A Call to Improvement

The following is the introduction to my ebook, Invest in Yourself.

At points in our lives, each of us wants something badly-a different job, a promotion, a new car, a bigger house, or more money. There are numerous resources in the economy claiming to have methods to get what you want. According to sources on the web, $4.7 billion in self help products were sold in 2001-these included books, DVDs, websites, infomercials, and newsletters. This strongly suggests a healthy market full of needful customers.

But if you need help, how do you know where to go in a billion dollar industry when so many choices come at you via direct mail, email, and the web?

I’ll make it simple. The best self help book of all is the Bible. Reading and talking about God’s instructions help us figure out the process for life. It gets confusing and even depressing at times but the answers and standards for living are in the great book. You’ll find people just like us- working, married, parenting, and dealing with family issues. Some make good choices and others make wrong choices. Some follow God and others ignore him.

I know enough to assert the Bible is the “How to” for our lives. If you open your mind and heart and positively approach it, you’ll find wonderful tales and lessons on every page. You’ll associate with and see yourself in various people. Start at the beginning with the book of Genesis and treat it like any educational or self help book. In my Bible, Genesis is ninety three pages long. Read at least three pages a day, take notes, and you finish in one month.

I grew up in a small, Southern town, the son of a business owner who later became an ordained minister. Raised in the church, I was a teenager when my parents joined the Pentecostal/Charismatic Christian movement which included (in an extreme form) the Jim Bakers and Jimmy Swaggarts of the world. My parents were sincere in their religion as they uprooted me and my siblings to attend a start up church led by my high school football coach. No Sunday school. No structured service. Just people meeting in a one room, old wooden church to worship. There was church on Sunday morning, a drive to Atlanta Sunday night for worship, and Wednesday night back at my church. The adults could not get enough. They wanted to be fed. They were looking for answers to their problems at work and home. Relief from the societal stresses that children did not know.

The sermons were full of condemnation designed to result in an altar full of repenting sinners. When the call was made and you stood firm, the guilty stares from others would jab your back repeatedly trying to push you into the aisle and to the feet of the minister. For a fifteen year old boy, it did not take long for this to distort my view of religion. Within a year, life went from attending Sunday school and sitting on the same church pew with my family to hearing if I did not get my soul right with God, heaven was not an option.

I saw false religion in my day. Certain people were masters at Charismatic basics. They were the first to speak in tongues when everyone in the congregation knew they were faking. They clapped their hands during song and raised their hands during prayer. I admired them and the barrage of condemnation had me envious of their spirituality but my dose of reality would come on the ride home as my parents giggled through recounting of the facade.

There was the time a great evangelist came to town. He stood in the pulpit and waived his Bible back and forth hypnotizing everyone with his message of condemnation. He probably preached the same sermon every day of his evangelical life. But he was successful and the congregation was lapping it up. I often thought that preachers measured success according to how many people came to the altar at the end of a service. Well, this preacher was laying it on hard. As the big finish approached, you knew that the altar call would be special. This guy would not tolerate a bad turnout. Sure enough, his call yielded everyone, yes everyone to the altar. A 100% turnout!

A member of our congregation was the wealthiest man in town. He owned a factory that employed many men of the church. A man of God, he practically built the church with his resources. To us, he was a model for following God. Well, as he stood amongst his brethren, the preacher starting claiming everyone would be healed and slain in the spirit. The latter meant you were overwhelmed with the spirit of God so much so you lost your footing and needed assistance to stand. You’ve probably seen it on television. I believe it is real and have seen people sincerely experience it. The technique is typically the touching of a person’s forehead during diligent prayer with at least one person standing behind the prayee for assistance. At the conclusion of the prayer, the preacher emphatically presses the person’s forehead to literally push spirit into the soul. At this point, people will usually stumble and be slain in the spirit.

When nothing happens at all, it always seemed to be the person’s fault. They did not believe and were not right with God. On this occasion, the preacher decided to do a mass slaying of the spirit as there were too many people to handle individually. He raised his hands and talked about all the afflictions at the altar. He went on with passion in his voice and fire in his belly. He stated that when the prayer ended, everyone would be slain in the spirit. On cue, people crumbled to the floor; all except one man-the aforementioned pillar of the community. The man who arguably followed God closer than any person in town. The preacher stared at him in disbelief. Surely something was not right with this man who remained standing. A few of the supine men were told to take him in back for ministry for surely he needed help.

The men stood there like teenagers caught in a wrong act. They did not know what to do or say. The evangelist questioned their commitment. As if total interest was lost, parishioners starting standing and returning to their seats. It was not clear what really happened. I’m sure some people experienced help while others followed the religious script.

Because of such times, I sadly grew cynical of the church and wary of organized religion. This attitude led me to think I could control my life. Well, years later, I’ll tell you we can’t control our lives. But most of us think we do. I now realize we are merely traveling down a path laid by God. Everything we do and all that happens make us stronger, wiser, better people, and hopefully committed to living our lives according to God’s instructions.

When we leave home, there is excitement and trepidation. Our parents, teachers, and coaches give us advice which we hear but don’t totally absorb. If there is one concept young men and women should know it’s that a wonderful path lies ahead. All they need to do is develop a relationship with God and expect to realize the plan he has for them.

Wherever you are, please invest in yourself. Don’t accept your lot in life. You don’t have to feel bad or sad. There is joy and happiness waiting for you. Seek both. Start developing yourself to improve personally and professionally.

The dictionary definition of genesis is “the coming into being of something; the origin”. I hope these words can serve as your genesis.