This is a record of many of the things that God has done in my life, where His intervention was quite obvious.  I do not know why He chooses to be more obvious in some of His children’s lives–such as mine–than He does others.  One of the reasons, I’m afraid, is that He has needed to correct me more than He does some of His other children.  It may also be that I covet His guidance and correction so much.  (I wouldn’t choose to go five minutes without it).  Whatever the reasons, His obvious intervention has been a blessing to me, to my family and to many people around me.  I pray that, as you read this, it will also be a blessing to you: You will not only see how wonderfully active God can be in a person’s life, you will invite Him to be more active in yours.

*** If any of these entries leave you with questions, you should be able to find the answers in “The Second Most Incredible Book about God, Life, Death, Heaven, Hell, Satan, the Theory of Evolution and the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence” available to download free on this website.  (There is also a chapter in the book titled, “So What Should You Do?” which contains a section titled, “Learn How to Communicate With God.”)

For God does speak–now one way, now another–though man may not perceive it. Job 33:14

If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever–the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. John 14:15-17                       

The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.  James 5:16

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33

09/1965 / Into the family. = At the end of a sermon, our preacher invited people to come to the front of the room to accept Jesus.  I went!  At this time, I had no special awareness of God’s presence, no great sense of a burden being lifted, nothing which I would describe as ‘out of the ordinary.’  What I did have was a clear understanding of what I was doing.  I was entering into a personal Father and child relationship with the Creator of the universe.  I knew that He loved me and that He had died on the cross for my sins, to make forgiveness possible.  I also knew that there could only be one God in this relationship, and that would be Him.

07/31/1969 / Faith, hope, love and the death of a child. = God gave me an extraordinary amount of faith and an awareness of His love when my little sister died.  My little sister was two years old when she became sick.  In a rapid series of events, she became very sick, went to the hospital, then went to Heaven.  I had gone into my parent’s bedroom several times to pray intensely during this period, but God allowed her to come to Him anyway.  Upon learning that she was gone, I went back into the bedroom and both angrily and facetiously told God—“Well, thanks a lot, that did a lot of good!”—then walked out.  I didn’t make it to the end of the hall.  God had so blessed me with faith and an awareness of His love, that I turned around, went back into the bedroom and apologized – with all of my heart.  Even without understanding why it happened, I knew that He loved us and was able to trust Him with this situation.  I also had no doubt that I would see her again.  (2 Samuel 12:23 / Isaiah 57:1)

09/1971 / A life of karate. = God gave me the desire to learn karate and provided the perfect class (and the perfect style—for me) near our home.  After seeing karate a couple of times, I had a desire to learn it which was so strong that, apart from God, was unexplainable.  The class which He provided opened at the perfect time in my life, a few miles from our house.  Shortly thereafter, it moved to a public school building about a hundred yards from our house.  I have now been in it for fifty years and it has been an immeasurable blessing in many ways.  Japanese karate helps a person mature, and earning a Black Belt—in a Japanese style—means that the person is a mature adult.  Karate helps in developing self-control, respect, patience, self-discipline, concentration, and fortitude—all of which God wants His children to have.  It has also been a blessing to my students, including my younger brother and my son, and has given me many opportunities to tell people about God.  As you read through all of these entries, especially the last one—“Before I was born”—you will see even more why God put me in this particularly beautiful and aggressive warrior art.

Late 1970’s / God moved my car. = God adjusted my car’s position on the road to keep me from hitting a guard rail.  While driving down the highway, planning to take the loop to a different highway, I failed to see the sign indicating the upcoming exit.  I reached the exit traveling too fast to make the turn.  Being an inexperienced driver, I attempted the turn and my car began to slide.  I attempted to steer back in the other direction, but it was too late.  My car was sliding directly toward the point of the guard rail—shaped like a “V”—which was about to make contact just inside the right headlight.  Just before what should have been an impact, I found myself looking down at the guard rail from a higher position than should have been possible.  At that very moment, without any passage of time or physical sensation, my car was centered in the lane to the left of the guard rail passing by it safely.  (John 6:21)

Late 1970’s / Eighteen hours with a ruptured appendix. = My personal training in karate includes some extreme methods—such as taking cold showers in winter—aimed at gaining more control over my body and my thoughts.  As a result, my mind has been conditioned to shut off pain – to a very dangerous level.  (God gave us the gift of pain to tell us when we have a problem.)  At approximately 3:30 in the morning, I experienced a very bizarre sensation.  A wave of pain came over me, which moved up and down my body like water which had been forced to one end of a bathtub and then bounced back and forth from end to end.  By performing a breathing technique—which I had developed in karate—the pain went away.  It never returned, so my day progressed as normal.  By 4:30 in the afternoon, however, I was at the doctor’s office—for what I thought was a mild virus.  By 9:30 that night, I was in surgery.  God had plans for me—including leading a family to follow Him and producing this website—or Heaven would have been my home at that time.  The surgeon told my mother ‘not to hold her breath’ (I wasn’t expected to survive). The hospital was my home for the next thirty-five days.

1980’s / Priorities, prayer and a potential plane crash. = God answered my prayers—prioritizing my life according to His will—and blessed me in multiple ways through an amazing ordeal:  Karate had become an overwhelming passion in my life, affecting and improving almost every aspect of it.  (This is still the case after more than forty years.)  A prayer which I would often pray was, “God, help me to develop in karate as much as possible, but please help me keep my priorities straight and live my life of karate according to Your will.”  I love both the physical and the mental aspects of karate.  The mental aspects include training one’s concentration in order to accomplish the extremes of what we are humanly capable of doing.  Unfortunately, demonic deception—under the guise of E.S.P. (extra sensory perception), premonitions (knowing the future) and mind over matter abilities—sometimes accompany this type of training.  (I was deceived for a period of years.)

Seeking to develop mentally through karate, I became quite interested in E.S.P. and slightly curious about premonitions.  Two weeks before I was to begin a series of four work and karate related plane trips, I had a dream.  There were two odd things about this dream.  First, I remembered it—which was extremely rare during this time of my life—and second, the events which occurred in the dream were in the newspaper the next day.  It had really happened!  About a week later, I had another dream—which I vividly remembered.  This one was about a plane crash.  The same thing happened again three days later—another dream about a plane crash.  About this time also, two more things began to happen.  First, a number—which ‘sounded’ like “2-8-3”—began popping into my mind, and second, I began to get the feeling that I was going to die on one of these flights.  The feeling became so strong, that I wrote out a will and left it for my parents to find in case I didn’t come back.  (I greatly increased the quantity and intensity of my prayers.)  When the number “2-8-3” came to me again, I began checking my flight numbers, terminal numbers and gate numbers, to make sure that none of them were “2-8-3.”  I was going to change my flight if this number appeared anywhere.  The time came for my first flight and everything went smoothly.  The second and third flights also provided no problems.  Upon finishing everything I had planned to do on my trip, I decided to come home early.  After checking for the number “2-8-3”—ensuring that it wasn’t there—I booked a flight for the next day.  After scheduling this alternative flight, I thought to myself, I beat it!  I was going to die on this trip, but I beat it! 

Upon boarding the plane the next day, I sat down and immediately picked up the magazine located in the seat back in front of me.  I randomly opened it to the exact page where an article began, read the article and put it back.  The article was about people who knew about disasters before they happened.  A few minutes later, while waiting for the flight to begin, I was hit strongly by the feeling, ‘This is the one!’  This is the flight that is going to crash!  I felt as though I had been hit in the chest with a ton of bricks.  I sat back, trying to clear my head, when the feeling hit me again.  I was getting extremely scared, and tried to completely clear my mind—in order to determine what was supernatural and what might be my imagination.  A third “ton of bricks” hit me, but it wasn’t a feeling.  It was the article!  I had just read an article about people who knew about disasters before they happened, while sitting on a plane knowing about a disaster before it happened.  This bewildered me, as all of the things which had been occurring up till this time were intangible—thoughts, dreams and feelings, but the article was a physical thing which I had just held in my hand.  Immediately after this realization, a fourth ton of bricks hit me, ‘This is the one!’  I prayed—I can’t describe how intensely—“God, please protect me and this flight!”  Immediately upon praying this prayer, the plane experienced a very slight jarring.  (It was being backed out at this time.)  The flight announcer soon came on and said, “We have experienced a problem and are going to have to check it out before departing.”  A fifth and final ton of bricks then hit me.  I prayed, “God, if this is the one, then get me off of here right now!”  Immediately, the flight announcer came on and said that the plane had been damaged and would have to be grounded.  I said an intense ‘thank-you’ prayer and then—unlike all of the complaining people around me—began to thoroughly enjoy my flight delay.  Upon being told that we could exit the plane, I stood up noticed that I had been sitting in seat number “2-8-G.”

There are several things that God showed me and ways that He blessed me through this amazing ordeal.  First, He dearly loves His children, is intricately involved in our lives and graciously answers our prayers—both for guidance and protection.  (It was even more amazing than I have explained here, how intricately and perfectly God tailored this entire situation around me.)  Second, His grace pours out onto His children and spills over onto the people around them.  (I think that He may have put me on that plane and then saved me as well as everyone else on it, as a result of my prayers.)  Third, He is in absolute control of the present and the future, as well as both the physical and spiritual realms. (I cannot be certain if the first of the three dreams was from God—it had characteristics similar to other dreams which I have experienced, when being deceived by demons—but I do know that God was sovereignly in control of everything that happened.)  Fourth, He taught me to trust Him more fully—putting me in a situation where no level of karate ability or concentration could help.  Fifth, He protected me from further demonic deception—turning me away from the pursuit of supposed supernatural abilities. (Supernatural knowledge and abilities come only from supernatural beings, and demons try to deceive us into thinking that humans possess these, to keep us from recognizing our need for God.)  Sixth, He showed me that He is God and we—including the karate master who I went to train under—are just humans.  (Because of the demonic deception I had been under, I had over inflated expectations of what a karate master should be.  During my visit, the karate master—whom I was there to see—was unable to work out, as he had hurt his back jogging.)

1980’s / God’s choice of movies. = God persuaded me not to rent the wrong kind of movie.  I went into a video rental store looking for a particular type of movie.  Upon getting half way to the back of the store, I looked at the wall full of videos to my left and noticed only one title.  It had the word “Heaven” in it (“Heaven Can Wait”).  Upon taking another step, another title grabbed my attention.  It had the word “God” in it (“Oh, God”).   Several more steps brought three more titles to my attention, all three of which had the word “God” or “Heaven” in them.  (These were spread out among the hundred-plus other videos on the wall.)  It was at this time that I decided that I really didn’t want to rent a movie after all.  After turning around and heading for the door, I couldn’t resist taking another glance.  The sixth title also had the word “Heaven” in it—as did the seventh.  I did not notice any of the other titles on the wall.  By number seven, I felt like running out of the store.  After getting back in my car, I thanked God for loving me and guiding me. (Philippians 4:8 / Psalm 101:3)

1983-84 / The girl of my prayers. = God blessed me with a very wonderful and beautiful wife.  I had been asking God for a beautiful Christian girl to be my wife.  My soon-to-be answered prayer joined my karate class, along with her brother, during the summer of 1983.  They stayed with it just long enough for God to take care of this part of the process.  (She actually had no plans for joining karate: One of her other brothers had signed up, but changed his mind and she took his place.)  Shortly after meeting her, I took her out for dinner.  Soon after, however, she told me she was going to get engaged to a guy who she had been seeing before.  She dropped out of the class and we did not see each other again for several months.  I was devastated, undoubtedly in a supernatural way, as it felt as if I had suffered the loss of a very long term relationship.  In December, we ran into each other again in a bookstore at our local mall.  She was there with her brother.  (In my nervous infatuation, I forgot to ask her if she was still planning on marrying this other guy, and to get her phone number if she wasn’t.  I would soon find out that she had broken off the engagement.)  Up to this time, she wasn’t very interested in me, as she didn’t think there was room in my life for much more than karate.  God, however, was about get more deeply involved.  She and I talked for a few moments and then she and her brother left to go home.  In the time that it took them to get from the bookstore to the mall exit, she went from thinking I was O.K., and being slightly interested in me, to being so overly excited that she was talking about me at ninety miles per hour.  She said that brother was looking at her like she had lost her mind.

After this meeting, I went home to look through my old karate records to get her phone number.  I was going to ask her about her engagement.  Unfortunately, I had thrown the old row sheets away and her phone number was unlisted.  I began to pray that if she was the one for me, that God would bring her back into my life again.  A short time later, I went to a restaurant and her sister—by God’s grace—waited on my table.  She recognized me and the rest is history.  (Proverbs 18:22)

1983 / Dump the por – – graphy  {website will not allow actual word}. = I had a subscription to a particular magazine, not knowing that it was a sin for a single guy to have.  I began wondering, however, if it was wrong, since I had begun asking God for a wife (see entry above).  Sitting around one day—both thinking about praying for her (which I was doing quite often) and planning to ask God about this magazine—I picked one of them up.  God sovereignly guided my hands and my eyes in order to communicate.  Randomly flipping the magazine open, I instantly saw three words which seemed to jump off the page: “God” and “Dental Hygienist.”  My (future) wife was planning to study Dental Hygiene and God was obviously communicating with me.  Without words, I clearly understood what He was saying: I was about to ask Him for something (her), but, before I did, He was going to ask me for something, (get rid of the magazines).

Within a couple of minutes, the magazines were in the trash can behind the house.  I then knelt down and prayed, ‘Yes Sir, all done! End of story.’ (My obedience was not conditional to Him answering my prayer.)  I then continued praying, “Now on this other subject, may I please have her for my wife?”

I have since learned how terrible por – – graphy  {website will not allow actual word} is—degrading to women, as addictive as cocaine (actually altering the physiology of the brain), a destroyer of countless families, a major factor in countless sex-related crimes—and has resulted in a personal struggle to purify my own thoughts for decades.  There’s no question why it’s against God’s will. (Matthew 5:28)

1983 forward. / First line of defense  = As related above, I have struggled against sinful thoughts for decades, and while I know that this is, in part, due to the human condition, I also know that the struggle has been more difficult because of my exposure to por – – graphy  {website will not allow actual word}.  I also know that while sinful thoughts are often injected into our minds by demons—the angels who have rebelled against God—I am sinfully vulnerable to every injected thought (every temptation), or God would not need to intervene.  God wants us to win the battle against sin in our minds, before it goes further.  Having said this, here are some of the more interesting ways my loving Heavenly Father has countered my sinful thoughts and/or vulnerabilities, all at the moment of temptation, and all of which I earnestly thank Him for:  1. Lyrics from a song playing on the radio – “Way back in the Bible, temptations always come along, somebody always trying to talk somebody into doing something they know is wrong.”  (I have learned from personal experience—as well as from other peoples’—that God can cause a person to hear something which is intended for them—on the radio, at church, etc.—which other people do not hear).  2. Lyrics injected into my thinking—from a song which I had heard earlier – “I’m building a fire I can’t put out.”  3. A vision of the Bible.  4. A vision of Jesus on the cross.  5. The injection of the word, “Valhalla” into my mind (which I had to go look up in the dictionary).  6. The same thing happened later, with the word “Autonomy.”  7. The words in a vitamin advertisement—in a magazine which I was reading—“The born-again philosophy.”  8. Injecting the words, “Don’t quench the Spirit!” into my mind.  9. Injecting the question, “Is Heaven like this?” into my mind.  10. Injecting the words, “Rebellion starts here” into my mind.  Etc. There have also been many other times when God has reminded me of some Bible verse, in order to guide and protect me.  (Philippians 4:8)

1980s  / A family argument and God messed with my car. = My wife and I had an argument the previous night and we didn’t get it worked out before we went to sleep.  (We didn’t know Ephesians 4:26-27.)  I woke up this morning and rather than trying to work the problem out, I wrote a note that would have hurt my wife’s feelings and made the situation worse.  I didn’t want to hurt her, but I didn’t want to handle the situation correctly either.  I left the note next to the coffee pot and went out and got in my car.  When attempting to leave, my car wouldn’t start.  While trying to start it, I knew that God wanted me to tear up the note and take care of the problem.  I kept trying to start it and then felt God warning me that if I was to continue, He was going to let it start.  I knew that would be bad.  I stopped trying and went back into the house.  I tore up the note and my wife and I were able to work things out.  When I again got ready to leave for work, the car started—with a little difficulty—but after this, it gave me no more problems. (1 Peter 3:7)

1980s / Second rescue, same angel. = My car quit just the other side of nowhere.  A man stopped to help me and told me that he had stopped because of the “Jesus” bumper sticker on my car.  He took me to a pay phone to call a wrecker, to a bank to use their A.T.M. machine (to get some money for the wrecker), then back to my car, which required a lot of driving.  While we were together, he was telling me some things about himself and his job.  A little while after he left—while I was waiting on the wrecker—a memory hit me.  My car had quit years before and I was helped out by a stranger.  While we were driving around, he was telling me some things about himself and his job.  It was the exact same story.  I later told my mother about this occurrence, to see if she remembered the story from years before.  She did.  (Psalm 91:11 & Hebrews 13:2)

1980s / God picks a Bible. = God guided me to a Spanish language Bible, to buy for a friend.  Efran was a co-worker, a fellow Christian and an immigrant from Mexico.  He would occasionally ask me questions about God, which I tried to answer.  Unfortunately, I didn’t speak Spanish and he was limited in English.  Upon deciding to get him a Bible, I was faced with the challenge of getting him one which he could understand.  I didn’t know his educational level and I didn’t know if some Spanish Bibles might be like our Old King James translation (filled with outdated language).  I went to our local Christian bookstore and walked over to the Bible section.  Upon walking up to the shelf, I noticed that all of the Bibles were in the shelf with the binding facing out, except for one.  It was in front of all the others with the cover facing out.  It said, “El Libra”.   I suspected that it was a Spanish language Bible and took it to the sales clerk to ask.  Upon inquiring, she said “Yes,” but added with surprise, “I didn’t know that we had those!”  The other clerk, listening in, said, “Oh, yes! They just brought it, and they only brought one.”

1980s / Yes, let him go. = I, with extreme reluctance, had to fire my Christian friend who I had given the Spanish Bible.  (See entry above).   He began missing a lot of work and we didn’t know whether he was going to show up or not.  I warned him several times and then had to let him go.  Right after hanging up the phone, the warehouse grew strangely quiet, and the radio seemed to overshadow every other sound.  The lyrics from the song which was playing was a message from God: “God understands, He makes His plans.  The information’s unavailable to the mortal man.  We work our jobs, collect our pay – slip sliding away.”  I wanted to continue to help Efran, but felt that he was slipping away from my influence.  God let me know that He was in control and this was His will.

1980s / One second of Heaven. = I was (very dangerously) engaging in transcendental meditation—training to empty my mind of all conscious and unconscious thought.  (This is dangerous because it lowers a barrier to spiritual influence that demons will eagerly step over, and it is only by the grace of God, that they did not get more influence in my life than they did during my years of training).  While in this mental state, God suddenly immersed me in the feeling of being in Heaven.  It only lasted for a second, but it so overshadowed the enjoyable sensation of meditating, that they cannot even be compared.  (*** Demons will seek influence in a person’s life through altered states of consciousness, regardless of the cause.  The connections are there, if we will notice.  Alcoholic beverages are referred to as spirits.  The Greek word “pharmacia”—translated “sorceries” in the Bible—is where we get our word “pharmaceutical,” i.e. drugs.)  (1 Corinthians 2:9-10) 

1980’s / Don’t say that! = People often use exaggerated expressions with little or no thought.  Some are innocuous, but others touch the heart of God.  One of those expressions is when a person says that they are “starving,” to emphasize the fact that they are quite hungry.  Upon doing this myself, God quickly admonished me.  Communicating without words, His message was clear: ‘Starvation is a great concern to Him, and I was not starving.’

1980’s / God says she’s a ‘leech.’ = My employer asked me to pray for God’s guidance regarding a fellow employees’ request.  This employee—a single mother with two daughters—had asked my employer to write a letter to a mortgage company confirming that she was employed full-time and had good job-security.  She wanted to purchase a house and needed to borrow the money.  There was a problem, however.  My employer was becoming less than thrilled with her performance and attitude.  He paid her, her salary and very often did extra things to help her and her children—both physically and financially—but she wasn’t reciprocating.  She was growing more expectant than thankful and wasn’t performing her job requirements as well as she could.  She was a Christian—thus, our ‘sister-in-Christ’—so my employer wanted God’s clear guidance regarding this situation.  That night, I sat down to pray about this situation and to read the Bible.  God quickly provided the answer.  Through a few verses of Scripture, God told me that the lady was too much of a ‘taker’ and her ‘long-term-employment’ wasn’t going to be.  The verse which God first led me to read was, Proverbs 30:15, “The leech has two daughters.  ‘Give! Give!’ they cry.”

1980’s / Gods’ gift of intuition. = While traveling to my parents’ lake lot, I stopped at a gas station along the way.  Upon getting out of the car, another gas-station customer walked up to me and spoke my name.  He had recognized my car.  Not recognizing him, he then told me who he was.  His family had lived in the same neighborhood as mine when we were young and we were friends for a brief time.  He was very friendly and asked about my family.  He also asked me for my older brother’s phone number—who he had also not seen in many years.  I did not know the number, so he gave me his and asked me to have my brother call him.  After refueling and getting back into the car, my wife—with alarms going off in her soul—asked me quite ominously, “Who was that guy?”  I told her and then asked her why.  (The concern in her voice was only outdone by the distress on her face.)  She told me that she had a ‘very bad’ feeling about him.  I then told her that—when this guy was young—he was funny, friendly, extremely wild and always looking for trouble.  Judging from God’s warning through my wife, he had not changed and would be a terrible influence on my brother.  My brother was just overcoming some major problems in his life, and a bad influence—like this old friend—could be devastating to his recovery.  [1Corinthians 15:33]    

1988 / Bricks from God. = For several weeks, I had been gathering bricks—a few at a time—from the scrap piles at a construction site.  My wife and I were using them to build a sidewalk behind our house.  One day a police officer saw me and asked me not to take any more.  He told me that the builders had been having problems with supplies being stolen and they asked the police to keep everyone away.  (He knew I wasn’t stealing anything because I was driving a Mustang II.)  Stuck now with half a sidewalk, we wondered what we were going to do.  A few days later, God intervened.  While driving home from work—I saw where a brick truck had driven off the road and lost its load.  The driver was obviously not interested in sorting good and broken bricks and left them there.  Upon stopping each day over the next couple of weeks, I had enough bricks to finish the sidewalk.  The color matched quite well.

1980’s, 1990’s and today / Thou shalt not grow a tree right here! = While building our house, we planted a tree in what we thought was a perfect location – southwest of our patio.  The tree, however, died.  Later, we planted another tree in the same location, which also died.  We gave up on this particular spot, but have planted trees on both sides of it which have grown up large and healthy.  Now, years later, we are thanking God for not allowing a tree to grow in this one particular spot.  The city next to us built an enormous park about a half-mile southwest of our home.  They now hold their annual ‘4^th of July celebration’ in this park and the fireworks can be clearly seen from the comfort (and protection) of our screened-in-patio.  (The protective screen is important, not only because of the increasing risk of West Nile Virus, but because my wife—who seems to be especially enticing to mosquitoes—is highly affected by their bites.)  The fireworks can be seen between the other trees—which have grown up large and healthy—directly above the spot where God wouldn’t allow a tree to grow.  Family members and members of our church groups have enjoyed the view with us.

1990s / Faster than Triple-A, God’s immediate road service – Chapter 1. = While driving down the highway, a large amount of steam suddenly shot out of my car’s engine compartment.  A radiator hose had busted.  While pulling off of the road, I noticed that the guy right behind me was doing the same thing.  We came to a stop together.  Upon getting out of my car, I discovered that he had a radiator hose which (with a little extra twist) fit my car, and two gallons of water.  He had just replaced his radiator hose, and was carrying the old one and extra water, just in case. I thanked him and God. * * * For “Faster than Triple-A” (Chapter 2, see 03/06/2006) /// (Chapter 3, see 02/05/2024).

10/18/1990 / God’s presence “felt.” = Sitting in my back yard, leaning against the back wall of our house, I was suddenly made aware of God’s presence—which completely enveloped the house and me.  He manifested His presence—not in any physical sense—but still very clearly, just to say that He loves us and He’s got us in His hands. (Isaiah 41:10)

Winter 1990 / A baby girl’s sovereignly controlled flip. = When our daughter was two years old, she, my wife and I were out on our patio relaxing.  The patio had a 15” high – 2” x 4″ rail around it, which was part of a frame to be covered with screen.  Our daughter was looking out into the yard, evidently leaning a little too far, when she suddenly did a front flip over the rail.  According to physics, she should have hit her head on the cement floor which extended several inches beyond the rail.  By the grace of God, however, she landed a good distance beyond the cement.  God had clearly protected her.  He did not, however, keep her from landing with a splat in the cold water which was standing in the yard.  She had an amazing look of shock on her face, (which probably matched the ones on our faces). (Matthew 18:10)

02/1991 / A confirmation angel. = My wife and I were grocery shopping and had our two-year-old daughter sitting in the shopping cart.  We were purchasing some items for a particular event and were fairly certain that we were within God’s will (doing what we were supposed to be doing) in the way we were spending our (His) money.  We had stopped on an aisle, when a ‘man’ walked up to us and began to engage us in conversation.  After a few moments, I left to go down a different isle.  My wife remained there with my daughter and the man.  A couple of minutes later, the ‘man’ came up to me again and we talked briefly.  I suddenly had the very strong feeling that he was an angel.  After he left, I went to find my wife and daughter.  When I found them, my wife was ‘very’ excited and was about to tell me what I already knew.  Before she could speak, I said to her, “You’re about to tell me that that man was an angel.”  She said, “Yes!” “You could tell it too?”

I can’t explain how, but his presence confirmed to me that we were in God’s will in our purchase that night and in the way we were handling our lives and our finances.  On the way home, my wife told me that the ‘man’ had asked my daughter a question: He said, “Do you know that Jesus loves you?”  My wife told him, “Yes she does!”    (Acts 8:26 & Hebrews 13:2)

05/08/1991 / Corrected on correcting = My wife and I—being new at parenting—are trying to get this thing figured out.  After some conflict, I asked God how I should be with my daughter.  (Teach me how to interact with her.)  Five seconds later, my wife walked into the room and said, “the Holy Spirit told me,” – When our daughter is upset, don’t settle her down by yelling and telling her not to cry.  She can’t stop crying, and that doesn’t help.  It hurts.  (Colossians 3:21)

08/1991 / God’s angel in the delivery room = My son had just been born, and while the staff were still in excitement mode, an angel (in the form of a nurse) walked into the room.  She walked up to my wife, stood between the doctor and the nurse (close enough to wrap her arms around all three of them), and gave my wife a shot.  My wife asked her what it was, and she said Rhogam.  I heard the answer from across the room.  (This was the only answer which my wife would not have questioned and the only answer which would have gotten my attention – for medical reasons).  The next day a nurse came in to give my wife her Rhogam shot.  She told them that she had already had it.  After much concern and investigation by the medical staff, we learned: 1. Rhogam is not given the day of birth.  2. There was no Rhogam missing from the medical inventory.  3. The description of the “nurse” which we gave to the staff did not match the description of anyone working in that department.  4. Neither the doctor, the human nurse, nor anyone else in the area (other than my wife and myself) saw or heard her.  5. My wife did not remember the shot hurting (only watching it being given) and could not find a needle mark on her leg.  6. A double injection of Rhogam is not a problem, so we are left to wonder what else—which was needed immediately—was in the injection.  /  We had asked God to be with us and to protect my wife and our baby throughout the delivery.  She evidently needed some extra intervention and God wanted us know that He had provided it.  (Psalm 91:11)

Summer 1991 / Get out! = My wife and I were watching a movie, when I sensed God telling me to leave the theater.  I hesitated momentarily and then sensed Him telling me—much more earnestly—Get out now!  I told my wife, “God just told us to get out of this theater,” and we got up and left.  I felt stupid and vulnerable for hesitating.  When we got out to the car, my wife told me that she felt very, very uneasy herself and said that it seemed as if the whole room was centered around a particular man (who was sitting a couple of rows in front of us).

07/11/1991 / A leg up on forgiveness. = I had injured my leg (almost two years earlier) and never got the flexibility back.  It consistently gave me pain and difficulty while trying to stretch and while practicing karate.  Two days ago, I was greatly insulted by the new husband of one of my students.  I had previously been praying for their new marriage and wanted to forgive him, but I needed help.  I was warming up for karate class—still limited on what I could do with my injured leg—then stopped to pray.  I asked God to help me forgive this guy—who I was expecting to see again this night—and help me to honor Him (God).  When I finished praying, I resumed my stretching.  When I bent down over my injured leg, it was completely healed. The stretch was easy and the stretch was painless.  Forgiveness came much easier than expected. (Matthew 9:6-7)

10/1991 / Coupons from Heaven. = My wife and I wanted to get our children’s pictures taken at the mall—for Christmas presents to our parents—but needed to find a discount coupon so we could afford it.  We spent the day looking in papers and asking around, but to no avail.  When we got home, there was one in the mailbox from the department store where we wanted to have them made.

12/1991 / A stocking stuffer from God. = We were very tight on money and had bought what we could afford for my daughter (and her new baby brother) for Christmas.  I was in a store and saw some post-it note pads.  I wanted to get them for my daughter as an extra stocking stuffer, so she could draw pictures on them and put them on the refrigerator.  I really wanted them, but decided that I better not.  When I got home, I opened a package of cat food and discovered that there were post-it note pads with hearts on them inside the boxes.

12/10/1991 / Temporary healing. = I had been sick for about a week, was still feeling lousy and was not in the mood to discuss anything important.  My wife was—past hurts—and wanted to discuss an extremely important step towards healing.  God immediately (though only temporarily) healed me.  I felt great for about two hours and we had a very beneficial conversation.

1984 – 1992 / Amazing grace, how sweet a house. = We built our own house and God’s blessings were both continual and amazing.  First of all, my parents taught their kids persistence and how to work.  In addition, my dad had all the necessary tools and had taught us how to use them.  My dad also helped us to do most of the work and my brothers pitched in a lot.  My older brother built all of our cabinets and counter-tops as a wedding present, and my younger brother helped in many ways.  In addition to all of this, and to the multitude items and services which we were able to obtain free or at a great discount, we also did a couple of things which were supposedly impossible from a financial perspective.  We received a permanent mortgage on the house while we were building it—even re-financing once before it was finished—and were able to obtain builders risk insurance for years longer than the six months which was standard.  The items and services which we obtained free or at a discount were as follows: ** The brick-work on the house was done by a master craftsman who gave me the best price I could find.  (He wanted to use our house as a model to show potential employers, in order to get started in business in our area.)  ** A friend and karate student of mine—who worked for a plumbing company—dug the ditch for free, for my underground electrical lines.  ** All door bells and door chimes, as well as bathroom lights, fans and heaters were obtained from a retailer display which a company had discarded.  (They sat it right outside the door of our karate school.)  ** Most room lighting fixtures were given to us by friends.  ** We received a bathroom sink from a builder friend who decided not to use it. ** We purchased a six-foot marble tub for $50.00, because the person who ordered it never picked it up. ** We ordered an inexpensive kitchen sink, but the manufacturer’s warehouse burned and the retailer replaced it with a much nicer one.  ** We obtained the fabric to make our curtains free from my employer, enough to cover 46 feet of wall space.  (They were actually defective table-cloths which we could not sell.)  We also purchased the fabric to accent the curtains on sale for half price.  ** We purchased mini-blinds for most of the windows at $3.00 each.  (They were being discontinued and, thus, were greatly discounted in price.).  ** It was a very normal thing to see the building materials which we needed at a particular time, on sale when we went to buy them.  ** We received the range, microwave-oven and dishwasher as presents, and enough used furniture to fill the entire house. ** We got good quality carpet for the living room—on sale—and a relative laid it for us for free.  (We couldn’t afford to carpet the rest of the house at this time.  Later, however, our house suffered roof damage in a hail storm.  I re-roofed it myself and saved enough money to carpet the rest of the house.) ** We purchased an upright freezer for $150.00 and then traded it to my parents for a refrigerator and box freezer.  ** We purchased an almost new washer and dryer set from a relative—who had just moved into an apartment which already supplied them—for $200.00. ** Friends provided four trees—two Pecan and two Maple—for free. (One had bought the Pecan trees for land which he was planning to buy, but when the deal fell through, he dug them up and gave them to us.)  (Matthew 6:33)

01/21/1992 / Tithe to my brother? = We had almost finished building our house, but ended up hiring my brother to do the last bit of it.  We agreed to a certain amount of money, which is what I borrowed from the bank.  As it was nearing completion, I began to get the feeling that my brother was losing money on the deal, and I knew he could not afford the loss.  He did not volunteer this information.  I had to struggle to get him to admit it and then to tell me the amount.  I did not have the money either, so I began asking God for help.  I also had the thought—which I’m sure was given to me by God—“Should I give my tithe to my brother instead of to my church for a couple of months? (This is totally foreign to God’s regular way of handling the tithe).  While asking about this and reading the Bible—in the book of Isaiah—I noticed the words “brother” and “home” in verse 3:6.  I kept reading and saw “They will be paid for what their hands have done” in verse 11.  In verse 14, I read “The plunder of the poor is in your houses.”  I knew that God was telling me to use my tithe in this manner, and between this money and some more which came in unexpectedly, I was able to pay for the rest of the building supplies and keep him from suffering any loss.

2/24/92 / More love, less crab. = In a moment of anger, I said something to my wife which really hurt her feelings.  It wasn’t that severe, so I was surprised by the extent of the hurt.  While wondering why she was so vulnerable, God posed the question, ‘What was ‘I’ doing to make her that way?’  I went to ask her and she told me that I had been crabby to her and my daughter for about six months.  (My son was born six months earlier and had suffered from continual ear infections and upset stomach – almost from birth.  I did not yet, make the connection.)  I love my wife and children greatly and went out to the garage to pray.  I was asking God to help me to stop hurting their feelings.  After praying, I came back into the house and picked up my son.  I began playing with him, holding him and acting like he was dancing, when he began to kick his feet in the same way that his sister had done when she was his age.  This was fantastic!  This little ‘dance’ was one of the things I loved most about my daughter’s behavior at this age, and he was doing the same exact thing.  (He had never done it before and he never did it again).  I then took him into his room to change his diaper.  As I lay him down, our eyes met, and God hit me with a love for him which I had not yet experienced.  (I already loved him, but this was several levels up.)  God then had him reach up and place his hands on both sides of my face, (something else he never did before or after).  I started to cry.  I suddenly realized that I had turned him into a job.  Because of his constant crying—resulting from his ear and stomach pain—I found myself longing for nighttime, when I could put him in bed.  When my wife would hand him to me to hold, I would instantly look at the clock to check the time.  I realized that I had been waiting for him to grow up, to begin enjoying him.  God showed me that I was losing ‘now’—an extremely precious time with him—waiting for tomorrow.  That night, I didn’t want to put him in bed at all.  I just wanted to hold him.  I have been madly in love with him ever since and also got out of the crabby mood.

This whole season of life was by God’s grace and sovereignty, as my son also benefited greatly from the ordeal.  He had come into the world, the most independent little guy I had ever met.  After six months of needing and being comforted by his mom and me, we developed bonds with each other which would not have happened otherwise.  This, of course, laid the ground work for his ultimate need and bonding with God.

8/16/1992 / A one-year-old’s encounter with God = We had a (so-called) picture of Jesus above our fireplace and my wife had been showing my son and saying to him – “Jesus,” “Jesus is God” and Jesus loves him.  She then walked out of the room and I picked him up and started doing the same thing.  He suddenly got extremely excited.  He started trying to say Jesus (coming out something like ‘Tē-tŭ’), pointing at the picture and looking at me with great intensity.  His excitement grew and grew and he kept saying it over and over, pointing at the picture.  He also said “God” a couple of times.  I sat him down and he immediately ran into the other room to tell my wife and his sister.  He was straining to communicate with us, and it was clearly more than just associating a sound—Jēzŭs—with a picture on the wall.  God had in some way revealed Himself to my son, and my son was trying desperately to tell us.  (Mark 10:14)

*** God’s revealing Himself to my son was not dependent upon a picture—which I later learned that we should not have.  He did, however, take advantage of my ignorance of this command, in order to bless my family at this time.  He later told me to get rid of the picture.  (Deuteronomy 4:15-16)

Late 1992  / A strange salvation story. = In August of 1992, we led my daughter in a salvation prayer – where she asked Jesus to be her Lord and Savior.  She was three years and eight months old.  I was wondering if she was old enough to understand and to truly make this decision.  A few days later, I was praying about this and reading the Bible, when I came upon Isaiah 49.8 [This is what the LORD says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you;] God told me through this verse, that she was not yet able to understand, but that He would call her when she was.

A few months later—October 24^th—I was reading the Bible and came upon 2 Corinthians 6:2 [“In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.”  I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.]  I said to God, “If this is what I think it is—if she is now old enough to make this decision and You are about to call her—I will not say anything about this (to my wife or daughter).  Please have them come and tell me when my daughter has accepted You.

Four days later, we found ourselves engaged in a strong spiritual conflict.  My wife was the first to recognize that the problem was spiritual—demons.  (Demons are angels who are in rebellion against God.)  I was not yet convinced, as I didn’t ‘feel’ their influence in our situation.  (God has at times, given me a keen awareness of the presence of our enemies.)  God then said to me, “You can’t assume that they are not here, because you don’t feel them.”  The conflict centered around my daughter, who was becoming increasingly disobedient and belligerent (which was very abnormal for her).  We were in the car, on the way to the mall, when the battle became the strongest.  We were praying as we were driving and had to stop a couple of times to address the situation—warning my daughter that we were not going to the mall if she didn’t correct her behavior.  (Demons can try to influence us, but we are still responsible for our own sinful behavior.)  We finally decided to make a detour to a nearby deserted parking lot.  We were not going to fight this in the mall.  I stepped out of the car—to get out of the range of my daughter’s hearing—to command that the demons leave us alone “in Jesus name.”  (Christians have this authority.)  As I was getting out of the car, I told my wife to pray.

My wife wondered if I meant to pray for salvation.  (There is no doubt that God put this thought in her mind.)  She then thought, ‘No, that’s not what I meant’ and turned to my daughter and said, “O.K., let’s pray” (for protection).  My daughter said, “No.  Why do we keep praying?”  My wife then told her – urgently, “The devil is bothering us and he’s not going to leave us alone until we pray.  Will you pray with me?”  My daughter was then ‘all ears’ and said, “Yes!”  My wife started praying and the thought came again – “Pray for salvation.”  She considered it and thought, “Why not?” After praying for protection, she then led my daughter in a salvation prayer.  My wife didn’t have to say, “Pray with me” on this part of the prayer.  My daughter repeated my wife’s words on her own—out loud, with great intensity.  They had finished this prayer of salvation by the time I re-entered the car.  As I was preparing to drive, my wife told me that my daughter had just asked Jesus to be her Lord and Savior.  My daughter then assured me—without being asked—that those were her words and she wasn’t just repeating what ‘mommy’ said. (Mark 10:14-15)

12/02/1992 / A vision’s worth a thousand words.  = While writing “The Second Most Incredible Book . . . ,” available free on this website, God gave me a vision.  The vision enabled me to better explain what it means to put faith in something to save us, (what it means to accept Him as Lord and Savior).  Here is the vision He showed me, as described in the book:  (Job 33:14-15)

What God showed me was a very long, very narrow room.  At one end was a door and at the opposite end was a window.  There were no other entrances or exits.  Sitting in the very center of this room, facing the window, was a chair.  That chair is where each one of us sits.  It is the throne of our life.  It is where we sit as our own gods–as the rulers of our own lives.  God then showed me that the room was on fire.  The whole end of the room where the door was located was engulfed in flames and the fire was growing.  At the other end was the window (salvation).  All the person in the chair had to do was to get up, go over to the window, and climb out; but he had to do it.  Merely believing that the window was the way to salvation wasn’t enough.  Simply saying it wouldn’t save him either.  The person had to get out of the chair and go through the window.

           So it is with Jesus:  He is the window, and we must leave our thrones and go to Him.  We must give up the authority of our lives, humble ourselves, and accept Him–as God, as Lord, as Savior.  That’s all we have to do!  We don’t have to work our way to heaven.  We don’t have to be good enough to get to heaven.  Nobody is good enough to get to heaven!

02/17/1993 / A lesson in spiritual warfare. = If you are a human being, you are affected by spiritual warfare.  If you understand this, you are much safer.  If you are a Christian, you should be on the offensive.

Spiritual warfare has become quite exposed in my life as a result of providing the information which is available on this website.  The Bible informs us of the continual presence of angels and demons and the unceasing battle going on around us.  (Demons are angels who have rebelled against God.)  I have sought to further spread this knowledge through my writing.  Demons, therefore—finding no benefit in remaining constantly hidden from me—have grown much more obvious in their counter-attacks.  Some common tactics which they use are to give thoughts, dreams and visions, to cause sensations of fear and chill and to try to promote anger.  On this particular night—while I was trying to sleep—their counter-attacks were quite strong.  I commanded them to leave—“in Jesus name”—several times.  (Christians have this authority.)  They were very resistant, however, so I decided to read the Bible out loud.  (Speaking Bible verses—pertinent to whatever temptation we are facing—or praising God out loud, are very powerful weapons in spiritual warfare.)  By the time I was ready to read, however, I had grown very annoyed and angry and spoke quite arrogantly to the enemy.  I then flipped the Bible open and started reading.  I quickly found, however, that what I was reading was not for the enemy; it was a message from God to me.  The verses perfectly described what I felt, what I did and what I should have done; [I said, “I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth as long as the wicked are in my presence.  But when I was silent and still, not even saying anything good, my anguish increased. My heart grew hot within me, and as I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue.”  Psalm 39:1-3]  The enemy quickly left, and it was just God and me.  He informed me, through these verses, that my arrogance was sin.  I also know—being a karate instructor—that an arrogant attitude meant that I was not taking the battle or the enemy seriously enough.  (Arrogance is pride and pride is overconfidence.  The most adept fighter is completely serious and seeks to fight without any pride or emotion.)  Since that night, I have never spoken either an arrogant or casual word to the enemy.  I simply recite Bible verses, praise God audibly or command them to leave “in Jesus name.”  (Luke 10:17)

03/20/93 / From Jekyll to Hyde and back again. = I love my children and had my four-year-old daughter out in the garage with me, while I was working on the car.  She was asking me all kinds of questions.  This is such a blessing, to be able to impart knowledge and wisdom to an inquiring child whom I love.  I, however, was getting frustrated with the car and the questions and—like a complete idiot—snapped at her.  I said, loud and stern, “I can’t talk right now!”  It hurt her feelings and shortly thereafter, she started crying and went into the house.  A minute later, my wife brought her back out and said to me, “Somebody’s feelings are hurt.”  At that precise moment, the program on the radio began talking about this exact subject: The speaker was saying that there are things which are important to children, and if we miss them, we can really hurt their feelings.  The speaker then described (generically) what I had done, what I was thinking, what I should have done instead, and what I needed to do to correct the situation.  I climbed out from under the car and told my little girl that I was very wrong and very sorry.  I then thanked God for His blessed intervention and asked Him to help me to never do that again.

04/09/1993 / God stopped him in the air. = When our son was twenty months old, he was walking towards our kitchen table and tripped.  He put his hands out to stop his fall, but his hands went to either side of the wooden bench seat.  He was falling, face-first into the bench, but he suddenly stopped.  His body, which was momentarily leaning at a forty-five-degree angle—with both feet behind him and both hands pushing against nothing but air—suddenly stood back up.  It scared him and he cried for a moment, but his face and nose were uninjured.  (Matthew 18:10)    

10/05/1993 / I felt God cry. = After finishing the chapter, “What is Hell?”—in “The Second Most Incredible Book . . .” (available free on this website), I went to read it to a friend.  I wanted to get their opinion on what I had written.  As I began to read, I suddenly found myself with a strong urge to cry.  I had fought back tears on more than one occasion while writing this chapter, but this was very different.  I felt strangely detached from the words as I was reading them and had not gotten to the parts which had previously affected me, but still felt as if I ‘physically’ needed to cry.  It wasn’t emotional.  I later realized that what I felt were God’s emotions manifesting through me. (1 Corinthians 3:16, Luke 19:41-44)

10/20/1993 / Honesty. = My wife and I seek to be totally honest in everything we do and say, and have tried to emphasize this greatly in the eyes of our children.  Without thinking, however, we really messed up.  My two-year-old son was sick and we were trying to get him to take some medicine.  He was quite resistant, so my wife turned to my four-year-old daughter and told her to act like she was taking the medicine and to act as if she liked it.  I thought it was a good idea.  We were totally oblivious to what we were doing.  God, thankfully, wasn’t!  He stopped us immediately.  When we realized what we were doing, we sincerely apologized to our daughter.  We told her that making someone believe something which isn’t true is deception—which God disapproves of—and we were wrong for asking her to do it.  (Leviticus 19:11)

P.S. In case you are wondering how we handled a certain different subject: St. Nicholas was a historical figure and a concept for teaching children about giving gifts without expecting accolades in return.  When you don’t know who a gift came from, you have no one to thank except Jesus.  (Matthew 6:2-4)

12/end/1993 / Removing spiritual interference = My four-year-old daughter was misbehaving, so we sent her to her room.  We still had a baby monitor in her room, from when she was younger and, therefore, could hear all that she was saying and doing.  While in there, she began throwing a temper tantrum which grew worse and worse.  We then heard her say, “But, they’re not listening to me!”  She was in her room alone ‘physically speaking,’ but this was obviously a response to an input thought.  Realizing that my daughter was receiving spiritual encouragement in her misbehavior, I then commanded that all demons leave our house “in Jesus name.” (Christians have this authority).  My daughter, who could not hear anything that we were saying, immediately settled down and her anger subsided.  (Luke 10:17)

01/06/1994 / Lost and found, shoes and blessings = My wife and children were scheduled to meet with a home-schooling group in the park, but were unable to find one of my son’s shoes (his only pair).  My wife was very frustrated and called me at work, to ask me if I had any suggestions on where to look.  I had no idea, but suddenly found myself saying, “Look under the dust ruffle on the bed.”  I then hung up the phone and asked God to please enable them to find it.  It was under the dust ruffle on the bed.  When they got to the park, my wife met a lady who was interested in home-schooling, but had no idea where to start.  It was clearly a divine appointment, as my wife was able to help her greatly.

02/07/1994 / “I saved one of your children today!” = God gave me an incredible dream.  In the dream, I was sitting in a church and He physically appeared.  His presence and holiness were beyond description and absolutely demanded righteousness.  He then spoke—very powerfully—and said, “I saved one of your children today!”  The dream then changed and I was watching a person who was about to be killed by electricity.  Just before it was going to happen, a force—a powerful wave of energy—came down from heaven and bowed the person to the ground, saving his life.  That was the end of the dream.

Later that morning, my wife was planning to drive our children to a certain location for a school field trip.  The car, however, would not start.  She came back into the house and called me at work.  She said—because of the car not starting and other problems which they experienced while getting ready—“It was not meant for us to go.”  They did not go on the field trip.  She later told me that as soon as she walked back into the house, the preacher on the radio was quoting Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” The speaker then said, “This message is for you.”  When I got back home that night, the car started with no problem and did not fail to start after that.

08/09/1994 / Provision from heaven for a playground on earth. = We live outside of town and had very few neighbors when our children were young.  As a result, there were no other kids for our children to play with.  In addition to this, God led us to home-school.  We would have our children in various extra-curricular activities over the years, but there would still be a lot of time at home with very little to do.  I thought about building a little play-area with a swing-set and slide.  I began asking God for the money—if this was His will.  Two days later—on August 11^th—my employer told me that he was giving me an increase in pay and that it would be retroactive to the first of July.  God also provided in other ways, including one which I didn’t recognize until after the fact.  We went for an extended period of time, needing almost nothing from the grocery store.  This enabled us to save even more money.  (John 15:7, 1 Kings 17:15-16)

 08/10/1994 / Spiritual warfare, a single mother and a car battery. = While at work, a single mother—who worked for the same company that I did—had a dead battery in her car.  I was hesitant in offering help, because of the spiritual battle raging all around us, and the massive number of marriages which have fallen victim to it.  While wondering what I should do, I noticed that the program on the radio was discussing the multitude of problems which single mothers face.  God then said to me, “If people are scared to help, they are putting too much faith in Satan’s power.”  I then went and told the lady that I would see what I could do with the battery.  Upon returning to the warehouse, the radio program was talking about a church ministry which helped single mothers with automobile care.  After work, I took the battery home to check it out and to charge it.  When connecting it to the charger, it pulled too much power and flipped the charger’s circuit breaker.  I had to wait for the breaker to reset before trying it again.  I tried it two more times, but it kept doing the same thing.  I called my brother and he said, “I have never heard of a battery charger doing that.”  I gave up.  That night, I was being given bad dreams by the enemy (demons).  When the dreams ended, I was then given three visions.  I saw a vision of the lady, then of the battery, then of me trying to charge the battery.  I asked God, “Is this you?”  (I knew that the enemy was bothering me, but I was asking God if this was Him, telling me that the enemy was also involved in the problem with the battery charger.)  Instantly, what my brother had said was replayed in my mind, “I have never heard of a battery charger doing that.”  I said, “O.K. God, I’m going to do this one on faith.”  I went back out and got the battery.  I laid my hands on it and said, “In the name of Jesus, I break any demonic power, control or effect on this battery.”  I then reconnected it to the charger and it charged with no problem.  (James 1:27)

 08/18/1994 / A vision from God – about God. = While writing, “The Second Most Incredible Book . . .” (available free on this website), God gave me a vision, enabling me to better understand and then explain one aspect of His being.  The Bible says that God is infinite and omnipresent, and that ‘in Him we live and move and have our being.’ (Acts 17:28)  The vision which God showed me was a body of water—with no discernible limits—with fish swimming around in it.  This was an analogy of Him and us.  Like fish existing within the presence of water, we exist within the presence of God.  Also, as a deep-sea fish can exist without knowing that the water is there, humans can exist without knowing that God is here.

10/16/1994 / A blessed mechanical interference. = While driving my car, something began interfering with the operation of the brake pedal.  Upon stopping to investigate, I noticed that the car was also experiencing a brake-fluid leak (a potentially deadly situation).  I’m confident that God caused this interference to occur, to enable me to see the brake-fluid leak.  The interference with the linkage—which was easily remedied—had never happened before and never happened again.

Early 1995 / Automobile restoration. = I have a 1974 Mustang II, which is in need of a lot of work.  I really-really like the car, but it is in pretty bad shape – mechanically speaking.  I felt we needed a new car, so late last year (1994) we registered to win a new Mustang and had been praying for it often.

Early this year we had to have the rack & pinion, shocks, springs and tires replaced on the car, so the whole ‘front end’ was basically new.  God had provided the money and said, “Yes,” when I asked Him if we should have it repaired.  About ten days after this, the engine blew.  The oil-seal had failed (as had the oil-light and temperature-gauge, sometime before).  I then asked God if we should replace the engine.  (I assumed the answer would be ‘yes,’ because of the situation which had just occurred with the front-end.)  God then ‘played in my head’ a scenario where I was telling someone that this was the third engine which has been in this car—a statement which I had never thought of, and had certainly never said.  I then said to God, “O.K.,” and later asked Him to show me how to get the new re-built engine from the place of purchase to my mechanic’s shop.”  I was thinking along the lines of somebody’s pickup-truck, when God said the name of a local delivery service, which we use at work.  I called them and asked if they could pick up and deliver an automobile engine.  The guy said, “Yes,’ and asked if I needed him to take the old engine back to the re-builder—to avoid the core charge.  I had not thought of that.  This was definitely God’s answer, because the guy knew more about the situation than I did.  God also provided financially for the re-built engine, as well as all of the labor.  (The total was $1,200.00.)

After all of the repairs were finished, I was driving down the highway and said to myself, “This feels like a new car!”  I suddenly realized that God had answered my prayers for a new car, by restoring the one I liked so much.

03/13/1995 / God, automobile design and the Pinewood Derby. = A.W.A.N.A. is a Bible memorization program which includes some of the same activities as Scouting.  One of those activities is the A.W.A.N.A. derby, (known in Scouting as the Pinewood Derby).  Kids buy a car kit (a pine block, axles and wheels) and with the help of a parent, design, cut and make the block into a toy car.  The car is then entered into competition for appearance and speed.  My daughter wanted to do this and asked me to help.  She didn’t know what she wanted her car to look like, so we went to the encyclopedia for ideas.  We looked at every picture under the subject “Automobile,” but she didn’t like any of them.  Ready to close the book, I casually flipped one more page and we found ourselves looking a picture of an automobile model.  It was a “Mercedes 540K,” a very beautiful and classic old automobile.  My daughter instantly pointed and said, “That one!”  I asked—a smile already coming over my face—“That one?”  She emphatically said, “That one!”  I was smiling, because I already knew what God had done.  I told her that I had that exact model—which I had bought years before, but never built—out in the garage, still in the box.  I went out and found it, dusted it off and brought it in.  When comparing the picture of the car (on the side of the box) to the wooden block, we found that they were exactly the same size—including the wheel-base.  We cut out the picture to use as a template and the rest is automobile history.  We didn’t win in the competition, but God and I definitely scored big in my daughter’s eyes.  (P.S. This was the only model that I had ever bought, yet didn’t build.)

*** If you are disturbed over all the changes in the ‘Boy Scouts’ and ‘Girl Scouts,’ organizations, there are now Christian alternatives to these programs.  “Trail Life U.S.A.” is available for boys, and “American Heritage Girls” is available for Girls.  (For more information, see the “Wow, Didn’t Know That Was Available!” section on this website under “Ministries and Resources.”)

Late 1995 / Blessings through fire. = Our church’s offices, which were being rented and were in a different location than the church building, went up in flames.  We—the church members—were praying along with the staff, for God’s guidance and provision after this disaster.  God blocked all opportunities to renting another space in our town, and ultimately led the staff to a building which was being offered for sale in the next town.  Most of the staff went to look at the building and there, they prayed again for God’s guidance and provision.  When they got back to the church, they found that a check had been donated for $155,000 which precisely covered the closing cost and down-payment.  // Many years later, when the church moved and expanded in size, God enabled this building to be sold for the exact amount of money needed to build new offices on the new property.

February, 1996 / Fatal herbs. = My wife ordered a bottle of herbal medicine.  When it arrived, she found that the capsules contained some additional herbs which she knew nothing about.  I was sick and took one of the capsules.  After taking it—because of my wife’s concern over the additional ingredients—I prayed for God’s guidance regarding this situation.  God spoke one word to me – “fatal.”  I then prayed for God’s healing and protection and we threw the bottle away.  Sometime later, upon doing some research on these additional herbs, my wife discovered that one of them had possible links to hepatitis.

04/20/1996 / God reserves a table. = I took my seven-year-old daughter to I.H.O.P—her favorite restaurant—for a “daddy / daughter breakfast.”   I wanted to talk to her about a couple of important things, so I asked God to enable us to get a table in a quiet corner.  The restaurant was very crowded, so I didn’t say anything to the restaurant staff.  When we were seated, we were taken to the far corner of the dining area and seated at one of the largest tables available.  I could tell that this was out of the ordinary—for only two people to be seated at such a large table, while the restaurant was so busy—because the waiter looked puzzled and asked us if there were more people in our party.

06 & 12/1996 / The delayed healing of a hip – or two. = 1996 marked my twenty-fifth year of karate.  Sometime before this, I had purchased a book on our style—by a most notable expert.  In the book, I noticed that he did his turns differently than I did.  His footing did not look stable to me, but he was far more advanced than I was.  This was puzzling, so I basically just put it out of my mind.  As the years passed—up to 1996—I began to have problems with my hip joints.  One was much worse than the other.  The pain got to the point where I not only thought I was going to have to quit karate, I was wondering if I was going to be able to continue walking.  On June the 8^th, I was asking God to protect my hips and He instantly made me think of my shoes.  I threw them away and bought some new ones.  The constant ache in my hips left, but I still couldn’t do all the moves in karate.  I let my hips rest for a while and was then able to do the moves, but would hurt for several days afterwards.  I continued praying.  On June 24^th, I made an appointment with a doctor for the following day.  That same day—the 24^th—my boss gave me a brochure which had a poem in it.  A verse in the poem read something like, ‘I gave my problems to the Lord, prayed and fasted too, that God would soon heal me and my crippled body would be like new.’  That night, my wife suggested that I work out hard — so my hips would really be hurting the next day, enabling the doctor to better diagnose the problem.  I didn’t want to, because they were already hurting, but did it anyway.  When I woke up the next morning, my bad hip was completely healed.  There was no pain and I could do all of my karate moves easily.  I cancelled the doctor’s appointment and then sat down to read the poem again.  God caused me to clearly notice the word, “soon,” (I prayed that God would ‘soon’ heal me).  By not healing me when I first started praying, God gave me time to think about how I did my turns—remembering what I had seen in the book—and kept me from being confused because of the bad shoes.

Later this same year—on Christmas day—God healed my other hip.  He had given me six months to learn the correct way to do my turns, allowing my other hip to hurt a little when I did them wrong—then healed this one.

08/1996 / A salvation, roofing, computer story. = We built our house over a period of years and (in 1989) ran out of money before installing carpet.  Our daughter was learning to crawl at this time and we wanted to have something for her to crawl on, as opposed to cement.  We asked God for His provision and soon after, experienced a hail storm which damaged the roof.  I re-roofed the house myself and saved enough money from the insurance payment to carpet the living room and to buy a camera to film her.

1996 — We have begun asking God for a computer and have just experienced another hail storm, which once again damaged the roof.  We wondered if this was God’s provision, thus, asked Him if I should re-roof it myself.  There was no answer, so I asked Him to stop me if this wasn’t His will.  Two days later, I walked into a large home improvement store and walked directly up to a tool made for removing shingles.  I didn’t know that this tool existed and it was clearly more than coincidence that I found it.  I knew that this was God’s answer.  As I began the job, however, things did not go well.  Removing the shingles was far more difficult than I expected.  (I shingled over the bottom layers of shingles, the previous time I roofed it.)   I decided to hire some day laborers to help me—Tony, Mike and Larry—three guys from Mexico.  While they were helping, my wife and I treated them the way that God tells us to treat the alien—with generosity, kindness and respect.  Roofing conditions, however, continued to worsen.  My helpers accidentally broke a vent pipe, then accidentally covered the air-conditioner—with shingles they had removed—causing it to quit.  In addition to this, storms suddenly appeared in the forecast.  Trying to protect my half-roofed house from the coming storm was one of the worst experiences of my life.  I was on the roof until 3:15 in the morning, arranging 10,000 pounds of packaged shingles, in order to hold down a temporary plastic rain barrier, in high winds.  (I was doing this alone, as I had taken my helpers back to the day laborer station the evening before.)  I worked so hard that I suffered from shakes and chills for about an hour after finally getting to bed.  I got up a few hours later, asked God if it was O.K. for me to quit, then called a roofing company to finish the job.  (I didn’t get an answer from God, thus, asked Him to keep me from finding a roofing company that could help, if this wasn’t His will.  The first roofing company that I called said they would be here in an hour or two.)

After calling the roofing company, I went to tell my helpers the situation, and that I was not going to need their help any more.  I still felt quite sick from the night before and did not feel like driving the approximately ten miles to tell them.  I knew, however, that they would be waiting on me to pick them up and would pass up other opportunities to find work that day.  I couldn’t let that happen.

Later that afternoon, while the roofing company was finishing the job, my wife and I were each praying silently, (though, neither knew that the other one was).  We were both asking God, “Why?”  Why did He get me started and then not help?  It was obvious that He had blessed my roofing efforts before, but had not done so this time.  I was tiring easily, getting blisters on my feet, and everything was going wrong—none of which had happened before.  So, why did He encourage me to start?  [We were asking respectfully, thanking Him for His ceaseless blessings in our lives, and understanding that He was not obligated to give us the answer.]  Suddenly, I had the thought that God was going to use our kindness — and the Bible tracts which we had given to our three helpers — to lead them to salvation.  I looked at my wife and said, “Well, maybe we’ll see Mike, Tony and Larry in Heaven.”  My wife looked at me, with a shocked look on her face, and said, “I was just imagining myself telling the Bible study group that we were going to see these three guys in Heaven.”  I then told her what one of the guys had said, “I liked the little book” (the Bible tract).  We had given them the Bible tracts the day before and he had said this to me this morning, when I went to tell them about hiring the roofing company.  It was obvious also, that he recognized my act of kindness — driving there to tell them so they wouldn’t be waiting in vain.  I believe that God used this and all of our acts of kindness to get their attention and lead them to read the tracts.

P.S. Mike, Tony and Larry were not the only ones blessed through all of this.  In addition to the incredible privilege of being used by God to bring these guys into His kingdom, God also answered our initial prayer.  Seven months after all of this had occurred–on 3/27/97–my employer presented me with a new computer for my twentieth anniversary with the company.  In regard to the air-conditioner, a friend of my dad’s came out and got it running, but wouldn’t charge us for the service.

08/30/1996 / God showed me a movie to rent. = By the grace and guidance of God, we are very particular about what we and our children watch — on T.V., etc.  (As a very wise father once said, “We don’t let our children watch network television for the same reason we don’t let them drink out of the toilet.”)  I was in a video rental store trying to find a ‘moral’ movie for our children to watch, which they had not already seen.  I was not having any success.  I prayed for God’s assistance and immediately a lady on the next aisle said to her son, “Here’s the Rescuers” (a Disney cartoon movie).  We had seen the “Rescuers Down Under,” which was very good, but had not seen this one.  The lady’s son was not interested, thus, she was putting it back on the shelf as I came around the corner.  It also turned out to be very good.

*** There are two pieces of technology available to help clean up movies and T.V. shows: “Clear Play” allows you to filter profanity, vulgarity, nudity, sensuality, violence, substance abuse and more–from the D.V.D. you are watching, or movie you are streaming–according to the levels you choose.  “T.V. Guardian” allows you to filter out profanity from T.V. shows and movies.  (For more information, see the “Wow, Didn’t Know That Was Available!” section on this website, under “Ministries and Resources.”)  [Philippians 4:8 / Psalm 101:3]

03/22/1997 / “Jungle Jam and Friends” = We have been looking for some adventure stories for our children to listen to, which encourage morality.  They have listened to the few we have many times.  We woke up on this Saturday morning and my wife asked me to turn on the radio to a particular Christian station.  I did, but by God’s sovereignty, got the wrong Christian station.  As we listened, we heard a very creative and funny adventure story teaching Biblical values to children.  It was called, “Jungle Jam and Friends” and it was great!  We learned that “Jungle Jam and Friends” was an entire series, so we called the radio station and asked them where they could be ordered.  Unfortunately, however, when we called to order the tapes, a recording said that they had been discontinued over a year before.  (This was in the days of cassette tapes.)

Later that day, we decided to go out and eat.  We got in the car and somebody suggested that we eat at the mall.  When we got there and went inside, my five year old son took off ahead of us—which was quite usual.  He then took a quick turn into the Christian bookstore, which was quite unusual.  We were in there often and he had grown quite resistant to the idea.  I followed him in and he walked right past a “Veggie Tales” movie playing on the T.V., which is about the only thing that could entice him into this store without an argument. (“Veggie Tales” is another creative and entertaining Christian adventure series for children).  After passing the T.V. he walked all the way to the back of the store and stopped at the wall.  I do not remember what he was looking at, but while waiting, I casually glanced above his head at the stuff on the top shelf.  My eyes immediately focused on two cassette packs of “Jungle Jam and Friends” story adventures.  Each pack contained six cassette tapes, with two stories each, for a total of twenty-four adventures.

03/27/1997 / A new computer. = We have been asking God for a computer—for our children and for us—and God has now provided us with one.  My employer has just presented me with a brand new computer for my twentieth anniversary with the company.  This is significant, not only because it is an answer to this prayer, but also because of an entry above (08/1996 / A salvation, roofing, computer story) as well an entry below (06/06/1997 / Yes, your son is right handed).

04/01/1997 / Pictures, pizza and providence. = We were preparing to take photographs—for marketing purposes—of some wrought-iron giftware items which my employer sells.  Just as we were about to begin, a (God ordained) pizza delivery driver arrived with lunch.  When he came in to our warehouse, he saw what we were doing and immediately corrected us on the way we were lighting the merchandise.  Our incorrect setup was going to result in shadows in the background which would have rendered the pictures unacceptable.  His input kept us from wasting money, as we had purchased fresh fruit and cut flowers to use as props, all of which would soon perish.  It also kept us from wasting time, as we could not leave the display in place while the photographs were being developed, and would have had to do it all again.  (The driver told us that he had worked in photography for twenty years.)

04/1997 / Explaining the human spirit. = My nine-year-old daughter was asking me some deep questions about spiritual things.  One question pertained to our physical bodies and our spirits.  I asked God to help me explain this matter to her and He gave me an analogy of a sponge and water.  Our physical body is like a sponge and our spirit is like water.  A body can have a spirit in it (as a sponge can have water in it) when a person is alive   Also, a body can be without a spirit (as a sponge can be without water in it) when a person has died and their spirit has gone to God.   (Ecclesiastes 12:6-7)

06/06/1997 / Yes, your son is right handed. = Shortly after our son was born, he successfully found his right thumb and began sucking it.  This lasted for an extended period of time and resulted in him becoming quite skilled at using his left hand for other activities.  Unfortunately, he continued favoring his left hand long after he quit sucking his thumb.  My wife and I had been wondering if we should get him to switch; to make his right hand his dominant hand.  (I felt that he was supposed to be right-handed, because this was the thumb that he had sucked.)  We also wondered how we would do it, if we were to make this decision.  (According to the National Academy of Child Development—N.A.C.D.—a person should be ‘one side dominant,’ but there are things to consider before making changes.  They also said that being ambidextrous is not good).  We had been asking for God’s guidance on this, and while listening to some audio tapes from the N.A.C.D., I finally grew comfortable with the decision to have him change.  I went to tell my wife.  On the way, God not only confirmed that this was the right decision; He showed me that He was already ahead of us on making the change.  As I walked through the room where my son was sitting, God strongly drew my attention to my son’s right hand.  He was using it to draw pictures with the computer mouse, in the computer program called “Paint,” which he thoroughly enjoyed.  (We had just received the computer—at the end of March—as another answered prayer.)  Without this computer, and its’ standard right-handed mouse, we would have had a much more difficult time getting him to change.

08/25/1997 / Warn them! = Satan (formerly, “Lucifer”) was an angel of the highest order, created by God.  He rebelled against God, convincing one-third of the angels to join him.  These rebellious angels are referred to in the Bible as demons.  Their primary objective—regarding humanity—is to keep us from humbling ourselves before God.  One of the schemes which they use in seeking to accomplish this goal, is to tell us that there are supernatural powers (and/or spiritual entities) available to help us, which do not require bowing to our Creator.  [For more information on this subject, see the poem “Hiding the Invisible-1, The Demonic and the Occult,” or the book which is available on this website.]

On this particular day, I was driving my car and turned on a Christian radio program.  The speaker was warning people about a particular kind of doll, which I had never heard of.  This was not a children’s toy, but rather a decorative doll which comes from a culture that worships spirits.  (Demons encourage people to believe that objects around us—everything from trees to these dolls—possess spirits.  Once this has been accomplished, they can communicate with them—pretending to be these spirits.)  About thirty minutes after hearing this program, I arrived at the arts and crafts store where I was headed.  Shortly after entering the store, I heard two ladies talking about these exact dolls (which were available in this store).  It was obvious that I was to warn them.  I said to them, “These spiritual forces are not as harmless as they would have people believe.”  I also told them to listen to the second part of the radio program, which I had just heard, which was to be aired the next day.  (Ephesians 6:11)

09/1997 / Salvation and a rip-off. = My employer was having financial problems and could not immediately afford to get a shipment released from U.S. Customs.  The Customs department subsequently allowed the merchandise to be auctioned off—two months earlier than expected.  Shortly after this had occurred, we received a call from the guy who had bought it.  He was offering to sell it to us, seeking to make a large profit.  God told me to offer him a certain amount, which was less than half of what he was asking.  The guy was strangely surprised by my politeness, my calm demeanor and my totally firm stand on the amount.  (I behaved this way, both because God had told me the amount to offer, and because I felt that there was something more going on from God’s perspective.)  The guy agreed to the offer and we made the deal.  God had also intervened, in that we (just prior to this event) had established the necessary channels for getting merchandise from the city where this guy was located, to our warehouse.  A few days later, we received the merchandise.  That night, I began to wonder, ‘Am I supposed to tell this guy—who tried to take advantage of us—about God’s offer of salvation?  Should I send him a letter explaining the gospel?’  Immediately after this thought, God put into my mind the title of a book which I had recently heard of.  I do not know anything about the book, but the title was, “Reading, Writing and Ripped Off.”  This told me that; Yes, I’m supposed to write a letter and he—the guy who tried to ‘rip us off’—is supposed to read it. (Luke 5:31-32)

1997 / God reveals demonic interference. = While talking to a lady about God—hoping to lead her into a relationship with Him—a demon began interfering with our conversation.  (The lady was a sales representative for a freight company which my employer used.)  While telling her of a particular time when God intervened in my life, the lady began feeling sick.  She grew steadily worse and our conversation had to end.  After accompanying her to her car and ensuring that she was O.K. to drive, we said good-bye.  Nothing seemed overly strange about this situation—and demonic interference would never have entered my mind—except for something the lady said.  She had been very interested in our conversation, and while apologizing for feeling sick, she said, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong.  Nothing you said should have bothered me.”  Probably without realizing it, she revealed to me that my witnessing was somehow connected to her feeling sick.  (This was, no doubt, God’s intervention, revealing to me that the enemy was involved!)  After praying for her, and allowing enough time for her to get back to her office, I called to make sure that she had arrived safely.  Years later, upon finishing, “The Second Most Incredible Book . . .” (available free on this website), I called her to see if she wanted a copy.  She still worked for the same freight company—thus, enabling me to contact her—but she had moved to a different state.  She eagerly gave me her address and I sent her a book in the mail.  I prayed for her at that time also, asking God to keep the enemy away from her while she read the book.

Late 1990’s / Demonic input times three. = During a span of a few weeks, God gave me several opportunities to tell people about Him.  I was also deeply involved in writing “The Second Most Incredible Book . . .” (available free on this website)—which serves the same purpose.  During this same time period, three separate friends were used to try to suppress my enthusiasm for serving God.  I would not have suspected demonic involvement, if not for the fact that all three of my friends used the same phrase—“You know how extreme you get”—and none of them had ever said anything like this before.  They also had no association with each other.  (Demons—the angels who rebelled against God—can inject thoughts into a person’s mind, intending for them to respond in some way which serves their purposes.) (Matthew 16:21-23)

01/21/1998 / God’s rapid-fire answer session. = My employer was at a critical point, regarding finances needed for the company.  We have been praying for God’s provision for some time, and today, my employer told me that He is considering borrowing against his house in order to provide for the shortfall.  He asked me to pray for specific guidance regarding this situation.  At lunch, I was asking God about this, and He answered me in a rapid-fire manner.  He first gave me a vision of a traffic light – indicating ‘stop.’  I quickly said, “God please confirm this.”  I saw a stop sign.  I asked, “Is there is anything else You would tell me?”  I saw stacks of money.  I asked, “Is there anything else, Lord?”  I saw a shipping box.  I said, “Anything else, Lord?” I saw a postman delivering.  God was telling me that my employer was to stop—to not borrow against his house—because the money which we needed was coming.

This particular communication was quite interesting.  When God gave me the vision of the traffic light, the light fixture was horizontal (so that the ‘Stop’ light was on the left, as opposed to being on top) and the vision was in black & white (as opposed to color).  The only way that I knew that it was the ‘Stop’ light which was lit, was my fading memory of seeing traffic lights hung like this when I was young.  This caused me to quickly ask God for a confirmation, which was then followed by more quick questions and more quick answers.  I felt somewhat irreverent, firing off questions at God, until I realized that He had sovereignly made this happen.  I believe that God did it this way, because I was asking for guidance for another person’s major decision and He wanted both me and my employer to know that this was His answer, and not my imagination.  The rapid interchange did not allow my mind the time to wander, possibly coming up thoughts myself.   (Proverbs 22:7)

02/21/1998 / A piano is a waste. = My wife and I have been praying and looking for a used piano, for our children to learn to play.  Our son is quite musical and our daughter is mildly interested.  We had purchased a beginner’s piano course for the computer, but it only comes with a partial keyboard.  Today, we—and approximately 300 other people—attended a marriage seminar at our church.  When we walked in, we sat down at a table next to another couple.  The man, it turns out, had just helped to move one of two old upright pianos which the church was getting rid of.  He told me who to talk to if we wanted the other one, and this person, it turns out, was the head of the Sunday School Department where I volunteer.  We got the piano, but our children ultimately lost interest and we ended up donating it to the Salvation Army.  This kept us from wasting money on purchasing one.

06/04/1998 / Passing out, a perfect catch. = Before each karate class, I pray for God’s protection for my students.  On this particular night, the air-conditioner had failed and the room was uncomfortably warm.  The students were not accustomed to the heat, so I was keeping the workout light and easy.  Even with this precaution, however, I walked in front of one of my students just in time to see her eyes waver.  They looked normal for a moment and then did it again.  I grabbed her just as she went limp.  She basically passed out in my arms and I was able to lay her gently on the floor.  She recovered in a couple of moments, and was uninjured.  If God had not have had me in that exact place, at that exact moment, looking at her eyes, she could have injured herself falling to the floor.

06/23/1998 / Breaking a spiritual stronghold. = As explained earlier, after viewing por – – graphy  {website will not allow actual word} when I was younger, it has been a years-long struggle to keep my thoughts pure.  There have been times of success and times of failure, but overall, I have experienced improvement.  Lately, however, I have been failing and it is very frustrating.  In response to this, God revealed to me that ‘often repeated sin’ gives our enemies (the angels who rebelled with Satan) strongholds in our lives.  This means that they have more power and authority to tempt us than they should have.  After learning this, I repented of this sin and broke the authority which I had given to the enemy – ‘in Jesus name.’  In that brief moment, my victory increased and my struggle decreased more than it had over a period of many years.  (2 Corinthians 10:4)

P.S. We can do this each time we fail, if we are absolutely serious in our repentance.  Insincere repentance, however, is not repentance.

To learn more about this subject, see ‘The Second Most Incredible Book . . . Chapter XI, Section 5-m’ (available free on this website).  Also read the poem, “Who’s Driving This Truck?” in the section, “Poetry with an Attitude.”

07/12/1998 / Vertigo and the ‘Great Physician.’ = People sometimes refer to God as “The Great Physician,” because He often heals His children in this life and will end all our problems in Heaven.  Sometimes, however, rather than healing us here—when it is His will that we get well—He leads us to the cure.  My wife had been suffering from Vertigo—off and on—for three months.  Several weeks ago, the third doctor whom she had gone to see (the first two simply treated the symptoms), did a blood test and ordered a cat-scan.  The cat-scan however—by God’s sovereignty—was delayed.  Today, while my wife was in line at our local pharmacy—picking up yet, another prescription for vertigo symptoms—she looked over and saw a book by the Mayo Clinic.  It was facing out and God caused her to notice the cover.  It was advertising a particular article—inside in the book—which explained how to do a physical maneuver to cure Vertigo.  She bought the book, did the maneuver and it worked!  The cat-scan was cancelled, her trips to the doctors ended and we thanked God greatly. *** The maneuver is called the “Canalith Repositioning Maneuver” or the “Epley Maneuver” and you look it up on the internet.   (P.S. There are different kinds of Vertigo, but this may do the job and it’s free.  )

07/1998 / A 1986 Oldsmobile Calais. = Several years before, we had purchased a used automobile, which was now falling apart.  It was in constant need of repairs and we desperately needed another car.  (Our good car was already twenty-four years old, but would last another thirteen).  I worked with a lady who had earlier, purchased a car for her son, which she was now going to sell.  She brought it to work, in order to store it behind the building until she could sell it.  While taking a bag of trash to the dumpster, I noticed the car and stopped to look at it.  It was just what we needed, but we did not have the money to buy it.  I laid my hands on the hood (which did nothing other than help me intensify my prayer) and asked God, “Lord, if it is your will, would you please give us the money to buy this car.”  No money came, but about a week later, the lady walked in and handed me the keys.  She said that God had told her to give me the car. (Philippians 4:19)

11/04/1998 / Should I quit my job? = My employer is sinking further—financially speaking—and it is affecting his ability to pay us—his employees.  I have begun asking God if I should find a different job and He either says, “No!” or remains silent.  This particular day, I asked, and He responded with a verse from His Word, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)God was telling me to trust Him with this situation, and I knew not to leave, if the last answer which He had given me was “No!” (F.Y.I. This situation would continue for another four years.  Read on and you will see what ultimately happened.)

01/08/1999 / God is like a tree. = While writing, “The Second Most Incredible Book . . .” (available free, on this website), I was answering the question, “What is God?”  While seeking a way to explain that He is triune—one God, who exists as three persons—He gave me the analogy of a tree.  (A tree has different parts—roots, wood and leaves—yet it is still one tree).  There is a very good children’s book (“3 in 1, A Picture of God”) which uses an analogy of an apple in the same way, but I did not want to copy their information, so I asked God for a different analogy.  As soon as I had prayed, I opened my eyes and was focused entirely on a tree in our front yard.  The different parts immediately came to mind and it was just what was needed. (Matthew 28:19,20)

02/11/1999 / Not the time to die. = My uncle was in the hospital—suffering from diabetes—when God had me pray that he would not be over-medicated.  I was at home in bed, when the words came to me, “over-stimulate,” followed by the words, “over-medicate.”  I was falling asleep at the moment and, thus, did not react to the words.  A moment later, I was hit with a very strong urge to pray for my uncle.  I immediately sat up and started praying for God’s intervention.  My uncle ultimately died from the disease, but it was not at this time.  God evidently had more for him to do, before bringing him home.  (P.S. He is in Heaven, as he had accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, earlier in his life and, thus, went immediately to Heaven when he died.) (Romans 10:9-11, Luke 23:43)

02/11/1999 / A vision from God / A change in prayer. = Nearing the completion of, “The Second Most Incredible Book . . .” (available free on this website), I had been asking God to prepare my family to receive it.  Upon praying this prayer today, God gave me the following vision.  (‘Several people were sitting on a park bench, and each one of them had a book lying next to them.  Suddenly, a very tall man walked up to one of them and snatched their book away.’)  God was telling me to begin praying that Satan would not be able to steal the message—of God’s eternal kingdom—which they were about to receive, through my book. (Matthew 13:3,4,18,19)

03/26/1999 / Supernatural / mechanical function. = Upon leaving work, I drove to the grocery store, then on to my house.  The car—a 1986 Oldsmobile Calais—gave me no trouble while driving and produced no unusual sounds.  Upon trying to start it again the next day, I discovered that serpentine-belt tensioner-pulley had worn out and broken.  The pulley wheel itself was broken—a large section of it missing, its’ axle was broken—rendering it unable to spin, and the whole unit was pressed firmly against another part of the engine.  This situation could not have all occurred while the car was turned off, yet the car could not be started until the part had been replaced.

05/15/1999 / God and the doctor. = My uncle has been hospitalized—suffering from diabetes—for the previous 4½ months.  He has had thirty different doctors try ‘unsuccessfully’ to help him with an inability to eat.  We—his family—have been asking God to intervene and to give his doctors wisdom regarding this problem.  The thirtieth doctor had just given up, when God answered our prayers.  The doctor told my aunt that he suddenly thought of two particular glands—which might be causing the problem—and prescribed a steroid.  It worked almost immediately.  My uncle was eating solid food the next day and was released from the hospital about ten days later.  The doctor told my aunt that the medicine worked so well and the situation improved so quickly that it was clearly “divine intervention.”

06/25/1999 / Priority – family. = While working on “The Second Most Incredible Book . . .,” available free on this website, my seven-year-old son walked in and started telling me about some of his many creative ideas and adventures.  (He was never at a loss for either.)  I told him, “I need to work on the book right now,” so he turned and walked away.  (I was spending a lot of time on the book, being very close to finishing it).  God then impressed upon me that I needed to stop and listen to my son.  Upon calling him back into the room—to have this conversation—I saw that he had been hurt by my reaction.  (I thank God for never being too busy for me, and for giving me the wisdom to not be too busy for my family.)

07/10/1999 / Hey, look – a Black Widow spider. = My family and I were playing around with our new computer—using an encyclopedia program which came with it—when we decided to look up “Black-Widow-spiders.”  After looking at the article, I got up and went to our garage.  Upon entering, I noticed a small black spot down by the floor.  It was a Black Widow spider and, because of its’ location, was a danger to my family.  If I had not been thinking about them—if God had not just sovereignly guided us to read about them on the computer—I would not have noticed it.

07/26/1999 / Living sauropod dinosaurs. = In the “The Second Most Incredible Book . . .,” available free on this website, I included the fact that people living in the Congo (in Africa) have reported seeing ‘dinosaurs’ in recent years.  I learned of this through Christian literature, but decided to look for some additional non-Christian sources—to support this point in the book.  I wanted to appease the more skeptical reader.  Shortly after making this decision, I was at work and had to move some boxes, which my employer was temporarily storing for a family in need.  One of the boxes was filled with old issues of “Omni” magazines and I randomly pulled one out of the middle.  On the cover it said, “Living Dinosaurs,” and was exactly what I needed.  This made me think about the “National Geographic” magazines which my dad had given me the week before, so I went home and looked through them.  There was another article there.  Before even asking God to help me find additional sources, He provided two of them. [Isaiah 65:24]  

Today, you can learn about “Mokele Mbembe” on Wikipedia on the internet , as well as about 2,000 year old electric batteries—“Baghdad Battery.”  Both of these are mentioned in my book, and neither one are surprising, when viewing the world through scientific, historical and Biblical truth.

I do not recommend National Geographic or Omni magazines, because of the plethora of pseudo-scientific articles encouraging belief in the Theory of Evolution.  If you want a quick debunking of the Theory of Evolution, read my poem, “True Brilliance, Evolution Exposed.”  If you want a more thorough debunking, read my book, ““The Second Most Incredible Book . . .” available free on this website. [2 Timothy 4:3,4]

08/03/1999 / A third magazine from the hand of God. = (Read the entry above to see the ‘first and second magazines from the hand of God.’)  I stopped by the public library to check-out some books which we needed for home-schooling our children.  On the way in, I saw that they were selling past issues of National Geographic magazines for ten-cents each.  Two weeks before this, my dad had given me a large stack of them.  I found three which we did not have and, thus, purchased them.  One of them had an article on the Vikings.  The next day, my wife was looking through her home-school curriculum and read the following: “Get a National Geographic magazine with an article on Vikings and read it” (to supplement the lesson.)

I do not recommend National Geographic magazines, because of the plethora of pseudo-scientific articles encouraging belief in the Theory of Evolution. If you want a quick debunking of the Theory of Evolution, read my poem, “True Brilliance, Evolution Exposed.”  If you want a more thorough debunking, read my book, “The Second Most Incredible Book . . .”, available free on this website. [2 Timothy 4:3,4]

08/11/1999 / One healing for two children. = My seven-year-old son had a stomach-ache and was crying because of the pain.  I said a prayer for him and he immediately stopped crying; the pain was gone.  My ten-year-old daughter witnessed this and asked, “Why did ‘J’ stop crying?”  She was aware of what had just happened, but was looking for confirmation.  God not only blessed us by relieving my son’s stomach-ache, but by showing my children once again, His loving involvement in our lives.  (God does not heal His children every time we ask—if eternal needs prevail—and all Christians die and go to Heaven.  We are foolish, however, if we do not ask.)  [James 5:14]

08/1999 / Eternal security – transforming children into puppets? = For a thorough discussion of this subject—with Scripture Verses included—read, “A Christian Become Un-Saved?” in the section “Did God Really Say?” on this website.  If you are not convinced by what the Bible says, do not believe what I have written here!

Before explaining all that God did in this situation—seven different things—there is an extremely important fact which needs to be stated:  Our relationship with God—once entered into—cannot be lost, stolen, nor taken away. (i)  This is because salvation—this loving eternal relationship—is a free gift from the Sovereign, Omnipotent, Creator and Ruler of the universe. (ii)  There is no person, place or thing which can remove one of God’s children from His hands. (iii)  Nor can a child of His commit a sin and, thus, forfeit their salvation.  Since we do not earn salvation by obeying Him, (iv) (obedience is the result of salvation, not vice-versa), we cannot lose it by disobeying Him. (v)

Frighteningly, however, we can give our salvation back. (vi)  God made human beings volitional—He gave us ‘free-will’—so we could choose to accept Him – choose to make Him our Lord, Savior and Father.  He does not change us into puppets—remove our ‘free-will’—the moment we do.  Sin is, unfortunately, still attractive to God’s children and can still turn us away from Him. (vii)  Thankfully, though, when we accept Him, He offers us the power to resist temptation.  If we fail to ask Him for help, however, and willingly walk deeper and deeper into some area of sin, we may ultimately decide (as before salvation) that we would rather have our sin than God. (viii)  (An all-loving and powerful Husband and Father would certainly stop someone from taking His family.  He would not, however, force His family to stay if they chose to leave, nor turn them into puppets.)

*** If you are a Christian who is in love with God — relax.  No one ever gave back their salvation who wanted to keep it, and no one in Heaven will ever do it, as we will be perfect people in a perfect environment.  If, however, you are a Christian who is in love with your sin, ask God for help – fast!  If you reject Him again after salvation, He will not call you a second time. (ix)

Having said all of this, this subject—the true meaning of ‘eternal security’—is often debated in Christian circles.  In fact, all of the best Bible teachers—the ones I respect the most and who God has used most in my life—would disagree with me on this point.  They would all say, ‘Once saved, always saved; no one can give back their salvation!’  Because of this, I was hesitant to include this in “The Second Most Incredible Book . . .” (available free on this website).  God, however, was not!  He intervened seven different times regarding this matter, and would not let me leave it out of the book.  Below are the ways He guided me.

1^st – God gave me an understanding of this subject years before, when a friend asked me about it.  2^nd – God confirmed my understanding when another friend—a church deacon—questioned what I was planning to write in the book.  God had led me to Hebrews 6:4-6, which I showed to my friend.  After looking it up in a different Bible translation, he came back ‘shocked’ and told me that I was right.  3^rd – A third friend—a seminary student—questioned what I was planning to write and subsequently loaned me one of his seminary books.  The book—well respected by many, including me—disagreed with me on this point.  While reading what the authors had to say about Hebrews 6:4-6, God showed me the breakdown in their reasoning.  (A person cannot crucify Christ again—by rejecting Him again—if they have not truly accepted Him before.)  4^th – The lady who was proof-reading my book for me questioned it.  While gathering my thoughts on this subject—preparing to write her a letter—a preacher came on the radio and gave five different Bible verses which confirmed what I had written.  5^th – Still hesitant about including it in the book, another preacher came on the radio.  He presented several Bible verses which, according to his understanding, showed – ‘once saved – always saved.’  As he read the verses, however, God showed me how each one actually said the opposite.  Each verse contained the word “if” in it, which God emphasized in my hearing.  6^th – Soon after this, (and still uncomfortable with the situation), God led me to another verse: 1-Timothy 6:20-1.  7^th – God’s final confirmation came when my deacon friend (mentioned 2^nd above) came to express great concern over this point in the book.  After doing more research on this subject, He became absolutely convinced that I was right, but asked, “How could so many great theologians have been wrong?’  *** I cannot answer this question, for compared to these great theologians, my knowledge is certainly lacking.  What I do know is this; when God tells you something, then confirms it six different times—using a number of Scripture verses—you accept what He says and you do what He’s telling you to do:  I included it in the book.

(i) John 10:28, (ii) Ephesians 2:8,9, (iii) Romans 8:38,39, (iv) Titus 3:5, (v) 1 John 1:9, (vi) 2 Peter 3:17,  James 5:19,  John 15:4‑6, Hebrews 3:12-14, Hebrews 6:4-6, Hebrews 10:26-29, 2 Timothy 2:11-13  (vii)Hebrews 3:12-14, 1 Timothy 6:20-21 (viii) 2 Timothy 2:11‑13, (ix) Hebrews 6:4‑6]

Late 1999 / “A Land of Kings.” God dictates the introduction. = While writing “The Second Most Incredible Book . . .”—available to download free on this website—satisfaction with the introductory chapter seemed impossible.  Re-writing it multiple times over the years, it just never seemed to ‘hit the target.’  As I was finishing the last part of the book, however, God suddenly and graciously intervened.  He guided me in writing the introduction, doing it more comprehensively than anything else He has ever led me to write.  He gave me an analogy—which I titled, “A land of Kings”—the thoughts coming so quickly that I had to write very fast, so as not to miss anything that He was telling me.  (This is the only time that He has ever guided me like this.)  The major difference between this introduction and all my failed attempts—other than my ideas not being analogies—was the subject of ‘desire.’  My attempts were aimed at telling the reader that they could bring God ‘alive and kicking’ into their lives.  There is a problem, however: Without an adequate understanding of God, people don’t want to bring Him into their lives.  (As one preacher put it; “Most people can’t find God for the same reason that a criminal can’t find a police officer.”)  The introduction needed to accomplish the same thing as the rest of the book, ‘to reveal that we—needy, sinful, rebellious people—can find the most awesome and wonderful life through a personal relationship with our infinitely loving, merciful and gracious God; a relationship which will last forever.  It also needed to reveal the incredibly horrid results of failing to do so.  This ‘Land of Kings’ introduction accomplishes all of this.

P.S. The book’s entire title is, “The Second Most Incredible Book about God, Life, Death, Heaven, Hell, Satan, the Theory of Evolution and the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence.”

12/End/1999 / Finishing a book in God’s time. = My original intent for writing “The Second Most Incredible Book . . . (available free on this website), was to lead my extended family (and friends) into, or deeper into a relationship with God.  Regarding my family, God sovereignly guided the process so that the book was finished at the perfect time.  It was just prior to Christmas and a big family reunion, which meant that all my relatives would be together.  I was able to personally hand each one of them a copy.

12/25/1999 / A demonic counter attack. = After delivering books to the members of my extended family (see entry above), demons made a strong attempt to get my immediate family caught up in a squabble which involved members of my extended family.  If they had been successful, my relatives would have been less likely to read the book.  (Demons—including Satan—are angels who have rebelled against God.)  The squabble occurred during our Christmas celebration and was about to draw my seven-year-old son into it.  God made me aware of the demonic aspect of what was happening—keeping me from getting involved—and led my wife to take my son out for a walk.  We avoided the conflict, but other family members did not fare as well.  To my knowledge, this is the only time that anything like this has ever occurred during one of our family’s celebrations.

01/2000 & forward / Old friends appear by the hand of God. = This pertains to the book—which is now available as an e-book on this website—which was completed in December of 1999.  Upon finishing it, I began asking God to bring back into my life, many of my former karate students and other friends, so I could give them a copy.  Although, they had been gone for years (some more than fifteen) God quickly began answering my prayers!  In January, Rick, a former student recognized my car and drove up next to me on the road.  In February, Mike, a former student came and worked out with my class.  In February, Russell, a former co-worker came to visit at work.  (During our conversation, my boss realized that he had contact information for Mark, another former co-worker and friend).  In June, Greg, a former student contacted me from out of state.  (He said that he just wanted to talk to someone from his past.)  In June, a former student called me, saying, “Sensei (teacher), this is Gretchen; I don’t know why I am calling.”  I instantly responded, “I do!”  (I had fun with that one.)

02/19/2000 / A computer brain is better than a V.C.R. brain. = My son—like most children with A.D.D.—is very gifted and highly intelligent.  His self-image, however, increasingly suffers as he fixates more on his challenges than on his gifts.  He has been feeling increasingly bad about himself for some time and I asked God to help me encourage him.  God then gave me the most wonderful analogy; the difference between a computer and a video cassette recorder/player (V.C.R.).  I called to my son’s attention, the capabilities of a computer compared to those of a V.C.R.  I reminded him that a computer can do everything a V.C.R. can do, plus a whole lot more.  I then asked him which is more difficult to learn and to control, and which would he rather have.  He said, “A computer!”  I then told him that he has a computer brain, while the rest of us have V.C.R. brains.  This was exactly what he needed and still encourages him years later.

05/11/2000 / God heals the lady – weird! = My employer’s wife has been suffering for approximately five weeks from a severe pain in her arm, which neither regular doctors, chiropractors nor medicine have been able to help.  On the evening of May 10^th—at the request of my employer—I prayed very intensely for her healing.  My employer and his wife were at home doing the same. Today—on the 11^th—she was out walking (and praying some more), when God suddenly answered our prayers.  He healed her in an instant.  As He did, she said that it felt like something left her body.

03 thru 07/2000 / Damaging hail and beautiful weather – two gifts from God. = Because of the financial state of my employer—and the fact that God has not given me the O.K. to find another job—we are in great need of money.  In response to our prayers for provision, God once again sent a damaging hail-storm.  It came in March and the insurance company paid us for everything from re-roofing and re-painting the house, to straightening the coils on the air-conditioner.  I had no problem taking time off from work and, thus, was able to make all of the repairs myself.  We saved all of the profit and labor costs which we would have paid to someone else.  This helped greatly with our financial needs.  Also, during the time that I was re-roofing—the last two weeks of July—the high temperatures were only in the mid-nineties.  They had been around 105 degrees during the weeks before.  These unusually cooler temperatures enabled me to work for around sixteen hours a day and I got the job done.  [Philippians 4:19]

08/11/2000 / Tourette’s Syndrome. = We took our eight-year-old son to the elders of our church to have them pray for him.  (They also anointed him with oil.)  We were asking God to heal him of Tourette’s Syndrome (T.S.).    My employer—who is an elder in his church—joined us.  God did not choose to heal our son at this time, but three days later, He gave my employer a vision.  [In the vision, our son—slightly taller than he was at this time—was walking through a field of slightly tall grass.  He was wearing a short sleeve shirt.  He walked for an extended distance, but did not show any of the tics associated with T.S.] My employer did not understand all of the aspects of the vision, but I did.  Our son, being slightly taller, meant that he was slightly older.  Wearing a short sleeve shirt meant that this was occurring during the summer.  The taller grass represented the fields around our house—which are basically weeds—which do not get mowed regularly.  The fact that the grass was only slightly taller meant that it had just been mowed and the allergens would have been at their worst.  (The worse our son’s allergies get, the worse his T.S. affects him.)  This vision told us that God was either going to heal our son over time, or that his T.S. was going to go away on its own.  [Now, years later, our son has developed O.C.D.—which God has not chosen to heal (yet?)—but his T.S. is 95% gone.]  [James 5:14-15]

08/19/2000 / A prayer, a movie, a lesson in love. = We pray continually for our children—that God will help them to live and to love according to His will.  As part of God’s answer to this prayer, He guided us—at the perfect time—to get a movie for our children to watch.  It was titled, “Summer of the Monkeys.”  I saw it in the video rental store and came very close to renting it, but didn’t.  The following Sunday, we were in our church library and saw it there also.  We checked it out.  Watching it was clearly ordained by God.  It was a story about sacrificial love and had obvious similarities and important applications to what our children were doing and facing at this time in their lives.  It was a story about two young children—a brother and a sister—the younger with special needs, and revolved around the oldest one’s love of horses and horseback riding.  (We have two young children—a boy and a girl—the younger with special needs, and our oldest loves horses and is involved in horseback riding.)

10/early/2000 / God opens the door to an affordable warehouse. = The company I work for is continuing to go downhill—financially speaking—and we are in desperate need of a less expensive office/warehouse facility.  We have been asking God for help and He has once again provided.  My employer contacted our landlord, asking about the possibility of getting out of our lease early.  The man quickly agreed.  He let us out one year early.  He gave my employer the necessary papers to sign—to end the lease—on October the fourth and said that he would pick them up on the fifth.  This happened so quickly, that we had not had time to locate another facility, thus, my employer was afraid to sign.  Our landlord did not show up on the fifth, but my employer—by the hand of God—did stumble onto another facility.  It had the exact number of offices we needed, along with a very small warehouse.  Getting out of the lease, also meant that we would need to be out of our current facility by the end of the month and this new one was vacant and ready for move-in.  In addition to all of this, our company’s credit had become an issue, but the new landlord said we could move in anyway.  We would also need money—which we did not have—for the final month’s rent on the former lease, as well as two month’s rent for the new lease (the first month’s rent, plus a one month security deposit).  All the money needed came in on the day we needed it.  (Being in this new facility cut our rent by more than fifty-percent, lowered our utility bills and enabled us to miss the balloon-payments which were about to start on the previous lease.)

11/23/2000 / God repeats Himself – ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’ = In order to protect my daughter from the sinful and, thus, destructive influence of a friend of hers, I had to say ‘No’ to their relationship.  I made it clear to both of them that they were no longer to talk to each other.  This other person tried to call my daughter this morning and I answered the phone.  After stating the rule again, I said, “Goodbye, I’m sorry it has to be this way,” and hung up the phone.  My daughter then came into the room and asked me who had called.  I told her, then reminded her of what God says (in the Bible) – ‘bad company corrupts good character,’ and ‘a companion of fools suffers harm.’  Shortly after our conversation, we—my family and I—got into our car and began the trip to my parent’s house for Thanksgiving dinner.  In seeking to lighten the mood—because of what had just occurred—we decided to play an “Adventures in Odyssey” cassette from a series which we had just purchased.  My wife randomly pulled one out of the package and plugged it in.  The cassette had two stories, one of which was titled “Bad Company.”  This story not only addressed the exact subject which we had just discussed—focusing on the same Bible verse that I had quoted to my daughter—the fictional character in the story (the bad influence) had the same first name as my daughter’s friend.  My daughter never again, questioned my decision.  (“Adventures in Odyssey” is a very creative children’s series—teaching Biblical values and wisdom—produced by “Focus on the Family”.)  P.S. After many years of prayer, a lot of things changed and I had the awesome privilege of baptizing my daughter’s friend. [1 Corinthians 15:33, Proverbs 13:20] 

12/18/2000 / Waiting upon God saves a life. = As my employer continues to plummet financially, I currently find myself with no work to do and running eight months behind on salary.  In spite of all this, God continues to tell me to wait upon Him—telling me not to leave my job.  He confirmed this again on the first of December.  As a result of this situation—having no work and no money—I have been helping my parents with some things around their house, for which they have been paying me.  I have felt quite uncomfortable with this situation, as I do not like charging my parents and have not felt that they really required my assistance—until now.  We have just discovered that my dad needs emergency heart surgery.  What we have learned from the doctor—and why it was ordained by God that I should be helping my parents—is that if my dad was to do anything strenuous, it would most likely kill him.  He has some blockage in one of his veins—“which is being held by a thread.”  If this blockage was to break loose—which could happen upon exertion—it would plug a chamber of his heart and kill him instantly.  (P.S. My dad would end up getting a quadruple bypass and would be much healthier after his surgery.)

01/22/2001 / A song to fix a propane leak. = I discovered that there was a small propane leak somewhere in the gas-pipe running to our fireplace.  I was unable to find the exact location and was quite leery of tightening the pipes further.  I was afraid that the connection threads might bend or break, thereby, causing an even larger leak.  I was frightened for my wife and children and was asking God what I should do.  He answered me with the lyrics from a Christian song (which He played in my mind).  The lyrics were: “We won’t bend and we won’t break, we will do all that it takes, we won’t compromise a future generation.”  Soon after receiving God’s guidance, I tightened the pipes a little further and the leak was fixed.  Months after receiving God’s guidance, I discovered that He had changed the lyrics to the song and I had been singing it wrong ever since then.  The actual lyrics are: “We won’t bend and we won’t break, we won’t water down our faith, we won’t compromise in a world of desperation. . . We must be a light for a future generation.”

04/09/2001 / Lifted out of depression. = Upon waking this morning, I felt very depressed, which is totally abnormal for me.  It was obvious that this was the result of a demonic counter-attack, although, I could not tell if it was because of dreams they had given me and/or because they were somehow affecting my neurological system.  (Demons are the angels who have rebelled against God).  I commanded the demons to leave ‘in Jesus name’ (Christians have this authority) and then asked God to remove my depression.  It left instantly. [Job 7:13-14, Luke 10:17]

05/04/2001 / Let her go camping. = Our twelve-year-old daughter was preparing to go on a camping trip.  The trip was being sponsored by a well-known organization of which she was a member.  Upon reading about the ungodly changes that the organization is undergoing, I became very uncomfortable with letting her go.  I was considering saying, “No, you cannot go!”  Before making this decision, however, I asked God to comfort me if it would be safe for her to go.  The ‘heavy emotional burden’ which I was feeling instantly left.  We also received a scholarship which paid for her fees.  (P.S. Changes in this organization have continued over the years and if asking today, God’s answer might not be the same.  For Christian alternatives to Scouting, look at the section, “Wow, Didn’t Know That Was Available” in the “Ministries and Resources” section on this website.)

05/22-24/2001 / A healing and a water park. = We had planned—and already paid for—a trip to the water-park for our family.  Because of our financial situation, this was to be a rare and wonderful day.  On the 22^nd of May, however, our nine-year-old son woke up sick.  This would, potentially, ruin our plans. (We had obtained the tickets at a discount and they had to be used on the 24^th.)  On the evening of the 22^nd, when we saw that our son was getting worse, we asked God to heal him.  The next morning, our son woke up and told us that He had.  He was totally well and we were able to go to the water-park the next day.

05/28/2001 / Friendly people, information and a wrecker. = My family and I were driving to the lake for Memorial Day.  On the way there, our car started to malfunction.  We made a u-turn and started back home, but didn’t make it.  We did, however, reach a gas station before it quit.  A lady at the gas station was very nice and very helpful, and put us in touch with a wrecker company.  A very nice and very helpful driver came to get us.  He not only took us back to our house, he told me exactly what was wrong with the car.  God, not only provided us with the help we needed—including getting us to the gas station—He provided us with the information we needed.  The man driving the wrecker was actually the mechanic for his company.  He was driving the wrecker that day, because two of the regular drivers were out.

06/16/2001 / Demons do the weirdest things. = I was upset with my wife and decided to work-out on my punching-bag to get rid of the stress.  (I was not planning on hitting it in anger, as this goes against the wisdom of God, as well as everything that I teach in karate.)  P.S. In case you are wondering—how a ‘real man’ treats his wife—I would cut off my arm before I would hit her. [1 peter 3:7]  

Anyway, on the very first punch to the bag, the supporting chain slipped out of the ‘S’ hook at the top of the bag.  What was interesting was the fact that the chain was far too thick to slip back in.  I had to use a pair of channel-lock-pliers and a small pry-bar to open the ‘S’ hook wide enough to slip the chain back into it.  I then had to bend it back into its’ original shape.  I knew that a demon had to be responsible for this, as there was no physical explanation for what had just happened, and it was a perfect opportunity for them to try to increase my anger.  (Demons are angels who have rebelled against God).  I commanded them to get away from my house and family ‘in Jesus’ name’ (Christians have this authority) and then went to work-out on the bag.  Their plan to increase my anger failed, as I was so intrigued by what they had done, that my anger had greatly subsided before even starting to hit the bag. [Acts 12:10]

07/04/2001 / Praying away an evil neighbor? = Today, while mowing our lawn, I glanced over at a real-estate sign which had been placed in the lot next to ours.  At the very moment I saw the words, “For Sale,” God put a name in my mind; “Lucritia MacEvil.”  (Lucritia MacEvil was fictitious evil character in a song which was popular when I was young.)  Without further words, I understood what God was telling me.  A very evil person was considering buying this lot—thus, becoming our neighbor—and we needed to pray against it.  I prayed at that time, as well at several other times with my wife.  God answered our prayers.  The real estate sign stayed up for a while longer and was then removed.  Another ten years would go by before the lot was finally sold and built upon. [ James 5:16]

09/27/2001 / God finally says, ‘It’s time to go.’ = After years of financial strain—working for a company which is slowly dying—God has finally given me the ‘O.K.’ to find a different job.  Before today, whenever I had asked Him about leaving, He either said to ‘wait upon Him,’ or remained silent.  Lately, I have been feeling that it was time to leave and, therefore, asked Him again.  After praying, I opened the Bible and started reading.  God had sovereignly guided me to Proverbs 16:26, which read, “The laborer’s appetite works for him; his hunger drives him on.”  Wanting to be sure that this was His answer, I fervently prayed, “Please guide me in all of this.”  This was very stressful for me—leaving a job after twenty-five years and doing what God had previously told me not to do—but after praying, a great peace came over me. (It started at my head and moved down to my feet).  In addition to giving me this peace, the Lord also called to my attention, the fact that three very time consuming projects which I had been working on were now finished.  Two were projects for Him and one was my résumé.  (I had been working on my résumé—for whenever God might tell me that it was time for me to go—the timing of which was also obviously under His control.)  [Proverbs 3:5-6]

10/25/2001 / Not the job for me. = Now that God has given me the ‘O.K.’ to look for another job—see the entry above—I have learned that a major video rental company is holding a job-fair for their distribution center near my home.  Planning to attend, I asked God if He had any guidance for me regarding this particular company or the position I was seeking.  He instantly reminded of the immoral content which is so prevalent in most of the movies today.  This made me realize that I could not work for a company which provides a product – which I would never allow in my own house.  (As a very wise father once said, “We don’t let our children watch network television for the same reason that we don’t let them drink out of the toilet.”  The same wisdom can be applied to most of the movies being produced today.)

*** There are two pieces of technology available to help clean up movies and T.V. shows: “Clear Play” allows you to filter profanity, vulgarity, nudity, sensuality, violence, substance abuse and more–from the D.V.D. you are watching, or movie you are streaming–according to the levels you choose.  “T.V. Guardian” allows you to filter out profanity from T.V. shows and movies.  (For more information, see the “Wow, Didn’t Know That Was Available!” section on this website, under “Ministries and Resources.”)  [Philippians 4:8 / Psalm 101:3]

11/12/2001 / Another assist from God. = After finishing “The Second Most Incredible Book . . .” available free on this website, God started getting me back in touch with old friends, so I could give them a copy.  He did it again today.  During lunch, I went to the public library for ‘an internet job search class.’  Discovering that the class had been changed to a different day, I decided to look around the library.  While in the video section, I noticed two videos featuring my style of karate.  This was extremely surprising—my style is basically unknown in this part of the country—and I wondered if God might be involved in this.  (This thought was from God.)  After lunch, I went back to work – to do some data entry for my boss.  (I was still working for my employer—even though he could pay me very little.  See 09/27/2001 entry.)  One of the addresses to be entered into the computer was in Whittier, California.  This name instantly caught my attention, as this was where one of my karate instructors had lived years before.  I had not remembered the name of this city and, thus, had not sent him a book.  Entering a multitude of names and addresses into the computer, this particular city would not have caught my attention—if I had not had been thinking about God and karate (the result of my experience in the library).  A friend of mine at work was able to verify that my former instructor still lived in this city and provided me with his mailing address.

12/21/2001 / God’s fingerless T.V. remote. = While watching a movie with my ten-year-old son, I grabbed for the T.V. remote, seeking to change the channel before a gory scene appeared.  (We knew what to expect from the movie we were watching and the intense parts were quite predictable.)  Unfortunately, in my haste, I reached for the V.C.R. remote by mistake.  Realizing my error, I changed direction and started to grab the other one.  Unfortunately, it was too late.  God, however, wasn’t!  Without touching either remote, the channel changed – and the gory scene remained unseen.

*** There are two pieces of technology available to help clean up movies and T.V. shows: “Clear Play” allows you to filter profanity, vulgarity, nudity, sensuality, violence, substance abuse and more–from the D.V.D. you are watching, or movie you are streaming–according to the levels you choose.  “T.V. Guardian” allows you to filter out profanity from T.V. shows and movies.  (For more information, see the “Wow, Didn’t Know That Was Available!” section on this website, under “Ministries and Resources.”)  [Philippians 4:8 / Psalm 101:3]

12/28/2001 / The fever’s gone, the party’s on. = Yesterday was our daughter’s thirteenth birthday.  We had a special day planned for her, culminating in a slumber party for her and five of her friends.  Unfortunately, when she woke up the day before, she had a fever, a sore throat and nausea.  We asked God to heal her—if it was His will—and He did.  She woke up on her birthday feeling great, showing no signs of illness, and had a wonderful day.  (P.S. God does not heal us every time we ask.  Sometimes, His greater plan requires Him to say “no.”)

01/15/2002 / Is God’s arm too short? = We are out of money, are receiving no income from my failing employer (see 09/27/2001 entry.), and now; ‘a traffic ticket.’  Seeking to obey traffic laws is standard practice for me, especially considering our financial situation, but I briefly failed to pay attention to my speed.  Quite stressed over all of this, I was asking God for His provision, as well as for peace.  He then said to me, “Is my arm too short?” (to reach you and to take care of you?)  This is the same question that He asked Moses, before miraculously providing for two-million people who were traveling through a desert.  This brought me great peace. [Numbers 11:23]

01/22/2002 / Home-school curriculum. = God guided us to home-school our children and my wife determined that a particular curriculum would be the best for our daughter during her eighth grade year.  Unfortunately this particular curriculum was expensive and we had no way of paying for it.  Shortly after this, my sister called us from Germany.  She had just learned that a friend of hers—living on the same military base—was selling this exact curriculum (for eighth grade) and she purchased it for us.

01 – 02/2002 / God states it very clearly. = As previously explained, we are in terrible shape—financially speaking—and have gotten into this situation following God’s guidance—remaining with an employer who has been increasingly unable to pay me.  The Lord has recently allowed me to start looking for a different job, but has begun to warn me to be patient and to get His guidance before making any moves.

On January 17^th, I woke up with the lyrics of a song playing in my head: “I will praise You in the morning and I will learn to walk in Your ways, and step by step You will lead me and I will follow You all of my days.”  Around this time, I also began hearing sermons—at church, on the radio and on T.V.—about being patient and not getting ahead of God.  The morning of January 21^st, brought the lyrics of a different song: “Every move I make, I make with You, Every step I take, I take with You.”  On February 7^th, my sister e-mailed me from Germany and told me that while she was having Bible study, God urged her to give me some particular verses from His Word (Numbers 9:15-23).  These verses, not surprisingly, presented the same message again.  A couple of days later, my wife heard a sermon which emphasized remaining steadfast—in trusting God—and that we can be sure that He will restore what has been lost.

04/21/2002 / More home-school curriculum. = God guided us to home-school our children and my wife wanted to use a particular curriculum for some of our son’s fifth-grade classes.  This curriculum was to be done on a computer, which would both thrill our son and take a load off my wife’s shoulders.  We could not afford it and, thus, were asking God for help.  We soon learned, however, that our computer was too old to run the program.  A few days later, we walked into a little store—which sold used computer hardware—looking for a monitor.  My wife saw a shoe-box full of used software sitting on the counter and began to look through it.  She pulled out the exact curriculum she wanted – in an older format.  The cost was only five-dollars, because it was too old to work on newer computers.

04/27/2002 / Thou shall not breed Guinea Pigs. = My wife and I had yielded to our children’s requests, agreeing to get each of them a Guinea Pig.  Two, however, was the limit we had set; one each and no babies!  They both had to be the same sex.  When we walked into the pet store, our son immediately picked out the one he wanted – from the cage of males.  He saw it and really, really liked the way it looked.  He got very excited!  Unfortunately, our daughter had decided which one she wanted the day before.  It was in the cage of females.  The store clerk began getting them out so our children could hold them, while my wife and I were looking at each other, thinking, “Oh-no!”  Just then, we heard the clerk say, “uh-oh.”  He was very surprised to find that the one that he was handing my daughter was a male, which he had just removed from the cage of females.

04/28/2002 / Can Dr. Spock love? = If a fictional character could have ever been a hero in my eyes, it would have been ‘Dr. Spock’ from the T.V. series ‘Star-Trek.’  (Spock was extremely logical, but without emotions.)  I did not enjoy the evolutionary and atheistic overtones of the series, but I did admire the extreme logic of this imaginary character.  Needless to say, I am very logical in my thinking.  Because God made me this way, He—in His infinite wisdom—gave me a wife who loves greatly and feels deeply; so I wouldn’t turn out like Spock.  He also gave me a daughter who is now a teenager.  (We have now departed ‘Star Trek’ and entered the ‘Twilight Zone’—a T.V. series where nothing makes sense.)  I do not understand my daughter and she does not understand me.  We are continually ‘butting heads’ and I need more help with my daughter than my wife can give me.  I have been asking God for help and today, He gave me some guidance.  While preparing for a Sunday-School lesson, He strongly called my attention to the following verse: “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” (Ephesians 4:2).  I knew, without question, that He was speaking to me through this verse, telling me how to interact with my daughter.  Now I simply needed His infinite power to help me do it

05/12/2002 / Healing through a con-artist. = I believe that most of the so-called ‘faith-healing’ which is seen on television is staged.  Most of these people are con-artists—deceiving people in the name of God—and should be terrified of facing Him on judgment day.   Having said this, I also know that God does what God wants to do.  My wife had injured her right shoulder and was hurting greatly.  We prayed intensely for God to heal her.  A short time later, she was watching a ‘questionable’ church program on television, when the preacher said, “Someone who is watching is going to have their right shoulder healed.”  He also described her symptoms accurately.  At the moment he said this, God—not the preacher—healed her.  Her shoulder was instantly better and pain free.

F.Y.I. We did not become regular viewers of this preacher—who I doubt was truly a Christian, for his teaching often disagreed with the Bible—and we did not start sending him money.  It is bad stewardship to send God’s money to a con-artist.  (Everything we have belongs to God—including our money—and we are simply stewards of it.)  It is good stewardship, however, to support ministries which are truly serving God and using His resources wisely.  (We tithe regularly to our Church and sometimes give extra to other ministries.)  [Matthew 7:22-23]

(P.S. God has at times—in order to get a specific message through to someone—caused them to hear something in a sermon which was actually never spoken by the preacher.  He has done this with me, and this may be what happened in this situation.)

06/18/2002 / God’s wine and banana-pepper cure. = After assisting with our church’s youth camp—and swimming in the lake with the kids—I returned home with my son, as well as a lingering stomach problem.  My stomach began to bother me after every meal.  After approximately ten days of this condition, and asking God to heal me, He gave me the cure—‘banana peppers;’ ‘Hot’ banana peppers!  I had ordered a salad for lunch and it came with two banana-peppers.  After eating one of them—which was potentially the hottest banana-pepper ever grown—the other one ended up in the refrigerator.  (Jalapenos are a regular part of my diet, and this was about as hot as any jalapeno I had ever eaten.)  Immediately after lunch—while talking to a friend about my stomach problem—she told me of a natural cure—‘spicy hot food.’  I immediately went back and ate the second pepper—which was also abnormally hot.  I also drank a glass of wine—because of a verse in the Bible [1 Timothy 5:23].  My stomach was cured!

F.Y.I. – Drinking alcoholic beverages is not forbidden by God, but getting drunk is – and I know why.  I am surrounded by people who have severely damaged or destroyed their lives and families with the help of alcohol and drugs, and it is heartbreaking.  Personally, my wife and I now totally abstain from drinking, because a friend of mine told me that our son would be very susceptible to addictions.  He told me that he recognized it in my son, because he and my son were very much alike and he had experienced this problem himself.  We later confirmed this potential problem through the health and medical research which my wife did in raising our son.  [1 Corinthians 10:23-33]

We also totally abstain from using marijuana or other drugs because of wisdom.  We love each other, enjoy being healthy, fear physical and psychological addictions—marijuana is a gateway to harder drugs—and abhor the thought of inviting demonic influence into our lives (which can occur when people are in altered states of consciousness).  Whenever we need help in handling life, we run to God.  He doesn’t come with any negative side effects.  [Isaiah 41:10]

07/2002 / Every man’s battle. = Sexual temptation is a battle that every man faces and that every Christian man can win – if we win it in the mind.  Jesus says that if a man looks at a woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew 5:28).  We must, therefore, win this battle in the thought realm (to avoid fighting it in the physical realm).  Victory requires three things: the desire to win, the decision to win and asking God for help.  There are three forces arrayed against us: Our world (which—in the U.S.A.—flashes images and suggestions at us relentlessly), demons (who can also project thoughts and visions into our minds) and our sinful human nature (which enjoys the temptation).  God is more powerful than all of these and He is eager to help.  Regarding this temptation, I have been losing ground lately—in the battlefield of my mind—and have now repented of it before God (confessed my sin to Him, decided to stop and asked Him for help).  God immediately decreased the pressure of the temptation I have been experiencing and it has become much easier to keep my eyes and my thoughts aimed in the right direction.  (I have had to do this more than once over the years—always in true repentance—and always with the same result.)

F.Y.I. – Confessing a sin to God is easy when we remember: He already knows about it, He loves us immensely and established laws for our protection, He is overjoyed when we come to Him in confession and repentance, and He desperately wants to help.

08/18/2002 / Tiny wings and answered prayer. = We have a hummingbird feeder just outside our patio and we very often find ourselves thanking God for His beautiful creation and for the blessing of getting to see so much of it in our backyard.  We have seen rabbits, squirrels, turtles, snakes, coyotes, etc., as well as more than twenty kinds of birds.  This year, however, we have seen only one hummingbird one time.  My wife and I were sitting on the patio—commenting on this fact—when we decided to ask God for this special blessing.  Moments later, a hummingbird appeared at our feeder.  After a moment of feeding, it dropped down and began to hover right in front of my wife.  It stayed there for almost ten seconds.  (It also became a regular visitor.)  Once again, we found ourselves thanking God. [1 Kings 17:4]

If you find it difficult to believe that the Omnipotent and Eternal Creator God of the universe would answer such a seemingly insignificant prayer, consider the following:  1. He created people to love Him back.  2. He died on a cross to make it eternal.  3. He is sovereign over all His creation.  4. He made hummingbirds beautiful for someone to enjoy.

09/27/2002 / Thou shall not be a killjoy. = God gives people various abilities which are intended to be used, both for His glory and for the benefit of others—which always work together.  Unfortunately, until we accept Him as Lord and allow Him to transform our lives, we can use these abilities incorrectly.  I was no exception.  Sometime during the 5^th or 6^th grade, I wrote a humorous and derogatory poem about the food which we were served at school.  Upon showing it to the principal—by order of a teacher who saw it—he said that it was very creative, but asked me to keep it to myself.  He said that it would hurt the ‘lunch-workers’ feelings.  (It would not benefit anyone).  Today, God intervened as the principal had years before.  I have just finished writing a poem about the multitude of problems associated with celebrating Christmas in the United States.  (I have been in a bad mood and was venting my frustrations.)  Upon wondering who to send it to, God immediately stopped me.  At that precise moment—while stepping into the bathroom—I was confronted by a piece of paper which was lying on the countertop.  It had the word, “Killjoy” written boldly on it.  This message was emphasized, not only by the way it was written and by the position of the paper in regard to my view, but by God’s invisible finger.  He was clearly telling me not to send this poem out.  (It would not benefit anyone).

11/15/2002 / Sovereignty and a dead battery – (part 1). = After driving to work, karate, the store and then back home at the end of the day, my car’s battery was dead.  It had given me no problems before this moment.  Upon reentering the car—after getting out to open the garage door—the car would not start.  This could have happened at any time and in any location, but by God’s sovereignty, it did it at the end of the day in my driveway.

11/24/2002 / Sovereignty and a dead battery – (part 2). = While driving home—after attending the dollar movies with my children—my car battery suddenly died.  It was after dark, so we found ourselves traveling down a semi-dark road with no lights on the car.  We were in my 1974 Mustang-II, which was able to run without a battery.  We were also, by God’s sovereignty, right in front of a friend’s apartment, who was at home at the time.  We drove up to her apartment, went in and called my wife.  My wife came to get us and we were able to leave the Mustang there until the next day.  My wife had planned to go with us to the movie, but—again, by God’s sovereignty—was unable to and, therefore, was at home when we called.  (Someone might refer to these situations as coincidences, but, as another of God’s children once said, “These might be coincidences. All I know is, when I quit praying, the coincidences quit happening.”)

11/2002 / Missed salary and a supernatural budget. = After working for the same company for twenty-five years, it has finally come to an end.  (If you have read all of the entries before this, you know that God has kept me working for this company as it has slowly died.)  Looking over my family’s financial situation—here at the end of the year—I have made an amazing discovery: Though, receiving only seven month’s pay this entire year, our financial position does not show it.  While we should be approximately five month’s wages deeper in debt—than at the end of the previous year—we are approximately two.  There is no explanation for this, other than the grace of God.

12/2002 / Provision for the holidays. = Being without a job and sinking further in debt—see the entry above—we were not planning on spending any money for the holidays.  Shortly before Christmas, however, God provided for us through five different sources—unemployment compensation, a family member and three different friends.  We were still very tight on money, but were able to pay our monthly bills, buy our children the presents which they had requested and purchase the groceries needed for Christmas dinner.  (P.S., Our children never asked for much for Christmas, as it has always been about Jesus.)

02/Early/2003 / A re-directed tithe. = God tells His children to give the ‘tithe’—the first ten-percent or our income—to serve His Kingdom.  (Be aware; the Owner of the universe doesn’t need our money, He’s seeking our trust.  He wants us to put Him first and then trust Him to make things work out.  And yes, I do tithe on my unemployment income.  As you can tell from all of these ‘God Obvious’ entries, I do a lot better with God and 90% of my income, than I could ever do with 100% of my income on my own.)  Anyway, some ‘out of the ordinary’ things occurred on the first Sunday of this month, which caused me to forget to leave our tithe check at church.  Before the second Sunday had arrived, our daughter found herself facing a funding deadline for a mission trip to Mexico, which she was unable to meet.  She had acquired enough sponsors to pay for her trip, but the money did not arrive in time to meet the first deadline.  I was able to use the money which we were going to give as the tithe, to meet this deadline.  When the sponsored money arrived—which is given directly to the church—I told the people in charge of the mission trip what had happened and told them to use the extra money to provide for any other kids who were not fully funded.  There was no question that God was in complete control of all that had happened, as the mission trip was very important to both Him and our daughter.  (P.S. God tells us to give financially to support His work.  It is bad stewardship, however, to give to an un-Biblical ministry, or to one which is using His money unwisely.)

02/end/2003 / God exists outside of time. = While preparing a lesson for my A.W.A.N.A. students, (A.W.A.N.A. is a Bible teaching, Scripture memorization and activity program for kids), God gave me an analogy to help explain one aspect of His being.  I titled the lesson, “What is God?” and this particular aspect was – ‘Him existing outside of time.’  Here is the analogy as God gave it to me, and as I taught it to the kids: I sat one student in a chair and told him to only look forward.  I then gave various objects to three other students and told them to stand behind the chair.  These three then began to walk single-file in a circle around the chair—a certain distance away from each other—so that only one of them was in front of the chair at a time.  They were holding the objects up, so as to be seen.  After the first one had passed and the second was in front of the chair, I told them to stop.  I then asked the student in the chair, “What was each of the students holding?”  He was able to tell me the first item from memory (because of what had happened in the past), and the second item (from what was presently in front of him), but he could not tell me the third item (because it was still in the future).  The rest of the class, who were sitting outside of the circle, could see all three items at the same time. I explained that God is like this.  He sits outside of time—outside of the circle—and can see past, present and future all at once. [Luke 22:34]

If you want to learn more about God, download “The Second Most Incredible Book . . .” (available free on this website).

03/04/2003 / Keep my eyes on God. = Immediately after asking Him for guidance—being unemployed and watching our credit-card debt continue to increase—God reminded me of an event which had occurred before His crucifixion.  ‘During a storm on the sea, He gave Peter—one of His disciples—the ability to walk to Him on top of the water.  During the walk, however, Peter took his eyes off of God.  He began to focus on the storm instead and, being in fear, he began to sink.  After reaching out and lifting Peter back up to the top of the water, the Lord rebuked him for his lack of faith.’  He was telling me the same thing: Keep my eyes on Him and do not doubt that He will take care of my family and me.  [Matthew 14:28-31]

04/18/2003 / Only two houses to clean. = Because of our financial situation, my wife took on a temporary job—cleaning spec and model houses.  We only had two houses to clean this particular night, whereas we normally had six or more.  This was clearly abnormal and clearly a blessing from God.  My wife had spent the last couple of days in the hospital with her mom and had only gotten an hour of sleep the night before.  In addition, I had strained my back and was struggling to help her clean.

05/16/2003 / Departing for Heaven; an eagle leaves the nest. = My wife’s mom recently departed for Heaven after a very rough time in the hospital.  My wife was wondering what end-of-life misery and emotions might temporarily accompany a person to Heaven.  I began to tell her that, if such things existed, they would be absolutely overpowered by the wonder and awe of Heaven and by the realization that this new existence—being in Heaven—is the reason we were created.  As I began to say this, God gave me an analogy of a baby eagle being pushed out of its’ nest.  While being dislodged by its’ parents might be traumatic, the memories would quickly fade into insignificance as the baby eagle took flight.

07/09/2003 / To terminate the termites. = Arriving at our local ‘home-improvement’ store, I was planning to purchase some ‘over-the-counter’ termite poison—which was quite expensive.  I was wondering, however, if it would really work.  Hiring a professional exterminator is far more expensive—a major problem for someone, unemployed—but they have knowledge and experience, as well as access to poisons which the average person does not.  They also provide a guarantee.  I was studying the various options—which the store offered—and asking God for guidance.  Soon, another customer walked up next to me and stopped.  He was looking at the ‘surface insect’ poisons and I asked him if he knew anything about “this stuff”—pointing to the termite poison.  By God’s sovereign grace—the man was a licensed termite-inspector (not an exterminator who wanted my business)—and quickly answered all of my questions.  (I put the stuff back on the shelf, went home and called a professional exterminator.)

09/ 2003 / The job which I thought was mine. = If you have read all the entries before this, then you know that my employer—for the last twenty-five years—has gone out of business.  You also know that God prevented me from leaving the company as it slowly died.  As a result, my family is in deep financial need.  After months of searching for another job, accompanied by intense prayer, I was granted a phone interview for what appeared to be the perfect job.   It was all that I had been praying for – job description, driving distance, hours of operation and the company offers no immoral products or services.  God did not, however, give me this job.  Upon contacting the company a few days after the interview, they informed that they were going to hire a different applicant.  Rather than stressing over the situation or getting upset, I hung up the phone and began to praise God.  I praised Him for creating and controlling the universe, for dying for our sins, for loving me and my family, for making us His children, for knowing what’s best and for promising to meet all of our needs perfectly – from the eternal perspective.  I would soon be praising Him for a job which was even better than this one.  (See the next entry.)

09/15/2003 / God creates the perfect job. = Continuing from the entry above, God has now created the perfect job, in His perfect time, just for me.  It is doing what I love to do, a short distance from my home and offers a schedule which coordinates with church, karate and my families’ needs.  Both the owner and the General-Manager are very ethical people and the company offers no immoral products or services.  In addition, the company is small, the commute will take me through a forested area, and the facility has an uneven wooden floor.  These last three factors are additional blessings, because of my dislike of large companies, cities in general and cement floors.  (Very hard, flat surfaces hurt my feet.)  As far as Gods’ timing goes, I was hired on the twelfth of September, to start on the fifteenth.  On the thirteenth, a letter from the Unemployment-Office arrived, informing me that my unemployment benefits had run out.

God’s sovereignty over all this was obvious, not only because of the timing and how well this job meets my needs and desires, but because of the way it happened.  The General-Manager—who called me—did so, not only because of the business and educational information on my résumé, but because I had been an A.W.A.N.A leader at church.  In addition, my wife had been asking God to create a job for me—if one didn’t exist—and the way the company came into existence was a surprise to the people who started it.  They were planning to start a retail business—which would not have matched my job search—but their plans failed because of a dishonest business associate.  As a result, they created this wholesale company instead.  Finally, some miscalculations kept the company from advertising for an employee with fork-lift certification, which they otherwise, would have done.  If they had, it would have dissuaded me from sending them my résumé.  As it turned out, a fork-lift was ultimately decided against, because of the wooden floors.

09/19-20/2003 / A good start with God’s help. = Having been hired by a company, which is just coming into existence, I needed to quickly design a warehouse floor-plan.  Shipments would be arriving soon and, graciously, God got quickly involved.  (For my first week ‘on the job,’ part of my time was spent at home and part of it at the warehouse.)  Beginning to measure the warehouse floor—using a 25’ tape measure—a construction worker saw me and loaned me his 300’ measuring tape—which enabled me to do it much faster.  At home, I needed some graph-paper and quickly found some in my closet in an obscure location.  Needing a board to support the graph-paper, I quickly noticed the removable top of our children’s game table. (These worked together perfectly.)  Back at the warehouse, I needed to mark the floor every 48-inches.  I found a lone 2×4” lying on the floor, which had been cut to exactly 48-inches.

In November, God helped again, as we needed to mark off seven – eight-foot-deep spaces – to show a company where to install our first storage racks. The day before, we had purchased seven – eight-foot-long 2×4”s to make a table, but had not yet used them.

09/22/2003 / Tourette’s Syndrome and T.V. Guardian. = Our son has Tourette’s syndrome.  In very rare cases, people with this condition find themselves repeatedly and uncontrollably speaking profanities which they have heard.  (‘Tourette’s syndrome cussing’ is not demonic, although I would be surprised if our enemy never tried to encourage this problem.)  Our son has never spoken a profanity, but tells us that he too, must occasionally fight the urge.  He also told us that he has been struggling lately.  No one in our family uses profanities, and we have a wonderful piece of technology—“T.V. Guardian”—which filters profanities out of movies.  While we are unable to completely shield our children from them—living in this society—we do a pretty good job.  On this particular night, my wife and I were going to clean some model homes.  Our children were staying home to watch a movie – which was a good movie, but had a number of profanities in it.  As we were about to leave, God reminded me that we had unhooked the “T.V. Guardian” and had forgotten to reconnect it.  (Our son had been editing a video which he was producing, and we had unhooked it to facilitate the process.)

*** There are two pieces of technology available to help clean up movies and T.V. shows: “Clear Play” allows you to filter profanity, vulgarity, nudity, sensuality, violence, substance abuse and more–from the D.V.D. you are watching, or movie you are streaming–according to the levels you choose.  “T.V. Guardian” allows you to filter out profanity from T.V. shows and movies.  (For more information, see the “Wow, Didn’t Know That Was Available!” section on this website, under “Ministries and Resources.”)   [Philippians 4:8 / Psalm 101:3]

11/??/2003 / Park here to protect him. = Arriving at church, our twelve-year-old son—who has some amazing gifts and challenges—quickly jumped out of the car and darted up to the building where his class is held.  This was totally normal, as he is always overflowing with excitement and energy.  What was abnormal was that we found a parking place directly in front of his building – where we could watch him go in.  (We almost always have to park in a lot which is across the street from the church.)  What was extremely abnormal was that his class was not being held and the doors were locked.  (He was informed of this the Sunday before, but forgot to tell us.)  He arrived at the doors before we could get out of the car and we noticed that he couldn’t get in.  If God had not provided this parking space—enabling us to see what was happening—we do not know what our son would have done.  (We clearly instructed him what to do if this situation ever occurred again —’Find us inside the main sanctuary and do not cross the street!’)

03/01/2004 / Demons, anger and a strange sensation. = A couple of things happened today, which made me angry.  My anger did not surprise me, but its’ intensity did.  What had happened did not warrant the level of anger which I was feeling.  Suspecting that demons—the angels who have rebelled against God—might be involved, I commanded them to get away from me “in Jesus’ name.”  (God gives His children authority to use His name against demons, like a police officer uses the governments’ authority when he commands someone to, “stop in the name of the law.”  If the person resists, they will have more than one police officer to contend with.)  After commanding the enemy to leave me alone, I felt anger and stress leave my body in a most peculiar way.  It was a sensation which could be compared to water being poured smoothly out of a glass.  This was the only time—handling this type of situation—that I experienced anything other than a simple decrease in anger.  (*** Whenever there are heated arguments in our home, we command the enemy to leave us alone “in Jesus’ name.”  Demons may not always be present—encouraging us in our anger and sinful attitudes towards each other—but there have been enough times when they have, to warrant this precautionary move.)  To learn more about spiritual warfare, download “The Second Most Incredible Book . . .” available free on this website.

??/??/2004 / God protected my wife from being splashed by poison. My wife grabbed a can of bug poison in order to spray a wasp – which was on the inside of our kitchen window.  She was quite close when she pressed the button.  By God’s grace, only a trickle of poison came out.  It wasn’t enough to even hit the target.  This was by God’s grace, because what she had picked up was a can of hornet spray.  (I had dangerously stored the hornet spray next to the regular bug spray in a cabinet in the laundry room).  The trickle should have been a heavy stream of poison coming out with enough force to travel twenty feet.  If God had not intervened, it would have splashed all over her as well as everything in the room.

08/31/2004 / Forgotten protection. = Our karate class meets two nights per week and praying for God’s protection before each one is standard practice.  Sparring with my most advanced student—a second degree Black-Belt—before each class has also become standard practice and we sort of ‘go after each other.’  Tonight—by God’s sovereignty—my student declined sparring because of a college homework assignment.  He came early, as usual, but as opposed to sparring, he was reading a book while stretching—for the first time ever.  At the end of class, I made frightening discovery: I had forgotten to wear my groin protector—for the first time ever.  Groin attacks are common techniques for us and receiving a kick or strike to this target is very dangerous.  (It is not funny, as so many videos portray it when a person has been lightly tapped).  A good attack could put someone in the hospital, and we do ‘good attacks!’  I have had my groin protector cracked by one of my Black-Belt students in the past.

09/19/2004 / The power of words. = Last night, while correcting our son, I very foolishly called him a name—“selfish brat”—as opposed to just addressing his sin.  The godly way of handling it would have been to say, “You are being selfish.” as opposed to “You are selfish.” and never calling him a name.  (Overall, our son is extremely loving, but he has his moments.)  The sermon at church this morning was about ‘the power of words’—which can build someone up or tear them down—and God aimed it directly at me.  Once again, God carefully and lovingly corrected me on my sin, the way I should have carefully and lovingly corrected our son on his.   [Ephesians 4:29]

10/19/2004 / God hugs our son in his own language. = There is an extremely helpful book titled, “The Five Love Languages”—by Gary Chapman—which explains the various ways that different people feel and express love.  One of those ways is through physical-touch, which is unquestionably our sons’ dominant ‘love-language.’  This is important to know, to truly understand what God did in this situation.

During a Bible study—which I was holding for our son and a friend of his—our son asked, “When is God going to speak to me?”  We had a discussion about it, covering both when and why God speaks, as well as the different methods He uses.  At the end of the discussion, our son said, “I wish He would speak to me!”  I said a quick silent prayer about it and then finished the Bible study.  The next morning, our son woke up ‘extremely’ excited.  He said that he had a dream and in it, Jesus came down in the form of a child and they hugged each other.  I reminded him of our discussion the previous day and said, ‘You wished that Jesus would speak to you!’ It looks like He did.  He said that He loves you!   Our son, realizing what had happened, got an enormous smile on his face.  God—knowing that our sons’ dominant love-language is physical-touch—knew that this was the best way to say to him, “I love you!”  Our son continues to grow in his love for God and the Lord has clearly communicated with him on many occasions since this time.  (You can learn all about hearing from God, in ‘The Second Most Incredible Book . . .’ — available free on this website). [Job 33:14-15]

12/mid/2004 / God’s anti-smoking service. = A non-Christian friend and co-worker of mine, who knows that I am a Christian, asked me to pray for him—that God would help him to quit smoking.  I did!  On the following Monday, he came up to me and said, “This is very strange; it might not be strange to you, but it is to me.”  He then told me that his first cigarette of the day was the most pleasurable and the most important.  He said that about one-third of the way through his first cigarette today, he no longer enjoyed it.  Later this same day, I saw him light another one and I prayed as he did (without his knowledge).  He later told me that half-way through this one, he ceased to enjoy it.  He was able to quit smoking.  *** The most important point in all of this—to me and to God—was not that my friend quit smoking.  The most important point was that my friend would see how loving and involved God wants to be in our lives—and would accept Him as Lord and Savior.  (I had previously explained God’s offer of salvation to him, and God was using this opportunity to touch his heart.)

04/02/2005 / Searching with God. = From my understanding, getting a family ‘with children’ ready for church is a difficult, humanity wide challenge—which usually starts the night before.  This is definitely true at our house.  On this particular night, our son was searching everywhere for a missing cassette case, which was due back in the church library in the morning.  We were all busy, so no one could help him search.  I prayed for God’s help and He gave me the thought, ‘in our sons’ bedroom, on his chair, under a pile of clothes.’  That’s exactly where it was!  We put the cassettes where we could grab them in the morning and continued on with the rest of the challenge.

07/08/2005 / Bicycle parts – when you need them. = Two weeks ago, a co-worker and friend of mine gave me an old bicycle which he no longer needed.  Today, my wife’s ten-speed bicycle broke—the sprocket and bearings were ruined—and the parts from the old bicycle were a perfect replacement.

10/11/2005 / Stopped by a song. = A friend and co-worker of mine was in a bad mood, which, unfortunately, was pretty common.  Today, it was worse than normal and he was being quite rude.  I was about to confront him, when God stopped me with a song on the radio.  The lyrics were basically saying, ‘You don’t know what’s going on in someone’s life or why they’re acting some way.’  I stifled my emotions and asked my co-worker if everything was O.K.  He told me that he was about to get kicked out of his apartment and that he might end up living on the street or with his ex-wife and her new boyfriend.

11/06/2005 / Don’t bash them with the Bible. = Most of my co-workers are spiritually dead and have absolutely no interest in God.  Very frustrated—wanting desperately to lead them all to salvation—I asked the Lord, “How should I be with these people?”  He sovereignly guided the sermon at church this morning in order to answer me.  The lesson was about ‘not being obnoxious in our witness’—not bashing people with the Bible.  As a servant of God, I simply need to let these people know that I am a Christian, live out before them – the holy life that God commands, and be ready to answer their questions about God if they inquire.  (I now ask God to encourage them to inquire, but He will not force Himself on anyone—which is why I cannot force Him on anyone.)

11/11/2005 / God delays and blocks a computer purchase. = Our computer—which we use for home-schooling—is giving us problems.  We desperately need a new one, but don’t feel that we can afford it, so naturally, we pray.  God then delayed us in order to bless us.  We were going to start researching prices, when my father-in-law called and said that he would bring us his old computer when he came at Christmas.  Realizing, a short time later, that we could not wait that long—and not knowing if his computer would work with our hardware and software—we began looking at prices.  We looked ‘on-line’ and at various stores, and found that Dell Computer had the best prices.  We decided on Dell, but felt like we should wait a little while longer, to see if Dell would put some of their computers on sale—which they did on November 12^th.  On November 11^th, however, my employer told me that if we could wait for a couple of weeks, he would give us a computer from the office, if another one—which was being worked on—was successfully repaired.  It was, and the one which he gave us worked with our hardware and software.

12/12/2005 / Should I do his laundry? = A friend and co-worker of mine is having all kinds of problems, including getting his laundry done.  (See 10/11/2005 entry).  We were talking in the parking lot—after work—and I thought about offering to do some of it for him.  Upon returning to the warehouse, I heard the D.J. on the radio giving a clue for some ‘guess the answer’ contest which the radio station was holding.  The clue was, “Doesn’t mind doing the laundry.”  (I would end up doing a few extra loads this week.)

12/31/2005 / In regard to his questions. = While talking to one of my neighbors, the conversation shifted to God and as a result, I ended up giving him a copy of the book which I had written—“The Second Most Incredible Book . . .” This book is all about God, life and eternity, and shows the utter foolishness of the Theory of Evolution.  Upon accepting the book, my neighbor said to me, “I was just mulling over some questions about God, the Theory of Evolution, etc.  I think this (getting this book) was planned (by God).”  I had no doubt that it was!  (If you would like a copy of this book, it is available to download free on this website.)

01/14/2006 / A driver’s education track made in Heaven – just down the road. = God provided the perfect place to teach my daughter to drive.  Planning to take her to the parking-lot of an unpopular outlet mall—several miles from our home—I suddenly thought of a closer mall and turned in that direction.  After telling my daughter where we were headed, she informed me that this ‘closer mall’ would have far more cars in the parking lot.  As this conversation ended, we found ourselves on a farm-to-market road heading nowhere that we wanted to go.  Looking for a place to turn around, God suddenly gave me a vision of a housing addition—which a company was beginning to construct—further down this same road.  I travel this road to get to work, but never looked at this construction area.  We traveled on and found that the streets in this addition were all finished, but that no houses had been started.  Because of a downturn in the economy, construction had temporarily stopped.  Several streets were quite long, others had cul-de-sacs and all had smooth, flat shoulders (i.e., no curbs to hit).  Even better, stop signs had been installed at the corners.    It was the perfect place for my daughter to learn, with no cars, people, pets or other driving hazards, and no worries that someone might report us as suspicious.  (Construction-site theft is a concern in this area.)

01/17/2006 / God puts the call through. = Abruptly experiencing the symptoms of a virus, I needed one of my three Black-Belt students to teach the karate class—which was scheduled to begin in less than two hours.  After learning that my two highest ranking students were not going to be in class—because of other commitments—I called the third one.  He answered the phone and said that he could teach the class.  We then hung up.  About five minutes later—remembering something else I wanted to tell him, I tried to call him again.  His phone, however, was out of service and remained that way for the next five days.

02/12/2006 / Ask me for ten-thousand dollars. = If you have read all the entries preceding this one, then you know that our family seeks to follow God whole-heartedly, which sometimes lands us in some interesting situations.  Having followed God’s guidance—remaining with my failing former employer for years (missing a lot of salary, followed by nine months of unemployment)—we spent all our savings and retirement and got into credit-card debt taking care of the necessities of life.  Throughout all of this, we have consistently given the first ten-percent of our income—including my unemployment income—to support God’s work, and sought to use the rest of it according to His will.  (All our money belongs to God; we are simply stewards of it.)  Needless to say, we remain constantly in prayer about our financial situation, asking God for His provision.  Recently, He told my wife to ask Him for “$10,000.00.”  She did!  Two weeks later, there came a knock at the door.  A representative from our local water district told us that they needed to put a water pipe through our back yard and offered us $5,000.00.  Discerning that he was somewhat flexible on the amount offered, I silently asked God what we should ask for.  He told me “$6,999.00.”  (I was thinking ‘seven’ or ‘eight’ or ‘ten’ thousand dollars and this was God’s way of assuring me that this ‘particular amount’ was from Him and not just one of the numbers bouncing around in my head.)  I asked the representative for $7,000.00.  He said, “That is a very good amount to ask for.”  Without going further into the details of all that occurred, the water district paid us the $7,000.00 and later came back and gave us another $3,000.00 with no adjustments to the contract or to the work which was being done.  This $10,000.00 was the exact amount that God had told my wife to pray for.

F.Y.I. The biggest miracle here was not the fact that God gave us $10,000.00.  The biggest miracle was that $10,000.00 was enough to get us out of credit-card debt (and provide for an expensive car repair which was needed shortly after all of this had occurred).  With all that we had gone through, we should have been much, much deeper in debt.  There is no way to explain—other than the sovereignty of God—why we were not.  (P.S. Regarding the car repair, the timing-belt had broken half-way down our road and we were able to coast the rest of the way home and into our driveway.)

03/16/2006 / Faster than Triple-A, God’s immediate road service – Chapter 2. = Seeking to rush home after work—to pick up my son and then to get to karate—I ran out of gas.  My car came to a stop directly across the street from guy in a pick-up truck who was also stopped.  Upon seeing me, he walked over and asked me what was wrong. After telling him the situation, he told me he had an empty gas can and would take me to get gas. A moment or two later, we were on our way to the gas station, and a few minutes after that, we were back at my car. I thanked him (and God) for the help and made it to class on time. * * * For “Faster than Triple-A” (Chapter 1, see entry 1990’s) /// (Chapter 3, see 02/05/2024).

05/16/2006 / Clued in by a song. = Our son has grown up with various challenges—Tourette’s Syndrome, O.C.D., A.D.H.D., etc. and struggles to control his emotions.  My wife called me today at work – to have me talk to our son about his schoolwork and his anger.  (We homeschool our children and my wife is both mom and teacher.)  Just before she handed the phone to our son, God changed the lyrics to a song which I was hearing on the radio.  The lyrics should have been, “Why are you such an angry young man, your future looks quite bright to me.”  What I heard was, “Why are you such an angry young man, your teacher sure looks right to me.”  Before our son had the chance to say “hello dad,” I knew that he was in the wrong.  This enabled me to address both his sin and his anger appropriately.  If God had not forewarned me, I would have been confused about what was going on and responded incorrectly.  It is extremely important for moms and dads to be united while raising our children, and God intervened at this time to make sure we were.

06/30/2006 / A God ordained dent. = Being continually tight on money (and in continual prayer about it), any unexpected expense is a problem, such as when a water-heater wears out.  Ours just did!  Upon going to our local home-improvement store, we found that they only had one in stock which was the right size and type.  We needed one with a forty-gallon tank, which could be fueled by propane.  This one suitable water-heater had a small dent in the side which effected nothing other than its’ appearance and its’ price.  We thanked God for the dent and purchased the water-heater for $150.00, which was less than half of its’ normal price.  We took it home and a relative of ours—who is a plumber—installed it for free.

07/04/2006 / Call to him! = My parents have a lake lot—with a mobile-home on it—some distance from our house.  My family—parents, brothers, sister, etc.—had all come together here to celebrate the Fourth-of July.  After lunch, our son was outside talking to his uncle and cousins, who were preparing to go for a ride on their four-wheelers.  After the conversation ended, they rode off.  Rather than coming back to the mobile-home, our son decided to chase them.  Needless to say, he was unable to keep up.  After deciding to give up the chase, he realized that he didn’t know the way back.  He was lost for a few minutes.  He was praying as he walked and, therefore, was not very worried.  He yelled out for one of his cousins, hoping to be heard.  My wife and I were out walking and heard him yell, but because of his relaxed tone, didn’t realize that he was lost.  We thought he was communicating with his cousin.  God, however, told me to call out to Him.  (The Lord did not use words at this time, but gave me a very strong sense that I needed to call to our son.)  When our son heard me yell, he came in the direction of my voice and quickly found us.  He then told us what had just occurred.

07/25/2006 / God said I’m hard to steer. = As stated earlier, God wants us to win the battle against temptation in our minds, before it goes further and destroys our lives.  He not only wants us to win, He is always available to help us.  One of my prayers—for many years—has been: ‘God it is my will to obey You throughout my life.  Please intervene every time I start to go the other way.’  The Lord has continually answered this prayer, intervening more times than I can remember.  He did it again today.  Upon following a temptation in my mind, God interrupted my thoughts by telling me that – ‘I am hard to steer.’  I continually thank Him for His loving and gracious guidance.  Without it, I would have destroyed my life!  [James 1:13-15]

08/12-13/2006 / Thee steps to peace. = My family is struggling with a lot of problems and a lot of expenses.  I have been asking God, not only for provision, but also for peace.  (Step 1) Yesterday, while praying, God spoke a verse of Scripture to me—“The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and He delivers them.”—and reminded me of the time He manifested His presence around our house (see entry dated 10/18/1990).  (Step 2) Last night, a preacher—who we were watching on T.V.—taught a Bible lesson which centered around a man named ‘Joseph.’  The lesson emphasized how the increasing problems which this man faced were actually God’s tools, by which He blessed him immensely and ultimately saved him and his family from starvation.  (You can read about Joseph in the Bible, beginning in Genesis 37.)  (Step 3) Upon waking this morning—immediately praying for peace—God put the lyrics of a song in my mind: “Forever God is with us, forever God is good.”

10/10/2006 / We will reap a reward! = Having family-members and friends who are on their way to Hell – is a terrible and relentless burden on my soul.  My greatest desire is to get them to accept Jesus—as Lord and Savior—so they will spend eternity in Heaven instead.  It is, therefore, extremely frustrating when there seems to be no movement by them in this direction.  Greatly feeling this frustration today—wondering if I am accomplishing anything in their lives—the Lord said to me, “We will reap a reward!”  He was telling me that even if some people never accept Him, ‘we’—the people seeking to lead them to Him—will still be rewarded for our efforts.  While this was not the message I would have asked for—my objective is not to receive a reward, but rather, to see them all in Heaven—it was added inspiration to continue my efforts and prayers.

01/01/2007 / God and us – what a team! = Feeling stressed over all of the challenges my family is facing—financial and otherwise—I was thanking God for His love and provision, and asking Him for help.  He then said to me, “We have the strength to continue!” (He was saying that we—He and my family together—will get through these challenges).  He tells His children, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” [Philippians 4:6-7] The Bible is true!  He gave me peace at this time, and has every time I have come to Him in this way.

01/Early/2007 / God provides again. = Asking, as always, for God’s provision, He provided for one of our needs in two different ways.  We were facing a large credit-card bill, but had almost no money to pay on it.  Shortly after asking God for help, my employer provided me with a surprise year-end bonus and an abnormally large number of people joined my karate class.  (The recreation center where I teach pays me a percentage of the income received from my students.) [Philippians 4:19]

02/03/2007 / ‘He gets it!’  My dad is saved. = If a person has a growing relationship with God, it should be obvious, but not necessarily in one of the ways I expected.  To me, a growing relationship meant that there would be more and more obvious interaction between God and His child.  The Bible, however, tells us that this growing relationship will manifest itself in the way the person lives.  [But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23]  I knew this verse, and saw this ‘fruit’ growing in my dad’s life over the years, but because I didn’t see this obvious interaction, was always worried about his salvation.  Because of this, God graciously comforted me—regarding my dad—in a different way.

Upon waking this morning, concern for my dad’s salvation was strongly on my mind.  At church, a few hours later, the sermon was about salvation and corresponded closely with my dad’s situation.  This kept me thinking about him.  After church, I went to talk to him again—to seek assurance that he was truly saved.  During our conversation, he said something important: “A lot of people are going to be shocked” (on judgment day), “because they just didn’t get it.”  This statement was significant to me for two reasons:  First, the statement implies that since there is something to ‘get’—salvation is something we receive, not something we earn—the person making this statement obviously ‘gets it.’  Second, a co-worker of mine—who I had just talked to about salvation—had asked me a question: ‘How many people in churches truly get it?’  I had never heard this phrase—“get it”—used in referring to an understanding of salvation, but had now heard it twice in a few days.  Since my co-worker had just used it—thus, it was fresh on my mind—it was far more significant when my dad used it.

03/??/2007 / She needs to learn a lesson – (the easy way)! = God has the power to keep us from ever making a mistake.  If He did, though, we would never mature and the world would be more messed up than it already is.  What He does quite often, is allow His children to make mistakes – at restricted times and places – so the consequences are mild and the lessons are easy.  The first few years that our daughter drove, it was in a car with automatic headlights—the computer turned the lights off after she exited.  When she started driving her own car—which did not have automatic headlights—she forgot to turn the lights off on several occasions, thus, draining the battery.  Up until now, every time this had occurred, she was at home—where we could simply charge the battery.  This time, however, God allowed her to forget while she was out shopping.  The blessing was, this was a night when I normally teach karate, but the recreation department was closed (which was quite rare).  I was at home when she called and was able to leave immediately to help her.  She did, however, have to wait for about half an hour until I arrived.  She never forgot her lights again.

03/15/2007 / Blessings in return. = My wife went to sell some used home-school books to another mom for $53.00.  While talking to her, my wife learned that this lady had just been scheduled for heart-surgery.  My wife needed the money to buy clothes, but decided to give her the books for free.  Right after blessing this lady, God blessed my wife in return.  She received an e-mail offer to participate in a music survey, for which they paid her $50.00.  While she was there, she won the ‘door-prize’ which was an additional $50.00. [Luke 6:38]

03/mid/2007 / God heals a ferret. = God created people in His image—with thoughts, will, emotions, intellect, language, creativity and a sense of morality—so we could have a loving, intimate and eternal relationship with Him.  God created animals for the benefit of people—for food(i), clothing(ii), tools(iii), pleasure(iv), object lessons(v), and—in Old Testament times—to be sacrificed as a foreshadowing of Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins(vi).  While there is nothing in the Bible to indicate that God greatly cares about animals—other than supplying their needs and stating that a righteous person does the same for an animal in his care(vii)—He does care deeply about His children who own them.

Snoopy—our daughter’s pet ferret—became very sick.  We took him to the vet, but, were offered no hope.  Upon returning home, we prayed earnestly with our daughter—for her pet’s healing—and over the next week, the ferret recovered.  I then called the vet, who immediately asked me, “Is he still with us?” (‘Has the ferret died yet?’)   When I told him of Snoopy’s condition, he—in amazement—said, “I don’t know how!”

(i) Leviticus 11:1-3, (ii) Genesis 3:21 & Matthew 3:4, (iii) Deuteronomy 25:4, (iv) 2 Samuel 12:3, (v) Proverbs 6:6-11, (vi) Exodus 12:1-13, (vii) Proverbs 12:10

04/10/2007 / Prayer medicine. = As stated earlier, God does not heal us every time we ask.  He is infinite in knowledge (as well as love and power), and does everything in view of eternity.  Many times, however—from the eternal perspective—healing us now is the best option.  Our son was suffering from allergies, an upper respiratory sickness and an eye infection.  The medicine he was taking was not prevailing against the eye infection, which was growing worse each day.  We laid our hands on him and prayed.  (The ‘laying on of hands’ simply shows how serious we are in asking God for help and how much we are trusting Him to intervene.)  Our son’s eye was much better by the end of the day.

04/13/2007 / God keeps the offices clean. = In order to earn extra income, I took on the job of cleaning our company’s offices.  The work normally took about 2½ hours, but this night was going to be a problem.  I had injured my right wrist—my dominant side—and was planning to clean using my left hand.  Beginning the work, I soon discovered that the offices were exceptionally clean.  The work was easier than it had been since the company began – when there were only three people who worked here.

07/22/2007 / Where I’m supposed to be. = My greatest objective in life is to lead people into – and/or deeper into a relationship with God.  Since it has been a long time since anyone at my place of employment has shown any interest in Him, I’ve been asking God to confirm that He has me where He wants me.  In today’s sermon, our preacher said, “Your job is not a mistake; God has you there for a purpose!”

08/22/2007 / Reassurance. = While planning to reassure my family that God is providing for our needs and carrying us through all of our difficulties, the Lord played a line from a song in my thoughts: “Like a bridge over troubled water.”  As a result, I was not only able to remind my wife and children of all that God has been doing for us, but was able to tell them what He just said.

09/08/2007 / God puts the words on my lips, “Save Tim!” = One of the most wonderful and frightening realities of life is that God—to a great degree—chooses to intervene in the affairs of mankind ‘only’ at the request of His faithful and obedient children.  This becomes frightening when His children are not faithful and obedient, and are not asking Him to intervene.  Today, God told me to pray, “Save Tim.”  (Tim is a friend of ours).  The delivery of this message was quite bizarre, however, compared to the way He so often communicates.  He normally inserts a message into my thinking, which I respond to.  This time it seemed as if He placed the words—“Save Tim”—physically on my lips.  I assumed that it was extremely urgent and prayed immediately!  Nobody ever knew what the danger was—God obviously answering my prayer—but I was thankful that—by His grace—my life is filled with prayer and aimed continually at faith and obedience.

09/21/2007 / Doggie, find the kitty! = My wife agreed to take care of our friends’ pets—two dogs and a cat—while our friends were away on vacation.  The first time she went to feed the animals, however, the cat was nowhere to be found.  My wife began getting very worried, when God said to her, “Get the dog and tell him to get the kitty.”  My wife did.  She began saying to the dog, “Get the kitty.  Get the kitty.”  The dog then led my wife to a closed cabinet in the bathroom.  The cat was inside.  When my wife told our friends what had happened, our friends said that they never would have thought of doing that.

08 thru 10/2007 / Trials build our faith. = As my family continues to struggle financially, God continues to remind me of what He says in the Bible: Trials are allowed in His children’s lives for the purpose of building our faith.  Throughout August and September, it seemed as though this was the message being taught every time we turned on the radio or television.  (We listen to a lot of Christian programming.)  On September 25^th, I was saying to Him, “Thank you for being my Creator, God, Lord, Savior, Father and Friend.  He immediately added – “Author and finisher of our faith.”  [This is from Hebrews 12:2]  On the 28^th—a few minutes after our garage door spring broke (yet another expense), I turned on the T.V. and immediately heard this same verse being spoken by a preacher.  On October 3^rd, upon waking and beginning to pray, God said to me, “Consider it pure joy.”  I knew the rest of the verse; “. . . whenever we face trials of many kinds, because we know that the testing of our faith develops perseverance.”  [This comes from James 1:2-3]   He also reminded me of the judgment for Christians, when we will be eternally rewarded for our faith and service to Him.

10/02/2007 / Energy from above. = Having a strenuous job and teaching karate twice a week, means that getting eight hours of sleep is very important.  Last night, however, my child greatly needed my attention, which was far more important.  Not getting to bed until 3:30 this morning—five hours later than normal—I really expected to feel the lack of sleep, but never did.  God blessed me with all the energy needed and today felt like any normal day.

10/09/2007 / ‘Telepathy;’ that thought wasn’t yours. = Having a particular temptation bouncing around in my mind, I wondered if it was due to my own sinfulness or if this thought had been given to me by a demon.  (Either was possible.)  As I pondered this question, God said to me, “Telepathy.”  (Telepathy is when people think they are communicating with each other ‘by thought’—without the use of the five senses—while in reality, demons are injecting thoughts into their minds.)  God—by revealing to me that this thought was from a demon, as opposed to my own sinfulness—encouraged me in my fight against this area of temptation in my life.  (Demons are the angels whom God created, who are in rebellion against Him.)  [Job 7:13-14, Matthew 16:22-23]

To learn more about this subject, see ‘The Second Most Incredible Book . . .’ (available free on this website), Chapter IV – ‘Who and What is Satan?

10/11/2007 / Two surprises for a day at the fair. = As our children grow up and life gets busier, we miss having special family times together.  My wife, son and I had planned to go to the State Fair, but our daughter had college classes scheduled and was not planning to go with us.  We were also very short on money and had almost nothing to spend.  God sovereignly intervened to change our plans.  Yesterday, my employer gave me $150.00—to take my family to the fair—and today, as our daughter tried to leave for school, her car wouldn’t start.  By the sovereign grace of God, our whole family had a wonderful day together at the fair!  (P.S. We charged the battery—which fixed the automobile problem—and our daughter easily caught up on the school-work which she missed.)

10/20/2007 / Watch where you build! = While preparing a Bible Study, God reminded me of an analogy—which He had given to me earlier—which greatly enhanced the lesson.  The lesson was, “Why obey God.”  The analogy was about a man who paid for a piece of land on which he subsequently—over a period of many years—built a house.  Unfortunately, the person whom he paid for the land turned out to be an evil criminal who didn’t really own it.  By the time the house builder discovered this, the land-owner had come to claim his land and the criminal had been executed.  The house builder lost the house and had utterly wasted all the time, energy and money which he had put into it.  This analogy is about people who buy into Satan’s lie, “Live for this world”—as opposed to following God and storing up treasures in Heaven.  In the end, they will have wasted their lives, lost all that they had, and Satan will be in Hell.  [Matthew 6:19-20]

11/01/2007 / Remember 3,000 years ago! = Feeling stressed over all the problems my family is facing—financial and otherwise—God reminded me of what He was doing in a man’s life approximately three-thousand years ago.  While it appeared that everything in this man’s life was going in the wrong direction, in God’s sovereignty and master plan, it was actually going in the right direction.  This helped me to trust God more fully with all that is going on in our lives.

The man—who lived around three-thousand years ago—started out as a shepherd.  He was then sold as a slave by his brothers and taken to Egypt.  Later, he was falsely accused by his master’s wife and thrown into prison.  He was then forgotten for two years by someone who promised to help him.  From this man’s perspective, it appeared as though everything in his life was getting worse.  From God’s perspective, however, it was just the opposite.  God first put him in charge of sheep, then in charge of his master’s household, then in charge of Egypt’s prison, then in charge of Egypt (the most powerful nation on earth at that time).  God ultimately used all of this to save Egypt—and the man’s family—from starvation. Through all of this, the man was also reconciled with his family and they spent their remaining years close to each other.  [Genesis 37, 39-41]

 11/09/2007 / The money flows till the need is met. = This ‘God-Obvious’ section is filled with entries recounting what God has done in the life of my family.  While much of His intervention is easy to explain, there are times when it is not.  This month, for example, we had extra expenses and our credit card bill was extremely high.  We should not have been able to pay it off, but—by God’s sovereign provision—we did.  Where the money came from and how the numbers worked out, is totally beyond our understanding or ability to explain.  In situations like this—of which there have been many—we simply thank God and move on towards the next challenge.  [2 Kings 4:1-5]

11/14/2007 / A can for chemistry. = Our daughter needed a square metal can with a twist off lid for a Chemistry experiment which she needed to conduct.  The experiment concerned the pressure of the air around us.  Praying on the way to the garage—dreading the thought of trying find one in a store somewhere without a strong chemical inside—I asked God for help.  Upon walking into my workshop, I looked over at a shelf and found the perfect can—empty and ready to use.  There is no doubt that God kept me from throwing it away over the years, but what was most amazing, is that it looked like a new unused can.  It was empty, clean (it didn’t even have a smell), rust free and air tight—which was required for the ‘pressure test.’

11/end/2007 / God helps with a chemistry lesson. = Our son was struggling to understand a chemistry lesson and my wife was unable to explain it to him.  (My education required no chemistry, thus, I could offer no assistance.)  We were all praying—asking God for help.  Soon after, we received an unsolicited e-mail from another home-school mom (which she had sent to a network of home-school families).  It included a link to a YouTube video which explained very clearly, the particular chemistry lesson we were dealing with.

12/02/2007 / Be patient: Remember his challenges. = Our church has just finished construction on a new facility—after out-growing the previous one—and we have just attended the first worship service in the new location.  It was all wonderful, except for the fact that people with certain special needs—‘our son’—do not handle changes well.  The move stressed him out and we had a few bad moments upon our arrival.  After church, we went to eat lunch at a local restaurant.  While there, God drew my attention to a person with enormous challenges—far worse than our son faces.  Through this, God reminded me (once again), that our son has challenges and needs me to be more patient with him.  I love our son more than life itself and sometimes ask too much of him, desperately wanting him to succeed and function well in society.  God loves our son more than any human-being ever could, and continually keeps me balanced on how to raise him.

 12/07/2007 / God provides before we ask. = My daughter is studying Interior-Design in college and needed to obtain some Interior-Design magazines for a school project.  This need was revealed to me immediately after bringing her the magazines.  A fellow employee of mine—whose mom is an interior designer—had brought a stack of her magazines to work.  (He had no reason for doing it, as we sell car parts.)  Upon seeing the magazines and telling him that my daughter was studying Interior Design, he told me his mom was through with the magazines and that my daughter could have them.  I thanked him and took them home, not knowing if they would be useful. [Matthew 6:8]

01/30/2008 / The enemy was resistant. = Demons—the angels who are in rebellion against God—try to effect humans primarily by thought.  They inject words, pictures and visions into our minds seeking to get us to sin.  The tempt us to lust, covet, express unrighteous anger, etc., etc., etc.  Christians have the authority—in Jesus’ name—to command them to leave us alone.  (This is like the authority that a Police officer uses when he commands “Stop in the name of the Law.”)  I have this authority!  Today, however, the demons were especially resistant to my commands.  (It is often a battle, but today was tougher than normal.)  During the battle, God reminded me of a sin that I had committed and needed to repent of.  After apologizing to God and repenting, the demons lost their advantage and were easily driven away.  [James 4:7]

 06/28/2008 / Tainted fudge. = God warned me not to eat some fudge, given to me by a truck driver who picks up freight where I work.  The driver gave me a piece of fudge during a very rushed period.  I thanked him and hurriedly put it in my office.  He told me that his daughter had made it for him, but he couldn’t eat it because he was diabetic.  A few moments later, still in the middle of the rush, a very uneasy feeling came over me regarding the fudge.  I threw it away.  A little while later, one of the guys who I work with, asked me, “Who made the fudge?”  (Unknown to me, the truck driver had brought more, which ended up on the table in the office.)  I told him about the truck driver and asked him, “Why?”  He told me that it had a staple in it, all bent and twisted.  I went into the office and threw them all away.  We had experienced some minor problems with this truck driver prior to this.

10/07/2008 / God, a bicycle and two friends. = God enabled me to help two different friends with one act.  I have a friend at work who’s only means of transportation is a bicycle, which was recently stolen from in front of our warehouse.  I began asking God to enable me find a bicycle at a garage sale which I could afford to buy for him.  After two days of adding this to my prayers, another friend called me.  He was having financial problems and had some items which he needed to sell, one of which was a bicycle.

11/end/2008 / The healing of a hand. (Warning – This event was pretty graphic.) = I sustained severe frostbite on my hand—from liquid propane.  (I was replacing a propane tank on a forklift at work, and the accident, as well as the extent of my injury was the result of inexperience, panic, and a dangerously high pain tolerance level.)  During one of my visits to the doctor, he removed most of the skin from my fingers.  By the end of the procedure, my fingers looked like corny dogs which had had most of the batter chewed off.  The doctor told me to make an appointment with a plastic surgeon and he said that I might need physical therapy.  Upon removing the bandage the next day—to replace it with a new one—I was shocked by the difference in my hand.  The depth variation between the normal skin and the missing skin was almost gone.  The new/underlying skin had risen to the point of almost matching the remaining skin.  There was still a noticeable difference, but far less than there had been the day before.  The doctor soon told me that I could cancel the appointment with the plastic surgeon.  Through a lot of hand flexing, I was also able to avoid the need for physical therapy.  There were a lot of people praying for my healing.

5/16/2009 / Be patient with the boy. = God reminded me of my son’s challenges—in the middle of a conversation we were having—to keep me from being impatient with him.  My son had reacted impulsively to the postal delivery lady the day before.  He thought she was skipping our house and, thus, was not going to take the letter which he had just placed in the mail box.  I was talking to him, reminding him of our need to be godly witnesses to the world, and the fact that she certainly knew we were Christians because of all of our mail.  At the precise moment I started to get on to him for his impulsive behavior, I was lifting a piece of paper and read the words (which I had written) “no impulse control” describing my son’s challenges (as well as all of his giftedness).  I had been flipping through a stack of papers in my brief case, looking for something else.

6/15/2009 / The perfect time for mechanical failure. = God allowed my wife’s car to quit at a particular time and place, enabling us to take care of it without extreme problems.  She was on her way to work, when it suddenly died and God’s blessings were obvious and numerous.  First, she was traveling in front of a business and was able to steer the car out of the street and into the parking lot.  If she had been farther ahead or behind, or if there had been any oncoming traffic requiring her to yield, she would not have been able to get it out of the road.  Second, she called me at work—on a morning when we were unusually slow and it was convenient to leave—and I went to meet her.  Third, it was very cloudy during this whole ordeal and, thus, we were able to address the situation without the sun beating down on us.  She also had to drive me to work and then take my car—which doesn’t have air conditioning—to her job.  (She needs to look nice on her job.)  Fourth, it happened on a day when my brother-in-law—who lived nearby—had taken a day of vacation and was able to come and tow us to the repair shop.  Fifth, it happened approximately two miles from the repair shop where I have our cars repaired, making the trip short and easy.  Sixth, we learned from the repair shop that, in addition to the problem at hand—a broken timing belt—one of the car’s cooling fans was not working.  By the end of the day the weather had turned very hot, and the car would have undoubtedly overheated on her drive home.  (The car had overheated twice in recent months—the weather had been much cooler—and I thought the problem was a radiator leak.)

11/03/2009 / Married twenty-five absolutely wonderful years! = God created marriage for the purpose of leading people into a loving and everlasting relationship with Him.  This is why it exists and why He wants to make it beautiful—even if it is presently all messed up!  (You can learn all about this in, “Keys to a wonderful life-long marriage” in the “Ministries and Resources” section on this website.)  Doing it God’s way, continually inviting and receiving God’s help, my wife and I are now celebrating our “silver wedding anniversary” and are continuing to grow in our love for each other as we have for twenty-five years.

*** The divorce rate among husbands and wives who pray together and read the Bible daily is 1 in 1,019.  (Per Steve Holt, on James Dobson’s “Family Talk” radio program 04/15/2013)

*** If you have destroyed your marriage, God still wants to take you from where you are – to the beautiful place He wants you to be.

02/5/2010 / The leak was late. = God protected my car—when the rear main seal went out—by postponing the leakage of radiator fluid.  (The rear main seal keeps oil in the engine.)  I had filled the radiator a couple of days before, which upon filling, always allowed a certain amount to leak out, then stopped.  (This turned out to be a faulty radiator cap.)  I had just driven thirty miles back home from work and pulled the car into the garage.  Upon going back out into the garage a short time later, I noticed a large amount of radiator fluid on the floor.  It was abnormal that it leaked this much, this long after filling.  Upon further inspection, I discovered an even larger amount of liquid farther up under the car—which turned out to be oil.  If I had not seen the radiator fluid, I would not have noticed the oil, and would have, most likely, driven the car and destroyed the engine.  The car is 36 years old, and the warning lights do not work.  The radiator never leaked late again.

08/22/2010 / A vision for “Hiding the Invisible.” = God showed me how my son was to do the demonic deception scenes in the video, “Hiding the Invisible,” and in the process, told me that this was the video which he was to produce first.  The Video Tech Team Leader at church had previously told my son (and the others on the team) to do all kinds of personal video projects for practice.  My son and I had talked before this, about making videos out of some of my poems to put on You Tube.  We were thinking about a couple of them, but not “Hiding the Invisible.”  On this particular morning, we were listening to a sermon, about using our spiritual gifts—abilities given by God for the purpose of serving Him—when I began to pray that God would help our family (specifically thinking about my son at that moment) to do this.  Immediately, God gave me a vision showing me how the scenes were to look in the video.  My son would film a scene with a demon doing something invisibly in the physical realm, then with a sudden flash or two and accompanying noise, the demon would become visible—showing that he was responsible for what was occurring—then disappear in the same way.  (Demons—the angels who are in rebellion against God—are invisible, and they generally try to hide their work, thus, the title, “Hiding the Invisible.”)  This vision from God came about a week after my son had, for the fun of it, made a short video with the feel of an Alfred Hitchcock suspense thriller.  This was obviously all being orchestrated by God.  When my son ultimately finished the video, the scenes—not surprisingly—were exactly as God had shown me in the ‘vision.’ (You can see this poem under the section, “Poetry with an Attitude,” or see the “Videos” section to locate the video on the internet.

10/2010 / Filming “Hiding the Invisible.” = God timed the filming of this video and blessed our efforts in many ways.  1. When creating the script, Halloween costumes and props were available in the stores.  2. When beginning to film, cooler days had arrived– which made the costumes more comfortable to wear.  3. My sons’ camera had broken and we were able to borrow one from the church, as he was now on the Video Tech Team.  4. When we got to the cemetery—using my family’s plot to film a scene—the only spot where the scene would work was in the shade of a tree, which kept the actors cool and shielded the camera from the sun’s glare.  5. No one visited the cemetery while we were filming.  (It could have been difficult to explain why people were in the cemetery dressed like a Halloween ghoul, playing around with a pretend ghost).  6. God also gave me the idea of using a foldable tent pole, which would fit into my Mustang-II and then unfold into a very long pole, to hold up the ghost figure.

02/23-24/2011 / God carries us here and there. = God enabled my wife to get home safely—rather than getting stuck out on the road somewhere—when her car malfunctioned.    She heard it making some noises about a fourth-of-a-mile before turning on our street and then noticed that it was overheating as she pulled into our driveway.  (The water-pump had gone out at the end of an eight mile trip from work.)The next morning, we asked God to give us ‘green lights’ all the way to the auto repair shop, as we needed to get the car there before it overheated.He answered our prayer!’ We were able to drive the three miles to the shop without encountering a single red light and the car barely achieved normal running temperature.  (The ‘green lights experience’ was definitely a onetime event.)

03/06/2011 / Fear of the ‘puppy beast.’ = We have a very cute little dog which we acquired from a pet-rescue-shelter when she was a puppy—on 03/06/11.  She appears to be a Yorkie/Maltese mix.  She is the sweetest, most affectionate and most delicate little animal we have ever seen.  She likes to be cradled in our arms like a baby, and will fall asleep in that position.  My wife disciplined her one time by giving her a stern look, and the dog actually turned to face the opposite direction, because she couldn’t handle the stare.  When playing ‘tug-of-war’ with her toys, I only need to hold them with my thumb and index finger.  She is scared of flying bugs and actually hid under the bed from a gnat. (She evidently encountered a bee at one time, and all other flying bugs are now guilty by association.)  She is relatively quiet and doesn’t explode into loud, sharp barking frenzies when she hears a noise.  This is exactly the kind of dog our family needs, since my wife easily startled and our son—who has O.C.D.—is easily stressed.  Over time, it has become increasingly obvious that God provided us with this particular dog—in answer to our prayers.  I say, ‘increasingly’ obvious, because it was also obvious when we got her.  God did both an amazing and an amusing thing to keep anyone else from choosing her before we got to the rescue shelter.  He put ‘the fear of the beast’ in them.  They were all scared of her!  (If you could have seen her when she was a puppy, you would be rolling in the floor laughing.)  When I picked her—out of the ‘line-up’—the new volunteer at the rescue shelter got her out of her maximum security cell, (oops, I mean ‘kennel’) and handed her to me.  While holding her in my arms, one of the regular staff members walked up and almost froze.  She said, “You have ‘her’ out?”  The new volunteer became instantly worried—as did I—and asked her, ‘What’s wrong?’  The staff member said, “Didn’t you read the sign?” (on her cage).  The sign—which neither of us noticed—provided a warning that this little puppy was very dangerous.  The staff member also pointed out that this ‘beast’ already had a leash on her, (because it was evidently too dangerous to try to take one off and put it back on).  We—the volunteer and I—both stood there looking at her quite puzzled.  The staff member then returned our puzzled looks, as she observed me holding the ‘beast,’ who was totally calm and content resting in my arms.  The beast (oops, I mean ‘puppy’) remained totally calm through the acquisition process, all the way to our home and throughout the years following.

03/26/2011 / A 2002 Honda CRV. = Because of our financial situation—God providing exactly what we need, when we need it and never early—we drive our cars until they are completely worn out.  The three cars which we recently had—mine, my wife’s and my daughter’s—had a combined total of over 700,000 miles on them.  Recently, our daughter got married and moved out of the house and my wife’s car experienced problems too expensive to fix.  This left us with one car, which was also about to meet its’ end (see next entry).  At this time, we were in the early stages of refinancing our house—to a lower interest rate—in order to pay the bills for our daughter’s wedding, to get some necessary resources for our son’s education, and to lower our monthly payment.  This was going to slightly extend the length of the loan.  As a result of the situation regarding the automobiles, I was now contemplating borrowing more money in order to buy another used car.  This concerned me, however, because borrowing the extra amount would slightly increase our monthly payment, something I did not feel we could afford.  I began asking God about this and on at least three different occasions, a certain financial amount came to mind.  I ‘reminded’ God that ‘this amount’ was not enough to meet our needs and to get another used car.  He, however, stuck with this amount.  I said, “O.K. Father, I believe this is the amount you are telling us to borrow.  If this is not the amount, then please stop us.”  He did not!  Shortly after refinancing the loan, a lady in our church called to see if we were home.  After speaking to us on the phone, she and her husband came over and gave us her car—a 2002 Honda CRV.  The car—which was in extremely good condition and looked and drove as if it was new—was her only means of transportation.  (She also filled it with gas, cleaned it inside and out, and had recently had it inspected and had the oil changed.)  She told us that while she was praying, God told her to give us the car.  After doing so, her husband took her to the Honda dealership and they bought another CRV for her. [Philippians 4:19]

09/1974 thru 09/2011 / God preserved my car, then said, “Don’t look back.”  = I drove the same car—a 1974 Mustang II—for thirty-seven years and God preserved it in many ways.  It was my primary source of transportation throughout this time and it accumulated almost 340,000 miles.  While it had many things replaced over the years, some of them multiple times, its’ survival and condition were described by more than one person as miraculous.  Below is a picture of it, taken the day I donated it to the Salvation Army.  This was the original paint and the vinyl top had been replaced only once, over twenty-five years before.  The car was rarely waxed and remained outside through most of its years. [Deuteronomy 8:4]

A few days before the car was to be picked up, I began contemplating ways to retain more memories.  The car had earned a place in my heart, as it was a ‘very big’ part of my history—high school, college, courting, wedding, hospital delivery rooms, karate tests, etc. We even used it—along with an exact replica model—to make a kids’ karate movie when my son was young.  (In the movie, the car could transform into both a plane and a submarine).  While reminiscing about all of this, God suddenly called my attention to the lyrics of the song which was playing on the radio.  They were: “A little voice inside my head said, don’t look back, you can never look back.”  (In other words, leave the past in the past.)  I thanked God for the thirty-seven years of having the car and for His guidance at this moment.  He was keeping me from making it harder to let it go than it needed to be.

07/01/2011 / God provides boldness and opportunity. = Recently a preacher on the radio said that Christians should be asking God for boldness in our witnessing.  Two days later—after adding this to my prayers—God put me in the most wonderful situation.  I found myself standing in front of two fellow employees—both quite hostile to the Gospel—explaining many of the things that I so want to tell the world.  This situation arose as one of them—seeking to use the second one for support—began challenging me with some of the most common objections to Christianity.  He was out to bash the truth of God; God was out to get their attention!  He started off by asking me about a parable that Jesus told, in which a King said to his servants, “Bring those people here who did not want me to be their king and kill them before me.”  During the discussion, my ‘challenger’ brought up questions about other religions, ‘theoretically innocent children’ who have never heard the gospel, etc.  I was able to remind them of God’s judgment via the flood, tell them about the innate knowledge of God and morality which He has given to every human, about the depraved nature which we are all born with, and about how God is absolutely just and must punish all sin.  I also gave them an analogy of how a judge could declare someone guilty then pay for their fine—to spare them the consequences—and still remain just.  (This is what Jesus did for us on the cross.)  I also told them that He created the universe and all humans, logically disproved the Theory of Evolution, told them how all other religions allow for pride—which keeps people from humbly accepting Him as Lord and Savior—and explained that God will get His offer of salvation through to anyone who truly seeks Him (as He did for four-thousand years before He died for our sins).

04/23/2012 / A card from Heaven.   = “T.R.,” a friend and fellow Christian, who I give a ride to work, was really down on himself this morning—referring to himself as a “loser.”  The day before this, our church had given everyone in attendance, a card identifying who Christians are in Christ—‘holy to God, children of the King, etc.’  There were around ten very uplifting truths, each supported by scripture.  (We are anything, but losers!)  We had taken the cards into the house, but had inadvertently left one in the car.  It was obvious that God had arranged this, so I could give him the card.  When my friend said that he was a loser, I simply handed him the card and told him what had occurred.

06/09/2012 / God paid for shipping. = Yesterday—June 8^th—I gave “T.R.,” (my friend mentioned above) a ride to work.  Because he was going to ride in the front seat, I threw a package—which needed to be shipped by U.P.S.—into the back seat and forgot to mail it.  As a result, it had to be shipped today—via air freight—which cost a lot more money.  The shipping charges were $20.22, and we are very tight on money.  Painfully, I sent the package, then after work, went home to mow my yard.  While mowing, a twenty-dollar blew across the grass in front of my mower.

08/31/2012 /  Infection, fake flowers and money. = Yesterday, “T.R.” (mentioned above) told me that he had cut his leg when his foot slipped off the pedal of his bicycle.  Later the same day, he showed me the injury and it was already infected.  He needs to go to the doctor, but can’t afford it.  My wife and I wanted to help him, so we were asking God if we should give him some money.  (Humanly speaking, we absolutely cannot afford it either).  While getting ready for work this morning, God drew my attention to a pot of artificial flowers which we have in our bathroom:  It seemed to glow with an amazing and supernatural beauty.  Through this phenomenon, God called my attention to how wonderfully He provides for us, even aesthetic adornments for a bathroom.  He then reminded me of a time—mentioned in the Bible—when Christians shared all that they had with other Christians, and no one was in need. We gave him some money.  (Acts 4:32-35)

P.S. This is faith and love in action, not Socialism or Communism.  Christianity says, “What I have is yours.”  Communism says, “What you have is mine!” (Exodus 20:17, 2 Thessalonians 3:10) (*** This statement did not originate with me).

Late 2012 / “Eternal Wisdom, A Murderer in Heaven.” = While writing this poem, I was considering using a plumber—just an ordinary guy—as the character in the poem through whom the wisdom would come.  God interrupted my thoughts with the phrase, “rapist/murderer.”  He wanted grace and mercy to be emphasized, as well as wisdom.  At the end of the poem, when unrepentant people are consigned to Hell, I was planning to write, “God had tears in His eyes.”  God interrupted my thoughts with the phrase, “weeping bitterly.”  (To see this poem, go to the section “Poetry with an Attitude.”)

12/mid/2012 / Blessed with meaning and color #1. = Many years ago, my employer (at that time) received some defective tablecloths from a supplier. He subsequently gave them to my wife and me, to use as curtains for our living room. They are an off-white color and coordinate with almost anything. Our couch and recliners, however, have the very unique color combination of teal and coral. In order to coordinate the curtains with the furniture, we bought some teal colored fabric from a store, and some coral colored napkins from my employer. We created a swag valance at the top of each window with the fabric. We then folded the napkins into the shape of a fan, placing them between the swags. They look beautiful together, as well as with the furniture.

Fast forward to now: My wife currently works at a small gift shop which sells certain items on consignment. Her employer just received a shipment of Christmas décor which will be handled this way. Some of these items are ‘nativity scenes’ – with sculptures representing Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the stable where Jesus exited the virgins’ womb. When my wife saw them, she was totally infatuated. They were absolutely beautiful! Unfortunately, they were also very expensive, and there was no way we could afford to buy one. God, however, was about to intervene.

Within a week, the manufacturer both – lowered the price and offered the animal sculptures (which coordinate with the ‘nativity scene’) for free, with the purchase of the stable. On top of this, my wife’s employer gives purchase discounts to her employees. My wife thanked God and bought them for our house. It wasn’t until we had them set up in our living room – in front of the curtains – that we noticed something. God had not only blessed us with this representation of ‘His Greatest Gift,’ the colors which ‘Mary and Joseph’ are wearing are teal and coral and they hang like the swags on our curtains. At certain times of the day, as the sun moves across the sky and the light changes, the colors match our curtains perfectly! See the picture below.

To see a second time that God did this, see “12/mid/2023 / Blessed with meaning and color #2.”

February 2013 / Abortion, forgiveness and poem beyond me. = Over a couple of days, I heard several programs on the radio pertaining to abortion and to God’s forgiveness.  After hearing them, the thought crossed my mind to write a poem on this subject.  I dismissed it, however, because this was so far out of my realm.  Upon hearing a few more comments on this subject the next day, I began feeling that God was leading me in this direction.  This went on for another day or so, until I was sure that He was guiding me to do it.  I told Him, “Lord, if you want me to write this, you are going to have to intervene in a mighty way, because this is beyond me.”  That night, I sat down at the computer and wrote the poem in less than two hours.  It took me a couple of more nights to get it smoothed out, but the whole process was exceptionally fast. God had clearly intervened!  It took me three months or more to write each of the previous poems under the category “Poetry with an Attitude.”  (The poem is titled, “Mommy, God Forgives You.”) *** Later, we produced a video featuring this poem for YouTube.  You can find it through the “Videos” section on this website.

08/01/2013 / God, a friend and a flash-drive. = During a conversation with a friend—who is growing closer to Jesus—I told him to come to this website and download “The Second Most Incredible Book . . .” onto his computer.  He told me that he has a very old computer with a 1.6 gigabyte hard-drive and was worried about putting anything else on it.  I decided that I would erase all of the stuff on one of my flash-drives and put it on there for him.  When I got home and began to think about it, however, I became uncomfortable with giving away a flash drive which (had/has) all of my personal information on it.  (Deleting files, makes them inaccessible to the average person, but not to everyone.)  I wasn’t worried about my friend, but couldn’t guarantee that the flash-drive wouldn’t get lost sometime in the future.  I decided to wait until a new flash-drive could be purchased.  I told my wife what was going on and she informed me that her brother—who was living with us at the time—had earlier that day, given her a new blank flash-drive.  They were on sale where he worked and he bought the last one before coming home.

08/31/2013 / God moves so we have a place to sit. = Our patio table and chairs—which were hand-me-downs, given to us a couple of decades before—never suffered a broken strap – until now.  This morning, my wife’s brother informed her that the strapping on one of the chairs broke as he sat in it.  This afternoon, without any knowledge of what had just happened, some friends of ours e-mailed us to ask us if we wanted their patio table set (which they knew, was much nicer than ours).  They told us that they had just bought a new set for themselves—which required less room on their patio—and no longer needed the one they were offering us.

09/early/2013 / God still wants him in karate. = My son has grown up with various challenges—Tourette’s Syndrome, O.C.D. and A.D.H.D.  One thing which a number of ‘experts’ agree upon—regarding helping children with A.D.H.D.—is that they need to be in the martial arts.  By God’s sovereignty, my son was born to a dad who teaches karate and he has benefited greatly from the class!  He still has much to gain, but he has just informed me that he has lost interest.  He told me that the only reason that he still comes, is because he knows that it is good for him.  I am not sure that this is a strong enough reason to keep him going.  Right after telling me this—while moving too quickly and less than careful (a classic symptom of A.D.H.D.)—he dropped his camera and broke it.  This would not have happened if he had developed the high level of self-control which karate offers, and I was able to bring this to his attention.  I also believe that this is why God did not intervene to protect the camera.  He too, knows that my son needs to continue in karate.  After all of this had occurred, I asked God to help him to enjoy karate again.  The following class, my son got very excited over the thought of using his speed—he is abnormally fast—in combination with some of the more advanced moves in karate.  He has not been truly excited in a long time.

09/24/2013 / Silent profanities. = As a youth, profanities were not absent from my vocabulary.  Growing closer to God, however, they almost completely disappeared.  (Less than five have been heard by another human in the last thirty years.)  Unfortunately, for the last nine years I have worked in a warehouse, surrounded by people who use profanities continually—my fellow employees, a few of our customers and an occasional truck driver.  My fellow employees restrain themselves to some degree while in my presence, but not enough.  Over time, as a result of continually hearing this, profanities have gradually and steadily worked their way back into my thinking—far more than when I was a youth.  It has gotten so bad that when I experience the slightest frustration, profanities not only come into my thinking, they flood it. And I hate it!  It bothers me immensely, knowing that I am subjecting God—my absolutely holy and very Best Friend—to these thoughts and it has grown continually worse.  I apologize to Him every time it happens and have been asking Him to help me quit.  On 9/23, I sort of gave up.  I didn’t make any kind of a decision, but felt pretty defeated.  The following morning, before getting out of bed, I asked God if He had any guidance for me.  He said, “Mental Swearing.”  This answer came as a wonderful blessing, because He was telling me not to give up, and that He was now ready to help.  Later that day, on three separate occasions, He changed the words which were coming to my mind, from profanities to different words. (It was like reading a book of familiar phrases, yet when getting to the word which you knew was next, the word changed).  That night, I realized that not one profanity had come to my mind all day.  During the days following, I have had much, much more control over this aspect of my thinking and can clearly tell that this is a battle to be won.

A note to you—the reader:  I do not know why God waited to answer my prayers – in helping me to stop these silent profanities.  It certainly came as no surprise that His help was required to accomplish this.  So, He wasn’t waiting for me to recognize my weakness and to come to Him in humility.  My best guess is, that He wanted you—the reader—to see, yet another way that He intervenes in His children’s lives.  If He had intervened right after I started praying, it would not be written about here and you would not be reading about it.

P.S. I never promise God anything—like, “I am going to stop mentally swearing.”  Since there is nothing of eternal significance which we can accomplish without His help, I ask Him for the wisdom, desire and ability to live according to His will, but I don’t make any promises.  It’s His power at work in my life, not my efforts alone.  (John 15:5)   

01/15/2014 / God provides a dental guard. = My wife has the terrible habit of grinding her teeth as she sleeps.  We purchased a ‘Night-Guard’ from a dentist several years ago—which alleviates this problem—but it did not fit correctly.  She wore it for a long time, but it increasingly irritated her mouth and she quit using it.  By this time, however, it was too late to have it replaced.  Now, as a result of grinding her teeth, she has cracked some of her crowns.  She now needs more dental work, which we do not have the money to pay for.  Most urgently, however, she needs another Night-Guard to prevent further damage.  We do not have the money for this either.  We have been asking God for help with this situation, and now, her (current) dentist has provided her with a new Night-Guard at no cost.  These guards are custom made in a laboratory and it would have cost $680.00, if we had been able to pay for it.  (We tried inexpensive mouth guards—designed for contact sports—but they do not work for teeth grinders.  They increase T.M.J. problems, which she also suffers from.)

02/22/2014 / A tree-trunk for God. = This past winter, we lost one of our trees due to an ice storm.  The weight of the ice broke some of its’ bigger limbs.  While in the process of transforming the tree into firewood—via: chainsaw—my daughter asked me for part of the trunk.  She wanted to make it into a piece of furniture.  After cutting the trunk to her specifications, I was left with the top half of the trunk, where many limbs had originated.  It was going to be quite difficult to cut this into smaller pieces, so I temporarily set it aside—wishing that it could just disappear.  God was about to make this happen.  About two hours after cutting it, a lady from our church came to our house.  She saw the trunk and asked if she could have it.  Just prior to leaving her house—to come to ours—she had been asking her husband where they could get part of a trunk, which had been cut with a chainsaw.  They wanted to use it as part of an advertisement, encouraging men to lend their knowledge, abilities and power-tools to mission work.

03/08/2014 / A line-of–sight prayer. = Arriving home—after spending approximately three-hundred dollars on automobile maintenance—I opened several bills to see that we do not have enough money to pay them.  We are also in need of a new central air-conditioner for our house.  (See 04 & 05/2014 / The air-conditioner and the skeleton.) The bills were in my hand and upon lowering the envelopes, but not my gaze, a prayer for provision was then directly in my line of sight.  My wife had printed this prayer—which she had received in an e-mail—and had placed it in a clip on my desk.  God was telling me to begin praying this prayer for our financial situation.

04/19/2014 / God in the little things. = My wife was in the process of reorganizing a couple of cabinets in our house.  She came into the bedroom and asked me if we had any contact paper.  I had—less than thirty seconds before—shoved a roll of it down to the bottom of a trash box.  We were in cleaning mode and I was getting rid of an old sewing machine box which had not been touched in several years.  The contact paper—left over from years before when my wife had used in the adjacent cabinets—had been in the bottom of the box.  Needless to say, it was a perfect match.  (Christians often think that many of the needs which we have are too small for God to be involved in.  As one preacher asked, however, “Is there anything which isn’t little to God?”)

April 2014 / “Heaven is For Real”, the movie. = Regarding this movie, God did not do anything specific in my life, now that I have watched it.  He has, however, taught me some things over the years which compel me to offer a warning.  I do not doubt that the vision which the child reportedly experienced – could have occurred.  What concerns me, however, is the origin of the vision.  Consider the following: *** Satan and the other angels who rebelled against God can give people dreams and visions, thereby, transferring information. [Job 7:13-14]  *** Dreams and visions are more easily given while people are in altered states of consciousness—such as those produced by mind altering drugs or anesthesia.  *** Demons can provide historical information—such as when a miscarriage had occurred or the description of a great-grandfather when he was young—because they were there.  *** Demons use various schemes to try to keep people out of Heaven—out of a relationship with God. [Ephesians 6:11] *** The vision that the child was given—according to the movie—indicated that people get to Heaven without ever expressing faith in Jesus.  (“Nobody ever knew what that man believed.”). [The Bible declares differently. Romans 10:9] *** The movie implied that people (all our loved ones) get to Heaven because God is ‘loving,’ ignoring the fact that He is also ‘just.’  (“Do you think that God loves your son more than you do?”)   [The Bible declares differently. Romans 3:23, 6:23, 1 Peter 3:18, 1 John 5:12] Upon discussing these concerns with a friend of mine, he told me that these messages were so subtle, that he doubted that anyone would notice.  Unfortunately, since demons can give people thoughts, dreams and visions, they can also call attention to subtle messages which they want to emphasize.

04 & 05/2014 / The air-conditioner and the skeleton. = Our central air-conditioner lasted more than twenty-five years with only one notable repair.  Last September it quit and a friend of my dad’s fixed it for free.  It worked for two weeks—up until the end of the season’s hot weather—then quit again.  The weather cooled off the very next day.  My dad’s friend came out and fixed it again this spring—again at no charge—but we knew that it would not last.  The problem is, it uses the discontinued freon (R-22) and we have no money to buy a new unit.  While praying for guidance and provision, God gave me a vision – of a skeleton and the air-conditioner.  He was telling me that the air-conditioner was dead (beyond repair).  He then said to me, “two weeks.”  Within the next two weeks, two things happened. First, my sister told me of a guy who had just replaced their air-conditioner—who did a very good job for a very good price.  Second, a friend of ours walked up and gave me a check for $3000.00.  He said that something had occurred regarding their finances and it was obvious that God wanted them to give us this money.  We had to borrow another $1,000.00, but this helped immensely.  We waited a little while longer—to see if God was going to provide any more—then had a new air-conditioner installed on May 7^th.  The weather stayed unseasonably cool up until this time (the temperature was in the low forties an April 30 in North Texas).  After the new air-conditioner was installed, we realized that the guy had given us a noticeably lower price than he gave my sister.

05/10/2014 / An antique automobile near death experience. = My job and karate are both quite strenuous, so getting enough sleep is very important.  When my schedule doesn’t allow it, it really makes a difference—especially when driving.  After a particularly hectic week—missing several hours of sleep the previous two nights and doing some extra physical labor at home—we drove to see our son-in-law graduate from college.  (It was forty miles one way.)  It should have been a struggle for me to stay alert during the drive, but it wasn’t.  On the way back home after the ceremony, we encountered a very dangerous situation.  We were driving—fifty miles-per-hour—down a winding two-lane black top road out in the country.  We suddenly found ourselves looking at an antique automobile stopped in our lane—with no lights on.  (It was painted black and had no reflectors.)  I instantaneously hit the brakes and swerved around it.  If God had not provided me with the—otherwise unexplainable—level of energy and alertness I had, the situation would have turned out very differently.  (P.S. We never start a day or a trip without asking God to protect us.)

05/27/2014 / A karate test ordained by God. = A young karate student of mine—one of the better I have had—has moved from beginner ability to Green-Belt ability in a little over a year.  (Green-Belt is the first colored belt in our style and few people move up in rank this fast.)  On this particular Tuesday night, one of my Black-Belts came to me and said that he felt that this student was ready to be tested.  It had only been three months since his last test, so I asked another of my Black-Belts if he agreed.  He did.  With a tinge of reluctance, I said “O.K.”  (If belts come too quickly in the beginning, very good students may quit later, when upgrades take longer.  I did not want this to happen to him.)  We tested him and he did very well!  Right after the test, however, I got a big surprise.  His parents came to tell me that they were moving back to India on May 30^th, thus, the following class—May 29^th—would be his last.  If we had not tested him on this night, he would not have received his Green-Belt—which he definitely deserved.  Later that night, while I was preparing his diploma, it became clear to me that God had ordained this test.  This realization came, not only because of the timing, but because of a faint awareness that my decision to test him was slightly out of my control.  (I recognized that God had moved this along.)  In addition, I had a green belt—which was the correct size—to present to him on the 29^th.  If this had not been the case, acquiring one quickly enough may have been impossible.  (I do not keep belts on hand, but had a few left over from years before, when a couple of my Black-Belts did.)  F.Y.I. – My student and his family are Christians and God obviously did not want this child of His to miss this blessing.

06/08/2014 / A potentially lethal church. = A friend of mine told me about a new church near our home and urged me to visit.  Upon viewing the church’s website, I discovered that they had chosen not to have a statement of faith.  They indicated that they did not have one, because various church members had different backgrounds and different beliefs.  This concerned me greatly, because a statement of faith for a church should be what God clearly says in the Bible.  If members can’t agree on this, then they are in a very dangerous situation—spiritually speaking.  God soon affirmed my concerns.  Upon waking this morning—mulling over this situation—God said to me, “The inner lethal place.”  He then immediately played a scenario in my thoughts, in which I was conversing with some other person.  The scenario reminded me that my understanding of the Bible has come from listening to a great number of preachers—over more than thirty years—all of which could exist with the same statement of faith.  (I have listened to them on radio, T.V. and at church.)  After this had occurred, I asked God to confirm that He was speaking to me—(that these we not just my own thoughts).  He then said to me, “Amniocentesis.”  Not knowing what this was, I looked it up and found that ‘amniocentesis’ is a medical procedure which may inadvertently cause a miscarriage (resulting in the womb becoming ‘an inner lethal place’).  This was clearly His confirmation.

F.Y.I. There are a great number of churches—on radio, T.V. and around our neighborhoods—which should be avoided like the plague.  If Christians don’t read the Bible and ask God for guidance, we may not know which ones they are.   (1 John 4:1-3) (2 Peter 1:19 – 2:2)

 09/20/2014 / God calls a man and makes him speak. = While making a deposit at the bank, the bank teller—a man who appears to be from India—suddenly asked me, “Do you teach?”  (We do not know each other, nor anything about each other.)  Before giving me time to answer, he quickly said that he didn’t know why he was asking.  I said to him, “I teach karate,” and he again told me that he didn’t know why he was asking.   After finishing the deposit, we had a brief conversation about karate and then said good-bye.  Upon turning to leave, the realization hit me that this was a ‘set-up’ by God.  God caused him to ask me this question—which is why the man did not understand his own action—so I could tell him about our “Meekness, Karate and God” video, as well as about this website.  (God is obviously seeking to call Him into His family.)  I told the man that the video and the website are designed to lead people into a relationship with God.  The man told me that he was very interested in anything spiritual and was going to take a look at them.  A few days later, God showed me—in the Bible—where He had done the same thing before.  He had caused another man to speak certain words, without the man ever knowing what had happened.  (John 11:51)  God, by showing this to me, confirmed that He had, indeed, set this situation up, so my family and I said some additional prayers for the man.

Late 2014 / Witness protection plan. = Being an ‘extremely’ good employee has been one of my objectives for many years.  This encompasses my effort, diligence, persistence, reliability and honesty, as well as my interactions with the people around me.  Needless to say, this has benefitted me greatly.  My ultimate reason for this objective, however, is to try to influence my employers and co-workers into a relationship with God—or deeper into one if they are already His children.  I let people know of my relationship with God, and then—with the Lord’s help—seek to live a holy life, so they can witness the difference He makes.  Unfortunately, I recently learned that a fellow employee has been making false accusations against a few people in the company, including me.  The accusations against me—which concerned my work ethic—could destroy my witness.  Concerned that this might happen, I asked God to get rid of this employee before it did.  Over the next few months, this employees’ attitude deteriorated rapidly, he had some severe problems with other employees and ultimately got fired.  The change was so dramatic, that one of the supervisors later asked, “What happened to . . . ?” when referring to this situation.  This employee’s attitude and behavior became so bad that he most likely nullified—in peoples’ minds—the false accusations that he had made.  (F.Y.I. – I still pray for his salvation and truly desire to see him in Heaven.)  [Matthew 5:16]

10/2014 & before. / Utterly Amazing!!! God calls and the doors open! = Gods’ ‘calling’ (His plan) for our son’s career is in the field of videography / movie making.  (When our son was quite young, his calling began to show, as he was extremely fascinated by movies; not only by watching them, but by seeing how they were made.  In addition to this fascination, he would often say, “I want to honor God and make movies”).

God, however, did not provide for our son to go to college, but has opened other doors for his education and career.  First, our former church started a video-tech-team, which our son eagerly joined.  In addition to teaching the tech-team members all about videography—including which software and camera my son should buy—the tech-team leader also showed them where to go on the internet to further their education.  The church also provided a subscription to a website, which offered tutorials on computer programs, including “After Effects”—the video-special-effects program which our son is using.  After a couple of years of ‘home-video-schooling,’ our son produced a video which he named, “Nova, Wrath of Chaos.”  (You can find the link to this video in the ‘Videos’ section of this website.)  During the week in which he finished this video, he was informed that the video-tech-team was being dissolved.  (Our son had evidently learned all that God intended through this part of his education.)

Next, after watching his “Nova, Wrath of Chaos” video, a friend of ours provided our son with his first professional videography opportunity.  It was needed by the company where he works.  (We thought our sons’ first professional video would be something small, but God had bigger plans: Our friend works for Hewlett/Packard.)

Third, when the church video-tech-team dissolved, the leader told our son about a man who leads an “After-Effects” group in a nearby city.  He told our son to connect with the man in order to further his education.  Today, we learned something else about the man he is to connect with: He and his family are long-time friends of my sister and her family, and she has invited them to join our family’s Thanksgiving Day celebration.  (They actually joined us last year, but we only knew them as my sister’s friends.)  As we were discovering all of this, we also learned that he is moving his “After-Effects” meetings to a location much closer to where we live.  He and his family have recently moved down the street from my sister and her family—which is very close to us.  This is, yet another blessing from God, as our schedule and a drive to the ‘nearby city’ would have been quite difficult.  (After all this had occurred, my wife told me that she had been asking God for another mentor for our son, after the tech-team dissolved.)

Fourth, after more than thirty years with our former church, God has now moved us to a new, very small—but growing church—near our house.  (The teaching is absolutely Biblical, as is the way the church is run.)  After several conversations with the Pastor, our son is now the official videographer for this new little church, and will be doing many of the same things that the tech-team leader does for our former mega-church.

F.Y.I. – Before our son—who has struggled with T.S., O.C.D. and A.D.H.D.—was born, God told us what his name was to be.  His name means, “Exalted by God.”  God does His best work through people who most need His help—those not deemed, “Most likely to succeed.”  [1 Samuel 16:7] [2 Corinthians 12:9-10] [1 Peter 5:6]

10/29/2014 / Perfect silhouettes. = While considering the possibility of turning another of my poems into a YouTube video, I was looking through some Christian clip-art images which I have for my computer.  The images would be used in making the video.  This particular poem, “Mommy, God Forgives You!” is about God’s forgiveness of Christians who have aborted their children and the fact that they and their children will be together in Heaven.  Images were available to represent the Biblical characters mentioned in the poem, but none seemed appropriate for the people to whom the poem is written, or for the children who were killed.  If the images—representing the viewers and their children—were cartoonish or looked quite different than the viewers, then the viewers would be less able to relate.  Not yet sure that making this video was God’s will, I opened the clip-art book—which came with the software—and found the perfect images.  These were ‘silhouettes’ of people which perfectly represented what is being said in the poem.  Seeing how perfect these were, and the fact that only fifteen silhouette images were even available—of which I used five—there was no question that making this video was God’s will.  You can find this video through the “Videos” section on this website

11/01/2014 / Twenty years later and two weeks early. = Approximately twenty years ago, a lady moved into a new condominium – which had black Kenmore appliances in the kitchen.  (Kenmore is a very good brand!)  This lady—who was described to us as “a little eccentric”—never used the dishwasher.  Recently, she decided to have the kitchen re-modeled—installing all new appliances—and was planning to donate the old ones to a local charity.  This charity, however, could not use a standard household dishwasher.  My brothers’ mother-in-law—the realtor assigned to these condominiums and our connection to this situation—was helping the lady with the contractors who are doing the work.  As God would have it, we ended up with this ‘never used’ dishwasher two weeks before ours—which is also black—quit working

11/03/2014 / Married thirty absolutely wonderful years! = God created marriage for the purpose of leading people into a loving and everlasting relationship with Him.  This is why it exists and why He wants to make it beautiful—even if presently all messed up!  (You can learn all about this in, “Keys to a wonderful life-long marriage” in the “Ministries and Resources” section on this website.)  Doing it God’s way, continually inviting and receiving God’s help, my wife and I are now celebrating our thirtieth wedding anniversary and are continuing to grow in our love for each other as we have for thirty years.

*** The divorce rate among husbands and wives who pray together and read the Bible daily is 1 in 1,019.  (Per Steve Holt, on James Dobson’s “Family Talk” radio program 04/15/2013)

*** If you have destroyed your marriage, God still wants to take you from where you are – to a beautiful place He wants you to be

12/19-20/2014 / The hardest thing we’ve ever done. = When our niece was young, her parents divorced and we, as much as possible, took her in ‘under our wings.’  She never lived with us, but we babysat her often.  As she grew up, we tried to guide her according to Biblical principles – and to help her pick up the broken pieces of her life when she went the opposite direction.  Unfortunately, she has generally gone the opposite direction and her life is now a disaster.  (Neither of her parents have a relationship with God.)  She now has three children, by two different men—neither one of which has been willing to marry her—and now Child Protective Services is involved.  C.P.S. brought us her two older children about a week ago and put her two-month-old in the hospital for a couple of days.  This seems to have been an overreaction by C.P.S., but the baby is underweight and needs some special attention.  Our niece is not failing to feed him.  Sadly, however, during the investigation by C.P.S., our niece and her boyfriend—the father of the youngest child—failed a drug-test.  Without delving further into the history of all of this, this information will be limited to Gods’ involvement and the situation today.

We cared for the two older children—ages four and five—the first part of the week and for the baby the last couple of days.  The question ‘in the air’ is—“If the worst happens, can we become foster parents of the baby?”—and the answer is “No!”  Our family has special needs, health issues and other challenges and bringing our nieces’ traumatic life—which can only be compared to a tornado—into our home will destroy us.  This was frighteningly obvious to me, so I gave everybody the answer, before anyone asked.  My wife—who has high blood pressure—is extremely distraught over this situation and is suffering as a result.  She has had a headache for days, is living on Pepto-Bismol—because of what the stress is doing to her stomach—and is terribly worried about the children (as am I).  She too, knows that this would destroy our family, but is absolutely torn over the situation.  (The father of the two older children has shared custody with our niece and will wrestle them away from her if possible, but he is not a good person.  The father of the baby is again, along with our niece, under investigation by C.P.S.)

Knowing again, that the answer has to be, – “No, we cannot become foster parents of the baby!” – I still sought confirmation from God.  Holding the baby in my arms, looking deeply into his beautiful eyes and getting him to smile, (a very dangerous thing to do, considering how much I love children), I asked God, “Should we take this baby?”  God immediately washed away all of my emotions, leaving me with absolutely no feelings for the child.  I would have cried, but I felt nothing.  My wife told me later, that she had asked God to ‘cause me to fall in love with the baby’ if it was His will for us to foster him.  The washing away of my emotions was the answer to both of our prayers.  (P.S. God wouldn’t have ‘caused’ me to fall in love with the baby; He would have just let it happen).

The following day, my wife—who feels more deeply than anyone I know, except God—was so close to saying “yes” (even though she knew the answer had to be “no”), that we almost had an argument.  I walked out to the driveway, sat in the car and began to pray – desperately.  I said, “God, please tell her that this is not Your will (to take the baby), or tell me that it is!”  He had already given us the answer, but we were both so hyper-stressed and hyper-emotional, we were feeling out of control.  God then said to me, “She will follow you as leader.”  Less than ten seconds later, our son—who had just witnessed our near argument—walked out to the car and gave me a message from my wife.  He told me, “Mom said that she will follow you as leader.”  (Our son, who suffers from O.C.D.—which terribly affects his thoughts and emotions—was an enormous help in all of this, but it was already taking its’ toll on him.  He had an emotional meltdown after the very first day.).

12/24/2014 / God and the camera strap. = For Christmas, we wanted to get our son a neck-strap for his video camera, but found it amazingly difficult.  We bought one which wouldn’t work, then exchanged it for another one which wouldn’t work.  Searching the internet, we found all kinds of straps, in all different lengths, with all kinds of connectors, for all kinds of cameras, but none of them were exactly what he needed.  Because of the tumultuous situation described in the entry above—which lasted almost until Christmas—we didn’t have time to find the right one.  We ended up with a camera strap (with the wrong kind of connector), a dog leash (which were planning to alter) and too little time to finish.  Upon waking this morning—with the camera strap on my mind—God said to me, “key-ring.”  That was it!  The connector on the dog leash could be cut off and attached to the camera strap with a key-ring.  The only imperfect aspect of the solution was that the connector on the leash—though the smallest that we found—was still larger than we had wanted.  Getting out of bed, with the solution in mind, I prepared to take our dog outside – which is a morning routine.  Our dogs’ harness, however, was not in its’ regular location, so I had to use an old harness and an old leash which we had stored in a drawer.  Through having to do this, I noticed that the connector on the old leash was very small and absolutely perfect for the camera.  The leash which we were going to alter for the camera, turned out to work better with both harnesses.

01/08/2015 / Who do you think you’re dealing with? = My wife has been sick for about a week and God told a friend of ours to bring her some decongestant and vitamins.  Our friend told my wife that she had been arguing a little with God, telling Him that she was sure that my wife had all the medicine and supplements that she needed.  God then asked our friend, “Who do you think you’re dealing with?”  (i.e. –Do you really think that you know more about what is needed in this situation, than the omniscient God of the universe?)  Our friend thought, ‘Oops,’ and then urgently called my wife to tell her that she was bringing her a care-package.  When she brought it, my wife thanked her and later noticed a couple of things.  Our friend brought her the same brand of decongestant that she had been taking, however, in a stronger dose.  My wife did not realize that what she had been taking was the weaker version.  Our friend also brought her some flavored vitamin-C supplements, thus, causing my wife to realize that she had not been following her own regular routine of taking a higher dose while sick.

01/21/2015 / Chaos into order. = If you have read the entry titled “The hardest thing we’ve ever done”—12/19/2014—then you know that our niece’s life is filled with sin and in continual chaos.  My family has tried to help her and prayed for her throughout the years, but I have begun to wonder if there is any hope—if she is ever going to allow God to fix her life.  Upon waking this morning—immediately thinking about her—God played a lyric from a song in my mind: “Who brings our chaos back into order?”  Through this communication, He was telling me not to give up, but to continue praying for her.

02/06/2015 / A car for a friend. = A divorced friend of ours—who is also a Christian—is having financial problems and has just learned that her car needs some very expensive repairs.  She asked us to pray that God would provide her with the money to get her car fixed, or guide her in refinancing her house—to acquire the needed money that way—if that was His will.  We began including this in our prayers, but I also began asking God to give her another car—as He has done for us—if that was His will.  It was!  A friend of a friend of hers just gave her a 2002 Honda Accord, which is in very good condition and looks like it is new.

04/12/2015 / ‘Slender Man’ – A spiritual warning about a fictional character! = Our daughter had never heard of the video game titled “Slender Man” until just before she came over to visit.  By God’s intervention, she now has.  He led her to read about it, including news reports about several horrific incidents (listed below) reportedly connected to the game’s main fictional character.  When our daughter arrived and walked into our son’s bedroom, she noticed that he had the game on his computer.  After some further research on my part and a few discussions with our son, he deleted it.  Now, while I cannot say what demons might have attempted regarding this game and our son (since he knows the Bible and is aware of their presence), it is obvious—from God’s intervention, as well as from the news reports—that they are more than a little involved with this fictional character.  We don’t want anything in our lives which reeks of demons and I did feel a level of spiritual resistance when convincing my son to delete it.  (Demons are the angels who have rebelled against God.)

About now, you are probably wondering, ‘What in the world is this all about?’ and ‘Why would demons be involved with a fictional character from a video game?’  Without trying to convince anyone of the possibility—we will let the news reports do that—I would like to suggest a step-by-step scenario of how demons could have been involved in these horrific incidents.

Here are the incidents as reported in the news.  (You can read about this on Wikipedia.com – “Slender Man.”)

1. Two 12-year-old girls in Waukesha, Wisconsin stabbed a 12-year-old classmate 19 times. They wanted to become proxies of Slender Man and feared that he would kill their families if they did not kill their classmate.
2. An anonymous woman from Hamilton, Ohio told a T.V. reporter that her 13-year-old daughter had attacked her with a knife. Her daughter had written macabre fiction, some involving the Slender Man, who the mother said motivated the attack.
3. A 14-year-old girl in Port Richey, Florida set her family’s house on fire while her mother and nine-year-old brother were inside. She had had been reading online stories about Slender Man (and other fictional characters).  The Sherriff’s office said that it would be safe to say that there is a connection to that.
4. There was an epidemic of suicide attempts by young people ages 12 to 24 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Slender Man was cited as an influence.

Here is a scenario of how demons could have been involved in these incidents.

1. Give someone the idea for creating the Slender-Man game.  The game is evidently quite eerie.   
2. Give people ideas for suggesting—in associated literature on internet forums—that Slender-Man might be real, in order to make the subject more intriguing and the game more popular.
3. Identify people who are playing the game and reading the associated literature—and who are obviously affected by it — (more susceptible targets).
4. Give those people thoughts, dreams and visions, seeking to convince them that Slender-Man is real and that he is interacting with them.
5. Control them through fear.

[Philippians 4:8]  [Ephesians 6:11]

P.S. Having read this scenario, you may now be wondering, ‘Why would a demon—which could be scary anyway—pretend to be a different character in order to frighten someone.  The answer: If people know who they are—angels who are in rebellion against God as revealed in the Bible—those people might turn to God for help.  If they do, they will discover that a person who accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior has His authority over demons. [Luke 10:17]   

04/22/2015 / Wrong problem, right cure?? = My wife injured her hip a couple of years ago, and it has recently gotten much worse.  She is barely able to walk and is injuring both of her knees walking with a limp.  This morning—while asking God to heal her—the Lord said to me, “Bursitis.”  Upon typing this word into Google, the first category option which came up was “Bursitis” and the second was “Hip Bursitis.”  When telling my wife what God said (and what came up on Google), she told me that her symptoms do not match those of Bursitis.  She said, however, that since God had said this, she would do some research on Bursitis care.  Upon watching a video—on bursitis—on You-Tube, she decided to try a cane.  It helped enormously!  We will see what happens as she tries some of the therapy exercises recommended for this condition.

04/25/2015 / God confronts a frustration. = While dealing with our finances—running in the red as usual—I said to myself – “We’re going under!”  (We are going to drown in debt!)  This really wasn’t a belief, but rather, a silently vented frustration.  At the precise moment the word’s “We’re going under” were going through my mind, the words, “You’re not going under.” were coming out of my computer’s speakers.  We had earlier, turned on some music and the timing of this song was so perfect that it seemed as though I was singing along.  God was reminding me once again, that He’s got everything under control.

04/25/2015 / Thanks for the cake; here’s the chicken. = My wife was delivering a cake—which we were donating to a local charity for a fundraiser they were holding.  The location where she dropped off the cake was very close to a fast-food restaurant which we really enjoy.  (The restaurant specializes in a spicy Mexican style grilled chicken and side dishes).  She really wanted to get some of their food, but knew that we couldn’t afford it.  Two days later—while meeting with our small group from church—we discovered that they had purchased this food for the meal.  Not only did we get to eat it at this time, the lady who purchased it insisted that we take all the leftovers home with us.  No one in our group knew anything about my wife’s desire.

06/30/2015 / A God ordained food craving. = After teaching karate on Tuesday nights, I almost always go home to eat dinner.  It is less expensive than eating out and my wife very often has dinner prepared.  Tonight, however, by God’s sovereignty, the routine changed.  Chicken strips—which are available at a local fast food restaurant—‘popped into my thinking’ and the thought was extremely appealing.  After driving to the restaurant and placing my order, the waiter brought me the food.  When he did, he saw me in my karate uniform and began to ask some questions about my class.  In addition to answering his questions, I also told him about our YouTube video—“Meekness, Karate and God,” and mentioned that it was designed to lead people into a relationship with God.  Upon hearing this, he told me that he has been hearing a lot about God lately and has started to read the Bible.  It was obvious that God had sovereignly arranged this meeting, as He wanted me to tell him about the video and about this website.

 07/16/2015 / Don’t forget that! = We thought that we had all of my son’s video equipment packed for an ‘on-location’ shoot, but were about to walk out without the ‘camera-to-tripod-connector.’  Upon walking past my son’s bedroom, I saw the connector lying on a table.  We had both looked at the table several times, but never noticed it.  This was clearly God’s ‘hand,’ because—while attempting to rush past—my vision became inexplicably locked onto the connector until my mind finally perceived what I was looking at.

07/mid/2015 / God heals a tooth. = My wife has been having problems with one of her teeth and has had a permanent crown temporarily attached.  Her dentist used only temporary adhesive—because of the continued problems—and told her that she needed a root-canal.  We, however, cannot afford it.  In addition to the expense, the last two root-canals which she had were failures.  We have been praying about this for a long time, and recently, the crown fell off.  She went back to the dentist who decided to go ahead and attach the crown permanently.  He does not perform root-canal surgery himself and feels that the only option my wife has left is to have the tooth pulled.  A short time later, however, my wife was thanking God for healing her tooth.

09/03/2015 / God cuts the travel-time in half. = My wife pulled her back yesterday and was in pretty bad shape.  Last night, after work, I assisted her—with ice-packs, back massages, etc.—and ended up getting to bed late.  I told her to wake me if she needed anything during the night, which she proceeded to do more than once.  Upon waking this morning, my lack of sleep was evident.  After work today, I was very tired, but needed to get ready for karate.  Unfortunately, I laid down for a moment and inadvertently fell asleep.  Waking up—and leaving the house approximately ten minutes later than normal—there was not going to be enough time to adequately warm-up before class (which is very important at my age.)  God, however, graciously intervened, giving me ‘green-lights’ at every intersection on the way to karate.  The trip, which normally takes about twenty minutes, took only ten

09/mid/2015 / Another poem & How mankind got the Bible. = God’s methods of guiding me in writing the poetry on this website have been varied.  He has, at times, simply instilled an idea in my thinking and let me run with it.  At other times, He guided me in the direction already headed, not only helping me to organize the content/story, but confirming that this was the right direction.  Several times, He changed the direction that the poem was headed, resulting in a far different and much better message than I was planning.  While writing the poem—“The Sub-Way”—it was almost as if pieces of a puzzle were appearing and falling into place, building an elaborate story with an amazing message, (a story which was very different than originally planned).  It was like constructing a picture puzzle—knowing the subject—but not knowing what it looked like until the pieces were in place.  (After receiving all of this varied guidance from God, it is easier to understand how He provided mankind with the Bible, while using people to write it.) [2 Timothy 3:16 / 2 Peter 1:21]

P.S. Nothing on this website is equivalent to the Bible.  It should, however, all agree.  If any of it disagrees, this website is wrong!

09/15/2015 / God reveals a shortcut. = Our son was attempting to finish a video—which he was producing for a client—but was running out of time.  He thought it was ready, but after showing it to his mother and me, we both agreed his narration was too fast.  He began making the necessary changes, but the process of ‘sound-mixing’—mixing the background music with the narration—was going to take a long time.  We quickly engaged in a lot of urgent prayer.  A little while later, God enabled our son to discover a much faster and easier way to mix the sound, resulting in him being able to finish the video on time.

10/03/2015 / Sinful thinking versus effective prayer. = While struggling against a sinful thought, asking God for help in the battle, He said to me: “Diminished effectiveness!”  He tells us in the Bible, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” [James 5:16]  Logically, the opposite is also true; ‘The prayer of an unrighteous person is weak and ineffective.’  (Considering the condition of our world today, and the people I want to lead into a relationship with God, ‘ineffective prayers’ are one of the most frightening prospects imaginable.)  Thanking Him, yet again, for His help in the battle, I was able to turn my thoughts in a different direction.

10/15/2015 / The Creation Museum, sickness and other blessings. = For our wedding anniversary, our daughter and son-in-law provided us with very wonderful trip to the ‘Creation Museum’ in Petersburg, Kentucky.  They provided airline tickets, a hotel stay for two nights and a rental car.  (Two days are required to see everything in the museum.)  We asked God to control our trip – to make everything work out according to His will and as a blessing to us.  He began answering our prayer by allowing my wife to get sick.  We were supposed to take our trip two weeks earlier, but my wife caught an upper respiratory infection and we had to postpone.  This delay turned out to be a blessing in several ways.  First, it allowed us time to upgrade and update our G.P.S.—which we didn’t realize we needed to do.  Second, it allowed us to get a ‘flight out’ which was later in the morning—than the original flight scheduled two weeks earlier—which was necessary as we got less than three hours of sleep before we left.  Third, it enabled us to learn about a major traffic problem near the museum, which could have easily ruined our trip.  (The ‘Carroll Cropper Bridge’—the only bridge in the area over the Ohio River—was being resurfaced, and commuters were getting stuck, sometimes for hours, because of the work and traffic mishaps.)  Our original plan had been to stay at a hotel across the river from the museum, which meant crossing the problem bridge multiple times during our trip.  Upon learning of this problem, our hotel plans were changed and our son-in-law booked us a room in a different hotel – on the ‘museum side of the river.’  In addition to these three blessings, God also took care of us in other ways.  We should have been extremely tired—because of the lack of sleep before our ‘flight out’—but were not.  I was able to drive to and from the airports the day we left—more than 3½ hours total—without feeling drowsy.  (I often get drowsy driving to work—less than one hour—after getting eight hours of sleep.)  We experienced warm beautiful weather, until the morning we started back home.  (Concern over cold weather was why we had originally planned to go two weeks earlier.)  We were also able to pre-board all flights—enabling us to pick the best seats on the planes.  My wife has an injured hip and the lady who gave us our boarding passes for our first flight asked us if we would like to pre-board.  We said yes!  We then asked—on the connecting flight as well as the flight back home—if we could do the same.  They all said yes.

FYI, – The Creation Museum—part of the ministry of “Answers in Genesis” (AIG)—is a wonderful experience provided by a wonderful ministry.  AIG’s stated mission is, “To proclaim the authority of Scripture and the gospel of Jesus Christ,” which they do through this museum, through seminars around the country and through an abundance of resources—books, videos, magazines, etc.—available through their website.  They will also be proclaiming it next year through an addition to the creation museum—a life-size replica of Noah’s ark—(510 feet long, 75 feet wide, 45 feet tall—which will be second museum).  AIG is where a lot of the information on this website has been obtained – regarding the truth of the Bible, the importance of taking God at His word, how true science overwhelmingly agrees with the Bible and disagrees with the Theory of Evolution, and God’s warnings about the attacks on His Word which we are currently experiencing in our world.  To learn more about the museum, the replica of the ark or to see the resources available from ‘Answers in Genesis,’ go to www.answersingenesis.org.

12/31/2015 / “Who’s Driving this Truck? (Breaking spiritual strongholds).” = If you have read all of the entries before this, you know how God has guided me in writing the poetry on this website, as well as the book.  He has done it yet, again.  This poem developed surprisingly fast (even considering the fact that the analogy it contains was originally used in the book).  In addition to the brief writing time, several parts fell into place—like pieces of a puzzle—in ways that were obviously God’s doing.  Three different times, an important aspect of the poem came together perfectly—in a way that I had not thought of—when finding a word which rhymed with what I had just written.  (This poem can be found on this website under, “Poetry with an Attitude” and the analogy can be found in the book at the end of Chapter XI, “So what should you do?”)

01/03/2016 / God’s grace in the fireplace. = The back panel—the artificial brick wall—in our pre-fab fireplace is crumbling and we need to replace it.  God graciously intervened to help us.  We went to our local ‘home-improvement’ store to see if they carry such an item.  They didn’t, but the person who we were talking to, suddenly remembered that there was a fireplace store on the far side of the building next door.  Upon inquiring at the fireplace store, the owner told us that we could buy the panel from his supplier and would pay about half of what he would charge us.  He also told us what information his supplier would need.  Upon contacting his supplier, we learned that his business is one block away from a customer who I will be delivering to—for my employer—on Friday.  (This saved me a lot of driving time, as the supplier is over twenty miles from our home.)  I ordered the panel and upon stopping by to pick it up, it was obvious that it was abnormal for a retail customer to be purchasing this item from them.  They asked me more than once, ‘What company was I picking this up for?’—and looked puzzled when I said it was for me.

01/31/2016 / Make her strong. = My wife has an injured hip and while praying for her—asking God for healing—He said to me, “Make her strong!”  Not understanding the ‘how’ or the ‘why’ of this particular guidance, it was obvious that this was to be added to my prayer.  “God, please make her strong!” is now one of my regular petitions.

02/07/2016 / Have faith. = As mentioned above, my wife has an injured hip.  This situation is constantly on my mind and in my prayers.  This morning, upon waking, I began to pray for her healing.  At the same time, God began playing a song in my mind.  Not really noticing the lyrics at first (it was like talking to someone – with a radio playing in the background), they suddenly got my attention.  The lyrics were: “Have faith, believe, in good times and hard.  Have faith, He’ll work it out, He’ll work all things for good.”

02/20/2016 / Beginning the day in victory. = ‘Blatant spiritual warfare’ is common at our house.  It has grown into this as a result of all that God has guided me to write about on this website.  Upon waking this morning, my mind went quickly to a temptation which had been played in my mind by a demon as I slept. [Job 7:13-14]  (Demons are the angels who are in rebellion against God and are the enemies of mankind).  The moment my thoughts turned in that direction, God said to me: “If anyone says that He knows Me, but does not do what I say, he is a liar.” [1 John 2:4]  Thanking God for His guidance, I resisted the temptation and began my day in victory.

03/26/2016 / Demons obvious. = As you can tell from this section—“God Obvious”—God’s presence is blessedly apparent in my life.  Around our house—as a result of providing the information on this website—demonic activity is also quite apparent.  (Demons are the angels who are in rebellion against God).  Today, my wife and I were having a discussion about Scripture, and she asked me to look up ‘Romans 10:9-10’ on my computer.  While attempting to do so, my Bible program malfunctioned and these two verses were inaccessible.  The program offered me Romans 10:1-8, 11, etc., but 9 & 10 were missing.  Knowing that demons were involved, I commanded them to leave—in Jesus’ name—and shut down the program.  Upon restarting it, everything was back to normal.  (Christians have authority over demons – in Jesus’ name.) [Luke 10:17]

04/08/2016 / Don’t donate yet. = Each month, we tithe—give 10% of our gross income—to our local church, and give a little extra to our favorite ‘listener supported’ Christian radio station.  We are in constant financial strain, but are doing life God’s way and He never fails to meet our needs.  This month, we wanted to make an extra donation to one of my favorite Christian ministries, but God stopped us (temporarily I believe).  I had made out a check and was going to mail it, along with some of the bills which we owe.  On the way to the post-office, God told me that we would need this money to pay some additional bills which were coming due.  We soon had to pay a very large credit-card bill (which included an $800.00 auto repair charge), income taxes (which included the fine for having no medical insurance) and the minimum required payment on another credit-card.  These three bills took all of the money which we had available, including the money we were about to donate.  (God had miraculously provided some of the money which we had available, but not more than we needed).

F.Y.I. We have been unable to afford medical insurance for most of the last thirty years.  By God’s grace, the only governmentally provided medical care we have ever needed was for one or two trips to the doctor when one of our children was young and had a sinus infection.  God has protected us continually, healed us on several occasions and provided all that we have needed.  [Philippians 4:19]

06/25/16 / Yard craters and the gift of dirt. = We live on the outskirts of town, on a few acres of the most uneven yard you can imagine.  This not only makes it impossible to use my riding-lawn-mower on higher speeds—as it is very jarring—there are depressions that my mower won’t even traverse.  I often get stuck and have to back-up and approach them from different angles.  The unevenness has gotten progressively worse over the years, as rain water pools in many places, causing the ground to sink further.  (The yard would resemble the surface of the moon—with its’ craters—if the moon was smaller and covered with weeds).  I have been asking God to send someone to smooth it out for us, so my time can be spent serving Him, rather than mowing a huge yard in slow motion.  (God has not provided us with the money to pay someone to smooth it.)  Yesterday, my next-door-neighbor—who, last year, had a swimming pool installed, resulting in a very large pile of dirt being left in his yard—rented a front-end-loader.  He kept the loader through the weekend.  He spread some of the dirt around his yard and said I could have the rest.  He also let me use the loader the rest of the day.  God not only provided the dirt we needed and the machine to spread it, He provided cooler weather, so that I could get the job done.  The temperature during the previous several days had been over 100 degrees – with the heat index factored in.  Today started out hot, but by mid-morning, the sky grew cloudy and the temperature dropped.  It stayed relatively comfortable for the rest of the day.

07/02/2016 / God lends a hand to my shoulder. = Two of my karate students—who had been in my class more than thirty years ago—have reconnected with me and begun making annual trips to come and work out.  They join my regular class on a Thursday night and then all of the Black Belts and Brown Belts are invited to a Saturday morning workout in the park.  While working out on Thursday, one of them put a pretty good torque on my shoulder.  (We use a lot of joint locks in our techniques.)  As a result, it was quite difficult to use my arm on Friday.  Saturday morning, considering my shoulder strain and the ‘very hot’ weather forecast, things didn’t look very promising.  I had asked God to heal my shoulder and to bless us with a very good workout and visit.  About a third of the way through the workout, I realized that my shoulder was completely healed and that the temperature was remaining at a tolerable level – with a very nice breeze.

07/06/2016 / God’s computer repair service. = Our son’s computer needed a new ‘power-supply,’ which we ordered on-line.  When it arrived, it didn’t appear to have the right connector.  My wife and her brother—who was repairing the computer—decided to go to a computer store to see if they had an adapter which would fit, or if they knew what to do regarding this situation.  It was getting late and they were concerned that the store—which was over fifteen miles away—would close before they could get there.  (The traffic moved uniquely well.)  Upon walking into the store, the employee who met them turned out to be one of my brother-in-law’s very good friends.  His friend went way out of his way to help.  He studied the problem, inquired of another employee, searched on-line and finally found the answer.  (The connector had to be split in order to fit this particular application.)  Upon arriving home and installing the power supply, the computer would come on, but quickly shut off.  God then told my brother-in-law that, because the new ‘power-supply’ had more wattage than the old one—750 as opposed to 600—the original wires could not handle it.  Upon switching out the wires, the problem was fixed.

08/04/2016 / God controls my gaze. = My wife picked out a birthday card for a friend—with a particular theme matching her friend’s party—and wrote in it that we were not going to be able to attend.  Our plans changed and we decided to go.  My wife asked me to stop by the store—on the way home from karate—to buy the same card again.  Needing to get home quickly, I did not have much time.  Upon walking into the store and over to the greeting card area, the massive number of cards available—thus, the time it would take to search—troubled me.  I looked at the heading over the first isle—“Hallmark”—and guessed that it would not be there.  Upon taking a step towards the second isle, to see the heading over it, my gaze dropped and I instantly found myself looking directly at the card needed.  It was one in the multitude and nothing about its position could have caught my attention.  I thanked God, bought the card and got home quickly.

08/06/2016 / “God is on the move!” = Being stressed because of number of problems we are facing—broken lawn tractor, broken weed eater (grass and weeds getting very tall), ‘check-engine-lights’ coming on in both cars (just as they are due for inspections and registrations), too many bills, not enough money, etc.—God comforted me with a song.  Upon waking this morning, my mind racing quickly to all of these problems, God played these lyrics in my mind: “God is on the move, on the move, hallelujah.  God is on the move in many mighty ways.” [ James 1:2-4]

 08/06-13/2016 / The Funeral and The Furnace. = This poem—which can be found in the “Poetry with an Attitude” section on this website—is a very rough poem.  The subject of the poem had been on my mind for a few weeks, but I didn’t know if it was God’s will for me to write it.  It was; He was guiding me before I knew it!  This week, I heard two sermons on the radio in which the preachers explained what they often say at funerals.  The preachers had nothing to do with each other.  A third preacher also mentioned something about a funeral in one of his sermons.  (This confirmed to me that it was God’s will.)  While writing the poem, it fell into place very rapidly and in some amazing ways.  For instance, one stanza talks about a crematory being prepared (lit), while the next talks about the fires of hell, always being lit.  When writing these two stanzas, they had no connection to each other in my thoughts. It wasn’t until they were on my computer screen in front of me that I saw how they fit together.  [Ezekiel 3:18]

08/16/2016 / Money dropped from Heaven (sort of). = Each month, we tithe—give 10% of our gross income—to our local church and give a little extra to our favorite ‘listener supported’ Christian radio station.   My wife, without my knowledge, also made a donation to a third ministry—which I had planned to make earlier, but God stopped me (see 04/08/2016 entry).  In addition to these three ‘Kingdom’ financial outlays, the renewal fees for this website have come due.  Upon calculating the money that we were going to need to pay our bills this month, versus what was coming in, we were not going to have enough.  When it came time to pay the bills, however, God intervened: We miraculously had enough!  There is no way to explain how God did this, but for the One who spoke galaxies and atoms into existence, it had to be easy.  [Matthew 14:17-20]

08/23/2016 / Let my life be the proof of your love. = Conflict is normal in this life, but God wants His children to handle it according to His will—“Love your neighbor as yourself.”  I was angry at one of my co-workers—my mission field—so God played the lyrics from a song in my mind to encourage me.  The lyrics were: “Let my life be the proof – the proof of Your love.”

08/27/2016 / Omniscience in the eye of the storm: Preemptive strikes against worry. = God very often counters my anxious or sinful thoughts by reminding me of a Scripture verse or by playing a line from a song in my mind.  (He does this, because I ask Him to.)  Today, He countered a thought before it completely manifested.  As I awoke, an anxious (turbulent) thought ‘was coming into focus’ – pertaining to all of the troubles we are facing (see 08/06/2016 entry).  Immediately before it was fully expressed, God placed a comforting thought—a line from a song—in my mind.  The line was, “In the eye of the storm.”  Other lyrics from this song are, “His love surrounds me,” and “He is my anchor when my sails are torn.”  This was not only comforting because of the words of the song, but because of God’s omniscience and power, communicating in this way. // He would do this a couple of more times—in a slightly different way—on 9/12/2016 & 10/15/2016.  He began playing the comforting lyrics from a song in my subconscious thoughts—unnoticed by me until needed—just before a stressful thought came to mind.  Upon thinking about the problem, I realized that God’s perfectly applicable response was already playing in the background of my mind.  [Psalm 139:4]

1987 thru 2016 / God preserved my lawn-tractor. = Paying eleven-hundred dollars for a lawn-tractor was one of the most difficult purchases I have made.  (It was a Sears Craftsman 10 horsepower, with a 36’ mowing deck.)  We have always been tight on money and handing over this much money for a ‘lawn-mower’ was stressful.  God, however, made it worth it, as He enabled the mower to last for twenty-nine years.  (The engine short-block was replaced once—after the air-intake got clogged with dandelion fuzz—but this was the only major repair that it ever needed.)  When it finally ‘died,’ God graciously provided us another one (see the next entry).  [Deuteronomy 8:4]

09/05/2016 / A luxury lawn-tractor from God. = My next-door neighbor has been letting me borrow his lawn-tractor, after mine quit working earlier this year.  (I have been asking God to provide us with another one, as we have no money to purchase one).  Two days ago, while borrowing my neighbor’s again, the thought occurred to me: ‘This is a very nice lawn-tractor; it would be great to have one just like it.’  (It is a Sears Craftsman, 26 horsepower, with a 54” mowing deck; and even has a cup holder).  Today, while browsing on-line—looking at our neighborhood blog—my wife saw that a different neighbor was selling one ‘just like it’ for $50.00.  (It had originally cost $3,000.00).  We bought it and upon bringing it home, discovered that it had two problems, both of which would end up being free to repair.  The gear shift lever was stuck in neutral and would not move, and the mowing deck had broken loose from the brackets which hold it to the tractor.  After letting it set over the winter, I called my brother to tell him about the situation.  He made two suggestions: ‘Work with the gear shift lever to see if it will ‘break loose,’ and bolt some additional brackets to the deck and broken brackets.’  (I was going to have it welded, but he said that additional brackets—which by God’s grace, I already had—would be better.)  Both suggestions worked perfectly.  The lawn-tractor now runs and mows extremely well.  [Matthew 7:11]

09/12/2016 / God gives me sneezes. = What do – ‘being rushed, having too much on my mind, a lousy sense of smell, ant-poison and a non-functioning lawn-tractor’ have in common?  They all worked together to produce a dangerous situation in which God intervened to protect me.  Shortly after spreading ant-poison around my house, I rolled my new lawn-tractor out of the garage and started it.  The tractor is used and the transaxle is stuck in ‘neutral’ (see entry above).  While it was running, I decided to engage the cutting blades.  After about a minute, I turned everything off and rolled it back into the garage.  At this point, the awareness of what had just occurred, hit me – frighteningly.  The spinning blades were stirring up a cloud of ant-poison powder which I had been breathing.  I couldn’t smell it at first, because of my inferior olfactory sense, nor see it because of my surroundings.  God then intervened and made me sneeze – over and over and over and over and over.  God’s intervention was obvious, not only because of the amazing number of sneezes, but because of a supernatural awareness that my sinuses and lungs had been thoroughly cleaned out.

09/25/2016 / Cult warning! = A man—who recently accepted Jesus—has been attending some of our Church small-group meetings.  He was invited by our small-group leader.  (We meet for food, fellowship, fun and Bible study).  On this particular night, the man told the group that he was attending several different churches, to get a broad view of Christianity.  One of the ‘so-called’ churches he has been attending is a Jehovah’s Witness organization.  (The Jehovah’s Witnesses do not teach according to the Bible.)  After the Bible study, I told God, “If you want me to warn the man—as opposed to telling our small-group leader to do it later—please present me with the opportunity.” I then walked over to where the man was.  He was engaged in a conversation with three other people, but stopped conspicuously, looked me straight in the eye and asked, “Did you want to say something?”  (I thought to myself, “Obviously, I do!”)  The other people had also become silent.  I thanked God for the opportunity and then proceeded to warn the man.

10/15/2016 / A freezer quick-fix. = Our freezer has been freezing up and flooding the refrigerator and the floor around it with water (from condensation).  I have been mopping up, but have not had time to research and fix the problem.  This night, having just a little bit of time, I clicked on You-tube and typed in a description of the problem.  The first available video was very short and didn’t help.  The second video was – ‘our freezer.’  It looked like somebody had come into our kitchen and filmed the video.  Watching the video, I was then able to quickly fix the problem and get back to the other things which needed to be done.

10/26/2016 / An e-mail, a note and a vision. = Being extremely busy, the time for my students to sign-up for the next karate session had arrived – unnoticed by me.  (I usually begin announcing it weeks in advance).  The recreation department sent me an e-mail reminding me of this fact and asked me to tell my students that it was time.  Tomorrow (Thursday) will be the last class of the current session and the last opportunity to tell them in person.  (If we do not have enough students sign up, the next session—which starts next week—will be cancelled.)  After making a ‘mental note’ to tell them the following night, I sat down to pray.  Before I could begin, God gave me a vision of a ‘paper note.’  Most of my students are young and God obviously knew that they would need something physical to remind them (so they would tell their parents).  I immediately got up and made paper notes to give to all of them.  The following night—contrary to the norm—every student was in attendance (and received a note).  On the following Monday, I would receive an e-mail telling me that the class was going to be cancelled, as only two people had signed up.  By Tuesday afternoon, twelve people had signed up and the class was saved.

11/10/2016 / God answers me with my words. = A friend and co-worker of mine—who was raised as a Catholic and, therefore, has not been taught the Bible—has asked me questions over time about “my religion.”  I tell him that Christianity is not a religion, but rather a personal relationship with God, and that my beliefs are what God says in His Word.  “Read the Bible,” is something that he has heard me say on more than one occasion—the last time, being yesterday.  He had asked me if a particular activity—which he did not know was a sin—was addressed in the Bible.  I told him that it was addressed multiple times and that it was a sin, (and told him again, that he needed to “Read the Bible!”).  This morning, I brought several verses of Scripture to work—which I had printed out on paper—to give to him, regarding this sin.  While reaching into my pocket to grab the paper, I was asking God, ‘Is this Your will, and is this the best time to give it to my friend?’  As I was pulling it out, the preacher I was listening to on the radio was saying – “Read the Bible!” He was saying it exactly as I had said it to my friend yesterday—with the same speed, tone and emphasis.  I knew that God was telling me, ‘Yes, give it to him now!’

12/2016 / Oil & Prayer. = At the end of October, my wife had a tophus which appeared on her thumb.  A tophus is gout, and yes, it can be on a person’s thumb.  We have been asking God to heal her, as we have no medical insurance, no money to go to a doctor and certainly no money for surgery.  On December 15^th, my wife—while talking to a doctor about her thumb—ended up with an appointment.  She had only intended to gather information.  We had not asked for God’s guidance or provision regarding going to a doctor, so I told her to cancel the appointment until we had time to do so.  Later that day, while thinking about the situation, the thought ‘hit me;’ “Have the elders pray for her and anoint her with oil.”  [James 5:14-15]  I did not yet know that this thought was from God.)   The next day, while driving home from work, I pulled into a parking lot, to be alone and to pray again about the situation.  Before I uttered the first word, God clearly said to me, “Have the elders pray!”  After He had spoken, I then began to pray that He would, therefore—in response to their prayers—heal my wife.  God then said to me, “A & C (our daughter and son-in-law) will see how God works through the church.”  (We have been concerned that our daughter and son-in-law are becoming disillusioned with the church and we have been praying for God’s intervention regarding this situation also).

The following Sunday—while at church—we had the elders pray for my wife and anoint her with oil.  Over next four days, the tophus went down in size by about 85%.  A few days later, we received—from two unexpected sources—a total of $250.00.  God’s 85% healing—in response to the elder’s prayer and anointing—negated the need for surgery.  The money He provided enabled my wife to go to the doctor to get her blood tested to check her uric acid level and kidney health – both associated with gout.  The results of the blood tests showed that her health had actually improved since her last test—five years before—and gave her peace.  She is now trying to lower her uric acid levels, as well as finish healing the gout with natural supplements.  (We have since learned that gout is a side-effect of her blood-pressure medicine, and she does not want to start taking other medicines—which have their own side-effects—to fight the side-effects of the first medicine.)  We believe that, even though God healed most of the tophus, He didn’t finish the job, because my wife needed to start taking the supplements.

After 2016 / Prayer, ‘no oil’ and Heaven. = Years after God’s healing of my wife (see entry above), He would move again in a similar way.  He would have me tell another Christian—who would be diagnosed with a terminal disease—to “Have the elders pray for her and anoint her with oil.”  Sadly, that person would not follow God’s specific guidance and would, therefore, shortly depart for heaven.  This person would tell me that she already two preachers and a ‘church elder’ praying for her, assuming—I guess—that following ‘James 5:14-15’ in this situation was not necessary.  I can’t help but wonder what opportunities to serve the Lord my friend missed by stepping into His kingdom early.  FYI: God is eager to heal, if people will ask in faith, obey what He says, and it is in the best interest of eternity to do so.  In addition to all of the times He has healed members of my family—which you can read about here—in August of 2017, He would heal another friend’s non-functioning kidney. (See – August 2017 / A donated kidney: Almost perfect, almost needed.

01/01/2017 / God guides me with a word I don’t know. = Continuing to wait upon God for guidance and provision, we are about to be $11,000 in dollars in credit-card debt.  Our real-estate taxes have skyrocketed over the last several years and we have been paying them with a credit-card.  Recently, I began asking God if we should withdraw my retirement savings in order to pay last year’s taxes—which are now due—and to pay off the credit-card debt from the previous years.  He had not answered me yet, so I said to Him, “Father, this is my plan; we will use the money from my ‘401-K’ to pay off the debt.  If this is not Your will, then please stop me.”  God then said to me, “Variant.”  Not knowing this word, I looked it up in the dictionary and found that it means, ‘Different.’  God told me that my plan was different that His will.  (We will not withdraw the money, but will continue to seek His guidance and provision.)   [Proverbs 3:5-6]

01/12/2017 / I will cast my cares on You. = Before opening my eyes this morning, God put the lyrics of a song in my mind.  The lyrics were, “I will cast my cares on You.”  This was yet another preemptive strike, to keep me from worrying about all of the problems we are facing.  God has us in a period of waiting—for His provision and guidance—but, He is not waiting to provide peace and comfort.   [2 Thessalonians 3:16]

02/01/2017 / Her fingers don’t stay burned. = My dad recently went to Heaven and my wife was cooking some soup for my mom (as well as for a friend who just lost her job).  While pouring some of the ingredients through a strainer, the boiling liquid went past the strainer and all over my wife’s fingers.  She prepared some ice water and put her hand in it.  We then asked God to heal her.  By morning, her fingers were completely well.

02/03/2017 / Comfort from the King of the world. = Upon waking this morning, my thoughts went immediately to all of the problems we are facing.  Before they had time to land anywhere, God played a line from a song in my mind.  It is a song about letting God be as big as He is, which is infinitely bigger than our problems or anything that ‘we’ can do about them.  The exact line was, “When did I forget that You’ve always been the King of the world?” [Philippians 4:6-7]

02/09/2017 / God asked me a question. = Two nights ago, after an extremely brief, yet intense argument with my wife, I was very upset.  (The problem involves some particularly complex issues, which cause both of us ‘a lot’ of stress.)  As a result of my anger, I asked God to help me with both my attitude and my interactions with my wife.  After remaining basically silent during the very little time we had together over the next thirty-six hours, I woke up this morning and again asked for God’s help.  Upon doing so, He asked me a question: “Is your relationship honoring to God?”  This was the input which I needed—a word of correction from the Loving, Omnipotent Creator God of the Universe—and after thanking Him intensely, left a love note for my wife.  I was going to wake her up to pray with me—before leaving for work—but she was sleeping too soundly.

02/22-23/2017 / “A Christian can become unsaved!” = There are some people—who are very dear to me—who appear to be drifting from their relationship with God.  (It is possible to drift so far that a person no longer loves, fears, reverences or desires a relationship with Him.)  At present, these people have stopped attending church.  I had recently written an article, “A Christian can become unsaved!” and was wondering if I should send it to them.  Yesterday, while pondering this question, God said to me, “The fear of God” (the rest of the verse says, – “is the beginning of wisdom”).  Nobody who truly fears/reverences God would ever drift away from Him.  Today, while pondering the question again, the preacher—whom I was listening to on the radio—read, “Remember the Sabbath” (the rest of the verse says, – “by keeping it holy”).  God gave us the gift of the Sabbath—one day each week to come to church and worship Him—so we would never forget how much He loves us, or the reason for our existence.  I sent them the article!

(F.Y.I. – A Christian cannot ‘lose’ their salvation, but they can willingly give it back.  To see what the Bible says about this, read the article, “A Christian can become unsaved!” in the “Did God Really Say?” section of this website.)

04/02/2017 / God messes with my e-mail. = Because of building renovations at the Parks and Recreation center where I teach karate, we are temporarily going to be without a place to work out.  Devising an alternative plan—to meet with my students apart from the Recreation Department’s supervision—I e-mailed all of my students to tell them the plan.  Because of some complexities regarding the situation, it was also important for the recreation center supervisor to know what was going on.  I had intended to send him a copy of the e-mail—which went to all of my students—but forgot.  Upon clicking on the most recent response to my e-mail—from one of my students—God caused a completely different e-mail to come up.  This e-mail—which was received two weeks earlier—was from the recreation center supervisor.  Through this ‘e-mail switch,’ God reminded me to send the supervisor a copy.

Spring 2017 / The battle continues. = As explained throughout this “God Obvious” section, God continually intervenes in my ‘thought life,’ helping me to resist temptation, to protect me from disaster.  [2 Corinthians 10:5]  He does this ‘continually’ because I ask Him to!  This battle, which is spurred on demons—the angels who have rejected God—very often occurs upon waking in the morning.  Demons seem to be quite active while people are passively sleeping.  Here are a few of the more interesting ways God has intervened lately:  1. After one temptation, He said to me, “Shattered earth.”  This was a reminder that following this temptation could shatter my ‘earthly life.’  2. Another time, He said to me, “The wife of Uriah.”  This was a reminder of the destruction that came into King David’s life when he failed to resist temptation.    [2 Samuel 11:2 – 12:13]  3. At another time, He put the lyrics from a song in my mind.  The lyrics were, “This is amazing grace – This is unfailing love – God above all things.”  This was a reminder that receiving the amazing grace of God—Who is above all things—to help me resist temptation—which could destroy my life—demonstrates His unfailing love.  [1 Corinthians 10:13]  

04/24/2017 / Pray for his kids! = God chooses to intervene in ‘the affairs of man’ greatly in response to His children’s prayers.  [Ephesians 6:1] (This is scary when we see the condition of this country and read the pitiful statistics on time spent in prayer by its Christian citizens.)  After praying for my friends and relatives this morning, grouping them together according to common needs—salvation, a closer walk with God, etc.—God spoke a particular name to me.  He also included the word, “crew.”  I knew immediately that He was referring to the children of this person.  My prayers were as specific as possible, but also included asking God to intervene in whatever way He needed to.  God often tells me to pray for specific people at specific times and if you are His child, He wants to do the same with you.  Ask Him if there is anyone He wants you to pray for, then be still and ‘listen.’

F.Y.I. God has never spoken to me with an audible voice, as there is no need.  If we are God’s children, His Holy Spirit resides with our spirit inside our physical bodies, and communicating with one of us audibly is as illogical as two people sitting on a couch together, communicating through cell phones.  [John 14:15-17]

04/28/2017 / “Lord, Heal My Hurts.” = There is a friend of mine who often reacts incorrectly to situations which they are in, and it seems to be growing worse.  This person is often hurt by things which people say or do, when there was no ill intent or malice on the part of the other party. This problem stems greatly from emotional injuries suffered when they were a child, but Satan appears to be gaining new strongholds in their life.  I pray for this person often and upon deciding to talk to them about this situation, asked God to guide my conversation.  Upon finishing this prayer, I opened my eyes to discover that my gaze was focused directly and intensely on a book which is on a bookshelf in our room.  The title is, “Lord, Heal My Hurts.”  Through this sovereign act of grace—God reminded me of the pain in my friend’s past, and conveyed that I needed to filter both my conversations and any suggestions through this grid.

05/05/2017 / God retrieves my keys. = We had to leave my wife’s car at the repair shop two nights ago.  It had been repaired and was ready to be picked up last night, but the repair shop would be closed by the time we got there.  The mechanic had, therefore, locked the car-keys inside the car and we used our other set to unlock the door.  After doing so, I laid the keys—which had been used by the repair shop—in my seat and prepared to drive home.  (I had recently pulled my back and it was too painful to try to insert them into my pocket while in a sitting position.)  After getting back out of the car briefly—to speak to my wife—and then back in, we left for home.  Later, we discovered that the keys were missing.  After conducting several searches—last night as well as this morning—in and around the cars and house, as well around the parking lot of the repair shop, concerns over the cost of replacing them began to haunt me.  We asked God to please show us where they were or to place them in a location where we could find them – if that was His will.  Tonight, I grabbed a flashlight and went to search again.  Upon walking up to my car, the flashlight beam landed directly on the keys – which were lying in plain view on the driveway right next to my car.  The keys were black and silver, had a bright yellow tag from the repair shop, and were lying on a white rock driveway.  There is no way I could have missed them this morning while the sun was shining brightly.

05/06/2017 / God answers from the top of the closet. = Last night, in a bizarre twist—literally speaking—I slightly tore something in my hip.  After working all week in a warehouse and working out twice in karate, amazingly, this injury occurred as a result of reaching to apply athlete’s foot medicine.  Understanding the potential ramifications of a torn ligament or tendon and not having any medical insurance, my prayers immediately began flowing.  Tonight, while lying next to my wife, I explained what had happened, then prayed with her for God’s healing and guidance.  After the prayer, by God’s sovereign grace, my gaze went immediately to the top shelf of my wife’s closet, where two plastic boxes were stacked on top of each other.  I asked her what was in the boxes and she told me that they were hip braces (long elastic bands which help to hold everything in place after an injury or surgery).  I smiled, thanked God and began wearing one immediately.  (As of early June, after wearing it for a month, my hip feels totally well).

05/09/2017 / God, faith, debt and provision. = Over the past several years, we have fallen more than $12,000.00 in credit-card debt – while living according to God’s will.  We tithe—give ten percent of our income to our local church—give a little extra to another Christian ministry on a regular basis and pray continually for God’s provision.  We are very careful about how we spend the rest of God’s money, but rising taxes have their effect.  This would have been (and would continue to be) an extremely frightening situation, if not for the fact that our loving Heavenly Father owns the universe, promises to meet all of our needs (if we are His children and are trying to live according to His will) and wants to grow our faith.  We, therefore, continue to trust and obey, as He continues to love and provide.

In regard to our debt, my earthly father recently went to Heaven and my mom just sold some land which she and my dad had owned.  She then divided the money evenly among her children.  The portion I received was just enough to pay off the debt.

05/26/2017 / God’s impeccable timing. = Our daughter recently gave birth to a little girl after a very difficult pregnancy.  The baby has had problems since birth.  We thought that our daughter’s physical problems were over, but God knew they weren’t.  He, therefore, sovereignly arranged for my wife to be there for her at the exact moment she was needed.  My wife had gone to take her and her husband another much needed ready-to-eat meal.  Expecting to be greeted by a couple of very tired smiles, she was instead met by a look of panic.  At the very moment our daughter opened the door, she realized that she had another extremely urgent medical problem.  Moments later, our daughter and son-in-law were rushing to the hospital and my wife was left caring our ten-day-old granddaughter.

06/15/2017 / “It’s O.K. – The baby won’t get sick.” = Our daughter went into labor two months early, had to go on complete bed-rest, ended up having her baby on schedule—May 16^th—but then she and the baby have had other problems since the birth.  The last three months have very stressful on our daughter and her husband.  My wife and I (as well as our son-in-law’s parents) have been helping when we can, but recently my wife began feeling sick.  She started taking some extra vitamins and supplements, but knew that she needed to stay away from the baby until she was well.  Our daughter really needs help and my wife is more available than anyone else.  We have, therefore, been asking God for healing, as well as for guidance (as far as when it is safe for my wife to begin helping again).  After praying for this again this evening, God said to me, “It’s O.K. – The baby won’t get sick.”  We thanked Him and my wife began helping again.

August 2017 / A donated kidney: Almost perfect, almost needed. = A Christian friend whom I formerly worked with—who is suffering from kidney disease—began dialysis in April of 2016.  She has now undergone 190 sessions.  She was put on a kidney transplant list and in June of this year, received the news that a kidney had been donated and was being rushed to the hospital.  She dropped everything and got ready to go herself.  Sadly, in spite of a lot of prayers (my family’s included), the kidney turned out to be slightly incompatible and the surgery was cancelled.

This week—the first of August—while at the dialysis facility, her nurse told her that her dialysis was over.  She thought that the nurse was referring to ‘this current session of dialysis,’ but she was referring to all of it.  My friend was told that her kidneys were functioning properly and she no longer needed dialysis.  God had healed her and it was obvious that He wanted people to know it, as evidenced by the sequence of events.

August 21, 2017 / God mixes up a song. = If you have read the entry from May 9, 2017—God, faith, debt and provision.”—you know that God has just gotten us out of credit-card debt.  What you don’t know is that we are going back into it at a frightening speed.  Food prices are rising, taxes on our house are skyrocketing and our cars have been in the repair shop five times in the last month.

Early this morning—immediately after asking God for peace, guidance and provision regarding our financial situation—I began my regular routine of stretching.  One of my stretches is most often accompanied by the song, “Amazing Grace,” which I sing silently to myself.  Singing the song keeps my mind off of the discomfort of the stretch and singing four stanzas requires the perfect amount of time for maintaining the stretch.  The four most well-known stanzas of this song proceed in a logical sequential order—basically telling a story—which is the way I always sing them.  This morning, however, God caused me to begin singing the third stanza ‘out of order’ at the precise moment my thoughts began to revisit our financial situation.  Realizing what was happening—that God was doing this—and, therefore, thinking deeply about the words of this stanza, my stress departed as fast as it had come.  (The words of this stanza are: “Through many dangers toils and snares I have already come, ‘Tis grace that brought me safe thus far and grace will see me home.”)

August 22, 2017 / God tells me, “Respite.” = Our son—who has grown up with both major challenges and amazing giftedness—had just finished creating a video for some potential business opportunities.  He was very excited about showing it to his mom and me.  We all sat down and watched it.  As we expected, it was very good.  There were, however, some things which needed to be changed.  While contemplating what I was about to say to him regarding the changes, God said to me, “Respite.”  Not knowing the definition of this word, I left the room to look it up.  It means to ‘delay’ or ‘postpone.’  God was telling me to wait for a while before discussing the needed changes.  Our son was very excited about the video and he needed time to delight in his achievement.  Discussing the changes at that time would have been disheartening.

June through August 2017 / A God ordained summer. = Before explaining ‘what’ God did in this situation, I need explain ‘why.’  God does not intervene in the lives of His children for trivial reasons.  (He will not cause our favorite sports team to win because we ask.)  He is, however, ceaselessly involved in everything important—large or small—because He loves us deeply and has a marvelously intricate and comprehensive plan for our lives.  He is also sovereign over all of creation and will do what He needs to do.

Now, having said all this, it’s important to emphasize that teaching karate is extremely significant to me and to God’s plan for my life – which includes producing everything on this website.  (If you have read through this “God Obvious” section, including the final entry, you understand why.)  This year, because of renovations at the Parks & Recreation Facility where our class is normally held, and scheduling conflicts at a secondary facility, we found ourselves without a building to work-out in for the summer.  (This is the first time we have been without a building in forty-six years and taking the summer off could have ended the class permanently.)

Working out in the park—our only option—didn’t look very promising, however, because summers here are usually brutal.  July and August are always replete with temperatures over 100 degrees, and 105 is quite normal. We recently had a summer with more than thirty-five days over 100 degrees.  This summer, however, was ‘very’ bizarre.  It only got up to 100 degrees three times and the high was 101.  Not only did God bless us with lower than normal temperatures and a lot of clouds, He also kept the rain from interfering with the class.  It rained a lot this summer—also very bizarre—sometimes before class, sometimes after, sometimes nearby, but never on the class.  It did sprinkle twice, but it was very brief.  The class went uninterrupted throughout the entire summer.  (The length of days also worked out perfectly with our schedule as, during the final week, we had to end class five minutes early, because it was getting dark.  Before that week, we had adequate light.)

FYI, I do not know if God altered the weather for our benefit—we have never had a summer like this—or simply controlled the timing of the renovations to coincide with this extremely bizarre season, but either one is possible.  [Job 37:11-17, James 5:17-18]

09/10/2017 / Revere God! = A constant prayer of mine—requested for my family and for myself—is: “Dear Heavenly Father; please help each one of in this family to grow ever deeper in love with You, ever closer in our walk and in step with Your Spirit, ever stronger in faith, ever greater in wisdom, and ever more passionate for You and Your work” (leading people into and/or deeper into a loving eternal relationship with Him).  This morning, as my prayer began, God inserted the word “reverent” into my list.  To revere Him means to – respect, admire, worship or venerate – Him highly.  (FYI, Revering God may appear to benefit Him, but be assured; there is no way one of His children can do this without benefitting immensely ourselves.)  I have now joyously and gratefully added this to my prayers.

11/01/2017 / God ordains a conversation. = My employer—a wholesaler—hires workers through a temporary-employment-agency when we get too busy.  One of the temporary guys—who began working with us recently—was hired to help another guy in my department.  Because of recent problems, however, the other employee asked me to “train the new guy.”  Therefore, I had two helpers instead of one.  Today, my first helper—who is extremely knowledgeable about many subjects, overly talkative, and Biblically wrong in many respects—had to stay home to take care of a sick child.  This left me alone with the new guy.  During the day, this guy asked me several questions about God, which I was able to answer.  God—in addition to taking advantage of the problems mentioned earlier and ordaining the absence of my first helper—also kept all the other employees away from us during our conversations.  He also did this during the one week of the year, when business would be the slowest.  (Even though we are very busy during this season, there is an enormous weeklong event—affecting our industry—which draws most of our customers away from their daily routine of buying and selling.)  God gave me the perfect opportunity to tell this guy about Him.

11/late/2017 / God tells me to check the transmission fluid. = While driving home from work, God gave me the thought, “automobile fluids.”  (I did not yet know that this thought was from Him.)  The next night, while waiting at a traffic light, the same thought ‘hit me again.’  At this precise moment, I also noticed the sign across the intersection which read, “Transmission Fluid Flush and Fill.”  Upon checking the transmission fluid level the next day, it turned out to be about a half of a quart low.  I added more and then checked it again few days later.  It does have a leak—in the transaxle seal—and it is now scheduled to be repaired.

11/03 thru 12/07/2017 / An anniversary gift – a steroid from Heaven. = My wife has suffered with an injured hip for more than five years and it has gotten gradually worse.  We have prayed for God’s healing throughout this time.  (Throughout our marriage, the Lord has rarely enabled us—financially—to carry medical insurance, but has personally healed us of every serious problem.  For some eternal reason, however, He has chosen not to heal this particular injury.)

On November third—our 33^rd wedding anniversary—my wife’s sister found a link on the internet and sent it to her.  It pertained to a ministry which provides free hip and knee replacement surgery for people who cannot afford it.  (We did not know the specifics of my wife’s injury or what needed to be done about it.)  The internet link, which my sister-in-law sent, turned out to be five years old and the webpage was no longer available.  My wife then searched the internet and found an active website for the ministry.  Through their website, she learned that the surgeries are still being provided—being performed two days out of the year, in December—and that one of the hospitals where they are performed is very near to where we live.  There were not, however, any more openings this year and, with so many applicants, they are unable to help everyone.  My wife, after reading all this, decided to e-mail the ministry anyway, just to make contact.  (She thought, ‘Maybe next year?’)  God then shifted things into high speed.  Twenty minutes after my wife sent the e-mail, a lady—the leader of the ministry in this area—called her.  The lady said that one of their current applicants for hip replacement might not qualify and if not, my wife might be able to get this spot.  *** My wife did and God’s sovereignty became very obvious!

Here are the ways that God brought this all together:  1. We do not have medical insurance and my income was just low enough to qualify us for the charity.  2. My wife is just finishing a particular diet plan—losing a significant amount of weight—which enabled her to be accepted into the program.  (If someone needs hip-replacement surgery, being overweight is evidently a major problem.)  3. The hospital—which again is very near to us—is the best hospital with the best staff we have ever seen.  (Many of them were Christians and we could feel the love of God expressed through them.)  4. The doctor—who has been voted the best orthopedic surgeon in our area—is also a Christian and prayed for my wife before the procedure.  5. My wife ended up not needing hip replacement surgery, which is what the ministry provides.  If this had been known before—if God had not caused all of this to happen too fast for things to go through the regular channels—she would not have been in the program.

It turns out that my wife had three cysts, a bone spur and a torn labrum, which—according to the doctor—is best addressed with steroid injections as opposed to surgery.  (*** We know that there are differing opinions on the best treatment for a torn labrum, but we trust this doctor; not only because of his credentials and reputation, but because God brought us together.)

The doctors, nurses, staff and steroid injection were not the only blessings from God; the diagnosis was also extremely important!  Now, we not only know what the problem is, we know what my wife should and shouldn’t do to take care of it.

12/08/2017 / God tells me – to ask Him – to heal her. = (This is a continuation of what God did in the entry above: ‘A steroid from Heaven’).  My wife has suffered with an injured hip for more than five years which, unfortunately, causes her to limp.  As a result, she has developed some additional problems.  Her back, other hip and both knees often hurt her, and we have just learned—through the x-rays taken of her hip—that her backbone is greatly out of line.  Yesterday, through God’s grace and sovereignty, she received a steroid shot to help her hip.  Today, while I was driving to work, a preacher on the radio began saying a prayer.  He was asking God to ‘restore someone’s health.’  As he was praying, God impressed upon me that this was what I was to begin praying for my wife, and that it pertained to the ‘additional problems.’  [James 5:16]

12/16/17 / Sibling rivalry. = Upon waking this morning—knowing that my extended family would soon be getting together for Christmas, and that there are growing problems between some of them—I received a message from God.  The message was “sibling rivalry.”  For lack of any other notion as to what God meant, I concluded that He was telling me to pray against this problem for my family this Christmas.  (If He had been referring to a different situation, He would, of course, have told me).  I prayed several times before Christmas and everything went well!  My immediate family and I were unable to join them, however, as we were battling the flu and a sinus infection.  (I really missed being with them, but sometimes wonder—in situations like this—if this might not also have been part of God’s doing.  Another family in the mix might have changed the whole situation.)  [Acts 16:10]  

12/22/2017 / Let him stay with you when it’s cold. = A brother-in-Christ—who is straying far from God’s will—lived with us for a long time.  Unfortunately, because of his unwillingness to find and keep a job, things did not work out.  The Bible says that if a man ‘will’ not work, he shall not eat!  (It would have been a sin for me to continue to let him stay with us for free.)  This ‘brother’ is currently living ‘off and on’ with some other friends, or in his car.  Today, the weather report for our area warned that the temperature is about to drop down into the twenties.  Because of the awkwardness of the situation—me telling my ‘brother’ to move out and the coming cold weather—I asked God what we should do: Should we bring this wandering child of His back in temporarily?  God said to me, “humanitarian aid.”  The meaning was clear!  We then sent a message telling him that he is welcome to stay with us any time it is going to be very cold.  [2 Thessalonians 3:10].

12/23/2017 / God provides peace with a piece of paper. = For Christmas, a close friend of ours ordered a certain computer device for our son – which was supposed to arrive at our house today.  Upon inquiring as to the estimated time of delivery, the company who she ordered it from informed her that there had been a problem and that it wouldn’t arrive until after Christmas.  She quickly switched to plan “B.” She began searching the internet and located an electronics store near us which had the same item in stock.  She gave us her credit-card information and told us to order it and go pick it up.  We did!  Unfortunately, in the rush, I put her credit-card information—which was written on a slip of paper—in a safe place, but didn’t remember where that safe place was.  We had already ordered the device and picked it up when we began searching for the paper.  (We were planning to run it through the shredder.)  We searched around the computer—where we had placed the order—and in the top right drawer of my desk—where we put all important things like this—but couldn’t find it.  The stress began to mount!  After searching every logical location, including my desk drawer again, I asked God for help.  Immediately upon praying, I felt the urge to open the top drawer of the desk, where we keep pens, paperclips, staples, etc., but never an important piece of paper. *** There it was! *** We thanked God, both for the gift and for the help and then enjoyed a very peaceful night.

12/Late/2017 / God provides when we ask. = God’s Word—the Bible—says that, ‘He will meet all of His children’s needs, that He does not lie or change His mind, and that His Word is true.’  It also says that Christians sometimes don’t have what we need because we don’t ask.

We recently had to borrow $5,000.00 on a credit card so we could pay our real estate taxes (which have skyrocketed over the last several years).  We borrowed the money early—because of a limited time offer by the credit card company—and put it in the bank.  (We got a low fixed interest rate for the life of the loan.)  By the time the tax bill came due, however—because of some unexpected expenses—we were about $2,300.00 short.  So, once again we borrowed from the credit card company, this time at a higher interest rate.

Just beginning to stress over this situation and remembering that I had not specifically asked God for financial intervention lately, I recounted to Him the verses mentioned above and asked Him to provide.  Later the same day, a friend of mine—who has no knowledge of our financial situation—walked up and gave me a check for slightly more than the second amount which we had just borrowed.  A little over a week later, another friend—who is aware of our financial situation, but knew nothing about what had recently occurred—sent us a check for $1,000.00.  We can now pay this off this second loan, avoiding the higher interest rate.  (Our credit card company generously applies payments to the higher interest rate loans, before the lower ones.)

12/29/2017 / God puts the flu on hold. = My son—who has grown up with various challenges—was now ready to get his learner’s-license.  He completed an on-line driver’s education course and we simply needed to go to the D.P.S. to order the license.  Unfortunately, during my time off from work – when we were planning to do this, both of us had gotten sick.  I had a sinus infection and he had the flu.  On the last possible day for us to go, my sinus infection was under the control of antibiotics and my son woke up feeling quite well.  We drove to the D.P.S. and upon arriving, got in the very long line outside the building.  We were then told by the D.P.S. officials that we were not going to make it, because they were about to close.  (Their website was wrong about their holiday hours.)  They told us, however, that we could continue to wait – ‘just in case.’ *** I began to pray! *** By God’s grace, we were able to get in and ordered the license.  The following morning, when our son got out of bed, his flu was back!  It was immediately obvious that God had intervened for the day and we thanked Him for it.  (F.Y.I. When we were at the D.P.S., I handled all of the paperwork and we used our own pen—for our son to sign the papers—just in case he was still contagious.)

01/11/2018 / Thirty minutes of light from God. = After maintaining the same work schedule for more than a decade, my employer has instituted a change: Our work day now begins thirty minutes earlier and ends thirty minutes earlier.  Today, the first day of the new schedule, not only got me home thirty minutes earlier than yesterday, but thirty minutes before dark.  This was a blessing from God, because upon arriving home, I found that several of the shingles on my roof were being lifted up by a very strong wind.  If this problem could not be addressed immediately and the wind was to continue—which it did—the overlapping shingles (the next row up) would lift up, then the next, then the next, etc.  This small problem—which took about twenty-five minutes to fix—would have quickly become a bigger problem, if not for the grace of God.

02/04-25/2018 / God sovereignly waits for the ice to break. = My family decided to try/visit a different church and God sovereignly delayed my wife’s first visit until the people had been prepared.  (She was watching a prophesy series on T.V. and, thus, did not join me at first.)  My son also waited until my third visit.  During my first visit, the people were extremely introverted, giving the impression that this was a very unwelcoming church.  During my second visit, I decided to do what they were supposed to be doing.  I began introducing myself to many of them.  My son—who is a natural extrovert—did this with me during the third visit.  This broke the ice and the people turned out to be very nice and friendly.  By the time my wife—who is extremely sensitive to people’s attitudes—visited, the people were quite comfortable with me and my son and were very welcoming and friendly to my wife.

03/07/2018 / A love note directly from God. = Faced with various obstacles interfering with regular church attendance and the utter frustration of working with a bunch of hell-bound people who have absolutely no interest in God, my attitude was beginning to suffer.  I was growing pessimistic and angry and at one point, almost said something to my wife that I wouldn’t say to an enemy.  This both shocked and frightened me terribly!  (Neither my wife, nor I have ever called the other a derogatory name or intentionally said something to hurt the other.)  I desperately needed help from God and went to pray.  I asked Him to help me ‘to love’—my family and others—and reminded Him of His promise to finish conforming me into His image.  He immediately gave me a vision of a heart – as would be painted on a Valentines’ card.  He was simply saying, “I love you!”  This put a smile on my face and a lift in my attitude!  [1 John 4:19, Romans 8:29]

04/??/2018 / God tells me to tell them, so He can tell them, “Well done.” = A Christian friend of mine is having a hard time forgiving another Christian who insulted one of their children.  While praying about the situation, asking God if I should tell my friend that “their refusal to forgive is both strong and obvious,” God played the lyrics from a song in my mind.  The lyrics were, “Like a bride waiting for her groom, we’ll be a church ready for you.”  This song is about Christians being ready—having a righteous and holy life—when Jesus shows up for the rapture.  A Christian’s highest goal should be to hear Jesus say, “Well done!” and this is my desire for my family and friends. — I told my friend!

05/26/2018 / A deflected bull’s-eye. = Before telling you what God did in this situation, it’s important to explain something.  All major world religions—including atheism—are mutually exclusive.  Included in this reality is Christianity—a loving, personal relationship with the Creator of the universe—facilitated through His Word–the Bible.  It too, disagrees with all these religions.  Now, a rule of logic states that while every one of these belief systems could be false, only one of them can be true; and if one is true, the rest are false.  Recognizing this, you can see that no knowledgeable follower of any one of these religions could—in intellectual honesty—affirm belief in any of the others.  Christianity is no exception.  Christians are commanded to love other people, thus, we cannot affirm beliefs which will send them to Hell.  Doing so would be the most ungodly and unloving thing we could ever do.  (This is true in regard to any false beliefs or sinful ways of life.  Affirming sin is to be in league with Satan.)

Now, on to what God just did:  Early this morning, while asking the Lord to open another door of opportunity for our son regarding his videography career, He said to me; “Library.”  A little later, while out running errands, I stopped by the city library to ask if they had need of a videographer and if so, who my son should talk to.  Upon getting out of my car in the parking lot, I noticed a car nearby which had a Christian symbol on it.  An urge – to put a ‘SolidRockPoetry.com’ business card on the windshield – hit me.  (I did not yet realize that this urge was from God.)   Upon stepping into the main entrance of the library, the first thing I saw was a large display proudly touting several of the worlds’ religions, while downplaying Christianity.  Then, upon inquiring at the information desk about any needs they might have for a videographer, the assistant told me that all hiring was done through the city’s website and all information needed could be obtained there.  Needless to say, no more information would be necessary.  It was obvious that producing videos in this environment would require encouraging beliefs which are contradictory to the Bible and God would never call His children to assist in this deception.  It is His desire to forgive people and make them His children, not send them to Hell.

So, after seeing the display and speaking to the assistant, I was now confused as to the purpose of my visit.  God had clearly said to me “Library,” but He was obviously not talking about a videography job for my son in this place.  Upon walking back out to the parking lot, I was again hit by the urge to put my website business card on the other car.  Suddenly, it came to me: My objective (my target) was not inside the library, it was in the parking lot.  The owner of the other car was to be informed of this website (to learn the things which God has taught me).  God used me to hit the bull’s-eye, even though I was aimed in the wrong direction.

(P.S. If you would like to know the differences between Christianity and the worlds’ religions, read the article, “Why I Believe the Bible” on this website.)

06/14/2018 / Spiritual Demilitarized Zone. = People, who fail to understand the transforming power God’s love, worry that when Christians truly grasp that they are forgiven for all sin—past, present and future—they will be less likely to resist it.  In reality, Christians who truly understand God’s love—and the temporal devastation which forgiven sin can still cause—have an ever increasing desire to obey Him and an ever increasing hatred of sin.  We are not sinless, but sin-less, the longer we walk with Him.  Recently, being increasingly overwhelmed by God’s love and majesty, I took another step forward in living the holy life He wants me to live.  I repented of a particular sin—which seemed somewhat insignificant, as I was always able to restrict it to my thought life.  Upon doing so, God said two things to me, “Discarding what is wrong” and “Demilitarized zone.”  What He told me through our conversation was that as I removed this sin from my life, an area of conflict with the enemy (demons) was no longer going to occur.  It stopped!  (F.Y.I., Demons—the angels who are in rebellion against God—cannot ‘read’ a person’s thoughts.  Obviously, however, through ‘reading’ my body language, etc., they knew a little more about me than I had perceived.)  [James 4:7]

P.S. If you are a Christian and you actually think this way—that salvation can be a license to sin—read the article, “A Christian Can Become Unsaved.” under the heading, “Did God Really Say?” on this website.

06/25-27/2018 / Spare him the gloom and doom. = Monday night, while talking to my son—who is in his mid-twenties and suffers from O.C.D.—he asked me a question: “How and why do our conversations so often end up on the subject of evil in the world?”  He then said to me, “I can’t handle it!”  We have both had our turns at bringing up the subject, but I have had an ulterior motive for a while.  Worried that he might be unable to handle some of the normal conversations which he will encounter, I have tried to condition him for it.  (FYI. We never discuss graphic evil, nor watch it on screen.)

The next morning, while driving to work, I turned on the radio and heard the hosts discussing the problem of ‘too much negative talk in our society.’  One of them said – “People need a safe-zone, a place to get away from all the gloom and doom!” / After arriving at work, I turned on my pocket radio and heard a preacher talking about ‘helping the weak’—people with physical needs, as well as those with emotional challenges.  He said that these people need support, help, someone or something to hold on to. / The following morning, I heard a preacher talking about emotional stress and anxiety – specifically mentioning ‘O.C.D.’

God was clearly in control of these messages and their timing, and was telling me – ‘You can spare your son the gloom-and-doom; he is going to be O.K. without it.’  This relieved my concern and obviously, cutting back on the conversations would be a blessing to my son.  Once again, I thanked my Heavenly Father for making me a better earthly father, and for keeping me from destroying every beautiful thing in my life.

06 thru 08/2018 / Pre-cancer, cancer, no cancer? = Having a peculiar spot on my nose, no medical insurance, a struggle paying our monthly bills and a loving Heavenly Father who created, owns and rules the universe, I have been unsure as to whether or not to go to the doctor.  Praying about this over time, I have asked God to heal me (if needed) or to tell me if I should go to the doctor.  (If He tells me to go to the doctor, I know He will ultimately provide.)  Early in June, immediately upon turning on the radio, I heard two radio hosts talking about skin cancer, which each of their parents had had.  One of them described a spot on her mom’s nose – which also perfectly described the one on mine.  The host said that her mom’s cancer was cured with a cream which the doctor prescribed.  The other host said that their parent had died as a result of skin cancer. (There are different kinds of skin cancer).  I wondered if this was from God and increased my prayers for guidance or healing.  At the end of June, I randomly clicked on a movie trailer—on YouTube. The movie is a fictional story about some kind of growing ecological disaster.  This video was automatically followed by another video – which explained the plot of the movie:  ‘It was an analogy to cancer.’  Beginning to sense God’s guidance—suspecting that a visit to the doctor might be in my future—I was asking Him for confirmation the next day.  He spoke two words to me; one was the name of a particular type of skin cancer and the other was the name of a friend of mine who has cancer.  The doctor’s appointment was soon made.  (The spot turned out to be pre-cancer and was treated with liquid nitrogen.)  Just before my visit, however, a second questionable spot on my wrist began to change in appearance.  I showed the doctor, but she said that it was nothing to worry about.  She did, however, give me a list of signs to watch out for – one of which was ‘changes in appearance.’  The changing continued and by the following week, it had gone from almost black to almost white.  When praying about this second one, God said two more things to me, “Life impacting” and “Testify.”  ‘Life impacting,’ – the meaning was obvious.  ‘Testify’ means to state or to show – i.e. tell/show a doctor what is going on.  I soon called a different doctor (for obvious reasons) and she used liquid nitrogen on this spot.  She checked it again after two weeks and it looked exactly as it had before the liquid nitrogen.  At this point, she decided to do a biopsy.  Something strange thing then occurred.  After the doctor had obtained a tissue sample from the spot, the discoloration disappeared (both the original dark and the newer white were gone).  Upon removing the bandage—two days after the doctor had applied it—the color perfectly matched the surrounding skin.

07/2018 / Gigabytes from God. = My computer has a forty gigabyte hard-drive (small capacity) and my son is into videography (large files).  He has produced several videos which I would like to have on my computer, but the hard-drive is too small.  Both God and my wife know that a ‘one terabyte external hard-drive’ is on my ‘wish-list,’ but that they are too expensive.  A few weeks before my most recent birthday, my wife was looking at our neighborhood blog and found that someone was giving one away.  She called and asked the person if it was still available and he said, “It is yours!”  As she went to pick it up, she said that she knew in her heart—that God had done this for me – because He loved me!  I thanked my wife and we both thanked God.

07/2018 / Liability friend. = I have a sister-in-Christ who is facing some challenges right now and she has a friend who is facing their own.  Her friend needs more attention and emotional energy than my sister has to give and she doesn’t know what to do about it.  She asked me to pray about this situation.  When doing so, God said to me, “Liability Friend.”  I had heard this expression on the radio recently and it was describing relationships which require more than they give.  God of course, wants us to love and serve others, and He will give us the resources to do it – if it is His will.  Evidently in this case, it was not.

07/21/2018 / Frustration + perfection = grace. = Several years ago my wife injured her hip and God has chosen not to heal her (yet?).  We continue to pray, for at some time, healing may become advantageous from the eternal perspective.  God did lead her to get a cane to help her walk.  Sometime later, she also bought a walker to use around the house.  A very frustrating problem with both the cane and the walker, however, is that they make it difficult for her to carry anything with her when she uses them (one or both hands being tied up).  The walker has a small storage space, but nothing to hold a glass.

God to the rescue: Recently, my wife bought a hair-dryer/curling-iron caddy for our bathroom, which theoretically attaches to the back of a cabinet door.  Not a chance!  It does, however, hold a glass and fits the walker perfectly in the only location which is out of the way.  The colors even match and it looks like they were made as a set.

07/21/2018 / Scriptwriting and God. = When our son was young, he would often tell people, “I want to make movies and honor God.”  This is still his dream and while he has not yet made any movies, he has made several videos intended to lead people into a relationship with God.  (See the ‘Videos’ section on this website.)  Something which he needs in order to continue down the path to ‘movie making’ is scriptwriting assistance.  He wants to learn to write a good script for a movie.  The leader of his ‘video special effects’ group—knowing of our son’s need—forwarded him a link to a website which he had just received.  The website was advertising an upcoming ‘movie making seminar’ which was to include a session on scriptwriting.  The problem with the seminar, however, was that it was too expensive and farther than I could comfortably drive (because of some physical issues).  In spite of these difficulties, I was ready to say “Yes” to the seminar—if it was God’s will—and thus, began asking Him about it.  I did not get a confirmation, but by His grace, found something even better.  After exiting the seminar website, in only two mouse-clicks, I found an extremely good, totally free, online scriptwriting course produced by a very famous movie production company.  (To see all the other things which God has done in order to prepare our son for a career in videography / movie making, see the entry: 10/2014 & before. / Utterly Amazing!!! God calls and the doors open!).

07/27/2018 / God blocks a demonic counter attack. = Quite often, when God is using me or one of the members of my family to tell someone about Him, we experience an increase in spiritual conflict.  Today, after work, I told my family that God had been using me in this way and, therefore, they needed to ‘keep their guards up.’  About four hours later—by God’s sovereignty—I walked into our sons’ bedroom and found him watching a YouTube video.  It pertained to a video-game with dark spiritual overtones.  I had warned him in the past that this type of entertainment was not spiritually safe—demons seek to use this stuff to gain influence in peoples’ lives—and should be avoided.  (See the entry: 04/12/2015 / ‘Slender Man’ – A spiritual warning about a fictional character!)  Upon asking him how long had he been looking at this ‘stuff,’ he told me that he had just clicked on it.  I warned him again and thanked God for His love and intervention.

08/16/18 / Creator, carpenter, plumber’s helper. = Theologians assume that because Joseph—Mary’s husband—was a carpenter, Jesus—when he stepped into His creation through Mary’s womb—would have learned the same trade, because he was raised by Joseph.  Now, while this can’t be Biblically verified, I can tell you that He just gave me the information needed and the solution to fix a plumbing problem.  A couple of years ago, a septic tank service technician told me that our sewer line dipped in one spot between our house and our septic tank.  About a week ago, the grass near that spot (just past our brick sidewalk) began growing thick and green.  There was obviously a leak and I wasn’t completely sure what caused it or what would be required to fix it.  While praying about the situation, God said to me, “Somebody’s been walking across this,” then gave me a vision of a cement plank which was lying in my back yard.  (My brother in-law had made the plank to park his trailer on—which he stores in my yard—but didn’t need it and, therefore, never made one for the other side.)  God told me through our conversation that years of walking across our non-cemented brick sidewalk—especially after a rain—had pushed the ground down around the sewer line and that replacing the loose bricks with the cement plank would keep it from happening again.  (I assumed that the problem was simply standing water—which remains for some time after a good rain—but it was a combination of this and walking on our make-shift sidewalk.)  I was able to dig up then raise the sewer line and the plank was the perfect size for the job.

08/22-24/2018  / “God is going to move His hand.” = On August 21^st, a temporary employee came to work for my employer and would be working with me.  Shortly after the day began, he said something about the Bible which was untrue.  I began praying for him that day—as I do for all new employees—that God would draw him into a relationship with Him (or deeper into one if he is already saved).  On the morning of the 22^nd, while praying for him again, God said to me; “The whole of Ephesians.”  Then, on the 24^th, He said two more things to me; “God is going to move His hand.” and “He will turn his life around.”  Understanding that God was about to do some things in his life, I increased my prayers – asking God to use me.  Later this same day, God gave me a wonderful opportunity to talk to this new guy.  While we were working, another employee walked up and asked me if I believed in ‘intelligent life on other planets.’  This brought the new employee into the discussion and enabled us to hit on some very important topics; including the Theory of Evolution, which has connections to the ‘Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence’ (a.k.a. SETI).  Not only did God enable us to have a very good discussion, both employees went home planning to look at this website.  (P.S., I do not believe in ‘intelligent life on other planets!’  To see why and/or to understand the connections between SETI and the Theory of Evolution, read the last chapter of the free downloadable book on this website.)

*** On April 30, 2019, this employee—now my close friend—would tell another employee, “I know why I was led to work here (working with me); it was to get my life back right with God.” *** (This is what I live for – to lead people into or deeper into a relationship with God. I thanked God for using me, and felt like crying.)

*** In August of 2022, my friend would begin a six month stay in prison for illegal drugs. Upon his return to work, on February 20, 2023, he would tell me that he spent a lot of time praying to God while he was in prison and was going to start back to church.

*** On February 24, 2023, God would cause me to ‘stumble and stop’ upon this entry (in this ‘God Obvious’ section of this website) to tell me that it is time to get back to serious prayer and intent, for my friend. Many eternal issues vie for my attention, and God prioritizes my life according to His infinite knowledge, perfect timing and ever-loving plan.

(F.Y.I. I ‘stumbled and stopped’ on this entry, because of some typing which I though should be in bold..)

09/19/2018 / God tells me to ‘Soar higher!’ = While driving home from work, I was growing agitated with the traffic and mentally saying derogatory things about the other drivers – including profanities.  (God knows our thoughts!)  Trying to settle down—wanting to honor my Heavenly Father—I took a breath to relax and asked Him for help.  At that precise moment, a new billboard—erected only two days before—appeared in my view.  The only words which were visible from my position on the road were, “Soar Higher.”  God not only encouraged me with this written touch of His grace, He helped me to calm down.  I thanked Him!

09/23/2018 / “Jesus also paid for all of the apples.”  = Shortly after writing the article, “Free-will, Apples and Predestination” (which can be found in the “Did God Really Say?” section on this website), I was thinking about the coming judgment upon all who die in rebellion against Him.  In the article, an analogy is presented (involving apples) which explains Gods’ sacrificial death on the cross, which was the payment for sin.  While pondering the incredible love which He has for His children, He said to me (speaking of Himself), “Jesus also paid for all of the apples.” He was reminding me that He died for the sin of all mankind, even those who would reject Him and go to Hell.

10/26/2018 / ‘Voter fraud,’ God needs our prayers. = God is sovereign!  This means that He is capable of controlling anything and everything that ever happens.  He does not do this completely, however, because He has given people (and angels) free-will and will not control us like puppets.  He does, nevertheless, intervene ceaselessly in the affairs of man—in both small and mighty ways—and would do so far more often if His children would ask, and were living righteous lives.  He may overpower a person’s will—in response to our prayers—if we ask and it is His will to do so (i.e. if it serves His eternal purpose.)  Not only this, He will at times, even tell us what to pray for, because He desires to intervene in a particular situation.  This is what He did this morning.  As I awoke, He said to me, “Voter Fraud.”  I understood what He wanted and began asking Him to keep this from happening.  I prayed many more times before election-day and asked my family and church-group to do the same.  One can only wonder how important these prayers were in hindering the evil which is trying to take over this country. [James 5:16 / Ephesians 6:18]  

(For an in-depth explanation of Gods’ sovereignty and mans’ free-will, read the article, “Free-will, Apples and Predestination” in the “Did God Really Say?” section of this website.)

10/29/2018 / He has never failed me yet! = Last night, I went to bed thinking about several problems which we are facing; our financial situation, a minor septic line problem, a broken ceiling-fan on our patio which resulted in some broken windows.  As I awoke this morning, God repeated something which was said in the sermon yesterday at church: “He has never failed me yet.”  My day began quite beautifully.

11/17/2018 / A seven-part miracle and a word from God. = While preparing to pay the last of our monthly bills, I realized that we did not have enough money to pay the balance on one of our credit-cards—which we do each month—and the minimum on a second.  This would result in interest charges on both accounts.  We currently owe $12,000.00 on the second one, caused by sky-rocketing real-estate taxes the last several years.  As a result of this situation, my wife and I stopped what we were doing and prayed.  We asked God to provide for this immediate financial need—as well our long term one—and to enable us to be good stewards of His money (i.e. not to spend it on interest charges).  Upon finishing the prayer, I went to pay the bills.  By God’s omnipotence and grace—and beyond our understanding of how He did it—we had enough for the short term need.  (God has blessed us before in this miraculous way and we have not tried to calculate how.  We just thank Him and keep going.)

In addition to this one imperceptible miracle, He also provided in six observable ways this month.  1. The Parks and Recreation department—where I teach karate—accidentally duplicated one of my paychecks (which they corrected later, when we had more money).  2. Our electric-coop issued a ‘credit refund’ to all of its customers.  3. Our municipal water department returned our water-deposit after thirty-two years as a customer.  4. A third credit-card bill—which we also pay off each month—said we could wait until next month to pay.  5. A dermatology bill—which the dermatologist has continually messed up—has been delayed yet again.  6. Finally, our long-distance phone bill—which we rarely use, but always has a base charge—stated that we did not owe anything this month.  It also had a note at the bottom which read, “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good.” 1 Chronicles 16:34.

F.Y.I. Regarding our use of credit-cards, God has for many years, kept us in a very unique situation regarding our finances.  (If you have read through much of this ‘God Obvious’ journal, you already know this.)  If we were spending money ‘outside of Gods’ will’—and were in credit-card debt because of it—He would not intervene in the ways that He does.

12/09/2018 / God said to our son, “I.M.N.U.” = In addition to the sinful nature which all of us struggle with, our son has other challenges; ‘O.C.D.’ being one of them.  Because of this, his battles against his sinful nature are often emotionally – very intense.  My wife and I try to comfort him, helping him to keep a balanced perspective.  So does God!  Today, our son—thinking about his sinful nature—was asking himself if he was even a Christian.  (He is, but it’s not a bad question to ask.)  As He was asking this question, God answered him.  Here is what occurred as per our son’s personal journal: (This is the last part of this particular entry.)

. . . That’s why God had given me to such a godly family; so I would grow up knowing grace. And then, finally, as we reached our home, I looked over and saw a shipping crate (shipping/storage container) in our neighbors’ front yard. On it was written a series of letters and numbers, but interestingly, the four letters at the top were “IMNU.” Four letters—with some meaning for the container company—but, which could be easily read as “I am in you.” It was a message that showed me that the most important thing was that God was within me. It also gave me assurance that in spite of severe faults, I really was a Christian, which deeply eased all my doubts. I bless the Lord, my Father for this. [1 Corinthians 6:19]

12/20/2018 / Freeze her credit! = My wife and I have been victims of ‘I.D. theft’ on more than one occasion.  We put a ‘temporary credit-freeze’ on my wife’s name, after she had become a victim a little more than seven years ago.  (A ‘temporary credit-freeze’ last for seven years and hers had run out.)  We put a ‘permanent credit-freeze’ on my name in September of 2017, after Equifax got hacked.  (A ‘permanent credit-freeze’ stays in effect until the person has it temporarily or permanently removed.)  We were planning on putting a permanent one on my wife’s name, but had not gotten around to it.  This morning, God interrupted what I was doing and told me to do it, (i.e. ‘Now!’)  It was done within a few hours!  (It was very quick for us, as we had done it before.)

F.Y.I. If—after learning all about this—you wish to freeze your credit, then do it though all three credit reporting agencies (experian.com, equifax.com and transunion.com).  You may also—after learning all about it—want to block electronic access to your social security number (to keep hackers from making changes to your records (ssa.gov).

2018 – 2019 / God was standing in my way. = After trying for over a year to change a particular situation—which would benefit my family—I realized that God was standing in my way.  Last year, a meeting was scheduled pertaining to this situation, but because of circumstances beyond my control, I was unable to attend.  The meeting was then re-scheduled—for a particular day—which again, did not work with my schedule.  This year, upon trying to get the situation taken care of on-line, the process grew so complex that I gave up.  I then placed all of the pertinent information in an envelope and took it to the Post Office, where it was subsequently lost.  Gathering all of the information again, I went to deliver it personally, but it was too late!  (In addition to all of these barriers, I had also sent an email to a friend—seeking guidance regarding this situation—which was never received.)  Sometime after all of this had occurred—finally realizing that God had been standing in my way—He brought something to mind which I had not considered: If we were to correct this one particular problem, there could be a bigger one which would replace it.  [Revelation 3:7]

01/05/2019 / Why Butterflies Die! = Our son had just given me an idea for another poem for this website.  While recording the idea in my computer—in a folder titled “future poems”—a different (unfinished poem) caught my attention.  It was going to be titled, “Why Butterflies Die!”  While looking at it, the thought hit me, ‘Maybe it’s time to finish this one.’  (This thought was from God, as I was about to discover.)  At that precise moment, I also noticed a moth on the wall right next to my computer.  (This was early January: There should not be any moths flying around.)  Upon getting up from my computer, I went into our kitchen to get a bowl of soup.  Upon opening the cabinet door, I immediately saw—on the top shelf—two butterflies: One was a painting on a glass serving bowl (which my wife had recently purchased) and the other was a decoration which she had used with this bowl. * * * The following morning, I sat down next to my wife and prepared to tell her what God had done.  At that precise moment, I found that my gaze was focused directly at a picture of a butterfly, which my brother-in-law had painted for my wife.  It was on a wall behind a desk, partially hidden by an open door.  (The poem—which is on this website in the section, ‘Poetry with an Attitude’—explains why our All-Knowing, Loving, Perfect and Powerful God allows sickness, sadness, evil and death.)

01/10/2019 / Paragon of virtue. = Upon asking God if something was permissible for me—something which appears to be in the gray area—He said, “Paragon of Virtue.”  Not knowing the definition of ‘paragon’ and thus, checking this phrase with the thesaurus, the clearest interpretation turned out to be; ‘A shining example of righteousness.’  He was reminding me that this was my role as His child.  Obviously, the answer to my question was, ‘No!’

01/27/2019 / God launches a preemptive strike against worry. = Our house has some severe foundation problems and we do not have the money to repair it, or to correct the underlying factors which are causing it.  The house actually belongs to our Heavenly Father—who owns the earth and everything in it—and it is ultimately up to Him to decide what happens.  This reality, along with His promise to take care of His children perfectly (from the eternal perspective), should keep us from experiencing stress over the situation.  We, however, being frail and human, often need additional intervention from Him—to give us peace—which He graciously provides.  This is what He did this morning.  [Last night, I had taken photographs of some of the cracks in our walls and ceilings—sheetrock and brick—along with a few other problems.  These will be used to have the value of our house lowered—by our local appraisal district—in order to reduce our real-estate taxes.]  Upon waking this morning, my thoughts went immediately to the problems with the house and, at that exact moment, God said to me, “God is in control!”  [Psalm 24:1, Philippians 4:6-7, 19] This gave me peace before worry could set in.

Early 2019 / God told me to add to my prayers. = While praying a particular prayer for my family—which I do regularly—God told me to add something to it.  The prayer was; “Father, please help us to grow ever deeper in love with You, ever closer in our walk and in step with your Spirit, ever stronger in faith, ever greater in wisdom, ever more passionate for You, Your will, Your Word, Your work, Your war and Your ways.”  Immediately after praying “ever deeper love,” God said to me, “ever greater in reverence.”  This immediately and permanently became part of my prayer.

02/19/2019 / No parking in the swamp! = Our church small-group was scheduled to meet at our house at 6:00 P.M. and at 1:10 P.M. it unexpectedly began to rain.  ‘Oh-No!’  Our yard quickly turns into a swamp with a good rain and our rock/mud driveway isn’t much better.  Nobody will get stuck in the driveway, but two of the available parking spaces were taken by my brother-in-law’s trailer.  (He pays us to store it at our house).  Upon going out to survey the situation—to see if we needed to cancel the meeting—I found that my brother-in-law had just come to get his trailer.  I had no idea that he was coming, but God obviously did.

03/19/2019 / You have to be ‘brain-dead’ to follow that temptation. = Very early this morning, while lying in bed, a temptation came from the enemy.  (Demons—angels who are in rebellion against God and are the enemy of mankind—try to tempt us into sin and destruction).  As I began following the temptation in my mind, God said to me, “Brain-dead.”  This is a phrase which I have thought to myself, when seeing a person doing something incredibly stupid.  God did not call me ‘brain-dead,’ for He loves me and never belittles His children, but I got the message.  I thanked Him once again for being my lord.  [1 Thessalonians 3:5]

03/20/2019 / A broken bridge which will not fall. = Our family is facing some severe struggles right now.  These struggles are connected to some things which happened many years ago, when my wife was a child.  Not knowing what to do about our situation, I have been asking God for help.  This morning, upon awakening, God gave me a vision.  The vision was of a high cement bridge—the kind cars would drive over—which had piers which were cracked and broken.  Beside each broken pier, however, was a new pier in perfect condition – supporting the bridge.  The message was clear: God, like the new piers in the vision, will hold me up, as I cannot do this myself.

03/24/2019 / Do not go to church today! = My wife had some intense heartache when she was young, which still affects her to this day.  Currently, we are facing some struggles—with connections to her past—and I was asking God if we should watch church on television today as opposed to meeting with ours.  (We have had a very painful week!)  I then opened my eyes to find that my gaze was focused directly upon a photograph of my wife, which was taken when she was a child.  She had recently held that picture in her hand and made some comments about her past and her pain.  I concluded—from this recent occurrence and the timing of my gaze on this picture—that the answer was, ‘Yes’ – we should stay home and watch church on television.’

When my wife and son woke up, however, they appeared to be ready, willing and able to go to church.  I thought, therefore, that it would be O.K. and we started getting ready.  A few minutes later, however, while I was cooking breakfast, God metaphorically tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Hey!’ (Didn’t I tell you to stay home today?)’  There were no words which passed between us, but the message was clear.

04/12/2019 / What’s your purpose? = A co-worker of mine—a brother in Christ—is existing, but not truly living for God.  He is saved—he has been forgiven for his sin and has a personal relationship with Jesus—but that is about as far as it goes.  Wanting to see him grow in his relationship and service to our Father, I pray for him often and ask the Lord for opportunities to influence his life.  Recently, this brother of mine told me about a man who had been a career criminal, but was now doing wonderful things for the people in his neighborhood.  I asked if the guy was a Christian and trying to lead people to salvation.  I explained that if he wasn’t, then all of the wonderful things that he was doing, were eternally useless.  (As a friend of mine once put it; “If you send a bunch of well-fed, highly-educated people to Hell, what good have you done?”)

Today, while thinking about my co-worker, God reminded me of an analogy which compares ‘temporal-only service’ to improving the arrangement of deck chairs on the Titanic.  As God hit me with this memory, my co-worker suddenly turned around and told me the stanza from a song which this ‘criminal-turned-servant’ had written.  The lyrics were, “If you don’t find your purpose, you’re wasting air.”  Through this disclosure, God gave me the opportunity to tell my brother-in-Christ the analogy and to ask him what his purpose was.  He paused for several seconds and then said, “I don’t have one.”  I told Him that God has one for him and it is wonderful! [Ephesians 2:10] 

04/mid/2019 / I know God intervened! = This morning as I awoke, God said to me, ‘G. J.’s condition.’  (He actually spoke an old friend’s name, but this website is anonymous).  Not knowing what the problem was, I asked God to intervene—to provide protection and healing—or in whatever way was needed.  Attempts to contact my friend later—to find out what was going on—were unsuccessful, so I never learned what the problem was.  There is no question, however, that God did intervene.  He would not ask someone to pray and then not answer their prayers.

 04/23/2019 / Bringing ‘great’ out of murder. = On Friday and Saturday—April 19 & 20—I was praying for the safety of my ‘brothers and sisters in Christ’ (around the world) because of the increasing hatred for our Father and the resulting persecution against us. [John 15:18-20]  My prayers were more intense than normal because of the growing violence perpetrated against God’s children on Resurrection Sundays (Easter).  On Monday, I learned about the churches which had been bombed in Shri Lanka, while my siblings were worshiping.  My siblings, who died, were able to continue their worship service in Heaven [Luke 23:43], but I prayed fervently for the ones who were left behind.  Upon waking on Tuesday, my thoughts went immediately again to the survivors.  As they did, God said to me, “God has done great things” (through this terrible situation which He allowed)!  This wasn’t a surprise—for He tells us in the Bible, that – ‘In all things, He works for the (eternal) good of those of us who love Him’ [Romans 8:28]—but it was still comforting to have Him say it again.  Then, on the way to work—upon turning on my car radio—I heard a lady talking about the wonderful things which God had done, as a result of allowing her son to die (come to Heaven) while he was young:  A young girl received his heart—as an organ donor recipient—and well over one hundred people had accepted Jesus (and will live forever with Him and her son in Heaven), as a result of hearing their story.

04/27/2019 / God tells me to pray for his sons’ wife. = As it turns out, a new employee—sent over by the temporary agency which my employer uses—is also a Christian (one of God’s children).  We don’t work in the same department, so there are few opportunities to talk, but he has told me a little about his life and family.  As a result, I have said some prayers for them. This Sunday morning, as I awoke, God spoke the name of his wife to me.  It was obvious that God was bringing her to my attention—to pray for her—because until that moment, I had not remembered her name.  (God, quite often, will tell me of someone or something to pray for – as I awake.)  He didn’t tell me why prayer was needed, so I asked Him to intervene in whatever way was necessary.  The next day, after telling the new employee what had happened, he told me about a situation which had occurred—involving his wife and her mother.  While they were expecting a complete disaster, the situation had gone amazingly smooth – obviously, because of God’s intervention.  (The new employees’ wife was raised as a catholic, but had accepted salvation—by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus alone; as the Bible teaches—and there had been many family problems as a result.)  [Ephesians 2:8]

If you would like to see where Catholicism differs from the Bible which they profess, read the article “To my Catholic Friends and Family” in the section, “Did God Really Say?” on this website.

06/mid/2019 / Pray for the president! = God tells us in the Bible that we are to pray for our leaders and that there is no authority except that which He has established.  (We need to keep this in mind, because in the coming years—if the Christians in this country don’t repent and start living according to God’s Word—He is going to give us a very evil government to rule over us.)  This morning, God told me to pray for our president.  [1 Timothy 2:1-2, Romans 13:1]

07/02/2019 / God is more ‘techie’ than me. = ‘Technically-challenged’ is an appropriate description of the author of this website.  (I got my first cell-phone at sixty and people are still amazed that I created this website.)  My family recently obtained—for the first time ever—a wireless keyboard and mouse for our home computer.  We have now had the keyboard long enough to wear out the first set of batteries and, as a result, I thought that it had become defective.  Upon waking this morning—planning to go to the store to purchase a replacement—God reminded me that it has batteries.  My loving Heavenly Father graciously intervened to save me both time and money (and, yes, He may have done it with a slight grin on His face).

07/13-18/2019 / God provides the money to fix our car. = On July 13^th our church small group gave us $100.00.  On July 16^th a couple of Christian friends of ours sent us a check for $500.00.  On July 18^th we learned that our car repair was going to cost $550.00.  We thanked God and used part of the remainder of the money to celebrate by going out to get gourmet coffee.

07/19/2019 / Free airline miles; ‘No thank-you!’ = A friend of ours offered my wife some free ‘airline-travel-miles’ and she jumped at the chance.  She wanted to visit her dad in Florida to see if she could help him with her step-mom.  They are both having health problems.  Unfortunately, my wife has her own health problems and would be unable to help with some of their greatest needs – as God was about to confirm.  She and I were both asking God about this—neither of us knew that the other was praying—and He told both of us the same thing: It would be harder on her dad having her there—for several reasons—than to take care of his wife himself with the limited medical assistance which they were receiving.

08/mid/2019 / Here is the faith and money which you asked for. = My family had an extremely expensive month and we had to pay part of a credit-card bill with another credit-card; $800.00.  (We try always to use God’s money—it’s all His—according to His will.  The Lord, knowing this and being sovereign over our finances—as well as the universe—keeps us in a unique financial situation, regularly building our faith.)  After paying the bill, but before asking for provision for this increased debt, I asked God for the faith to trust and honor Him in this situation.  I felt comforted!  Upon opening my eyes, I also noticed some song lyrics which were written on a piece of paper on my desk: “There’s another in the fire standing next to me.  There’s another in the water, holding back the sea.”  These lyrics have to do with God’s location in respect to His children when we are going through hardships.  Four days later, we received an email from a friend who had just re-roofed our house (as a result of storm damage).  He told us that we could keep the last part of the insurance money (which is supposed to go to him).  This money, combined with a check from the recreation department where I teach karate, equals $819.00.

08/29/2019 / God asks me; “Were you too strong in your ‘just’ examples?” = Yesterday, while telling a co-worker about this website and our YouTube channel, I recited a few lines from the poem, “If God was a Super-Hero.”  The poem talks about God’s love, grace and mercy, as well as His ‘justness,’ wrath and power.  It also gives some graphic examples of the latter.  Unfortunately, the few lines which I recited had nothing to do with His love, grace or mercy.  This morning, while praying for my co-workers, God reminded me of the conversation from yesterday.  He then asked me; “Were you too strong in your ‘just’ examples?”  Aware of my dreadful mistake, I asked God for guidance, then had another conversation with my co-worker.

09/10/2019 / Supernatural Anger. = A relative of mine recently mistreated another relative of mine.  After addressing the situation on a physical level, our enemies—the angels who are in rebellion against God—began working very hard to get me angry.  Over the next several days, they were giving me thoughts—reminding me of what had happened—and kept trying to affect my emotions.  (This is one of their major strategies for destroying friendships, families and churches.)  Knowing what was happening, I commanded them to leave – “in Jesus’ name” – each time they ‘attacked.’  I also prayed for the protection of both of my relatives.  After a while, the enemy gave up on this strategy and retreated.  (To learn more about spiritual warfare, read, “Who and What is Satan?” in the free downloadable book available on this website.) [James 4:7, Ephesians 4:26-27]

09/2019 / God helped him stop drinking. = A fellow employee of mine—a non-Christian—asked me to pray for him:  He wants God to help him to stop drinking.  He told me that alcohol, for the first time in his life, was becoming a problem and he could see that he needed help. – A few prayers and days later, my co-worker walked up and thanked me.  He said that he had stopped.  (P.S. I pray for his salvation often.)

09/30/2019 / God expects more out of me. = While struggling with a particular temptation, God spoke the name of His Son to me, “Jesus.”  Still struggling, He then said to me, “A Hebrew of Hebrews.”  The name “Jesus” helped to get my mind off the temptation and on to Him, and the phrase “A Hebrew of Hebrews” told me that He expects more holiness out of me than He does many others.  (“A Hebrew of Hebrews” was a phrase which the Apostle Paul used—while explaining that He had obeyed God’s laws to a very great degree, but that no one is good enough to get to Heaven on their own merit.  When God spoke it to me, He wasn’t saying anything about salvation, but rather, that I should be living a very holy life because of the closeness of our relationship.)   Four days later, while struggling with the temptation again, He said to me, “The Apostle Paul.”  I thanked Him and won this particular struggle.

10/04/2019 / A scary prayer. = Upon waking up this morning, God spoke the name of a particular school to me.  It was the name of a middle-school located a couple of miles from our house.  Not being told what to pray for, I assumed—because of our society—that it was for the safety of the people who would be there.  My prayers began immediately and my wife joined me later.  We asked God to intervene in whatever way was needed.  (It is scary to think how important prayers like this may be.)

10/06/2019 / God controls a bird. = Before church on Sunday mornings, you will often find me sitting on my patio, talking to God and admiring His creation – which He created for mankind to enjoy.  We have a backyard meadow (mostly weeds with a little grass mixed in), a few large trees and a bird feeder.  This morning, a dove had landed on top of the feeder, but couldn’t figure out how to eat from it.  (It’s designed for smaller birds and this dove had not learned the technique of standing sideways with one wing held in the air.)  He then flew to the ground looking for seed which may have been dropped by other birds.  There was none!  This inspired me to throw more seed out near the feeder.  The dove, not surprisingly, flew away when I opened the patio door, but soon returned.  He went again, however, to the top of the feeder.  Wanting him to stay—he was the only bird around and it looked like he was losing interest—and wanting him to get to eat, I asked God to cause him to fly to the ground where the seed had landed.  God answered immediately.  The bird dropped down and landed between the house and feeder, where the seed was, but where the regular feathered visitors rarely do.  Unless there are other birds already on the ground, they almost always land on the far side of the feeder and then cautiously move towards the house.  Once again, being overcome by Gods’ love and intricate involvement in my life, I thanked Him with tears in my eyes.  (God answered a similar prayer on 08/18/2002.  See the entry: “Tiny wings and answered prayer.”)

P.S., If you find it difficult to believe that the Omnipotent and Eternal Creator of the universe would answer such a seemingly insignificant prayer, consider the following:  1. He created humans to make us His children and then care us forever in Heaven.  2. He loves us so much that He stepped into His creation to suffer and die for our sins to make it possible.  3. He is sovereign over all His creation.  4. He gave us animals, not only for food, but also to enjoy their beauty. [Genesis 9:3, 1 Kings 17:4]

10/12 & 14/2019 / God controls my gaze three times; ‘Now Celebrate!’ = After spending more than an hour paying bills and filing paperwork, my financial calculations revealed that we were going to be three-hundred dollars short of what we needed through the end of the month.  (We are also deeply in debt because of skyrocketing real-estate taxes.)  This all took place just after discussing with my wife, how we could celebrate our thirty-fifth wedding anniversary on the last Friday and Saturday of this month.  Friday would be taken as a vacation day from my job.  Fixating on the now recognized financial problem, worrying that we cannot afford go out for our anniversary, I then—by God’s sovereignty—looked at the calendar.  I saw that my next paycheck would be received the day before my vacation day and could be deposited the next morning.  Then, upon turning off the desk light, God strongly caused me to notice a picture which had been in front of me the whole time, yet unnoticed until then.  It was a picture from our wedding!  (When God wants a person to notice something, He will sometimes emphasize whatever the ‘thing’ is in order to reveal His involvement.)  Two days after this, when hesitantly deciding to ‘go for it’—finalize our plans and pay for a nights’ stay in a hotel—God caused me to notice the picture again with an even stronger emphasis.

F.Y.I. God speaks in different ways, and has chosen this method with me on many occasions.  It’s important to state, however, that I do not handle communication with Him lightly, nor make foolish decisions – imagining that He has told me something (hard or easy).  If I am unsure, I ask Him to confirm that He really did tell me what I think He said.  If I am ‘almost sure,’ I say, ‘O.K. Father; I believe that You are telling me (whatever).  If You are not, then please tell me – ‘or stop me.’  I want to do Your will and only Your will!

11/03/2019 / Married thirty-five absolutely wonderful years! = God created marriage for the purpose of leading people into a loving and everlasting relationship with Him.  This is why it exists and why He wants to make it beautiful—even if presently all messed up!  (You can learn all about this in, “Keys to a wonderful life-long marriage” in the “Ministries and Resources” section on this website.)  Doing it God’s way, continually inviting and receiving God’s help, my wife and I are now celebrating our thirty-fifth wedding anniversary and are continuing to grow in our love for each other as we have for thirty-five years.

*** The divorce rate among husbands and wives who pray together and read the Bible daily is 1 in 1,019.  (Per Steve Holt, on James Dobson’s “Family Talk” radio program 04/15/2013)

*** If you have destroyed your marriage, God still wants to take you from where you are – to a beautiful place He wants you to be.

11/05/2019 / God says “Mortuary.” = Because this was ‘voting day’ and the polls didn’t open early enough for me to vote and then get to work on time, I had the urge to drive a little faster than I normally would have.  It would have been under the speed limit, but it was raining heavily.  Before I could make any foolish decisions, however, God said to me, “Mortuary.” (A mortuary is a “temporary place for the reception of dead bodies.”) *** As a result of this ‘gentle’ warning, I chose not to increase my speed, but rather to engage in safe ‘white knuckle’ driving the rest of the way to work.

11/07/2019 / God heals my tooth. = After losing a crown, then going to the dentist to have it reattached, the X-rays which the dentist took revealed that there were deeper problems with this and other teeth.  Because of our financial situation, I started praying intensely.  The dentist then offered some help—a greatly reduced price—through a dental insurance plan called “Metro Care.”  On top of all this, one of my molars—which had been bothering me (increasingly) for some time—suddenly quit hurting.  God had obviously healed it, because it just happened, the dentist never mentioned it and the cost of an extraction was out of our budget.

11/08/2019 / God arranges a karate demonstration. = Finding people interested in learning karate is becoming ever more difficult in our rapidly changing society.  Our class attendance has declined and my Black Belt students—my assistant instructors—have been signing up in order to achieve the required number of students.  This session, we did not have enough students even with them on the row.  As a result, one of my Black Belts—who now lives in another state—signed up for the class in order to keep it going.  He just e-mailed me and told me what he had done.  He also suggested putting on a demonstration somewhere in order to attract more students.  *** We have not put on a demonstration in forty years and would have no idea where to do one.

My next e-mail was from the Parks & Rec. Dept where I teach karate.  It concerned a subject which they had not mentioned in forty years: ‘A karate demonstration.’  The City is going to sponsor a “Health Challenge Day,” encouraging its’ citizens to take charge of their health.  The Recreation Department is going to be involved and wants their physical-education instructors to provide demonstrations of the classes which they offer.

11/14/2019 / Seek God, then Google. = My son came to me with a problem: His computer is not cooperating with his digital-camera.  When trying to feed the camera footage into the computer, it is picking up the audio, but not the video.  (He recently upgraded to “Microsoft Windows-10,” which is most likely the cause.)  The problem was far too technical, so I told him to type his question into ‘Google.’  He complained that every time he does this, he gets way too much information, most of which is useless and/or conflicting.  (He was right; the same thing happens to me!  I have wasted many, many hours seeking information with no success.)  I said, “O.K., Let’s pray about it first.”  We did, and approximately five minutes after our prayer, he came and told me that the problem was fixed.  (He had to download some file from the internet into his computer.)  We prayed again and told God, “Thank You!”

11/14/2019 / God alters a song. = Waking up and being hit with a particular temptation—most likely due to our enemies (the angels who are in rebellion against God)—my Heavenly Father instantly put the ‘altered lyrics’ of a song in my mind.  They were, “Nothing comes between us.”  (Sin not only destroys peoples’ lives, it separates us from God—which is what our enemies want.)  The actual lyrics are, “Nothing stands between us.”  [Isaiah 59:2]

11/21/2019 / God wakes me up to pay the bills. = Struggling with an over-stuffed schedule and finances in the red, I had put off paying a couple of bills which were now very close to being late. God knew this and woke me up early.  My alarm is set for 6:00 A.M., but this morning I woke up at 5:30, fully alert and suddenly consumed with the thought of the bills.  I filled out the checks and dropped them off at the Post Office on the way to work.  If God had not done this, the payments would have been late.

11/23/2019 / Sovereignty and Sunday-School pain. = Our daughter and a friend of hers were deeply hurt and embarrassed by a Sunday-School teacher when they were in their teens.  The teacher was completely wrong and overboard in how she handled a situation and this led to our daughter finding a different church for youth fellowship.  Our family continued attending the original church for Sunday worship.  Our daughter recently asked why we stayed at that church after the incident and for so many years afterwards.  After telling her how sorry I was that this had happened to her, I reminded her that: “We are in a war!”  I told her that that church was 100% Biblically accurate in its’ theology, deeply immersed in teaching it—from the pre-school class to the Sunday sermon—sponsored A.W.A.N.A. and Christian homeschooling activities and had a wonderful library full of Biblical treasures.  I told her how messed up so many churches are and that I wouldn’t allow my family anywhere near most of them.  I then reminded her of how her little brother had benefited from being on the Video Tech Team—at the first church—and how she had met her husband at the second one.  I pointed out that God had allowed this incident, because He needed our family in two different churches at the same time, to fulfill His will for us.  [Genesis 50:19-20]

11/24/2019 / A ‘Loss of Pet’ sympathy card. = My sister just told us that her veterinarian had to put her little dog to ‘sleep’ (a female Teacup Yorkie).  In a bizarre accident, it fell off of her couch—a long drop for a ‘tiny’ dog—and severely injured itself.  I wanted to send her a sympathy card and wanted it to arrive before Thanksgiving Day.  Upon talking to my wife, she informed me that she had just purchased a ‘Loss of Pet sympathy card’ and was already planning to send it.  I then asked her, “Why do you have a ‘Loss of Pet’ sympathy card?”  (I didn’t even know that they existed.)  She told me had just purchased it as a result of a miscommunication with her own sister.  (She thought that her sisters’ dog had died.)  We got the card ready and dropped it in the mail.  Obviously, God also wanted it there before Thanksgiving Day.  (F.Y.I. We do not worship our pets—they are about one-billionth as important as humans—but we do get attached to them and we do hurt when we lose them.  God definitely gave them to us to enjoy.) [1Timothy 6:17]

11/29/2019 / Wisdom and healing. = As people age, their bones become brittle and their bodies take longer to heal.  This is significant to a sixty-three year old Black Belt (i.e. ‘me’).  Last month, I broke my left index finger, doing a finger-strike—a technique I have done for years—(admittedly, a little harder than I have ever done).  After about a month, it did not appear to be healing.  After asking God for the wisdom to take care of myself as I continue to age (and continue to work out in karate), I asked Him to heal my finger.  Over the next two days, there was significant improvement and now—less than two weeks later—it is completely healed.  (I will be more careful as I continue to move forward.)

12/04/2019 / From five-weeks to one-day in one-prayer. = Last night, on the way home from work, my car began overheating (and behaving very strangely.)  This morning, I was asking God to guide me regarding where to take it to have it repaired.  My regular mechanics’ shop—which I will call A.A.R.—is always the desired choice, but they have been running three weeks behind the last few years.  (They are very good mechanics with very good prices!)  I wanted to take it to them and, thus, asked God, “If it is Your will, please enable them get me in tomorrow. If not, then I will take it to KwickKar” (a different mechanics’ shop closer to our home).  “If that is not Your will, then please show me what is.”

This morning, upon calling A.A.R., the receptionist said that their first available appointment would be January sixth (five weeks away).  After telling her that I wouldn’t be able to wait, she immediately said, “Let me see if I can squeeze you in tomorrow.”  Three seconds later, she said, “Yes, tomorrow!”

12/09/2019 / Working outside the home. = My wife has been a ‘stay-at-home-mom’ (i.e. a ‘work-harder-than-most-people-have-to-person’) for many years. She has been wife, mother, grandmother/baby-sitter, prayer-warrior, homemaker, school-teacher, Bible-teacher, AWANA-leader, counselor, doctor, nutritionist, baker, chef, meal-provider (to family and people in need), chauffer, maid, hair stylist, pet caregiver, etc.  On top of all this, our son grew up with special needs—requiring a lot of extra help—and she has been suffering from a hip-injury for many years.  Because of all of this, I have been opposed to her working again outside the home.  (She has had mixed feelings about it.)  This morning, however, God spoke to me about this situation.  While asking Him if there was anything which my family needed to do, in order to stay in the center of His will, He answered me.  He spoke my wife’s name, followed by the words, “should be working.”  He then reminded me of how well her hip is doing—how much He has been healing her.  We have praying for healing for years and evidently God—with His infinite knowledge, wisdom, love and eternal perspective—has ordained that this should be the time.

12/10/2019  / Pray for Adrienne. = God tells His children to “keep on praying for all the saints,” (pray every chance we get for all our brothers and sisters in Christ).  It is obvious therefore, that earnestly praying for “all my mission field”—as opposed to naming them individually—is a very powerful prayer.  This is very reassuring, as naming them individually would take far more time than God gives me each day.  (My prayers are not only for people who are, or have been in my life, but also for everyone who comes to this website.)  This morning, while praying for “all my mission field,” God named one person specifically.  My prayers do, very often, include many individual names.  Today, they included one more.  [Ephesians 6:18]

12/13/2019 / A God – quicker than anger. = My wife was deeply hurt by a friend recently and I was deeply hurting for her.  This, and several other problems which we are facing, had put me in a really bad mood.  While sitting at my desk, reaching for some papers, I knocked over my wife’s ‘uncapped’ bottle of water, soaking the corners of two checks.  In less time than it takes to get angry, God focused my attention on a photograph sitting on my desk.  It was a picture from our wedding.  (Last October, He did the same thing with the same picture for a different reason.)  This preemptive move by God kept me from venting my anger towards my wife, thereby hurting her even more.  (FYI, If you haven’t asked God to control your life and family, you are severely out-manned and out-gunned!) [1 John 4:4]  

01/17/2020 / Two strong warnings from God! = My wife told me about a particular item which a person was giving away a few miles from our house.  Both of us were contemplating going to get it, but before either of us could, God strongly warned us against it.  I felt a little uneasy about the situation and then, on my way to work, God turned the uneasiness into great anxiety.  I called my son and told him to put a note by the coffee pot – telling my wife not to go get the item.  (That is all that I said).  A few hours later, my wife called me at work to tell me ‘not to go pick the item.’  She said that she suddenly had a very bad feeling about it; she knew that this was a warning from God.

01/18/2020 / God fills my mind = While sitting on my couch praying, God suddenly filled my mind with one thought; ‘the head pastor of the church where my family had been members years before.’  My daily prayers are never repetitious—speaking the same words over and over like a broken record [Matthew 6:7]—but they do have a particular pattern and they do cover many of the same subjects.  (I begin by praising God and then move to asking Him to help my family to grow in our love, reverence, and faith in Him, etc.)  This morning, after praising Him—but before getting to my requests—my mind was completely overcome with the thought of our former pastor.  My prayers immediately switched to asking God to intervene in his life in whatever ways were needed.  Even though God never said anything specific, I did feel the need to pray for his protection.  We are in a war and Satan hates God’s servants. [Ephesians 6:12-18]

01/25/2020 / The driver behind me. = My wife’s step-mom just died, her dad was in the hospital (she is currently helping him and he almost missed the funeral), she and my daughter’s family are all in Florida because of the funeral, and I am taking care of my daughters’ pets while they are away.  All this, along with problems with friends, problems at work, teaching karate, leading AWANA and taking care of things at home, had put me in a stressed and irritated mood.  Add to this mix, the irritation caused by foolish drivers following too closely on the road—the resulting accidents are common in our area—and my thoughts were, shall we say, ‘less than Biblical.’  Because of the ‘tailgating’ driver behind me, I was about to slow down to a great degree (gradually, because causing an accident doesn’t relieve stress).  I decided, however, to ‘do this God’s way’ (handle this situation the way God would want me to).  As soon as this decision was made, the driver behind me suddenly slowed down himself.  He backed way off and stayed a great distance behind me for the next few miles until finally turning onto a different road.  I thanked God for His intervention and enjoyed a peaceful drive the rest of the way home.  (God and I have been working on my driving lately.)

01/27/2020 / No, that is not O.K.! = Yesterday, one of the guys at work had finished most of the labor readying a pallet of merchandise for shipment.  Upon seeing it, I told him, “This is not the way we do them.”  It was done quite well, so I told him how to take some extra precautions, and that it should be O.K.  This morning, however, while praying for my family’s walk with God, the Lord gave me a vision of that pallet.  The vision was such an interruption to my thoughts and prayers that it was obvious that it was a communication from Him.  The message was also clear; ‘No, that pallet is not O.K.!’  Upon arriving back at work this morning, I located the pallet and pushed on it, to check its’ stability.  As God had said, ‘It was not O.K.!’  I thanked Him and repacked the pallet.

01/28/2020 / Tweet others the way you want to be tweeted. = Upon pulling into a parking space, beginning to prepare what I needed to go shopping, the driver in the car facing me turned on their lights – which were then shining directly into my eyes.  Over the next few minutes—while I was preparing for my excursion—the driver never moved, nor turned off their lights.  (This is a thoughtless thing that people do, especially with the automatic headlights provided on new cars.)  Upon returning to my car, the driver was still parked there with their lights on.  Quite irritated, I then switched my lights to bright, turned them on and began to ‘slowly’ prepare for my departure.  A couple of moments later, the driver in the other car drove away.  Upon exiting the parking lot, feeling guilty for not loving the way God commands us to love, I was instantly faced with a message from Him.  It was written on a sign and it read, ‘Tweet others the way you want to be tweeted.”  This command from the Bible, actually says, “Treat others the way you want to be treated,” but I got the message.  I thanked God and asked Him to help me to do better.

02/01/2020 / A spare tire vision. = While praying for God’s guidance—asking Him if there was anything we (our family) needed to do to get / or to stay in the center of His will—He suddenly filled my mind with the thought of a spare tire.  It was the one in my wife’s car.  Upon examining the information on the side of the tire, I found that it was twenty-three years old.  It looked new, but was far too old to use – for safety reasons.  It was quickly replaced, along with two other tires on the car.

02/21/2020 / A delayed computer vision. = My wife’s computer had a problem which we were unable to fix.  After praying for guidance, we searched and found one for sale on our neighborhood blog.  After telling the seller that we wanted to buy it, he encountered several delays, which kept us from being able to meet.  Finally, after several days, he said that we could come and get it.  Upon praying again, however, God gave me a vision which told me not to buy it.  (The vision was of a guy who looked like the Hollywood version of a ‘crime-boss;’ the kind of person who you wouldn’t want to buy a computer or anything from.)  We called the seller and told him that we were not going to purchase it after all.  (FYI; God could have given me the vision days earlier, but we’re guessing that, by this delay, He kept us from purchasing any computer until the right one came along – which happened a few days later.)

03/20-21/2020 / Expected spiritual counter-attacks. = When putting new stuff on this website, or emailing the information to friends or family, it is not unusual to experience an increase in the intensity of the spiritual conflict we face.  (Demons—the angels who are in rebellion against God—fight against the expansion of His Kingdom.)  Upon finishing my latest poem, “Hiding the Invisible 5 – Satan is a Liar; Mother Earth is a Dirt-Ball,” the counter-attacks began.  On Friday, my computer malfunctioned while trying to save the poem in a particular format.  It worked perfectly after commanding the enemy to leave – ‘in Jesus’ name.’  On Saturday, while standing in our kitchen, my throat suddenly started hurting and I was hit with a cold chill.  (This was during the Corona Virus outbreak.) Both problems ceased upon commanding the enemy to leave – ‘in Jesus’ name.’  A short time later, I found my son watching a trailer from a movie which had a totally occultic theme (on Youtube).  Without going into any detail, I can assure you—based upon much experience—that this was yet another attempt by the enemy to get ‘a foot in the door.’

03/25/2020 / God says “Police yourselves.”  Because of Covid 19, the county where I work decided that they would go on lockdown, beginning tonight.  This meant that non-essential businesses would not be permitted to operate.  A couple of guys who I work with started thinking about possible loopholes on how to stay open.  (My employer was not involved in this, but would naturally, be very concerned about the survival of the business and providing for his family and employees.)  Having the sovereign, omnipotent God of the universe as my Father, my decision would be clear: If we should shut down, I would not be at work.  (God tells us to obey the heart of the law, not just the letter.)  Two things then happened: 1^st – While asking God for guidance regarding this situation, He said to me, “Police yourselves.”  (Monitor and control what we are doing in order to remain safe!) 2^nd – The County Fire Inspector came by and gave us a permit to remain open because we sell automobile repair parts. (We are classified as an essential business!)

05/03/2020 / God intervenes so I can love. = Our family is under a lot of stress, much of it due to the societal problems caused by Covid 19.  In addition to this, while my wife was trying to maintain some joy on her birthday, three different relatives called and made everything worse.  One was crabby and impatient and the other two talked about things which made her very sad.  Upon getting home from work and hearing about her day, I asked her if she wanted to go for a walk.  She said, “Yes,” but at the end of the walk, she broke down crying.  Unfortunately, the rest of the weekend wasn’t any better.  We had a couple of stress filled arguments and both of us ended up with our feelings hurt.  Shortly after our second argument, God intervened.  While testing the internet reception on our computer—which had been very faulty lately—God sovereignly guided me to click on this website and the section which you are now reading.  Within ten seconds of touching the computer, I found myself reading the account of how God had miraculously brought my wife and me together in marriage.  (See the entry: 1983-84 / The girl of my prayers.)  This completely changed my mood and enabled me to love her, the way Jesus tells me to.

05/12/2020 / Pray for the President. = While praying with my wife, God told both of us—separately, silently and simultaneously—to pray for the President.  The President, his family, his staff and his leadership are periodically included in our prayers, but we need to do it more often.  At this particular moment, we had to assume that it was not only important, it was urgent.

05/17/2020 / Deception, protection, destruction? = Upon upgrading to the ‘Microsoft Windows-10’ operating system, my Bible software program no longer worked.  I decided to download a different software version—of the same Bible translation—but found that the new software lacks a very important tool.  My wife then proceeded to search for a different one, hopefully with the missing tool.  After reading about a possible substitute, she copied the link and saved it for me.  As I clicked on the link, however, it wasn’t the Bible, it was a ‘por – – graphic’ website.    {This website will not allow the actual word}.  ‘Por- – graphers’ often deceive people onto their websites through deception like this, and these deceivers are targeting Christians.  God protected me—in a loving, gracious and supernatural way—so that the video which was before my eyes never clearly traveled to my brain.  It was quite strange!  I thanked God and then asked Him to remove any viruses from our computer – if the website had inserted them.  I also asked Him to protect other Christians from this ‘por – – graphic’ website and to destroy the people who are behind it. [Matthew 5:28]

If you are shocked by the last part of my prayer, be aware of a few things:  1. Por- – nography is utterly degrading to women, as addictive as cocaine (actually altering the physiology of the brain), a destroyer of countless families and is a major factor in innumerable sex-related crimes (by such people as Jeffrey Dahmer or victims’ relatives).  2. Pornography companies not only know that their ‘product’ is addicting, some of them hire psychologists to show them how to get people more addicted.  3. God says that it would be better for these people to have large millstones hung around their necks and to be drowned in the sea, than to lead Christians to sin. [Matthew 18:6]

05/25/2020 / Healing tendonitis. = Tendonitis of the elbow is often referred to as “tennis elbow,” because participants in this sport often suffer with it.   For me, it is more appropriately called ‘automobile part lifting elbow.’  My employer sells automobile parts and my job requires lifting a lot of them – many of them quite heavy.  As a result, tendonitis—inflammation of the tendon—is sometimes a problem for me and about a year ago it got pretty bad.  Wearing an elastic arm-band while doing my job or practicing karate allowed it to heal, but it took the year to do it.  It actually felt well about a month ago, but I have continued wearing the band as a precaution.  Near the end of last week, however, the tendonitis came back strong ‘while wearing the band.’  This could have been a major problem, because we are busier at work than we have ever been—oddly, because of the coronavirus—and this was going to make it very difficult to do my job.  Because of this, my wife ordered some supplements which help with inflammation and then, last night, I asked God to heal me.  He did – last night!  After praising Him, yet again, for His loving touch, I informed my wife that the supplements were not going to be needed.

06/14/2020 / Supernatural stress relief. = Life has become very stressful.  Between Covid 19 precautions and restrictions, being ‘extremely’ busy at work (as a result of the virus), certain family situations, and friends and family members who are moving further from God (and closer to Hell),  life has become filled with stress.  With so much on my mind, it has become hard to concentrate.  I have been forgetting things (door-locks, gas-caps, running water, a hot-melt-glue-gun) and almost ‘T-boned’ a car (which was as obvious as a white SUV in front of a forest-green background).  This morning, as a result of an intense prayer, God removed much of my stress!

06/28/2020 /A memory, a vision, a – Do not give up!’ = Watching several friends and family members moving farther from God and falling increasingly for Satan’s deception, is leaving me discouraged and depressed.  It was difficult praying for them this morning, as it felt useless.  (Love requires ‘free-will’ and God cannot force someone to love Him back!)  These people, with the exception of one, have been in my prayers from twenty to thirty-five years.  Suddenly, God gave me a memory of myself—when quite young and very sinful—followed by a vision of one of them.  The message was clear; ‘God did not give up on me, I should not give up praying for them!’

06 & 07/2020 / God tells me to keep things in sacred order and  love my gorgeous wife. = With all that’s been going on—(see “06/14/2020 / Supernatural stress relief.”)—I have needed some time alone. While sitting by myself in the park one morning, God interrupted my serenity – telling me to “Keep things in sacred order.”  I was beginning to spend too much time this way and He doesn’t want me neglecting my family.  (God can provide us with peace, so balance can be maintained.)

A few weeks later, He graciously intervened again, for the same reason.  This time, while sitting at home—feeling the urge to withdraw—God interrupted my thoughts with a vision.  In the vision—which represented a time in the early-1980s—I was telling my dad, “I’m getting married to a gorgeous woman.”  In 1984, God blessed me with the gorgeous wife (referred to in the vision) and He was reminding me to love her now; ‘Do not neglect her!’

07/11/2020 / Sandwiches safe, sandwiches not! = My employer provided lunch today for all of the employees; roast beef sandwiches from a very good restaurant.  Because of concerns over Covid-19, no fast-food enters my mouth before asking God if it is safe.  He did not say anything, so I thanked Him for the food, prayed for protection (for all of us) and enjoyed the meal.  At the end of the work day, there were two sandwiches which had not been eaten and, therefore, came home with me.  They had not been refrigerated, but there was nothing in the wrappers except meat and bread.  Later that evening, while asking God if He had any guidance for me or my family, He suddenly gave me a vision of the two leftover sandwiches.  Not knowing anything else to do, I threw them away.

08/09/2020 / God tells me, ‘He loves me!’ = The ‘truth of God’s love’ is all over the Bible, yet it’s always a blessing to hear it again.  Being greatly stressed – over friends with cancer, old friends with Covid19, others remaining far from God, then being hit with a temptation (by the angels who are in rebellion against God), I needed an emotional lift.  At that very moment, God said to me, “The true and living God – loves you!”  (He said it with a pause, just as it is written here.)  This not only provided the lift, it made the temptation easy to resist.  (If you, unlike many of my friends, will turn your life over to Him, you will see how amazingly much He loves you too!)   

08/26/2020 / Haystack Needle vs. Omnipotent Magnet. = At work, after packing more than twenty pallets with merchandise (i.e. enough to fill a room – 20’ x 20’ x 8’), it was discovered that two relatively small items had been mislabeled.  If the problem was not corrected, the items would be sold by our customer as the wrong product.  Deciding to take a look at the pallets, to see if any of them were exposed on top and the products identifiable, I grabbed a step-ladder, said a quick prayer and went to investigate.  The result was; there was only one pallet exposed on top, it had the two items in it and the incorrect labels were facing up and easily removed.

F.Y.I. God could have rearranged this merchandise after my prayer, or controlled the earlier packing of it, because He knew my prayer would be coming.  Either way, He does stuff like this because He’s sovereign, He’s omniscient and He absolutely loves His children!  Are you one yet?

08/31/2020 / God is using me. = Being extremely stressed over the spiritual condition of my mission field, as well as many Christians in my sphere of influence, God needed to comfort me regarding my service to Him.  This stress, as it so often does, flared up while I was driving.  At this particular moment, however, God was sovereignly guiding me to turn on the radio.  As the sound hit my ears, a preacher was saying, “God is using you in the lives of people you don’t even know about.”  His next statement was, “You are effecting lots of people’s lives; people you work with, your family.”  Three days later, my nephew would be saying his ‘very holy’ wedding vows, where God would remind me of what He has done in my brothers’ life—and now for the next generation—in part, through me.

09/17/2020 / Sovereignty and the coolant leak. = Upon stopping at our local post office—on the way home from work—steam began spewing out of the engine compartment of my car.  This could have happened anywhere along my thirty-mile trip from work, but—by God’s grace—it happened 3½ miles from my house and ½ mile from the auto repair shop that does all my repairs.  I thanked God for his sovereignty, drove quickly to the repair shop (keeping an eye on the temperature gauge) and called my wife to come and get me.

09/19/2020 / God says, ‘Have them fix the brakes too.’ + Wow!! = My car is currently in the repair shop because of a coolant leak (see the entry above).  Upon waking and praying this morning, asking God if there is anything we (my family and I) need to do – to get / or to stay – in the center of His will, He brought to mind a problem pertaining to the brakes on my car.  (My instant thought was; ‘Have the repair shop fix this while the car is in their possession.’)  God then affirmed that this was His will, saying, “formerly provided for” (i.e. take some of the money I have already provided and pay for the repair).  He then further affirmed it with a statement—as if I was speaking to myself—“This is something else I will have them do.”

Wow!! Correction – I couldn’t see the coming finale:  When God said to me “formerly provided for,” it wasn’t money He had already provided—from a temporal perspective—it was money which He was about to.  (See: 11/08/2020 / God personally pays the bill.)

F.Y.I. God is eternal and ‘time’ is simply part of His creation.  When He speaks or acts—in my own experience—it is beyond time.  One moment He hasn’t; the next moment he has.)

09 & 10/2020 / A vision of wolves / Priorities in a dying world. = While working on a letter to a friend, concerning a great evil in our society—he is deceived regarding whom the bad guys are—I thought about sending it out as a bulk email to a large number of people.  While considering this, God interrupted my thoughts with a vision: ‘A pack of wolves was coming in my direction.’  God told me though this vision, that further exposing this deception (much of our population already knows about it), would arouse His enemies against me, and was not part of His plan for my serving Him. [Isaiah 5:20 / Matthew 7:15]

About a week later—thinking again about the letter and my friend—God said to me, “If you see that someone’s about to die, you don’t correct their ‘???? ideology,’ you lead them to Christ.”  Whether God was talking about my friend in particular or the rest of the dying world around me—multitudes who may soon be in Hell—the message was clear: His calling on my life is leading people to salvation and the letter I was writing would serve as a distraction.

10/01/2020 / God says, “The money in your wallet.” = A Christian friend of mine has experienced a lot of problems lately and is in need of financial help.  I have been wondering about helping him, but we are deeply in debt ourselves and any money given would effectively be borrowed on credit.  (If you have read much of this God Obvious section, then you understand our financial situation and know that we got here ‘living in the center of God’ will.’)  Tonight, while looking up at the stars and praising God for His infinite power, He suddenly said to me, “The money in your wallet.”  It was immediately clear that the money in my wallet was to be offered to my friend.

10/10/2020 / God ordains the view. = A few days ago, my wife encountered a deep pot-hole while driving her car.  After asking her if the car felt or sounded any different—the answer was ‘No’—I went out to take a look at it.  Nothing caught my attention.  Tonight, while helping her dad move into a new apartment, we drove both of our cars to transport his belongings.  Upon arriving at the apartment, my wife backed her car into the parking space next to mine and left her tires turned sharply.  On the first trip back to the car—to get more stuff—the tires’ position caught my attention.  This caused me to notice a missing valve cap, which caused me to notice a bulge on the side of the tire.  God had not only ordained the direction of the tire, the valve stem was positioned directly behind the bulge—from my point of view—so I couldn’t miss it.

10/21/2020 / “Get him on supplements!” = While eating lunch at work, I began to experience some very mild ‘cold-like’ symptoms.  (They did not match Covid-19!)  Thinking more about my sandwich than my symptoms, God suddenly said to me: “Get (my son) on supplements.”  Neither my son, nor my wife have the strongest immune systems, so I immediately called home and told them to “start hitting the vitamins.”  My wife and I both came down with a cold, but with the increase in vitamins and supplements, it was short lived with mild symptoms.  Our son did not get sick.  (The same cold can affect different people to different degrees).

11/07/2020 / A vision for better vision. = The ‘anti-glare’ coating on my wife’s glasses has decayed and has lots of tiny scratches.  The glasses are prescription and the poor condition of the coating is beginning to nullify all the benefit.  While searching for a solution on the internet—as to how to remove the coating—several articles said that ‘glass-etching products’ will do the job (if the lenses are plastic and not glass).  After purchasing one of these products, however, I found that the ingredients in it were different than the ones mentioned on the internet.  I was hesitant to try it until God—through a vision—told me that it was O.K.  Here is the vision: (There was a single lens standing on a table.  The view through the lens was completely obscured by some substance, except for a spot in the middle which looked like it had been perfectly cleaned.)  After seeing the vision, and confidently applying the product, my wife’s glasses are better.

*** Warning: ‘Glass-etching products’ are easy to use—wipe it on, wait several minutes, rinse it off—but could be very dangerous.  Read the warnings on the bottle and follow the instructions carefully!

11/08/2020 / God personally pays the bill. = God is sovereign over everything; from atoms and galaxies, to time, technology and finances.  Yes, ‘time, technology and finances!’ The Lord has, on several occasions, intervened—in response to our family’s’ prayers—to fix a computer problem which was beyond our knowledge/ability to repair.  We use our computers for His glory—Bible study, evangelism, producing this website, etcetera—and He blesses us to continue.

His intervention this time, however, while still technical, served a totally different purpose.  He provided us with a sum of money—through a computer transaction—which defied both explanation and alteration.  He then told me—through a vision—that this money was a gift from Him and there was nothing that could/should be done to alter the situation.  He did the same thing many years ago and efforts to understand/alter the incident proved fruitless, as none of the parties involved were missing money.

Here is the vision and what He revealed though it: My mother and I were together and she was saying; “He (God) told me to tell you that the money is yours.” The scene then changed and I was alone – ending a cell-phone call. (This meant ‘conversation over, objective achieved, nothing else needs to be said.’)  Significant also, was the fact that God gave me this vision right after dealing with the company again (which I do quite often) which would have had a problem if there had been one and would have told me.

The grand finale: Six days after the vision, I would realize something.  God not only informed me of what he had just done, He actually told me that he was going to do it a few weeks before, but I didn’t understand His timing. (See: 09/19/2020 / God says, ‘Have them fix the brakes too.’ + Wow!!’)  After explaining all of this to my son, he called something to my attention: ‘I had written, “formerly provided for”—on the 09/19 entry—before God formerly provided the money.’

11/18/2020 / God tells me, “Covid-19.” = Utterly amazing!  The ‘Sovereign, Omnipotent and Eternal God of the Universe’ often chooses to intervene—in the affairs of man—only at the request of His children.  (The more righteous the children, the more passionate the prayers; the greater the intervention!) [James 5:16 ]

Part of the prayers which are spoken around my house daily, consist of asking God to protect our families, our churches and many other people whom we know—from accidents, injuries, disease, illness, evil, harm, temptation and sin.  This morning, upon finishing this part of my prayer, God strongly said, “Covid-19!”  My prayers immediately intensified and focused entirely upon asking God to protect all of these people—whom were just prayed for—from this particular disease.  After finishing this second round of prayer, God said, “I have no trouble doing that.”  In other words, ‘God wanted me to pray ‘earnestly’ and He protected one or more people as a as a result.’

12/16/2020 / God times our passing. = The monthly statement for our credit-card had not arrived and the bill needed to be paid – quick. Upon arriving home from work, I checked the mail-box again and still; ‘no statement.’ I then had to go to the store and was planning on calling the credit-card company after that. This was going to require some time which I did not have. Upon returning from the store—preparing to turn into my driveway—I had to wait on the postman, who was then driving by. This was quite late for him to be delivering, but my suspicion was, that the credit-card statement was now in the mail-box. It was! If God had not timed our passing, I would not have checked the mail-box again and would, therefore, have spent part of the night on the phone—waiting to talk to a human, as opposed to a computer. Some other urgent and important things would not have gotten done.

12/17/2020 / “Is there Intelligent Life in Outer-Space?” = This is the name of an article on this website, (under the heading; “Did God Really Say?”). Working on it for more than a year, I would often feel uninspired, get bogged down and put it aside. This left me wondering; ‘Was this God’s will? / ‘At this time?’ Over the last few weeks, however, I began making very good progress. This morning, after picking up the guy who rides with me to work, he told me two things regarding ETI (extra-terrestrial intelligence / space aliens) and humans searching for it (for them). He said that the incoming U.S. President had said that he was going to begin re-funding SETI (the Search for Extra-Terrestrial-Intelligence), a government program dedicated to searching for ETI. A few minutes later, he told me that a couple of his relatives were, “really into this alien stuff.” Shortly after this, and only moments after arriving at work, another of my co-workers began describing something strange which he had seen in the sky the previous night. He said that whatever it was, it performed strange movements and produced light. He told me that he does not believe in ‘space aliens,’ but could not explain what he had seen. All of this was a surprise to me, because—to my knowledge—neither of these guys had even thought about this subject for more than a year and neither of them knew about the article I was writing. By all this—my recent progress and these two conversations—God made it obvious that it was time to finish the article. This was also shortly before my Christmas vacation, when I would have a lot of time to write.

01/15/2021 / Fixing a terrible mistake. = On January 3^rd, a package delivery driver drove approximately sixty-feet out into our yard in two different directions, including over the septic lines. Our yard was very wet—we have drainage problems—and the driver not only left deep ruts, she actually got stuck and had to be pulled out by my neighbor. We did not see it happen, but my neighbor told me about it. On this same day, we had received a package shipped by this company. I called the delivery company, gave them the tracking number and lodged a complaint.

Last night, January 14^th, God moved me to research this particular shipping service and I discovered something terrible: This package, while originating with this shipping company, was actually delivered by the Post Office. This meant that the driver, who would have been blamed for the damage, was a Postal employee, not the driver who did it. I quickly wrote a letter of apology and explanation, then took it to the Post Office this morning. (The driver who caused the damage was evidently not only unskilled at driving; she must also have been lost, as there was no reason for her to have been at our address.)

03/10/2021 / “God’s Word is sufficient.” = My wife was preparing a sympathy card to send to a cousin, which would include the Gospel message, (God’s offer of forgiveness and lordship and eternity in Paradise). She was also considering including a ‘gift-card’—which she had received from a different relative—to help financially and hopefully, to inspire her to read the message. She asked me what I thought about the gift-card—there were a couple of problems which could arise—and to pray about it.

God did not tell me “Yes” or “No,” but I reminded my wife that God can move someone to read His offer without them having to be enticed. This simply served as confirmation, as God had just said to her, “My Word is sufficient.”

03/13/2021 / Gods’ eye for color. = While trying to repair the first of two leaky bathroom faucets, the first one began to fall apart. They were over thirty years old and corrosion had taken its toll. Knowing that they would now have to be replaced, my wife and I took off for our local ‘home-improvement’ store. Not finding any to match our bathroom, we checked the internet and then went to two other stores. Prayer, of course, accompanied our search. Upon walking into the plumbing department of the third store, my wife immediately noticed a faucet which was the perfect color. Gods’ sovereignty and grace were soon evident, as it was not only a perfect match, it was greatly discounted—as this color was now discontinued—and there were still two in stock.

04/05/2021 / God says, “Do not attempt to close My Name.” = Leading people into and/or deeper into a loving relationship with our Creator is my deepest desire. (It is also God’s calling for all His children!) Being extremely distraught, however, over decades of ‘zero interest’ by a number of friends and family members, I had begun to quit talking about Him in their presence. While trying not to be depressed, and fervently asking God for peace and guidance, He said to me, “Do not attempt to close My Name;” (do not deliberately leave Me out of your conversations). Within a week, He provided opportunities to talk with three different people, where mentioning Him was very easy.

04/10/2021 / God controls the ‘Zoom.’ = The best friend I have ever had, outside of God and family, just went to Heaven – via: cancer. This, in addition to some other very difficult situations in my life, has left me distracted and a bit disoriented. (Case in point, driving this morning included two wrong turns on the way to my mother’s house; a route I have taken for forty-five years.) This afternoon, this same disorientation kept me from thinking through what I was about to tell our church-small-group regarding my friend, now in Heaven. We were having a ‘Zoom’ internet meeting. One of our group members also has cancer and all that I was about to say—about my other friend—would ‘not’ have been a blessing. God stopped me by causing the Zoom video to incorrectly focus on our member with cancer, who was sitting quietly. This—‘staring at my friend with cancer’—caused me to think about what I was doing. (The ‘Zoom video program’ is designed to focus on a person talking or making noise, and again, this friend had been totally silent).

05/29 & 7/25 /2021 / The Great Healer strikes again (and again). = Several months ago, our son developed what appeared to be a “Palodinal Cyst” on his back. My wife took him to a dermatologist who told her that it wasn’t cancer, but discussed having it removed and biopsied. We wanted to have it done, but decided to wait because of Covid-19 concerns. While waiting, we were, of course, asking God to heal him. Tonight (May 29^th), my wife told me to take a look at the cyst, to see how it was doing. * * * It was completely gone; level with the skin around it and perfectly smooth! We thanked God!

Our son also had another cyst on his back—of less concern than a Palodinal Cyst—which had been there for about ten years. We were also asking God to heal this one. On July 25^th, we would discover, yet again, that He had.

June and July / 2021 / A four phase praise: / The four entries below—‘Smooths our yard,’ Restores my car,’ ‘Lightning and reverence,’ ‘Sickness and reverence’—are all connected. Please read them in order.

June, 2021 / God personally smooths our yard. = About forty years ago, we purchased a few acres out in the country, close to where I grew up. This is where we built our house. It is a low lying area and during the rainy season, we have a standing-water problem. Over the last ten years or so, the standing water has created ever deeper depressions in the yard – all over the yard. This has made it increasingly difficult to mow. When attempting to go over/through these depressions—on my lawn tractor—one of the wheels often loses contact with the ground, leaving it spinning and the tractor stranded. When this happens, getting off the tractor and pushing (or pulling) it out of the hole is required. (The tractor weighs 580 pounds). Two weeks ago, after pushing it out of approximately twenty holes, and having to drive around many others, I desperately asked God for help. This was my prayer:

“Father, I love this (living on this land) and thank You for it, but this (problem) is getting beyond my ability. You have not enabled us to hire anyone to help and this is now beyond what I can fix with a rotary tiller.” [My neighbor recently loaned me his rotary tiller—to smooth out the bad spots—but it rained the two weeks before and the four weeks after. This rainfall increased the number of, and depths of the depressions beyond what I can fix.] “Father, I want to stay here, but I want to spend my time serving You, not taking care of an impossible yard. If You want to live us somewhere else, then so be it. If, however, it is Your will for us to stay here, would You please smooth out our yard – by Your mighty hand? I ask this in the precious and mighty name of Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ!” [To enhance my faith when asking Him for this, I recounted to Him the time that He had opened a hole in the earth—to swallow a group of rebellious people—as well as what He said about moving a mountain. He was giving an analogy, but He is not limited by them.] [Numbers 16:31-33, Matthew 14:20] My wife and son prayed with me later. [Matthew 18:19]

Today, June 26^th, while mowing again, it became quickly evident that God had answered our prayers. He didn’t make the yard really smooth, but took it back to the way it was about five years ago, when He gave me the lawn tractor (see entry, 09/05/2016). I got stuck only twice, mowed straight through deep round depressions—which earlier had to be mowed in circles—and was able to mow a couple of areas at a higher speed.

June and July /2021 / God personally repairs/restores my car. = Back in May, the mechanic(s) who work on my car replaced the valve cover gasket because of an oil leak. Over the next several weeks, the car leaked about 1½ quarts of oil, but it was not coming from valve cover. On June 17^th, the air-conditioner quit cooling. Another appointment was then made to fix both the A/C and the oil leak. Before taking the car to the shop, I prepared to replace another half-quart of oil, which should have leaked out by then. Strangely, it had not.

While the car was in the shop, the mechanic told me that he could not see the source of the leak at the front of the car, but said that oil was (had been?) hitting the fans and splashing all over the place. He later told me—sounding quite overwhelmed—“Everything is leaking, including the ‘rear main seal,’ which is a heavy job” (meaning – ‘expensive’). He also said that a transmission filter—an aftermarket add-on part—was leaking, allowing transmission fluid to add to the problem.

While asking God to guide and enable the mechanics to fix these problems, He said to me, “They (the mechanics) have an inability to bring this (problem) to fruition.” (They do not have the ability to fulfill my desire of restoring this car.) [The car is nineteen years old, has the original motor and has been driven over 350,000 miles.] I, therefore said to God, “Father, if they don’t have the ability, would You please fix it Yourself; if that is Your will? If not, would You please provide us with another car?” God provided us with this car, (see entry “03/26/2011 . . . Honda CRV”) as we had no money. Today also, we have no money!)

Meanwhile, back at the shop, the mechanic, after thoroughly cleaning the engine, began trying to identify the points of the leaks. He told me that his search included: 1. Running the car—more than once—while upon a rack; 2. Driving it—thirty to forty miles—stopping occasionally to look underneath. 3. Putting die in the oil and looking for leaks using an ultraviolet light. * * * He could not find any leaks!

On the following day, the mechanic told me that an ‘A/C compressor’ and ‘transmission filter’ had been ordered, but said nothing about oil leaks or the ‘rear-main seal.’ Then, the day after this, he told me that the car was ready and charged me for the compressor and filter (parts and labor), but not for anything else. Upon ending the conversation, he said to me, “Have a blessed day!”

This verbal ‘send off’ was not only a blessing from the mechanic, it was a confirmation from God, affirming that He had been in control of all that had occurred and had done what I asked Him to do. * * * As expected, the car was free of leaks when I got it back!

07/03/2021 / Lightning induced reverence. = Imagine, when needing a ride to the grocery store, the Space Shuttle (booster rockets firing), picks you up and flies you gently to your destination. / Imagine, when needing soil for a flower pot, a volcano—the size of the United States—minutely erupts and deposits the perfect amount of soil into the pot. / Imagine, when needing a yard smoothed out, or an automobile repaired, the Sovereign, Omnipotent and Eternal God and Creator of the Universe does it Himself. / If you have read the previous two entries, you know that these last two events, ‘smoothing a yard’ and ‘fixing a car,’ just happened. God did these things because He loves me (enough to die for my sins), He is gracious (He desires to bless His children), they fit within His eternal plan (they were beneficial from the eternal perspective) and I asked Him to do them. After these prayers had been answered, I stopped and thought deeply about it: ‘How spectacular, how magnificent, how breathtakingly awesome; that the God of the universe would do these things for me!’ I felt extremely loved, blessed, excited; and a little bit scared; contemplating the infinite and eternal power which is available when we—His children—ask (and are living according to His will).

As I thought about this, He reminded me of what He had done a few days earlier (on June 30^th), which was to serve as an analogy to what I was feeling at this moment. After smoothing the yard, and while my car was in the shop, He sent a lightning bolt over my wife’s car which physically shook it. (I was parked, waiting for a friend to come out of his apartment). It was exciting, amazing, and a little bit scary. Through this analogy, the Lord revealed to me that what I was feeling—love, excitement, gratitude and ‘a little bit of fear’—was a good thing. By His love, the Lord has drawn me into a wonderfully deep, comforting and precious relationship with Him. By His grace, He was cautioning me not to let my comfort—being too chummy in relating to Him—allow my reverence to decrease. (This was an extremely disturbing and appalling thought!) I thanked Him for the warning and asked Him to never, ever let this attitude remain or grow in me. I then began filling my mind with thoughts of His magnificent and awe inspiring acts and attributes. [Mark 4:40-41]

07/06/2021 / Sickness induced reverence. = If you have read the previous three entries, you know that God has just blessed me in three mighty ways. He smoothed my yard, restored my car and moved me to a greater reverence of Him, igniting a little more fear and humility. This morning, He continued this third blessing. He allowed me, quite likely by the hand of the enemy (the angels who are in rebellion against Him), to become sicker than I have ever been. Upon rising from bed and walking to the bathroom, I suddenly felt ‘very sick!’ In less than a minute, I was so sick that I semi-voluntarily collapsed onto the floor. (A moment later, it would have been involuntary). As I lay there, unable to move and sweating as if someone was pouring water over me, I could do nothing but ask God to heal me, and protect my family. I asked over and over and over! After about five minutes, the sickness disappeared, but it left me feeling as if I had just run a marathon. Grabbing a t-shirt to dry off—the only thing within reach—I began thanking God for healing me.

As I continued sitting there, slowly recovering, the reason for God allowing this to happen began filling my mind. It was the answer to my prayer (see the entry above). I had asked Him to never, ever let a chummy, irreverent attitude remain or grow in me. This experience—this sickness—rendered me weak, helpless, desperate and quite humbled before my God. After a few more minutes, I got back in bed and fell asleep thanking Him for this also. I later woke up refreshed and blessed with greater wisdom: To relate to God with the deepest love and the greatest reverence.

(Benefits of respect: I am an extremely skilled karate instructor. I have been training in it for fifty years and teaching it for forty-five. Throughout this time, the students who respected me the most were always the ones who benefited the most. ** God is my life instructor!’)

* * * The four entries above—‘Smooths our yard,’ Restores my car,’ ‘Lightning and reverence,’ ‘Sickness and reverence’—are all connected. Please read them in order.

07/09/2021 / ‘Tell them about My miracles.’ = As God continues blessing our family—in obvious and miraculous ways—these events are almost always recorded on this website. Occasionally, I will tell a few about an event, but only a few. It is never in mass. Recently, however, after God smoothed our yard and restored my car (see the entries above) I was thinking about doing exactly this – via: email. While considering it, negative thoughts began combating the idea. At this was happening, God was sovereignly telling me—through His Word—‘Yes, do it!’ (I had the Bible—on audio—playing in the background and the scripture which was being read was from the Old Testament. It was the account of a time when God was commanding His people to tell of miraculous deeds which He had done for them, so the people who would hear would be blessed.)

07/Early/2021 / Starting back to a new church. = One of my often said prayers is: “Heavenly Father, is there is anything which we (my family and I) need to do, to get, or stay in the center of your will?” Recently, after praying this prayer, God gave me a vision of the inside of a church building. We had been watching church services on T.V. and on the internet, but had not physically attended since the arrival of Covid 19. God was telling us that it is time to start back. A few days later, we encountered a lady who we had met a couple of years before. She spontaneously began telling us all about, “a very good church” which she was attending. The timing of this encounter seemed too obvious to be a coincidence, so we went home and ‘checked out’ the church’s website. As we did, we realized that this was a church which we had visited years before – to learn about a particular ministry. It seemed absolutely wonderful back then too! (Joining at that time was not an option, as we were faced with several barriers, one of them being ‘distance.’) Visiting the website turned out to be a joy. We not only saw that the Church was totally Biblical in its doctrine, we learned that it had recently relocated and was now less than twenty minutes from our home. Visiting the church continued our joy. We found the people to be godly and loving and could sense the Holy Spirit in them. The final joy; we found that God had removed the other barriers as well. / We began attending the following Sunday and joined soon after.

08/29/2021 / A vision for prevention: Fire. = Upon waking this morning, God gave me two visions. The first was of the city Fire Inspector, who has jurisdiction over the office/warehouse where I work. The second was of a stack of cardboard which, yesterday, had been placed on top of an electrical cord in this warehouse. The cardboard is normally positioned next to the cardboard, but in our rush to get an order packed, it was dangerously placed on top of it. / I thanked God for the warning and corrected the problem before work began.

09/09/2021 / A vision for prevention: Damage. = Upon waking this morning, God gave me two visions pertaining to my job. The first was of a pallet/carton which, yesterday, had been loaded very heavy to one side. The second was of the carton leaning, breaking loose from the pallet, falling over and spilling the merchandise onto the floor. / I thanked God for the warning and corrected the problem before shipping the pallet.

09/27/2021 / A friend’s life spared. = Before leaving work, I will often spend thirty minutes or so practicing karate, taking advantage of the available floor space. When I do, a friend of mine—who rides back and forth to work with me—waits in my car. On this particular day, after ‘deciding not practice,’ I walked out to my car at the normal time. Within ten seconds of getting in, my friend became incoherent and threw up a large amount of blood. (He had felt and appeared fine throughout the day.) A couple of moments later, He was coherent again. After quickly handing him a towel to wipe off with, ‘which had been unintentionally left in the back seat the day before,’ I asked him if he needed me to take him to the hospital. He told me to take him home and that his wife would drive him there. He didn’t live far from work, so we took off. As we were nearing his apartment complex, he frighteningly said to me, “I can’t see; everything is turning white.” I said to him, “Can you see the flashing lights?” ‘There was a police car parked just ahead of us, with lights flashing.’ I said, “I’m taking you to the flashing lights!” At this point, my friend began losing coherency again and threw up a second time. After stopping near the police car and explaining the situation to the officer, he briefly examined my friend and called for E.M.S. Unknown to me, ‘there was a Fire/E.M.S. station very close by’ which allowed an ambulance to arrive in about two minutes. My friend survived, but had been very close to dying.

God’s grace in this situation had been clearly evident, because the four things described above (written in italic), were necessary in order for us to connect with the ambulance in time. If this had not been the case, it is very doubtful that my friend would still be here.

10/29/2021 / God says to change families. = A church is a family; a group of God’s children joined together for the purpose of learning His Word; loving and worshiping Him; loving, helping and serving one another; and inviting other people into the family. Larger churches in the United States not only provide opportunities for corporate worship and Bible study, they encourage members to meet together in smaller groups—often in members’ homes—promoting more intimate relationships. My wife and I have been members of the same ‘small-group’ for about twenty years, even though we changed to a different church twice during this period. We did not immerse ourselves in any of the small-groups in these ‘new’ churches, as we did not have time for a ‘second family.’ Not surprisingly, this prevented us from developing intimate relationships with our brothers and sisters there.

Recently, God guided us to join, yet, a different church. This was one which we had visited years before, and considered joining, but could not (see “7/Early/2021” entry). Now that we have, the Lord just informed me that we are also to join a ‘small group’ in this church and to leave the one we have been part of for twenty years. He doesn’t want the same thing to happen in this church that did in the other two. (He spoke to me—interrupting one of my prayers—saying, “In favor of leaving one life-group to join another.”) F.Y.I. – This ‘leaving of family’ would be infinitely harder, if we were not going to spend all eternity with those whom we are leaving.

02/13/2022 / Include the outlines. = By God’s guidance, the book on this website has been reformatted. As it was nearing completion, God allowed a couple of delays—technical problems with the website—to give me time to think, and to make one final improvement. The book is now accessible—as individual ‘web-page chapters’—so readers can access one chapter at a time on a cell-phone. (The entire book is also available as a free download). While struggling with these technical delays, I began wondering about putting the chapter outlines at the beginning of each chapter. As I awoke on this particular morning, God said to me, “Contents of this chapter.”

02/21/2022 / A gentle answer turns away wrath. = In our sinful, broken world, conflicts and problems are a part of everyday life.  God, however, offers great wisdom for handling it.  When we apply it, life is immeasurably better.  (This wisdom comes through prayer and reading the Bible.)  Today, during a conversation with a co-worker, I was about say to him, “Do not tell me how to . . .” (do part of my job).  The words which came out of my mouth, however, addressed the situation from a completely different angle and were received by this person with no resistance.  I had asked God for guidance before talking to this person, and the title of this entry, “A gentle answer turns away wrath” comes straight out of the Bible.  [Proverbs 15:1]     

03/13/2022 / The Holy-Spirit and a squeaky dolly. = Yesterday, while helping my father-in-law move to a new apartment, I was using an irritatingly squeaky two-wheel dolly.  While rolling it towards the entrance of his original apartment building, a man—who was entering just in front of me—basically ‘let the door shut in my face.’  After arriving, unlocking, re-opening and maneuvering around the door, I saw that the man was stopped, waiting at the elevator.  I also noticed that the sound bothered him and, therefore, found pleasure in continuing foreword.  I later told my wife and son what had happened. 

At church the following morning, the sermon was about being filled with the Holy Spirit—subjecting every thought, word and deed to God’s will—and becoming more like Him.  During the sermon, God reminded me of yesterdays’ deed and how foolish it was to brag about it to my family.  After apologizing to my wife and son, they both confided that they were ‘amazed’ that I had done such a thing.  (After many years of the grace of Gods’ sanctifying lordship, this was totally out of character for me.)    

04/23/2022 / God arranges an appointment. = While trying to call a truck rental company—to get information on / and to reserve a truck—I accidentally called a different location.  This location rented the same trucks about a mile down the same road.  While talking to the manager on the phone, he said that I should come by and look at the truck – to see how big it is.  He told me that he was closing in fifteen minutes, but that he would wait for me.  As a result of this location mix-up, I drove to the other location, but still got the needed information.  Realizing what had occurred, I then called the manager again, explained the situation and informed him that the truck would be rented from him.  Oddly, he still encouraged me to stop by.  His location was on my route home, but there was no reason to stop, so I wasn’t planning to do it.  God, however, had a different plan.  Instead of passing by, I found myself pulling into the parking lot, getting out of my car and knocking on the door.  When the manager came out, we each noticed that the other was wearing a Christian themed t-shirt, and a very wonderful and important conversation ensued.  (I was able to tell him about this website and more specifically, about one particular poem—“Who’s Driving this Truck? Breaking Spiritual Strongholds”—which was obviously going to be a blessing to him).  During our conversation, he said that he never tells customers that he will stay late, but had the feeling that he needed to talk to me.  I told him that I had not planned on stopping by.

Spring 2022 / God decided when I would turn 65. = The final entry in this ‘God Obvious’ section—“Before I was born”—shows how God’s plan for my life was in place before He created the universe.  This entry is yet another revelation of that reality. 

About forty years ago, I purchased three acres of land—out in the country—for a total of $24,000.00.  This was less expensive than anything else in the area and it is where we built our house.  A few years ago, land prices in this area began increasing significantly and, as a result, real-estate taxes have too.  This years’ annual letter from the appraisal district brought a major surprise; the value of our land had increased by a shocking amount.  This increase in appraised value would make it impossible for us to pay our real-estate taxes, if not for the fact that I turned sixty-five last year.  In our state, when a person turns sixty-five, the property taxes on their homestead can no longer increase.  God had obviously planned this before I was born—as our families, church and mission field are all nearby—and living where we do is still less expensive than almost anything else in the area.

06/04/2022 / Directive. = While fighting against a temptation—asking God for help—He said to me, “Directive.” According to the thesaurus, a directive is ‘an instruction, order or command.’ In response to my prayer, God was saying, ‘Do as I have commanded you.’ This gracious word from God—spoken to me personally—gave me the encouragement needed to resist the temptation.

06/27/2022 / Fired before the fire. = A friend of mine—a fellow Christian—was in a bad situation at work. His manager—who hates Christians—had targeted him, and was about to make things very difficult for him. Both of us have prayed for this managers’ salvation, but over the previous week, we prayed that God would protect my friend from him. This morning, after arriving at work, my friend learned that his manager had been fired. * * If this manager never accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior, he will suffer for all of eternity in the pitch-black sulfuric fires of Hell, the temperature determined in-part, by what he was intending to do to one of Gods’ children. [1Chronicles28:9] God does not, however, want this to happen. He wants every person to be saved. [2 Peter 3:9]

07/31/ 2022 / Exorcism on a house? = A lady, who goes to our church, recently told me that she might need me to come over and perform an exorcism on her house. She said that her home is constantly filled with strife—her daughter, son-in-law and she are ‘always fighting’—and she feels strongly that demons are involved. (Demons are angels who have followed Satan in his rebellion against God and are also the enemies of mankind). I explained to her that, while demons may have some reason for hanging around a particular location, they are much more likely to be hanging around a particular person (or persons). If the people decide to move to a different location, the demons would most likely go with them, unless Satan gave them a different assignment.

I then explained to her that she, being a Christian, has authority over demons (when commanding them “in Jesus’ name”). In addition, the Holy Spirit (God) lives in her (i.e. closer than the demons). I then told her what to say (command) when she suspects that demons are encouraging conflict (or causing any other problems). The next time we met, she had a big smile on her face and told me, “It works!”

To learn more about this, read the poem, “Who’s Driving This Truck? / Breaking Spiritual Strongholds” (in the “Poetry with an Attitude” section on this website).

Or read, from The Second Most Incredible Book . . . (available free on this website): Part A: God, Life and Eternity. / Chapter 11: So, What Should You Do? / B. Start Living Your Relationship with God. / 5. Final Suggestions. / m. Destroy Satan’s Strongholds in Your Life.

08/19/2022 / “She could hurt us!” = My wife recently responded to a ladies’ post on our neighborhood blog. A couple of communications followed and we ultimately ended up going to the ladies’ house to borrow a medical boot. During these interactions, we discovered that the lady has a multitude of very serious problems; both medical and spiritual. While we were in her house—she was showing my wife how to lace up the boot—God spoke to me: He said, “She could hurt us!” (She could hurt my family!) Before telling my wife what God had said—I was still processing His message and what we needed to do about it—He said the same thing to her. * * * We then prayed; asking God to protect us, guide us and enable us to successfully exit this new relationship. He did!

09/08/2022 / Don’t do anything financial. = Many times throughout the last thirty-plus years, my wife and I have been in the same situation – ‘In the center of God’s will and deeply in debt.’ God has allowed this—repeatedly coming to the rescue—in order to build our faith and grow us into the people He wants us to be. [James 1:2-4] He is doing it again! Upon waking this morning, my mind went immediately to our financial situation, which is as bad as it has ever been. I began wondering what I could do—in addition to praying—when God said to me, “Be still and wait upon the Lord.” [Psalm 46:10] Thinking about the money in my retirement account, I was pondering using it to pay off the debt. God was telling me, ‘Do not do anything about this situation right now; be patient and wait for Me to provide!’

09/10/2022 / Strength overpowered. = While struggling to resist a very strong temptation, I was asking God for help. He then placed the lyrics of a song in my mind and, at the same time, reduced the strength of the temptation to almost nothing. The lyrics were: “Almighty fortress, You go before us; Nothing can stand against the power of our God.”

09/17/2022 / Three of the same answer. = In the entry above (09/08/2022 / Don’t do anything financial.), God said to me, “Be still and wait upon the Lord.” He said this in response to my anxiety regarding our family’s financial situation. This morning, when asking Him if there is anything our family needs to do ‘to get or to stay in the center of His will,’ He said, “Be still and wait upon the Lord.” He said this in response to my anxiety, waiting for Him to change some things, which will allow us to serve Him in a couple of significant ways. A few seconds after He had spoken this second time, He gave me a vision. The vision was of me driving my car—darting out into traffic (which occurs, when I need to be somewhere and the roads are crowded.) The meaning of this vision was understood from the context of our conversations: God wants me to be patient and wait upon Him to provide financially. He wants me to be patient and wait upon Him to provide service opportunities. And He wants me to be patient and wait upon Him to provide safer openings into traffic. He’s reminding me that He’s got everything under control, as well as on schedule. Christians can relax if we’re living according to His will.

09/25/2022 / Place a germ barrier around him. = When a person is sick—with a cold or flu—they should be at home taking care of themselves, not sitting in a worship service at church. On Sunday mornings, sick people in this country can tune into a variety of very good church services—on radio, television or the internet—and God is perfectly O.K. with this! They can temporarily worship Him at home. (There are also a lot of false prophets/teachers out there, so a person should ask God to guide them.)

As you have probably guessed, a sick person was sitting near me in church this morning – displaying a number of flu-like symptoms. I, therefore, asked God to place a barrier of protection around my family and the other people sitting near us – to keep us well. As the symptoms continued, I asked Him to place a barrier around the sick person, in order to keep everybody well. Immediately upon doing this, the guy stood up, walked out of the service and did not return. ‘God had a different solution!’ (F.Y.I. My prayers were silent; heard only by God.)

09/25/2022 / More comfort from the Trinity. = In the entries above (09/08&17/2022), you can read two accounts of how God has comforted me recently. Here is another one: While thinking about our family’s financial situation (we are deeply in debt), and about our houses’ foundation (it is broken in various places), the Holy Spirit said to me, “I don’t think He saved you to let you be destroyed.” He was reminding me that God (the Son) stepped into His creation to suffer and die for our sins – so He could forgive us, make us His children, love and care for us here on earth and then forever in Heaven. It would be quite illogical to think that He would let us be destroyed by circumstances which He is allowing.

10/26/2022 / Marriage counsel from its’ Creator. = Last night, my wife and I had a disagreement and—after ignoring a very gentle warning from the Creator of the universe (and of marriage)—I said something which could have been ‘very’ hurtful. (God created men and women to think very differently and He tells husbands to live with our wives in an understanding manner. If we fail to do this, we can hurt them deeply – without intention or awareness.) I had spoken rashly and soon forgot about the situation. Today at lunch—while asking God if there is anything my family needs to do, to get or to stay in the center of His will—He answered me. He said, “Here’s what I want you to do: Apologize to – – – ” (my wife). My immediate response was, “Yes Sir!” but I wasn’t really sure what to apologize for. A little later, He revealed to me exactly what I had said and how significant it was: It was terrible!

My wife and I have been married for thirty-eight wonderful years, and it is by the power and guidance of God that we have. We continually ask Him and thank Him for His lordship.

11/02/2022 / Experiencing the existence of God = Our son was recently targeted by the enemy (the angels who are in rebellion against God), who encouraged him to doubt the existence of God. (This is a common tactic used by demons.) I knew—because of the knowledge and experience which our son has—that this was going to result in his faith becoming stronger than it has ever been, and in him becoming a more powerful tool in Gods’ hands. I was right! With our son’s challenges, however, (O.C.D., etc.) and listening to mankind’s foolishness over the years (such as the philosophy found within the pages of certain comic books), it was a very powerful ‘emotional’ attack. (Philosophy is mankind’s depraved attempt at answering life’s most important questions – which God has already answered in the Bible. It was a surprise to find it couched in comic book series.)

During God’s comforting, guidance and teaching of our son through this ordeal, He reminded him of the infinite supply of evidence which He has given mankind – declaring His existence and demonstrating His presence. (This includes creation, conscience, miracles, answered prayer, changed lives, successful living, victory in spiritual warfare and a loving interactive relationship with Him.) In addition, He was about to bless our family with yet another touch of His gracious intervention, which He would make uniquely obvious. He would connect something He did three-thousand years ago to something He was going to do for us tonight, so we wouldn’t miss it. (God, being sovereign and knowing the future, often blesses His children in ways that we miss. We attribute His blessings to coincidence.)

Today, while listening to Christian radio, a preacher explained how God had provided the nation of Israel with its’ very first King. In order to have this King positioned, appointed and presented as ruler, God sovereignly controlled a number of circumstances, while allowing everyone involved to exercise their free-will. [See list of events below]. Tonight, He did the same thing for our family. He sovereignly controlled our circumstances—resulting in a change to our plans—which positioned us to notice a problem with my car. (There was a hole in the radiator.) [See list of events below]. If this had not occurred, I would have gotten stranded on the road the following morning, thereby spoiling our thirty-eighth wedding anniversary.

Regarding how God used this to further bless our son, I was able to show him how God’s presence was revealed through His sovereign control over the various circumstances. I asked him, “Was all that happened regarding the King coincidence, or was it God?” “Was all that happened regarding our car coincidence, or was it God?” “Was the fact that this lesson was taught only hours before God intervened for us in like manner coincidence, or was it God?”

***** Sequence of events regarding the King. ***** The future king (named Saul) was a farmer who worked with his dad (named Kish). Kish’s donkeys wandered away, so he sent Saul and a servant to look for them. They searched several places and ended up near a town where God’s servant (a prophet named Samuel) had just arrived. God told Samuel the day before, that a man would come to him on this day and that he was to anoint and present this person as the future king. Saul was ready to give up on finding the donkeys and told the servant that they should go back home. The servant told Saul that a prophet of God was supposed to be in this town on this day and that they should ask him about the donkeys. They went and when they met Samuel, Samuel told Saul that he was to be Israel’s king. He also told him that the donkeys had been found and were back home. [1^st Samuel: ??.??]

***** Sequence of events regarding our family. ***** My wife and son had a stressful day, resulting in them deciding to splurge, by going to get a fancy coffee. I arrived home from work and they asked me if I wanted to go with them. I wanted to stay home and relax and, therefore, said “No.” I decided to make an iced coffee and drink it on the patio. As they got ready to leave, my wife’s father called, which delayed their departure. During the delay, I prepared my coffee and decided to go with them. We would, therefore, take my car – as opposed to my wife’s. After arriving at the coffee shop and getting the coffee, we pulled into a lighted parking area to drink it. That’s when our son noticed steam coming out from under the hood of my car. (There was a hole in the radiator). If God had not guided us through this situation, the steam would have been escaping the following day while on the highway, rather than just down the street from our house. Realizing all that God had just done, I then told them all about it, including the sermon.

11/04/2022 / Omnipotent foundation repair – minor. = The foundation of our house is broken in various places and we cannot afford to have it repaired. We’re not even sure that it can be (by human means). Our family has, therefore, been asking God to repair it Himself – if it is His will – and according to His perfect timing. He recently assured me – through a vision – that we are going to be living here for some time, so I know that He’s going to keep everything under control. The biggest problem, therefore, which we are facing, concerns the door from the house to the garage. It will not open or close without applying great force. It is a metal door and we have already bent the bottom corner of it – inside and put – by forcing it. I asked God a couple of days ago, that if it wasn’t His will to restore the foundation at this time, would He “please fix the door.” Upon arriving home from work today, there was a lot of stuff in the garage which needed to be carried into the house. Deciding to force the door again—rather than taking the longer route several times—I braced myself against it and prepared to push. * * * It opened without the push.

11/08/2022 / Auto repair assist. = Because my car is in the repair shop, I have been driving my wife’s car to work. Today, about two-thirds of the way there, her car began producing a vibration. The vibration was getting worse and I prayed, “Father, please enable me to make it to work.” He did! *** After doing so, He then helped me further, through a fellow employee.

After arriving at work, I looked under the hood and found that a belt had slipped off of some pulleys. While observing the situation, a fellow employ arrived and parked next to me. Upon getting out of his truck, he asked me what was going on. I told him the problem and he provided some much needed information. (He told me that he had been an auto mechanic for a short period of time and that he ‘knew this engine.’) He told me what to do and showed me where three bolts were located, which needed to be loosened or removed in order to reinstall the belt. (Two of them were hidden from view and could only be located by feeling for them with a hand.) After reinstalling the belt, the vibration started again, revealing that the alternator needed to be replaced. It was easy to do, because I already knew ‘where three bolts were located,’ which needed to be removed to replace it.

11/16/2022 / More alive after prayer. = Our family is under a lot of pressure and we feel it. Not surprisingly, it also shows, although I can’t explain how. Our son recently observed it – ‘as it disappeared.’ My wife, son and I had just finished praying and upon doing so, our son looked at both of us and commented, “You two look more alive after we prayed.”

12/mid/2022 / Blessed with meaning and color #2. = Ten years ago, for Christmas, God blessed our family with a beautiful ‘nativity scene’ display which perfectly matched our ‘very uniquely colored’ curtains. (See 12/mid/2012 / Blessed with meaning and color #1.) This year, He blessed us again. My wife recently purchased a puzzle; its’ picture depicting a scene in the stable, after Jesus had exited the virgins’ womb. After assembling the puzzle, my wife decided that she wanted to frame it and place it above our fireplace each Christmas. She bought some ‘puzzle glue,’ then searched for a used frame on the neighborhood blog. She quickly located one, which appeared to be a good size and color, and bought it. When she brought it home and placed it on top of the puzzle, Gods’ blessing was immediately obvious. Not only was the size perfect, during certain times of the day—as the sun moves across the sky and the light changes—the colors are identical. Below is a picture of the ‘finished product.’

12/late/2022 / God knows more than the experts. = The ‘Check Engine Light’ came on in my car, so I took it to a local auto-parts store to have them diagnose it with their computer. The store employee told me that the problem was either an oxygen sensor or the catalytic converter. He sold me a bottle of fuel-additive, which he said, would fix the problem temporarily, but the car would need to be fixed soon. I used the additive. The ‘Check Engine Light’ went off, but quickly came back on. God then gave me a vision of the lady – who had given me the car – purchasing a gas-cap from the dealership where she bought it. After purchasing a new one myself, I put it on the car according to the instructions – ‘only one click.’ The ‘Check Engine Light’ went off, but soon came back on. God then caused me to notice the writing on my father-in-laws’ gas cap which warned that if the cap wasn’t tight enough, the check engine light would come on. I then tightened my new gas-cap to two clicks. The ‘Check Engine Light’ went off and stayed off. * * * Thank you, Father!

02/12/23 / A vision for fire prevention. = At approximately 3:30 this morning, while trying to sleep, God filled my mind with the thought of my aunt. (She is in a medical facility in a distant state, suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.) He then gave me a vision of a building which was on fire. After praying for my aunts’ safety, I asked God, ‘Should I call my mother, to have her pray?’ God then gave me a vision: In the vision, ‘my mother was telling my aunts’ family, that I told her to tell them about the situation.’ After the vision, I asked God, “Is this Your will (to call my mother at 3:30 in the morning)?” God said, “Approved.” *** I then called my mother and we prayed together.

My mother tried to call my aunts’ family, but was unable to reach anyone for a couple of days. After finally talking to them, and learning that everything was O.K., we thanked God for His grace. He had obviously taken care of whatever problem was about to occur.

February 2023 / Revival in America. = [If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.    2 Chronicles 7:14]

Several months ago, God told our son to start praying for revival in this country, and to pray that a great number of other Christian families would begin doing the same thing.  Our family prays together almost every night, so my wife and I joined our son in what God is urging His people to do.  God is now answering this prayer!  Here is a list of things which have occurred (beginning 200 years ago).

In February 1823, the Holy Spirit began a revival in this country which spread to every college campus in New England.  This resulted in the establishment of the annual ‘National Collegiate Day of Prayer,’ which would be held on the last Thursday of every February.  This was agreed upon by every major Christian denomination and every college campus in the United States. 

In 1970, God began another revival which swept this country.  It grew so large that the secular media couldn’t ignore it and ‘Time Magazine,’ which dubbed it the “The Jesus Revolution,” featured it on the cover of their magazine (6/21/1971). 

In 2016, plans were begun to make a movie about this 1970 revival.

The Revival Today, 2023 * * * * * * * * * * * * *

On February 8^th of this year, God began another revival at a ‘semi-Christian’ college in Kentucky.  This college has some very un–Biblical views, as do many other ‘theoretically Christian’ schools, churches and organizations around this country.  God, therefore, used the colleges’ facilities, but did not employ the staff.  (The revival would grow larger and larger and would begin spreading to other colleges, churches and institutions.)

On February 12^th, during the airing of the “Super Bowl” (the national championship game in American football), a very unique commercial aired, advertizing ‘avocados from Mexico.’  The commercial urged (a potential 114.5 million) viewers to imagine what the world would be like if Adam and Eve had eaten ‘avocados from Mexico,’ as opposed to the ‘forbidden fruit’ in the Garden of Eden.  This not only encouraged people to buy avocados, it answered a question which is asked by people around the world, “If God is so good then why is the world so messed up?”

On February 20^th, while talking to friends and family about the revival, they informed me that the subject of Jesus is ‘all over social media,’ as well as the major conservative news broadcasting stations in America.  Weeks before, He was almost never mentioned. 

On February 24^th, the movie about the 1970 Revival – which went into planning in 2016 and was completed in 2022 – appeared in 2,000 theaters across the country.  By the 28^th, movie attendance was doubling expectations.  The movie is titled, “The Jesus Revolution.”

On March 16^th (3.16), I was informed that people were posting ‘John 3:16’ all over social media.

[For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.     John 3:16]

03/02/2023 / Emergency prayer! = While recovering from Gall bladder surgery, a Christian friend of ours suddenly and desperately needed her husband’s help, but was unable to contact him.  He was in the house with her, but because of circumstances – including demonic interference – he was unable to hear her.  While this was occurring, I was at work – thirty miles away – giving all of my concentration to a task at hand.  God suddenly filled my mind with the thought of our friend – the farthest thing from my mind before that moment.  I immediately stopped and prayed and then called my wife to tell her to do the same.  After my wife had prayed, she called our friend’s house. * * * Our friend answered the phone (God had answered our prayers) and everything turned out O.K.  

The following day, her husband contacted us to thank us for our prayers.  He told us that he and his wife had been under spiritual attack – that day and the day before – like they had never experienced.  (Our friends are godly Christians, who are serving God mightily.  The attack, therefore, did not come as a complete surprise.)     

03/13/2023 / God, automobile, angel? = A few weeks ago, a Christian friend of mine (who, according to human standards, is extremely poor) bought a used car.  Shortly after starting the trip home—which was expected to take about seven-hours – the car blew the oil cap and head gasket.  Oil sprayed everywhere!  He drove it to a nearby gas station and left it there.  Yesterday, he went back to get it.  (My family and I were praying that God would grant him success.)  The person at the gas station – who may have been an angel – put in one quart of a particular grade of oil, told my friend that he would be praying for him and sent him on his way.  He also gave him his phone number and told him to call if he had any problems – ‘even if it was seven hours down the road.’  The ‘probable’ angel (who had asked my friend if he was a Christian) called him after an hour and then again after six more, to make sure that he had arrived safely.  He had, and the car needed less than one quart of oil after the trip. [Hebrews 13:2]        

03/14/2023 / God tells me to ask Him to give her strength. = My wife is under great stress as a result of many things which are going on in her life.  While asking God to give her peace, He gave me a vision of a scene from a movie.  (In the movie – “The Nativity Story” – Mary had just given birth to Jesus, and Joseph had just asked her how she was doing.  Mary answered him, “I asked God for strength and He gave it to me.”)  I then asked God to give my wife strength to get through all that she is going through.  Later, when telling my wife about this, she thanked me and said that God had answered my prayer.

3/15 & 22/23 / Corporate prayer = more power. = Our family has been struggling hard with some of the problems we are facing and we spend a lot of time in prayer.  God graciously answers our prayers, but on two consecutive Wednesday nights this month, He answered with a lot more power.  On the 15^th, our church small group was meeting together and our son asked the group to pray for him – that God would give him peace.  They did and God gave him more peace than he had experienced in some time, and the peace has remained.  On the 22^nd, he asked the group to pray for my wife (his mom).  The same thing happened and my wife was healed in a mighty way.              

03/23/2023 / God repeats Himself – ‘Binding demons!’ = During our Wednesday night Bible Study, a fellow Christian ‘incorrectly’ stated that Christians do not have the authority to bind demons.  I knew that we did, based upon the Word of God (and much experience)!  After reciting Matthew 16:17-19, (“What we bind on Earth shall also be bound in Heaven and what we loose on Earth, shall also be loosed in Heaven”), my brother-in-Christ said that this was not talking about angels and demons.  I knew that it was, but couldn’t remember a different scripture which stated it more clearly.  During the sermon of the following Sunday – by God’s sovereignty – our preacher quoted the verse which I couldn’t remember. (“But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.  Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house.  Matthew 12:28-29 “).

05/14/2023 / “Don’t buy a car yet!” = We need another car, as mine – which has over 380,000 miles on it – needs repairs which would cost far more that than the car’s value.  We do not have money to fix it or to buy another used car, but a fellow Christian has offered to buy one for us.  We, however, have run into nothing except ‘road blocks’ trying to locate one.  We have begun to ‘strongly suspect’ that God is not allowing us to find one, because He has a different plan.  Tonight, He confirmed what we had suspected. He said to me, “The thought hit me, don’t buy a car yet.” When He spoke, He included the words, “The thought hit me” (when He ‘hit’ me with this thought).  He did this so that I would know that this was a message from Him, and not simply my own thought. 

05/16/2023 / Guidance; faster than thought. = A co-worker of mine (from Honduras) was telling me that he has had a painful backache all week.  During the conversation, he said something about his bed – that it is “no good.”   God immediately caused me to remember two twin-size air mattresses which we have stored in our garage.  (We have not thought of them in years.)  Before I had time to process this thought, He hit me with another one.  He reminded me that we also have a 12-volt air pump to go with the mattresses.  I told my co-worker about the mattresses, and asked him if he wanted them.  He eagerly said, “Yes!”  I offered him both of them, because he has a teenage son.

June & July, 2023 / Deceptive dream defeated. = A short time back, a college student was hired by my employer to create and run social-media advertising for the company.  When she started, I told her about my son’s videography and effects ability, mentioning some of the videos he has produced.  I did this in case she might want him to produce one for the company, and to provide her with links to his Christian videos if she wants to watch them.  His best special effects video concludes with the poem, “If God was a Super Hero.” * * * Somehow, I never got around to giving her the links. 

Then on June 20, while on my way to work, I suddenly thought about this Super Hero poem, which made me think about my sons’ video, which made me think about this employee, which reminded me that I need to give her the links.  At the exact moment I thought about giving her (this social media advertiser) the links, a person on the radio named two of the three major social-media platforms on the internet.  I caught the connection and believed that God was speaking to me, but I was about to be deceived.  Before having the opportunity to talk to this girl again (she only works two days per week), a demon gave me a dream.  (Demons are angels created by God, who in a war against Him.)  The dream was not vivid – as many of their nighttime attacks are – so I did not recognize it as an attack, or remember it as a dream.  The information, however, was implanted into my mind.  The (false) information which was implanted was – ‘I had already given the girl the links, so there was no reason to do it again.’ 

I was confused as a result of this blurring of dream and reality, and began to wonder, ‘Had I already given them to her?’  Then, on July 27, while working on this section (of this website), I thought about the situation again. At this precise moment – even though I had been quickly scrolling through the pages looking for different entry, I found myself stopped and staring at this one, which was not yet finished.  This was God’s way of telling me, “Yes, I am talking to you,” and “Yes, you still need to do this,” and “Yes, it needs to be now.”  I stopped what I was doing and wrote out the information on the links.  The next day, which was to be this girls’ last, working for my employer, I gave her the information.  I also asked her if I had given her the information before and she said, ‘No!’

07/22/2023 / Supernatural plumbing repair. = Because of a mistake (and a cement truck) when first building our house, we had to run an alternative drain pipe from the kitchen sink, through the wall to the outside of the house.  From there, it traveled down into the ground and then horizontally to connect with the main drain line.  Unfortunately, our land sinks over time and after years of walking over this area, we broke the pipe.  In addition to the broken pipe (or possibly as a result of it) the rest of the drain line had become almost totally clogged. 

Because of these problems – including one aspect of the repair which I did not know how to address – I woke up early to pray, before starting the work.  I asked God, “Please give me peace and please make this a success.” Immediately after my prayer, He gave me a vision of something that I had seen in the plumbing section of our local home-improvement store.  I immediately understood what it was and how it worked.  It was the answer to the problem which I did not know how to address.

Regarding the clogged drain line, I used a plumbers’ snake (made for a toilet) to break up the clog in the pipe coming down from the sink.  I was shoving a running water hose into the pipe going towards the septic tank trying to break it up.  While achieving minimal success in this direction—most of the water was coming back at me – the entire pipe suddenly and completely cleared.  I could tell that something supernatural had just occurred and if the phenomenon itself wasn’t proof that God had intervened, He left a business card:    

After finishing the repairs, I threw a couple of scrap pieces of pipe into a trash can in my garage.  They landed next to a junk-mail advertisement which I had thrown in there a couple of days before.  The junk-mail – which was now standing between the two pieces of pipe – was advertising, “Super Drain Clearing.”  The word ‘super’ really caught my attention, because I had asked for supernatural help. * * *  Later this day, when telling my family all that God had just done, my son asked me, “So, it was a success?”  I couldn’t help but smile even bigger, as I told him the words that I had prayed this morning: “Please give me peace and please make this a success.”

07/30/2023 / House repair and Gods’ glory. = Our house is falling apart – foundation, walls and ceiling – yet God has told me that we will continue living here. Last week, therefore, I was asking Him to restore our house according to His perfect will and timing.  I also prayed, “Father, if it is your will, would you please do it – before our eyes.”

Our family is under ‘a lot’ of stress and both my wife and son have said that ‘seeing’ God restore it (visibly observing this gracious touch of His love) would bless them immensely.  I was imagining various scenarios which God might use to do this, when I was ‘hit’ with a thought.  What if He was to manifest His glory (magnify His presence) as He repairs it.  I have never had a thought like this, but began asking God to do it.  Then, this morning at church, the sermon was about praising God and mentioned times when God responded to His peoples’ praise by manifesting His glory.  Then, the next time we were in church, we were taught a new worship song which contained the line (often repeated), “Be exalted in the Heavens as Your glory fills this place.”  In other words, God is exalted in Heaven as He is praised and manifests His glory on earth.

08/19/2023 / God ‘took a video’ and sent it to her son. = The very aged mother of a friend of mine has been in and out of a coma for the last two months.  Both of them are Christians and she lives in Honduras.  They have had very limited interaction with each other during this time (via: smart phones), and she has only been able to speak to him once.  She has been able to wave, but not to speak.  My family and I have prayed for God’s blessings on this situation and the Lord did a very wonderful thing.  He took a supernatural video of my friend’s mother and sent it to him.  My friend was sleeping in his apartment, when God let him see his mother (via: a vision) calling to him and saying hello.  It was so impactful that my friend said that he woke up and asked, “Is my mother here?”  One hour later, his mother went Heaven.   

08/20/2023 / Six degrees cooler by God. = Today’s’ forecast said that the temperature in our area was going to rise to 112 degrees.  I prayed and asked God not to let it get that high.  (The strain on the electrical grid could cause a blackout and the electricity had already flickered a couple of times.  It was only 106 degrees.  A short time later, a strange phenomenon was occurring.  It was 106 degrees, while a substantial breeze was coming out of the North.  The temperature never dropped, but it never got any hotter.  (My family had also been praying). 

08/21/2023 / God, like an anesthetic. = Last night, as the result of making an extremely fast movement from a kneeling position, something in my knee ‘popped.’ When it did, it left me unable to walk. I have had injuries like this before, but nowhere near this level. After praying with my family – asking God to heal me – I put a knee brace on and went to bed. Upon waking this morning, I prayed again and then ‘very, very carefully’ began my morning stretches. My knee was fine! Not knowing whether God had healed it, or allowed something to ‘pop back’ on its’ own (a result of the marvelous way that He created us), I prayed, “Father, thank You that my knee is well.” As I said this, He spoke the name of a particular anesthetic medicine. God was telling me that, ‘Yes, He – like an anesthetic – stopped my pain.’ * * * I then prayed, “Father, thank You for healing my knee!”

Fall /2023 / Please change their words. = Some Christian friends of mine experienced a situation which really, really hurt them emotionally! They were writing an e-mail to one of the people involved, which they asked me to read (to see if it might be worded ‘too strong.’). I was too stressed and emotionally torn up at the time and could not provide them the help they needed. I had to get away from the situation and, therefore, asked God to intervene. My prayer was, “Lord, please change their words as they write.” Later – after reading what they sent – I saw that He had. It was better and they never knew what happened.

11/01/2023 / Water-heater grace x 4. = Our water heater just wore out. During the process of replacing it, God intervened in several ways to bless my efforts.

Parts and prices: Upon ordering a new water-heater from our local home-improvement store’s website, the website suggested–but did not have–their specifically recommended installation kit. This required me to go to our local store to buy it. God had obviously ordained this, because the store, which had the kits in stock, also carried alternative parts to do the job. These alternative parts not only turned out to be a much better fit, they saved a good amount of time and money.

Process: While growing anxious over the thought of soldering water pipes together, (wondering if I would remember what my dad taught me and if I would be able to locate his plumbing tools and torch), God reminded me of something. A plumber, who several years ago, connected our refrigerator ice-maker to a pipe in the wall, did not solder the pipes together. He used something called “compression fittings.” After a bit of research and a trip to the store, I had them in hand and they worked perfectly.

Power: In order to install the new water-heater, I needed to replace the bottom section of the old exhaust pipe with a shorter piece. The new water-heater was taller and wouldn’t fit under it. After unsuccessfully pushing, pulling, twisting and straining for several minutes, I got down from the ladder on which I had been standing. Not knowing what to do, I suddenly found myself reaching up and grabbing the pipe again with one hand. God then caused my hand and the pipe to twist. The pipe was now loose and easy to remove. (It was an odd sensation!)

Peace: Near the end of the installation instructions, the owner’s manual began listing, suggesting, implying (and offering ‘for sale’) several items to accompany the installation, which I had never heard of. Beginning to worry that I might not have everything that was needed, I asked God to guide me. The Lord then said something to me about city codes – which we do not have out here in the country. This enticed me to call a plumber who had been recommended to me to do this job. Upon talking to the man and explaining the situation, he asked me if I was replacing the old water-heater with one of the same kind (i.e., natural gas, propane or electric). Upon telling him, “Yes,” he told me that everything was still the same and that I had everything that was needed.

11/01/2023 / God pulls us out of another hole. = God promises to meet all of His children’s needs – “according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” What, when and how He provides, however, depends on what is best from the eternal perspective. For our family, this often means – ‘letting us fall into a hole; then pulling us out.’ This keeps us close to Him and builds our faith. We are currently deep in debt and in the last week, have encountered two more economic disasters. My wife’s car broke down (thirty miles from home), I had to hire a wrecker to take it to my mechanic, and our home’s water-heater ‘crashed and splashed.’ The total cost to fix all this would end up being $1,614.62. [Auto repair $437.04 / Wrecker $222.00 / Water-heater $874.66 / Plumbing parts and tools $80.92] We cannot afford to put any more debt on our credit cards, so this could have been devastating!

God’s provision, however, had already begun. Several weeks ago, He told me that we would need to take the money out of our son’s savings account, but did not tell me why. (Our son has $600.00 and is overjoyed to help!) After these two disasters had occurred, God then provided additional funding through three other sources: (1) To our complete surprise, my wife’s nephew gave her a greeting-card with money at Thanksgiving ($500.00). (2) Our credit-card company’s ‘cash-back-program’ inexplicably provided us with our cash-back-rewards early ($389.92). (3) Our electric co-op sent us a capital-credit-refund check ($118.38). These four means of provision add up to $1,608.30.

When comparing the amount of money we needed ($1,614.62), to the amount we received ($1,608.30), Gods’ grace was clearly evident.

12/06/2023 / Corporate prayer for a single finger. = While preparing Thanksgiving dinner, my wife cut her finger. The cut healed over, but by the end of two weeks, an infection had been established beneath the surface. We have no money and no medical insurance, so my wife had begun treating it with home remedies. She has the knowledge to do this, but because the infection was beneath the surface, I decided to ask our church ‘small-group’ to pray for her. Upon making this decision, God said to me, “Lead your family in worship. / Never hurt again.” The Lord’s words at this time, actually addressed two different situations. The first had to do with our lack of attendance at our small-group meetings. (We were to start attending again!) The second pertained to my wife’s finger. (Two days after the group would pray, it would be completely healed!)

12/mid/2023 / God asks me – to ask Him – to intervene for their marriage. = We have two Christian friends (husband and wife) who have been struggling for some time in their marriage. As I awoke this morning, God gave me a vision. The vision was of two equal size photographs standing side by side. One photograph was of our friend (the wife); the other was of a man (not her husband). Understanding that God wanted me to pray for their marriage, I immediately began asking Him to guide and protect them. My wife also prayed and later, decided to text our friend (the wife) to see how she was doing. (She would not mention the vision, as God’s prompting of our prayers, could have been a preemptive strike against some future situation.) Shortly before preparing the text, my wife received a daily devotional on her phone which included the following prayer. She immediately knew that this prayer (and the timing of its arrival) was ordained by God, and, therefore, included it with her text.

“Heavenly Father, We thank You for being a God who redeems all things and works things together for good. Because of Your faithfulness, we can trust that You are with us in the difficult parts of our stories. We humbly ask for repair where there has been rupture, peace where there has been turmoil, and healing where there has been brokenness. Amen.”

12/17/2023 / God heals our dog. = God tells us – in the Bible – that a righteous man cares for the needs of his animal. Our dog has begun showing symptoms of a bladder infection, but we do not have the money to pay a veterinarian. We, therefore, asked God to heal her. *** He did immediately! She never showed another symptom!

01/01/2024 / A six-step financial rescue. = This is an explanation of a financial problem which we are facing and six ways in which God has intervened to provide for us. *** Our property taxes are out of control. Our house value has doubled in less than seven years and our taxes have risen accordingly. We would have been taxed out of our house two years ago, if not for God’s omniscience and sovereignty. [1^st] He arranged for me to turn 65 – and, therefore, receive an exemption on future tax increases – the year before our taxes spiked the highest. [2^nd] This exemption also allows us to pay our taxes in four installments. [3^rd] This year, because of a state-wide vote (a.k.a. God’s sovereign grace), out taxes have been reduced by $2,000.00 annually. *** In spite of all of this, we still have a problem: We do not have money to pay the first installment ($1,180.00). God, however, has now completed His rescue. [4^th] At Christmas, my wife’s father blessed us with $100.00. [5^th] At Christmas, my mother blessed us with $50.00. [6^th] Today, some Christian friends passed on to us, part of a financial blessing which they received at Christmas: $1,000.00. (Total needed immediately – $1,180.00 / Total received – $1,150.00).

01/02/2024 / God says, “Do not try to get that prescription!” = The day after Christmas, my son and I both came down with an illness. By ‘New Year’s Eve,’ we both had sinus infections and went to the doctor. During our visit, the doctor explained that the medical community was backing away from prescribing antibiotics for sinus infections. She did, however, prescribe medicine to help with our symptoms. On January 2^nd, my son was still quite sick and, therefore, I was about to take him to a different doctor. At this point, God gave me a vision: (In the vision, one of the medical staff whom we had seen at the first doctor office, was saying to someone: “I know I was wrong for writing that prescription.”) Immediately after the vision, I walked into my bedroom and noticed a ‘prescription page’ where it had been laid three days earlier. We did not use it, because the medicine which it prescribed was now available ‘over the counter.’

God, however, did use it – to confirm the message in the vision: (‘It is wrong to write this prescription.’) At the top of the page – in large print and supernaturally emphasized by God – were the words: “Approved Prescription.” God has a way of emphasizing words – written or spoken – to get someone’s attention. ** He had my attention and we did not try to get the medicine!

(F.Y.I. – I am left to wonder if the words “Approved Prescription” were not also from God – if other peoples’ prescriptions did not have this written on them. If they did, then this poses a logic question: Do the doctors have other pages for prescriptions which are not approved?)

02/01/2024 / A Holy Commitment and a sick dog. = My family has been going through some very tough times lately and I have been asking God to help me love them more. Tonight, while deeply longing for sleep, I was cleaning up after a sick dog (a situation caused in-part by my wife’s extremely soft heart and overzealous pet care), so nobody else would have to. About half-way through the job, God spoke to me. He said, “Holy Commitment.” He was telling me that what I was doing, ‘serving my family in this way’ was fulfilling a holy commitment. This loving reminder and affirmation from God inspires me to love them even more.

02/05/2024 / Faster than Triple-A, God’s immediate road service – Chapter 3. = While on the way to work, my car suddenly started making a strange noise. Quickly veering off the highway entrance ramp – my intended route – I made a right turn into the parking lot of our local college. After driving up next to a college campus police officer – to let him know what was going on – I pulled into a parking space next to a white pickup truck. The police officer informed me that I had a flat tire. He also, being very kind and the owner of the white pickup, retrieved from it, his hydraulic jack and 12-volt air-pump. In a matter of minutes, the tire had been changed and the spare – now installed on the car – was inflated to the proper pressure. It had been twelve pounds low. I thanked both God and the Police Officer and made it to work on time. * * * For “Faster than Triple-A” (Chapter 1, see entry 1990’s) /// (Chapter 2, see 03/06/2006).

02/23/2024 / Water-bottle, stitches. = Because of the large amount of chlorine which is added to our city’s water supply, we recently began purchasing purified water from our local grocery store. It comes in five-gallon plastic bottles which are quite heavy. The weight is most significant when having to turn one upside down on top of the water dispenser which we have in our kitchen. The dispenser has a wooden base and a ceramic reservoir. This morning, while on my way to work, I realized that I had forgotten to replace an empty five-gallon bottle with a full one. At that exact moment, God said to me, “Water-bottle, stitches.” (I have been planning to show my son how to flip them over safely, but have not had time.) God was warning me that if my son tried it without my guidance, we would have a broken reservoir and a need of stitches. I called my son and told him what God said, and not to try it until he knows how.

04/16/2024 / How God views my son. = My son is handicapped and often struggles with how he sees himself (his ‘self-image’). God knows his heart and his challenges, and is often ‘far’ more happy with him, than he is with himself. I have told him this on many occasions and today, God told me to pray about this. He said to me, ‘Ask God to help him to see himself as God Himself sees him.’ [1 Corinthians 6:11]

F.Y.I. – Regarding God telling me to pray: This loving instruction, this gracious directive, (this tongue-twister from God) brings up an extremely important truth. God has chosen – to a great degree – to run this world through, and in cooperation with His obedient children. If more of us understood this, more of us would live holy and God could get a lot more done around the world and in the lives of our families, and friends. [James 5:16 & Ephesians 6:18]

04/27/2024 / Triple the money. = The 2002 Honda CR-V which God gave us in 2011 (see 03/26/2011 entry) had 160,777 miles on it at that time. The Lord enabled us to drive it an additional 220,943 miles. It has now been driven 381,720 miles and needs more repairs than the car is worth. (It needs an engine rebuild, a front-end rebuild and a new transmission.) I decided to sell it to one of the companies that offer to buy cars in any condition. After contacting several of them, the best price offered was $345.00. After accepting the offer, I asked God to provide us with more money than this – if it was his will. When the wrecker driver arrived – who had been hired to pick up the car and bring us the check – he asked me a couple of questions about the car. He then told me that he might be able to get us more money. While he was calling the purchasing company, I told my wife about my earlier prayer and what the driver had just said. We both began to pray. By the time he finished connecting the car to the wrecker, he had spoken to the purchasing company three times. Just before he left, he handed me a check for $995.00.

05/02/2024 / Five-hundred dollars more. = While paying our monthly bills, and thanking God for the $995.00 which He just provided (see entry above), I remembered that the quarterly installment for our real-estate taxes was also due. The $895.00 available (the amount from the car after tithing) was going to help, but we were still going to fall further into debt this month. I then prayed, “Father, if it is Your will, would you please give us $500.00 more?” Immediately after the prayer, He reminded me that He has already provided this $500.00. We would be receiving our income-tax refund ($558.00) at any time. [We do not tithe on our income tax refund, because we tithed on the gross income when we earned it.]

05/12-17/2024 / Praying away another evil neighbor. = Over twenty years ago, God told me to pray against an evil person wanting to buy the lot next to ours, therefore, becoming our neighbor. (See 07/04/2001 / Praying away an evil neighbor). This same lot, now with a house on it, is for sale again and God has just done the same thing. He put the same fictional name, “Lucritia MacEvil,” in my mind. Our family began praying about it! This was on the 12^th of May and on the 17^th, He spoke to me again. I had just stepped into the restroom at work, when the name “Lucritia MacEvil” again flooded my mind. Pausing in front of the mirror – preparing to pray – the slogan on my tee-shirt also grabbed my attention. It read, “Prayer, The Original Wireless Connection.” It was obvious that this was timing from God, as this was only the second time the shirt had been worn this year. I quickly prayed, then called home to have my family do the same.

06/Mid/2024 / Supernatural air-conditioner repair. = If it was not for the fact that our Father owns the universe, it would be accurate to say that we (my family and I), are in financial disaster. God often assures me (in the Bible and through private communication) that He is, and will continue to take care of us. This requires, quite often, His personal, omnipotent, technical intervention. This time it was for our home air-conditioner. It has developed a bad vibration, which was continually getting worse. Because we are deeply in debt, my family asked God to repair it and He did; the vibration stopped, not to return.

06/16/2024 / God chooses the clothes. = On this ‘Father’s Day,’ my family went to my father-in-law’s apartment to eat dinner with him and a few other relatives. Wearing nice, yet casual clothing is the standard for me on special days like this. Today, however, a pair of work jeans with a light colored tee-shirt was the choice. (I could not have explained why before our visit.) After the meal, my brother-in-law began describing a problem which he had experienced while driving here (his dad’s apartment). He had looked at the car, but could not identify the problem. He was planning to drive the car back to his son’s house to spend the night there and then address the problem the next day (a two hour trip). From his description of the problem, it was obvious that the car needed to be looked at more thoroughly before he drove it further. Upon inspecting it, I noticed that one of the tires had a slight unevenness to it. After removing the tire, I saw that the steel belts were ripping through the tire on the inside treads. My brother-in-law has severe medical problems and a blow-out could have been a disaster, even if it didn’t result in a wreck. After changing the tire for him, I thanked God for choosing my clothes for me. I have only one nice pair of blue-jeans (which I normally would have worn) and could have ruined them while working on the car, or hurt my back trying to protect them. The lug nuts were way over-tightened.

06/18/2024 / “Locks keep honest people honest.” = My wife has a dentist appointment today. Whenever she is away from the house, she is very careful to guard her purse. Judging from the vision God just gave me, however, she cannot do this perfectly. While praying for her – regarding the dental work – God gave me a vision of someone’s hand reaching into her purse. After the vision, I called home to warn her. She took her purse with her, but left it locked in the trunk of her car. She said that she felt very awkward being in that situation – being around someone who is a thief. I comforted her a little with something my dad said many years ago; “Locks keep honest people honest.”

07/08/2024 / The power of corporate prayer. = Last night, my son asked his young adult group at church to pray for my wife (his mother) who has been struggling with sciatica for several weeks. Today, she said that her sciatica was about 95% better.

08/08 & 11/2024 / ‘After the hurt – Get re-involved’ = Because of an incident at church, connected to our son’s special needs, our family has been uninvolved in a church small-group for some time. Our son has recently joined one more suited for him, but my wife and I have not. On my way to work this morning, God told me that it is time for us to do it too. Here is how He told me:

While driving to work, I turned on Christian radio and the preacher was teaching about the importance of small-groups in church (smaller numbers bring deeper relationships). I immediately suspected that this was from God! A short time later, while praying, He asked me a question: “Do you believe in the local church?” (Do you believe in what My church is supposed to be and the role you are intended to fulfill?)

He had spoken to us about this before, but my wife has been so hurt by the incident mentioned above (and the problems of a lifetime), she could not hear Him. As of today, she has. When I told her what God said (that it is time for us to get re-involved), she was eager to start. Not surprisingly, God not only had us ready, He had already picked out the group. We just learned that some friends of ours – whom we know from a previous church, as well as our current one, and whose’ daughter I taught karate – are now leading one of the small-groups. My wife and I were both very excited!

(Three days foreword): While in church this morning, I saw our friend (the husband) and told him that we were going to visit his small-group this coming Wednesday. When his wife walked up, he told her that we (my wife and I) “are joining their small-group.” We were, all four, very excited!

Before I was born. = As you spend time on this website, you see so much of what the Lord has done in and through my life, as well as His sovereign control over it.  I can think of no better way to end this “God Obvious” section, than to show you just how ‘in-control’ God truly is—and has always been.  (This final entry focuses on my life of karate.)

When I was young, my ‘life’s goal’ was to become a semi-hermit.  (I loved my family, but not anyone else.)  God needed to change me, so He gave me an incredibly strong desire to learn karate—which would require that I be around people and learn to enjoy them.  I did, and still do more than fifty years later!  In regard to karate, He provided the perfect class, with the perfect style, at the perfect time, in the perfect place – and gave me the perfect parents to make it happen.  Our style is a very aggressive, yet very beautiful martial art, which takes a very realistic view of self-defense.  After years of training in this art of combat, God asked me a question: “Do you want to join the real battle” – (the battle between God and Satan over the souls of man)?  He said, “I can’t use your wisdom, for you have none except that which comes from Me, and I can’t use your fighting ability, because it’s useless in the spiritual realm, but I can use your attitude.”  Knowing that I had friends and family members who were on their way to Hell, it took only a moment for me to say to God, “Sign me up!”  After years of the battle, some amazing things have occurred to me regarding God’s sovereignty over all of this.

1. My name—which was given at birth—means warrior (‘battle friend’ or ‘one who bears a weapon’).  God refers to His Word—the Bible—as a weapon (the Sword of the Spirit), and one who uses it in spiritual warfare is a warrior.
2. God gifted me in teaching and allowed me to develop this gift through many years of teaching karate.  I now teach the Bible to all who will listen.
3. In my style of karate, I train to fight using a beautiful art form.  Through my poetry—which is intended to lead people to God—I engage in spiritual warfare using a beautiful art form.  (My writing ability is also a gift from God, as English and grammar were very easy for me in school, and I began rhyming and playing with words at a very young age.)
4. My attitude (which would surface during a physical fight)—which God developed in me through karate—is the same attitude that I have while engaging in spiritual warfare.  My attacks are aggressive—i.e. ‘Poetry with an attitude.’  Remaining on the offensive keeps me from ‘dropping my guard,’ so I am rarely surprised by a demonic counter attack.  Concentrating on the battle—remaining emotionless and ignoring the score—keeps me from growing prideful over accomplishments or depressed when it appears that nothing is being achieved.  (I never sought to know the score while engaged in a sparring match, and there is no record keeping on this website, to tell me how many – or how few people are visiting it.)
5. There are many other things which God ordained in my life so I could be His servant – in this time and place.  Here are a few of the biggest ones:  He placed me in a family that believed in Him and took me to church.  He chose a time ‘after His sacrifice on the Cross’ – so the Holy Spirit could be with me to teach me, guide me and use me.  He chose a time and place, which provided education, easy access to the Bible, the freedom to worship Him openly, lots of good Bible teaching, lots of brilliant scientists (who affirm that He exists), home computers, access to the internet, and English as the native language—which has become the second language to much of the world—so people from other countries could also benefit from this website.

P.S. The love and concern which I have for people—and express regularly through my life and writing—is also a gift from God.  As mentioned earlier—my initial goal in life was to become a hermit.  God had far better plans!

*** Regarding God’s sovereignty, here are a few verses where it is mentioned.

[Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5] 

 [For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  Ephesians 2:10]   

 [From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. Acts 17:26-27]

FYI, If you are not yet a child of God, He has sovereignly put you here—at this exact time and place—so that you might reach out for Him and find Him.  He is calling you now, with love in His heart and His arms open wide.  This is why you are on this website!

Recent ‘God-Obvious’ entries *** For anyone who desires to check back periodically—to see God’s most recent interactions—be aware that the “Before I was born.” entry above, is mobile.  It will always remain here at the end of “God Obvious.”  All new interactions will be recorded immediately before this one.