“I know mine and they know me and no one will snatch them from me.”

 

 

  1. On or about June 15, 1959 I had been cited for some serious traffic citations—the Air Force was threatening to give me a Bad Conduct Discharge.  They were furious and were riding me like only the military can ride someone with whom they are angry.  I was frightened like I had never been frightened before.  I started praying like I never prayed before and going to church daily.   In or around November of 1959 I was in a church in Madison, Wisconsin.  After services (approximately 7:45 am), the cross appeared to glow brightly to me and I heard a voice say, “It’s alright, Bill.  Just don’t do it again.”  I thought I was going insane and just imagined that I heard God’s voice.  I went back to the barracks and was preparing for inspection when I was called to the public phone in the barracks and told that all charges in town had been dropped. My commanding officer now thought that I knew powerful people and decided to send me to school to keep me out of trouble (I had dropped out of high school to join the Air Force).  God had turned a very nasty situation into my getting 3 years of education (high school diploma and 2 years of college credits at the University of Wisconsin, Madison).  Eventually I was nominated to the Air Force Academy and given several decorations in the Air Force. 
  2. I did not heed His warning; the chaplain that was working with me went home to Atlanta, Georgia, and I eventually went back to drinking.  On November 22, 1963, the day of John Kennedy’s assassination, I was drunk and defied God.  Though I did go on to graduate college and was commissioned in the Air Force, this led to years of torment, ruined relationships, and loss of self-respect due to a DUI citation received when I was a nuclear launch officer.  Though there is no record of this DUI anywhere except in Air Forces notes—I had hired a lawyer for the ticket and was also working with a JAG officer—it cost me a year of pure hell in SAC, and though I received an honorable discharge, the Air Force put on the discharge a “secret code 509,” is it was called back then.  This SDN509 caused pure havoc with my employment and homelife.
  3. In Freedom, Wisconsin, May of 1973, in a drunken rage, I did things that could have at a minimum landed me in jail.  God again saved me from the consequences of my insanity.  One month later, when I admitted total defeat and begged God for help, He took away my addiction to alcohol.  I was looking at Solomon’s picture of Christ (the picture with 7 symbols painted into it) and crying because of all the bad things I had done—but also crying in joy because I knew that something special had happened.  The compulsion to drink had been lifted from me and it has never returned—though I joined AA, it is Jesus who has saved me.
  4. Joining AA, I got my first sponsor, Les Kapheim, a Methodist PK, and started working the program seriously.  Please don’t get me wrong.  Though I owe a lot to AA, I believe that it is Jesus that keeps me sober.  Les took me to a charismatic prayer meeting early in my sobriety and there was a guy there who made the statement to the group, “Any time you are confused and hurting, go into your room, close the door, and open the Bible at random, and without looking, point to a verse in the Bible.”  He went on to say, “If you are in trouble at work, for example, it won’t say, ‘Get your resumes out and start interviewing,‘ but it will state a spiritual principle which, if you meditate on it, will help you.”  I thought the guy was nuts.  However, the day quickly came, when in total confusion and fearful about staying sober, I tried what he said.  I pointed to Matthew 10:32.  Jesus says, “If you deny me before men, I will deny you before the Father.”  At that instant in time, I knew that I had a deal with Jesus.  If I would mention that He was the one who was keeping me sober at every meeting—not get on a soap box and preach—simply state that He is the one who keeps me sober, I would stay sober.  At this point in time, it is 37 years later and He has kept his end of the deal, and I have kept my part of the deal.  I have over 37 years of continuous sobriety.
  5. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, December of 1976, while reading the book of Joshua in the Bible, in my mind’s eye I was swooped up to 10,000 feet and was looking down at the Jews crossing the Jordan River—at that point in time, I knew that I was going to go to Jerusalem.  I had no money and there was a shooting war going on over there, but I knew that I was going to Jerusalem.  I came into a tidy sum of $14,000 and immediately bought a round trip ticket to Jerusalem (pilgrimage) for Easter.  The trip was cancelled twice because of the war, but I never lost faith that I was going to go if it was God’s will—I was there at Easter.  On Easter morning I walked down to the Garden of Gethsemane by myself.  In the garden there was a cement pillar there with a hand print in it.  A sign underneath the handprint talked about Jesus’ doing the Father’s will.  The sign said that the imprint was Jesus’ hand at the time of his terrible passion. Another sign at the gate of the garden said, “Please do not take any souvenirs.”  Looking around, I did not see anyone present, so I selfishly chipped a stone off of the bottom of the pillar. The stone was about the size of the tip of your little finger.  I was planning to have it set in a ring for my mother, even though I knew I was wrong in what I was doing.  I placed the stone in a jeweler’s bag along with several other things that I had placed in there.  A week later, when we were taking off in the jumbo jet from Israel, heading back to the U. S., I said to the woman sitting next to me that I had chipped a stone off of the pillar in the Garden of Gethsemane and that I was taking it home to be set in a ring for my mother.  She asked to see it.  When I opened the jeweler’s bag everything was in the bag except the stone.
  6. After the above incident took place in the Garden of Gethsemane, I walked on the path of the Kidron Valley, thinking that I was walking on a path that Jesus had walked 2000 years ago. Walking up the hill, I entered the East Gate, the Moslem section of Jerusalem.  Immediately, Moslems were angrily shouting and pointing at me.  I felt that death was very close, and said, “Jesus, please help me.”  Instantly two women with British accents appeared to me and said, “Do you need help?”  I told them that I had walked up the Kidron Valley and that I was frightened.  They told me to follow them.  We quickly took some stairs to the roof of the closest building.  After that we ran across all of the roofs in the Moslem section until we arrived at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  They said, “Go down this fire escape.” Going down the stairs—going down and looking back, they were gone (angels?)—I entered the Church at the front.  There were thousands of people trying to get into the church, and I attended services not more than 10 feet from the altar.  I could see a mist coming out of the mouths of the ministers. I felt closeness to God that I have not felt very often.
  7. Speaking of feeling the nearness of God, in 1981 I went on an Ecumenical Cursillo (extremely intense retreat).  On the last day of the retreat I felt the closeness of Jesus.  It was so sweet and overwhelming that I began to cry with pure joy.  I asked Him to back off a bit because it was so intense—it was wonderful—I have never felt His nearness to that extreme.
  8. After praying for 14 years to God for a wife, I said to God, “When are you going to give me a wife?”  He said to me, “When you are ready to have a wife, I will give you one.”  I said, “O.K.”  The following week (1988) I met Chris at a church function—we got engaged in church (1989).  We were married in church on July 1, 1990.  We have been active members of a church ever since.  Once when we were in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, we were looking in the window of a very expensive store.  I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Chris was bent over looking at a picture of a little Dutch girl sniffing a tulip.  I said a little prayer to Jesus, “Jesus, please help me give Chris a little baby girl.”
  9. As a computer programmer there have been enumerable problems in which I didn’t have any idea of how to solve them.  After a prayer to Jesus, a strange, new idea would come out of the blue and it would be the solution to the problem.
  10. The airplane crash at Kenosha, Wisconsin.  On Memorial Day in 1990, before taking off in the KR2 (experimental airplane), I said a prayer to Jesus, “Jesus, you know I am crazy and I know that I am crazy.  Please watch over me.” Five minutes later, after the airplane crashed, my leg was severely injured (it needed 300 stitches to put it back together again).  When they were wheeling me into the operating room, the nurse said, “Nobody knows why you are alive.  God must have a plan for you.”  (Two years previous I had asked Jesus to help me give Chris a baby girl.)  At that point in time I cried like a baby because I knew that God was going to give Chris and myself a daughter.
  11. God told me that we were going to have a daughter.  On August 20, 1992 He gave Chris and me a beautiful baby girl.
  12. In 1993 I was given 7 months to live because of cancer (melanoma nodular—stage 4).  At the very next AA meeting I went to, an oncologist research specialist sat at my right hand and told me not to take the chemo—that it would kill me.  He said that I should run for my life—that at the pain barrier the body produces massive endorphins which are pain killers, but that they are also cancer killers.  Seventeen years, and 10 marathons later, I am still kicking.
  13. LG is my 8 year old, 110 lb, German shepherd, who does exactly what he wants to do when he wants to do it.  We got him at a shelter 7 years ago, 3 hours before he was to be put down.  We named him Let Go and Let God (LG for short).  A short story.  We were in St. Augustine (about 175 miles from home, Lakeland, FL), when he was about 3 years old and he ran off.  We thought he was gone for good--at the time, I had mixed emotions (I was mad at him, but as time went on, I felt really bad).   At about 9:00 p.m. our room phone rang and a woman in the lobby was wondering if we had lost our dog!   As it turns out, she worked at a restaurant down the street and found LG digging in the garbage, and noticed his tags from Lakeland (knew he was from out of town, and started calling all of the hotels and motels in the area, asking if anyone was missing a German shepherd).  Being really pretty and probably quite busy with life, I asked her why she did such a nice deed.  She said that she belonged to a fellowship which believed in doing good acts and not being found out!  I asked her, "Are you a friend of Bill Wilson?"  She said, "Why, yes. Are you?"
  14. In the summer of 2000 I went to work for AIC in Indianapolis IN.  When the project was coming to an end and Lilly and AIC were playing games, I quit, took my family, and went back home to Florida.  AIC said that because I quit they would not pay unemployment.  Florida refused to pay me the unemployment.  Three Florida lawyers refused to take my case—they said that there was no way that I could win.  With Jesus’ help I kept digging and found a lawyer that gave me some tips.  I went ahead and did the research online.  Practicing Jesus’ presence I participated at the hearing (phone hearing) alone and won the case.
  15. On Christmas Eve of 2004, God told me to get into my finest clothes because I was going to serve Him as an EME (Eucharistic Minister) for the first time at Church—I had never been an EME before.  I felt privileged to give out His Body.
  16. On New Year’s Eve of 2004, Chris and I decided to stay a night at the Comfort Inn in order to avoid all of the drunken parties and fireworks in our neighborhood.  On our way to the motel, a car came from nowhere (neither Chris nor I saw the car coming) and missed us by inches—it must have been going sixty miles per hour.  When we got to the motel, we were given a two room suite for $62 dollars per night—about a third of the normal price.  Later that evening we went to a local restaurant and bought three steak meals that stretched out to two more meals.  When we returned to the house to get LG there was a letter from the Hearing Officer of Polk County telling me that there would be no points and no school for a recent speeding ticket that I was worried about.
  17. Greg M.  After not talking to Greg for almost 40 years (we sort of drifted our different ways after I resigned my commission in the air force in 1966), I started telling Chris about my best friend in elementary school and high school.  Two days later, I had this overpowering feeling that I should try to call Greg.  Looking up his name on the internet, I found a number of Greg M’s, but one stuck out in New Jersey.  Calling the number given, there was an answer, “Hello.”  I asked, “Is this the Greg M. from Chicago?”  He said, “Yes.”  I asked, “Is this the Greg M.  from Grace Street Elementary School?”  He asked, “Oh my God, who is this?”  Neither one of us realized that it was God calling Greg.  I asked, “Do you remember Dan Peters?”  He said, “Yes.”  I said that I was his next door neighbor and at one time Greg’s best friend.  I then asked Greg, “How are you doing?”  He said, “It is amazing that you called.  I just got out of the hospital today—I almost left this world.”  I asked, “What happened?”  He said that he had gone through alcohol withdrawal and had gone into seizures and that he almost died. He later said, “It was good to hear from you and I have to admit the timing was very curious, you reaching me practically as I walked in the door from the hospital where I came so close to shuffling off this mortal soil.” Again, he said, “In any case, it was good to hear from you and I'm very curious as to how you chose a time to call when things were as they were.”  If Greg really studies the above 15 miracles, he will realize how this came about.
  18. Small Miracle (?).  On March 5, 2005, after serving at church, eating at Pizza Hut, and Shopping at Wal-Mart, we were on our way home on Drane Field Road.  At a stop light there was an obnoxious pickup truck with its radio on loud stopped next to us.  We turned up our radio (“Jail House Rock”) and the light turned green.  The pickup tore off and I realized that it was “Johnny,” Johnny H., the kid across the street.  At the next stop light we stopped along side of him and when the light turned green, we burned rubber and pulled ahead of him.  As we were continuing on Drane Field Road, he appeared to be driving too close behind us.  I started thinking some bad thoughts of what I would like to do to him—I slowed down and he pulled into the left lane at the next stop light and stopped.  I continued through the light and at the next light (two blocks down the road) there was a sheriff’s deputy in the left lane (he was going to turn west on the Park Way).  As we drove by him, he turned on his right directional and pulled in behind us.  I thought for sure I was going to get a ticket.  He followed us for about a mile (“Johnny” was following the deputy a few cars back).  When we got to our road (by this time, the deputy was right behind me and “Johnny” was right behind the deputy), we turned left, the deputy continued straight, and “Johnny” turned left, but he dropped back and stayed about 2 blocks behind us (all the way to our houses).
  19. Because I am a recovering alcoholic, I stopped receiving the Blood (wine in the Catholic Church) for about 25 years.  Because in John 6, Jesus says, “Take this all of you and drink from it,” I have felt bad about not receiving The Blood.  I shared my feelings with my pastor who was an recovering alcoholic.  He said that when he said mass, that I could receive The Blood (in the form of grape juice, “mustum”) from his cup. We did this for a while.  This priest stopped going to AA meetings, and our friendship went going steadily downhill.  On Saturday, October 8, 2005, I was humiliated on the alter when the priest did not give me The Blood.  I left that mass feeling worse than when I entered (I am grateful that my family and I went to an AA speakers meeting and afterwards felt better).   I decided that if Victory Church (Assembly of God) had Communion at their services the next morning, I would give our weekly donation to Victory Church.  When we went to the services the next morning, the first thing on the Agenda was Communion—my wife and I cried from pure joy—taking it as a sign from The Father that He is pleased with us.  After the services some very nice people welcomed us and we chatted for awhile.  During the conversation, we shared what had happened at Communion (we again cried from joy).  The woman said, “Now I am going to cry.  That is a beautiful story.”  Her husband said, “Now I am going to make it even a nicer story.”  He added, “We were supposed to have had Communion last Sunday, but it was canceled and rescheduled for today.  God knew what He was going to do before all of us.”
  20. Hurricane Jean (Sept of 2005) was coming through Lakeland and the watery driven winds were reaching to 60 or 70 miles/hr.  Chris, Chrissy, and I held hands and prayed to the Father in Jesus’ name that He watch over us.  When Jean passed through, she had damaged the roof of every house around ours and even tore down some pool houses.  She also destroyed a good part of Widow Margaret’s house (inside) after tearing the roof off.  The four houses closest to us all had to have their roofs replaced as a minimum.  The only damage to our property was that an old rotten tree lost a large branch—we later cut the tree down.
  21. On 11/27/06 we woke up as usual and turned on the internet and it was down.  Calling Brighthouse at 8:20 am, they said that it looked like our modem was down and they would call us back. At 11:30 am we called Brighthouse and they informed us that they would try to get someone out to the house the next day—we got into a big argument, but they refused to budge.  Chris volunteered to go to the parts department in Carmel and I said, “Wait.  Let’s see what the Lord says.”  Going to the Bible, it said not to go immediately, that we should first do our workout (I run 5 miles and Chris follows me on her bike).  We got about a mile from the house when I spotted a Brighthouse truck.  I asked the driver, Ben, if he could swap out a bad modem for a replacement.  He said, “Sure.”  Chris went home and brought Ben the old modem and right after he replaced it, I came around for my second loop of the workout run—Chris followed me to the end of the run.  Thank you, Jesus.
  22. On Sunday, September 23, 2007, Chris and I were discussing the possibility of going back to the Disciples of Christ in Zionsville.  As we spoke I mentioned that I could not return to that church as long as a friend of mine felt that it was OK to be chewing gum while he received the Body and Blood of Christ.  Chris called Ruth (the man’s wife) and talked to her about the situation.  Ruth said that if Chris said so, Ruth would call the church office and ask them how they felt about the situation, and Chris told her that it was not necessary.  I was very upset and called Vinney.  Vinney agreed with me 100% and quoted 1 Corinthians 11:23.  He said that it was very disrespectful to Jesus for the man to do that.  On the way to Church I had Chris read 1 Corinthians 11:23.  When we got to the New Paradigm Church in Indianapolis, the church was crowded and we had to share the row with a man who was by himself—he was very demonstrative in his worship.  As we were sitting during the preaching by Jerry Sizemore, the inner voice told me to look at the Bible the man next to me was reading.  He was on the page that contained 1 Corinthians 11.  When he put his Bible down, I asked him if he was reading 1 Corinthians 11:23, and he said that he didn’t know.  Picking up his Bible, he turned to the page at which he was previously reading.  He scanned he page and said, “Yes, it is 1 Corinthians 11:23. 
  23. On November 4, 2008 I was getting dressed to vote.  Realizing that I was going to the Royal Run Club House to vote, it was possible that I might see Carlos (a next door neighbor with whom I had had some problems).  I said to the Father that if He put Carlos in my path today, I would wave to him.  He was standing in front of me in the line for people waiting to vote.  We shook hands and each of us apologized for our behavior.
  24. On 12/14/08, in a new church (Disciples of Christ, Lebanon), the preacher was talking about the poor people and all of a sudden the thought hit me that God let a problem happen with Chase (money problems) and there must have been a reason.  THERE WAS!   I realized that all this advent time that I did not once think of the poor (very selfish and self-centered of me).  Anyway, I thought that maybe God let this happen to show me that I needed to share with some poor people (the gospel was about John the Baptist telling the people that if they have two coats and a poor person has none, they should give one of their coats to the poor person who has none).  I thought that maybe God wanted me to give a tithing on the money was being held by Chase. I said, "OK, Lord.  If you give me the money back by the end of tomorrow, I will give you 10%.  If you give it back to me by the end of the week, I will give you 5%." I had the check in my hand by 12:15 pm the next day.  I guess He wanted me to give 10% (ha, ha, ha).  Isn't He great?
  25. On March 31, 2009, at 9:45 a.m. I was disappointed by a fellow member of AA who I thought had long term sobriety.  He asked me to borrow $10 or $20 (he may have long term sobriety, in spite of asking me for money).  At the breakfast table, in front of Chris and Chrissy, I said a prayer:  “Jesus, please help me.  You know that I have been terribly disappointed.”  Within 5 minutes George, a recovering alcoholic (a professed Christian and 10 months sober), called me and lifted my spirits tremendously.
  26. On September 16, 2009, I had a dream in which I was in a modern building—I think that I was working there.  My father was in the dream and he looked a lot younger than he did in his last years on earth.  In the dream there was a heavy-set man who was balding and had silver hair (looked like a lawyer I know in AA).  I was complaining to my father that this guy (who looks a lot like the lawyer I know) was gossiping about me.  My father said, “You are doing better.”  When I woke up I shared that dream with Chris, and said, “You know my father might have come to Jesus when he died.”  As an afterthought, “Maybe that was what he was trying to share with me when he called me on his death bed.”
  27. On Sunday, September 20, 2009, I woke up from a dream.  In the dream I was waiting for Chris to come home on an overpass (train station) and the tracks were below me.  As I was waiting for the train, the bells went off, saying that the train was arriving.  Looking down at the tracks I saw a car that had seemed to have been caught on the tracks and out of fear he turned left, going with the tracks and was facing the direction the train was traveling.  It appeared that the driver was going to try to out run the train.  He didn’t out run the train.  The train hit him and there was a terrible collision.  Bodies and cars were flying everywhere.  The train appeared to buckle between cars as they rose up in a terrible twist of steel.  Asking the Lord, should I tell Chris about the dream, the answer was yes.  Putting the dream aside for a moment—Chris was still sleeping—I proceeded to ask the Lord which church we should go to that day.  Asking about 4 churches, the answer was no to all of them (He was asked several times about each).  The church that He did pick out was King of Glory, a Lutheran Church on Keystone Avenue, in Carmel.  It wasn’t until about 7 minutes later that I realized that the church is about 10 minutes away from Carmel HS and that I had also been wondering about going swimming Sunday at Carmel HS because of complications with my schedule for the following week—what an awesome God!
  28. On Thursday, September 24, 2009 (notice that these last 3 miracles are 4 days apart), I woke up in the morning and prayed to the Father:  “Please help me love you as much as I love Jesus (please remember that my father had a terrible temper and battered me—once knocked me unconscious during a rage—I have had trouble praying to a “father” image).  I heard him say, “Who do you think sent my Son?”  Four days later I was praying to the Father whom I loved as much as I love Jesus.  I now pray to God the Father who I know loves me and I love Him.
  29. On October 15, 2009, as I was reading the introduction to the Gospel in the Daily Missal Jesus was warning the Jews and quoted 2 Chronicles 24: 20-24 about Zechariah’s death.  I said to myself, “We just read that.”  Looking it up in the big Bible, sure enough, I had read it on Tuesday, October 13, 2009.  I called Chris and told her that I really felt anointed and that God the Father is happy with me.
  30. On February 5, 2010 I worked at Stokes Elementary and a horrific snow storm hit that day.  After work I spent about an hour plowing and shoveling out the driveway.  When Chris and Chrissy came home, Chris said that I had some mail.  It turned out to be the printed reports from the VA.  In the reports Dr. Bhagar states, “50 % or more probability that each diagnosed disability is the result of injury or disease incurred or aggravated in the service…”  Dr. Bhagar also states, “This illness first manifested itself while he was in the service.  There is no record of him having [problems] prior to his military service.”   The doctor also says, “He continued to drink while in service and he received a DUI in 1965.  There is more than 50% probability that its course worsened for him during his 2nd tour, due to the rejection of not being allowed to become a pilot, (before the DUI in 1965) and the harassment (after the DUI).”  It took 8 years to have a psychiatrist in the VA admit that I have a service connected disability.  Talking to Chris and Chrissy about the present situation and that there is probably going to be a considerable amount of money received for the service connected disability and the 8 years of strife with the VA, it occurred to me that God had brought this about so that we (Chris, Chrissy, Patrick and his family, and I) would be able to go to Jerusalem—I cried with joy.  Early the next morning (say about 4:00 am) I got up to go to the bathroom and started reading a book that I have been reading, Soul Harvest, a religious book by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.  When I got to page 169 the author talks about a hospital in Palatine, Illinois (where Chris and I lived) and Kenosha, Wisconsin (where miracle 10 took place when we were living in Palatine).  What are the odds of an author mentioning these two locations?  These two locations were separated by only one sentence.  I told Chris that if God wasn’t telling us that the thought that I had was real about Jerusalem, He was telling us that He is totally in charge!
  31. At this site under the link Work History in the education area, it can be seen that I attended night law school (1967-1969), and did pretty well at writing law briefs.  On the other hand, I committed adultery and drank my way out of law school.  Many years after Jesus got me sober and keeps me sober, on Wednesday, 02/24/10, I was writing a certiorari (fancy name for a fancy law brief) to the U S Supreme Court because of a dispute a member of my family has had with a former employer in Lakeland, FL.  This employer is ruthless, and because of the poor employment opportunities in Florida, denies unemployment compensation as a regular practice.  Not being a lawyer, I was looking for examples in the docket at the U S Supreme Court website.  The very first pertinent example I brought up was by a man who resides in Lakeland, FL (we had lived in Lakeland, FL for 12 years and moved from Lakeland, FL to Zionsville, Indiana, three years ago).  Calling him, he stated that he is a devout Christian.  Out of all of the cities and all of the people living in them, what are the odds that I would have chosen a certiorari written by a Christian from the last town we lived in 1100 miles away?
  32. Because Communion is extremely important in my life, it is especially gratifying for me to receive a piece of the original host blessed by the pastor during Consecration.  For 7 weeks I received a wafer, and no matter what I did, I received a wafer—my feelings were hurt to the point of looking for another church for my family to attend.  After discussing this with the pastors of my church, I received emails from them saying that they would work with me to obtain my goal.  To my embarrassment, I wasn’t sure that they were sincere. During the following week Chris, Chrissy, and I were watching Charles Stanley and his message was, “Walking with God.”  Charles stated that in order to walk with God, we must listen to God.  He said that a good beginning would be to start with your favorite verse in the Bible.  I told Chris and Chrissy that my favorite verse was John 10:27, “I know mine and they know me and no one will snatch them from me.”  The following Sunday I didn’t want to go back to the church (with the problem with the host), but I prayed about it and talked to Chris and Chrissy.  They indicated that we should go back.  When I went back to the church, one of the pastors gave me a suggestion of what to do to obtain the original host.  When it was time for the Gospel to be read, you could have knocked me over with a feather!  It was John 10:27, “I know mine and they know me and no one will snatch them from me.”  Tears came down my cheek and, from time to time, kept coming down my cheek.  Jesus was saying to me, “Calm down, Bill.  Everything is under control.”  Thank you, Jesus.
  33. On Wednesday, May 12, 2010, the subject for the meditation for the day in Daily Reflections was “THE PAST IS OVER.”  When I read it, I said, “Are you trying to tell me something, Lord?”  We had been waiting for over 9 years for the VA to determine if and how much my service-connected disability would be and end the 45 years of nastiness caused by the DUI mentioned in #2 above.  That night I jokingly said to Chris, “Do you think that God the Father has been holding back the disability money until you make a Cursillo?” A Cursillo, or in this case “Great Banquet” is an extremely intensive retreat.  It is so emotionally draining that one needs to be sponsored to the retreat.  The following night I took Chris to the Great Banquet at Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis for the three day retreat.  The following morning I was getting ready for work and I scanned our bank account.  The money was there! Thank you, Jesus.
  34. Now having the money, Chris, Chrissy and I went on a Christian Pilgrimage to the Holy Lands. The trip was also to celebrate Chris and my 20th wedding anniversary and my 37th continuous year of sobriety (through Jesus’ help I have not had a mind altering chemical in my body for thirty-seven continuous years). We rented a 2010 Chevy with a GPS (this gadget is a miracle in itself) and explored Israel.  The GPS allowed us to save thousands of dollars, by not needing guides, and was extremely accurate.  Our main destinations were to be Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Galilee.   This was my second trip to the Holy Lands and was astonished at how much I really don’t know about Jesus.  For example, almost all of his earthly life was spent in Nazareth and Galilee (one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited).  Very little of his life was spent in Jeruslem.  Pictures of the trip are as follows:

A.    Arriving at Tel Aviv

B.     Going to Jerusalem

C.     Exploring Jerusalem

D.    Mt of Olives

E.     Going to Galilee

F.      Galilee

G.    Mt of Beatitudes

H.    Capernaum

I.       Heading Back to Tel Aviv and the United States

 

 

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