

A hardy thank-you and, of course, Blessings Always...

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"Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is Love."

(1 Corinthians 13:13)

Foreword

GEORGE JOHNSON AND I have been great friends for many years. However, we constantly debate over who is the real George? After reading his book Real Mentoring in Faith, I give up. . . Johnson, you are the real George.

I really enjoyed this book. The book is Real Mentoring, and it mentors. I truly had a problem putting it down. Well, what I mean is, I put it down a lot, but I had a problem putting it away. Understand the next statement when I say, It is a slow read. Not the old-fashioned this is a slow read, but a new understanding of a great book about mentoring. A slow read because, during or after a short chapter about his personal experiences with someone else changing his life, I would stop, lower his manuscript, and reflect on similar situations where someone in my life changed, rerouted, enhanced, or maybe even saved my life.

Real Mentoring for me was mainly family, starting with my sweet wife, Donna, who has always been there since the day we met. It could have been Albert, the janitor at the second ward grade school in McAlester, Oklahoma. For three years, as a student there, I thought he was the principal. Perhaps Miss Stanfield, teaching me in the second, fifth, seventh, and ninth grades, and later teaching Oklahoma history with me at McAlester High School. Maybe Dr. Sandlin, McAlester high school principal, who, when I was age twenty-three, convinced me to become a high school teacher. Paul Carris was my best friend from age five in 1932 to the day he died in 1986. In 2021, Paul is still in my heart and thoughts.

It was easy, having been in politics sooo [sic] long, telling who mentored me, and who made a difference. It begins with the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Carl Albert, from the day I delivered my first bag of groceries to his house that he ordered from my parents’ grocery store.

It will be as easy for you too. Yes, give credit where credit is due. George Johnson wrote a most enjoyable book. Even more, when you pick up Real Mentoring, he will take you back to so many pleasant memories from your own life. That is the strongest recommendation I can suggest for reading this book.

Read his real mentoring stories and relive your own. Be among the many who will say, Thanks, George Johnson, for helping me relive the past in a most positive and enjoyable way. Then get up and become a mentor of purpose by using some of the great stories from your life too. Mentoring walks hand-in-hand with memories down that lane. You will be glad you took the walk with the real George on a Real Mentoring journey.

George P. Nigh,

Governor of Oklahoma, 1979–1987

President, University of Central Oklahoma, 1987–1997

Spiritual Voices

THERE HAVE BEEN thousands of voices in my life from whom I have drawn wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. Five voices have endured during much of my life. There is no conscious thought for me without hearing their voices internally, guiding the way. They are wellsprings of life in my mind. They have honored me with their unconditional love. They mentored me intentionally.

Estelle is my mother of birth. Her voice has been my constant companion since conception. She made the sacrifices for me that only a loving mother makes for her child. The first major decision she made for me was to have me against all odds. She held many jobs to raise me as a single mother. She provided the best of everything, never allowing me to taste poverty. I learned my first lessons in faith, loving God, and loving others from Estelle. She is the woman I have been proud to know as my mom and to call Estelle. She watches over me from heavenly places as she dances with our family of faith and the angels for eternity.

Miss Mattie is my paternal grandmother. Miss Mattie is a rock. Miss Mattie’s stories alone are a set of books that could guide a nation out of the wilderness and into the promised land. Miss Mattie was one of the hardest working and caring people you would ever want to meet. No one ever went hungry or thirsty in Miss Mattie’s neighborhood—no one. Miss Mattie loved to talk, and Miss Mattie knew how to tell a story. That is why there are so many Miss Mattie stories to tell. Miss Mattie honored me through her sharing.

Birdie was my wife of forty-four years. She died in June 2013 after a two-year battle against Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). We shared everything for more than four decades. We met in high school. She went from not being able to stand me to becoming the love of my life until her death. She is the mother of George III, grandmother of Lyric Lynn and McKinzey Elizabeth, and my best friend. Outside of family, her passion was creating access to quality health care for the uninsured and underinsured in our community and this nation. In that, she was successful.

Danella "Dan" is my other mother. She was Birdie’s birth mother. Dan has been in my corner since day one when, as a teenager, I showed up at the Davis’ home in Chicago’s Hyde Park. I guess she knew something back then that only a mother of six daughters could know. She let Birdie know very directly in the late 1960s, when I was serving in the US Air Force, that I was the boy she (Birdie) was going to marry.

Kay Long-Mentzer Johnson has been a friend for more than forty years. She came into my life again by divine appointment as my declared best friend and partner shortly after Birdie’s death. Today, she is my loving wife. Through Kay’s love, I have been given a second chance by my Heavenly Father to get it all right for the first time — with Kay at my side. Kay is an awakening spirit for me. We are one in the spirit. Thank You, Lord. She has a clarion vision and voice for spiritual good. She is a blessing to all with whom she interacts. I am thankful for our God-directed, God-centered covenant and fidelity—one to another. Thank you, Lord and Amen.

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Introduction

Real Mentoring: Walking in Faith

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REAL MENTORING IN FAITH. Yes, real mentoring. Why real mentoring? We mentor by telling stories. Much of who we are comes from the stories that make up our lives and the stories that come out of other people's lives. We are, individually and collectively, our stories stacked on top of one another.

Why walking in faith? What we do not do in faith usually has less success—a lot less success. So why not go for the faith that drives us?

For me, it is my faith and belief in Jesus Christ, plain and simple.

Here you will see a collection of stories, all real, that mentored me and those around me: a 360-degree spherical experience from birth to beyond infinity. We live it. We breathe it. We consume it. Mentoring is who we are and what we are—plain and simple.

It has taken many years for me to realize how truly important our words, deeds, and actions are in the lives of others—both known and unknown to us. We first have to recognize that we did not get here by ourselves.

At a very pivotable time