(Click on photo to enlarge)
One of my favorite prophetic words was spoken to me in the Spring of 1994. It happened when a friend and her husband stopped by the house to see me on their way to a restaurant.
“Larry, the Lord knows how much you love to preach, but He wants you to do something first for Him, before you do any more preaching. Then afterward, you can preach all you want,” she said.
The “something” the Lord wanted me to do first turned out to be – start a paint contracting company, which ended up being a total disaster. I am still suffering from its fallout, twenty years later.
And preaching? I still laugh when I think about the Lord saying to me: “Then afterward, you can preach all you want.”
You see, what was missing in the prophetic words was that the Lord was going to squeeze every drop of desire out of me to preach and be on a stage ever again. The guy who used to love to preach died often in countless trials over the last twenty years. I absolutely do not miss him and, in fact, I abhor the guy I used to be.
Okay, how does this fit into publishing?
I have two thousand copies of The Day LA Died, ready to be marketed through whatever way the Lord shows me, like Christian book stores, churches, and advertisements. The two thousand copies weigh a total of 1900 pounds and are stored in closets throughout the house. It would be nice to free up the closet space again.
But first, I feel the Lord wants me to do something for Him, something which, of course, has nothing to do with publishing.
So, if you believe that walking with the Lord is the shortest distance between point A and point B, I have bad news for you. That is usually not the case. There will be plenty of time-consuming zigs and zags and stops along the way, but I also guarantee, it will be the greatest adventure of your life.
(Continued in Part 8)
Click on to see MyGFA site.
Larry Who 
As a young pastor years ago, I felt called to write and direct movies with Christian themes, so I moved to Los Angeles to study filmmaking. But after studying and working in the film industry on the peripherals for several years, I failed to find the money needed to produce any of my film projects. In my discouragement, I shared my struggles with one of my mentors, and he told me that it is seldom that we can go from point A to point B in a straight line in life. He then shared a sailing maneuver called “tacking,” in which you go from point A to point B by zigzagging from right to left and left to right, depending on the direction of the winds, even when the winds are blowing against you–yet always that zigzagging inevitably moves you towards your destination. His point was–we take whatever doors open up, whatever opportunities present themselves, whatever side jobs we have to take to put food on the table and pay the bills, but in the process we keep our eyes on the goal and keep moving towards it by preparing for the time when the right opportunity will open for us to reach our destination. Larry, thanks for reminding me of that wise mentor.
Derrick,
Thanks for the wonderful insight about tacking into the winds to reach our goals. I will remember those wonderful words forever.
I also like the words of an English Prime Minister: “The secret to success in life is for a man to be ready for his time when it comes.” (Benjamin Disraeli)
This is so helpful, Mr. Larry. Thank you! And God bless you and your publishing company.
Debbie,
Thanks. God bless you and your family.
I’m reading a book on prayer; ‘The Circle Maker’. The writer tied our dreams in to faith. The day we quit dreaming and imagining is when we die. “If you keep praying, you’ll keep dreaming, and conversely, if you keep dreaming, you’ll keep praying.”
We are far from dead. Regardless the setbacks, we have One, in whom we believe, that inspires us to keep believing. Prayer is labor. As a builder, if I did not see evidence that my labor was accomplishing something I would get discouraged and give up. Similarly, when I pray, I need to see evidence. I expect to see evidence. God uses it as inspiration to keep my believing believing.
Whatever the dream is, I believe it is there for a reason. As it is usually bigger than what we have the ability to accomplish on our own, it forces us to rely on the One that is bigger than our dream.
I pray you see just enough evidence to keep your believing believing.
Mike,
Thanks. Now that is a great prayer that will keep me going.
I echo your feelings about Mike’s prayer!