Just A Closer Walk

By Alan Black

Alan T. Black was raised and grew up in the United Methodist Church. While I do proudly embrace my background and personal history within the United Methodist Church, I do feel that ultimately what is important is not the denomination that you are a part of. What matters most is the relationship that you have with the Lord. Part and parcel to an

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alan Black
• Release date: Dec 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9780578307985

Book preview

Just A Closer Walk

Alan T. Black

Just A Closer Walk

Copyright © 2021 by Alan T. Black

No portion of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any form without the written permission of the Author. Please purchase only authorized editions. For more information, please visit www.alantblack.com.

Scripture quotations are taken from the KJV Holy Bible (King James Version) Authorized Version, and The NIV (New International Version).

Copyright, Legal Notice, and Disclaimer:

This publication is protected under the US Copyright Act of 1976 and all other application international, federal, state, and local laws, and All Rights Reserved, including resale.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-578-30798-5

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www.alantblack.com

Acknowledgements

Many people have been an integral part of my journey to become a writer. Foremost I want to thank my parents. "Train up a child in the way he should: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. I pray that they are proud of who I have become and strive to be.

As well I want to thank my sister. Words truly don’t convey how much she has inspired me to move forward in my quest. She is the best sister in the world.

Special thanks to Martine Quartey, Dr. Q. She has been a guiding light in my venture into the social media realm and continues to champion my efforts to fulfill my calling.

To Natalia Claxton, thank you for the beautiful book cover. You are truly talented, and I am honored that you captured my vision for my cover. Great things await you in the future.

To Jeremy Shorter, thank you for your expertise and wisdom. I am honored that you took the time to mentor and direct me.

Most of all, I must thank God. He continues to see the best in me. He has also shown me that truly the unlikely is more than possible when we step out on faith and say Here I Am Lord, I will be your vessel In The Spirit Intended. And while doing so, please grant me Just a Closer Walk.

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Just A Closer Walk Intro

This being my third book, it is with a sense of purpose that I find that the journey to being a Christian author has continued to introduce change. Change that is bringing forth a new season.

Each day that I awake is a blessing. I have found that previously I may have taken each day for granted. I do acknowledge that it is easy to do so. But I am now at a point in my life where to give thanks for another day is my honor. I am mindful that nothing is promised to any of us.

From the beginning, God has been there for me. I am sure that each of us would say the same. Traveling down the road of life is never going to be without a challenge. Doubtless, we all can give witness to the good times as well as the bad times. No one is immune to either.

Throughout my journey as a writer, God's presence has been one that I have leaned on and admittedly, at times, questioned. Questioned because immediately my response was, why me? I recall saying to God that maybe just maybe, he picked the wrong person. Yes, I know that God does not make mistakes. I am always aware of the fact that His plan has a purpose. Nonetheless, it’s one thing to believe, but another thing to go forth in.

What has come out of this journey? Different things have emerged in this journey. The first thing was the actual process of beginning to walk on an unfamiliar path. A path that I could not see where it would lead me to. A path that frankly found me at times afraid of.

Just a closer walk. The path that I have followed and continued to do so results in a closer walk with the Lord. A walk that daily sheds new light and broadens my perspective.

This closer walk has also given me perspective to be more of the mindset to depend less on myself and more on him. That is a tall order in and of itself, let me say. It is in our nature to feel like we have things under control.

But as my closer walk has continued, I find that Romans 12:2 is more and more indwelling. To be transformed by the renewing of my mind. Each step of my walk is to bring me closer to him and, in doing so, shall show forth a better person. A person who can confirm that just a closer walk has been transformative and has instilled in me a deeper commitment of trusting in him in the midst of it all. Just a closer walk indeed is my daily portion.

A walk that I pray will continue on new paths. Here I am, Lord, answering yes to your call and making a pledge to do so In The Spirit Intended. Because when it is all said and done, it is about Just A Closer Walk.

Table of Contents

Just A Closer Walk Intro

Table of Contents

A Blank Canvas

A Ram in the Bush

Above and Beyond

All Things Work Together

Always There

Amazing Grace

An Ordinary Joe

As Iron Sharpens Iron

Beauty and the Beast

Beyond the Veil

Come What May

Every Rose Has Its Thorn

Exodus

I Will Trust in the Lord

In All Things

In The Spirit Intended

Let Words of My Mouth

Mirror Mirror

Of Mice and Men

Pig Pen

Seal of Approval

Stop Look and Listen

That Fiery Furnace

The Harvest Time

The Least of These

The Little Engine That Could

The Patience of

The Potter’s House

Trouble Don’t Last

20/20

Upon Further Review

WIP (Work In Progress)

The One That Got Away (Almost)

Phoenix Rising

Internal Investigation

Call and Respond

You Can Run But You Can’t Hide

Journey Unexpected

CHAPTER 1

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A Blank Canvas

Very often, at this point in my life, I find myself looking around at those things around me. I have always had a sense of appreciation for what others are doing in life to a certain extent. Now I have been told that, in some respects, I am a bit of a nerd. Well, truth be told, there is a lot of truth to that. It is something that I have smiled at and said, well, then, ok.

In my observations in life, I have made it my desire to view and experience what other people are doing in life. Each of us is doing something that, on a daily basis, is quite often at the very core of our lives.

Like most of us, I know different people who have worked or are working in different fields. Those individuals have decided that their particular skill or talent would be best utilized in what they chose.

One friend that I know is a teacher. In fact, he is an Art teacher. He has that ability not just to draw and create but to teach it as well.

Now I have always been willing to try becoming, shall we say, sufficient, at many different things. Some I have done okay with, some I have not.

Now the one thing I can say without question that I have tried and failed at is art. In fact, I can remember taking an art class in middle school. I gave it everything that I had. I even stayed after school to try and get one on one help. Still wound up failing. In fact, my teacher told my parents that I tried harder than anyone in the class. But the truth of the matter was that I had zero talent in art. Her words were that I would never make a living with art. Truer words have never been spoken!

My friend, who is an art teacher, truly has a gift. He is that person who can see something then begin the process of drawing or creating the object that he sees. He seems to do it without much effort.

One day as we were hanging out, he saw an object that he decided to draw. I stopped him before he began. My immediate question to him was how can he see something to draw it, to begin with. He explained that as he viewed his object, he would then look at his art paper. Paper which, by the way, of course, was empty. My next question was wouldn’t it be easier if he had a paper with an example on it? I will never forget his answer. He said that it only fits, to begin with, a blank canvas.

I’ve never forgotten those two words. Blank canvas. As my friend began drawing, the blank canvas came to life. In a matter of a few minutes, what started as blank quickly became a completed task.

In seeing my friend from time to time, what comes to mind the instant that I see him are those words; Blank canvas.

At this point in my journey as a Christian writer, I have now written three books. Believe me when I say it is still a surprise to know that God has directed me to the point of becoming a writer. The thought of now having written three books is simply unreal.

As I am writing this particular essay, I find myself thinking back over the course of my life. I am doing so as it regards how I got to this particular point. In looking back, I do so with those two words again; Blank Canvas.

Each of us, at the beginning of our lives, is that blank canvas. Starting with our very first breath, we came into this world as a blank canvas that is in the process of being filled.

With each day, there is a portion of our blank canvas that is filled. It is filled with so many different things. Things that are good and as well bad. But regardless, each day will see our canvas changing.

But how then does that canvas itself know to fill? Does it do so merely on its own? To that, I would say most definitely not.

God himself has seen fit to fill our blank canvas. I am of the mindset that he does so already knowing what it is that each of us will need and, in the end, will look like.

Starting out, God has directed those whose canvas he has filled to then, in turn, to contribute to our canvas. For most of us, it began with our parents. Parents who took charge to be artists of a sort. Artists who made it their commitment at our very birth to add to our canvas.

The process of adding to our canvas is critical. What remains as most important is the process of not just how it will be filled but by whose guidance.

If by chance, a canvas is filled merely by the input of ourselves, then we can be assured of the fact that our canvas will be incomplete. As well, it will wind up being filled with less productive things.

It has been said that it takes a village to raise a child. A village that is a composite of so many that we are in contact with. I have to believe that for all of us, it has been family. A family that saw the need to add to a canvas that would contribute to who we were to become.

I must say that somewhere on the journey, there was a teacher who stepped up and added to canvases that still have a profound impact on each of us today.

A picture we have all heard it said is worth a thousand words. Words that have been instrumental in the formation of who we are and who we are still to become. Blank canvases that are filled day after day.

God has seen fit to, first of all, give each of us life. The life that is precious and is a gift. He had already foreseen what we would become and, by his divine guidance, prepared and positioned those who would be a part of our canvas before we came into the world itself. He has done so with the intent of each of us growing from that blank canvas into a portrait that is reflective of himself.

Ours indeed is a blank canvas. A blank canvas that, at first glance, is perhaps not appealing to the human eye. But through time and with the presence of God, we will become a canvas that is an example to others of what it means to be that work of art that is beautiful in the sight of the master artist himself.

CHAPTER 2

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A Ram in the Bush

The Lord, in all of his magnificence, has a way of placing in our hearts and minds what it is that he wants for us. Now I will be the first to admit that throughout most of my life, I have not been the most obedient Christian. I