How far back can you remember? Can you remember when you were 5 years old? I can remember kindergarten. I was 4 years old. I can still see my teachers in the first few grades. My journey actually begin the day I was born. I can’t remember anything that far back, but it started then. As I grew older, I have a picture of wanting to be a fireman or police. I followed my older brother and cousins into football. But after getting run over several times, football wasn’t for me. I was too small for sports, so I worked at odd jobs. When I reached high school, I had a paper route. I kept it for all through high school. I had a beautiful singing voice and used it all through school. As I turned 13 years old, my voice went from soprano to baritone. But it still does work. I catch myself singing songs out loud. People look but I don’t care. A young friend just graduated from high school. I told her about my graduation. After the principle handed out the diplomas. We began walking down off the platform. I had a frown on my face. My mother tried to get me to smile. But it had hit me that my life was changing. It would no longer be the same. And that journey frightened me. I wanted to go to college. I thought I was all grown up. I stayed busy in college. If fact too busy. I made mistakes and it cost me plenty. But I was on that journey and I was going to finish it. This is where the part of my journey cost me plenty turned into pain and bitterness. In all of my journey there was and still is an unseen hand directing my life. Have you ever had your name called at a great distance? You can hear your name but not know where it is coming from. I am glad God kept calling my name until I answered the call.

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When I was in college, I joined the US Air Force ROTC. The first 2 years are like basic training that everyone receives in the military. Then in your Junior and Senior years, you go to Officer Candidate School. Before you can move on to OCS, you have to pass the written exam. It is a standard military test. But in the Air Force you have to be able to recognize planes in the air. The test showed planes at different angles. You were to tell whether or not they were coming or going. This part of the test I failed because of my depth perception and I had some night blindness. This eliminated me from the Officer corps. I later on enlisted in the Air Force and serve 6 years. My friend went on to become a jet pilot. He served in Vietnam and was a decorated veteran. I still have problems with depth perception. What is funny is that I wear glasses. I am farsighted. I can see for miles down the road, but can’t read a book at 2 feet. When I am driving I can spot a police car before their radar sees me. My sons were always amazed at that. I can read signs that are over 1 mile away. It is funny how my eyes work. Yet for years I couldn’t see the signs of the time that were in front of my face. All I could see was the pain in my heart. It clouded my life to the point that it blocked out the world. But more importantly it blocked out God’s attempt to rescue me from myself. God never stopped trying to reach me. Until finally He got through to me. It took almost 30 years to do so. But I am thankful that God never stopped trying. I know that if I had not responded to God, I would be dead today. Take a step back and look at what is around you. And you will be surprised at what you see. Because God has already been there. Stop and recognize your redeemer for who He is.

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My world had changed. I was no longer the same person. Although I was raised in church, I had never read the bible. I didn’t even own a bible. I bought one for the house, one for the car and for the office. I began to read. I read at home, at every stop light and in the office. I started reading in the New Testament. I read it like a book because this was the first time I read it. God would stop me and explain a particular scripture. Then I would continue reading. It took me 2 years to read through the New Testament. Then I began to read it again. And God would stop me and teach me about His word. I eventually got to read the Old Testament. It has taken me 25 years to read and study the bible the first time. The more I have learned about God the more I have learned how much I don’t know about Him. But I have never stopped. I tell you a truth, I want to go home. My home is heaven, not this earth. As God taught me, my understanding about God’s kingdom has grown and changed. When I started with God, I was too old for Bible College. But God had other plans for me. As God had taught Paul on the backside of the desert, this is where God wanted me to learn. So away from the public and with my teacher, the Holy Spirit, I learned of God. Step by step, line upon line, here a little, there a little, I learned about who God is. And with each step came faith. God made sure that my faith was tested. The only way to know if your faith works, is to test it. As the bible says, Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone….and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

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When I agreed to attend my friend’s church, my life changed. I was very skeptical about attending his church. But I was willing to go to see for myself if it was really real. I heard what they had to say, but now I wanted proof. During that service when the preacher stopped and said hello, it started a chain reaction in me. I heard someone say to me, what more do you want. I didn’t know at that time it was God Himself. My friend asked me if wanted to go up to meet the preacher, I said yes. When I reached the front, I was introduced to the pastor. He asked if I wanted to receive Jesus in my heart. I said yes. Then the pastor began to pray and I prayed along. The peace I had been looking for all my life came into me. Then the pastor asked if I wanted to receive the Holy Ghost. I wanted all that God would give me that day. Several men laid hands on my shoulders as the pastor prayed for me. As the pastor began to pray, there was a presence that came over me. It surrounded and covered me. It was like I was a million miles away, as I stood in that church. People began to shake my hands and talk to me. But I was separated from them by a barrier they couldn’t penetrate. I don’t remember a thing they said to me. I was protected by this barrier and nothing could get through. I was surrounded by God Himself. He held me all day long. And I had a peace that I had never known. My whole world changed forever.

Joseph1637.com

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I agreed to go to my business associate’s church. We arrived about 10 o’clock, one Sunday morning in September. There were about 500 people in this church. Everyone seemed friendly. I shook hands with several members before the services started. It was wall to wall people. I don’t think they could have put any more people in this church. The service began. Everyone began to sing songs led by a group on the stage. I started looking around at all the people. It was interesting that everyone was paying attention as the songs were sung. I have heard people sing songs in my church. But I never saw so much intensity or I should say sincerity. No one was interested in what the person next to them thought. They were singing to God and to Him alone. When the singing stopped, everyone sat down in silence. The preacher came up to the podium and made some announcements. Then he began to preach. I watch the people as he preached. I wanted to see if it was real. I wasn’t going to commit myself to anything that was real. I was so tired of fake messiahs. They had drained the life out of me long enough. As I watched the people, the preacher stop in the middle of his sermon and said, hello. I used this expression and never heard anyone else use this term. I turned toward the preacher and heard out loud, what more do you what. I looked around to see who was talking to me. And no one was even looking at me. From that point on, I know that my prayers were answered. I had found what was real. I also found the peace of knowing that I had been looking for all of my life. My friend asked if I wanted to go up to meet the preacher after the service. I said yes and my world change forever.

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Before I knew who I was, I stumbled around this world like a drunk man. I didn’t know where I was going or what I was doing. And of course, I had no peace of mind. It almost drove me crazy. The worse of it all was the loneliness. Because I didn’t know who I was, no one wanted to know me or be around me. This led to a lot of anger and bitterness. That was one reason why people didn’t want to be around me. But as I moved forward everything accumulated into a big mess. I don’t know if they just took pity on me or what. But 2 men invited my brother and I to join their business. One of them was a manager of a local cafeteria. We would meet every weekday morning about 1 hour before the business opened. We would have coffee and talk. I would usually arrive before my brother. When I got a cup of coffee, I would sit and listen. These 2 men would talk to each other about what Jesus was doing in their lives. They never directed their testimonies at me. But they spoke about God for me. I listen for almost 3 months. Then they asked me one day if I would go to church with them. I said yes. I wanted to see for myself what was going on. Their church was about 500 people. Everybody was polite and shook my hand. I wanted to know if this was really real. Or was all these claims just smoke and mirrors. I kept my mouth shut and listen and looked. It was the strangest church I had ever been in. But that wasn’t going to stop me from finding out. And boy did I find out.

Joseph1637.com

Joseph1637@juno.com

Before I knew who I was, I stumbled around this world like a drunk man. I didn’t know where I was going or what I was doing. And of course, I had no peace of mind. It almost drove me crazy. The worse of it all was the loneliness. Because I didn’t know who I was, no one wanted to know me or be around me. This led to a lot of anger and bitterness. That was one reason why people didn’t want to be around me. But as I moved forward everything accumulated into a big mess. I don’t know if they just took pity on me or what. But 2 men invited my brother and I to join their business. One of them was a manager of a local cafeteria. We would meet every weekday morning about 1 hour before the business opened. We would have coffee and talk. I would usually arrive before my brother. When I got a cup of coffee, I would sit and listen. These 2 men would talk to each other about what Jesus was doing in their lives. They never directed their testimonies at me. But they spoke about God for me. I listen for almost 3 months. Then they asked me one day if I would go to church with them. I said yes. I wanted to see for myself what was going on. Their church was about 500 people. Everybody was polite and shook my hand. I wanted to know if this was really real. Or was all these claims just smoke and mirrors. I kept my mouth shut and listen and looked. It was the strangest church I had ever been in. But that wasn’t going to stop me from finding out. And boy did I find out.

Joseph1637.com

Joseph1637@juno.com

Shakespeare’s famous quote from Hamlet was “This above all, to thine own self be true.” What was Shakespeare talking about? And why be true to yourself?  We have all known people who have lived a lie. It is a sad situation where they believe how they are living is the truth. But it really isn’t. Everything they are doing is a lie. You want to shake them up and show them that they need to wake up. But they are deceived and believe the deception. For the most part people are the same. They may have different backgrounds. But people are basically the same. We were born with parents. We need to be reared and taught how to live. We learn a skill or job to be able to eat, clothe ourselves and have a home. We learn the language of our parents. And if we are fortunate, we learn other languages. We do so to go out into this world and communicate with others. When we do we find that people have different beliefs than we do. It seems that their truths aren’t the same as ours. If we don’t have strong belief system, things can become complicated. I have seen people switch their beliefs to other cultures. I don’t have to defend myself. I know who I am and where I am going. I know where I will end up. I am being true to myself. Because 35 years ago, I was drifting through time. I had no anchor and didn’t belong anywhere. Now I have a worldwide family and I belong. To Thine Own Self Be True.

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I have heard many saying in my life time. Some of them have been real and some fiction. But all have been believe for a while most times because they were said often. People were repeating the sayings so they took on a life of its own. Then when the saying was proved wrong or a new saying came along, people believed the new saying. It seems that people get bored easily. This is an unfortunate state of matter. There is too much information being passed around. Oh yes, we are in the age of information where everything is known instantly. I am not faultless in this matter. I have been sucked into this bubble too. But what I have found is that truth doesn’t have the same impact anymore. This doesn’t affect me like they used too. And that is disturbing. How can you tell what is real or what is fiction? What is the yardstick to use to tell the difference? I have found that people want what is real rather than fiction. Many times their own lives depend on the truth. And the opposite is just as true. I have seen people in lala land, because they don’t want to face the truth. The truth is what we need to live our lives to the fullest. And the truth isn’t relative. When you die it is a truth. It is nonnegotiable. Getting old is a truth. It seems silly to me how people will spend all of their money to try and stop aging. And companies cater to this obsession. Again, you have only so much time. You can only spend your time in this world. Then what are you going to do?

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The bible says not to make a vow lightly. It says that if you make a vow and don’t keep it you are worse than a heathen. It also says a good name is worth more than riches. The bible also says in James 5:12 “But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.” What the bible is talking about is being honorable. It is showing us that we should live this way for our own conscience sake. How many times have you taken short cuts to achieve your goals? And those short cuts made you feel bad about what you were doing. That is your conscience hurting. Any person can destroy their own consciousness. Usually it gets cut up a little piece at a time. So you don’t see all of it at once. But when you do see it, it can grieve your soul unto death. I have seen people get sick and die because of this. People who are not religious do live honorable. Because it is satisfying to your being. I have always said you do what is right because it is right and not because it is convenient. This is living honorably. I also found that the weight of not living honorably can crush you like a boulder. It happen to me. So I find that you can’t live without honor.

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