Author: newkingjim

from the pen of Jeff Joyner

Every other summer, we would spend a week, visiting my grandparents in Bay City, Michigan. My aunt, uncle, and cousins, also lived in the same town, so there was always an over abundance of activities to keep us occupied. My grandfather, who was a third generation Dutch immigrant, lived in a house that could have easily been mistaken for a residence in the Netherlands. Inside, was the smell of coffee, the sound of classical music, and the reflections from the stain glass windows, which lined the upper staircase.

My grandfather also owned a cabin in northern Michigan, which was situated on the Rifle River. There, we would usually spend a couple of days, canoeing, fishing, or watching my grandmother make one of her famous blueberry pies. Though it was summer, it was still chilly at night, so there was always a roaring fire in the fireplace. After dinner, we would usually sit by the fire, and plan our activities for the following day.

One particular night around the fire, I suggested that we all plan a canoe trip down the Rifle River. Although it was one of our usual activities, no one seemed to be interested. After trying a couple different times to persuade them, I got a little miffed, and said, “I’ll just go by myself.” Although my parents were a little hesitant, I was able to convince them to let me go, since I was a teenager, and worked summers as a lifeguard. I told them that when I was done, I would call them from the general store, so that they could bring the trailer there, to come and get me.

The next morning, I got one of my grandfather’s canoes, got on my life jacket, and headed down the Rifle River. About halfway down, I was going over a rapid, and unexpectedly hit some rocks. Next thing I knew, my canoe tipped over, and my feet became wedged between two rocks, right in the middle of the rapids. I tried for several minutes, but was unable to leverage myself enough to reach the canoe. I knew I needed help, and began to pray. When I was done, a Bible verse immediately came to mind, one that I had heard somewhere before during my lifetime:

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.” Isaiah‬ ‭43:2‬ ‭

As I glanced down once again at the rapids, I began to hear voices in the distance behind me. It was two people paddling a canoe. Help had arrived. I was eventually able to finish my course that day, and saw first hand, that God not only answers prayer, but that His intentions for us, is to never “go it alone.” For we will always need each other, until the day, when we finish our final course in life.

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians‬ ‭6:2‬ ‭

from the pen of Jeff Joyner

I came home, and threw the keys on the table. I was exhausted. The trials of life had become too overwhelming. I knew God was there, but my circumstances had led me to greatly question His love. The pain was just too great, the desert too dry, and the journey too long. I needed rest for my soul. As despair threatened to close in on me, I uttered to God, “You’ve broken my heart, you’ve broken my spirit, you’ve broken me.”

After sitting in silence for a while, I felt prompted for some reason, to look at the voice memos on my phone. Right away, I could see that there was something I had recorded a couple years earlier. It was a song in the making, that God had given me at the time, to work on at a later date.

Find rest my soul

In God alone

For He is good

He’s on the throne

For what have I

To fear or dread

Find rest my soul

Find rest my soul

At that moment, God’s message to me was clear. I had been looking for rest in all the wrong places. For true rest is not found in the changing of my circumstances, but in the unchanging ONE. For He loves me, He died for me, and He promises to lead me safely home. HE will forever be my light in the darkness, my oasis in the desert, and my rest within this restless world. “Find rest my soul, in God alone.”

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew‬ ‭11:28‬ ‭

from the pen of Jeff Joyner

It was 1985, and I was on tour with our band. We were booked to do a concert in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, at a pavilion, which was between the beach and the boardwalk. As usual, we set up, got a sound check, and then took some time to “chill” before the concert. I was sitting on the front row by myself.After a few minutes, I noticed three guys walking towards me from the beach. I stood up, we introduced ourselves, and they began asking me what time the concert started, and what songs we would be playing. When I told them we played both secular and Christian music, one guy became extremely angry, that we would consider playing Christian music in a public place. The more I tried to talk to him, the more upset he got. After a while, I could see this was going nowhere, and that I needed to de-escalate things as soon as possible. I began to silently pray that God would intervene, and give me the words to say. What happened next was totally of God, for I would have never done this on my own. I stopped our conversation, and said his first name. When he looked me in the eyes, I unexpectedly began to cry. Finally, through the tears, and with great emotion, I said, “Do you have any idea how much God loves you?” For several seconds he stared at me in silence, and then looked down quietly. GOD had struck a chord in his heart. It was clear to me, that he had never understood, nor considered, how much God loved him. After that, they left quietly, and to my knowledge, never returned for the concert. As for me, I was left with a sense, that perhaps the tears that were shed that day, were actually God’s and not my own. Whatever the case, I will never forget that moment, and will always cherish this photograph that a band member took. For it will always serve as a reminder to me, just how great God’s love is for us. For me, for you, for each and every one of us.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John‬ ‭3:16‬ ‭

About ten days ago, I was traveling from Florida to Virginia with a stopover in North Carolina. It was a difficult travel day. Flights were delayed and canceled. I spent long hours in the Charlotte airport trying to amuse myself. I won’t bore you with descriptions of the types of things I find amusing to do in an airport. At one point, I glanced out the windows and was shocked at what I saw. Never had I seen anything like this first hand. I grabbed my camera (aka my phone) with thoughts of potential fame and fortune.

Mysterious circles in the sky! Aliens over Charlotte? Flying motorcycles doing spinouts in the clouds? Whatever this was, it was paranormal fame in the making! Surely I would take my picture on a tour of television shows. Josh Gates and Expedition Unknown, here I come! But no. It’s not what it looks like. These mysterious circles are not in the sky at all. Nor are they mysterious. They are simply the reflection of the circular airport ceiling lights off the windows. I posted the picture on my Facebook page and everyone who saw it was initially puzzled by the strange photo. When I gave them the explanation they were amazed that they had been fooled. Well, maybe not amazed. But the lesson is pretty obvious: it’s easy to be fooled by photos today, even when those photos have not been altered or photoshopped in any way.

from the pen of Jeff Joyner

I remember as a kid, my older brother got a brand new English Racer bicycle for Christmas. I was shocked at how nice it was, but instead of being happy for him, I became very jealous. What made it more difficult, was that he wouldn’t let me ride it, since he thought it was too big for me to handle. From that moment on, I was determined to prove him wrong, and began attempting to control and manipulate him into letting me ride his bike.

As the days went by, it was clear, he was not going to let me anywhere near his bike. This went on for some time, although I remained persistent. One day, much to my delight, he finally gave in, and said I could ride his bike just once, down the hill of our street. I felt my persistence had paid off. Basking in this personal victory, I confidently walked his bike up the hill, climbed on, and began my journey down. It didn’t take me long to realize, that I was going faster than I had ever gone before, on any bicycle. As I began to apply the pedal brakes to slow down, something unexpected happened. Instead of stopping the bike, the pedals kept spinning backwards. What I did not know, was that the brakes were on the handlebars, not the foot pedals. By the time I reached the bottom of the hill, I was going so fast, that I began to lose control, and eventually crashed into the side of a neighbor’s house. I learned that day, that patterns of control and manipulation, could never assure me of success. In fact, it led me straight into a brick wall. And it would be a long time, before I would be able to regain the trust of my brother again. Jesus said in Matthew 16:25: “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” A clear reminder that, If we are but willing to relinquish control of our lives to the Lord, we can be fully assured, that He will be faithful to direct our steps, light our way, and lead us safely home.

“Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.” Psalms‬ ‭37:3‬

Some time ago, maybe years ago, I wrote a post about the mysterious Voynich manuscript. This manuscript is a 15th century document containing bizarre drawings and an indecipherable language. Anyone who knows me at all understands why I would be interested in such a weird document. In case you missed that post, I will include a few pictures of the manuscript for you to puzzle over.

There have been several ‘translations’ of the manuscript in the last five years. One scholarly gentleman claimed it was written in a sort of abbreviated Latin and that it was a guide to women’s health. I’m not sure the pictures agree with that interpretation. Another expert found it to be Hebrew, but a secret coded Hebrew. His decoder ring was found to be in error. More recently, an electrical engineer claimed to recognize the language as an ancient style of poetic Turkish. He then translated portions of the book as proof of his hypothesis. His hypothesis was not very well accepted as he was accused of making assumptions and then using his assumptions to prove his assumptions. I guess unproven assumptions are frowned upon as evidence. Something I wish the internet at large would learn.

Other opinions have focused on herbal remedies, therapeutic bathing, and astrological readings. Ultimately, in spite of many attempts to decipher this manuscript, no satisfactory answers have been found. The lesson I’m focused on here is twofold. First, we should always seek to understand the world and the ideas of the world. Second, we should accept that we often will not be able to understand the world and the ideas of the world. It is better to say “I don’t know yet” than to invent bizarre unprovable explanations for things.

from the pen of Jeff Joyner

Most people have scars. My first one, I developed from an accident when I was four years old. One day, my mom and I were sitting on the patio in lawn chairs, when it began to rain. My parents would always fold up the chairs every time a storm came through, so I asked my mom if I could fold up mine, and put it away. Though she was a bit hesitant, she finally said I could. As I began to pick up the chair, my hand slipped, and one of my fingers got caught in one of the hinges, which ultimately required several stitches. To this day, I can still see the scar on my finger, which always reminds me of that painful experience from my childhood.

As time went by, my visible scars began to accumulate, whether it was from a bicycle accident, or a severely broken wrist. And each scar would tell a different story, of a specific pain or adversity, that I had endured from the past. I had also become aware, that there were additional scars, that were not visible. These were not from physical calamities, but from emotional ones. And often, I found that these wounds were generally much deeper, and would require a greater amount of time to heal.

Several years ago, I was in the midst of a crisis in my life, and began to ask God for direction. I had reached a point, where I had become extremely anxious about the future, and desperately needed to experience God’s peace. For a while, it seemed, the more I prayed, the more anxious I became. Finally, I whispered to the Lord, “I just have so many scars.” After sitting in silence for a while, I sensed my Savior responding, “I too have scars.” I knew right away what He was referring to. His hands. His feet. His side. As tears began rolling down my cheeks, I acknowledged once again, that it was His wounds that sealed my pardon. And that the scars I carry, are minuscule, compared to what he has done for me. I was ultimately able to experience God’s peace that day. For HE was pierced for my transgressions. HE was crushed for my iniquity. And by HIS wounds, I am healed.

“But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah‬ ‭53:5‬ ‭ See less

NOTE: Author, song writer, and Pastor Jeff Joyner has graciously allowed me to share some of his insightful writings here on my website. This is the first one. In the future, I will indicate which of us is writing each individual post, but I thing the difference in writing styles is apparent!

My brothers and I used to love watching the old TV show “Seahunt.” Each episode chronicled the adventures of expert scuba diver Mike Nelson, who was called upon, to engage in a series of dangerous underwater tasks. The show, starring Lloyd Bridges, originally ran for four seasons, and then went into syndication in reruns. What most captivated us, were the underwater scenes, which either centered around some sort of dangerous rescue, or an underwater conflict with another diver. Of course, all this drama happened with the characters in full scuba gear, solely dependent on their scuba tanks for survival.

After several years of original episodes and reruns, “Seahunt” slowly slipped into obscurity, and finally went off the air. But it’s influence on me would remain. For I became determined to go scuba diving at least once during the course of my lifetime. One day, a friend of mine asked if I wanted to go with him to the Gulf of Mexico, to fish for Red Snapper. As I began thinking about it, he also added, “And we can take my scuba gear and tanks. I have extra ones you can use.” That’s all he had to say, and we were on our way to Florida.

After settling in, we headed down to the water, and put on our tanks. My friend, who was scuba certified, advised me not to go too deep. For a while, I tried to get used to relying on a scuba tank to breath. As I began to get more comfortable, I became quickly rattled, when I glanced toward the surface, and realized I had gone down too far. Although I had plenty of air in the tank, my first instinct was to panic. But I knew if I did, I might not make it back to the surface. I asked God to keep my heart calm, as I slowly ascended back up. Once I finally made it to shore, I sat in the sand for a while, and thanked God for giving me peace. It was then that I sensed Him saying, “I’m going to teach you how to depend on ME completely.” I knew exactly what he was saying. That even in the darkest recesses of the deep, He will be there. And in the midst of whatever circumstance I may face in the future, His life giving breath, will NEVER be in short supply.

“Nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” Acts‬ ‭17:25‬

written by Jim DeMarco

When you can’t experience the real thing, someone will provide a way to experience it secondhand. The picture I’ve included is from a hotel in San Diego. It’s a place we visited for a few days to get the experience of Hawaii without actually going to Hawaii (and paying the money it would take to go to Hawaii). It was enjoyable, but it was not Hawaii. There are so many places today that offer simulated experiences of places and cultures. Theme parks come to mind. Take a jungle cruise. Soar around the world. Get attacked by raptors or mummies or super villains. We can escape reality and experience a different reality. The danger in this lies in enjoying the escape from reality more than reality itself. The more you become dissatisfied with your own reality, the more you look for ways to escape from it. It can become an addictive downward spiral. I think we have many in our culture today who spend more time trying to escape reality than in actually trying to live in reality. My take on it is this: after you’ve enjoyed your escape from reality, come back motivated and energized to transform reality. The more we make reality a good place to dwell, the less we will feel the desire to escape from it.

A common experience of human beings is standing at the beach, or overlooking the Grand Canyon, and being completely overwhelmed by the vastness laid out before them. This experience has been labelled transcendent emotion by those who have studied it and attempted to classify it. Psychologists have come up with a variety of explanations as to why nature evokes intense emotional response in humans. I can’t pretend to understand these explanations. I do understand the experience though. I have stood in many place and been overcome by emotion. I have felt a sense of God’s presence, of spiritual reality, at these times. Much is written in spiritual literature about the wilderness experience. The Bible presents two particularly powerful wilderness experiences: the Hebrews in the desert after escaping Egypt and the forty days Jesus spent in the desert. Around the third century, Anthony the Great retired to the desert and began a whole movement of asceticism. Most monks and devoted religious people live in somewhat isolated locales. Most personal retreats are held in places where nature is predominant. The lesson, I suppose, is that we all ought to experience a little transcendent emotion now and then. I feel a trip to the beach coming on…