Tell us about your family. The family I grew up in was broken and “blended.” It was messy enough that I swore as a child that I would only be married once. This caused me to go through numerous relationships before I made it to my “one and only.” My wife and I are definitely evidence for the “opposites attract” theme. More of that is in the book. We have a daughter and 2 sons, in that order. Rashel is in college, Caleb is in a mechanics trade school, and Elijah is currently finishing High School.
Have you written other nonfiction books? Other books? No. Not yet anyway. All my other writings since 2004 have been for our newsletter going out into prisons, nursing homes, and other places that have asked for them.
Do you have any other books in the works right now? I have already begun my Second Book of Isms. Which I believe will be better than my first.
What kinds of hobbies and leisure activities do you enjoy? I enjoy bike riding for exercise, as well as going to the gym. I love going to car shows, especially the ones which feature custom vehicles. I love learning. Reading about science and history definitely top that list. Most of all, I like hanging out with my wife. That can be shopping, watching TV, or having a meal together. It’s always better with her.
Why did you write the featured book? I never planned to be a writer. I was asked to write an article for a monthly publication to add some “flavor” to it for the readers. Meaning, I am weird and my unique perspectives would be interesting to some. About 15 years later, on a lunch break, God told me to write a book. I had no idea what that would be, or how to do it. As I talked it over with God, He explained His plan. I had several people tell me what their favorite articles were from the previous years and the book is a backstory on where the articles came from. God’s plan was to use those backstories as encouragement to the readers.
Is there anything else
you’d like to tell my readers about you or your book? As mentioned above,
before I wrote this book, I was writing for a monthly newsletter. I am still a contributor
for “Prospecting in the word.” The birth of this newsletter came from the
oddest place. Somehow a newsletter from a small church in
Please give us the
first page or two from the book.
FAITH
May 2014
If there is
any single word more central to the Christian walk, and yet more misunderstood,
I don’t know what it is. How do you define something so intangible? The simple
and popular answer from Scripture comes from Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” I have read
that passage many times over a few decades and personally never felt it
answered the question.
Jesus spoke of
the merits of “child-like’ faith. In His view, it has special power. The smaller
the child, the stronger the faith seems to become. Logic and doubt are not
concerns a child has.
Picture a
5-year-old boy with a broken toy. The moment he discovers the toy is broken, he
brings it to his father, places it in his hands and says “Daddy, fix it.” He
has no doubt that his daddy can or will fix it. He is so sure, that he leaves
the toy behind with his daddy and cheerfully goes his way.
An older child
(or adult) knows doubt and has experienced disappointment. Under the same circumstances
we want to take our problems to God. We want to simply hand off our problems to
our heavenly Father and walk away without concern. Our problem is doubt. We
bring our issue to Him, but we fail at letting go. Sometimes we achieve the
handoff, but we don’t walk away. We want to stick around and watch, be an
advisor, and help out. If you have ever had a child “help” you before, you can
probably agree with me that whatever you did together could have been done much
easier without them, and could have been done about four times faster.
The Bible
gives us a few examples of people who tried to “help” God. No one made the situation
better by doing it their way. By contrast, those who followed directions to the
letter, didn’t help or get in the way, and allowed God to show His glory, were
the ones that saw miracles.
An experience
in March 2014 greatly tested my faith. My family (my wife, three children, three
cats, and two rabbits) and I moved from our home of 16 years and our church
family, which we had known for about 20 years. We also walked away from family,
loved ones, friends, and careers. Crazy huh? Why? In a nutshell, we believed it
was God’s will. I find there are far more examples in Scripture of times when
God asks someone to do something that does not make sense than when He ever
asked something that made sense.
Without a
home, a job or huge savings account to lean on, we left
Although this
move was not without trouble and frustration, it has been an awesome reminder
that God is in control, and that He never fails. There is a saying, “Faith
doesn’t make things easy; it just makes them possible.”
DJ-ism:
“FAITH” - is knowing God is in control, and you are not, and being content with
it.
Storms come.
Darkness comes. Plans fail. Dreams fall apart. When life does not go the way we
want, faith may be all you have that holds you together. If your faith is in
God, it will be all you need.
Where on the Internet can the readers find you? I don’t consider myself a nerd. I don’t get along with technology. So, just a warning, I don’t engage much on these platforms. I post regularly on the House of Isms. I make an effort to put out an encouraging word. No one will call me any sort of “master of media” however. Here are a few places I can be found.
https://www.facebook.com/dhariford1
https://www.facebook.com/DJismAuthor
https://www.linkedin.com/in/d-j-hariford-a2b60065/
Thank you, DJ, for
sharing your book with my blog readers and me.
Readers, here’s a link to the book.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=The+First+Book+of+ISMS&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss
Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book.
You must follow these instructions to be in the drawing. Please tell us
where you live, at least the state or territory or country if outside
Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the
number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of
eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any
pertaining local/federal/international laws.
The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on
this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You
will have 2 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.
If you’re reading this on Goodreads, Feedblitz, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link: Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com
10 comments:
Great interview, DJ! Your “isms” have been of great value to me over the years. I truly enjoyed serving with you!
Location: Creve Coeur, IL
A very interesting and unique interview. Thanks. Anne in NM.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you. That is awesome to hear! I really loved that time in my life, being a part of the youth group team. We were definitely a part of making history there. Happy to have served with you and to know you.
Thank you for sharing. I enjoyed reading the interview. Blessings from WV.
You are very welcome. I appreciate your interest.
Enter me in your awesome giveaway!!
Nichols SC.
This sounds like an interesting AND inspiring book. Thanks for sharing.
Connie from Kentucky
cps1950(at)gmail(dot)com
Good luck!
You are very correct.😁
Post a Comment