I remember reading an article on running, and in that article the writer said that a runner needs to think like a champion and to think like a champion he needs to follow what they did.  The article went on to talk about the many different habits of the best runners of those days.  The author also stated that a person needs to change their habits and take on the habits of a champion.  So I researched all the champions sprinters of the day, men like Don Quarrie, Houston MacTear and Steve Williams.  I read what they eat, how they trained and what habits they did that they said worked for them.  Starting one month after my 9th grade ended I started to implement their workouts in my own training schedule.

The bottom line is that I learned that if I was going to be the fastest I had to train like the fastest so that I would obtain the prize, just like they did.  These men became my mentors in running.  When I finally turned my will and my life over to the Lord I did the same thing with my recovery and walk with Jesus.

When I had finally enrolled into the discipleship recovery program in the Oakland Penile Compassionate ministry I kept my eye out for men that were champions in their recovery and their Christian walk.  The mission used to have services every day of he week and men would come in a preach powerful messages.  That is where I found champions.  I started to talk to them, ask questions and hang with them when ever possible.  I read what they were reading, learned their study habits and slowly but surely I found that I was developing new habits. It was than that I learned one of the most powerful lessons in Christian walk.  We all need to train with purpose and not aimlessly.

In his 1st letter to the Corinthians agrees with that when he said that we must “So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:24–27, ESV).  So over the past years I have disciplined my body, mind and heart with the habits of my mentors.

If a person in recovery does not train with purpose and develop new habits, the old ones will surface and thier walk will be powerless. Just like a runner who goes out for track as a 9th grader without proper training and the learning of new habits, and he runs with no power.

When the new habits are not formed we can anticipate that the person would relapse.  As I developed and displayed Godly habits, my attitude toward others overflowed with compassion,  I instinctively served when I saw a need, and I started to rely on the divine presence and power  of God in the middle of crisis.  I learned that the more I trained in the habits, the more the Christian fruit revealed.  All of these traits and many more of the Christian “runner” arise out of “practice,” and as we participate in those practices, experiences, and relationships through which Jesus changes us to live like him.

I have come up with an awesome recovery acronym that has helped me over the years develop the habits of a Christ follower and blood bought believer in Jesus.

R     =     Read & Study God’s word
E     =     Engage in Healthy Relationships
C     =     Connect with God in Prayer
O     =     Openness & Confession
V     =     Volunteer and Connect
E     =     Engage in Fellowship
R     =     Repeat, Repeat, Repeat
Y     =     Yield to the Jesus as Lord

We will find that when we walk out this RECOVERY road as a Christ-follower, these steps will bring a life-transformation and a powerful and effective new life.

When I walked on to the track in 10th grade I was a new person, with new habits.  Habits of a champion, and is showed because that year I broke a number of records and made varsity by the third race.  I remember the Track coach walking up to me one day and saying to me that I run completely different than the previous year and he asked me what I did, I looked up at him and said that I learned the habits of champions.  We need to do the same thing in our walk, learn the habits of a champion. Those champions being Jesus Christ, Paul, Peter and the many different men and women found in the word of God!!

The book will comprise of two parts.  The first part will be called “Highway to Hell” which will tell the story about the journey I walked before I met and fell in love with Jesus. The second part of the book is going to about my Christian recovery journey and the lessons I have walked with Jesus.  That is only something that will be shared in the book when it get it finished.

When God began to reveal himself to the world he did not send us tablets of stone filled with outlines, commentaries of what and who he is.  Instead he began with a story and that story was related and lived out by Moses, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and many, many more through out history.  God than had each men sit down and tell the story of how He worked in lives of men and women.

The story starts with a man and a women who had been placed in the middle of his creation, Adam and Eve and were the first people to be in God’s story.  Matter of fact as you read the Bible you will find it filled with some of the most powerful stories ever written.  But His story is not just a storybook, but a powerful testimony about His love for each one of us and He has affected His creation. It is a story of God’s experience, strength and hope for each one of us.  As we share our storys we are sharing how God has affected our lives.  As believers we are to repeat that story of how God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit has made a difference in our lives, so those who have not heard of the story can and prayerfully change theirs for the good.

The book of 1 John was written by the Disciple John, who had walked with Jesus, and in this short book he shares the lessons he learned as he walked with Jesus. 1 John 1:2-3 he wrote  that “the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:2–3, ESV)

In that passage he uses the word testify or as the greeks would say, martyreo and it means to bear witness of, to declare or give a good report of something, someone or an experience, in Christian recovery .  That is what we do when we share our experience we are give a good report and bear witness to what God has done in our lives through His word, His Son and the Holy Spirit.  We do this so that we may have fellowship with each other as we walk out this journey of recovery.

The book that I am planning to write is my testimony and what I know to be the truth…not what I think or what I have heard. It is all about what I know from my walk as a disciple, teacher and preacher in the Christian recovery field.

This is something that God expects from each of His followers – to simply share what we know – to testify to others of what God has done in our lives. to what we have seen Him do in our lives. We don’t have to have the entire Bible memorized or be able to answer every question that someone might have about God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit. But we do have to be willing to share the story of what God did in our life!!

That is what this book is going to be about!!

I have plans to start on a few books. The first book dealing with inductive bible study, the second book dealing with spiritual warfare and recovery which will include my re-writiing of the twelve steps and finally I am going to work on a book about my life. I am also planning to write some short devotionals that I will share on my website.

I am excited about the next chapter in my life.

Thanks for all the prayers and love that you have showed to me during this time of pain, pruning and recovery.  I have really seen God move in more ways than I can count.

Pastor Howard

If Satan opposes the new convert he opposes still more bitterly the Christian who is pressing on toward a higher life in Christ. The Spirit-filled life is not, as many suppose, a life of peace and quiet pleasure. It is likely to be something quite the opposite.

Viewed one way it is a pilgrimage through a robber-infested forest; viewed another, it is a grim warfare with the devil. Always there is struggle, and sometimes there is a pitched battle with our own nature where the lines are so confused that it is all but impossible to locate the enemy or to tell which impulse is of the Spirit and which of the flesh.…

My point here is that if we want to escape the struggle we have but to draw back and accept the currently accepted low-keyed Christian life as the normal one. That is all Satan wants. That will ground our power, stunt our growth and render us harmless to the kingdom of darkness.

Compromise will take the pressure off. Satan will not bother a man who has quit fighting. But the cost of quitting will be a life of peaceful stagnation. We sons of eternity just cannot afford such a thing

A. W. Tozer, Tozer on Christian Leadership : A 366-day Devotional (Camp Hill, PA.: WingSpread, 2001).

As we move farther on and mount higher up in the Christian life we may expect to encounter greater difficulties in the way and meet increased hostility from the enemy of our souls.…
Satan hates the true Christian for several reasons.

• One is that God loves him, and whatever is loved by God is sure to be hated by the devil.
• Another is that the Christian, being a child of God, bears a family resemblance to the Father and to the household of faith. Satan’s ancient jealousy has not abated nor his hatred for God diminished in the slightest. Whatever reminds him of God is without other reason the object of his malignant hate.
• A third reason is that a true Christian is a former slave who has escaped from the galley, and Satan cannot forgive him for this affront.
• A fourth reason is that a praying Christian is a constant threat to the stability of Satan’s government.The Christian is a holy rebel loose in the world with access to the throne of God. Satan never knows from what direction the danger will come.

A. W. Tozer, Tozer on Christian Leadership : A 366-day Devotional (Camp Hill, PA.: WingSpread, 2001).