Paul's Letters

Dear Rob

 
Joe sounds like a nice guy trying to have a happier life.
 
He has what I call, a religion of convenience.
 
Satan is on the scene with all the bells and whistles and so are his demons.
 
If Joe did his homework he’d know that this is true but because he doesn’t want it to be true, it therefore isn’t true for him even though it is true.
 
It occurs to me that if someone wants to be a true follower of Christ they have to have a lot of guts to be able to stomach the good and the bad.
 
Its like these people out there who keep sinning and say its impossible to stop and that we aren’t meant to stop and say its ok because they are covered by grace.
 
This is why Christ says that we are to deny ourselves.
 
Many ,so called, Christians won’t make it all the way to the finish line because they are not really prepared to pay the price of self denial.
 
Instead of accepting all the truth, they instead, select only the truth that suits them and then kid themselves, just like the atheists do, because it makes them feel good.
 
If they really believed all the gospel and all of the Bible they would fear God and keep the commandments as we are clearly told to do, And in so doing they would save their souls.
 
But no, they choose not to fear God,and in so doing throw their lives away because they found the attractiveness of everlasting life being not a sufficient enough reward for having to pay the cost of complete obedience to God, And also hell is not enough of a deterrent simply because they choose not think about it.
 
They prefer to not think too much about hell because it makes them feel uncomfortable and un-easy, mainly because they know thats where they are going to end up, unless they repent to the extent that they become completely obedient to God and His commands.
 
In the words of wise Solomon:
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God,and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Ecclesiastes 12:13
 
God bless you.
Much peace to you
Paul the friend of Robert.

Dear Joe

Robert speaks very highly of you. He says that you are a chaplan in the Forces who is very intelligent.My uncle was a chaplan in the NZ Airforce.

Also Robert sent me some of your writings which clearly signify that you don’t totally believe the Bible.Joe I think you might find it interesting to look at the work done by Walter Vieth which can be viewed on Utube. I mention his name to you because of your view of Noah and the flood.  

I thought you might also find it rather interesting to know that many brilliant men,mathematicians, mostly Jews who were atheists,have now become converted to believing in God because of the codes they have discovered in the bible.

God is smart isn’t He? He knew that guys like you and I might be tempted to not believe that He effectively wrote the Bible using the hand of man.The codes, Joe, prove that ALL the Bible is His work.

 There is a great book called THE TRUTH BEHIND THE BIBLE CODES written by Dr Jeffrey Satinover. He wrote the book because it came to his attention that hard core atheist mathematicians were changing their mind and believing in God.

However believing in God in itself is not sufficient to save our souls from perishing in hell, is it Joe?

Somewhere in the New Testament Jesus Christ says: Enter ye in at the strait gate,for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, And many there be which go in thereat. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

In other words God is saying quite clearly that many will perish in hell and few will pay the price to get life everlasting.

Which brings us to an interesting thought. Why did God bother to make so many people when He knew full well that many would perish in hell and few would inherit eternal life?

This is how I see it Joe. God is a winner. He is the winner of winners. He cannot fail. Failure for Him is an impossibility. Therefore the question is,is the perishing of the many in hell failure? Yes it is failure for those who go to hell but for the few who win it is such a great win in the eyes of God that it cancels out the failure of those who choose to not pay the price and end up in hell.

If we want to win we have no choice but to pay the price of doing what God says to do such as keep his commandments, love Him, believe that Jesus Christ is God who became a man, be grateful for our salvation, love people,and yes warn people of their impending doom if they neglect so great a salvation.

As a chaplan you have a duty to teach but also to be taught.

Many want to learn but few want to be taught.

There probably is more chance of you winning the lottery every day for the rest of your life than the codes in the Bible being there by chance.If you continue to say that the Bible is not 100% the word of God you are messing with God to the extent you are on the highway to hell. How can you be knocking on God’s door when you say that the Bible you are holding in your hand is not the inspired word of God?

My suggestion would be to study the views of those Bible scholars who say like I say that the Bible is 100% accurate and is indeed the word of God. 

As we know that the wearing of the garb of a priest or a chaplan is not an automatic exemption from hell, we try harder to make sure is does not become our final destination.

Joe if you want to be in the company of the few instead of the many who are heading for hell, you need to re-study this subject of the Bible, but can you be told and if told then also taught.

Another good read is New Age Bible Versions written by Gail Riplinger and she can also be seen on Utube.

And finally Joe let me say this.Let us not be like those that are going to hell but have within themselves a feeling that everything is ok and that they will be fine and there is nothing to worry about with God’s punishments.

You obviously have a feeling that everything is ok for you with regard to your final destination but Joe your warm feelings are kidding you.The Lord says that if we are luke warm he will spue us out of his mouth because he would rather that we were hot or cold.

I have said my bit.

God bless you.

Paul

Dear Robert

I recently wrote to you and said that I would like to say some more on the subject of why there are atheists, and here is my new take on it.

Firstly it is tempting for the purpose of wanting to be seen as witty to say much derogatory stuff about atheists in a clever way and I have been guilty of much of this along with name calling but it doesn’t help.

I think their real problem is as follows.

The idea of God the creator of all things who has and always will exist, is something we cannot compare with. Him and His achievements are impossible for us to replicate and if we are going to be really real with ourselves, that can be a bit of a downer for our self image.

He commands us in the first commandment to get around this problem by loving Him, which is a bit like saying if you can’t beat them join them. He doesn’t actually need love.

The atheist solves this problem by pretending that God doesn’t actually exist although deep down in his or her sub concious mind they know that God does exist.

This pretence which the atheist refers to as a truth takes from the atheist feelings or attitudes of inferiority towards God.

Hatrid of God stems from not being able to compete successfully with God and hence their antipathy for God when we mention His name. The atheist are reminded of their great inferiority to God when we talk about Him.

Both ways seem to solve the problem of our obvious inferiority to God.The rude way, the ungrateful way, the insulting way,that denys God’s existence might give some relief before they eventually arrive on hell’s doorstep.

In their defence, although they really don’t have a defence, this is all happening on a sub concious level.

Its a bit like Hitler killing all the Jews and saying oh what a good boy am I, until he gets caught by God and then he says oh dear oh dear I was just kidding myself and having such a good time too with my hate and now I’m off to hell.

Would Hitler have killed the Jews if he knew that instead of perishing in hell he could have lived in paradise forever in a way that makes the earthly existence almost seem like hell on earth by comparison?

If Hitler had chosen to fear God he would have instead of living a life to please himself, chosen to please God which is his get out of hell card.

The greatest anguish for those those that are bound for hell will not be the pain of the flames but instead it will be their knowing that they blew it because they could have lived forever instead of eventually perishing in hell.That will be the unbearable anguish.

We sorrow for those who are perishing with a Godly joy. In other words we are sorry that hell is their destination but we are joyful that we are not going with them.

Always good talking to you young man.

May I recommend that you read the book The Great Controversy by E.G.White.

You can read it on line.

Read the scriptures and follow them instead of men wearing the garb of priests.

The best way to avoid hell is to find out all about it and avoid going there.

Beleiving in the existence of God is not enough to save us from the fires of hell. We have to do all that Jesus Christ, God incarnate, said to do.

Its your soul and hey you and you alone are responsible for it.

God bless

Paul 

Dear John

Dear John,

              You and I have been friends since we were twelve, and the best of friends for two and one third years until Jerry asked my father to take me out of the school.

I actually couldn’t take much more of Alban being there, right on my case. He might have been a successful discipline master but in the end he was way too heavy for me. I arrived at that place looking like a little prince and left like tall skinny wet rag.

You were a very good friend to me and in my mind we will always be friends.But its funny talking about those times from long ago especially when I think about Alban and what a pain he was to me, because if it wasn’t for him we might have been able to have ruled that little school.We gave it, as a couple of 14year olds, a good shot though didn’t we?

The reason I say its funny, its ironic isn’t it because Alban converted me to become like him and I can honestly say that if he was alive today he would be one of my closest friends.I suppose you can say that all those whacks paid off because eventually the penny of good sense did drop. I was a dim wit wasn’t I. No wonder I thought you were a genius.Suffice to say you were a lot smarter than me.

What I am saying is that today I could hang out with the guy and be comfortable with him like I did with you all those years ago. Thats some turn around huh even if its taken half a century which probably gives a new meaning to the phrase that good things do take a while.

I heard that he died of a heart attack way back during the 80’s. It was on Christmas Day. Apparently he had put on a ton of weight like Elvis and was in bad shape.

As you know my brother Bernard died not that long ago and he died very bravely in his bed from cancer of the liver. He drank himself to death and he had his reasons.I think about him a lot. He was a prince. I know you must miss Allan too.He brought us a lot of cheer didn’t he.I’ll never forget his smile. Its hard to loose a younger brother isn’t it.

Bernard in some ways was like you. Strong but not particularly interested in God.

I remember telling him on one particular occasion that I would like to talk about the story of my conversion. To which he replied that he didn’t want to know. I suppose that got my back up a bit, so in my mind I probably said something like “OK you little punk I’m never going to tell you”.

But as the years rolled by we both softened, but even so, I respected his wishes and didn’t say boo on the subject until about a couple of years before his death.At this stage I didn’t know he was dieing, but Bernard being Bernard, I knew he would be thinking about things more so than normal, as he was living alone in the country where there were less distractions.

So I wrote him a couple of letters on the subject of, him and God, to which he never replied to or even acknowledged in conversation.

When he got really sick with only a few days to go I prayed and asked God to spare his life and for doing so I offered up to God all my own desires as a  sacrifice, hoping that this might influence The Lord’s hand. But it was not meant to be because shortly thereafter he did die.

Anyway as I am telling Bernard this story of my plea with The Lord for his life I broke down and cried and as I am sitting there shielding my eyes with the palm of my hand he eventually speaks and says”Thats alright Paul”. 

Then I told him the Lord’s parable found in Matthews Gospel chapter 20 which is all about the guy hiring workers for the field, but at the end of the day, even though some worked more hours that others, he pays them the same amount. Some worked a full day and some only worked for an hour but they all got the same pay, and some of those who worked longer were a bit cheesed off about the whole business and complained.

But the Lord said that as its his money and as the early workers are getting what was agreed upon its His prerogative to be generous if He wishes to be. If you read the parable you will see that the Lord will let you in at the last minute, like right now, even though you haven’t done all the hard yards.

When I became converted I essentially said to The Lord “OK Lord you’ve got me”.

I didn’t think about heaven or hell.

John don’t be so tough that you end up where you shouldn’t.

Saving your buns and being appreciative to God is the name of the game that gives you the big free ticket into everlasting life.

Here is the deal John.Our creator became a human being called Jesus Christ. He made us. He says that we should do a bunch of stuff.

He says that we have to keep the 10 commandments and not be a secret Christian.Also you need to to hang out with other believers like me.

Essentially all you have to say to God is that you will do what ever it takes, to do it His way and God will lead you from there.

OK so you have to bend the knee and look like a sucker in the eyes of those who are going to hell. Think about it Bro.

Why don’t you get some Bible Studies from a friend of mine who used be on the wrong side of the law.But he’s alright.

He’s ready when you are. He’s a travelling Bible teacher who’s pretty good at it and he’ll travel to your neck of the woods and give you a crash course. You don’t need to put him up. He’ll stay in a motel. What about next week? Will that do you bro?

I’m being pushy I know.

Come on Babe lets do it.You can do it.

Yeah.

Take care there my good old friend from way way back,

Paul

I am available for speaking engagements at no charge.

My email address is paulhunt1947@gmail.com and you can find my utube channel if you google my name as follows…..paulwilfridhunt

A letter to Dale.

Letter to Carl

Dear Carl,

Here is THE JESUS CHRIST DEAL as I see it.

There has never been a genius nor ever will there be one who understands the neverending-ness of space. We all know that space goes on forever but trying to imagine the meaning of forever particularly in this context is an impossibility for the human mind to conceive. The same is so with regard to God always existing. God says that He is without beginning or end or in other words He has always existed and He always will exist.

To say that God is great is a great understatement but with our limited language and understanding of God we make this puny effort trying to describe His greatness. I have heard it said that the understanding of God is a continuous process that will continue throughout all eternity.

God made us for the express purpose of living forever if we should so choose to do so.

He gives us the big invite but it’s only upon our acceptance of the invitation that we can go to a party called living forever in a place called heaven. To accept the invitation we have to say yes to Jesus Christ and His deal and we cannot do it in a “luke warm” way.

God, who can do all things, in His wisdom decided to become a human being and that human being was called Jesus Christ. When we say YES to Jesus Christ we are saying YES to God because Jesus Christ is God who became a human being.

God fore-saw that if He created man that many would reject Him by rejecting Jesus Christ but nevertheless He goes ahead with the creation of man knowing full well that many will reject His offer of everlasting life and perish in a place called hell. But for the sake of the few who will be the faithful and grateful He deems his actions worthy.

To get the big ticket into everlasting life we have to say YES to God. Yes to God’s offer.

In a strange kind of way you can say that God’s offer is a no brainer because nobody in their right mind wants the alternative which is perishing in hell. But the Bible says that hey, that’s where most people are going. MATT 7:13&14

I eventually repented and became obedient to God not to avoid hell or get to heaven which wasn’t on my radar at that time, but I essentially turned to God in obedience because within me there was a knowing that this is what God wanted me to do. Nobody really got my attention with a serious warning, similar to this one.

God allows Himself to be painted in a light that is not considered worthy from the usual human point of view. We as people have a preference for the good opinion of ourselves from others and this can help to regulate our society in a worthwhile way. The example of the shame of being a thief, works as a deterrent that actually deters us from wanting to become a thief, explains this point.If people should hunger they tend to be less bothered at the idea of shame for being a thief, and as they have the shame of not being able to feed themselves they might be prepared to exchange one shame for another.

Because we have this propensity to live a life that seems to be worthwhile in the eyes of others, we struggle with accepting concepts and ideas that are sometimes incorrectly rejected by others, such as the notion that the world is round when every Tom and Jerry out there said it was flat. Although we all might like to say that we would have been ROUND WORLD believers on the spot, the truth is that most of us wouldn’t have been.We would have been captured by the fashionable mass opinion of the day.

The notion that we should lead lives of obedience to God has been rejected by the masses which include the noble and the not so noble. Many are captured and will stay that way.They will view the idea of following God obediently as being rather quaint but foolish and not necessary.

To turn to God away from this captivity requires a hunger for God. But this hunger cannot be experienced whilst there is the feeding from the feelings of acceptance from our peer group or in this case I will say our captors. Therefore, it is not unusual for some happenstance to take place in the lives of those who are yet to become obedient followers of God, which involves the opportunity to no longer be able to be nourished from the supposed worthwhile big group that has many smaller groups inside it.

My opportunity came to be in the form of a fall from my business horse which prevented me from sucking nourishment from the worthwhile group that I desired admiration from.

This allowed me to trade my horse throwing shame for the new shame called one of the suckers that now suck their nourishment from the knowledge of God instead of being a sucker going to hell who chooses the sucking of the nourishment that comes from trying to believe that they are worthwhile people in the eyes of their fellow man. But this new shame which I thought was a shame, because initially I was ashamed of Christ, wasn’t really a shame, and upon this realisation which didn’t happen immeadiately, it became shameless as it transferred itself to where it belonged, to those, like I once was, who were treating God shamefully.

There are those who take stances of rebellion towards God that manifest in various forms from ignoring Him to spouting forth that atrocious nonsence, which is a madness, whereby they actually speak of His non existence, and therefore have upon themselves a detestable and embarressing shame which they proudly display for all the world to see, imagining that it is instead some sort of badge of honour, whereas in actuality it is weakness personified.

Shall we say that the people who appears sane and acts sane who are lauded by all, are sane if they go to hell because of their insane rebellion towards God. There is no greater madness but for the sake of diplomacy we must not say that they are mad for throwing their lives away instead of prolonging their lives in a jubilant place forever.

Where is our love for our fellow man if we do not speak up and do our best to rescue them? Hence the lord says “Hide not your light under a bushell”.We cannot be a secret Christian and also be bound for heaven. We have a duty to reach out to others as others have reached out to us. If our desire to be well approved of by those that are perishing is such that we don’t work to win them to the gospel of Christ, we ourselves will perish with them.

There are many great questions yet to be perfectly answered such as why did God make Lucifer if He knew that he would turn into a bitter jealous rival called Satan. Why did He make so many people knowing that they would not want to shake that rebellious Satanic contamination and therefore perish in hell.

Could the answer simply be love? His great LOVE for us is such that for the sake of the few who hunger for God, he allows the impenitent to foolishly cast their lives away in hell.

If God had chosen to say that the cost of the destruction of the unbelievers is too great He could have decided to not have pushed the creation button for mankind.

Maybe the free will deal, which might appear to be imperfect to some, is much more perfect that it seems. Maybe being a happy robot is not really what we all would call happiness. We are free to choose but many not few will make the wrong choice. Matt 7:13.

I think Jesus Christ is great, not just because He was God who came here to be with us but because of what He did by deliberately laying down His life when He didn’t have too. He must have known from before the creation of man that it would necessitate Him becoming a sacrifice in the form of Jesus Christ. He could have solved the problem by not making any of us. Repent and become a follower of Jesus Christ. Read the Bible and become converted. I recommend the old King James 1611 Version. Begin with the New Testament starting at John’s Gospel.

You can read it on line.

God bless you.

Paul.

letter to Bernard

Dear Bernard,

                      I was thinking about your phone call and rather thankful for it because it arrived right on time.

 

I was watching the Diary of Ann Frank which I wasn’t really in the mood to watch.

It was too sad. You probably know the story. It’s the one about a Jewish girl hiding from the Nazis.

So I thought I would drop you a line or two, to your Post Office in Russell.

 

If there is a time for every thing then there is a time for laughs and we had a few on the phone. Its funny isn’t it how I manage to cheer myself up when I see myself in my coffin riddled with rigor mortis looking as unhappy as Larry with no smile on the dial. I can say to myself, “well, I’m a lot better off than this guy” and that way I don’t have to pump myself up at the expense of others.

 

I think most of us want more than the other guy.

Seeing myself dead as a door nail achieves this for me.

I have more than that the other guy( The Paul that I will eventually be when they lay me to rest).

He’s dead and I’m alive.

I’ve got more than him.

I’d rather be me than him.

Although,one day, I will be him.

But its not today, hopefully I pray.

In some ways I consider myself a scout. Not a boy scout but one of those scouts that goes ahead to check out the scene, ahead of the wagon train, to make sure everything is ok. No ambushes and all that stuff. Before I tell you more let me tell you something else.

 

I heard a speaker at Browns Bay one time, maybe 15 years ago and he gave the most boring speech I have ever heard in my life. It was boring because it was short.

 One sentence long to be precise.

 

 Here we all are having dinner waiting for this guy from the USA to make his speech.

All the plates get cleared away and I suppose the coffee was served and then this guy gets up to make his speech.

 

I’ll never forget it because it was so terrible.

It was terrible because it was so short.

He stands up, says one sentence and then sits down.

It was a shocker.

But I will never forget what he said.

I have heard my fair share of speeches in my time but like most people I too struggle to remember them.

But this guy’s deal, I’ll never forget.

Anyway he gets up and says something like this.

“The purpose of this life is to make sure that you don’t dip out on your inheritance of everlasting life”

Then he sits down.

It was pretty weird.

And believe me it was a let down.

 

And I know you are saying

Oh here he goes again

Yeah here I am going again

That’s for sure

It might be boring

And the last thing you want to hear

But the guy making the shortest speech in the world was dead right.

 

You go to the RSA and give the boys a few handy hints

And hey where would we be without a few of those

Your hints are handy

But mine are handier

Only because they relate to everlasting life

While yours relate to this life

But we need both

 

I know for sure that there is a lot that I don’t know

And I’m not ashamed to admit it

The sum total of what I don’t know

Is so vastly enormous

That it is immeasurable

I guess that’s why I was an expert at coming last in class

School almost killed me, What about you?

 

Why were all us boys pretty much brain dead in the academic brains department?

Dad didn’t seem to have this problem

Well I could go on and on about it

Maybe it was a strange kind of blessing

Because in a way it has been responsible for getting us to think

I know that if I had turned out to be a doctor or dentist I’d be a different guy

And if you were a lawyer or an architect you too wouldn’t be the guy you are today.

 

It has suited me to deeply think although I didn’t get started until I was 33

And contemplate the reasons why we do what we do

Like you I have no degrees

But it doesn’t mean that we don’t know what we are talking about

You know what you are talking about when it comes to being practical

And sizing up people where they are at

And why they are at where they are at

But it’s unlikely that you would have developed in this area as much as you have

Without the blessing of not succeeding at school

Hence you become useful to others as a guide

By making them aware of things that they may not be aware of

Particularly in the area of people knowledge

And this is helpful

But not everyone has the ability to observe and understand this stuff like you do

 

But I too am a guide

But guides like me always have a bit of a hard time getting through to others

And that’s because of the subject

Which happens to be God

Which most people do not want to hear about

It’s always been this way

All throughout history it’s been this way

 

And the reason for it is this

We want to be accepted by our fellow man

We would like to think of ourselves as being worthwhile

But we have to be careful that we are not pleasing others

At the expense of displeasing God

Many people cannot receive much needed knowledge of God

Because doing so tends to make them feel unworthwhile in the eyes of others

 

Hence they reason in their minds that they do not need this stuff

But the real reason is that they do not want to feel unworthwhile

And that’s why it does not appeal to them

But what does God think of those who are not interested in Him and are more interested in being well thought of by others

It doesn’t make sense

 

Why would someone think that being interested in your creator and His plans for your life is not important?

What could be more important?

But this is not held in high regard by the populous who despise it

Therefore people in order to avoid being despised

Avoid knowledge of God

And by doing so they make a terrible mistake

 

I’ve got a handy hint for you.

You need to get a hunger for God

I’ll write you some more

But this is enough for now

I don’t want to give you mental indigestion

 

 From one brother to another.

Paul

letter to Robert

Dear Robert,

 
 I was your everyday Joe trying to get there like everyone else until I tripped up and everything started going bad yeah. I took a hit. Trying hard to come first in the race and be a somebody but I made a boo boo in business and lost all my chips. I was around 40 years of age (now almost 65) and it hurt and I found it hard to handle.

Anyway I was looking for something because this wasn’t working. I suppose I was looking for a way to feel better. There was nothing I could do about the business thing which, because of my own dumb fault, I had to take the hits and all that it encompassed. But I needed some solace and hence I headed in God’s direction. I had always believed in God but I was a secret believer.

I started going to a lot of Christian meetings and all that stuff and I concluded that their way was the right way even though heaven and hell wasn’t on my radar. I knew that their way was right but I couldn’t, as much as I wanted to, take the plunge. In other words I was too weak.

I wanted or needed the acceptance of those who were in the world and I knew that if I became a believer in Jesus Christ I was not only not going to get it but there would be the shame of it all. Eventually after much heart wrenching I decided that I couldn’t do it.

Some time after making this decision I became smitten with some sort of illness/virus which took away my appetite completely but all my bones were aching too and I couldn’t sleep. Also I couldn’t drink to the extent that I couldn’t even have a teaspoon of soup. But to top it off I started getting all sorts of nightmare-ish type thoughts, freaky stuff, which made me realize that I wasn’t as tough as I thought I was and yeah I could have a nervous breakdown.( when I was 26 years of age I bit the dust with mental breakdown and I recognized the symptoms)

This went on for about 3 days and my wife and I were getting pretty worried. She could usually get me right but this time it too much for her. She knew of my interest in the born again Christian thing so she suggested that I go to a meeting that was on that evening. I told her in so many words to forget it.

But laying there hungry for sleep I thought about her suggestion and decided to make a deal with God. Essentially I said to God that if He would let me go to sleep I would go to the meeting and become a Christian. Then suddenly I went to sleep and had a very peaceful sleep. When I awoke I kept my deal with God and got dressed and went to the meeting. I tried hard to not look conspicuous by not shaving and dressing roughly.

Anyway there is this guy up the front preaching but I was really too sick to listen to a word of it. I had come there for one reason only which was to do my deal with God. Eventually he calls all those to come to front of the meeting who want to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior. I chose a moment to go forth that gave me the best opportunity to blend in with the rest who were also on this trip.

I knelt down with the lot of them and turned around to look at the crowd and thought.” well I am making a real fool of myself here.” There was a lady beside me on her knees balling her eyes out and I wondered why.

 I made my deal with God that day and yes I was on board.

Afterwards a group of us new converts were being talked to by a Christian counselor who amongst other things said that we would be on this pathway for the rest of our lives; And suddenly I realized that he was right and that I would never turn back. It was like a knowing.

I used to be quite a nervous guy, so true to form, I was kind of anxious to get out of the place but some young guy came up to me and started talking. He sort of said that the lord wanted him to take care of me for a while and that he would be in touch by phone. ( and he did just that and was in my life for a while)

I jumped in the car and rocketed off home and suddenly I realized that I was thirsty—-so I pulled into a gas station and got a large container of orange juice which I was drinking as I was driving. But I got what I call orange burn because my lips were so parched that the orange actually burned them if you get my drift.

I arrived home and said to my wife that I had walked up the front of the meeting and accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savoir (this was part of the deal to tell all and sundry of your stance with God) and that I was starving and could she get me steak eggs and French fries. She gave me a bit of a strange look but didn’t say anything and fixed me a meal.

Then I hit the sack but when I awoke in the morning all I could hear was the beautiful loud sound of birds singing. It seemed like years since I had heard them. But also everything looked beautiful. The sky the trees just everything including all the cars that I saw as I drove to work but even all the really nice ones. Let me explain.

Really expensive cars were my thing and I wasn’t driving one but I wanted one. Prior to this born again experience the sight of them was making me bitter. I didn’t want to be bitter but I couldn’t prevent it from happening. However this day it was all different and they looked beautiful again and I suppose you could say that my bitterness was turned into joy.

All the people that day also looked beautiful included my weather beaten worse for wear work associate who was about 15 years my senior. I knew God had entered my life like I knew, like I knew, like I knew.

To top it off God did a couple of other things over the next few days such as remove a ton of fear out of me. Also I used to really condemn myself which kept shooting holes in my happiness. But God fixed this too. So as you might imagine I became a man on a mission. I would have crawled over broken glass to get to church in those days.

It’s good for me to remember this before and after story by telling you about it.
On the outside I have gotten older but on the hidden inside I have changed to the extent that it is entirely appropriate to say that I have become like the bible says, a new creature.

Now I am not ashamed to follow the Lord of whom I can say like King David said in Psalm 18.

I will love thee Oh Lord my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer.

God bless  you

Paul