The Journey: One Man’S Life Proves the Existence of God

By Ken Barrick

Have you ever wondered if God exists? How can you prove Gods existence? Have you ever examined your life to look for the answer, or have you just assumed nothing about you and your life really shows God exists? If that is how you think, you may be wrong.

Author Ken Barrick took a look at the events of his life and came to the conclusion God does exist. In The Journey: One Mans Life Proves the Existence of God, Barrick shares an in-depth look at his life. He questions his unexplained run of so-called good luck, and concludes the evidence is clear: God exists and has saved his life numerous times. God also compelled him to share his story in this book.

Whether you believe in God or not, Barricks book will undoubtedly open your mind to the possibility that God exists. Although you may not have experienced such major examples as Barrick, there may be evidence in your life of Gods existenceif you are willing to look for them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jan 28, 2015
• ISBN: 9781491757758

Ken Barrick

Ken Barrick is an American entrepreneur, SCUBA diving instructor, and part owner of KB Diver Services and Eastern Watersports in Baltimore, Maryland. He is the author of The First 130 Feet: True Stories from the Dive Deck and a boat maintenance training manual for PSAI. He and his wife, Michelle, live in Baltimore.

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Copyright © 2015 Ken Barrick.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-5776-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-5775-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015900641

iUniverse rev. date: 01/12/2015

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Considerations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part 1 Times Saved

Chapter 1 Hello, World

Chapter 2 Carnival Ride

Chapter 3 Staring Down The Barrel Of A Gun

Chapter 4 Near Miss

Chapter 5 Dazed And Confused

Chapter 6 Knife

Chapter 7 Run Over

Chapter 8 Asleep At The Wheel

Chapter 9 A Matter Of Inches

Chapter 10 Metro Bus Megaclose Calls

Chapter 11 Vertigo (Twice)

Chapter 12 Salvage

Chapter 13 Shark Attack

Part 2 Living Dangerously

Chapter 14 Narrow Escapes

Chapter 15 Carjacked

Chapter 16 Death Threats—A Hit On The Family

Chapter 17 Crazy Ana

Chapter 18 Car Crashes

Chapter 19 Unprotected Sex

Chapter 20 Drinking And Driving

Part 3 Summary

Chapter 21 The Journey

Afterword

In

memory of all those whom

God has picked up and taken home

Foreword

I have known Ken for more than thirty years. I thought it was highly unusual when he approached me and asked me to write a foreword for this book—not so much because he wanted me to write it but because he told me it was a book about God.

Of course, I knew he was raised Catholic and had attended church when he was younger, but I also knew he despised religion and thought churches were entirely political, greedy organizations using God as a way to profit.

I never realized he had such a faith in God. When he told me he was writing about how his life proved the existence of God, honestly I laughed. My first thought was that he had lost his mind, and my second thought was that perhaps he had softened his stance with age. Maybe something had happened in his life to persuade him that he had been wrong about his Catholic upbringing.

It turns out that neither of those thoughts was correct. Ken definitely has not lost his mind, and Ken still hates religions and churches. While I don’t share Ken’s disdain for institutions, I have been enlightened after reading just parts of this text. He may actually be on to something.

I encourage you, whether you are a die-hard religious person or an atheist, to read this book with an open heart and an open mind. Like me, you too may be enlightened. The Journey is compelling and one definitely worth taking. There are enough moments in Ken’s life to compel him, and possibly you, to come to the conclusion that God exists. The argument using Ken’s life as a proof for God’s existence is logical and a potentially valid one.

—Anonymous

Preface

We control our next step. God controls where we end up.

—Ken Barrick

I have had many near-death experiences since birth. These experiences, along with an unexplained calling, led me to share these stories with you. Before plunging into the meat and potatoes of my personal life, I ask you to consider the lives of others as shared in this preface and then to take a brief moment to consider your own personal experiences.

We make decisions every day. Some of our decisions turn out to be good ones, and some, well, not so good. Have you ever wondered why? Have you ever wondered why sometimes, despite all of your good planning and best intentions, things don’t always turn out the way you expect them to? The answer is simple. You make the plans, but God controls the outcomes.

Cassidy thought she was doing the right thing one night. She decided to stay home in her apartment after her friends had invited her to join them at a local pub. It was late, and it would be dark, and parking around the pub was virtually nonexistent. Cassidy knew she’d have to walk a long distance traveling dangerous neighborhood streets by herself. She thought it would be safer to stay home and snuggle up with a good book and a nice cup of hot cocoa.

Cassidy was found dead in her apartment the next day. At around two in the morning, an intruder climbed through Cassidy’s window and raped and strangled her to death.

Each of our lives follows a different track. Our paths occasionally cross. Each of us has the ability to choose the direction of our next step, but none of us has the ability to decide where we will end up. Cassidy was raped and murdered after deciding to play it safe and stay home.

Another example of how we make decisions but have no control over the outcome is attempting suicide. When Jerry put a gun to the side of his head and pulled the trigger, the bullet ricocheted at an angle off of his skull, enough to knock him unconscious but not to kill him. He was certain he’d succeed, but he failed. Why? Because it wasn’t Jerry’s decision to make that day. Jerry could decide to try to kill himself, but Jerry could not kill himself, not without God’s approval.

In our everyday lives, we decide things as simple as getting in our cars and going for drives. What we cannot do is predict what will happen to us once we’re on the road. One’s journey may intersect with someone else’s in either a very good or a very bad way. The journey is ours to take. It is a gift from God. The journey, however, is just that—a journey. The destination—that is, how, when, and where we arrive at the end of our journey—is clearly determined by God.

When Mary grabbed her purse, jumped in the car, and headed to the grocery store for bread and milk, she had made a choice. When Tom decided to drink seven beers and leave the bar, he made a choice. When their journeys intersected, Mary was killed instantly in the fiery head-on collision. It was her time. God had called her home to heaven. Tom lived. It is God’s design for each of us. Think of your journey and that of all others as a network of fibers, intertwined, on which we all travel.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,

on earth, as it is in heaven

—From the Lord’s Prayer

Considerations

It is better to believe in a God that may not exist than not to believe in one that does.

—Ken Barrick

Does God Exist?

When I was in school, I chose to study philosophy, intrigued by the notion of God and somewhat eager to form my belief in God, or at least to define it better. Through those studies, I found three arguments that I feel cannot be disproven about God and His existence: design, ontological, and cosmological arguments.

Before getting into this book and the experiences I have had, familiarize yourself with these three arguments for the existence of God. It will be beneficial for you to better understand how my belief system works. These arguments may also help you come to your own conclusion about God’s existence.

The Design Argument

If you picked up a clock and examined the mechanism within, you would probably think that this detailed mechanism was not the outcome of mere chance; rather, you’d think it had been designed. You would be correct in your reasoning.

Now look at the universe. Is it possible that such an intricate and functional mechanism, from the orbits of planets around the sun to the cells in your toenails, could have happened by chance? Surely, this complex mechanism has been designed by someone, and the being that designed it must be God. How else would everything we know be possible?

The Ontological Argument

As humans, in our understanding, we acknowledge God as being the perfect being. If we understand God to be perfect, He must have only perfections. If God did not exist, He would not be perfect. He would be false. Since anything false cannot be perfect, He must exist.

The Cosmological Argument

Everything that exists has a cause. However, before any cause, there must at some time have been a previous cause. In order for all causes to exist, there must have been a cause prior to all other causes. This cause is known as the prime mover or first cause and is necessary to explain existence. Since no other explanation exists, this first cause must be God.

* * *

Any one of these arguments could be proof of God’s existence. Even with our advanced sciences, none of them can be disproved. My hope is that my stories will inspire you to think about your life and form your own beliefs.

If anything, understand that everything that happens in life is happening as part of its design. If we all keep our lives on course and at the proper speed, the world around us functions as designed. When we personally fail to function as designed, many things around us get off-kilter. As I share some of my personal experiences; my proofs that God exists; reflect on your own life. You will come to understand that no matter how hard you try, you cannot control your destiny. You may set goals and attempt to achieve them, but you will only achieve them if God allows it.

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, I acknowledge God; if it were not for His blessings I wouldn’t be here to write this book. Beyond God, there are countless others who need to be thanked. If you know me, have ever met me, consider yourself friend or foe, I thank you. To each and every person I have encountered on this earth, you have touched my life in some way, with some meaning that has made me the man I am today. Below I acknowledge just a few.

Thank you to my adopting parents, John and Lorraine Barrick, and the people at Catholic Charities who matched me up with them back in 1967. Thank you to my birth parents, whoever and wherever you may be, for not aborting me but instead giving me up so that I might have not just life but a better life. I say to you again, wherever you may be, thank you!

Thank you to my elementary school teachers, including Ms. Davies and Ms. Wakefield; my middle school teacher Ms. Wolfe; my high school teachers,