Pray for My Complete Healing

Also this has the Simple Daily Summary for December 18 to 20, 2014

•       By the grace of God the very runny nose and cough stopped for a few days.

•       But it is back in a different way. Previously it was heavy mucus with a deep cough. This like it is thin mucus with an almost dry cough.

•       Last night I was coughing much from 2 to 3 AM.

•       For the first time in a month I feel a fever, shakes and achiness.

•       God has provided some medicine from CVS. Pray for that to work.

•       During the last hour I have felt a fever, shakes and aches.

•       I hope the medicines deal with the symptoms and let me sleep extra today and tomorrow.

•       This could just be the flu that will pass in a few days. If it continues then pray for God to open the door for me to see a doctor and get a prescription.

•       Pray for God to heal my body soon.

•       Also the need to urinate has suddenly increased. Sometimes it less than an hour apart for the first time. God caused that to decrease the last time I requested prayers.

•       I have been shifting my attention to a for profit instead of nonprofit perspective. That has included going through my many notes.

•       The hope is that both nonprofit and for profit will come into harmony in the coming years.

•       It seems best to start with for profit and God has directed me to online experts to help me with general guidance as well as specific steps.

•       My goal now is to have this ready to go public shortly after the first of the years.

•       Meanwhile pray for me to keep it simple. May God grant me His wisdom. May the projects and goals have suitable priorities.

Here I sit

Here I sit

Solo

SO MUCH potential

SO MANY plans

SUCH a range of experiences

I am ready

Willing

Able

To

Share

Teach

Train

Lead

Equip

Facilitate

Encourage

Serve

Help

I cannot wait forever for someone to notice me and pick me and promote me.

Instead I MUST make a choice to take the initiative and do what it takes.

I MUST step up and begin a business that will use my many talents effectively.

December 16, 2014

Please Pray for These Provisions

What I need the most today and every day is for others to pray for me. And while praying by faith to expect God will answer their prayers. My life has been punctuated by the ways that God has answered prayers during the last 40 years.

Mentally and emotionally I have processed the loss of my backpack and the contents. What helped me were the prayers of my friends like you. And I did much thinking, reflecting and writing to come to a better understanding of my attitudes and thoughts about things. At the end of this message I will give you a link to a blog post with that article that I invite you to read.

Shortly after the incident I bought a very small backpack from the college bookstore. Have you seen the new style that is just a sack with ropes on the sides? There is enough room for a laptop, 2 textbooks, 2 notebooks and maybe one sandwich.

I talked to the manager of Radio Shack today and she cannot give me a refund for the headset that does not work on my laptop. Replacing that computer headset is my greatest need now. Please pray for God to guide and provide that tool.

Some people offered to help pay to replace some of the lost items. And I made an Amazon Wish List http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/1WBGXHNYOWT5I/ref=cm_wl_huc_title This includes replacing the backpack itself, computer headset, compact umbrella, USB flash drive, leather gloves, beard trimmer and sinus rinse kit. I also included shoes because my current shoes are about worn out. And I included another duffel bag because the one I have at the shelter to hold my other things is falling apart.

Besides those large items on the Amazon Wish List there were many small personal items like candy, nail file, Qtips, toothbrush, scotch tape, inspirational literature and more.

There was a USB flash drive with hundreds of pages of documents related to Christian ministry. I do not think there was anything confidential beyond my phone number and address at the shelter. Yet as a precaution I placed a fraud alert on my credit reporting agency files in the slim chance they try to steal my identity. Please pray earnestly that this not happen do to this incident on any time in the future.

Let me offer this Pay Pal link http://www.freewebs.com/jsohub/give.htm for any supporter that would rather use it rather than the Amazon Wish List.

I promised to share my new direction to earn money starting in the New Year that I trust will allow me to move out of the homeless shelter and into a better place. It will take a while to get going however it will continue long term and become a big blessing to many. I have had lots of thought and written about this. It took me longer to prepare this complex message than I expected so I will announce the new direction on Monday instead.

I promised to share my dirty little secret about my personal finances. The bottom line is that I must pay the price for my items that are in storage before December 22 or they go up for public auction. The amount due is 277.50. There is a story that goes with this on this short blog post http://guidemejesus.blogspot.com/2014/12/my-dls.html and on the longer blog post that follows.

Most people want the short version and this is as short as I can make this update. Yet a minority wants the long version with the details. So here is the link to a 3 page blog post that includes the dirty little secret and ends with special prayer requests. http://guidemejesus.blogspot.com/2014/12/life-is-more-than-things-and-money.html

This is like all the other fund raising prayer request messages. I ask in general that God will guide and provide. And specifically that God will direct my thoughts, words and deeds. May I know who to contact and what to say. May the needs be met on time.

THANKS for your prayers. 

My DLS

Yesterday I promised to share my dirty little secret (DLS) about my personal finances and that is what follows.

When I left the sober house in late June my things were put into a Public Storage unit. It is mostly books with some clothes and office supplies. There is a desktop computer and a reading chair. The price is 90 dollars a month if it is paid on time. Mostly I have paid late and with the fee it has been 110 dollars. Then there is the dirty little secret. The November bill was not paid nor has the December bill been paid. And there was a fine. My things are scheduled to go up for public auction if the bill of 277.50 is not paid before December 22.

Many times over the years and especially since I have been homeless God waited until the last minute to meet my need. That caused my faith in Christ to be stretched and improved.

I continue to grasp on to the hope that the storage bill will be paid. There is a full closet and dresser of clothes as well as personal photos I would like to recover.

I had mentioned in previous messages that I have been working on a paid project to create a crowd funding site for a client. That project could have taken 3 days but after 3 weeks there are still delays. He has other work for me that I was counting on to pay this bill. As the deadline approaches I ask for your special prayers. Or maybe God will raise up a sponsor for this urgent bill. The best thing I can do after that bill is paid is to go into the unit. Then I need to give away or throw away half the contents to reduce my bill by half. This is yet another pruning of my possessions.

Please pray for this to be paid before the deadline.

Life is More Than Things and Money

Life is More Than Things and Money

The way I process internal matters is by writing and sharing. I do that instead of getting mad at the world or God. There are times I wish I could cry at depth to release my deepest hurts. But instead I tend to think my way up and down and around the subject. Then it does not trouble me.

The recent theft of my backpack from the library with those things I held most valuable has thrust me into reflecting on my attitudes and outlooks about possessions. So please bear with me as I process and share with you.

I admit that I am responsible. The signs in the library said do not leave your things unattended. I took that risk many dozen times over the course of 5 months when I went to the bathroom. Then one time I paid the price for taking that risk. I knew it was risky and that is why I carried my laptop with me to the bathroom.

When I announced this loss to my friends and requested prayers I wanted it to be returned to me. That has not happened yet. It is still possible but not probable. I need to move forward and deal with the consequences of my actions. That includes grieving the loss and replacing the things.

This incident led me to recall a simpler time in my life when I drove back and forth to college in Atlanta from my hometown of Houston. I could put all my possessions in the trunk and back seat of my little car. The dorm rooms did not offer much storage.

A while later I asked the question, “What is there to life besides things and money?” It seemed that the purpose of going to college was to get a degree then to get a job in order to earn money then to buy things. The more money a person had the more things they could buy. But I wondered if that materialism and consumerism the whole story. Is there more to life? I learned that besides stuff there are ideas, principles and concepts. These are categorized under the labels of love, beauty, creativity, spirituality, thinking, science, education, relationships and much more.

When I looked around my life it seemed that most people had the orientation that getting lots of things. That rat race to get things was with the silent promise that such ownership will make them happy. But I knew others that had plenty of things and they did not seem happy.

Part of my spiritual quest was rooted in this seeking for an alternative to materialism. That is why I was so attracted to the New Age cult in the 1970s. I would have remained with them but I slid into drug abuse. That triggered my mother’s prayers. God answered her prayers by leading me to a church based drug rehab. That put my spiritual quest on a Christian path.

Decades after starting my Christian walk of faith I found myself with an overabundance of books. These were things that were choking my living space. I worked for 12 years at the help desk of the student computer lab in a seminary. At the student center they had a table where people could dump off books they no longer wanted. I took home many of them with the thought that it might be useful for reference or I may find time to read it someday. At one point all my bookshelves were full and my kitchen cabinets too. I had hundreds of books stacked all over the place. It got where it was a safety hazard to walk from my kitchen to the bathroom. I could trip and hurt myself. So after prayer God pointed me to a man that was taking up a collection of books to ship to Africa for libraries. I gave him about 30 boxes of books. And still I had an abundance left over.

When I became the house manager of a sober house I moved from a one bedroom apartment full of books to just one bedroom. I gave away and left behind hundreds of books.

When I left the sober house in late June my things were put into a Public Storage unit. It is mostly books with some clothes and office supplies. There is a desktop computer and a reading chair. The price is 90 dollars a month if it is paid on time. Mostly I have paid late and with the fee it has been 110 dollars. Then there is the dirty little secret. The November bill was not paid nor has the December bill been paid. And there was a fine. My things are scheduled to go up for public auction if the bill of 277.50 is not paid before December 22.

I have not had contact with those things for 5 months so I have learned to live without them. I began with just one green duffle bag that had wheels. During June and July I pulled and carried it around for many miles and it wore out. I got a brown and black duffle bag that I use to store my things at the homeless shelter and it is nearly worn out. And a few days ago I had a black backpack that was stolen.

This is a tale of continually reducing my possessions over the course of the last 5 years. I am now at the lowest point. Considering all the things in the storage unit what I pray about the most and would be impossible to replace are about 30 large mind maps that are related to ministry and are on scrolls of laminated pages or brown paper. Those represent thousands of hours of work over the course of many years.

Many times over the years and especially since I have been homeless God waited until the last minute to meet my need. That caused my faith in Christ to be stretched and improved.

I continue to grasp on to the hope that the storage bill will be paid. There is a full closet and dresser of clothes as well as personal photos I would like to recover.

I had mentioned in previous messages that I have been working on a paid project to create a crowd funding site for a client. That project could have taken 3 days but after 3 weeks there are still delays. He has other work for me that I was counting on to pay this bill. As the deadline approaches I ask for your special prayers. Or maybe God will raise up a sponsor for this urgent bill. The best thing I can do after that bill is paid is to go into the unit. Then I need to give away or throw away half the contents to reduce my bill by half. This is yet another pruning of my possessions.

I am writing this message on December 12, 2014. This is the middle of the Christmas shopping season. Honestly Christmas is my least favorite holiday. I dislike all the hype around shopping and giving things. The excesses of materialism and consumerism are on display. Our culture and economy go nearly crazy during December. People get worn out and frustrated keeping up with all the additional tasks added to their already busy life. I do not witness much love, joy or peace.

I will grant you that money is necessary and important. But if the chief purpose of acquiring money is to buy and consume things then that is not healthy or satisfying. If money and things were the key to happiness then those who are wealthy would be the happiest people. All the residents of Hollywood and Palm Springs would be content and satisfied. Based on the celebrity updates it seems that bliss is not their constant state of mind. There are real internal needs for spirituality, community service and personal growth that are not found on the shelves of any store. Walmart, Amazon and Target cannot giftwrap what is really needed for the interior of a person.

I need to provide some more context here. I am 61 years old so that means I was a teen during the 1960s. That crazy era had many subtle impacts on how I view life and myself today. It was cool to be anti-establishment in your thinking. One of the mantras of that generation was Question Authority. The advent of the Love Revolution held out such hope for a peaceful and caring society. The bad news is that the drug culture corrupted the innocence and idealism. We Baby Boomers could have caused World Peace because we had the numbers and spunk. But instead we went down the slippery slope to become greedy and gluttonous couch potatoes.  

As another matter of context I am single and I have never been married. I have never had children to buy presents for during the holidays. Yet as an outsider to that dynamic I wonder if parents attempt to sooth their guilt by giving lots of gifts. There is a saying the love is spelled t-i-m-e. What each child wants is quality time with each parent. I know that is easy to say and hard to do. There are lots of websites and books with proven and practical recommendations.

At some level my ongoing challenge is to reconcile the ideals presented in the Bible with the practical needs to pay bills and the real hurts of those around me. I have come to understand that inside of me reside an idealist, a pragmatist and a realist. Each one has a loud voice and a different worldview. My ongoing challenge is to honor all sides, referee disputes and seek to find workable collaborations. As I can do that them my life takes on better dynamic balance and I have more value to offer as I serve others.  

I request your earnest prayers for the following matters.

May the Public Storage bill be paid before December 22.

May I get in there and prune it to half before the first of the year in order to reduce my bill.

May most of the valuable items that were in my stolen backpack be replaced.

May God continue to teach me valuable lessons about materialism, possessions and stewardship.

Stolen Backpack Update

Yesterday morning started out in a wonderful way. Shortly before that I had sent out a prayer request about my immediate needs and I had asked a few specific supporters to help me. When I checked my Pay Pal balance it was much more than what I had requested.

Then shortly after noon I was working in the community college library and I went to use the bathroom. I took my laptop with me like I had dozens of times before since I began this part of my adventure in July. But when I returned the backpack was stolen. The campus police video noticed the man that took it but he had on a cap and his head was down. So his face was not recognizable. He was long gone by the time the video had been searched.

The charger for my laptop and cell phone were taken. The most painful part of this whole time was worry that I could no longer go online. After my laptop battery ran out I would be unable to access the web.  Note that I use the Internet about 10 hours a day and 6 days a week. I rarely go online on Sundays.

Thankfully the additional money that morning allowed me to buy another charger for my laptop and cell phone. After I had secured those the shock and worry had worn off. I began to feel loss. I made a decision to not ignore or stuff that feeling least it come up again later in an inappropriate way. So I sat on a park bench and just felt my feelings. Gradually I visualized each item in the backpack. I thought, felt and said that I let go of that thing. Afterward I felt released and at peace.

Also what was taken was my computer headset. I bought a replacement at Radio Shack. But it does not work on my laptop and after 90 minutes of trying every trick I gave up. I went to the store to get a refund. I had my receipt but I had thrown out the packaging because I expect it would work. The clerk said I need to come back tomorrow morning and then the manager can refund me.

Next door at Office Depot I found a name brand computer headset instead of the off brand at Radio Shack. It is just a little more expensive. With my refund and the little money I have left I can afford it.

This incident has reinforce to me that I really am a geek. My most important possessions are electronics. The computer headset is needed for my emotional health as I take breaks watching videos on You Tube and Hulu. Also the mic on the headset allows me to make online videos.

I greatly appreciate all the prayers and email replies. Some people had offered to pay to help replace the things that were stolen. That is a huge blessing.

I want to take great care to learn the lessons the Lord has for me related to this event. The bottom line is that I need to redouble my plans and bold action steps to move out of the homeless shelter and into another residence that is suitable for the next season of my life.

This afternoon God pointed me to a direction that I had not considered for a long time. It is not fund raising to launch the nonprofit ministry or get any job. Instead it is a very workable path that will take a while, I will enjoy, it will lead to my helping others and it will be sustainable long term.

Pray for God to confirm or correct this new direction for 2015 and beyond. Pray for God to grant me wisdom and focus as I change gears. I plan to share a sketch of this in an update tomorrow.

I will also share what things I hope will be replaced that were in the backpack plus there is a dirty little secret about my finances that I will need extra special prayers about that I will reveal.

Shalom

John

P. S. Many years ago I was mugged at knife point and my wallet was taken. Later I was burglarized when a person forced open the locked door destroying the frame while I was running an errand during the day. Yesterday many of my most valued possessions were taken.

I never felt angry at the people that did that to me. What is upsetting these days is the time, energy and bother to replace it.

Mostly I am a very even keel kind of guy. The time of feeling loss was a big deal for me and it lasted less than 3 minutes. 

My Backpack was Stolen Today

the following was email and shared on Facebook on December 10, 2014

I have been investing most of my waking hours in the library of the community college for months. It offers free WIFI as well as a peaceful setting.

I need to go to the bathroom sometimes. So what I have been doing is to take my laptop with me and leave my backpack. I have done that dozens of times during the last 5 months. There is a sign on all the tables that says do not leave your valuables sitting unattended.

When I returned from the bathroom my backpack was gone. It was not in the Lost and Found. I was told to talk with the campus police. They pulled up recorded video of the door to the library. After searching for a while a man with an orange cap and blue shirt was noticed entering the library and then exiting shortly after that with a black pack. It had a bottle of red coke classic like was in the side pocket of my backpack. His face was cast down and he immediately left the campus.

The campus police officer asked what was in it and I told him what I recalled. It was mostly personal items like notes, toothbrush, vitamins, medicine for my sinus and prostate. I had put in there an expired picture ID to the recreation center in case it was ever lost. It has no commercial value. My driver’s license and debit cards are in my wallet and were not taken. 

My top priority now is to buy another cable to recharge my laptop and one to recharge my phone. Then I will write and inventory of all that was in the backpack. I will plan how to replace the most important things.

This happened about an hour ago. I am still in shock somewhat.

Pray for God to guide my thoughts, words and deeds. May the Holy Spirit comfort me. May God bring to my mind the suitable Bible verses.

I would like for my property to be returned. If that happens then it would be a miracle from God.

Shalom

John

Starting My Job Search

Please pray for me as I begin this major change of direction.

I have begun to seek a part time job. The kind of job that has the most appeal to me today is as a parking valet. I have never done that before but it seem suitable to this season of my life. From what I can observe the parking valets drive cars to parking places and then get them later. That seems simple enough. There are a few risks involved in terms of driving nice cars in settings where there might be much traffic in tight places plus some of those other drivers had consumed alcohol.

The appeal is that it is part time work that can free me to continue to develop the ministry. I hope that there would be some good income from cash tips.

Currently my costs of living are very small. Living at the shelter costs 10 dollars a night and all my other costs are less than 10 dollars a day. So 600 dollars a month is plenty for me to meet my basic needs these days. There are some wants that appeal to me too.

I am grateful that God has used generous supporters to keep me going this long. I had fully expected that the crowd funding platform would have been paying my bills long ago. But that did not work. I have been writing the ebook that has the text what I have been saying for years about the vision and game plan for the ministry. But that has taken much longer than I expected. I will continue to write that and eventually it will lead to fund raising.

Let me be very clear that I still intend to seek first the kingdom of God and I believe that includes investing the majority of my time on the ministry. I am not seeking a full time job that will leave me too tired to work on the ministry.

I continue to believe God to open the door right on time for my next residence. My Good Shepherd Jesus Christ will make a way for me to move from the shelter to another location in due time.

This is a new way of thinking for me. So I request your prayers for God to speak clearly to my heart and mind about this matter. I trust He will confirm it or correct me.

I obviously need to do some online research about the options. That will lead to perhaps online applications. I do not have a current resume and I might need to create one. There will be phone calls and interviews. May the Lord lead and guide in all these processes. I do not want to make this more complicated than it is, nor do I want to presume I can do this apart from Christ.

I have not had a haircut for several months so that will come before any job interview. Today I do not have money for a haircut so pray for God to provide that.

I need to pay 25 dollars to the shelter for the next month to use my laptop there. Pray for God to provide that.

I can use more Saw Palmentoo herbal supplement that is an aid for my prostate and urination. Pray for God to provide the 25 dollars for that.

Another small cost is that I buy sodas, water and candy. When I can afford it I buy Subway sandwiches.

Here are my needs

25 dollars for computer at the shelter

25 dollars for supplements for my prostate

25 dollars for sodas, water, candy and sandwiches

15 dollars hair cut

90 dollar total

And more would be nice

When God opens the door to this part time job I might need to get special clothes.

I want to soon raise the money for the shelter before they ask to see my expired receipt.

Pray for God to guide my thought words and deeds as I raise these funds and seek this job.

THANKS again for each of your prayers.

If you feel led to help me financially at this time then contact me and I will share the Pay Pal link.

My Time of Need

I come to you now requesting your very best prayers.

I have been working more than 60 hours a week for many weeks.

Nearly all that time was focused on preparing the crowd funding platform.

By the grace of God that site went public last week.

I sent out prayer requests and promoted the site to many dozen of my contacts.

Honestly I had fully expected to receive some donations by now.

I did get feedback today saying that the introduction video audio quality is poor.

I will reshoot that video and replace the original one soon.

As of noon on Tuesday there were zero donations.

Frankly I feel surprised and disappointed.

This has caused a minor crisis of my faith.

I had felt sure that God was guiding me in this direction.

I had felt that this will lead to both paying my modest bills and getting me on the road trips.

There are many more ways to promote the crowd funding site that I have not used yet.

I have 27 more days until the campaign end on October 5.

The goal is 3 thousand dollars and I had hoped to raise 5 thousand.

I have been using other options to promote the crowd funding site already.

Pray for God to grant me His wisdom in doing this effectively.

There are many online articles about how to do this.

I have read some and applied their instructions.

I will read and apply more.

Meanwhile there are bills to pay.

I had been very blessed by generous donors recently that got me this far.

However here is what is due and past due.

I had been waiting and hoping for income from the crowd funding site until the last minute

But now I need to request special prayers for these immediate needs.

I recall that during the last 10 weeks God had provided at the last minute before.

31 dollars for a month of cell phone

30 to 100 dollars for 10 dollars per night to sleep at the homeless shelter 3 to 10 nights

70 to 140 dollars with fees is a minimum

110 dollars for storage of my things to be paid before September 19 or goes on auction

I have paid for my stay tonight at the shelter.

I need to pay at least 10 dollars by tomorrow evening.

I would like to pay 30 to 100 dollars.

I hope that my cell phone service does not get cut off.

Then there is likely an additional fee to reconnect.

Pray for God to guide and provide.

May the Lord Jesus Christ lead my thoughts, words and deeds.

If you have lots of faith then go ahead and pray for the 3 thousand dollar goal to be met.

Pray for the 500 dollars to come in soon that will break the ice.

The 500 and 3 thousand dollars can be raised as God leads me to promote the site.

Here is the link to the crowd funding platform.

You can go there to promote it to others and to make a gift.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/road-trips-to-relieve-severe-poverty/x/8411792

Shalom 

Ice Breaking Time

Long ago God delivered me from drug addiction and a cult due to answered prayers. God put me in a loving Christian community for my drug rehab. There I learned about Jesus and the Bible. Thanks to many more answered prayers I was born again January 16, 1977. I was 23 years old then and that same year God called me to ministry.

During the past decades I have done my best to follow Jesus by faith daily.

I have made dozens of attempts to launch ministries. All of those ministries were Bible based, educational and used the latest medias. None of those attempts got the plans off the drawing table.

I have kept the best parts of all those visions and game plans. That is why the materials online are dozens of pages of text and hours of videos.

During the last 2 months God has answered many more prayers. By His grace many logistical and technical problems were solved. Many internal challenges were met. Some examples of those internal challenges include the following: Perfectionism, procrastination, fears of success, failure and rejection.

Last week I finally promoted the crowd funding platform to the public. It was a stretch to go beyond sending the link to friends. I sent the link to strangers. And I asked them to promote it to their social media contacts. That took some humility and courage to let people come see my less that fantastic presentation.

Zero money has been raised as of this minute. Yet the dashboard of the crowd funding site gives me this report: 92 is how many visits there were to the site and 16 is how many referrals were made using social media.

The fund raising goal is only 3 thousand dollars. That is 1 thousand for each of the following: 1. prepare a promotional DVD, 2. fund initial road trips and 3. my living expenses.

My living expenses include the following: housing, storage of my things, cell phone and personal care items.

I have been sleeping at a Christian homeless shelter for many weeks. For only 10 dollars a day I get a bed, hot shower and 3 meals a day. My plain Jane cell phone bill is only 31 dollars a month. The rent to store my things is 110 a month. Personal care items include bottled water, Gatorade, etc.

I named this message Ice Breaking Time because it is time for some support to appear on the crowd funding site. That will break the ice and make it easier for others to support too. It would take an act of faith in God and trust of me to give during these early stages. But I believe God will make a way.

God has brought me this far. He will not leave me or forsake me at this important time.

I am requesting extra special prayers for this. If you have been following my updates then you will know that God has provided lots of money right on time over and over again for the last few months. Here is a blog with the records of those provisions since late June http://guidemejesus.blogspot.com/

Recently as I have prayed about this my faith shifted. Most of the time yesterday I was believing God for 500 dollars to break the ice. Just before I fell asleep my faith peaked at 700 dollars. Then this morning while I was feeling groggy the best I could trust God for was 150 dollars. So I will request your prayers for God to provide 500 dollars very soon. He might do more than we ask and even go over 700 dollars.

Besides that specific short term prayer request to break the ice, I have published a list of general long term prayer requests on this blog. Please go here and pray over the items. You might want to print them out to take to your prayer closet.  http://oscintercessors.blogspot.com/

You are invited to go to the crowd funding platform to pray over it. You can use the social media sharing links there to share the vision and game plan for Our Stewardship Community. Your referrals might lead to more prayers and financial support.

Let us look to God that He will used us to bring together people, resources and opportunities. We will provide educational resources through Community Centered Libraries. Those will help to relieve poverty for subsistence farmers, orphans and rural pastors in developing countries.

Here is the link for you to go there and to share. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/road-trips-to-relieve-severe-poverty/x/8411792

Shalom 

Rejoice with Me

God has answered many prayers and thankfully a major milestone was passed. I have finally gone public with the ministry of Our Stewardship Community.

That was a major breakthrough so I invite you to rejoice with me. Dozens of internal and external challenges were met.

After years of research, preparing and planning it is time to go public with my dream of launching and leading an innovative educational nonprofit organization.

I have been working for weeks to set up a crowd funding platform for raising the initial seed capital. This will get the ball rolling. I will use the money raised by this first campaign to start to go on road trips to 5 cities and 3 countries. There I will present the vision and game plan for Our Stewardship Community. I will enroll a Launch Team of intercessors, advisers and donors.

Together we will collaboratively create and distribute educational modules that will bring practical education about the basics of agriculture, literacy and Christianity to those in developing countries. We will aim to serve subsistence farmers, orphans and rural pastors. They will access these materials at community centered libraries. There will be basic audio and video recording equipment so that local teachers can teach their people as well as the materials we will provide.

I believe that there will be plenty of college students that will volunteer to assist with this enterprise online. The significant and measurable results will appeal to generous donors. All along the way many will be praying. And answered prayers is the only way I have gotten this far.

This is a huge and complex undertaking that will reach all the way around the globe. We will be bridging the gaps of language and culture as we bring together people, resources and opportunities.

Today I am requesting your very best prayers. Pray for the fund raising goal of only 3 thousand dollars to me not only met but exceeded.

There are some ways you can help me today.

You can go to this blog where I have a list of prayer requests http://oscintercessors.blogspot.com/

You can go to this blog that has links to the short videos and text versions of the presentation. When you get there I welcome your comments, suggestions and questions. http://oscadvisers.blogspot.com/2014/09/links-to-presentations-for-your-feedback.html

You can use this link to go to the crowd funding platform and from there you can share it with those in your social media contact base. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/road-trips-to-relieve-severe-poverty/x/8411792

When you get there then you are asked to give a generous donation. Your money will make a big difference as it is added with others who together get the ball rolling. After others notice some momentum then they will more likely give. Your dollars today will help to convince them to give later.

Together we will provide practical education that will relieve severe poverty for future generations.

Shalom 

Bumps Along the Path

VIDEO

I failed to get the last video online today by noon like I had hoped.

My accountability partner has been very busy so we will meet at 445 today.

I will have it online by then.

PHONE

My cell phone bill is due tomorrow.

10 dollars was needed and 7 dollars was contributed.

There is just 3 more dollars needed.

That is the money needed beyond what I have in my Pay Pal account right now.

Please pray for God to make that provision soon.

SHELTER

I talked with the clerk at the homeless shelter.

He forgot to talk with his supervisor about my account.

The supervisor can pull the records.

It will show how much I have paid and how long I have been there.

That will reflect if I still have nights already paid.

I think I am paid until Tuesday or Wednesday.

But the current record says only until Monday.

Pray for the truth to be revealed clearly.

Pray for God to provide more money for next week.

WATER

It has been very hot and I have not been able to afford bottled water or Gatorade like at first.

Pray for God to provide funds for that too.

EXTROVERT

This morning I realized another big reason why I have taken so long to raise funds.

All my life I have been content to remain behind the scenes.

I have been a silent observer.

I have hung out in libraries.

I have had customer service jobs and failed at sales jobs.

I can deal with people who come to me with problems.

I dislike going to strangers and pitching an item sell.

I have operated the video camera and TV camera in church services.

I have rarely been on the platform and held the microphone.

This is the hyper introvert becoming more of an extrovert.

The pressure of money and housing is forcing me to confront these matters.

The times I did present brown bag seminars on topics I researched I enjoyed that.

What is in my mind and heart are literally many dozens of lessons.

But those Christian lessons assume I have a platform and an audience.

The last week has helped me to sketch out the many short videos I will make soon.

PLATFORM

The pressure is on me to do what it takes to just launch the crowd funding site.

It will not be super-duper amazing.

But it will be an important step forward.

It will be a critical step toward gaining better cash flow.

I will need to overcome internal resistance during the next few days.

Please pray for courage and strength.

Shalom

Strangely Reluctant

Yesterday I had a small but important breakthrough.

I published 3 short videos online.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnFmcTJDzAgb-tiTGY8XxCIg_urRblj5q

They were based on the Central Diagram of Our Stewardship Community.

I had shared those messages with dozens of individuals over the years.

Using that Central Diagram I can share more short videos.

It gives the big picture overview.

The Central Diagram is like the skeleton that connects the many parts.

I already have rough drafts of the Power Point slide for next few videos.

As I have stated before the vision and game plan for the ministry is huge and complex.

The videos I put online range from 2 to 4 and a half minutes.

Each one covers a small part of the whole.

My ongoing challenge is to keep it simple.

I want the videos to be 1 to 3 minutes long.

But some will need to be longer.

I know that the attention span of most people is very short.

But then there are always the minority that do not care how long it goes.

The Holy Spirit has been inspiring me in how to present the many small parts.

There are two online services I plan to use after I have some more short videos online.

One of them is named Prezi http://prezi.com/

It will allow me to share the short videos using a large graphic context.

And I can include short text documents on this too.

The other platform is named Udemy https://www.udemy.com

It is an online teaching platform.

The short videos would be offered in more of a linear format.

Also text can be woven in with the short videos.

There is an option to either see them in sequence or skip around.

I like this platform because later I plan to offer biblical lessons there.

Previously I mentioned the crowd funding platform Indiegogo https://www.indiegogo.com/

Using that platform is essential to the next round of raising funds.

They have a huge operation and many people who hang out there.

That is where I will connect with strangers who are there.

And I will use promotional tools and methods to drive traffic there.

But what it does best is to serve as an initial contact point.

Then from there the new people will be linked to the short videos mentioned before.

That is like the display widow in a busy shopping mall.

That can catch initial attention then my job is to cast the vision and sketch the game plan.

What I lead with there must be short sweet and simple.

It needs to emotionally engage the stranger and make them want to know more.

That is easier said than done.

By the grace and providence of God the Lord put the following video into my life.

It has instructions on just how to make such a promotional video that will lead to more interest.

The few key points to cover are mentioned and the importance of expressing passion is there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w3a8NlHAaE

Please pray for me to learn and apply this guidance.

During the video mentioned before he said it is essential to express your emotions.

It many take many takes to get it right.

He said it is hard to do that just with the camera.

But it is useful to imagine an audience of a very receptive and supportive person.

When I made face to face presentations years ago most people said I was very passionate.

My voice tone changes and my body language got animated.

But so far I have not been able to tap into that when recording alone.

Pray for me to learn that skill and or maybe God will put the right person for me to record with.

Maybe I can adapt a Google Hangout or Skype call format and record that.

The title of this message is Strangely Reluctant.

When I am sharing with a person the vision for ministry using visual aids I get very excited.

When I pray and seek the will of God for my life for decades it comes back to this.

When I am not working on moving forward with the ministry I get depressed.

If I stay depressed for a long time then I tend to get into despair.

The only proven way out of that valley is to take actions to prepare for the ministry.

I have been working from 800 AM to 700 PM at the community college for weeks.

But I have not had the outcomes I had expected.

I am closer than I was.

I had used the image of a woman that was 10 months pregnant.

I have felt over due on birthing this ministry.

Right now it seems like the head of the infant has just appeared.

Now comes the hard part for me to PUSH.

Then I must PUSH more.

I hope and believe that soon this that has been inside me will get outside.

It has been on the drawing table for many years.

It will come out and become a reality that will benefit others.

By the grace of God and through the answers to many prayers I am at this point.

I am no longer stuck with the following issues

Perfectionism

Procrastination

Fear of failure

Fear of success

Fear of rejection

Fear of responsibility

I made a commitment to my accountability partner last week.

I committed to have published 3 kinds of videos and made a list of resources.

One of those 4 has been completed.

And 2 could be completed as soon as today, but by tomorrow for sure.

Now I feel confident that all 4 will be online before the deadline on Saturday.

Then I have several more measurable tasks for the next week.

I will commit to do those and that will keep me moving forward.

I am no longer stuck in excessive planning.

My next step is to enroll lots of prayers for my financial needs.

As others pray then I believe God will answer.

I will have more than enough for my basic needs.

The main need now is 10 dollars per night at the homeless shelter.

That includes a bed with sheets and blanket, hot shower and 3 meals.

I talked with the clerk yesterday about the mix up on my account.

He will talk with his supervisor.

I thought I was paid up for tonight.

But maybe the records will show I need to pay for tonight.

This is written a little before noon on Wednesday August 6, 2014.

I need to meet with the clerk today between 530 and 730 PM.

What I want is to have at least 30 dollars to put on my account.

God woke me up from a sound sleep last night.

He gave me faith in a moment to trust him for 7 nights or 70 dollars.

Then I believe that within 7 more nights the crowd funding site will be online.

Like I wrote yesterday my cell phone bill of 31 dollars is coming due on August 10.

But right now that is long ways off.

There are other needs and wants.

But the top priority is to secure my housing.

There are fees that come with Pay Pal and the ATM.

So please pray for God to guide and provide.

The need is for 35 to 75 dollars today in the next few hours.

I will need to contact individuals to ask them

That is how God met my needs before.

Pray for me to know who to contact and how to approach them.

May I find favor.

May this need for housing be met right on time.

Today I feel strangely reluctant.

Maybe that is due to the needs to PUSH.

It is my hope and expectation that after the ministry is launched there will be joy.

I will have various ways to express my passions for that energizes me.

Shalom