I Couldn’t Read Fast Enough
I was born in 1934, in Spokane, Washington. Raised Catholic, I early learned the value of prayer and used it to my advantage to get what I needed to survive a less-than-average childhood. In 1952 I joined the army. From 1952 to 1955 I was stationed in Germany where I encountered the aftermath of World War II. I then bounced around the planet, experiencing various addictions, divorce, and other assorted failures. To be fair I must also admit that I usually carried a joyful outlook on life in general.
In 1970, I was going through some big changes in my life, having quit my job and being more or less homeless, searching for something but not really knowing what it was. I was reading many books on different religions and philosophies, but the only one that really held my attention was the New Testament. There was something magnetic about Jesus steady sayings: “Consider the lilies,” “planting the seeds,” “the lost sheep,” and many others.
About this time I was hit by a car and thought I was surely going to die. While lying there waiting for the lights to go out, I asked God to forgive me for wasting my life. But I survived, and about six weeks later, while I was healing in shared living quarters, I met someone who was always reading a big book in the corner of our little one- room haven. One day I asked, “W.L., what are you reading?” He replied that it was quite an interesting book, and placed it on my bed so I could look at while he went out for a while.
I opened the book to page 1096, and the first thing I read was, “The goal of human self-realization should be spiritual, not material. “I closed it, my thumb marking the page, so I could keep reading right there. My thought was, “If it says that much in one sentence, what does the rest of this book have to say? I was fascinated. I couldn’t read fast enough. Within a few hours I had visited the mansion worlds, the Garden of Eden, a neighboring planet – just to name a few first-day highlights. I had been given The Revelation.
I looked for a place to live where I could spend some time reading, and moved to Bisbee, Arizona. I realized God was giving me a vacation from all duties so I could align my priorities. I recall reading at the time how Jesus mingled with many different people, and I felt honored to do likewise, attending Urantia conferences in Colorado, Washington, Idaho, Illinois, Wisconsin, and California.
I now live in Sacramento and do volunteer work. I also play and teach the physics of the golf stroke. I look forward to meeting more travelers on our way to the outer space regions. Come and visit – we can talk about God ‘n’ golf!
