I’M Just a Fork-Lift Operator. After All, What Do I Know?: Searching for the Truth Finding the Narrow Path to Eternal Life

By Joseph Traver

One of the key teachings in all of the Bible is that of Matthew Chapter 7 verse 14. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, spoke about a/the way to eternal life (heaven) as being one of great difficulty. In other words, Jesus was saying that if someone wants eternal life it wont be easy and there must be a searching and an uncovering in finding the way. In this book God uses the life and words of an ordinary man whos changed life as a compass in/to helping you/people find that/the narrow path to eternal life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Sep 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512746495

Joseph Traver

Author Joe Traver was born into a family of a blue collar worker whose occupation was that of a truck driver. Joe is the youngest of four children and was also the third member of the Traver men to serve as a union steward in one of the greatest unions of all time, the Teamsters union. Joe’s father and brother served as union stewards before him, and it was their persistence, determination, and integrity as leaders, that ultimately led the way in molding Joe’s character as an elected official in upholding the integrity of those who elected him to represent them and their families. The one quality that he must constantly strive to perfect, was the integrity of living his life by the truth. Now please don’t get Joe wrong. As he looked over his life, he realized that God took those qualities that were instilled into him by his father and brother, and God used them to help mold and shape him as a representative of/in His (God’s) kingdom. The results of God’s molding and shaping his life into something God could use for His glory and honor, Joe has shared within the pages of this book. The church of Jesus Christ is under severe attack by the forces of evil, and God is calling those whom He has chosen to battle against the evil forces that has penetrated the walls (hearts) of those who claim to be His followers. Deception is everywhere and only those few who can find the right path/way will ever enter the narrow gate that leads to eternal life. (Matthew 7:14) It is Joe’s sincere hope and prayer that this book will assist you as you search for the truth in finding the narrow path that leads to life.

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CHAPTER 1

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.

—Matthew 18:11

E arlier, I spoke about being shocked into the reality of life. The year was 1982. It was a year that I will never forget. I say it was a year I will never forget because that was the year that I was first introduced to the one true Savior of this world, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, God’s only begotten Son, the one who came to this planet called Earth to save that which was lost. Lost, you ask? What do you mean by lost? I’m not lost. I know exactly where I am, and I don’t need anyone to save me. Save me from what? Question: Have you ever been lost? I mean, have you ever been lost to the point where you didn’t know where you were? Well, I have, and I know from experience that it can be a very frightening experience; and if nothing else, it sure gives you something to think about. Please let me explain.

For years, one of my favorite pastime hobbies was in the sport of hunting. In fact, since I was a little boy, I had always enjoyed hunting. I was first introduced to hunting by my older brother at the age of fourteen. All throughout my childhood, I had always had a gun. My first gun was a BB gun, my second one was a CO2 pellet rifle, and my third one was a twelve-gauge shotgun that my father bought for me at the age of fourteen. At that time, in the state I lived in, you could hunt for protected wildlife at the age of fourteen, but you couldn’t hunt by yourself because you were considered a junior hunter; therefore, you must be accompanied by a senior hunter who was over the age of sixteen. Maybe by now the law has changed, but that was how it was back then. That is where my older brother comes in, because he was nine years older than me, and he would take me out hunting with him because he was a senior hunter. Since the time I began hunting, there weren’t too many animals I hadn’t hunted or killed. I hunted for such animals as rabbits, squirrels, pheasants, partridge, woodcock, raccoons, ducks, geese, and deer. Now, there are many, many stories I could share with you about what I learned from my hunting experiences, but the ones I’m going to share are the ones that had such a profound impact on my life that I truly believe they may help you as you travel down the path of your journey in search for the truth for your life.

One day, a bunch of us had made a decision to go deer hunting. I don’t know how much you know about deer hunting, but this is usually the way it works. Deer are nocturnal animals—this means they are mainly active at night. They usually feed at night and rest during the day. The best time to hunt deer is in the early morning and late in the afternoon, because that’s when the deer are on the move. In other words, the deer are more likely to come to you instead of you having to go find them, and it’s also the only time you can legally hunt them. Besides, have you ever tried to sneak up on a deer? Good luck, because that’s what you’ll need. Well, anyway, it usually gets light about 7:00 a.m. and gets dark at about 5:00 p.m. during hunting season. So what you usually do is everyone who goes hunting finds a place in the woods to sit, stand, or use a tree stand, and they wait for a deer to walk by—and then they attempt to shoot the deer. This part of the hunt usually takes place in the morning and in the late afternoon just before dusk. If no one has any luck getting or seeing any deer in the morning watch, the hunting party usually starts what is called a drive. Usually this takes place around 10:00 a.m. and lasts throughout the day until it’s time to go to the afternoon watch at the end of the day when the deer start being active again. Depending on the area you are trying to cover, along with the number of people you have in the hunting party, the drive is set up to allow everyone to participate. Some of the hunters are used as watchers, and some are used as drivers. The watchers sit and watch for the deer, and the drivers push the deer toward the watchers in an attempt to shoot them. Now, I had been hunting for many years and had gone through these hunting rituals multitudes of times. Throughout those years, I had been both a watcher and a driver many times. I have seen deer shot as well as shot deer myself as a result of these drives. However, the particular day I’m going to describe in this setting is a day that I will never forget. I say I will never forget because the experience I encountered that day was one that taught me an important lesson about this life as I walked the path of my faith journey in pursuit of the truth. Although I didn’t know it at the time, the experience I was about to encounter was one that stayed in my mind for the longest time. It was an experience that I truly believe was a springboard that began to open my eyes to the fact that God did exist—and to the fact that at that time he had no part in my spiritual life whatsoever.

We started our deer drive around 10:00 a.m., and I was asked if I would be a driver instead of a watcher. I said that was fine, although I was a little nervous about the position where I was placed in the drive. The position I was placed in just happened to be at the very end of the woods we were driving, and that particular area of the woods was not known to me. I had never hunted in that area before, and I really had no idea of the layout of the land we were driving. I thought to myself, The area we’re driving is not really that big—at least I thought—so it’s not a big deal and I should be fine. Wrong! As I was about to find out, it was a big deal, because what I was about to endure would ultimately affect the rest of my life’s journey, especially with regard to having a relationship with God and his Son, Jesus Christ.

As the drive began, I moved through the woods. Now, it’s important to know that as you’re walking through the woods, it’s very important to stay even in a direct line with the other people who are also drivers. It’s important that you stay even with the person next to you, and in turn, he should stay in line with the person next to him so everyone remains in a straight line. If a deer does happen to move either in front or at the back of the drivers, no one will get shot if they decide it is safe enough to shoot at the deer. As we moved through the woods, I kept looking to my right to make sure I was staying even with the guy next to me as we walked toward the watchers. The area we were driving wasn’t really that big, so the drive we were on shouldn’t have taken more than thirty minutes or so. At first, I didn’t have any problem keeping the guy next to me in my sight as we walked. But eventually I lost sight of him, and that’s when my trouble began. Now, I knew the road we were parked on was off to my right, so I figured if I kept walking to my right, I would eventually walk out on to the road. From there, I would simply follow the road back to where the cars were parked, and everything would be fine. That’s what I thought! But that’s not how it worked out. As I continued to walk, I thought I was moving to my right toward the road. However, as time went on (I figured at least an hour), it became quite evident to me that I was in serious trouble—and that I was lost. That day was very overcast and gloomy, which is usually the way it is at that time of the year in the state in which I lived. At first, I was very calm. I knew that all I had to do was to find the road we were parked on, and everything would be all right. But the problem was that I couldn’t find the road. I also knew that the road was to the west of where we had begun the drive, so all I had to do was walk toward the west, and I would find the road. The other problem was that because it was so overcast, I couldn’t determine which way was west. I knew the sun came up in the east and went down in the west. But unless the sun came out, there was no way for me to determine which way was west. As time went on, I became more and more fearful that I wasn’t going to find my way out. Many things went through my mind as I tried to overcome the anxiety that existed within me as I continued to search for my way out of the woods and to safety.

I didn’t have a watch on me, so I couldn’t tell what time it was. I knew I went into the woods on our deer drive around 10:00 a.m., but I had no way of telling what the time was. As time went on, I went from a calm attitude to a more serious attitude—and then into a panic mode where I became very fearful for my life. I seriously believed I was not going to find my way out of the woods that day. And then something came into my mind that I didn’t usually think about. I guess maybe it was because I didn’t have no where else to turn, and at that time, I felt as though it was my last option. What was that last option? I prayed. That’s right, I prayed. At the time, I thought it was a little silly to do. After all, I had nothing to lose. There was no one around (I thought). So what harm could it possibly do? Yeah. It may sound stupid to some, but when you’re desperate (as I was), you’re willing to try almost anything. I guess it’s sort of like the old saying that goes, There are no atheists in foxholes. Well, for me this was my foxhole, and this called for desperate measures. So I prayed something like this, God, I don’t know for sure why I’m praying this, but if you do exist, I’m asking you if you will help me out of this mess. Even though I probably don’t deserve it, would you please help me find my way out of these woods? If you do, then I will promise to do what you want me to do for the rest of my life. Whatever that meant! How stupid of me to try and barter with God! To think that God owed me anything was really stupid. But do you know what? It worked! No sooner had I prayed that prayer when all of a sudden the sun came out. The overcast sky had cleared, and the sun was now showing me which way was west; and therefore, it was like God was guiding me to the road I was searching for. After I got my senses back from seeing the sun come out, right at that particular time I started moving (quite fast, I might add) in the direction of the sun. After I had traveled through the woods for a while, I came upon an old overgrown logging trail, which I knew from experience had to lead to a road. As I traveled down the path of the old logging trail, the overgrown weeds and vegetation that had grown on the path was getting less and less; and eventually, the old logging trail turned into a newer logging trail, which eventually led me out to the road I was searching for. The first thing I did was I got down on my knee and said, Thank you God for helping me find my way out of the woods. Now whether there was a God that heard my prayer or not, I didn’t really know. All I knew was that I had found the road, and there was no way in this world that I was going to leave that road again.

Now the next question for me was, in which direction do I start walking on the road? Do I walk to my right, or do I walk to my left? Well, after some careful thought, I decided to go to the right because I believed that all the time I was lost the road was to my right. So off I went walking down the road. After walking for a while, I came to an intersection where the road divided. One way led to the right, and one way led to the left. Which way do I go? Do I take the road to the right, or do I take the one to the left? What did I do? Answer: I did neither. I decided to walk back the way I came from because I was determined that in the area we were hunting, I never saw a road that went to the right. So back I went. As I began walking back toward where I had come from out of the woods, I heard a vehicle coming down the road behind me. It was the first contact I had encountered with another human being since I got lost. I had to get out of the middle of the road so I moved to the shoulder and turned to see who was coming. To my surprise and complete joy, it was two of the people who were part of my hunting party who were looking for me. I had been rescued, and I couldn’t have been happier. The emotion I felt at that time is really too hard to put into words. I was indeed a happy camper, and my heart was literally pounding with joy within me.

After I got in the car, I learned that the time was about three thirty in the afternoon. I had come out of the woods approximately a mile and a half down the road from where I went in. I was lost for about five hours, and the reason I came upon the intersection I did when I came out of the woods was because I had walked so far through the woods that I had actually gone past the point where the two roads intersected. Although we had hunted in that area before, we had never hunted that far down the road, and that is why I didn’t recognize that particular intersection when I walked up upon it. We went back to the place where we were hunting, and boy, was I wearing a big smile.

I had learned a great deal from my experience in the woods. It was a life-changing experience. How so, you ask? Well, for the answer to that question, you must move onto the next chapter. But I will tell you this much before you move on: you see, I was lost and the five hours I spent trying to find my way out of those woods had taught me a wonderful lesson about my life’s journey, and I believe it is one that can help you as well

What was the teaching? What can you learn from my experience? At the beginning of this chapter, I asked you a question. The question was, Have you ever been lost? Well, if you’ve never been lost, then you’ve never been saved. You may be reading this book, and you don’t think there’s anything wrong. But let me tell you. If you don’t know who the Son of Man is, then you are indeed lost, and you don’t even realize that you are. How do you know I’m lost, you ask? I know because I was once in your place. At one time, I didn’t know who the Son of Man was nor could I have cared less. You see, I was as lost as you. That is if you who are reading these words don’t know the Son of Man. Notice I didn’t say if you don’t know who the Son of Man is. Because there are many who know who the Son of Man is but they don’t really know the Son of Man. That day in the woods I had no idea who the Son of Man was. I didn’t realize it at that time, but I was not only lost in the woods. More importantly, I was in serious jeopardy of losing my very soul. In fact I was far more lost in my spiritual journey here on earth than I ever was in the woods those many years ago, and I didn’t even realize that it was happening. How so, you ask? You see, the Bible verse I used at the beginning of this chapter is one that every person needs to come to grips with in this life. They need to come to grips with the reality that without knowing the Son of Man, they are indeed lost. Lost to what, you ask? Lost to the only thing that really matters in the journey of this life, and that is your eternal destiny.

Question: Where will you be one hundred years from today? You see, only the Son of Man has the answer to that question. Only the Son of Man can save you from what the Holy Bible refers to as death and Hades (Revelation 20:14). Only the Son of Man can save you from being cast into the Lake of Fire. Who is this Son of Man, you ask? Well, if you do your homework, you will find the phrase Son of Man is used approximately 192 times in the Bible and the Son of Man refers to none other than God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. But then again, I’m just a forklift operator. After all, what do I know?

CHAPTER 2

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

—2 Corinthians 4:3 and 4

I n the previous chapter, I shared with you a story about the time I was lost in the woods while deer hunting. In this chapter, I’d like to share another hunting story with you. Now the two hunting experiences, though separate, were eventually tied together in my mind; and these two experiences, though separate, became a major turning point to the beginning of my faith journey as a follower of Jesus Christ.

If you remember when I was lost in the woods and became desperate for help I actually made a covenant with God. How so, you ask? Well, if you remember, the words I said to God, in prayer, went something like this. If you help me out of this mess, I promise to do what you want me to do for the rest of my life. And if you also remember, it was at that particular moment that the sun came out and ultimately led me out of the woods to safety.

This hunting story goes something like this. Once again a bunch of us guys decided to go deer hunting. Except this time we weren’t hunting with guns. We were hunting with bows and arrows. It is known as bow hunting, and this type of hunting is usually done at the beginning of the deer-hunting season. Usually the bow-hunting season opens about three or four weeks before the gun-hunting season begins. In this particular story, we had decided to go bow hunting on some state-owned property in the southern part of the state in which I live. The area in which we were going to hunt was about a two-hour journey by car.

Everyone in the hunting party decided to meet at a central location, and then we would all travel together with one of the guys who had a van, not a van like a regular family van, but a van that was only equipped with two seats, a driver’s seat, and a passenger seat. In other words, there were no other seats in the vehicle; and if you wanted to sit, you either sat on the floor of the van or you sat in a mobile seat, such as a lawn chair or something of that sort. The vehicle was more like a cargo van and was really meant more for transporting cargo rather than people. Because there were four of us in the hunting party, two sat in the regular front seats, and two of us sat in the back of the van in lawn chairs, which if you really think about it isn’t so smart. But anyway, so off we went on our hunting journey leaving for our destination at around 5:00 a.m. in the morning. As we began traveling to our destination, it occurred to me that sitting in a lawn chair was not a very wise thing to do, but I wanted to go deer hunting, and after all, what could possibly happen? Well, little did I know that I was about to find out the answer to that question. In fact, it was within that particular question that I would ultimately learn an important lesson about the God of this universe. I would learn that when you make a promise to God, you are far better off to keep it than you are to not keep it. At least that’s what I learned. How so, you ask? Please let me explain.

So off we went traveling in a cargo van with two guys in the front seats and two of us sitting in the back of the van in lawn chairs. The area we were traveling to hunt in was approximately sixty or seventy miles away. We anticipated that our driving time would be somewhere around an hour and a half to two hours. When we first started off on our travel, we were all having a conversation. We had only traveled for about a half hour and maybe twenty miles when for some unknown reason, something popped into my head and told me that we (the two of us sitting in lawn chairs) should lie down. Because we had gotten up so early, I justified our lying down to the guys in the front seats by telling them (and the guy sitting next to me) that we had a long way yet to travel so we might as well try to get some rest. The guy next to me concurred (thank God). So lie down we did. To this day, I don’t fully understand why or how that thought came into my mind at that particular moment, but I truly believe that God had planted the thought, and I truly believe it actually saved my life. How so, you ask? Well, let me continue the story of our journey.

No sooner had we laid down (maybe five minutes) when we had to stop at an intersection for a red light when all of sudden we were hit from behind by another vehicle. Now from here, it’s a pretty long story but the bottom line of this story is the man who hit us had been drinking. At least that’s what the other guys in my hunting party told me. They knew he had been drinking because they could smell alcohol on his breath after he got out of his car. Notice I said it’s what the other guys in my hunting party told me. You see, I never saw the guy who rear-ended us. In fact, I didn’t see much of anything because I was injured and was bleeding profusely from the top of my head and needed to get to a hospital ASAP. I was told the man who hit us had seen I was bleeding and went to call for an ambulance (this incident took place before cell phones). After some time went by, one of the guys in our hunting party realized that the man who hit us just took off and had no intention of calling for an ambulance. By then, the police had come to the scene of the accident, and an ambulance was called and eventually came and took me to the hospital.

When I got to the hospital, they discovered that the top of my head had a big gash in it, and it required fifteen stitches to close it up. They stitched me up and eventually let me out of the hospital that same day. Now things had happened pretty fast, and we didn’t really have much time to think about what happened until later that day. But this is what we think happened.

After we had laid down in the van, the guy hit us from the back. In the back of the van were the hunting bows we were going to use to hunt with. When the man rear-ended us, it allowed our bodies to move toward the back of the van. When my body moved to the back of the van, the sights on one of the bows went into my head and caused the injury (gash) to my head. What we also discovered was that the car that hit us was severely damaged. The car was a very big car, and the front end of that car was pushed in halfway to the windshield from the impact of hitting us. On the other hand, the van we were driving in had very little damage. Other than the injury to my head, we really didn’t suffer too much at all, and even my injury wasn’t really that severe.

By now you’re probably asking yourself, Okay, Joe, this is a very nice story, but what has this to do with your faith journey as a Christian and the scripture that you used at the beginning of this chapter? You see, this story has everything to do with my faith journey. It has everything to do with it because within the framework of these hunting stories lies the truth of what I had to come to grips with in my personal life, not only within the secular world in which I lived but more importantly within the spiritual world that at that point I had no part in. Yes, I was living. I was breathing. I was in the carnal state of both body and mind, but with regard to my spiritual condition, which is the most important part of all; I was dead. How so, you ask? You see that when you’re in the carnal mind-set. Meaning you are more set on the things of this present life than you are on the things of God then you are in a/the carnal mind-set. One of the best ways to describe this for you is found in the New Testament book of Romans chapter 8. Here, the Apostle Paul is speaking about walking in the Spirit versus walking in the flesh. A good example to use when thinking about this is by paralleling it with 1 John 2:16. How so, you ask, because they both speak about the two conditions we as human beings are in, if we’re still in a carnal state. In other words, if we are only in a fleshly, worldly condition than we are, as the Apostle Paul says in verse 5 of Romans 8, For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Likewise, Paul says in verse 8, So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. The parallel verse I told you to use when considering this is from the words of the Apostle John in verse 16 of 1 John 2, which describes the things of the world as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. We are further told in the end of that verse that these things, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, are not, I repeat, are not of the Father (God) but are of the world. Question: If they’re not of the Father (God), then who are they of? Who do they belong to? Answer: They are of the devil. Who is the devil, you ask? Well, that would take a lot more time to explain than we have in this chapter, but I will tell you this much: the Scripture refers to him as the anointed cherub (Ezekiel 28:14), or angel if you will; he is the ruler of the demons (Luke 11:15); he is the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2); and he is "the god of this world (age) (2 Corinthians 4:4), which just so happens to be the scripture I used at the beginning of this chapter.

You see, the scriptures I have been using up to now are all intertwined. How so, you ask? Well, the scripture I opened this chapter with speaks about the gospel message and how the message of God is veiled to those who are perishing. The word veiled in the dictionary means something that covers or conceals. In other words, it is impossible for anyone to understand the things of God if they are still in a carnal mind-set. His words and the way God operates are unknown and concealed to those whose minds have been blinded by the god of this world, who is the devil himself. You see, we were born with a sinful nature. In other words, from the time we were conceived in our mother’s womb, we were adversaries (enemies) of God; and as I said, there is much to this whole topic. And before this book is finished, I hope much of this will become easier and much clearer for you to understand in your personal search for the truth.

Once again, you may be asking the question, Okay, Joe. But what does this have to do with your faith journey? You see, the story I shared about my hunting experiences had a lot to do with the solid foundation on which my faith in Jesus Christ was laid. That time I was lost in the woods was really the first time I had any contact with God. After all, everything was going okay in my life. I had no reason to have any contact with God. I thought I was in control of my life and therefore, my destiny was in my hands. I didn’t need God. What I discovered from these experiences was that I had become my own god, and I was indeed blinded by the god of this world: the devil himself!

In my mind, the experience I had from being rear-ended by the man who had been drinking really put things in a different perspective. After all, I could have been killed. I hate to think about what might have happened if we hadn’t lain down on the floor of the van at that specific time. I truly believe if we hadn’t lay down, we would have probably been catapulted out the back door of the van and may have possibly broken our necks. For me, to only have the injury I had was truly a blessing of its own, and it really started me to think about what happens to me after I die.

I must have asked myself thousands of times, Did God allow this accident to happen? Did God use this accident as a wake-up call? Was God mad at me because I had made a promise to him and didn’t follow through? Is God taking me up on the promise I made to him back in the woods when I told him I would serve him for the rest of my life if he would just help me in my time of trouble? Well, I don’t know about you; but as for me, the answer was clear. God was sending me a message. What was the message? It’s time to open your eyes to the truth. What truth, you ask? To the truth that he does exist, and that he was indeed seeking someone who was lost. And that someone was me! But I was still in darkness. How could I come to the light of the gospel message as the Apostle Paul wrote in the opening scripture of this chapter? Well, for the answer to that question, you’ll have to move onto the next chapter as we continue on our search for the truth. However I will tell you this much before you do: the Bible uses the phrase born again to be able to see and understand the things of God (John 3:3). In Ephesians 6, the Apostle Paul commands us (true followers of Jesus Christ) to put on the whole armor of God, so that we (true followers of Jesus) may be able to stand against the wiles (tricks, schemes, and deception) of the devil.

I will also share with you that at this particular time of my faith journey, I had no idea what that means. I didn’t know what I was looking for.

In other words, I felt something was happening to me, but I didn’t quite know what it was or how to find it. I had no idea about what it meant to be