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出版商:
CreateSpace Independ
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出版日期:
2013-11-16
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售價:
$850
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貴賓價:
9.5 折
$808
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語言:
英文
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頁數:
156
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裝訂:
Paperback
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ISBN:
1493760017
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ISBN-13:
9781493760015
商品描述
God has put on my heart to share this story, in hopes that it might motivate or encourage those who read it. The following pages will be scattered with stories as I documented this trip God sent me on from March 13th to July 22nd, 2013. I give God all praise and glory for the safe journey and the daily strength and courage to complete this task. Without Him, none of this would have been possible: from the bike, trailer, and gear that were donated, to the gifts of housing and food that were provided. I can do all this through Christ which strengtheneth me. Philippians 4:13 Our God is a forgiving God. My past life is a tainted life, full of living for self. Seeking to serve self and find happiness through self. I truly believe I was saved at an early age, but soon fell to temptation of the world. Falling out of God’s grace many times over, only finding myself on my knees asking for forgiveness. I often equate my life to Jonah, running from God’s command. Only to find myself in the belly of the great fish. The difference between Jonah and me is I kept going back to the belly of the fish. Jonah was in the belly for three days, I was in the belly for 30 years. There were times that I would find myself in trouble and run to God asking for forgiveness. Then as I started to get out of the trouble, I would find myself walking away from God. It seemed that I wanted to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but only when it was convenient, or fit my lifestyle. I would go to church, and hurry out the door after service. Using excuses like need to start dinner, watch the football game, meet friends or family members. Anything to avoid others, hoping no one would ask me how I was doing. See, by avoiding people, I didn’t have to lie about how I wasn’t truly living for the Lord, and that my life was actually empty, and I was just going through the motions. It seemed no matter how hard or smart I worked at creating what I thought was a happy life, it would always fall apart. Even after giving my all to a marriage of fourteen years, it fell apart too. After the marriage fell apart, I again turned to God for help, asking to be forgiven of my part of a failed marriage. This was a hard time for me; I’d now lost what I thought made me happy. I thought I was happy because I had a wife, a family, and my own business. Still not at the bottom though. Moving out of the house that I was living in, I decided to move into a huge warehouse that I was renting out. Living there for eight months, I became even more lonely and cried out more to God asking for His intervention. I believed God had a plan for me, and I was done trying to make myself happy. I just gave in to God’s calling. It wasn’t easy, and there was some back and forth on my part, but I never gave up, and God never gave up on me. Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord. Psalm 31:24 How I came to do this I spent many hours in prayer, asking God to show me what He wanted me to do. I was done living for myself, and wanted to give my all to God. I’d realized I couldn’t do it on my own, and gave in completely to God. So I started looking for some sort of sign or clarity on what God wanted me to do. Interviewing missionaries, and calling people that have done mission trips didn’t help me understand what God wanted me to do. One Sunday I put on a prayer request at the church I attended “Clarity”. That’s it. I didn’t put my name or anything else. Later that day I was on a run, about three miles into it, and all of a sudden I felt a calmness come over me. At first I thought something was wrong, I mean my heart rate went down, and I even stopped sweating. I’ll never forget what happened next, it was like I almost heard God speaking to me. “Go and walk around America and pray for revival.” Then a thought occurred to me that it would take a long time to walk around America. So I asked, “Couldn’t I ride a bike? I could cover more ground.”
商品描述(中文翻譯)
神感動我分享這個故事,希望能激勵或鼓勵讀到它的人。接下來的頁面將會散佈著我在2013年3月13日至7月22日這段神所派遣的旅程中的故事。我將所有的讚美和榮耀歸給神,感謝祂讓我安全地完成這段旅程,並賜予我每天的力量和勇氣來完成這項任務。沒有祂,這一切都不可能實現:從捐贈的自行車、拖車和裝備,到提供的住房和食物。我能夠做到這一切,都是因為基督加給我的力量。腓立比書 4:13 我們的神是一位寬恕的神。我的過去是一個污點斑斑的生活,充滿了為自己而活的日子。尋求服務自己,並通過自我尋找快樂。我真心相信我在年輕時就得救了,但不久後便陷入了世界的誘惑。多次脫離神的恩典,最終只發現自己跪下來求祂的寬恕。我常常將自己的生活與約拿相比,逃避神的命令。結果卻發現自己在大魚的肚子裡。約拿和我之間的區別在於,我不斷回到魚的肚子裡。約拿在肚子裡待了三天,而我卻在肚子裡待了30年。有時我會發現自己陷入麻煩,跑去向神求寬恕。然後當我開始擺脫麻煩時,我又會發現自己遠離了神。似乎我想要被聖靈充滿,但只有在方便的時候,或符合我的生活方式時。我會去教會,然後在崇拜結束後匆忙離開。用著各種藉口,比如需要開始做晚餐、看足球比賽、見朋友或家人。任何可以避免與他人接觸的理由,希望沒有人會問我過得怎麼樣。你看,通過避免與人接觸,我不必撒謊說我並沒有真正為主而活,而我的生活其實是空虛的,我只是隨波逐流。似乎無論我多麼努力或聰明地去創造我認為的快樂生活,它總是會崩潰。即使在為一段十四年的婚姻付出了一切後,它也崩潰了。婚姻破裂後,我再次向神求助,請求寬恕我在失敗婚姻中的一部分。這對我來說是一段艱難的時期;我失去了我認為讓我快樂的東西。我以為我快樂是因為我有妻子、有家庭,還有自己的事業。但我仍然沒有到達底部。搬出我所住的房子後,我決定搬進一個我租的巨大倉庫。在那裡住了八個月,我變得更加孤獨,向神呼求祂的介入。我相信神對我有計劃,我不再試圖讓自己快樂。我完全屈服於神的呼召。這並不容易,我的內心也有過掙扎,但我從未放棄,神也從未放棄我。你們這些仰望耶和華的人,要剛強壯膽。詩篇 31:24 我是如何開始這一切的 我花了很多時間禱告,請求神告訴我祂想要我做什麼。我已經不再為自己而活,想要將一切奉獻給神。我意識到我無法單靠自己做到這一點,於是完全屈服於神。因此,我開始尋找某種跡象或明確的指引,了解神想要我做什麼。訪問宣教士,並聯繫曾經參加過宣教旅行的人,並沒有幫助我理解神想要我做什麼。某個星期天,我在我所參加的教會裡提出了一個禱告請求「清晰」。就這樣。我沒有寫上我的名字或其他任何東西。當天稍晚,我在跑步,約跑了三英里,突然感到一種平靜的感覺降臨在我身上。起初我以為有什麼不對勁,我的心率下降,甚至停止了出汗。我永遠不會忘記接下來發生的事情,彷彿我聽到了神在對我說話。「去環繞美國走,為復興禱告。」然後我想到,環繞美國走會需要很長時間。所以我問:「我不能騎自行車嗎?這樣我可以覆蓋更多的距離。」