Years ago, as I walked down a wide hallway at my old church, a tall, white-haired, blue-eyed man with a glowing complexion and an imposing presence walked toward me intently. He could easily pass for a younger brother of Peter Graves (Mission Impossible TV series?). I knew him as Robert Rose, a respected elder who survived a bout with cancer and now, with his wife Ethel, hosted a cancer survivors’ support group. He said, “I have a word for you from the Lord; do you want to hear it?”

After briefly pausing, I said, “yes; sure.” He first asked, “Have you been wanting to write a book?” He surprised me since I had never talked to him (or anyone in our circle) about that aspiration. How could he know that? I replied that, yes, I did. But, I had so many thoughts in my head, I explained, that I couldn’t organize them, wasn’t sure what to write about, but knew I did not want to write something about which others had written exhaustively. “There’s nothing new under the sun,” I said. He blurted, “chapters!” I replied, “what?” He repeated, “Chapters, that’s the word.” One word?

Hmm. I paused to consider what he’d spoken. It made sense. I said that this may be what I’d been searching for – a way to organize “the book” (or books), and to begin the process of transferring thoughts to writings. After that encounter with Robert, I began to write. As I did, memories, experiences, images and words flooded my mind like a dam with its floodgates open. After several months of writing, my drafts could easily fill two to three books. But, I sensed that I was done for a time, and so I took a leave from adding chapters. For several years, I re-visited the chapters only to do minor editing, to occasionally share a topic in a men’s Bible study group and, rarely, to submit an article to some publication (no success there). After my daughter’s insistent prodding, I recently agreed to share these chapters in this blog.

Although not a hardcover book, as my finite mind had initially envisioned, this is a collection of chapters – the chapters I could not see on my own, until my friend Robert shared his revelation. We don’t often think that even a single word, if from God, can make an impact of enormous proportions. But, one word from Him can. My wife, Cindy, revealed to me one “word” that she was convinced the Lord revealed to her years ago. That word brought her life tremendous positive change. I won’t give that word away here because it is Cindy’s story to tell, not mine. Not that I wouldn’t post it on this blog if she were to write it.

I thank the Lord for people like Robert, who are tuned to listen for God’s voice, know enough to test a revelation to make sure it is coming from the Lord, that it aligns properly with Scripture, with God’s character, leading to Christ-likeness, after praying for confirming evidence, etc. This is to acknowledge Robert – if he were born Hispanic, I think he would be Roberto Rosales. Robert, these are the chapters you helped to ignite in me long ago. Thank you!