Blog Archives

My New Book:

1/29/2024

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3: 5–6

My New Book:
Winding Paths---My Spiritual Pilgrimage, ---- Life Stories of a Disciple in the Making

In case you missed my previous notice, my newest book is now in print.

All three of my books can be obtained in paperback/hard copy and eBook/Kindle Editions from “wipfandstock.com” and “amazon.com” plus many other sites.

Thank you and blessings on your spiritual pilgrimage! Peace, Vernon T.

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Having the Faith to Trust----

1/25/2024

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“May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do this.” I Thessalonians 5: 23-24

This letter from Paul gives us a view of his initial missionary activity and it gives encouragement about how believers should live at that time. He wanted them to know that their entire being would be kept sound because Jesus was faithful about his promises to return. We all may have times in our lives when we did not have the faith to trust in the promises of God, or in our present situations, or in the people that are around us.

Having the faith to trust is something that I, personally, have had challenges with at various times in my life. Once, one of the insurance companies I worked for took all of their management staff to an outward-bound experience with a company called Pecos River Learning Centers. Pecos River worked with organizations to help train their employees to faithfully function together while doing various tasks.

I was worried about it before I went, and even tried to talk my boss out of making me go, which did not work. Those few days took me way out of my comfort zone. One of the activities was to climb up this tall pole, which was at least twenty feet up, and to jump off the pole to hit a bell some distance away, with nothing underneath you. You had to do this by trusting that your teammates would hold you up securely with ropes.

I am deathly afraid of heights and told my team mates this the day before we were scheduled to do it. I let them know that I did not want to do it. However, because we had some other team building events prior to that----I came to trust in my teammates. I was able to climb the pole and jumped off it in faith. Someone took a picture of me jumping off, and I still have the picture on my desk. It was a wonderful experience for me, and one I will always remember and one I am very grateful for.

On your spiritual pilgrimage please be faithful and trust, and thus believe that God will also keep you safe and sound, when you are asked to take a risk! Peace, Vernon T.

Copyright © 2024 Vernon T. Jones, All Rights Reserved

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New Book

1/18/2024

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Greetings----All-----I am pleased to announce that my third book is now in print. Winding Paths---My Spiritual Pilgrimage, joins my two previous books, Discipleship—A Lifelong Spiritual Pilgrimage (2013) and Nourishment for the Spiritual Pilgrimage (2017); all were written to help people on their spiritual journey.

Winding Paths---My Spiritual Pilgrimage, ---- Life Stories of a Disciple in the Making, is a book about some of the major events of my life and how my spiritual pilgrimage and life journey were full of winding paths. Even though I tried to trust in the Lord, my roads were not always straight and included its share of detours, curves, and bumps.

My prayer and hope by writing all three of these books is that in sharing what I have been through it might encourage others on their life’s walk. We are all being made new each and every day and are all disciples in the making. The human pilgrimage/journey is never perfect, nor is it ever finished on this side of God’s kingdom.

Go to the link below for a short video about all three of my books.

All three books can be obtained in paperback/hard copy and eBook/Kindle Editions from “wipfandstock.com” and “amazon.com” plus many other sites.

Thank you and blessings on your spiritual pilgrimage! Peace, Vernon T.

https://youtu.be/-I8MMYbaZEQ

Copyright © 2024 Vernon T. Jones, All Rights Reserved

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Our Life Lens

1/11/2024

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As we begin a new year, hopefully we can take time to reflect on how past events have shaped our lives. All of us have been changed and how we look at our lives and the life around us
is always altered.

We all have a life lens that determines how we look at every aspect of our life. The focus of our lens is developed by our life experiences; all of the things that we have been a part of, all of the people that have come into our lives, and all of the events that have happened around us impact who we are and how we see life. Our life lenses are also influenced by the spiritual practices that we take apart in while striving for God’s kingdom in this present time.

My own life lens has been developed by my upbringing by a single Mom growing up on the east side of Youngstown, Ohio. My first church community was Jerusalem Baptist church, which was made up of people of color who had come to Youngstown from the southern states to make a new and better life in the north.

My life lens was later influenced as I worked in a steel mill, went to college part time for eight years in order to earn my bachelor’s degree, married Judy, who was of the Catholic faith. Her death years later, after a long battle with cancer, caused my life lens to change radically. My many moves around the country as I worked for different insurance companies gave me more experiences. Then joining a Lutheran church and eventually going to a Lutheran seminary, and then marrying a Lutheran pastor, Shirley, continues to change my life lens.

I give my life experiences to encourage each of you to think about all of the events both large and small and all of the people that have come and gone into your lives, and reflect upon how all of these situations have gotten you to where you are today. Certainly, this past year has given us much to think about and process. We are who we are today because of what has happened to us in the past, and how we look at life through our life lenses has been formed by these experiences.

At this beginning of a new year, besides reflecting on the recent past, please also be encouraged to either begin or continue to enhance taking part in the practices of prayer, Bible study, and reflection. These habits will give your life lens the ability to see things from a spiritual aspect versus a worldly one. This may help you to better deal with the many and varied issues of life! Peace, Vernon T.

Copyright © 2024 Vernon T. Jones, All Rights Reserved

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The New Year!

1/4/2024

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One of Shirley’s and my favorite spiritual writers is Henri Nouwen. He was a Catholic priest, now deceased, who was a very important writer in the last century. In his yearly devotional book “Bread for the Journey” for January eighth he writes about having light for the next step. As we begin a new year, we can become concerned about what this year holds for us, especially in the light of what all happened to us in 2023. He notes that generally we only have enough light for the coming hour or the following day.

He writes, “The art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not complain about what remains in the dark.” He goes on to say that when we can take the next step with faith, our life can be filled with joy. May you be able to trust the Lord about the future and live today with that faith. Blessings on your spiritual pilgrimage throughout the New Year! Peace, Vernon T.

Copyright © 2024 Vernon T. Jones, All Rights Reserved

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