Morning Inspirational 30- minute Uplift...best selling Amazon author Alan Black

[00:00:00] Good morning, good morning, good morning.

[00:00:11] Welcome to the show, everyone.

[00:00:14] Welcome to the show.

[00:00:16] Welcome back to Morning Inspirations with Victoria J.

[00:00:21] You guys, we have a guest in the studio today.

[00:00:24] I'm so happy you for the fellowship. We thank you Father God for pouring out your spirit on us this very day Father God. As we go about our day to day Heavenly Father, let our hearts and our minds stay steadfast

[00:01:40] on your word or Heavenly Father.

[00:01:42] Heavenly Father as we go about our day to day Father God,

[00:01:45] bring us out of the dark with the United Methodist Church. He feels that ultimately what is important is not the denomination that you are a part of. What matters the most is the relationship that you have with the Lord. Part and parcel to any relationship is the level of commitment that one makes to it with

[00:03:05] any and all relationships. Because when we share our story, Ms. Jay, we never know how it's going to impact somebody else. That's right. That's right. One moment in time when the violence-inspired word that you may share, the Holy Spirit, may have you share. And that could be the impact in moment for somebody to really begin the process of turning their life around. That's right.

[00:04:20] That's right.

[00:04:21] Well, I humbly accept that.

[00:04:24] I thank you for I welcome it. But all three, I had the opportunity to read

[00:05:42] and sample. And I'll tell you that's some powerful stuff.

[00:06:49] in 2015 when the Holy Spirit began to move in a whole different direction to be writing as such.

[00:06:50] And I'll never forget it, Ms. Shea, because I had retired from my job at the university.

[00:06:56] I was an educator at the university level. You have to have something to engage your mind. Have to stay active otherwise you just begin to waste away. So I work for a hotel chain here locally in Omaha, Nebraska. And my hours at that time were like six in the morning until about 10 or 11 each more. I work about 25 hours a week just to stay busy.

[00:08:20] And so in 2015, I left my desk and I came back about five years later, just went to get some water or something. And when I came back, I could not remember what I written. Wow. And that was completely out of character for me.

[00:10:46] I could say to this point in front like, yeah, I'm ready for this man. Let's do this thing. That's a lie

[00:10:48] It's a lie Because when he was asking me that question mr. I said, I don't know about that man. That's kind of that ain't who I am

[00:10:57] I just have to ask you are you willing to be obedient and

[00:11:02] Follow what God's calling you to do. I said, well, okay, let's give him a try and let's see what's gonna happen

[00:12:04] I mean, I'm not trying to tell you how to do things, but I don't know just a suggestion. Yes.

[00:12:05] Said, I didn't go anywhere.

[00:12:06] I don't know why I was thinking I wasn't telling God, okay, this was best because he's

[00:12:11] coming online.

[00:12:12] But I wound up continuing just to be obedient.

[00:12:19] And that is so important.

[00:12:21] And I'm realizing that now I around the end of 2015, I had come up with like maybe 15 or 20 of these short essays. And for the audience, and you've read a couple of them, you kind of have a feel for them. All of my

[00:13:41] writings are very short. They're very reflective. Like two or Can you hear me now and part of that is due to the fact that Can we hear him when he's speaking to our heart? But in the process of us being hearers Are we willing to take the walk of faith to become doers? That's right because I think to do it is something else. So in my situation, I

[00:15:05] began to become more of a doer

[00:16:06] to know that as a side note, God is not a respecter of your age. That's right.

[00:16:07] See, for all, for me, all this began at the age of 60.

[00:16:11] I'm like, man, I'm really just cruised on into the last years of whatever my life is

[00:16:17] going to be and I'm not going to challenge.

[00:16:20] So when she's telling me right for a blog, I'm 60 years old.

[00:16:23] I don't even know to a blog in Singapore called Christian Blessings. So I sent it to her, Ms. Jay, and I'm thinking, well, she don't say no like everybody else. Right. And to my other shock, she emailed me back. She said, I like this, I like how you're writing this.

[00:17:42] I want you to write for me every week.

[00:17:44] Wow.

[00:17:45] I'm looking at this one, I don't know what I'm doing. And so I remember going into January 2016, I'll never forget this as long as I live. She said for January 2016 that we were having this conversation via email in December 2015. She said, I want you to write a short reflection for the beginning of a new year.

[00:19:06] It has to be at least 300 words. will old acquaintances be forgotten. Wow. And so my first essay for Christian blessing you have to come out of a comfort zone. Comfort brings about complacency.

[00:21:42] Placency has the capacity to put you into a position where you go into cruise control. guy here locally at Omaha who was an Arthur. I'm not going to name name because it's not fear. Long ago, I went in for 20 minutes. It was the most negative 20 minutes of my life. Right. There was nothing encouraging. There was nothing positive about his advice. And so after 20 minutes, I got out the

[00:23:07] phone. I again, that's me in the natural. It's amazing how we look at things in the natural, which has nothing to do with God. That's right. By the next day, I had 32 people that said they wanted to work with me. Wow.

[00:24:21] Honestly, Mr. It scared me,

[00:24:23] because I was like, oh, good grief, God.

[00:24:26] What are going on? I have to imagine even with Paul Street talking back podcast there. At the time when you said, man, this is

[00:25:44] just unreal. How did I get here? Yes. And so for my journey and as well for all of us, and I'm sure for you with the 12th Street Talk Back Podcast, there comes a point and we've heard this saying in church all of our lives, but you let go and let God. You do so because at some point

[00:27:01] you realize that it's bigger than you. And all guys but that's like for people to write books, she said, uh, you wrote a book. You got it. I thought, okay, I did the book signing about 35 or 40 people came by. They wanted my autograph and they want to

[00:28:20] pitch it with me. I'm like, it's just me. I'm the same person.

[00:28:23] You see it the grocery store at the gas station. I'm just me.

[00:29:23] And we're gonna get ready to do the second book. So let's rock and roll

[00:29:30] That's right. So I said, okay, let's do the second book the second book is called in the spirit intended

[00:29:34] Now short

[00:29:37] very reflective type of

[00:29:39] essays that one

[00:29:41] The most popular chapter in that book

[00:29:45] more than anything else

[00:30:44] being called to go into a whole different arena to stand out.

[00:30:52] Ask that square peg who's not meant to be tied in or part of the grouping of those people in the round home.

[00:30:59] And so I think we recognize that each of us have been a square peg at some point.

[00:31:04] But at what point do you look yourself in the mirror and you say,

[00:32:20] I'm a square peg. With all my academic background, academic training and everything, I taught myself, I really didn't make this thing harder than it had to be. It wasn't that hard, it just meant for me to be obedient and to then take the steps of faith. That's what it's about. But part of the reason, this is just Alan's opinion.

[00:33:29] don't line up with our plans and his plans are shocking to the extent that you look back and you say

[00:33:37] I don't even know how I got to this point. I never had this in my game of life. It was a part of my plan. You may have been thinking at some point. Yeah, I want to do ABC and D and he said no,

[00:34:47] live show. It wasn't in my plans to be bold. I like to stay the background. I said, God, I run for you as long as I can. I just like my position in the back. I don't like to be

[00:34:55] pushed to the forefront. And I believe that God sends us people with the message. That's

[00:35:01] my belief. And someone said to me, you more than we can possibly ever imagine. And just think about that. That is so true. And one of the chapters in my third book, just a close walk. And this is just how the spirit word is actually called beyond the veil. And the premise of that is,

[00:37:27] I was being pushed from behind the veil by virtue of working with college students and getting them from A to Z academically as far as getting their

[00:37:31] degree. It's like a person who was more out front more than I was used to. But now

[00:37:37] beginning to see, okay, that was also preparation for the day when God was

[00:37:41] taking me to a new position outside the or whatever the case may be. So I've learned a lot of what's up God has directed me to learn a lot of stuff by his divine leadership. I've learned how to do things like fight opportunities

[00:39:03] to network, to learn how to network via safe Facebook.

[00:40:04] text, I'm like, what's this text mean? And they're like, we're not going to answer the phone, and I want you answer the phone, no, you have to text us. They taught me how to text.

[00:40:10] They taught me how to do stuff, like use email better or the Facebook. And so,

[00:40:14] it's also important too that when we are going on a journey that God's calling us into,

[00:40:20] you humble yourself and you say, you know what, this is going to be a learning process.

[00:41:25] I never heard of it. She says, well, that's okay. We got you. We'll take care of you. And so I've got Instagram. I don't know. I'm still learning how to use it. But again,

[00:41:32] you humble yourself and you say, I'm willing to learn. I'm saying everything obedient in

[00:41:38] my Christian experience is you humble yourself. You say can do this let's work together and I can get you there. And when you look back through your life each of us have been blessed by so many occasions where God has provided us with a ram in the bush. That's another chapter in my third

[00:43:01] book as well because each of us have had rams in the bush right when we needed it more than those things around me. I've always had a sense of appreciation for what others are doing in life towards certain extent. Now I've been told that in some respects I am a bit of a nerd. Well truth be told there's a lot of truth to that. It is something that I have smiled at and said

[00:44:20] well then okay. In my observation in life I my mentors, Ms. J. And so what fascinated me about him was the fact that he could look at a blank sheet of paper.

[00:47:03] And he could conceptualize an idea or concept to then fill in you're called to be. It could be parents who were teaching you. It could be the school. People that you were associated with. It could be the experiences that you grew through within your church environment. It could be the experiences and interactions You got older, you're looking back now and you said, you know what? I see it. That's right. I recognize it. And I'm receiving now what it was they were talking about then. That was a part of that canvas being filled experience that's been the seven years ago, 40 something like that, where as illiteracy, I was just starting out, I had an idea for a song. I went to my college professor, it was like my mentor, I was scared out of my mind. I let him read, he said, you know, Alan, you got some potential here,

[00:49:40] you need to keep right and keep growing.

[00:49:43] That was a conversation 47 years ago.

[00:49:47] But that was a part of that painting of the canvas for you. Yes, he is. Yes. And you haven't been a blessing to us this morning. I mean, when I first talked to you, I was blown completely blown away.

[00:51:00] I didn't remember how long it was,

[00:51:01] but it was just so uplifting.

[00:51:05] You're such a humble, humble person. As for that one time, don't go back and keep begging and saying the same prayer over and over like a small child would do for a piece of candy. He heard you the first time. But you have to be obedient to the answer that he gives you because his answer is not going to look like the answer that you want.

[00:52:22] And sometimes it's a waiting process.

[00:52:26] You know, he's got to a best-selling author on Amazon. And I'm just completely overwhelmed by that experience. So grateful for that. And just so honored to be recognized

[00:53:41] as a best-selling author.

[00:53:43] The third book, which came out about a year ago,

[00:53:46] is called Just a Closer Walk. What is it? What's he calling you to do? And so I write in that domain where I'm just trying to be very down the earth. Most of the feedback that I've gotten people say, you know, it's down the earth. It's not way up in the sky. They said, I can relate to it. I'm dealing with it. Because by definition, I'm just a regular guy. I'll be 69 in the end of Peter walking on the water he sinks and everybody he said has a real focus on the fact that Peter's sight because of his lack of faith. But my father, Ms. J said, I want you to look at it in a different way.

[00:56:22] My father said, what were the other disciples doing? Well, guys, if your spirit is jumping inside of you, like mine is jumping inside of me, go visit Alan Black over his website, www.alentblack.com. I'll post that in the show notes for you guys.

[00:57:45] Head on over to Instagram to reach out to you. Your inspiration to me, my brother in Christ, thank you so much. Thank you. That's your valuable time. Thank you. All right, guys. Peace and blessings to you all for joining us. If you didn't get anything out of this power for conversation, I'll leave you with this. This is an example of God doing what he said he would do.

[00:59:05] Your latter days will be better than your formal.