The Road: A Journey Into The Mind Of A Believer

By John Edwards

The Road: A Journey Into the Mind of a Believer is a collection of thoughts inspired by the Holy Spirit along with the author's experiences connecting each chapter with the inspired songs or poems, however, perceived by the reader, as he walks you through the ebbs and tides of his journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 28, 2017
• ISBN: 9781640792333

Book preview

302722-ebook.jpg

The

Road

A Journey into the Mind of a Believer

John L. Edwards

ISBN 978-1-64079-232-6 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64079-233-3 (Digital)

Copyright © 2017 by John L. Edwards

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

296 Chestnut Street

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Chapters as Follows:

For my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, without him in my heart, there would be no hope. To my beautiful sweet angel wife Marilyn who has been a pure gift from Father God and brightened my world, I don’t know what I would have done without her! He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the

Lord

(Proverbs 18:22).

And for Joe Tadlock who planted the first real seed of God’s word in both my best friend Peter’s heart and my own.

Then, Father God saved us both.

Introduction

All of us are traveling down the road of life back to God and at one time or another have had storms in our lives, some good, some bad, but nevertheless, we have all had them. The key to these most different storms is not the effect that they have on our lives or the people around us, but the way in which we handle them.

Some people tend to handle things head on while others try to put them so far back into their memory that they become restless to the point of exhaustion, like trying to find something you have lost, but no matter how hard you try, you cannot find it or even rest until you do.

That is the point of this book. It is a collection of thoughts, phrases, poems, and songs, however you perceive things, to try and point out a direction to people who are lost, confused, tired, or just plain sick of feeling like something is missing in their lives! I am no philosopher, nor am I a professor of anything. I am a man who was touched by God and was inspired by that touch to write this book. God knows it has taken me years to get up and finally decide to put down on paper all the words he has put into my head.

I feel like Jonah who was told by God to go and do something and said, Yes, Lord, and then got up and ran the other way. Only something deep inside of me would never let go of what God told me to do. So here we are on another exciting journey down a road into the unknown, at least my unknowns until you read them.

All scripture references within these pages were taken out of the Harper Study Bible, Reference Edition with Concordance and Maps, revised A.D. 1946-1952, second edition of the New Testament A.D. 1971 unless otherwise noted.

Chapter 1

Blinded by Circumstance (2/26/2011)

Every one of us has this uncanny ability to push things to the limit no matter what it is, from the triathlon competitor all the way down to the child making sure to color inside the lines of a coloring book. The thing that makes us all different is not who does it better or worse, but it is the intent of the heart and what that shows us. Most of us are content with just being average within our domestication along with a wife, a house, a job, our friends, and maybe an animal friend or in our case part of Noah’s Ark. But we are all blinded by the circumstances that circle us.

The truth is that out there circling around us are the best and worst of us, at work, at school, driving down the street, or even living in your neighborhood. You know who they are, but do you really know what makes them tick? Why are they the way they are? What makes them so very different from you and me? The thing of it is truly one thing on the bottom line. The intent of the heart period, no question marks just pure intent!

Some people are just pure evil in all aspects of their lives and are okay with that. Then, there are some that are so sweet you can feel a cavity coming the closer you get to them. What makes all of us so different to so many extremes especially if we were all created in God’s image?

How did things get so out of hand to the point of where we are at today with all the crime and pestilence and numerous other woes that are upon us as a people? If you really want to know, then you must look to the natural realm. Now to really look, you must be able to see people and circumstances not only for what they appear to be but also for whom and what they truly are. This is the truly hard part because most of us really don’t care how things are unless they somehow touch our private world. Let’s use a fictional example to help understand. There is a plane full of passengers on final approach when the captain realizes he cannot lower the landing gear! He hurriedly calls the tower for some miracle answer, but the reply comes back, Do the best you can do. There will be foam on the runway to help cushion you’re landing! Cushion your landing, he’s thinking. That’s like dropping a brick on a pile of feathers! Now, the captain has no choice but to let everyone know what is upon them. There is dismay, but the captain remains confident and ready, but blinded by circumstance again.

On their final descent, however, the captain comes back on the radio to tell the passengers that according to regulations, he must inform them that if they believe in God, then this would be a good time to pray. Regulations?

The plane lands on the foam, and although there is major damage to it under belly, there are only minor injuries to the passengers and crew. It was only until the next day when a grandmother of one of the passengers arbitrarily calls up the airlines to ask someone what it was that the captain said on final approach. No comment is what she was told, and everyone she spoke to said the same thing, no comment! Blinded by circumstance.

So what does this mean that now no one believes in God or prayer? Was yesterday just a fluke or does it go deeper into corporate legalities and whatnot? Regulations?

In any case for some of us, it is only that way out at the point of no return. It is then that we acknowledge God. Why then is it that so many of us only see God at the brink or an emergency, and if by chance we make it back, does God come with us or does he stay out there at the brink waiting for us to return?

The truth is we are the ones who turn our backs on God as though he was some sort of genie in a bottle that we can call upon in any circumstances to get us out of the trouble that we have gotten ourselves into. This ought not to be so!

In Hebrews Chapter 13 verse 5, it clearly states, I will never fail you nor forsake you. So no matter what we think, it is not God who forsakes us but rather we who forsake God at any given moment because the threat of whatever issue we were facing has subsided, and now God can be put back upon the shelf until we need him again. The problem with that is how long will God allow us to get away with this time after time after time? Think about it for a moment. How long would any of us allow someone to continue to treat us in this way over and over again? Not very long at all! Longer if they were say a family member or a spouse, maybe a boss to protect a job, or even a church member, possibly even a pastor.

Eventually, it is inevitable that there will be some type of confrontation concerning the treatment you are receiving and hopefully a reasonable answer or common ground apology for all concerned.

Not always does this happen in life, but of course, thank God there are those of us who at least try to make this happen. And if the other parties concerned feel the same way, then things will work out for the best. What happens though when they don’t work out? Does this ultimately mean that God does not care or is not about to help out in any given situation? I do not think this is the issue. I think it goes back to what was said earlier and that is the intent of the heart. It determines whether or not we will fairly deal with the problem at hand, the people involved, and the circumstances around the whole issue. Or are we blinded by circumstances yet again?

Surely, we can agree that you get more bees with honey than with vinegar. Now, if there is someone or something facing you that is blatantly out to get you, then there is no common ground at all, just pure evil intent of the heart. Think about your daily life or routine for a moment. We all have some kind of daily intentions we need to do every day to fulfill our needs for the day. Some people call them chores; to others, it’s daily duties; and to others, we have to make our run for the day or week whatever. But we all have a list of do’s and don’ts for every day, every week, and every month. This is called life.

Some people’s lives are more complicated with kids, day care, work, animals, etc. Some people do it all themselves and don’t want other people involved and then some people just pay other people to do it all for them so they don’t have to do anything. If we could all be so lucky!

Every one of us has intent of the heart that we are to bear on a daily basis in this life. We concentrate mainly on our own small parts of life with prayer, enthusiasm, joy, thankfulness, direction, pride, protection, etc., everything we need to keep things running if you will smoothly on a day-to-day basis.

We also reach out to friends and relatives and share ours with theirs if it is at all feasible. We all generally try to live at peace with one another, but sadly, this is not always the case. Some people are jealous of other people for a number of reasons ranging from their job to their house to their car to their kids to their clothes to their looks, and the list continues. It’s all taught to us unfortunately since we are very little, material things, television, peer pressure.

Talk about negativity. Being a negative person all the time can cause a plethora of ill will or evil in a very short time. There is an old time story about