JESUS, thank YOU for ALWAYS being there for each one of us!
There is a line in one of our original songs entitled "Take My Life" that sums up the true story you are about to read. The line goes like this, "Looking back on time, I can plainly see, all of the things You had done for me... even though I was walking so far away from You." How about you? Looking back over your life, how many times has The Holy Trinity swooped in and rescued, or redeemed, you from potentially terrible situations, even though you were walking far away from Jesus Christ at the time?
In 2018, Marvel Studios, the long-time producers of classic comic books, released a revolutionary Super Hero/action/fantasy film entitled "THE BLACK PANTHER", starring Chadwick Boseman. The film was considered ground-breaking. Many Hollywood film critics hailed the film as the first full-length, high-budget, major motion picture to feature a black gentleman in the leading role as a Super Hero.
Sadly, major motion picture companies had been reluctant to cast black actors in the leading roles of Super Hero/action/fantasy films for far too long. Now, though, we would like to take this opportunity to broadcast the reality that black Super Heroes are, and have always been, all around us! I know this first hand! You see, it was on one cold October night that I was rescued by a real-life Super Hero who is also a real... BLACK PANTHER.
On that cold October night in 1974, some forty-four years before "THE BLACK PANTHER" movie was released, I was attending Ferrum College and was visiting a young lady that I had been seeing regularly for about a month. She and I had begun meeting each evening after our classes were finished and we had completed our homework assignments. We would have dinner in the campus cafeteria, then I would walk her to Bassett Hall, the dormitory for girls, where she lived. Once we got there, we sat in the lobby and talked until the dorm's R.A. (Residential Adviser) announced that we had five minutes left before curfew. Student visitors like me knew it was then time to tell young lady friends goodnight and make our way back to our respective dormitory.
That evening, after saying goodnight, I left the well-lit lobby through the front entrance of Bassett Hall, rounded the corner of the building, and began walking across an adjoining sports practice field, my usual route, a short-cut back to my dorm. By the way, that short-cut, in the evening, was extremely dark. As I rounded the front corner of the building that led to the practice field, I went immediately from bright lighting to extreme darkness. The change was so stark that it caused me to become disoriented for several seconds. It was kind-of like walking behind a black curtain, with the practice field in complete darkness at that time of night.
As I was making my way onto the practice field in the dark, like I had done on many evenings before, I had no idea that this night would be much different. After entering the darkness, I began gently rubbing my eyes hoping to acclimate to seeing through the darkness a bit quicker. As my eyes were just beginning to refocus, about ten yards into my walk across the pitch black darkness of the practice field, I sensed that I was being followed.
Suddenly, in my peripheral view over my left shoulder, I saw the silhouette of two very large, tall bodies coming fast, directly toward me, in the darkness. Instinctively I turned toward them and firmly planted my feet on the ground where I stood, bracing myself for the collision I suspected would be really bad for me. Just then, in an instant, like a scene from a Super Hero action movie, I saw the silhouette of another large, dark man appear seemingly out of nowhere. He was running at a full sprint straight toward one of the assailants, launching himself into the air at the last second so that he hit the attacker so hard, he flew directly into the ground.
Upon seeing that I now had one attacker to face, since my "rescuer" did a take-down of the second one, I ran toward the guy with all of my strength. Upon impact, his body was forced abruptly to the ground. Just as fast and sudden as this whole thing started, it was over, as the two men, gasping for air, crawled to their feet and limped off into the darkness from whence they had come.
Wow, after all has been said and done, who was this real-life Super Hero who suddenly appeared seemingly out of nowhere and in the nick of time to courageously take down one of two hefty attackers, allowing me to fend off the other? It was my college teammate and football team captain, Rufus Murphy, also our highly esteemed "black" middle linebacker. So, now, how does the "BLACK PANTHER" apply to my story? This teammate was part of the 1974 Ferrum College Panthers football team, whose mascot was the black panther—making Rufus a "Real-life Black Panther."
So, you see, I was actually rescued that evening by a “Real-life Black Panther!" And, I might add, as the Ferrum College Panthers Team of 1974, we would go on to compete in the NCAA Conference, winning our division's National Championship, undefeated, just a few months later. For all of us on the team, it was a miracle season in so many ways.
As we close, let's reflect again on the lyrics of our song, "Looking back on time, I can plainly see, all of the things You had done for me... even though I was walking so far away from You." Just as I have looked back on my life to recall this experience, among many others, when God moved to protect me in my life, we would like to encourage you to do the same and take inventory of your life as well. Call on The Holy Spirit so that you and He together can recall and recount those times that God came to your rescue. When you do, we pray that you will see how faith-full He is... even in times when you (or we) may not be walking close with Him.
Our passion is to share with others this adventurous life, being sold out to
Jesus Christ, and offering our testimony with the lessons we've
learned along the way. Welcome to our wonder-full journey, Friend.
We're so glad you're here!
#FaithAndVision #PursuitOfOnenessInGod #SecretsWeFind #BetweenTheLines
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WHERE TO FIND US (Be sure to check for any TTM resource specials mentioned in the notes with each post.)
- Our Website: https://towardthemark.com
- Sign up for our newsletter: Keith@TowardTheMark.com
- Order Keith's first audio book, "Letters From The Front": keith@towardthemark.com/lftfbook
- Order Keith's second book, "Overcoming Intimidation": keith@towardthemark.com/overcome...
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To drop us a line:
Toward The Mark
P.O. Box 1152
Yorktown VA 23692-1152
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"Dear Father God, in the precious Name of Jesus Christ, the King of kings and The LORD of all lords, I lay my life at Your Feet. I come before You, confessing that I am a sinner, and I ask for You to forgive me of all my sins - those that I know I have committed, as well as those that I am not even aware of. I ask that You come into my heart and be my Lord. I lay my life, and everything in it, at Your Feet, and ask that You please take me and begin to change me to be like YOU. I ask that You redeem the time that has passed, and allow me the opportunity to become exactly what You have predestined me to be, from before the foundation of the earth. I commit my life to You now, and thank You for receiving me as Your own. In the wonderful Name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, I pray, Amen." And AMEN (So be it)!
WELCOME HOME!
If you have just prayed this prayer, we want to congratulate you for making the greatest decision that you'll ever make! By accepting Jesus Christ, or rededicating your life to Him, as your personal Lord and Savior, you have begun the wonder-full process of being grafted into the family of God, and we welcome you "Home" to God's Family. We would also like to invite you to contact us so that we can send you information that will help you begin growing in your relationship and daily walk with God. We would encourage you to begin attending a Holy-Spirit-filled, full-Bible focused church right away.
We advise you to begin reading The Holy Bible daily, whether you understand it or not. Always remember, God's written Word in The Holy Bible is LIKE NO OTHER BOOK that has ever been written! When we rendezvous with The Person of The Holy Spirit as we read what God has written there, it becomes stored in our heart for The Holy Spirit to access it to bring to our remembrance. You will find that the Scriptures will become applicable to whatever you are going through, at any given time!
There are wonderful Bible teachers that can, especially early in your walk with God, help you to receive good teaching and encouragement right away. Though informative, those Bible-teaching programs are never to be a substitute for close relationships with people who love and serve God. At times, the transformation process that you have now begun will be difficult, and you will be tempted to go back to your old ways of living your old life. It will be during times like these that hanging out with strong Christian friends and mentors will be crucially important. There really IS strength in numbers! (Selah)
And remember... growing in Christ-likeness requires us to keep purity of focus, keep steadfast, immovable, and uncompromising in the faith of Jesus Christ... and, now more than ever, no matter what, Keep PRESSIN' IN! You might consider using our book LETTERS FROM THE FRONT, the special collection of keys to defeating hindrances that have kept many of God's servants from walking with the confidence and authority that Jesus Christ died to provide for us! Twelve life-changing chapters include:
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Sin Makes Ya Stewpit!
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The Cart's Before the Horse
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The Crisis of Eroding Integrity
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The Fruit's on the End of the Limb
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Too Quick to Compromise
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The Rarest of All Breeds!
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Please...Stop Stinkin'
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Three Keys to God-Pleasing Faith
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Let It Go
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Understanding the Fear of The Lord
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Into the Secret Place
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Give to Give
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To help you further your fight to victory through the battles that confront every one of us in these turbulent times we live in, get your copy of our book, "LETTERS FROM THE FRONT." In this collection of 12 letters written from the front lines of battle fought in the spiritual, natural, and theater of the mind, Keith's Scripture messages will build your faith and help you reach God's full potential for your life."LETTERS FROM THE FRONT"
available at TowardTheMark online.
Your Servants in Christ Jesus,
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.
This blog message, along with the complete collection of original podcasts, songs, blogs, books, CDs, and other Bible-based resources from Toward The Mark is made possible by the faithful prayer and financial support of our wonder-full Family of Sponsors. We'd like to invite you to come on-board, to become a part of the Family as well, by becoming a monthly financial partner. Your support will go toward fulfilling our God-given calling to help provide effective, contemporary outreach tools that are available to everyone, the churched and un-churched alike, all who desire to know more of the Love, Truth, and full-Gospel 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)."
Podcast Feature... Capture all that our Father God has "for" you,
and put "in" you, of the ABUNDANT LIFE "with" Him!
Mail tax-deductible contributions by check or money order made out to:
Toward The Mark, Inc., P.O. Box 1152, Yorktown, VA 23692-1152.
Thank you in advance for sowing your financial seed into the fertile soil of this ministry! We pray God bless you with a 100-fold return for your generosity!
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