Chapter 93
Jim Shares…
I have no doubt that many readers will be introduced to a new kind of faith as they read this book. Many claim to believe in and to trust God, but have never put their faith to a real test. For the first many years of our family’s walk with our heavenly Father, following our decision of a covenant walk with Him in 1977, our family has not had a time when our faith was not being tested. It has appeared that each time we would approach a point where our family could settle into a comfortable set of living arrangements, god would upset our apple cart and thrust us into totally new uncharted waters in the faith realm- a faith that forced us to trust God for healing, finances, business decisions, and such- a faith where our eyes had to be focused on our Lord for directions and problem solving solutions on a continual basis. Little did we know those early years that we were being prepared for a greater test that would take place at a prescribed time in our lives, a test that would place us into a homeless situation, a situation where trust and faith would be the foundation of our daily existence for several years.
So, let’s consider how we began our family’s committed walk with god. When my wife and I started this quest and adventure with the Lord, we had no idea what it would be like. We did not have the standard introduction to faith by simply joining a church, and meeting new sets of families with similar beliefs. God introduced Himself to us with such an outstanding revelation that it left an indelible mark on us, and a challenge to enter a new way of daily living. We knew we wanted to truly discover the god of the Bible and all that He had to offer so we made a serious commitment to follow and obey Him.
Janie and I were married in san Antonio in 1975. For two years we lived in Houston, Texas. In the summer of 1977 we moved to Jackson, Mississippi, and I was a special agent for my father’s insurance company. I was out of town four nights a week working with agents around Mississippi helping them sell additional insurance coverage to their policy holders. Being an early morning person, I would often get up and read the Bible placed in my motel room by the gideon Ministry. Thank god for the gideon Ministry, supplying millions of Bibles every year to people all over the world. I was raised a Roman Catholic and had never read the Bible for myself. I was finding it quite interesting reading about Jesus performing miracles and seeing the wisdom He would display whenever anyone tried to trap Him in speech. As a Catholic, I believed a person could possess supernatural abilities to heal the sick and perform miracles, and I also believed a person could have supernatural wisdom, but for one person to possess both, I figured He had to be God in the flesh! God was baiting my hook with insightful revelations of His essence from the very beginning.
I became quite taken by this newfound interest, so I purchased Peace with God, a book by the Reverend Billy graham.1 As I read the book, I became very excited, because I had never heard the gospel preached the way he put it. It was so simple, and he explained how god loved me and wanted me to be happy and have a successful life in Christ. I laugh now, but every time he gave the invitation in the book to receive Jesus (yahushua) into my heart and start this new life, I would stop reading the book, and with all of my heart I would pray and ask god into my life. I was so happy to realize that someone would help me with all the decisions I faced each day. “But as many as receive Him Yahushua (Jesus), to them He gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in His name.”2 The first time I read this I knew that I wanted to be a son of god, but I had a lot of questions. The answers found were new exciting discoveries that left Janie and I both desiring to become “sons of god.”
Shortly after that, Janie and I joined a sunday school class called The Edge of Adventure, 3 by Bruce Larson and Keith Miller. It was being taught at the Catholic Church we were attending. The only thing they asked us to do was to make a serious commitment to participate for 13 weeks. God was doing a marvelous thing in my soul, and I could not get enough of this new information about how much He loved me. But I had one real serious question in my heart: “is the bible really the word of god, and, if it is, why isn’t everyone reading it every day?”
A few weeks passed. I was in grenada, Mississippi selling insurance when I had a tremendous spiritual experience. As I awoke that Tuesday morning in the motel, I was somewhat remorseful, because I had failed to read my daily sunday school lesson on Monday morning. So I slid out of bed and into the chair and began reading. The small booklet instructed me to go to the “Letter to Joe” in the back of the book. It was like a letter a person would write to a new Christian, instructing them how to walk with god on a daily basis. As I was sitting in the chair, elbows on my knees, booklet down between my calves, I sensed someone standing in front of me. He put his hand on top of my head and pulled off of me, as it were, a black silken cape. Everyone knows how silk flutters in the wind, and as the cape arose from the floor to above my head, it fluttered because of the swiftness in which it was being removed. As the cape was lifted over my head it disappeared, and the whole room was full of a glorious light. Immediately, I had a beautiful, instant understanding of the Cross, and what yahushua (Jesus) had accomplished on the Cross for me. I saw my whole life from the angle of the Cross and how god had already taken care of every need I would ever have. I sat there in total awe and stated to the Lord, “it’s so simple, you have done it all, all I have to do is walk it out!”
Then out of this glorious Light, the Lord spoke to me audibly. He said, “Jim, if you will read your Bible and seek and follow me every day, I will take care of every problem you will ever have.” Then He began to address my fears and failures. He said, “I will mend all of the bridges you have burned between you and your father.” I had been a headstrong teenager causing a lot of friction between my Dad’s and my relationship. He then said, “you will never have to worry about a job or money; you will not have to worry about being a good father or husband. I will take care of every problem you will ever have!” I was not hearing this voice with my earthly ears; yet, I was hearing this audible challenge addressing all of my earthly fears. As soon as the Voice stopped speaking I threw out my hands and said, “you have got a deal!” That was the best deal I had ever heard. I then told god, “I want everything you have for me, and if my mind cannot receive it, bypass that thing and give it to me anyway.”
Sod has been more than faithful to His challenge and my acceptance. It is not that I have not had problems, in fact, it is all the problems that I have faced that has brought me closer to the Lord in knowledge, understanding, and faith. It seems that I have had more than my share of problems and challenges, yet through all of them, god has developed a greater depth of trust, love and devotion than what I could ever have developed without them. Faith not tested is faith not matured, and “Faith without works is dead!”4 god has not failed me once in over 30 years of intense faith and spiritual training. I have missed my heavenly Father countless times and failed enumerable challenges, yet He remains faithful. Praise to His Holy name.