What if we all came together?

What if we all came together?

RYAN REAGOR

What if We All Came Together?

All for God Movement

RYAN REAGOR

publication supported by the Reagor Dykes Auto Group

This book is dedicated to my parents, Bart and Annette Reagor. To my dad for always showing me that you really can achieve any goal if you have a strong enough desire and a purpose that you believe in. I know that I’ve been difficult, and I would never have found my faith if you didn’t keep me on His path and lead me through your incredible example. And to my mom for showing me just how much you can affect somebody’s life if you love him or her the way that you’ve loved me. You are both truly a gift to me and I love you so much.

CONTENTS ONE Introduction / 1 TWO Opportunity 1: Forgiveness / 5 THREE Opportunity 2: Imagine You Lived in The Moment / 9 FOUR Opportunity 3: Overcome Fear / 15 FIVE Opportunity 4: A Clean Slate / 19 SIX Opportunity 5: Letting go of Your Ego / 23

SEVEN Opportunity 6: Looking at Challenges as Opportunities / 27 EIGHT Opportunity 7: Love / 33 NINE Opportunity 8: Hope / 37 TEN Opportunity 9: Faith / 39 ELEVEN My Vision / 43 TWELVE Conclusion / 49

What if We All Came Together?

ONE

Introduction

A

s I sit in my room and write this book, I have no clue what I am doing. Just 3 short months ago I was sitting in chapel at my school finally realizing that I had strayed in the complete opposite direction of God. Just 3 short months ago I was living in the complete control of Satan. But I do promise this: in this book I will be completely honest. In reading the words of Gandhi I know that in order to make changes in this world you have to be the change that you want to see. So I’ll start with honesty.

I am writing these words because they mean more to me than I can describe. I am a junior at a small university in Texas. I have no training in writing other than the Basic English classes that you have to take to graduate. My grammar has never been above average.

(I apologize for this as you read on) I have never had a desire to write and to be honest I have no idea how to approach writing a book. I definitely don’t know how to format it. None of that seems to matter in writing this though. That is not the point of this book.

I am an ordinary kid that has lived an incredibly blessed life. I have the most loving family and friends that any kid could ask for. But I still believe there is so

What if We All Came Together?

much more. I am going through many changes. My world as I know it is slowly starting to melt away and a desire for a whole new world is forcing its way in with an overwhelming intensity. I realize that I simply cannot live without this Greater Purpose at the center of every breath from here on.

How could this seemingly good life be a great life?

What if I’ve viewed the world in the least satisfying way possible for 20 years? What if I’ve brushed off the many blessings in my life as things that I was entitled to? What if I’ve taken the people in my life for granted?

What if I’ve never shared my heart with Jesus? What if hell is really being on this Earth without choosing and knowing God? What if hell is living with things such as greed or jealousy or fear instead of with God’s love?

Are those not the qualities of Satan?

I want to mention this right now before you get into this book, because it is such a touchy subject. I realize that we do not all have to have the exact same view on God. We each have a different relationship with Him so we will not all view Him the same in the intimate details. Just like the fact that the Bible speaks into each of our lives on a personal level and causes personal individual feelings. I can only speak from my own perspective and hope that you hold the same core values that Jesus has given us to be true no matter how your relationship with Him affects your own perspectives. No feelings from God are wrong. I love hearing how God makes himself available in different ways to different people. I love hearing how God works in a 2

Introduction

way that was designed so uniquely for each of us. We can all learn from your relationship and I hope that this book encourages you to share your own testimony!!

I am still a kid, but I have a vision that I want to share with the world. I don’t know if this is supposed to be a book, a devotional, or a short story. I actually started off writing this vision as one idea that I didn’t want to forget and a couple of hours later it was 10 pages long. It started as a plea to people around my age, but the farther I went the more I realized I wanted it to speak to anybody who was willing to listen. I don’t want it to be tailored to any specific person. All I know is that I want it to be a light for as many individual journeys as it can be. So I plea to anybody who picks up this “book” to read it with an open mind and if the words I write can speak into your heart then I ask you to share this book with one other person. I want this to be something that you can read in one night that can change the rest of your nights. All I want is a chance for you to see this hope that has been burning inside of me like a fire. And I hope it sparks that great fire in you too.

3

TWO

Opportunity 1: Forget Through Forgiveness

I

am very thankful for the life I have been given. I have an amazing family (loving parents, siblings, uncles, grandparents, great-grandparents, and cousins) and unbelievable friends. I understand that is something that not everybody can say. But this book is about us ALL coming together.

How many people do you consider close to you? Are you like me and have your relatives, friends, and maybe a few other people who have made an impact on your life?

Did you have to grow up too fast without a loving set of parents? Were you the kid that never felt like you fit in anywhere? In the time that you’re reading this book I want you to forget all of that. I want you to forget your past and get into this moment right now.

Imagine.

I know some people right now are thinking, “how can I forget ______?� Fill in the blank. What is that thing in your life that haunts you? What is that thing that can ruin your entire day every time it creeps into your mind? I promised to be honest in this book, so I will tell you what my ______ is.

Up until 3 months ago I was an extremely selfish 5

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person. I love my parents, but I loved them for the ways they were helping me more than I loved them for loving me. I did things to please them so that they would not cut me off or become disappointed in me.

I didn’t do things so that they could see how much I loved them and how much their guidance and support had helped me. I treated girls as a way to satisfy a lonely hole in my heart that was there because I didn’t know God. I failed many girls who I let put their trust in me. I looked at girls as distractions from God, not gifts from God. I looked at friends as people I could hang with to make myself look cooler or that could help me in some way which kept the real me pushed down even further. I was not sharing who I was or where my faith lied with my friends in any way, shape or form. I was using my talents for personal gain and success as opposed to using my gifts from God to spread His Word.

I was living for me 100%. I denied that truth for 20 years. So you tell me, if I can face that truth and forgive myself is there still no way you can forgive yourself, your father, your ex-boyfriend or whatever your own ______ might be?

Now that you have brought that thing in your life to the front of your thoughts I want you to forgive whatever person, thing or thought caused it. Don’t just say that you’ve forgiven it. Actually FORGIVE! Read Matthew 18:21-22. In that teaching Jesus was commanding Peter to forgive the people who had betrayed him not one, not seven, but seven times seventy times.

What if we forgave those people that had been 6

Opportunity 1: Forget Through Forgiveness

considered “too far gone.” I mean after all, have we really given them 490 chances as Jesus has instructed us to do? And after all every sin is the same in God’s eyes.

(Yes that’s right, you that is living like me 3 months ago thinking that your sins are somehow smaller than others.) ALL SINS ARE EQUAL. If we are still choosing our sinful nature we are simply not choosing God with our whole life. And that is the greatest sin of all.

If this is Jesus’ command then why can you not begin to forgive the people that have wronged you?

Why can you not forgive those that have let you down no matter how big you’ve considered their sin against you to be? And if they wrong you again why can you not forgive again?

Now imagine that whomever you’ve hurt was doing the same thing. Forgiving YOU. Now imagine that everyone in the world did this. We all just forgave those things we’d considered unforgivable. What if there were no grudges being held? No insecurities caused from failed relationships and feelings of not being accepted?

What if everybody truly believed they had been forgiven? Would this world be different?

7

THREE

Opportunity 2: Imagine You Lived in The Moment

H

ave you ever used a concert, date, or any other distraction as something to look forward to? We all have. But is living for the future “huge event” the most satisfying way to live? Building off of the question I asked you to end the last section, let’s imagine that everyone did in fact forgive and this world really was different. Imagine you no longer had to worry about how much you hurt your abandoned child or ex-husband or boyfriend. Would you still be dreading the day that you had to face it? No. You wouldn’t have to keep finding material ways to make yourself forget. If everyone forgave, we could finally live in each moment. We could finally focus on how God could use us in that moment. If everyone forgave and was forgiven then we could finally focus on God. That is kind of a scary thought in a way isn’t it?

What if you actually gave up your addiction to alcohol, tobacco, sex, cleaning, or drugs that you were confiding in to distract yourself from reality? No. It’s not scary.

It’s so much easier than you can believe right now.

Imagine that you weren’t sitting there waiting until the next time you could bring a girl home or waiting to get off work so that you could go have a drink. Imag9

What if We All Came Together?

ine that you were enjoying the exact situation that you were in 100% of the time. Imagine that you were doing exactly what you were meant to do 100% of the time?

Would you still need that dip of snuff or that cigarette later? No you wouldn’t. And I can tell you this with 100% conviction because I lived my life from dip to dip for the last 5 years. I tried to quit for 3 years. Just ask my friends, they heard multiple “promises” from me about how this time I was finally done. It never happened. Why? Because I was completely incapable of being with God in a moment. I didn’t listen to the words in Colossians 3:2 telling me to focus on what is above and not those that are on the Earth. My mind was always creeping back to nicotine instead of focusing on God. “When would it be acceptable to have another one?” “If I only have three dips today instead of four I am really improving. One day I’ll be done for sure.”

“One day I’ll change”. This is one of the most telltale phrases that you’re not able to live in the moment and I must have told myself those four words thousands of times. But let me ask you this, why can you not change it today? Seriously. Why not? Tell yourself why right now and see if it makes sense. To those of you that think there is no way you can give up your addiction RIGHT NOW I would ask you these questions: • Is it more important than your relationship with God? 10

Opportunity 2: Imagine You Lived in The Moment

• Is it helping you or distracting you from being all that you can be?

• Do you go to your addiction or to God when you are feeling overwhelmed?

• Is your addiction bigger than God? Can God really not rid you of it RIGHT NOW? IS any thing impossible for Him? • Are the consequences of what will happen if you give this addiction up things that God can not help you with? That He cannot handle?

Maybe we should linger on that last question for a second. Have you been treating your addiction or distraction from this moment as something God can’t handle? Or are you just not willing to hand it over to him? Ask yourself that question with a truly honest intent. I think you will find that it is going to be easier giving up your addiction to whatever it is that you’re holding on to. God is waiting to help you if you let Him. ALL YOU NEED IS FAITH!!

How do you live in the moment ALL of the time?

This is not an easy thing and it is literally impossible to do without God. I’ll admit my mind still begins drifting towards things like, “what am I going to do with the rest of my life when I graduate in a year and a half ?” However, if you begin trying to live in the now you will start to catch yourself when you do this. You 11

What if We All Came Together?

will gradually begin to say goodbye to the worry that has been limiting you. You will begin to realize that he is taking care of your future by working in your life right now. Here is how I bring myself back. It’s one very simple question: • “Why has God put me in this situation right now?”

Have you ever thought about that? Do you really think there is ever one second where God cannot either: a) use you to help bring others towards a relationship with Him OR b) use the moment to strengthen your own relationship with Him? Have you ever asked God to use you right then? If you haven’t I encourage you to start praying something like this: “God please use me in this moment in the way that only You can.” When you let God know that you are willing, HE WILL USE YOU. I know that “living in the moment” might be something that is used too often and it almost becomes cliché. But living in the moment for God makes each moment original. It makes the blur of your day-to-day routine turn into a life filled with beauty and purpose.

It makes the person that can’t get enough sleep turn into somebody that doesn’t want to go to sleep because they have a mission that they can’t wait to accomplish.

Are you living with a purpose? Do you have a vision?

What is God trying to use you to do?

Do those questions overwhelm you? Because they 12

Opportunity 2: Imagine You Lived in The Moment

would have overwhelmed me. I came up with every excuse possible to avoid them. All you have to do is trust that God has a plan for you. Trust that there is a reason that you are in each situation that you’re in from now on. Ask him to lead you and you will start accomplishing NOW.

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FOUR

Opportunity 3: Overcome Satan

F

ear: The one thing I was unwilling to ask for help with and the one thing I needed help with the most. We all have things that Satan uses to try and keep us from fully experiencing the Lord. We all have something that Satan uses to come after us with. Fear of failure. That was my greatest fear that I considered too big for God. I play baseball at the university where I go to school.

The sport is a good example for me to share with you all how fear controlled my life until recently. I know you all will not be baseball fans, but I think you might be able to relate it to your own passions.

I had a couple of years in high school where I came nowhere near reaching my potential on the baseball field. Why? Because I had zero confidence and I played with fear. I went from being a kid that had fun every time he was on the field to a kid that became too afraid to mess up. I went from being the kid that always wanted to pitch or make a great play to a kid that hoped our coach would bring somebody else in. Now let me ask you this‌ does that sound like a kid that has a solid relationship with the Lord?

Are you failing because you don’t have the talent to 15

What if We All Came Together?

do what you do or because you’re so afraid to fail that you’re limiting your own performance?

Self-fulfilling prophecy. This is a real thing. You become what you think that you are. You become your own thoughts. And fear has the ability to completely take over your mind if you let it. I became the kid that nobody could count on because I was too afraid people would think that I couldn’t be counted on. You see how I became exactly what I didn’t want to be? I wanted to be great and I had every skill I needed to do it. Except the most important one: God. You will never reach your full potential in anything that you do if you have fear. EVER. And no human is able to live life with no fear no matter who you are.

How do you reach your full potential then? Turn your fear over to the Lord. Have Faith. Fear and faith cannot co-exist in your life.

This does not in anyway mean that I think God is going to make me a better player. He has already given me the skills to take me as far as I’m supposed to go. It simply means that I will not limit the skills that God has given me. Think about your own life. What is it that you have skill to do? Are you so afraid of failing that you’re not performing at your best? Or are you so filled with fear that you haven’t even tried? Or maybe Satan is coming after you with greed or lust that is limiting you from performing at your God given potential.

Identify it and trust it to God. God has given us all things that we are good at.

Maybe you have a great voice but have always been too 16

Opportunity 3: Overcome Satan

scared of failure to try. “What if nobody thinks I’m good?” “What if my parents don’t think that’s what I should do with my life?” These are excuses that you are using because you are still living in fear.

You can use the gifts that God has given you in one of two ways: you can try to use them on your own or you can let the Lord into your life and use them for the reason that He gave them to you. Do you think you have these abilities by chance or do you think that you have them for a reason? I believe I have the traits that I do because I was meant to use them. Not for me, but for a Greater Purpose. We all have to find what our part in that Purpose is. And once we do fear will no longer be the deciding factor over our abilities, our mission will be. Our faith will be. God will be.

I know that baseball is a very small thing in the greater picture of life. However, that is what I believe I am meant to do right now. I believe I am going to have impacts on people’s lives by glorifying God through this sport. But what if I lived thinking that I couldn’t help anybody yet? That going to school and playing ball was just a town to pass through before I went on to my final destination? What if I was too afraid to tell people about my love for God right now because I didn’t think I was old enough or wise enough? What if I didn’t try to glorify the Lord in my schoolwork or the sport that I love? Would the people who I have encountered be the same as if I did every single thing in my life for Him? Maybe they would be. But I like to think that we can all have an impact that can com17

What if We All Came Together?

pletely change the course of this world, no matter how big we think what we are doing is. After all, who really knows if that one life that you touch in a small town in Texas might change the world? I’ll tell you this, I have faith that it will.

Faith is what can overcome fear. Hope is what can overcome fear. Love is what can overcome fear. 1 Corinthians 13:13 states that those are the only three things that will last forever. Fear did not make the list.

Satan did not make the list.

So let go of the fear that you have and replace it with faith, hope and love. What do you think would happen if we all did? Would the world still be the same?

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FIVE

Opportunity 4: A Clean Slate

D

oes this theme sound to good to be true? I mean does anybody really ever get a clean slate? Well do you believe in Jesus? Do you believe that Jesus died for our sins or do you believe that we are eternally doomed for that one cuss word that we said when we were 13? Or for the thousands of cuss words I’ve said by the time I’m 20? Am I eternally doomed because I lost my virginity before I was married? Am I separated from God forever so now I have no reason to forgive others for their wrongs to me? If I’m not forgiven by the One who matters most, then why should I forgive my brothers and sisters for their mistakes?

Well I have good news for you all, we are all forgiven IF WE WANT TO BE! We are all sinners. Every man and woman who has ever walked this earth was a sinner. Every man except one. God has such love for us that He did not want us to be apart forever. He sent his Son so that we can be forgiven if we just simply repent. And guess what…. We’re going to mess up again, we’re going to sin again. But we can always repent. We all have our mistakes and to the Lord they are all the same. No one is too far gone that they can’t 19

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be forgiven.

So let me ask you this, if we are all forgiven by each other and we are all forgiven by our Creator then why can we not have a clean slate? If you’re like me then a clean slate is so much more than you can ever ask for.

So I beg you all again, forgive the grudges you hold on others and ask to be forgiven by the Lord.

Now that you’ve done that, how do you feel? Different? Is it easier to live in this moment now that you’ve quit worrying about your past and quit worrying about who might find out about your past sins in the future? What if your best friend did this too? What if your wife did this? What if your sister did this? What if the guy you see every now and then begging for money did this? Do you think that his view on life would be different if he was given a clean slate? If somebody told him that it wasn’t too late to turn his life to God completely and then see what happens. Is anything impossible for God if we have enough faith? I challenge you all to find somebody that is struggling and let them know that if they want a fresh start they have somebody just begging to help and to lead them. That somebody is Jesus Christ.

If you have a clean slate and have rid yourself of your fear is anything now impossible for you? Aren’t all things possible for the one that believes? That’s what it says in Mark 9:23. And now that you have trusted that the Lord will guide you as part of His Greater Purpose you can accomplish anything. Some might still be thinking, “But can I really do ANYTHING?” And if 20

Opportunity 4: A Clean Slate

you are still asking that question you haven’t trusted in the Lord fully yet.

Give yourself the clean slate that Jesus is offering you. If you are God’s creation and you know that God has designed you to complete perfection for your purpose, why not trust in Him fully? He gave you the abilities you have for a reason, do you really think you know how to use them better than He does? Once you realize that your Father truly does know best, you will trust Him with your life. And then you will begin to fill that clean slate and those blank pages of your new life with your own unique short story in the larger book of how this world was saved by its Creator. And guess what. Nobody’s story will be any more heroic or any more special than the next chapter written by his or her neighbor.

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SIX

Opportunity 5: Letting Go of Your Ego

T

he sentence I ended the last theme with might rub some the wrong way. I mean isn’t the point of this life so that you can accomplish great things? If we didn’t want to accomplish all that we possibly could then there would be no point in even doing anything at all. The people that are having these feelings are exactly as I was. They are feeling the same feelings that I still struggle with. Isn’t it my individuality that I should be graded on and aren’t my own accomplishments what make me unique? If we’re all playing an equal part then what makes anything special about me?

The answer to that question is this: we can’t do it without you. You can’t do it without me. I can’t do it without the man spending his life in prison. I want to go into the jails, go into the man’s cell that has killed more than he has loved. I want to look him in the eye and tell him that I love him in such a way that he has no choice but to believe me. I want to tell him that I’ve sinned against the Lord just as he has. I want to tell him that God will begin giving him a new path towards his goal if he accepts Him back into his life. I want to tell him that it’s not too late for anyone. I want 23

What if We All Came Together?

to tell him that I can’t do it without him. I want to tell him that you can’t do it without him. I want to tell him that WE can’t do it without him. Can I tell him that if I still have my ego? Is THAT too big for God? You want this world to be changed? You have to realize you will never come anywhere near doing that on your own. You will never come anywhere near it if you get 99% of the people to help you. That is what makes each one of us so unique and important to God. God wants us all to accomplish our own part in His purpose.

And God has assigned each of us our own unique role in his script of how He saved the World.

There is something that only your set of abilities can accomplish! Are you willing to do it? Are you willing to put your hope and faith into the skills that you have been given?

You will never fully play your role if you are doing it for praise, fortune or fame. You will never do it if you believe your part should be worth more than mine. You will never do it if you still hold onto your ego. PERIOD. The ego might be the most difficult thing for us to truly trust to God. We all want to be special. It’s our basic human instinct. The truth is that it’s our mission that makes us special. Yes we all have unique abilities qnd the abilities that Tom Brady possesses are no more special than the abilities that the fan in the stands possesses. Who is to say the missionary’s purpose is any greater than the salesman’s? Who is to say that salesman’s purpose is any more important than the mission24

Opportunity 5: Letting Go of Your Ego

ary’s? The answer is not to be decided by the missionary or the salesman. It is already decided by our God. And the answer is that they’re the same if they’re both doing their job for His Glory and nor for their own glory.

The only question left to us is this: who is going to fully claim their abilities in God’s plan? God has made us all unique but He loves us all the same. Does that not tell you that there is no need to hold on to your ego? Who cares if more people know Tom Brady’s name than your name? I am a huge Tom Brady fan, but I am also a huge fan of you. If you fully access and use the gifts God has given you then you are just as beautiful in the eyes of the Lord. Believe that. Know that. Have faith in that.

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SEVEN

Opportunity 6: Looking at Challenges as Opportunities

W

hat is the biggest sign to yourself that you have put your complete trust in God? For me that answer was this: I quit looking at every challenge as a burden and started looking at it as just another way that God is making me stronger and using me. Does that sound cheesy? I’m sure to some it does. But believe me, the day that you hand your life over to God you will be looking forward to your next opportunity. You will not be dreading it.

Imagine that you did begin to look at these “challenges that God has unfairly placed on you� as opportunities that God has given you to serve, accomplish and grow. Would that change the effect that you are having on the people around you? It is so easy to let the people that are complaining influence your own energy and outlook. But what if you were the one setting the example of positivity? What if instead of joining in on the complaining you had the faith that if you just continued to be positive no matter what, one day the people that were complaining would see how happy you were and come to you asking for help. Nobody wants to stay in the negative if they can actually see the possibility of happiness. If they constantly see the light 27

What if We All Came Together?

inside of you, they will come around. Just be patient and be faithful. Accept the opportunity of the moment.

God has put you in the situation you’re in because he wants you to help Him with something. What or who is it around you that you can influence?

“He has already scheduled the days and the OPPORRUNITIES to tangibly share his love with others.” (Psalm 139:16) Think about what this verse is saying. What if the opportunities referred to here are the very things that you’re looking at as challenges. This verse is telling you that you have to choose to share your love for Him. God made the likes of Noah and Moses choose. He didn’t just give to them.

He gave them opportunities to choose their purpose through Him. And guess what? IF you have fear of not taking advantage of your opportunities then they won’t be opportunities. They will be challenges. If you’re anxiously awaiting the next time that God uses you and gives you the chance to inspire change then the opportunity will turn into a positive result. The positive result that God has already planned. So let me ask you this, why are you still afraid you won’t accomplish it?

If God has the result planned, and gives you the opportunity to accomplish it, THEN WHY ARE YOU AFRAID THAT YOU WON’T?! It is already planned! God has told you that He has a great plan for your life. Are you going to keep denying Him? Telling Him that you don’t believe it? The fact is that’s what you’re doing every time you lose your faith and let the feeling of insignificance get between you and God’s 28

Opportunity 6: Looking at Challenges as Opportunities

plan for you. That’s what you’re doing when you let Satan come between you and Jesus. Satan thrives on that feeling of not being worthy. Satan thrives on that fear.

Are you going to keep denying Jesus and accepting Satan? That’s a blunt question but maybe we should all finally face it. That’s what we’re doing when we don’t take advantage of these opportunities. Does that not inspire change in your perspective?

To those that don’t believe in a God: I know that you see good and evil. Are you going to keep spreading evil because you’re the one that thrives off of watching other people fail or be unhappy? Are you really that selfish? Maybe you think that you are experiencing happiness. You’re not rooting against others and you’re just accomplishing and thriving on your own. To you I would say this, you are nowhere near as happy as you could be if you were sharing those accomplishments with God. Period.

“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) God is speaking to you. Jesus is speaking to you. I’m speaking to you. We all need you just like we all need the man spending his days in prison. Maybe you are the guy spending his life in prison because you decided that you needed to leave your footprint on this earth and you knew no other way because you never saw 29

What if We All Came Together?

God’s plan for you. It’s not too late. Take Jesus’ yoke upon you. God loves you, I love you, we all love you.

We all have hope in you. We all have faith in you. Why don’t you just finally believe in something greater than yourself ? I was exactly where you are in your faith three months ago!!! Are you not tired of being disappointed and only feeling “happy” when you see evil win? Are you not tired of your greatest reward being money or fame?

I’ll say it again: we all need you. God promises that if you would just be open-minded and open-hearted with Him that you will not have to thrive on hate or greed any longer. So what are you waiting for? There is an OPPORTUNITY being given to you right now as you read these words. Are you too big of a challenge for God? The answer is no.

At the end of the day it is 100% your choice. I can tell you all day long that I’m rooting for you and that I’m on your side but we all have to make the choice for ourselves. It is also everybody’s own choice to live for themselves first and foremost everyday. I’m just saying that I would love for you to join me in this love for one another and for our God everyday for the rest of our lives. What could be more fun than that?

I believe that He will reach you one day no matter how long you fight it. Would you rather that day be today or during the last breath that you take after carrying the burdens of the world on your shoulders for an entire lifetime? Would you rather keep living with Satan or would you rather start helping us bring Jesus 30

Opportunity 6: Looking at Challenges as Opportunities

back? Why not join us right now?

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EIGHT

Opportunity 7: Love

T

his book started with a central theme of loving each other. However, my best friend then reminded me to read Luke 10:26-27 which reads, “Jesus replied, ’What does the law of Moses say?

How do you read it?’ The man answered, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”

So now we get to this opportunity, but it’s a little different than I originally planned. This is the biggest trait that we all have in this vision fueled by love, faith and hope. I want to encourage you all to read 1 Corinthians 13:1-12 before reading any farther in this book.

So you see that from Luke 10:27 that we are meant to love. We are commanded to love our God and we are commanded to love each other. But let me ask you this, have you ever loved anybody with the kind of love that is described in 1 Corinthians 13:1-12?

I never did. Not my family, not my friends, not ANYTHING! Not until very recently. What made the difference? God. Now that we have let Jesus wipe our slates clean, what better way to start filling our pages than with love? How much change can love 33

What if We All Came Together?

really bring?

Have you ever met somebody that was filled with such a fierce love and happiness that you couldn’t help but come away happier just from talking to them?

What kind of impression did that person make on your day? Did you get excited the next time you saw them if you ever did? I did. I had a man that walked into my life my senior year named Adam. He came and talked to our football team before one of our games. I went into the meeting thinking it was just another guy here to blow some false motivation into our locker room.

But he was different. As soon as he started talking you could just see the pure passion and excitement he had about life and for the Lord. After his talk, he gave us each a card with his number on it. Guess what I did after the game? I texted him and asked him if he would meet with me the upcoming Sunday. I literally could not wait to be around him again. He took me to church and he took me to lunch after. That is the day where my whole world began to change. His love helped bring me to the Lord.

That energy, that driving force changed my life forever. All he did was talk to me for thirty minutes and my life changed. I’m sure everybody has had somebody like that, and if you haven’t I pray that you can feel some of that energy in this book. But think of that feeling you got around that sort of energy. If that energy is so impactful, why do you allow people to see anything other than this energy in you? Ever?

What if you’re meant to show somebody that love one 34

Opportunity 7: Love

day but you miss your chance because you are worrying about the bad grade or the bad game you had the night before? Or maybe you’re thinking that you’re a shy person so there is no way you could be so bold. Do you realize how silly that sounds? We all have a chance to change the world everyday but we allow things that hold no value in the grand scheme of things to get in the way.

Does that person’s love and energy remind you of that love described in 1 Corinthians? Were they showing that love for self-gain? Is it the segregating love that decides to love some but not others? The answer is no it is not. The truth is that we are to love like God’s Word states. That is our commandment that Jesus gives us. We are not only meant to love God or Jesus like that. We are not only meant to love our parents or our siblings like that. We are meant to love everyone like that. We are COMMANDED to love everyone like that. You are meant to love the guy sitting in prison AS YOURSELF. You are commanded to love the lady who always treats you with hate as much as you are meant to love your mother. Does that sound too big for God to accomplish in your life? It’s not. In fact, Jesus says that is the second most important commandment behind loving God. Does that change your perspective? It shook my whole world. I was jealous of my talented friends. I was envious of my happy friends. I viewed everyone as either roadblocks or stepping-stones. I did not love. I used, I pretended, and I was empty to God. I was run35

What if We All Came Together?

ning on the energies of Satan. Satan was thriving on all of the jealousy, fear, greed, insecurities and selfishness that I felt everyday. If I couldn’t be happy I just wanted to be less sad than somebody else. How pathetic is that?

Now I am thriving on one thing. And that is love.

Watch how your life changes when you choose God’s love in every millisecond of your life. He’s standing there with open arms during each breath that you take.

Take a deep breath and decide to breathe in love. Do it now. Do it for the rest of your breaths that you ever take. One moment, one breath at a time.

Some of you may be thinking that you’re ready to love, but you aren’t an affectionate person. And that’s okay. I’m not saying you have to run around hugging and kissing every person you see so that they know you love them. I’m saying that you should love me and I should love you, and there should be no question about that. We don’t have to hug each other (unless you want to) because when I’m walking past you in the street and I look you in the eye, you will see the love that I have for you through Christ. You won’t doubt it for one second. I am rooting for you to accomplish your purpose each and every day. I will not quit on any of you. Are you rooting for me? Imagine if we were all rooting for one another out of love. Wouldn’t that be something?

Know the impact of everything that you do. Negativity spreads fast, but love spreads faster.

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NINE

Opportunity 8: Hope

Y

ou cannot have your own purpose or your own vision without hope. Hope is in your control.

You can keep believing this world is meant to be divided by things such as racism or politics. Or you can have hope in a greater Calling. Some of you may be thinking, “I WISH that the world could really be like that, but like you said earlier we are not perfect.”

You’re right, we’re not perfect on our own. We have to first have the hope, the dream that we can all come together. I’ll ask you a question that I asked you earlier: is this too big for God? Even though these bodies are made imperfect from the beginning, Jesus still commands us to love with this incredible passion and at incredible volume. Does that not give you hope? Does that not show you that with God it is possible? I mean if it was not still possible, why would Jesus still command us to do it? If you do not believe that anything is possible do you really have true hope?

What if Jesus is the way to cure us of our imperfections? What if the day that we all chose to believe, God would finally send His Son back? Does that not give you hope? Look at Jesus’ life. Does that not give 37

What if We All Came Together?

you hope? Here’s something I hope everybody hears.

You cannot have faith without first having hope. Think about it, how are you going to put faith into a purpose that you don’t first believe is possible?

I’m placing hope in each and every person in this world. I have hope that we can all achieve our unique purpose. I wouldn’t be writing this book if I did not have that.

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TEN

Opportunity 9: Faith

F

aith. You hear it all the time. It might be the hardest thing in the world to do. If you do not have hope in the Lord it is at least. If you look at this world without hope in a Greater Purpose, what do you see?

I can tell you because that’s how I’ve lived for a very long time. You see people that you do not know and do not really care about. You see wars that cause pain and violence that will never end. You see the world as a very lonely place. You see a place where every man is for himself. You label the people who do have hope as unrealistic. You have no real hope, so you try to find happiness in that fancy house or that high paying job.

You put your “faith” in money, meaningless relationships and other material things. You believe that if there really was a God then all of these horrible things would not happen. You put all the blame on God and none of the blame on us. You don’t realize that we still have to choose him. You just accept that there is no way everybody will ever come to God. Why? Is that too big for God? Do you really believe Satan is going to overcome God? Is your faith really that small?

Imagine you achieved maximum material success 39

What if We All Came Together?

with no faith. You had every penny you could ever need and you used it to buy the prettiest house, the most luxurious car and every amenity that this world has to offer. Is that really enough? What happens when you get too old to drive that car? Your wife that you married for her beauty and not her heart begins to look different. You’re not enjoying your house because you can’t really leave your bed. Will all of those things that your money bought you really still be enough then? Will you really still be happy without faith in a life after this one? With no faith in a God that loves you?

It is very easy to put your faith in those things while you can still enjoy them. You can see material things, you can touch material things, you can feel material things. It is a much different sort of faith when you are trusting in God. You cannot literally see God, you cannot literally touch God, you cannot literally feel God. That is why you have to let these perceptions of what is real and what is not go.

Read 2 Corinthians 5:7. There is only one thing that you can put your faith in that will never let you down. Is it science? Are you going to put your faith in science because you can “prove” it? Or are you going to have faith that science is really just the human way of understanding what God is doing? That is in no way saying that science is bogus and not useful. But there is only one thing that will never let you down, and that is God. God made science. God is science. Can God not therefore CHANGE science? Is there anything 40

Opportunity 9: Faith

that God cannot change? Science is knowledge God is knowledge. But which form of knowledge is higher?

Science is knowledge of how our world works in physical terms. God is what makes our world work. Which one should your faith be in?

Do you see that? So if you put your faith in the science you are looking at who or what is accomplishing a purpose. Not what the PURPOSE being accomplished is. It is incredibly useful to know how our bodies and nature work. But do you put your faith in what you are physically or do you put your faith in the plan of what God wants to do through you if you let Him have control of this moment? You could possibly use that knowledge of science to become a doctor, an engineer, or any other profession based on science. How will you use those titles? To accomplish something physical, like a high income? Or to accomplish a Higher Purpose? What I’m saying is that faith means believing things such as science or material success are NOT the final word just because you can see them. That is literally impossible to do when you keep your faith.

Those are serious words. What are you putting your faith in? Is your full faith truly in The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit? I hope after reading this book that it is. I now want to give you the vision that I wrote this book based off of. My own hope of what this world would be like if we all accomplished the opportunities from this book.

I will leave this section with something that one of my best friends said to me in a coffee shop when we 41

What if We All Came Together?

were first discussing how we wanted to start living out are faith.

“Everything is always okay, it just doesn’t seem like it sometimes.”

-Jordan Vestal

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ELEVEN

My Hope

I

magine a world where we all were living up to our maximum potential. Everyone is doing the job that they love. We are all following our passions and our interests. We are not on an alternative route that we were tricked into thinking we cared about.

What if we were all the leader of a team meant to accomplish one purpose? What if our work ethic was God inspired? How much could we accomplish each day? And imagine that we all helped the other in anyway possible for them to achieve their mission. What if everybody did the same for you. Not because you ruled over them, but because they loved you.

Imagine a world where marriage happened between two people that decided to become partners in accomplishing a Greater Plan. A marriage where each person nurtured and helped the other accomplish their own dreams in any way that they could. There was no jealousy, no boyfriends trying to tie women down to fill the hole they’re missing from where our Savior should be.

What if no woman settled just because she didn’t want to be alone forever. Would our divorce rate be lower?

Imagine a world where parents stayed by their kid’s side. No children were abandoned and forced to 43

What if We All Came Together?

grow up before they were ready. Imagine a parent that shows their child love through God, in hopes that they could teach them to find their own mission. Imagine parents stuck to that responsibility. Imagine the parent that teaches things with an emphasis on love, faith and hope?

Imagine a world where a man was measured by the people that he helped, not by how many women he slept with or how much money he made.

Imagine a world where we truly loved and rooted for everyone. What if we were the generation that brought God back to us?

Imagine a world where a woman was not made to feel like she had to be perfectly skinny or could only go out with a face full of make up. What if everyone just took care of their bodies so that they could help for as long as possible? Would we have fewer people addicted to fried foods, tobacco, or other things detrimental to our health?

Imagine a world where beauty was measured by the heart, not by the body.

What if God is just patiently awaiting us ALL to choose Him? What are we waiting for?

Imagine every person in our government was acting out of love. What if our campaigns were run based on honesty and integrity? What if instead of worrying about whether Republicans or Democrats were in power, we all just tried to find the best people for our country?

Imagine our political leaders did not only do what 44

My Hope

was best for their district, but they did what was best for the WORLD? Imagine a world where the leaders of our countries put aside our passions to be the greatest and worried about our passions to make sure that all of our brothers and sisters were put in a position to succeed?

Imagine a government that was handed a mission statement by its people that read something like this, “We don’t care about the economy, policy on warfare or who is controlling the Senate. We wrote a new mission and it reads this: Bring God and His faith, hope and love back to our country, bring God’s policy back to our WORLD. We understand that if that becomes the priority then the economy and alike will work itself out.”

What if nobody thought that was too big for God? I’m going to go ahead and bet my life that we’d never worry about our next paychecks or how much we were going to tax the wealthy.

Imagine the wealthy gave back what they didn’t need. What if the wealthy acted as leaders instead of as idols. What if leaders realized that they were given the gifts they were given because they were meant to help people with them? What if they realized they would always have more than they needed but they have people that need the resources that they can spare?

Why do they think they don’t tax the money that you donate?

Imagine a world where church was the highlight of your week, not the chore that kept you from sleeping in on Sunday.

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What if We All Came Together?

Imagine a world where you could worship your God at anytime and anyplace? Not just on Sunday mornings at church or a Thursday night at a private location.

Imagine a world where our friendships were used to discuss our own relationship and to learn from our friends. What if the topic of discussion at parties was God? Imagine a world where we all felt constant love and we all gave constant love and positivity. What if we chose to be satisfied with nothing less than happiness?

We no longer decided that if we couldn’t be happy we would just root to be “less sad” than others. Would that cause us to quit rooting against each other?

Imagine a world where we drove Satan out completely. What if fear, jealousy, lust, greed, grudges, worry and every other feeling associated with Satan left with him.

Imagine a world where we all had faith in our Lord.

What if we simply heard His direction and acted?

What if you no longer doubted if it was possible?

What if you knew whatever the Lord told you were possible because you had that much faith?

Imagine a world where we truly accepted the gift that Jesus gave his life up to give. Imagine we all gave each other a clean slate and everyone could start to live free of their past mistakes. Imagine what you could do if you accepted your second chance.

Imagine a world where we didn’t worry who was receiving the most fame.

Imagine a world where everyone credited their 46

My Hope

success to God and not to themselves.

Imagine a world with no egos. Nobody thought their own ways of thinking or their own accomplishments greater than yours.

Imagine a world where God was your addiction.

Imagine a world where forgiveness was left up to God, not to us.

Imagine a world where we valued our relationship with God over our religion.

What if we showed that we were a follower of Jesus through the pure love and joy that was radiating from us? What if we showed we were a follower by genuinely caring about helping others, not through caring about getting the recognition we receive when we help.

What if people knew they could live out the purpose that was shown to them through this relationship without being judged or cheered against?

WHAT IF GOD IS JUST WAITING FOR US ALL TO CHOOSE HIM????

Imagine this world. Are the things necessary to accomplish it really so crazy? Is it so crazy to think that we could all have an impact everyday until one day this is just what our world is like? Maybe it won’t happen in our lifetime, maybe it will. But this is my goal and this is my vision. This is my hope. Who is the one person you can help today? What is the one situation that you can wipe Satan’s mark from and replace it with God’s love? What if you do that everyday? Is this too difficult for God?

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TWELVE

Conclusion

A

s I’m writing this I am far from perfect and I still have so much left to do to accomplish my own purpose. I still feel nerves. I’m nervous to let my friends and family read this. I’m nervous to send this off to a company that can either accept or reject it. I’m nervous to have people that I don’t yet know pick up this book and see my heart spilled onto these pages. I’m not strong enough to do it on my own. But I have a faith that is much stronger than those fears. I believe God led me to write these words so that they could be shared with as many people as possible. These words are not meant to sit in “My Documents” on my computer. So I will let my faith win over my nerves.

I am making my promise to the world right now. I am going to work my entire life as a follower of Jesus.

I am going to be on each of your sides from now until the day that our Lord returns. I am going to be on your team. I am going to let God work in my life everyday until my purpose is done and God calls me back.

Are you going to be on mine?

I choose to trust in God in this first chapter of my short story in God’s book of how He changed the world. When are you going to begin writing your 49

What if We All Came Together?

story? Are you going to live one more day without claiming what you’re here for?

I thank you all so much for reading this. I did not write this book for fortune or fame. I did not write this book to tell you what to do. I simply wrote this book to paint a picture for what this world might be like if we all came together to accomplish His Purpose. All I wanted is a chance to share this vision with you. So I ask you this, who wants to join me in making this one dream a reality? What can we all do when we finally come together? What if we all form a team with God calling the plays? What if we all fight until God’s team has won over Satan’s team for good? Satan’s team is afraid of us. Let’s crush him.

Finally, have fun!! Enjoy your journey!! Take your mission so seriously, but don’t let that make you not appreciate the journey!! Nothing that you can possibly dream of will be as fun as if we do this together!!

I believe the next step for me is to do this: After everyone who helped make this book possible and production expenses are paid, I will personally give 90% of the income I get from this book to charity. You get to choose what charity your money goes to!!! Simply fill the slip on the next page out with the charity you want your money to go to and send it to the address on the back!! OR you can go online to the website and type the access code from your book in. It will take you to a page where you get to decide ANY charity that you want your money to go to.

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What can God not accomplish?!

About the Author I realize that this book is not about me, so I figured this section would be a good place to talk about what inspired this. The best way to describe what has happened in my life recently is that God has very much taken over my heart. My heart is so full with the love that He has shown me that it is overflowing, and one place that it has flowed is onto the pages of this book.

It may not be written in the most proper way, but this is me sharing what God has done in my life and that’s all that it’s meant to be. I will leave you all with one last thought: be willing to share what God has done with your heart, but also be willing to learn from what he has done with somebody else’s heart. I love you all!!!

@Big_Ole_Ryan

facebook.com/ryan.reagor

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This is a book inspired by something greater than myself. This is a book that was written when God decided to stop knocking on my door. This is a book that was written when God decided to knock down my door and told me, “you’re coming with me.”

This book is an invitation to join a movement (ALL FOR GOD) with one simple requirement: to take every opportunity that God gives you to share His love with others. That’s it. That’s what I will be doing each moment that I have left here. Would you like to join us? What if we all came together and did it all for Him?

publication supported by the Reagor Dykes Auto Group