The store pt 3

[Karl Peters]

I was still pretty new to the Lord. I had heard Him for the first time just 2 or 3 years before this, and it took a years to finish reading my Bible like He first told me, and then figure out that He really was with me all the time to be able to seek Him and listen to what He said. Still He is not call the Teacher for nothing. I had learned a lot from listening to Him already, and perhaps there is not a better way to learn a lot more from Him than doing a Christian bookstore.

Not only are you going to have Bibles and Christian books all over the place, but you are going to meet a lot of different Christians and quickly. Indeed, He had me going around town to talk to pastors and such about the store. And He would talk to me about all of it. And to go with all that, He would do things, incredible things, everyday at the store.

Now it was a really slow store; even more that I thought is could be. One of the pastors at my church, who did hear from the Lord really well, had told me that the Lord told Him that it was more of a ministry than a store. And indeed that was the case. I was just opening the store for the first couple of times when I found out that a homeless lady would spend the might in the corner of the shopping center next to the store.

Another pastor from my church showed up, talked to her, and got her turning to the Lord. She would often come into my store, and we got her praying and seeking the Lord more and more. Then the Lord told me that He was going to get her off the streets in a month, and He did. One day she meet on old friend of hers from high school who asked her to come and stay at her place. But before that happened, she had brought her son by the store. He wasn't able to get his mom off the street because he was poor himself. But he did accept the Lord into his life, and we talked at times.

It was such a slow store, but God does a lot with very little, and it is mostly affecting people's lives for good, and I was sitting in the middle of it; even as a fairly new Christian myself. And one of the things I found out is that people need a place to go and talk when God starts doing something in their lives, and most churches a closed during the week when things come up in their lives. At times I almost felt like a bar tender listening to people, but I had a better group of cliental, though you might not think so. But they were very special people.

There was the 'traveling prophet', as a few people around town called him. He was poor because he hardly ever worked. Instead he made his life about just listening to the Lord and going where he was told, and that meant he couldn't have a normal job. And while He was not very well educated, he did seek and hear from the Lord remarkedly well, and the Lord backed him up with power.

I remember one time, close to closing, when he and another lady, who I occasionally had work for me if I needed to go somewhere, were in the store talking. Then a lady that worked in advertising at a local Christian radio station in the area came into the store. The traveling prophet and the lady who sometimes helped me started just praying over the lady from the radio station.

"Oh", I told myself. If they do that this lady from the station is going to get wiped out, because I knew the power of the Spirit that both he and the lady who helped me walked in the Lord with. And sure enough, the radio lady was down and out in the spirit. I knew the station and I didn't thing that lady was fully aware of what a was about to happen to her. She woke up on the floor right as it was time to close so I was thinking, 'Perfect, I can not close the store and go home.' But that was not to be, because they prayed for her again and again she was out in the Spirit.

I knew it was going to happen. I had just wanted to go home and I should have been rejoicing that the Lord was doing a work in that lady. So, I also figured that I would be taught a lesson of patience by him. Thirty minutes later she woke up again, and again they prayed for her, and again she was out cold. Ok, I am just going to sit there and watch what He does. It was after all pretty interesting. She got up one last time about 15 minutes later, and was just blown away by what had happened to her. I don't know, but I was guessing that was the first time that had happened to her. Yet whether it was or not, that lady went away with the biggest smile on her face you could ever see. Mine was not so big, but that's ok. It was interesting working in that store.

 

[Karl Peters]

Again, I have a purpose for writing this. The Lord asked me to, but He has also has a purpose, and we agree on this purpose; that His people should believe in Him so that they seek Him and listen to Him! The testimony about the Christian bookstore is all about what happen to me when I started listening to Him! He didn't just have me do that store, but it was one of the many things that I did because He talked to me and asked me do the things. That of course is what someone called "Lord" would do, right?

One of the little things He did - and I should tell you if you in case you don't know, that He is the master of doing little things which get big results in people's lives - so He did this little thing which was:

One day I was in the store working, and my mom had come down and was helping me by cleaning parts of the store she felt needed it. A youngish lady came into the store. She was asking for a donation for a home that took in young ladies that were on the street and needed a place to go. I remember that I was on a ladder at the time, working on the top of one of the shelves. As she asked the Lord spoke via that small voice of His and told me, "Karl, give her a book."

So I asked the lady if she would like one of the books. This appeared to caught her off guard, because she was expecting money for the ministry and not a book for herself. So I told her that the Lord had just told me to give you one of the books in the store. And I asked her if she would like one. She was ok with that idea, so I asked her if the Lord was showing her which book to get? She didn't seem to know about that. So I asked my mom if she had heard anything from the Lord about what book, because He didn't tell me which one. My mom nor the lady had picked up anything from the Lord. So I ask out loud "Lord what book do you want her to have?"

BAAANNNGGGGG!!!!!!

The sudden loud noise had cause us all to jump. It was a bit scary the way it happened, but a large book had apparently just fallen onto the tile floor in the front of the store - as if an answer to the question I asked.

"Well", I said. "I guess we have the answer as to which book to give you", I told her.

In the front of the store a large very nice cope of Foxes Book of Martyrs had fall off a display onto the floor. So I picked it up and gave it to her, saying, "I think you will like it." She looked rather stunned. I of course also gave her a small donation to the ministry she represented. My guess, by looking at her, was that she was probably someone getting help from that ministry, so they had her going around trying to get support for it. She left still looking stunned by what had happened in that little store.

It makes you smile when God comes through like that.

 

[Karl Peters]

It is written that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not out ways either. Then something about as the heavens are higher than the earth so are His ways above our ways. Yet how do we really understand this unless we actually talk with Him?

A lot of people came into the Christian bookstore He had me open. No - it was not a busy store but still I meet people everyday and of course I would talk to Him about them. And this is a short story about the most honored person who came to my store. Indeed, the first three times this man came to me store the Lord had me meet Him outside the store and welcome him into my store. Even that man, like most, did not know what all the Lord had to say about him. But he was the most honored man who ever came into the store, but he did not get much honor from men, just God.

He was a man of color, of course that would mean nothing one way or the other to the Lord. He was not a tall man but more of a short man, of course that would mean nothing one way or the other to the Lord. He was not a very smart man, but more of one who would struggle in school, of course that would mean nothing one way or the other to the Lord. He was a nice man but rather goofy in many ways, , of course that would mean nothing one way or the other to the Lord. He was not a wealthy man but rather a very poor man, of course that would mean nothing one way or the other to the Lord. He was not a mighty man of God, and while some might not understand, that too does not mean as much to the Lord as we Christians seem to think. I am not saying it is wrong to be a mighty man of God looking to use the power of God to help bring people to the Lord, yet it is not even that by which the Lord judges the heart of a man. So let you tell you about this most honored man of God that I meet while running that Christian bookstore.

The first time I meet Him the Lord told me to take out the trash. Ok, so I picked up the trash can and walked it to the dumpster at the end of the small shopping center. When I got back a man had ridden up on his bicycle to the door of the store. I smiled at him from a small distance and told him that I will get the door for you. And so stepping aside I let the man enter the store before me.

He was looking for a Christian sticker to put on his helmet. He looked kind of funny, because he rode an old bicycle, but was dress up as if part of a motorcycle gang. However, you couldn't miss the fact that he had Christian stickers all over his helmet! He was telling me that he had a place for one more if he could find the right one, and in the store he did find one. I had a spinner rack that had lots of Christian stickers. I enjoyed talking to him, because he was nice, pleasant, and seemed full of joy. Still, he was also a bit strange to talk to, because he regularly spoke as if behind the podium of a gospel church; often raising his voice and saying, 'Oh, Praise the Lord!' to finish off a regular sentence. I couldn't help but like the guy.

We talked a little, because this was a very slow store, and then he rode off on his bicycle. And as he rode away on his bicycle in his thick leather jacker and motorcycle helmet with Jesus stickers all over it; he raised a hand and started blessing and praying over the street and city as he went. Then the Lord spoke to me, "Karl, I really like that guy!" - Yeah, me too Lord.

A couple of weeks later the Lord spoke to me and told me to go wait out in front of the store, because He had a very special person coming to the store, and He wanted me to greet him in front of the store. I got an image of a dignitary walking up in a fancy suit. A few minutes later up rode that same man on his bicycle. Sometime the Lord makes you laugh. I was standing there because of what I believed I heard, about meeting some special man of God who was coming to my store. Me just standing outside took some faith to believe that I was hearing from the Lord, but I believe I can hear from Him and so I was standing outside the store. I was expecting a special person, like perhaps a pastor or preacher, but here comes that nice but kind of funny man in his motorcycle leathers and Jesus stickered helmet riding that old bicycle. Still, it wasn't too hard to figure that the Lord thinking was not my thinking and as high as the heavens are above the earth, so it the Lord's thinking above my thinking. So I tried to meet this man we great honor and dignity. I truly enjoyed talking to this man.

A few weeks later I was in the store and it felt like I was having trouble hearing from the Lord. It was slow so I went to the back and sat down in a chair, and I told the Lord that I wasn't going to move until he told me which step to take next. It is written that He will guide our steps and that if we seek we find, so I was seeking Him for my next step.

I must have sat there 15 minutes, now thinking I was pretty foolish saying something like that to the Lord, when I finally heard Him tell me to get up and put my right foot forward. Then He told me to put my left foot forward, Then my right and then my left, and turn to the right then walk to the front of the store - and so I decide to ask Him where I was going. He responded, "To the Car." With that I asked Him if I should lock the front door to the store, and He told me, "No".

So now I was starting to freak out. I was leaving the store and that with the front door open, and I was heading to my car. He said, "Yes".

Yet I hadn't hardly gotten out the front door when I notice that man in his leathers and Jesus stickered helmet walking his bicycle towards me. I asked the man how he was doing and he told me that he had a flat tire. He asked me if I had any tools he could use to fix his tire. "Yeah", I told him. "They are in my car. I will get them for you."

Now after that the Lord stopped having me meet that "Special" man of God in front of the store. We had kind of become friends. He regularly came by the store and we talked. He was one of a number of special people (Christians) that I got to know while running that store, and none were more special to God than him, as far as I could tell. He was the only person who the Lord ever had me meet in front of the store, and that being the first three times he came to the store.

Every once in a while, you could find him riding around the towns in that area with one hand raise while blessing and praying over the cities!!!


Yet from talking to him, I knew that he was not so respected in churches, and that he struggled for money and a place to stay, and from a number of other feelings that any man would have in his situation. But he loved God, seemingly with all his might and all he had!

 

[Karl Peters]

I meet a lot very interesting Christian people, but not so many of them were pastors or leaders in Christian churches. There were regular people. Some seemed to be those needing more help, but not all. These seemed to be the people who often heard the Lord the best, and trusted Him the most. A good example of what I mean would come from the church my parents went to. My dad was a very conservative Christian man. He to my knowledge, had not ever heard from the Lord to that day. It was after that, when him and I were driving and the Lord asked me to talk to my dad about hearing the with his spiritual ears that he seemed to first consider the idea. Which appeared to lead to some actually encounters with the King of Kings and His Kingdom, And that was a good thing, because it was not long after that when me dad had gotten too old and passed on.

Now I found out that my mom had been hearing the Lord and knew Him well, but that was news to me, because from what I knew from them when the Lord came into my life I, they didn't hear from the Lord. It was not really a possibility, was it! But it was, and I was now hearing Him often - everyday. And the "popcorn" lady, from their church came into the store. She was from their church and was such a pleasure talking to.

She was regularly getting little sayings from the Lord, just like me. So, we talk. She called the little sayings from the Lord "Popcorn", because the Lord just kind of popped them into her head. We would exchange the little sayings the Lord told us, and talk about them. I really enjoyed my time talking with her.

I didn't right down any of the sayings the Lord told her, but here are a few of those sayings He told me, which I liked so much that I wrote down those. They will give you an idea of what we talked about:

"To believe me for more you must first believe me for what I've already given you. "

"WISDOM IS RICH"

"FORGIVENESS IS JUST"

So it was that I loved talking back and forth with this old lady, who knew my mom from their church.

By contrast though, the pastor at the church I did not like so much, for a few reasons, like when the Lord told me to go around from church to church and tell people that I had put in a Christian bookstore in town. So, I went by my parents church, which I had only been to one Sunday. When I got there what appeared to be the church secretary meet me and asked me what I wanted. I explained that I had put in a Christian bookstore in town and was wondering if I might talk briefly to the pastor. She went to the back of the church and through a door, then returned. As she returned I saw the pastor stick his head out of the door, then quickly duck back in.

The secretary came up to me and told me the pastor was not there.

I know people in this world lie. I understand that having your secretary tell someone you are not there is not uncommon in this world. Yet I also know the Lord and He does not approve of such a thing. I know that if you listen to Him, He is going to reprove you for doing such a thing. The Lord is usually pretty nice about how He reproves you, but He does that. If I get upset when someone cuts me off while driving, the Lord will tell me to calm down. If I was to lie to someone like that, He would most assuredly bring it up to me then or later, depending on when I listen to Him. And you quickly find yourself admitting you messed up and apologizing for doing so. I can't imagine that old popcorn lady ever doing that type of things, yet the pastor of her church did.

It was ok, that he lied to me. I had really only come there because the Lord told me to go around to the churches. So who did this faulty pastor really think He was lying to? Have we not read how the Lord takes it when people deal wrongly with those He sends?

1 Sam 8:7 The LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.

Do I have to tell what the Lord said to me on the way back to the store?

 

[Karl Peters]

Now from the last post, and perhaps other posts that I have made, a person might be thinking that I am against pastors or that they are not the ones who hear from the Lord. That is not what I found out from running that Christian bookstore for a couple of years. There are pastors that do hear from the Lord very well, and there are pastures that don't hear from the Lord very well, just like there are Christians who do hear from the Lord very well and Christians who don't hear from the Lord very well.

So let me tell you about a pastor who did hear from the Lord really well, and who the Lord gave words to about that Christian bookstore. And I will contrast that we another pastor who the Lord used to help me with the store who did not hear from the Lord very well, but who was very important in helping me at that time.

The first was an old pastor who went to the church I went to. It was a small, but very powerful, charismatic church. That pastor helped at the church but his ministry at the time was running a small very old run down motel for homeless ladies who had children. He got them off the streets. He was a bit dour. I don't think I ever saw him laugh, and was certainly stern. Yet the Lord choose wonderfully in him. He listened to the Lord, did what the Lord told him, and help many a lady and their child during the time I knew him.

Before I opened the store, he got up in church and explained that the Lord had told him that my store was more of a ministry than a store. It wouldn't have many sales but would be a quiet place to minister to people. Well, that was certainly the case. It still didn't make much sense to me, because I was a new Christian even at that time. I had only been walking and talking with the Lord for a year or two.

And that pastor often came by the store just to check on me and the store. And one time the Lord started speaking to Him ( I could tell by the strange look that came on him, as if suddenly someone else was trying to get his attention). Then he looked outside through the window to a dress shop that was next to the store in the opposite corner. Then he told me that the Lord has told him that I was going to be in that location at some point. And that is exactly what happened.

When lease came up after the first year, the store was sooooo slow that I didn't think I could go on another year. The Lord told me to stay and He would make it possible. The Lord did two things, and one of them was moving me into where the dress store had been. It had gone out of business about a month before the lease ran out. It was smaller, but every inch was usable, where as I had a back room that I did not need and I couldn't afford to take down the wall if I did need more room. So I asked and they gave me a month to make the change, and that saved me about $400 dollars a month.

So that pastor gave very accurate words of knowledge and prophecy, which was really of no surprise to me, because we had talk a number of times about hearing the Lord. He once told me something I had already figured out, but it is worth explaining here. And that is that the more you listen to the Lord and do what He asks, the better you get at hearing from Him. People how don't know the Lord don't understand this, but those who do know the Lord do understand this. So if you want to know the Lord, start seeking Him, listening to Him, and doing what He says and it will be easier and easier to hear Him afterwards.


Now there was another pastor that was more helpful to me and the store. My mom and dad had moved around this time to an area about 40 mile away. And they found another rather conservative Christian church. I like the pastor there and wound up spend some time with him, because of the bookstore.

It turned out that he own two office buildings and he leased out the spaces to other small Christian churches, and ran a small church of his own in one building. He had been wanting a Christian bookstore in one of his buildings. He was, for the most part, a very nice and very smart man and had some connections and knowledge about that industry. He had once worked in it as a bible salesman promoting the NASB version when it had come out.

In the industry there is an organization called The Christian Booksellers Association (CBA). And it just so happened that their annual convention was being held about 50 minutes down the road. They had one a year, and it could be any place in the USA, but it was close to us at the exact right time that I needed it to be. I mean I opened the doors to the store and it was time to sign up and get there. This pastor was a great help with all of this. And the convention was a great help in getting my store going. I needed to find the right distributor, and knew almost nothing about that. I had been a retail manager for years and had almost gotten my business degree in accounting before getting it in management, but had very little knowledge of purchasing or the Christian business community. Yet God provided me with a pastor and a convention, and they were helpful.

Indeed, after the second year in the store I was broke and was able to pass the store onto that pastor who ran it at least another 15 years in his building. It may still be going; I don't know. I don't even know if he is still going, but I do know that one day when talking to Him about hearing the Lord he told me that he had heard the small voice of the Lord but that was about 13 years earlier.

So, it was clear to me that God used both of them, but I worry about that second pastor. The Lord tells me to preach the Word of God to mean Him, and that He talks to us Today. The Lord is going to tell many that He never knew them. Yet while it has been about 13 years since I last spoke to that pastor, I suppose if I meet him on the street I would still say that I knew him. Afterall, I just wrote about knowing him. Yet is that how it is supposed to be with the great I Am?