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Thursday, February 26

It's the Greatest Miracle You'll Ever See--when Christ Redeems your Shattered Dream!


       From the young age of 8 years old, I was passionately consumed with football.  I would play every chance I got, whether with a team for practice, in organized team games, or for fun in a field with friends.  I loved the sport so much that, some nights, I fell asleep with my football in my arms.  My mom would tell me how she would come in my room and take the ball out of my bed while I slept.  I even dreamed about football more than anything else, hoping and dreaming to, one day, be able to play on a college team.

When I got to college, I went through the grueling program to try out for the team and, by the grace of God, I got through all the cuts, and made a position on the team roster.  The entire process, for me, was terribly difficult - struggling to get enough air in my lungs during uphill runs, taking body blows from guys stronger than me and twice my size, and staying pin-point focused on giving 110% to getting my body into better shape - something that seemed to require much more effort for me than it did for other players.  What I didn't know at the time, and found out only in very recent years, was that I had underdeveloped lungs and asthma from the time I was born.  I'm glad now that I didn't know this back then, when my heart was stayed on fulfilling my childhood dream, even if throwing up blood and fighting to overcome oxygen deprivation would be an endless cost I would have to pay.
During the course of football season as a freshman, I endured a concussion and various injuries, none of which were uncommon for players at the college level.  Then, I got what I thought was a pulled muscle in my lower back.  Instead of getting better as I expected, it kept getting worse.  It got really bad in the end, during the last few practices and games.  The pain was excruciating and, every time it would swell, the trainer would put me in the ice barrel and have me sit there while he would shovel ice over my back.  I was constantly having to go in there.  The good news was, we finished the year with an undefeated record, won the final game 83 to 3, and were awarded the national college champion- ship title for our division.  We were elated and having a blast!  The bad news news was, after I went to the hospital and had various medical tests and x-rays, it turned out that I had been playing with a broken back.  I couldn't believe it when I saw the film from the MRI and heard the doctor say, "Keith, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but, if you suit up again to play football, there's a good chance that your next collision in the game may lead you to never walk again.  Son, your football career is over."  All of a sudden, I was confronted with a heartbreaking reality that the game I loved more than anything else in life, at the time, was no longer an option for me.  I immediately left the hospital, went back to the empty football stadium, walked onto the middle of the field, and collapsed in tears.  My hopes and dreams of playing in the next season of college were just, suddenly, gone.
I decided not to continue in college.  So, I packed up all of my things and drove back to where I lived during high school.  I remember I just felt numb after that, for a long time.

      After going through that season of depression, realizing how easily our entire identity can unexpectedly be stripped from us when we become wrapped up in one specific profession, I accepted the fact that I needed to let go of my shattered dream and refocus.  It was then that I realized how important it is to have a "back-up profession" just in case of a situation like I now found myself in.  For me, I was a drummer, and playing rock-n-roll music was the one thing I loved, next to football.  So I got together with some buddies I had played with in bands during high school, and I threw all of my passion into building on my music career... my second love.
As the result of my playing in local clubs, parties, etc. with a few DC-area rock bands over that next year, I began to develop a driving passion to do whatever it would take for me to progress to the next level in music, and earn a place in a full-time "touring" rock band.  I didn't know it at the time, but my music career, along with all that I had already been through, is what God would eventually use as the platform for my ministry.
After winning a spot with a full-time secular rock band, it didn't take me but a few years of being on the road until, I became disillusioned by that dead-end way of life.  One night, when I finally had a "gut full" of the rock-n-roll lifestyle and everything that went with it, I went to my hotel room instead of going to where the rest of the band members were partying, next door.  That was the night that I fell on my face before God, and I prayed and asked Jesus Christ into my heart to be the Lord and Savior of my life.  I had prayed for salvation as a boy, when I was eight years old, but this time I was praying to commit my whole life, and everything in me, to Christ that night.  Then, I prayed for a second request that I just K-N-E-W was so big that it would be impossible, even for God, to fulfill.  I asked to be the drummer of a "British Christian Rock band."  Ever since I was a kid, more than any other music, I loved rock-n-roll music that popular British Rock musicians and bands where known for!  I wanted to represent Christ in my music and, although I never heard of any "Christian Rock" band before, let alone "British Christian Rock" band, my dream gig would be to join a group just like that.
As a result of my "impossible" prayer request, I experienced a series of miracles that led me to the first-ever British Christian Rock group to come to America, "The Alwyn Wall Band" from London, England.  God did it!  He answered my impossible prayer request... and p-e-r-f-e-c-t-l-y.
Playing music and praising God on the road with Alwyn and the rest of the guys was a tremendous privilege and joy; we became like family, a band of Brothers in Christ, and always on the go.  Over the next year and a half of our touring the country, I began to have a strong desire to put down some roots.  We were meeting one tight-knit church group after another, joining them just long enough to play a concert or two, then we were hitting the road again to go to the next city and state.  I began to have the desire to belong to a Christian community and church family I could call my own.
What God was about to do next would redeem all of my constant moving from city to city, my playing music for all kinds of crowds (many who would never grace the building of a church), and my living in hotel rooms in locations where I had no ties.  He was preparing me to, soon, move from city to city to help Pastors establish new churches.  It all would soon come together like a well-made plan, despite me and as only God can.
Long story short, the passports, that Alwyn and the others had, were just months from expiring, meaning they would have to return to England or apply for American citizenship.  They would have no choice but to plan for their return home.  At that same proximity of time, I received a request to perform a founding role in a new church plant, that would lead to another new church plant, then another, and a fourth one, all of which would mean moving to four different cities within an 11-year period.
Each time I accepted an invitation, I gave up jobs, friends, physicians, vehicle mechanics, and many other things that I had to work very hard to establish each time at each location.  Every move, I would wonder if this one would be my last.
In 1991, all the moves, meetings, developing new friends and community support, and giving everything I had to help build the new churches began to weigh heavily on me.  I was growing more fatigued each day and, if you have ever suffered from fatigue, you know that it can evolve rapidly into debilitating depression if you aren't careful.  It takes a whole lot, sometime, to keep it in check and under control.
As a result of the intensity of what I was going through, I remember so clearly being overcome with it all, and laying in the floor, calling out to God for clarity.
It was then that I heard Him whisper to me saying, "Open your Bible to the maps that are in the back of the book."  When I did that, He whispered to me, "Now go to the map that says 'Paul's journey of evangelism'."  When I saw the map marking all of the places where Paul had gone to, for the sake of the Gospel of Christ, I began to weep.  I was immediately overcome with God's peace!  For the first time, I was made aware -by God Himself- that my life's path was laid out just as He had directed, even through those times when I wondered.  God had been leading me, all the way, on a journey of evangelism - just as He had done with Paul 2000 years ago.
Prophesy!
Just about a month after God provided me with His revelation about my life journey, He led me here to Hampton Roads, Virginia where He would bless me with something I had never been able to enjoy before - laying down "roots."  Finally, I had a home, a place where I would build long-term friendship circles, meet new folks who came to town to visit my community, find great contractors, mechanics, doctors, and all of the rest of what it takes to make a place "home."
Confirmation!
Just weeks after I began to settle into my new "home", I attended a prayer meeting with a new pastor friend, and several other Christian brothers I was getting to know.  We had been in prayer for about half an hour when my pastor friend raised up, looked over at me, and said that God had just given him a vision that he was supposed to share with me in the meeting, right then.  Of course, when someone says something like that to you, especially someone who you have recently met and have barely gotten to know, you tend to get a little uneasy.  However, knowing that I had not shared anything of my past travels, participation in church plants, or anything else of my history with him, and discerning that he was a wonderful and trustworthy man of God, I agreed that it was okay to share it.  The vision God gave him is one I think about often, and it went like this...
My pastor friend said that he was hovering above a hot, arid, windy desert.  When he looked straight down on the desert below him, he saw a fellow with a shovel digging a ditch about six feet wide and five feet deep.  He said it was amazing to watch as the man was diligently digging one shovel-full of sand after another, tossing each one up onto the sides of the ditch.  He went on to say that he watched this for quite a while before he saw a 3-foot-deep wall of water filling in the ditch behind the man, and following him at a distance of about 10 feet behind him as he dug.  He continued by saying how he began to notice the banks on both sides of the ditch gradually soaking up the water as it filled in behind the man digging.
The pastor said that, all of a sudden, he was being raised up even higher into the air, allowing him to have an even better "bird's-eye view" of the desert.  As soon as he looked down from this new height, he said that the ditch he had been watching the man dig went on continuously for miles and miles, curving and turning in a way that it didn't have any orderly fashion, or resemblance of form or definitive direction.  It was just "snaking" all across the desert, nonstop.  He said he also noticed that there were very few straight sections the man dug along the way but it was curved, all over the place.
What he said next was glorious!  He asked me, "Do you remember the water that was filling in behind the man as he dug?"  I said, "Yes."  He said, "Well, as the banks of the ditch became saturated with the gently, but constantly, flowing water it was soaking up, those banks began to yield countless plants, beautiful fruit trees, colorful bushes, and super-healthy vegetation of all kinds - all of them containing nourishment and healing that people needed as they lived there.  Most of the plants that I saw growing, with my own eyes, were varieties of plant life that were not familiar to me as anything I recognized or had ever seen anywhere on earth before.  They were growing and spreading all around.  All the while, every single plant was being fed by the pure water that filled the ditch as the man dug."


The next thing the pastor told me was how he saw people, looking like they were dying of thirst and malnutrition, begin to come from out of nowhere and start running to the banks of the ditch.  Their faces began to have expressions of joy, peace, and happiness.  "The scene was absolutely beautiful beyond words," he said.  The desert began filling up with the nourishing fruit and vegetable plants, and lots of healthy vegetation, and trees that gave shade to allow everyone who came to get out of the hot, scorching sun.
As all of this was happening, the pastor said he watched everyone as they got to the trees and water, and was struck by how they began laughing, skipping, and praising God!  Then, he said, "I felt myself beginning to descend from the heights where I had been.  As I was floating further from the sky, going gently toward the ground, I was also drawing closer to where the man was as he was digging.  His back was all I could see as he was digging, facing away from me.  When I got about ten feet from the man's back, all at once, he stood up and turned around.  That's when I saw that, Keith... IT WAS YOU!"


      The reason we are sharing this message, is in hopes that, something we have gone through, or are going through now, will encourage you to continue to persevere and "press Toward The Mark."  There's no coincidence that we've named this ministry Toward The Mark, Inc., based on the Scripture passage in Philippians 3.  This life on earth is a race, not a wedding dress room.  Keep running!  We want to emphasize to you, today, to KEEP ON GOING!  There's nothing worth you giving up.  Keep fighting!  Stay on the battlefield and in the fight!  Philippians 3:13-14, Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.


We would like to close with these words from Paul, from 2 Timothy 4:5-8, But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.  For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
Thank you for staying connected with us, and following our blog every month throughout the year!  We appreciate you and pray you enjoy a wonderfully blessed week!  IN Christ Jesus,

Read and Re-read Blog:  It's the GREATEST MIRACLE You'll Ever See


To Show GOD BIG in a World that Sees Him small…  sums up the reason Keith stepped out in faith to focus on reaching the lost and strengthening believers everywhere, through Toward The Mark, Inc.  Keith and Brenda's prayer is that you will be encouraged and edified by the Secrets from God's Word that Keith recounts in our written and recorded products.  The complete collection of original podcasts, music, blogs, books, CDs, and other resources of Toward The Mark, Inc. are made possible by the prayer and financial contributions of the TTM Support Family.  We'd like to welcome you onboard TODAY!

We INVITE YOU to...  take advantage of our other Scripture-based tools to help as “We Press Toward the Mark…” of becoming "one" with our Heavenly Father:


Keith Shealy's "Between The Lines" Podcast on Libsyn



Mail tax-deductible check donations made out to "Toward The Mark, Inc." to: P.O. Box 1152, Yorktown, VA 23692-1152.


Saturday, February 14

5 Steps--PREPARING TO MEET YOUR SWEETHEART

True Story, Testimony, and Account of lessons-learned by:  Keith Shealy
During this week, when so much attention is turned toward husbands and wives, and boyfriends and girlfriends, we would like to offer some advice to those who are currently not married and praying for their future mate.  I spent the first fifty-two years of my life by myself and I'm not going to tell you it was always easy being alone or patiently waiting.  Some weeks I prayed daily for God to reveal my mate to me, and sometimes I prayed more than once a day.  Whenever I entered a ministry service or event, I often wondered, "Is 'she' (the 'one') going to be here?"  And, I couldn't even tell you how many times I would hear well-meaning people come up to me and say things like, "Brother, God must really be preparing some amazing girl for you" or, "When you meet 'the one', you'll know it!"
Day after day, month after month, year after year, and decade after decade, though I was not really consumed with finding 'her', I couldn't seem to silence the voices in my head.  Like a pesky little brother Mom makes you take with you wherever you go, voices would sound off at every turn, questioning, "Is she here?  Is she?  Is she??"  Each time those annoying voices started up again, all I could think was, "If only I could get my hands on those little suckers... !"
There I was: a successful minister at a great church; had my dream football career; toured and recorded with my own band; and I could go on and on... the guy everyone always said seemed like the one who has it all together!  And, for years, because all of my friends were married, I ate in restaurants alone, left the church alone on Sundays, attempted to silence the deafening loneliness at home by tuning in to watch the football games, and, along the way, I all-but begged God to reveal to me just what was wrong with me so I could work on changing it.

Well, there came a day when I came up with a plan to try and out-smart the voices of loneliness and feelings of inadequacy.  I thought to myself, "I will convince myself that I was born without 'the marriage gene'!  That would surely shut those voices up!"  To my disappointment, just like every other thing I tried to do on my own, my plan didn't work.  The voices continued.

By the time I was about forty years old, I decided that, if I can't shut 'em up, I'll flood 'em out, with God's written Word!  That was the very BEST decision I have ever made in my life!!  I began seeking God and meditating on His Word, with a greater diligence than I ever had before.  It was only then that the voices went from deafening, to annoying, to tolerable-like whispers... at least for the most part.
Finally, I learned that "I" had to stop dwelling on things that were not of God, like TV shows.  Realizing just how destructive and suggestive primetime television programming was becoming, I knew I had to do something about that.  So I called the cable company, and cancelled it!
If you truly want a Godly mate, there are a few things I can share, from my own personal experience, that really helped me prepare for the day that God allowed me to meet Brenda.  I encourage you to practice what I endearingly call "The Tried-and-Proven 5-Step Prep" laid out below.  And there's no better time to start than now, this Valentine's Day week.
1)  Turn the TV off!  If you look to Hollywood to set your expectations for a mate, loneliness will remain your companion.  Recognize that unreal, or unreasonable, expectations rob us from receiving, not only our peace but, every good thing Jesus Christ wants us to have.  Having said that, I am in no way suggesting you compromise yourself by settling for someone who you know does not know and love God wholeheartedly.  After all, marriage was not man's idea, it's God's, and it will NOT function correctly with-out (on the outside of) God and His Word.  ~Never forget this:  Without GOD... it's NOT Holy Matrimony.~
2)  YOU cannot "FIX 'em"!  If you think you can change someone, you are deceived, and brace yourself for a torturous ride.  Only Christ Jesus has the power to change the human heart.  Marriage is not a 50/50 arrangement; it's a 100/100 commitment.  So, relax!  Trust God to introduce you to a "Godly possibility."  I must warn you, however.  Just because someone, in an attempt to win your heart, says they are a Christian, it doesn't mean they are!  Standing in a church building on Sunday makes someone a Christian about as much as standing in a garage makes you a car.  As a safeguard for us, Jesus says in Matthew 7:15-20, Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.  You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?  Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  Therefore by their fruits you will know them."
3)  Prepare for what you are praying for.  You do NOT want to meet the prepared, you being unprepared.  Diligently seek God.  Become the kind of person that you've been asking God to bring to you.  Be passionate about, and in love with, God and His Word.  And do everything as God and His Word tells you to.  Look in the mirror.  Do you dress, and carry yourself, in the same way that you have envisioned your future mate will?  If not, change it!  *You can't BE something you're NOT, but you can BECOME something you're NOT.*  I once heard it said that "'Insanity' is doing the same thing over and over each day, while expecting different results."
4)  You don't get married because you NEED to; You get married because you WANT to!  And you'll never have the "want-to" until you don't have the "need-to."
5)  Finally, a person does not achieve "singleness" simply by being "unmarried" or "alone".  Singleness is the most important part of a human's life and it must be pursued, not avoided!  In order for an individual to qualify as "single" and, in turn, ready for marriage, he or she must first develop themselves clearly as being these 3 things:

"SEPARATE":  NEEDING nobody else in order to feel complete  **GOD created you as one of a kind. You are Designer-made!**

"UNIQUE"DISTINCT from everybody else  **When you imitate someone else, the value you possess gets lost!**

"WHOLE":  BEING the somebody you are all by yourself  **What lies behind us ... and what lies ahead of us ... are tiny compared to what lies in us! **

So, before you are ready for marriage, you must first become "single."  Only when you become "single" will you be ready for marriage.  Becoming "Separate, Unique, and Whole" within yourself should be your goal; not "becoming married."
The moral of this blog message is, no matter what you've done, no matter where you've been in this life, the dreams you've carried since you were a child (to be joined in Holy Matrimony with the most loving and compatible life-long mate) can only be fulfilled by the Author and Proprietor of Marriage - God, Himself.
Thank you for downloading this blog and we pray you enjoy a wonderfully blessed and happy Valentine's Day, all year long!
IN Christ Jesus, Keith (and Brenda)
To be "alone", is not the same thing as it is to be "single".  Which is God's Plan:  "Loneliness"  or  "Singleness"?

What does God's Word say about each?


To Show GOD BIG in a World that Sees Him small…  sums up the reason Keith stepped out in faith to focus on reaching the lost and strengthening believers everywhere, through Toward The Mark, Inc.  Keith and Brenda's prayer is that you will be encouraged and edified by the Secrets from God's Word that we share through Keith’s written and recorded accounts. The complete collection of original podcasts, music, teaching letters, books, CDs, and other resources of Toward The Mark, Inc. are made possible by the prayer and financial contributions of the TTM Family of monthly supporters.  We'd like to welcome you onboard TODAY!

We INVITE You ... to follow and share these resources that are available as well, for helping build your faith in God, His Will, and His Ways:
      
      
http://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/3489319



This blog message, along with the rest of our inventory of Bible-based resources, is made possible by the support of our faithful monthly partners. Would you consider helping us expand our outreach capabilities by becoming a monthly financial partner? Your support will go toward fulfilling our God-given calling to help provide effective, contemporary outreach tools, available to everyone, the churched and un-churched alike, for getting to know the love, truth, and salvation of Jesus Christ. We invite you to partner with us as we "press Toward The Mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:14)




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Thank you in advance for contributing to this God-given vision and mission!  We pray God bless you and yours, and return to you a 100-fold harvest for your generosity!






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