Trafford Publishing: A Hero's Life in Christ

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A Hero's Life in Christ

by Edward Wade

151 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-1015; ISBN 1-4120-0645-7; US$18.00, C$21.00, EUR14.50, £10.50

You will not want to put this book down! A firefighter tells his riveting life or death stories and how he lived through it to become a hero for Christ.

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about the book about the author sample excerpts or Table of Contents catalogue info

About the Book

This book grew out of a series of messages Pastor Wade preached from II Peter. While he studied the passage to prepare the messages for the congregation, his heart was touched in a special way. He noticed that Peter had so much to say in so few words. Pastor was introduced to a whole new way of viewing the practical, working, and spirit filled Christian life.
What he saw in this passage was that every Christian that lives the Spirit filled life, is looked upon as a hero in God's eyes. He noticed that what God attributed to heroism was very different than the human concept of what a hero looks like. It's a good feeling to know what pleases God and to know that you can do it.
Pastor Wade felt a great need to share these practical principles of a hero's life with more than just his congregation. This book takes the precept and idea of "virtue" in your life and separates it into bite size pieces, easily digestible. Each concept of the virtuous life is explained and Pastor Wade even entertains the reader with some real life threatening experiences he had while he was a firefighter. These experiences relate to the concepts of the hero's life as you will see and the blessing is this; After you read this book you too will be equipped with the insider information you need to live a pleasing to God, Hero's Life In Christ!"

About the Author

Edward Eugene Wade Jr. was born in 1956 to Edward Eugene Wade Sr. and Juanita Wade in Milwaukee Wisconsin.
He is married to Carlene and they have four children and two grand children. They currently live in Marianna, which is a small town in Arkansas.
Ed studied graphic communications at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh. This is where he was introduced to watercolors. Ed says that one of his instructors told him that between oils, acrylics and watercolors that watercolor's was the toughest in his opinion. He said that because it is a transparent medium and unforgiving. If you make a mistake you can't just cover it up like with the other two. Ed saw that as a challenge and dived right in.
Ed admits that he didn't really take watercolors seriously until after he had left school. It was around 1985 when he bought some watercolor instruction books and just started practicing everyday. He has fallen in love with the media of watercolor and strives to master it.
Ed is inspired by many artists of varying styles. These include Frank Webb, Paul Goodnight, Charles Palmer, M.C. Escher, Tony Couch, Dean Mitchell, Tom Lynch, Andrew Wyeth, Jean Dobie and Norman Rockwell.
Ed says, " I am constantly trying to see shapes better and in order to do that I must simplify. That's major for me because I have always been into details that's why M.C. Escher, Dean Mitchell and Norman Rockwell are on my list of most admired artists.
I took a lot of figure drawing in college and therefore include figures in many of my works. I try and let nature stand on it's on sometimes but I just love the figure so much that the painting often looks incomplete to me without someone human in there. I am getting better however. I find that I am in a constant state of learning, always the student.
My subject matter is whatever moves me, a group of people standing, a group of cows, flowers, children, buildings etc. I am looking for shapes, not a particular subject. I also put forth a strong effort to be varied in my color schemes so my palette changes from painting to painting.
I have been a shoe salesman, a firefighter, a security guard, a police man, a meat packer and currently a Pastor. I have never lost my love for the arts. I have always had the desire to pick up my pencils and sketch or my brushes and paint.
I set up a web site at www.edwadestudios.com so everyone can enjoy my work.
My inspiration is life itself, I look for those moments that would normally go un-noticed. I like to capture those moments in time and freeze them for everyone to see. Hopefully they help you to remember some of your own "Moments in time."
Edward has been a Pastor for four years. This is his first assignment as Pastor and in those four years he has learned a lot about shepherding a flock of God. Edward is first and foremost a teacher of the word, for he believes that without clear doctrine the church ceases to exist as an entity under God. Edward believes that his call is to preach the word in season and out of season.
Pastor Wade has a vision for the church that goes beyond the typical ministries that we see. Edward believes that Jesus really expects Christians to truly love and respect one another. The bible says that this is how the world sees Christ in the church, through the love the people show for each other. As love for one another grows in spirit, the love for those outside the church grows too. Therefore a committed community ministry will have a positive impact on the people the church serve.
Pastor Wade believes that the churches success is always in relation to how much the church depends on the power of the Holy Spirit working in the lives of each Christian, so he teaches the flock that "Walking in the spirit," at all times should be the churches primary goal.
Pastor Wade also believes that true Christians should not see color. Racism has been a major problem and countless people have died because of it. The church must be opposite of the world and show the world that people of all nationalities can live together in harmony.
Pastor Wade does not have a long list of visions for the church. Pastor Wade believes that the church should listen to and follow the lead of the Holy Spirit and go work wherever He is working.
Pastor Wade encourages everyone to examine their personal lives and commit themselves to Godly living. One of his favorite verses is Romans 12:2 and be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of you mind.

Sample Excerpts or Table of Contents

I had been sleeping soundly; I was tired because it was a long day. It was one of those days when there was just a lot going on. People were in need and it was our job to rush to them and see if we could be of service. It was just one of those days and I was tired and in a deep sleep. The bells and chimes rang loudly; they were designed to wake you up. I opened my eyes and looked at the clock on the wall and it read 3:30 am, well actually it was more like 3:28 but when you round it off you get 3:30.
The familiar voice is now ringing in my ears. I don't remember the exact address but the house was on the corner of 20th and Vliet. This was right across the street from where Nadia lived. She's my oldest daughter. What I heard the loudest was the words, "HOUSE FIRE, CHILDREN TRAPPED."
I did the usual quick dress, you know boots, pants, my coat and helmet were on the fire truck so I would put that on when I got downstairs which was 25 seconds after the chimes rang out. What a rude awakening, huh. "HOUSE FIRE, CHILDREN TRAPPED" kept churning over and over in my mind. These words were doing a good job of waking me up because if that was the case I needed to be very alert if I was to be of any help to anyone. We are on the way now, lights and siren going full blast, "HOUSE FIRE, CHILDREN TRAPPED."
We arrive at the scene about 2 minutes later and sure enough we have thick black smoke. I jumped off of the truck and opened one of the compartments so I can put on my breathing apparatus. I checked it that morning so I knew it was ready to go with a full tank of oxygen. This takes a few seconds and off we go into the burning, thick black smoke filled house with hose in tow, to find these trapped children. We know for sure that someone is in there now, because the parents have just told us. They were screaming and panicky as we pulled up to the house of course. Remember 4 minutes ago I was sleep and now I am in the middle of a life-threatening situation.
The Captain divides the four of us into two groups; we worked on the buddy system... 2 in 2 out. I went with the captain. I remember walking into the front door and 2 feet in everything went black. We inched our way through a house we had never been in before and we stopped in every room looking for those children. The captain and I ended up in a bedroom with piles and piles of clothing. I knew we had to sift through all of it because sometimes children will try and hide under things to escape a fire. We sifted and sifted and then my bell went off, that meant I had 5 minutes of air left. The captains bell went off too, but we were on the first floor and he hollered through his mask that when we completely run out we can bail out of the bedroom window. That sounded good to me, seeing we were on the first floor, and we resumed the search through the mountain of clothes.
My air stopped completely a few minutes later and I could not breathe. I would open my mouth and try and suck in some air but all I got was a collapsed mask around my face. I felt like someone had put a plastic bag over my head. I knew the bedroom window was my escape so not having any air was not a problem. I went over to the bedroom window so I could make my exit and the window had bars on them. This was not good. I had no air and no exit. I could not take off my mask to get air because there was none. There was only thick black smoke, full of deadly carbon monoxide.
I told myself to remain calm and that I would just have to hold my breath until I could find an exit. Then I thought about Gods providence.
I had a membership at the local Vic Tanny health clubs and I would work out everyday that I was not at work. My friend Larry Smith would usually go with me. Our workouts lasted 3 hours and I would finish off my day with a swim. They had a pretty big pool and I would swim under water the length of the pool. I did that for months and I got to where I could swim the length of the pool and turn around and swim back, and then turn around and swim part of the way back, all underwater.
That's the thought that went through my mind as I began looking for a way out. God had prepared me for this day. My lungs were already trained and I was able to maintain my composure.
I found a wall and followed it until I came to a window. I had to follow the wall with my hand because I really could see nothing but deep, pure blackness. Real fires are nothing like the ones you see in the movies, where they can see everything, you cannot see anything. I opened the window and stuck my head out; I took off the mask and filled my lungs with fresh air. Well it was semi fresh, smoke was rushing out of the now open window, but it was better than nothing. I just stuck my head below the bottom of the window where the cleanest air would be waiting to enter my empty and anticipating lungs. I could think about something other than my escape now and my first thoughts were that it was strange that we had not seen any flames yet..."BASEMENT FIRE!" I was ready to put my mask back on so I could continue my search for an exit and thought, this window is an exit. Why continue to look for a way out when you can climb out of this window.
Did I tell you that it was snow on the ground and 20 below zero outside? Well it was, and the window I was using was one of those sliding windows, where the frame is made out of metal. I took off my mask and airless cylinder and set it outside on the ground. I then set up on the windowsill with my back to the outside world and I was ready to slide myself down and out of the house. Unfortunately my gloves were frozen and there was ice on the window frame. I lost my grip and fell out of the window onto my airless cylinder. I still own the pinched nerve in my right hip from that fall.
I was at least out of the house, but not done. "HOUSE FIRE, CHILDREN TRAPPED." I could not rest, there was still work to be done and as far as I knew the children had not been found yet. I ran to the truck and replaced my empty air cylinder with a fresh one. This is when I learned that the children had been found in one of the other bedrooms and were safe.
I also got conformation on my thoughts about why we had seen no flames yet. We did indeed have a basement fire. My crew was sent to the back to go down into the basement. That's right, in the heat of looking for those children, no one had been sent to the basement yet and the fire was just having its way. The hardest thing about a basement fire is getting to the basement. You see you have to go down while the heat is coming up. You have to go through the inferno before you can put out the inferno.
Well we made it down there and still could see nothing through the thick smoke but a couple of far away broken sparks of flames. We didn't know it at the time but we were looking at a full blaze through some cracks in a wooden partition wall. Later when the fire was out we saw easily how we could have gone around and put the fire out, but in the dark, cloudy, smoke filled environment we sprayed and sprayed and hit nothing but wall because we couldn't see it. After we had been down there for a while we were told by radio to back out. Another crew was going to relieve us, we had been at it since the search for the children, and we had nothing left, we were really exhausted and needed a break. But were not done yet.
The crew that replaced us went into a dangerous situation. The fire had been burning all of this time with not much water on it to calm it down and it would not be long before it started to break through and consume the rest of the house.
The basement had 2 feet of water in it and was still full of smoke and heat. The next crew got disoriented and one of the men got his helmet knocked off into the water, the other got lost underneath the stairs. We could see the fire taking over the basement rapidly and spreading to the upstairs. In a short time we would have a fully engulfed house with firefighters inside. One from my crew and I went to the top of the stairs and started yelling, "STAIRS, STAIRS."
We were halfway down the stairs when Mike, then O.C. finally was able to follow our voices. We helped Mike out and I went back for O.C. who had collapsed on the stairs. I grabbed him under his armpits and pulled him up, one stair at a time out of that basement. There were only about 3 or 4 stairs left to help him up. That was good because I did not have a lot of strength left anyway, but I was not leaving my fellow firefighter, my friend, on those stairs with nothing left in him either. We were both coming out of that house, so I had to reach deep down inside and I was happy when he was able to assist me some himself. I pulled him as far as I could from the house and we both collapsed into the snow from exhaustion. O.C. was the one that had lost his helmet and he had burns on both ears and the sides of his face. I can still hear him asking me, "How's my face, how's my face?"
I was putting snow on his ears to stop the burning and cool him down as he questioned me.
The children were safe, Mike was safe, and O.C. was safe. We eventually put out the fire and went back to the firehouse.
The parents were thankful that we had saved their children and saw us as heroes. Edward Wade a hero? I had never though of it that way but it was a good feeling. I was a firefighter and I was living the life of a hero. All of the equipment I needed to be that hero was provided for me by the Milwaukee fire department. Whether it was training or an axe, I was never short on what I needed. We firefighters were supplied with more than enough to get the job done.
I had no idea that, years later I would be living a hero's life again. This time around however, there were no flames, no sirens, no air cylinders or boots. No adrenaline pumping words like, "House fire, children trapped." Just the daily grind of living the life of a hero and most of the time going totally unnoticed. Just making daily choices that determined how I was living my life and who I was trying to please.
I didn't even know that I was living it (you might be living it too!) until I came across a passage of scripture in the bible found in II Peter. Then I found that this passage was verified by countless other passages. Let me tell you a little about the mind of Peter.
Peter, who was called "The rock" by Jesus, called himself a doulos, which is a bond slave. It is the lowest form of slavery there is. When you are doulos, this word designates that you were born a slave. Sinners are born into slavery to sin at physical birth, and born into a loving willing and purposeful slavery to Jesus Christ at spiritual birth. Peter is acknowledging this truth when he uses this word for himself. Peter says that he was born a slave, I think this means that I was born a slave and you were too.
The word means one whose will is swallowed up in the will of another. Before salvation, the sinner's will is swallowed up in the will of Satan. After salvation his will is swallowed up in the sweet will of God.
The word doulos speaks of being bound to someone with bands that only death can break. This means the sinner is bound to Satan with bands that only death can break. Death is like the payment that pays for your release from your slave master. When the sinner identifies himself with the Lord Jesus and His death on the cross, that death breaks the bands that bind the sinner to Satan and at the same time binds the now saved sinner to Christ. Now, just like at the first, this new bond can only be broken with death. The Lord Jesus will never die again and since He is the new life of the believer, the new slave master, there will never be a separation from Christ. If you put your trust in Jesus you will be His slave, His bondservant for all of eternity.
Thus the title Peter gave himself, doulos, servant, loving bond slave, is a labor of love. This type of slave becomes a slave to Lord Jesus willingly, and I can hear you saying, "What does this have to do with the life of a hero. Well, I'm getting to that but I felt it was important to set the stage first, so bear with me. It'll make sense, you'll see.
Peter, "The Rock," considered himself as one who served another to the disregard of his own interests. Before salvation, the sinner served Satan to his own detriment. You need to be sure that all of your actions are towards serving your master and that you have an attitude that does not put yourself first when you are a doulos. This is how you should think because it will help govern how you live. When you accept Jesus and are saved from your sins you become the slave of Jesus.
When you have been saved, you become a spirit filled believer that serves your Lord with the attitude, "Nothing matters about me, so long as the Lord Jesus is glorified." At least this is how you are supposed to think.
This was the heartfelt mindset of Peter the Rock. This same Peter wrote II Peter and he addressed it, "To them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ." Everyone who is saved by Jesus are chosen out to righteousness and saved from slavery to one lord and bought into slavery to another Lord.
When Peter says we have "obtained" this faith, he is saying we got it like lots were drawn and the lot fell on us. This is a Divine allotment and God gives this faith in sovereign grace to the sinner elected or chosen out to salvation, and this faith is part of the salvation given to him.
This is sanctifying grace, the work of the Holy Spirit producing in the yielded believer His own fruit. The Holy Spirit works to "Set apart" the sinner foreordained to salvation, to the act of appropriating faith, which is the kind of faith Peter speaks of here.
Paul speaks of the same thing in Ephesians 2:8 where he says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" This verse as well as the verse in Peter speaks not of a select few chosen out to salvation. This teaches that should an unsaved person, any unsaved person, by chance read these lines and wonder whether he has been also chosen to salvation, he is exhorted to place his heartfelt faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior from sin, and he will find that he has been chosen out to be a recipient of salvation also. (1)
So the fact you should take note of is that, if you are a Christian, a believer in the Lord Jesus, then this letter was written with you in mind. That means the truths and principles taught in this letter can be applied to your life. However it also means that if you are not saved, you can call on Jesus by faith and be saved. The bible makes it clear that whatever you think about Jesus is not the issue. The issue is that He is the one ...

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