Clayton King - Amazing Encounters with God: Stories to Open Your Eyes to His Power

Amazing
Encounters
with God

Clayton shows us waysto train our eyes and ears and heartsto identify the voice of God as He speaks to us throughthe people we live and work withand the conversations and interactionswe have every single day.

DAVID NASSER
Author
Pastor of Christ City Church, Birmingham, Alabama

Amazing
Encounters
with God

Clayton King

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

All Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Cover by Left Coast Design, Portland, Oregon

Back-cover author photo Bob Carey

Clayton Kings agent: David Van Diest of the Van Diest Literary Agency, PO Box 2385, Redmond, OR 97756

AMAZING ENCOUNTERS WITH GOD
Copyright 2009, 2011 by Clayton King
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

King, Clayton, 1972
Amazing encounters with God / Clayton King.
p. cm.
Expanded ed. of: Surrounded by the sacred. 2009.
ISBN 978-0-7369-3776-4 (pbk.)
1. Christian life. 2. King, Clayton, 1972- I. King, Clayton, 1972- Surrounded by the sacred. II. Title.
BV4501.3.K553 2011
248.4dc22

2010022205

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 / LB-NI / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

In honor of my parents and grandparent, aunts anduncles, who taught me the value and importance oftelling stories around the table and the fireplace.

A guy like me doesnt just decide to sit down and write a book, no matter how much natural ability I may have been granted. There are people to blame, culpability to be doled out, individuals who must be held accountable for helping awaken in me the love for literature, history, theological reflection, and, in its simplest form, the art and discipline of writing. Here are the culprits:

To my three high-school English teachers, Mrs. Tracy, Mrs. Knipple, and Mr. Evans: A huge thank-you for pushing me in the honors program all the way through to my advanced-placement exam, and for demanding more from me than I would have done without your encouragement and chastisement.

To my professors Dr. Still, Dr. Canoy, and Dr. Stacy: Your intellectual approach to theology was never greater than your faithful approach to Jesus, and you opened a treasure chest for me when you taught me to see what God was up to in this world and how I could notice His activity if I would discipline myself to see it.

To my mentors Doug Murphy, Ronnie Powell, Jake Thornhill, and Wilkes Skinner: Only in eternity will you know how much your care and your examples helped shape me for ministry.

To my closest friends (here we go!): Matt Orth, Brian Burgess, Perry Noble, Steven Furtick, J.D. Greear, Jonathan Martin, Johnnie Moore, Bruce Ashford, Seth Stevens, Jeremy Berger, Justin Brock, Brad Borders, Derwin Gray, Nathan Smith, Mac Powell, David Nasser, Scott Ray, and Bubba ThurmanI cannot believe I have this many best friends. I am wealthy in friendship if in nothing else.

To Mama and Daddy: All that I am in this life is because you loved me and showed me Jesus. You stuck with each other through thick and thin, and one day I look forward to seeing you in heaven, where there will be no more sickness or sorrow.

And to my dearest Charie, mother of my boys and keeper of my affection and love: What would I do without my Liddy? You are the single most wonderful thing in my life. I love you with all my heart and soul.

I LIVE BY A HANDFUL OF UNSHAKABLE CONVICTIONSor at least I try to. These convictions affect what I believe about my family, my calling, the world around me, and the people who inhabit this world.

One is that my marriage to my wife is more about making me holy than making me happy, so by Gods grace well remain married no matter what life throws at us. Another is that its my joy and responsibility, along with my wife, to raise our children to know Jesus, tell the truth, work hard, have compassion, and treat everyone with respect.

These convictions, like a road map, guide my everyday life and decisions. If they were anything other than unshakable, I couldnt build my life on them. Convictions have to be firm, like a rock. They have to be solid enough, like the foundation of a home, to handle the heavy construction, not to mention the storms that will test that construction over the days and years and decades.

The unshakable conviction that has led me through the crafting of this book is a simple one, one that you will hear over and over again on these pages: We are constantly in the presence of God as He speaks to us through the everyday occurrences of life, and when He uses ordinary things to show us Himself, we see that we are always just one breath away from an encounter with Him.

That conviction not only guides this book; it also drives my life. God is active and alive and near to us. Hes not an outer-space god. Hes always speaking to the human race, always revealing His character and personality and love and grace through the stuff we usually ignore and stumble over. If we are willing to listen, He will tune our hearts and minds to His message.

Godis never far from you. He is close, maybe as close as the next person you meet, the next song you hear, or the next conversation you have.

Once you learn how to look, youll be surprised to find that His presence is everywhere, all the time, coming at you from every directionsometimes like a tornado that knocks you off your feet, sometimes like a flash of lightning that takes your breath away, and sometimes like a small child who leaps from behind a door to surprise his jumpy dad (not that this has ever happened to me).

Some call this theological reflection. Others call it spiritual discernment. I like to call it paying attention. God is everywhere. Sometimes Hes screaming at us to get our attention before we make a life-altering mistake in a relationship. Other times He whispers to us as we drive to work or school, letting us know we are forgiven even for sins we have forgotten. He can gently nudge us by using a lyric in a worship song we heard at just the right time, or He can smack us upside the head because we were too preoccupied with selfish things to listen to Him when He wanted to whisper. One way or another, Hes going to get our attention. All of nature and life is at His disposal.