Preface
“The older I get the more I believe that all mankind has common struggles, private doubts and wounds. The people who can tell their story – their testimony – about a chapter of life with courage and grace create a safe place for others to exist. Your story empowers others to come to terms with their own story.” Dr. Lance Wallnau
This is a story about a man with many struggles, numerous doubts and a degree of woundedness. He’s a lot like some of the people found in the Bible. People with faults. People like you and me. Yet, through their stories, and hopefully through this one, encouragement to press on into greater life with God is found. In the story, as you’ll read, he discovers exactly what he is looking for.
Some of the details of this story might seem to be nearly autobiographical to those of you who know me. Perhaps they are, perhaps they aren’t. I wrote because I was under extreme compulsion to write. And it has been a valuable experience for me to do so.
My goal is that all who take the time to read it will reflect on their own life and discover something life-affirming or freedom enhancing as a result. I believe that the greatest gift God gave us in His Son is the ability to be free. Free from that which has held us back and freedom to live really well, just like He intended for us in the first place.
And with that, read the story. Enjoy it. And be encouraged. It is time for your increase!
Douglas J Love February 2014
Chapter One: Meet Increase - A man hungry for more
“Deep in his heart, every man longs for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue." John Eldredge
“It is abnormal for a Christian not to have an appetite for the impossible. It has been written into our spiritual DNA to hunger for the impossibilities around us to bow at the name of Jesus.” Bill Johnson
“There is no passion to be found playing small — in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” Nelson Mandela
Have you ever felt deep down inside where it really matters, there is more to life than what you were experiencing? What if there are mysteries to be explored, territories to be conquered and victories to be won? Is constant joy a reality to be experienced or simply the musings of the madman or the mystic? Imagine, if you dare, the possibilities that life has to offer that far exceed what the ordinary man discovers.
What if unimaginable bliss was within grasp? What if you weren’t careful, you’d find yourself living life unaware and missing out on the really big thing? In the midst of the normal things of contemporary life is it possible to open up Heaven and see things as the heroes of scripture did?
This is the story of such a man who always dreamed that he was destined to find the bigger things in life. This man, imperfect and flawed like the rest of us, had sensed in his inner being that there was more to life than what he saw at face value. His name is Increase and this is his tale of how his pursuit for more came to be.
Increase grew up in an era when front doors weren't locked, mothers stayed home with the children, and everyone had one black and white television. Cell phones, the internet and text messaging didn’t exist, or hadn’t even been dreamt of, but somehow people stayed in touch. Increase’s father would call his son home from playing in the neighbor’s yard with his unmistakable whistle, and without a doubt that meant ‘get home now.’ With a fill up at the Service Station they checked your tire pressure and made sure your oil was okay, and then washed your windows, all for 30 cents a gallon for Ethyl. Little League, Boy Scouts and Church took up most families free time, and life was pretty good. Sure, most people in the town where Increase spent his formative years were concerned about the 'Bomb' and all out war with the Russians, but largely it was a more innocent time, one might even say a happy time.
“Did you ever watch the TV show 'The Wonder Years?’" Increase asked a friend, “That was my childhood. I was Kevin Arnold. We rode our bikes everywhere we needed to go. In the summer months we stayed out until long after dark playing football, catching tadpoles in the river and running amok in the neighborhood. All of our neighbors knew our names and would straighten us out when we were out of line. Those were good days.”
As Increase left his childhood behind and entered his teen and young adult years, an internal change began. “Sometimes I wonder, is there more? Can I have more than what I have now?” He wasn't talking about material possessions, but he was hungry to explore the deeper things of life. Sure he had his faith in God, but he often would ponder if going to church meetings, reading The Book and doing good things was all that God had in mind for His people.
Increase would think, “There's got to be more than that! When I read The Book, I see men and women having wild adventures, so why is my life so tame? Isn’t there more than book study, going to meetings, being good and doing right? I want to be like Gideon sneaking into the enemy camp at night, or William Wallace rallying his countrymen against tyranny. There is something about the Meeting Place that is too tame, too civilized. Sometimes, I just want to go out and do something a little wild!”
But Increase was a product of Partly Right. In spite of his inner hunger for more, he was very afraid, and extremely careful. Where others might jump in, he’d carefully wade. The tapes playing in his mind from The Powers That Be and his conservative authority influences caused him to hold back.
“Be careful,” was one of the chief messages he’d received from his mother. “Don’t think more highly of yourself, young man,” said Hair in a Bun, his matronly Sunday School teacher from childhood. “Just try to fit in, you’ll be happier,” was the overall message in Partly Right.
Regardless of these messages, the desire for ‘more’ was rapidly expanding in his heart. He simply wasn’t going to remain satisfied with the status quo for much longer. Something had to change.
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