Why We Go to the Bathroom

Copyright © 2021 Richard Foster.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture taken from Eugene Peterson’s Message translation of the bible.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version® Copyright © 1982

by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-1641-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-1642-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-1640-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020924685

WestBow Press rev. date: 01/05/2021

CONTENTS

Preface

Chapter 1 The Revelation about Why We Go to the Bathroom

Chapter 2 You’re a Rose in a Water Glass

Chapter 3 The Mind Is not Designed to Make Decisions

Chapter 4 Your Life Is Made Up of Habits and Decisions

Chapter 5 A Decision to Lie Is a Decision to Corrupt your Life

Chapter 6 Talk It, Caulk It, Walk It

Chapter 7 Nothing Goes Without Saying

Chapter 8 The Heart Is the Production Center of Your Life

Meet Jesus

PREFACE

This book is not going to be like any other book you have ever read. I hope. This book is about my relationship with God.

I am not a religious man. There is not a religious bone in my body. In fact, it would be fair to say that I hate religion. But I’m in good company here: so did Jesus. You see religion is man’s idea. It is a system of rules and rituals. Confusing a true relationship with God with religion is like confusing justice with the law. The two are not even in the same time zone.

So back to having a relationship with God. This did not happen until I was 25 years old. In fact, one of the reasons it did not happen until then was religion. I never wanted anything to do with religion. I saw religious people as hypocrites. I judged their lives harshly without ever turning the scrutiny on myself. These religious folks turned me off to the very idea of God.

It’s tempting to get off on a rabbit trail here about the responsibility of Christians to represent Jesus well in this world. If I had seen the attributes of Jesus in those who identified themselves as Christians, I would have sought God much earlier in life. In fact, Mahatma Gandhi said I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. And sadly because of that India’s great leader did not bring Christianity to that nation.

Up until I was 25 I had only been in a church three times–and once was for a funeral, and once was for a wedding. I was a free thinker. I had read about Eastern philosophy, done a lot of drugs, including over 200 trips on acid, mescaline, and psilocybin. I had seen a lot of strange things, and encountered a lot of strange beings. But I had not yet met the Lord.

It was my loving wife, Deborah, who about the time we were married, got me to confront the reality of God. Deborah was raised as a Baptist, and had accepted the Lord at the age of seven. Since she was deeply in love with me she was concerned for my eternal soul. She didn’t want me to end up in hell, and she told me so. I told her I didn’t want to have anything to do with religion, but I understood that God had written a book, and that I would be willing to read it.

Now this is important. I met Jesus in the Bible. His Word. That’s a great place to meet him.

I knew very little when I started reading. I read Genesis. That was interesting. I read Exodus. I had seen The Ten Commandments. So, so far so good, but no angel choirs or blinding lights from heaven. I read Numbers and then Leviticus. Am I really wasting my time reading about leprosy and animal sacrifice? Does this get any better? I complained. Deborah, wise woman that she is, suggested skipping ahead to the New Testament.

I read Matthew, Mark, and part way through Luke I complained that this was the same story over and over. That was how little I knew. But when I read the third chapter of John’s gospel I got it. I understood. Driving in my car one night I accepted Jesus as my Lord. I simply told Jesus I got it. I understood the great sacrifice He had made, that He died for me, and rose again from the dead so I could have a relationship with Him.

I thanked Him for it and asked Him to come into my life and help me. If you have not accepted the Lord please turn immediately to the section at the back of this book entitled, Meet Jesus. Even if you want nothing more to do with this book, please read this section. Nothing is more important.

I waited until I saw Deborah in person to tell her of this momentous change in my life status. She wishes that I had called her on the phone, but I thought important news must be communicated in person. That night we talked. She was ecstatic–I was no longer hell-bound. I, however felt strange. I had heard no heavenly choirs, seen no blinding lights. In fact, I didn’t feel any different at all. Surely after such a major change in my life I should have felt something.

At the time, we lived in a high-rise apartment in downtown Chicago. There was a small, two-acre park on the third floor. I told Deborah I wanted to go and talk with the Lord about how I didn’t feel any different. So I did. There amidst an oasis of green in the city I complained about how I felt the same and questioned whether there had been any real change. God has a great sense of humor and is infinitely wise.

God asked me a question. Would I be willing to do something for Him? I thought about that. I was born at night, but it wasn’t last night. What? I asked. Would I be willing to make film for Him? Now at the time I was a photographer. I had spent several years apprenticing for top advertising photographers, and two years working as the head photographer for a large studio. In the past few months I had just opened my own studio. But I was just a photographer.

I said, You want me to make a film for you? He said yes. I asked, A film of what? He said, Of Revelation. I said, The last book of the Bible? And He said yes. I said, You want me to make a film of Revelation? And again, He said yes. And He added, Would you be willing to do that for me? I said, You really want me to make a film of the book of Revelation? And He said yes again. And I said, Well if you really want me to, sure, I’d be willing to do it.

And that was the end of the conversation. I rode back up to the 25th floor in silence. I realized I might not have seen any blinding light but a lot had changed. I had a conversation with God. And He had asked me to do something, and I had agreed. My life had changed. Much more than I knew at that moment.

When I walked back in the apartment I told Debbie what had happened. You talked with God? she asked. Yes. I said. Well how do you know He talked to you? Well how do you know when He talks with you? I fired back. He doesn’t. was her answer.

Now I’m not knocking the Baptists. The church Debbie attended as a child taught her enough for her to accept Jesus. And it imprinted upon her the importance of everyone accepting Jesus, so I have them to thank for my salvation.

But there is so much more to a relationship with God than a Get Out of Hell Free Card. God wants to talk with us every day. He wants to shower His love upon us, to lead us, to guide us, to love us, to protect us. He wants to have a deep relationship with us, and to have us show forth His character and love to the world.

The Bible is the handbook for life on this planet. It is the Word of God. It is alive. It has the power to change you, no matter who you are, or what you’ve done. It is the most important set of words in the universe. God created the universe with words. You can change your life with words–especially with His Words. But I’m getting ahead of myself. That’s part of what this book is about.

Back to me for a minute to wrap up this preface. I continued to read the Bible. I read it like it was the truth. It is the truth. I read it like it was a manual, the manual for life on this planet. And so I didn’t wonder what it meant. I knew it meant what it said. It’s a manual.

A very good friend of mine, Myles Munroe, wisely taught that if you want to know the purpose of a thing you ask the maker of the thing. If you want to know about a thing, you read the manual about that thing.

If I buy a new camera and the manual has directions about setting the exposure, and the use of the camera in certain conditions I don’t think to myself I’ll ignore the manual. Nor do I think the manual really meant to say such and such. No, I know the manufacturer wrote accurate information about that camera.

In the same way, I don’t