In my five trips to Ireland, I always end up in Dublin, and I always go to Phoenix Park, and I always sit on the same bench on the Khyber Road within the park. This is what I wrote after my first trip in 2016 as I sat on that bench.
Sitting on a White Bench on the Khyber Road
The wind blows from behind me, but I don’t know where it comes from. And it passes by me into the trees on the other side of the pass, but where it goes and if it stops someplace after that, I don’t know.
A Beta Reader is someone who reads a new book by an author and gives their take on it. It’s not being an editor or proofreader, which are paid positions. And it’s not purchasing the book or having any other financial requirements.
The name of the book is FINDING THE SAFEST PLACE ON EARTH. It’s a Christian story, without heavy theology, that explores where to find the safest place on earth and how to stay there. Those topics are revealed through a dialogue between an alcoholic named Jack and a mysterious teacher and mentor named Manny. It’s 40,000 words and an easy read.
Most of us have addictions of one kind or another, so the story gives insights to just about anyone, not just alcoholics.
If you’re willing to be a Beta Reader, please contact me at: patrickday@pyramidpublishers.com and I’ll send you a manuscript as an attachment to a return email.
The safest place on earth is not an abstraction or a concept, not a thought in my mind or a sudden revelation, not even being in the Bible or in prayer or in Christian service.
To put it clearly, it is not a something but a Someone. The safest place on earth is leaning back against Jesus, as John did in John 13:25. All the other apostles died a violent death; John did not.
The safest place in a dangerous world is being in a storm-swept boat about to sink, with Jesus who can calm the storm, as He did in Mark 4.
Yet I am always with You; You hold me by my right hand. You guide me with Your counsel, and afterward You will take me into glory. Psalm 73:23-24
It’s a given that God is always with you through His Holy Spirit who came to live in you when you accepted Jesus as your Savior. The question is whether you are with God and whether you let Him take hold of your right hand and guide you with His counsel.
“There was a book written years back called GOD IS MY CO-PILOT. That’s a terrible concept. If you’re treating God as your co-pilot, it means you’re sitting in the wrong seat. You need to let God be your pilot. He’s the one who flies the airplane. You’re simply along for the ride.
As the sketch below shows, if you’ve been at the top of your life and asking Jesus to tag along like a puppy dog, your life is going to be upside down. He needs to be at the very top of your life and you tag along like a puppy dog.
I met with Tyler yesterday at the county jail where I’m a chaplain. He’s struggling with having lost his daughter to foster care when he got busted several months ago. We were studying the story of the rich ruler whom Jesus asked to sell everything he had and come follow Him, when he asked me a question I hadn’t anticipated. “Pat, if Jesus asked you to give up everything you have to go where He asked you to go, what would you say to Him?”
I thought about my wife, my two sons and their wives, and my three grandchildren and the teacher’s retirement checks my wife and I get and the Social Security checks we get every month. I thought about the comfortable house I live in and my friends and my publishing business and all the other things I’d be losing. I told Tyler I’d ask Jesus for time to think it over, since it was such a momentous decision to make.
Then I started processing it all aloud, so Tyler was able to see the process I’d use to answer Jesus’ question. First of all, I’d not be leaving my children and grandchildren in the lurch. My wife, their mother and Nana, is the main go-to contact in our family; she’d be sufficient for them. As to all the rest of it, I went through it piece by piece and said to Tyler, “If I can trust Jesus with the then, when I die, then surely I can trust Him with the now. If he sends me far away, He’ll take care of my family and friends and business and all the pieces of my life.”
I thought a bit of where He might send me. Some places would be OK and some I’d prefer not to go to. But If I’ve given my life to Him, then wherever He takes me to is where He wants me to be. If I am His servant, as I claim I am, I will follow Him to the ends of the earth. He died on the cross to reconcile me to God; He gave me a free pass to heaven. How could I refuse Him anything. All these things that I thought I shared with Tyler. Then I said, “My answer would be ‘Yes, I’m willing to follow you anyplace You want me to go, whether pleasant or unpleasant. I’m willing to give up everything I have to follow You.'”
It might be a good exercise for you to ask yourself the same question. Would you be willing to give up everything you have to go where Jesus wanted you to go? With no stipulations or requests. With no expectations other than doing what He wants you to do.
This is taken from a new book I’m writing called FINDING THE SAFEST PLACE ON EARTH.
For the most part, people on this earth fit into one of three categories. The first category ends when one is born-again of the Spirit. The second two categories vie for control back and forth, sometimes one and sometimes the other, and rarely totally one or the other.
The Natural Person. The spirit is dead to God and these people are unable to fulfill the purpose for which God created them. Their minds are filled with thoughts about themselves and what the world has to offer. Satan finds a fertile field for his lies in such people.
The Spiritual Person. Also known as Spiritual Christians. These people’s spirits are alive through their becoming children of God and recipients of His grace. They are re-born from their natural selves into spiritual beings. Their minds are transformed from evil to good, their wills are conformed to God’s will, and their emotions are filled with joy and peace. They are bent on following Jesus
The Worldly Person. Also known as Worldly Christians. These people’s spirits are alive but they are more interested in the world, their own desires, and having their own ways instead of being led by Christ. They live independently of God, too follow their own wills instead of God’s will, and can be emotionally flighty – up and down as the world turns for or against them. They are bent on going their own way and following the ways of the world.
If you’re reading this post, you are probably not a natural person. The question then to ask yourself is who you are most of the time. Are you a Spiritual Christian staying as close to God as you can get, or are you a Worldly Christian who goes his or her own way much of the time?
Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. John 14:21
I can read all about Jesus, study His nature and historical background, but I will never get to know Him until I do the simple, basic act of obeying Him completely in all things. When we surrender, we are flooded with new light, new hope, great joy, glorious peace and abounding faith.
And where do His commands come from but Scripture, prayer, and the revelation of the Holy Spirit?
Love the only One who could save you and the only One who can translate you from this life to heaven. On your own, you have nothing of any value for your trip to eternity.
We saw last week that one definition of love is “doing what’s best for the other person.” That’s a thought, and thoughts are not particularly beneficial until they become things.
Jesus loves us is a thought. The cross is a thing. The cross became Jesus’ doing what’s best for us. I love Jesus is a thought. My personal relationship with Him is a thing – a relationship with the one who created me, who died on the cross to restore my connection to a loving God, who is the Spiritual Head of the human race, and whom I will see face to face in not too long.
I will do better in my relationship with Jesus is a thought. Time is a thing. Time with Jesus should be A1 in my planner every day.
