Bob Stories

By Robert L. Bloom

When you read the Bible, you'll read story after story where God speaks directly to a certain character. Sometimes He speaks to correct an individual. Sometimes He speaks to give direction.

When the day came that changed my entire life forever, I had been wondering, would God speak to us today as He did to the biblical characters of old? I found out that the answer is an emphatic yes!

Bob Stories is a collection of true incidents that highlight the words of Jesus when He said, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:27).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 2, 2024
• ISBN: 9798891124172

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Introduction

The Hypocrite Story

Hilltop and Flight Line Story

My Story about Teaching

Baptized by Fire Story

The Hitchhiking Story

The Be Still and Know that I Am God Story

The Worm Story

Occult Bookstore Story

The Sadie Bloom Story 1

The Sadie Bloom Story 2

The Butterfly Story 1

The Butterfly Story 2

The White Rose Story

The Sparrow Story

About the Author

cover.jpg

Bob Stories

Robert L. Bloom

ISBN 979-8-89112-416-5 (Paperback)

ISBN 979-8-89112-418-9 (Hardcover)

ISBN 979-8-89112-417-2 (Digital)

Copyright © 2023 Robert L. Bloom

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

He is thy praise, and He is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.

—Deuteronomy 10:21 (KJV)

But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which he did.

—Deuteronomy 11:7 (KJV)

Earth's crammed with heaven, - And every common bush afire with God, but only he who sees, takes off his shoes.

—Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Introduction

Whoever you are that may be reading this, there's a few things you need to know before you begin. At the present time, I'm seventy-three years old. My main purpose for writing these stories is so that my family may know and remember some of the wonderful events that made my life so rich. Which brings me to my next point. I'm a born-again, Spirit-filled believer in Jesus Christ. I have been a Christian just about all my life. I've found that the most incredible events I've experienced are related to scriptures found in God's Living Word, the Bible. If you are not a believer, I invite you to read my stories anyway. What can it hurt, right?

The stories I will tell are not fiction; they are absolutely true to the best of my memory. On occasion, there may be things I cannot explain. Also, there are times when I cannot remember the small but insignificant details. I am going to try and generally keep the stories in chronological order.

I felt it necessary to leave out the last names of people involved in my stories, except for one story where it seems like a significant detail. I have done this because I have no way of knowing who might object to their name being used.

Last of all, after each story, there is a small section written in italics with the word Commentary. This is offered for a deeper look into the story. An asterisk within that story marks the place where additional information is included in the Commentary.

I hope you will find your time not wasted by reading some of the events of my life. May the Spirit of God bless you and increase your wisdom and faith as you read these stories.

The Hypocrite Story

It would seem that most people are converted to Christianity when they feel that grace-filled conviction that comes by the Holy Spirit concerning their sinfulness. Through earnest repentance, they become born again, as Jesus explained to Nicodemus in John 3:3. They often feel the love and gentle wooing of God's Spirit as they respond to His call. It seems that God chose a somewhat more radical method in my case.

I responded to an altar call when I was at a very young age. I was in vacation Bible school, and the elderly lady that was normally my Sunday school teacher asked if any of us wanted to ask Jesus into our hearts. I raised my hand, and she prayed with me while the rest of the kids went outside to eat cookies, drink Kool-Aid, and play games. I know this is true because I could see them through a small window from the pew I was sitting in. If you happen to be wondering, yes, I felt a bit jealous of the good time the other kids were having compared to my very serious prayer time. When vacation Bible school was over, I slowly returned back to my regular life. I may have been a little more aware of God, and even had one very significant experience take place, but there just wasn't any lasting change in my life.

In 1968, my senior year of high school, I attended a small church near our home in Union, Michigan. A missionary who had been serving in Africa had returned home and was holding a week-long revival meeting at our church. Near the end of the revival, I again felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit and went forward to the altar for prayer. This time, I did feel different, at least for a while, and once again, there was an incredible experience that took place. My life was in jeopardy, and when I called out, Jesus, help me! He did! That's a story for another time.

I wanted to be like that missionary who had preached at that revival. I set up rows of hay bales in the loft of our barn to represent church pews. Some of the hay bales I set upright on end to be the people attending. This was the hay bale congregation in my little white barn church.

The missionary preached with a distinctive way of standing. He kept both hands behind his back until he needed one to gesture with when making a point. I practiced standing and preaching in the same manner. I wanted to be just like him. It lasted for a while, but then my everyday high school life returned with graduation just around the comer. No big change. Everything was pretty much as before.

After a semester of college, I quit school and joined the Air Force. While in the Air Force, I married a young neighbor girl from back home, and she gave birth to our wonderful little girl we named Jenny. Then I did a very, very incredibly foolish and hurtful thing to my wife and daughter! I volunteered for duty in Vietnam. I was almost immediately assigned to duty at the Air Force base in Da-nang, Vietnam. This caused a terrible hardship for my young wife, and it brought about a split between her and me. When I returned home, we were divorced. I had hit a new low in my life. The depression I went through felt like my soul was bleeding! Living life had become almost intolerable.

While in Vietnam, I began doing all kinds of drugs. I never became addicted to anything. It would be very convenient to say that I was trying to kill the great pain of depression I was going through. But I don't think it was entirely for that reason. I think some of my drug use was for entertainment as I tried desperately to find some joy again.

In 1972, I was stationed at Homestead AFB in Florida when I happened to watch the movie The Ten Commandments on television. I'd seen the movie before, and I knew the story of Moses from church, but this time when I watched it, it seemed radically different. There were some things in the movie that I didn't remember from Sunday school. I thought to myself I'm going to get a Bible and read the story again to see if the movie is correct about everything.

There was another big question I had from watching the movie that bothered me a lot, and I felt very strongly that I needed to know the answer. In the movie, God talked with Moses directly. Would God actually speak to someone? Could a person today hold a conversation with God? (*1)

I got a Bible and began reading about Moses, but it wasn't long before I was reading the red print of what Jesus was teaching. It was great! It was fascinating! I started taking my Bible to the beach and reading it while lying on the sand. Sometimes I would laugh out loud as Jesus would frustrate the Pharisees who were trying to trap him. I started telling my Air Force buddies about everything I was reading. Pretty soon, one of those friends got interested in what I was telling about and started going to the beach with me and taking his Bible to read! I was still smoking weed and doing whatever else I might be offered, but then my big day arrived!