THE EMMAUS WALK

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Acknowledgments

Preface

Chapter 1: Homeland Ambassadors

Chapter 2: Money

Chapter 3: Effort

Chapter 4: Sideburns

Chapter 5: Candid Camera

Chapter 6: No Tale At All

Chapter 7: Spencer

CHAPTER 8: The Dreamer

Chapter 9: Bill And George, Martha And Mary

Chapter 10: Zebedee

Chapter 11: Making Or Breaking

Chapter 12: Do We See What's In The Sea?

Chapter 13: Friends

Chapter 14: The Race

Chapter 15: Suffering Saints

Chapter 16: Psalm 23

Chapter 17: Anonymous Stuff

Chapter 18: The Bush

Chapter 19: Sappy Saints

Chapter 20: Childlike Faith

Chapter 21: Lofty Attitudes

Chapter 22: The Bondage Of Stuff

Chapter 23: Christmas And Boxing Day

Chapter 24: Good Baggage

Chapter 25: The Way Includes Anyway

Chapter 26: Solitary Confinement

Chapter 27: She Bears?

Chapter 28: Chaplain Chats

CHAPTER 29: The Gospel 101

Chapter 30: Guitar Man

Chapter 31: Regrets

Chapter 32: Immanuel

Chapter 33: Frogs, Cribs, And God

CHAPTER 34: The Rough Part Of Faith

Chapter 35: Thoughts Along The Road

Chapter 36: Blessed Assurance, I Am Not In Control

CHAPTER 37: Promised Land

Chapter 38: The Carpenter's Work

Chapter 39: Finish Your Walk

Chapter 40: The Last Chapter, At Least For This Book

Who I Am In Christ?

About the Author

THE EMMAUS WALK

Gordy Carlson

ISBN 979-8-88851-927-1 (Paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88851-928-8 (Digital)

Copyright © 2023 Gordy Carlson

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

To those whose walk with Jesus seems not so glorious but long to have His words burn within their hearts.

Acknowledgments

Always to Jesus first, my Lord and Savior.

Sandra, my wife of fifty years and number one encourager.

Wayne Myers, the late, great missionary and Bible teacher, whose quotes appear on many of these pages.

I have submitted many stories, quotes, and one-liners in THE EMMAUS WALK, hoping you would laugh, even laugh out loud. The origins of these are impossible for me to trace and thus give credit to. They have been passed on through conversations, e-mails, and texts over the decades, often passed from one to another, and then on to me.

And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written. (John 21:25)

If all the memories in our lives were written down, it most surely would take many books to record them all. (Gordy Carlson)

Front cover photo taken by Scott Renard.

Preface

As I sat down on many a day to write a chapter for this book, it was becoming increasingly clear to me that my book was becoming an encyclopedia of sorts: with my thoughts, musings, and observations along the way. Thus, the chapters are independent of each other, but hopefully tied together through the goodness of God and by the Holy Spirit.

Some chapters are old sermons I have shared in church. I heard a respected minister once say, There are no new sermons, just old one's repackaged. Indeed, Ecclesiastes 1:9 states it this way: So there is nothing new under the sun. I am bringing no new revelations in this book. The summary of it all, should you not read past this paragraph, is also found in Ecclesiastes: "The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person" (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

Each of us, no matter who we are, will experience a day when we take a breath on earth, and our next breath will be in eternity. For believers in Jesus Christ, that next breath will find us with Him in heaven. It will happen that fast! We do not know the exact day or moment. We do not know which breath is our final breath here below. This is the hope Christ followers live with. The only exceptions I see to this scenario were with Enoch and Elijah. The Bible does not record that either of them experienced death. For them, there was not a death moment. For Elijah, it was a chariot ride one day. For Enoch, it was during his daily walk. One night, they both went to sleep. Sometime the next day, they went to be in the presence of the Lord forever (see Genesis 5:24 and 2 Kings 2:11). I feel an urgency in my spirit to pass along my thoughts before my last day or last breath.

The importance of such a reality of being in the presence of God cannot be overestimated. God is for us, wanting our final breath to be as His child. The devil is against us, wanting us disenfranchised from the family of God when we take that last breath. We cast the deciding vote. The time to side with God is now, if you have not yet made that decision. You do not know when the moment will come for your last breath. God has promised to respond favorably to a decision toward Him, even if it is that last breath. The Gospel of Luke reveals this truth unmistakably: Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise (Luke 23:39–43). These words were spoken to a dying man on a cross next to Jesus.

I became a Christ follower when I was nineteen years old, not just in name only, but a born-again Christian. It is as vivid a memory today as when it took place on March 12, 1972, on a Sunday afternoon, just past twelve noon. After over fifty years of walking with Jesus, I now regret that I did not keep a journal from day one of our relationship. He has been continuously teaching me, and I am so often slow to recall. A journal would have been helpful. This book is my attempt to regather some of these experiences and lessons in print. I hope you will find them educational. I hope you will find them inspirational. I hope you will find them pertinent. The chapters are stand-alone chapters, completed thoughts on their own.

I hope you will be able to recall memories in your own walk with God. All who are Christ followers have a story God is writing within us. Where God is present, there is glory! There is a beauty in the details. The beauty is there even in the valleys we sometimes experience. As the Beatles song declares, there is a long and winding road that leads us home.

Among other things, God is our friend as we walk together. No longer do I call you slaves…but I have called you friends (John 15:15). THE EMMAUS WALK is my attempt to show God's marvelous and continuing presence in my life and to encourage you that He is wanting to walk with you 24-7. The title is inspired by Luke 24:13–35. This is the well-known account of two individuals traveling on the road to Emmaus after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Emmaus is a village about seven and a half miles north of Jerusalem.

Emmaus, translated, means hot springs. As they are discussing the recent events in Jerusalem, Jesus appears to them and proceeds to walk with them. They are unaware it is Jesus, but after He explained things to them and disappeared, they exclaim, Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us on the road [the road to hot springs] and while He opened the Scriptures to us?

Jesus talked to them. Their hearts burned within. They immediately returned to Jerusalem and declared with confidence that Jesus was alive. And while they were proclaiming this great news, Jesus showed up again to all present to validate their testimony.

THE EMMAUS WALK are words that have burned within my heart as I have endeavored to walk with Him closely. I am thankful He continuously shows up on my road. May all our hearts burn with His lifesaving words. May our testimony usher His presence into the lives of those around us. Why is this important?

It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich [enriches], and He adds no sorrow to it. (Proverbs 10:22)

Enoch walked with God. (Genesis 5:24)

At the conclusion of various chapters, I am including some food for thought. Credit belongs to the late great missionary Wayne Myers, who compiled these sayings in a wonderful little book entitled Truth in a Nutshell. Myers said in his introduction that these truths belong to the world, so scatter them everywhere. They are truth and will do what truth does everywhere—set you free.

It will be advantageous to have a Bible close by as you read on. Though I quote many verses verbatim, I also often mention only the reference. I do this by design, wanting you to search the Scriptures yourself. Think of it as a treasure hunt.

All Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted. NKJV: New King James Version.

Chapter 1

Homeland Ambassadors

Have you ever been told, You are so heavenly minded, you are no earthly good? I would counter this accusation with the following thought: if you are not heavenly minded, you are no earthly good. Make no apologies to the world if your thoughts and plans are centered around heaven. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20). We are citizens of heaven. Heaven is home for believers in Jesus. Those whom the Spirit of God does not abide in cannot understand this. "But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised (1 Corinthians 2:14). Therefore, God said to set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth" (Colossians 3:2). When you live for the approval of God, you need not be disturbed by the opinions of men.

What I have come to understand is that I am an ambassador in a foreign land. I am an ambassador for heaven and for Jesus. Second Corinthians 5:20 puts it this way: Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. We are invited to be Christ's ambassadors here on earth, wherever here is for each of us. We are to be on an assignment, with the full backing of heaven behind us.

I have lived my entire life in the United States of America. It has been both a blessing and an obstacle to my faith and my heavenly assignment. Thinking as an American Christian does not always seem to jive with life's calling as depicted in the Bible. It is easy for seeking the American dream to take precedence over seeking first the kingdom of God. It is a tension I have faced all my adult life. How do I provide sufficiently for my family without neglecting my assignment from God to help the less fortunate, which, in reality, is most people in the rest of the world? My pastor says it this way: We cannot serve every need, but we can all do something. The beauty of God's family is that every need can be served if we all are finding our role as His ambassadors. He does not have us all doing the exact same work.

You may not think so, but if you live in the United States in 2022, you are among the wealthiest people on the planet. Billions live in poverty. Millions live in extreme poverty. This should not be. This was never God's original plan. He placed man in the Garden of Eden, not the slums of Eden. There are no pockets of poverty in heaven. I cannot fathom the splendor that awaits God's children after our final walk. But this I know: God created everything in six days and said it was GOOD. Jesus said He has gone to prepare a place for us (John 14:2–3). He has been at work preparing this place for over two thousand years. Six days for creation. Over two thousand years preparing heaven for us. You do the math. As one old saint said, "We are living in a garbage can now compared to what it will