Dear
Readers,
As I look back over the journey preparing me to minister to Christian
families, I can truly say God has had His hand on me and is guiding
me. I was a preacher's, and a missionary's, kid. My early education
and my teen age years were wrought with fear, failure and insecurity—yet
God had his hand on me. I have come a long way.
God
brought me on a long journey from Jamaica, to Winnipeg, Canada,
and then to British Columbia in order to meet and to marry, the
love of my life, Lorraine—to whom this book is dedicated. She has
been by my side through the hard times and the good.
After
marriage He called us to go to Conquerors Bible College in Portland
Oregon. I then got caught up in academic success which drove me
on to Cascade College, Portland State University and on into post
graduate work at the University of Oregon—majoring in Science,
Teaching and Education Administration.
After
getting a position in the Public schools, I continued my part-time
job in the grocery store as well as getting involved as spokesman
in union negotiations for the teachers and later in professional
ethics cases involving administrators on the State level. I also
took many hundreds of college hours and many professional workshops
in education, in administration and in human relations—all paid
for by you, the tax payer. Thanks!
All
this may be helping me now, but it was not fulfilling.
We
all have another road we must walk, it is the road of our personal
and spiritual life—I am no exception. This is the road on
which we must succeed, if we are to be truly happy.
In
my early adult life my professional drive for position, degrees
and diplomas overpowered my relationship with my Lord, my wife and
my children. God started to deal with me about my union and professional
involvement, along with my second part-time job at the grocery store.
I slowly released the positions and embraced relationships.
God
has shown me that people spend the first two thirds of their lives
getting things and position, and the last third down-sizing and
giving things away.
Thank
God, I learnt the lesson, "Things are not important—people
are!" I have also learnt that what is ultimately important
in life is my relationship with my Lord Jesus Christ.
The
road I have walked has been a long road and the route windy, but
eleven years ago I took early retirement from public education in
order to go full time into a ministry that will last for eternity.
This year I have been humbled and honored to become an Ordained
minister in the work of Jesus Christ.
The
problems families have today are not educational problems and cannot
be solved by new educational solutions. The problems today are spiritual
problems; sin and selfishness, and only God can solve them.
May
God bless you as you walk down your own road of life. May these
articles help you and your family. May you embrace the same truths—and
arrive at the same destination.
David Reynolds
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