Just Thinking ... Timing is So Important !!

How sordid was the Samaritan woman's life ... she slipped to the well thinking no one else would be there ... she could avoid the stares and insults. She could not have known this would be the day ... Jesus showed up ... her life FOREVER changed !! God's timing in YOUR life.

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It must have been so lonely ... night after night counting the stars as he watched his father's sheep ... fending off lions and bears ... staying faithful ... does anyone know, does anyone care? Then Samuel says, "Don't you have another son?" ... the anointing flows upon David's head ... God's TIMING in our lives!!

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Day after day ... sitting outside the gate ... begging for a few alms ... not 40 days, but 40 YEARS he sat there. Watching ... wishing ... something needed to change. Two men approach ... they reach in their pockets but their hands come out empty ... he was expecting to receive but now ... "In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, RISE UP AND WALK!" (Acts 3) Life CHANGED! God's TIMING in his life!!

True SUCCESS ... What is It?

There he sits in his favorite chair ... one arm cocked behind his head that sports a full shock of gray hair. The other hand holds a cup of coffee and by his side is his loyal friend, Frosty. His legs covered in a pair of western-style pants are crossed and one can see his ever-present cowboy boots. He's wearing his broad suspenders that keep his pants just below his famous bulging belly and there is that gregarious smile of satisfaction on his handsome, weathered face. What is he doing ...

The man in the picture is my father and he is sitting back watching as his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren gather in and busy themselves visiting and preparing food for another special family gathering. There may be as many as 50 or more depending on who was able to make it from out of town. The number always included a few others that were not off-spring but were a part just the same.

This was his glory ... his family. Six children evenly split with three sons and three daughters, 18 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren and all of the in-laws who were never viewed as anything but more of the children. This was his glory ... this was his SUCCESS!

The Books You Read and The People You Meet

Charlie Tremendous Jones said, "The difference in where you are now and where you will be in five years is the books you read and the people you meet."

When I look at my life, I am very thankful for the books I have read and the people I have met. As just a boy, my late grandfather, I.D. Thompson took me into another room in his home and in his secretive way whispered, "I want to show you something that has been my secret to success." PawPaw had worked his way up and retired from Hughes Tool Co., buying scores of rental properties along the way, and we all considered him to be rich. I remember being very interested in this secret to success.

My grandfather handed me the classic "Think and Grow Rich," by Napoleon Hill when I was somewhere around 13 years old. From that time to the present, I have known the value of reading good books. Of course, the best of the best is the Bible which contains not only secrets for success in this life, but also the one to come.

Through our years of travel in ministry, Donna and I were blessed to personally meet and know some of the most powerful ministers of our day. I will never forget as a boy, having the late Andrew Urshan lay his hands on me and pray. It was only a few days before his death and his legacy in the Pentecostal movement was legendary ... receiving the gospel in Persia, coming to America, and taking the gospel throughout Russia just before it fell in the grip of communism. After the wall came down, our missionaries found many in Russia who had survived the reign of communism and called themselves "Urshanites."

I will post again about powerful books. Right now, I have been praying for God to give me favor with the right people, because the books you read and the people you meet make a huge difference in your life.

Purpose ... Do You Know Your's?

From my childhood, I prepared myself to be a preacher ... evangelist / pastor. I knew that God had called me to this special calling and I prepared myself for it and entered the ministry after attending Texas Bible College out of high school.

My ensuing career as an evangelist / pastor led me to several years as an evangelist, the founding of two churches, pastoring two other churches and ultimately pastor in Crosby, TX for eight years. It was in Crosby that I began to struggle unknowingly with MS which eventually disabled me and resulted in my resigning as pastor and entering a very difficult period in our life as a family ... not knowing what the future held and how we would survive given my physical state at the time.

As always, God's hand was at work and I was brought into contact with Dr. Erica Simpson-Green who finally diagnosed me and began treatment which I responded to very quickly. Though, still in a power chair, I began teaching high school sciences at Life Christian Academy and poured myself into study and preparation. Having only attended Theology school, I reentered college determined to be the best high school science teacher possible.

However, there was an internal struggle going on which is finally the purpose of this post ... PURPOSE - Do You Know Yours? I had spent my lifetime preparing for something that seemingly had been jerked out from under me and now I was wrestling with all my might to retrain myself for a new career ... determined to provide for my family. It was at this time that I began to search deep within myself in prayer and meditation to discover what my purpose in life really was.

I believed, if I found "my purpose" my career, my situation, my condition ... none of these would matter ... I could still fulfill "my purpose." Then it came to me as clear as the sound of a striking hammer on a crisp morning ... my PURPOSE was to "inspire others to reach higher, go farther, and do more than they ever thought possible!" Wow! Finally I got it! Many questions were answered. Understanding my PURPOSE was liberating!

I no longer had to be anything ... do a certain thing ... be called by a particular title ... just fulfill my PURPOSE! Inspire others ... to reach higher, go farther, and do more than they ever thought possible. I could do that! It's really what I had been trying to do all along anyway while thinking I had to BE something.

My advice to you is to discover YOUR PURPOSE. Why did God put you on this planet? When you discover that answer you will discover a new-found freedom. It will not matter what changes occur in life ... you cannot control life ... but you can remain dedicated to your PURPOSE!

Today is a New Day!

Wow, my blog access was taken over several years ago and I had moved on from this blog site ... thinking no sense worrying about it.

Today is a new day! Stumbled back onto it when trying to follow another blog (Mattress Mack) and miracle of miracles, I was able to log right in, change my profile back to me rather than the other person and here I am with a lot of updating to do.

It will take some time ... so be patient with me. A lot has happened in the past several years and I can't share it all in one post and your attention span wouldn't bear it anyway ... so I'll just start with this ...

I am NOT suffering from Post-Polio Syndrome as I had previously been told ... long, yet to be told story here. I was diagnosed by one of the top neurologists at Methodist Hospital in Houston as suffering from secondary progressive MS after 8 years of physician futility. Never would have thought I would be happy to hear the words, "You have MS," but at least I now knew what I was fighting. Thank God for Dr. Erica Simpson - Green and her team who did in two days what doctors had been unable to do in 8 years!

Gonna stop right here for today ... lot's of exciting things to share. Stay tuned!