1
00:00:20,610 --> 00:00:23,610
All right, so for this one's for
this week's episode, we got 2 

2
00:00:23,610 --> 00:00:25,730
special guests today. 
I'm going to be very careful on 

3
00:00:25,730 --> 00:00:28,170
how I say this because I know 
there's a particular way that 

4
00:00:28,170 --> 00:00:31,130
means a lot more than the other.
But we got two people who have 

5
00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:35,640
not survived a lot of things but
have conquered a lot of things. 

6
00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:38,280
So we're going to try to get 
into a little bit of that. 

7
00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:41,880
But we have with us brother 
Kevin Bright and sister Penny 

8
00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:42,840
Bright. 
How are you guys? 

9
00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:45,400
Doing well. 
Thank you for having us very. 

10
00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:49,440
Well, thank you for coming on. 
So I reckon what we usually do 

11
00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:51,480
is we kind of start from the 
very beginning and you guys can 

12
00:00:51,480 --> 00:00:53,040
kind of take turns and go as you
will. 

13
00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:57,080
But I'll start with sister Penny
since she's the the special, 

14
00:00:57,080 --> 00:00:58,920
special guest. 
If you will just give me a 

15
00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:02,280
little bit of an introduction 
your your introduction to the 

16
00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:04,360
church, I would say. 
All right, well, I'm Penny 

17
00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:07,120
Bright. 
Kevin and I have been married 

18
00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:10,080
for over 30 years. 
I don't really know exactly how 

19
00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:14,480
long, but 30 something years. 
He keeps up with that more than 

20
00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:18,960
I do, but I we started coming to
the church in O 9. 

21
00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:25,080
So we actually started initially
introduced through brother Shane

22
00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:30,000
Stewart who worked with Kevin 
and he kept head, invited him a 

23
00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:33,400
few times to church. 
And so we knew about the church 

24
00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:36,920
already. 
But then we were at the Madison 

25
00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:40,840
St. festival and Lifegate had a 
booth up and they were passing 

26
00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:44,360
out ink pens and Kevin got one 
talking to Shane and just chit 

27
00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:46,160
chatting with him and stuff. 
While we're standing there. 

28
00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:50,800
He got one of the pens and then 
we were trying to determine we 

29
00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:53,320
were looking for a home church. 
We've been to a few hadn't 

30
00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:55,800
really found anything that we 
just loved. 

31
00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:59,040
And he said, wait a minute, 
brother Shane invited or he 

32
00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:01,120
didn't call him brother at that 
time, but Shane Stewart, this 

33
00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:03,200
guy I work with, invited us to a
church. 

34
00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:06,760
Let me find that pen and see 
where where it was. 

35
00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:10,039
And so we got the the pen and 
looked and it was life gate and 

36
00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:13,680
we were it was over at Castle 
Drive at the time and the rest 

37
00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:16,120
is kind of history. 
We've been going here ever 

38
00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:18,160
since. 
What was your perspective of 

39
00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:20,840
that brother Kevin, whenever you
got that pen came across your 

40
00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:26,480
desk so. 
Shane had spoken to me, I'm not 

41
00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:32,480
sure if she said, but we work 
together and he had mentioned 

42
00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:38,160
coming to church before and we 
were looking and I actually 

43
00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:45,680
intended to check it out. 
And funny thing is, is we did or

44
00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:50,360
not funny but interesting. 
We checked it out once and we we

45
00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:54,840
were like, well, let's check out
another one before we decide. 

46
00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:58,720
And so we ended up going 
somewhere else, which I don't 

47
00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:06,240
even remember where we went and 
I told Penny at the time I said 

48
00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:14,240
let let's go back. 
And so we went back and just 

49
00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:19,600
being transparent here, we, we 
both said, well, we didn't 

50
00:03:19,600 --> 00:03:22,560
really get anything from, from 
the service. 

51
00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:26,760
And we kind of slept on that for
a little while. 

52
00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:35,720
And I really feel like God spoke
and he, he said, you know, if 

53
00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:39,000
you're not getting anything from
it, it may be time to put 

54
00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:44,680
something into it. 
So I told Penny at that time, I 

55
00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:46,080
said that's where we're going to
go. 

56
00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:53,600
And the decision was, we made 
the decision then that this was 

57
00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:59,760
going to be our home church. 
And kind of, as he said, we did 

58
00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:06,760
kind of pour ourselves into just
being of service to at that time

59
00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:12,160
pastor, because he was about the
only adult in, in the leadership

60
00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:15,640
role at that point because the 
church was still small. 

61
00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:20,040
And, and we've grown with the 
church obviously, and, and got 

62
00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:25,520
more involved as time went on. 
And so that's what's got us to 

63
00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:27,800
this day. 
What, what kind of what was it 

64
00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:29,840
like going to a smaller church 
like that? 

65
00:04:29,840 --> 00:04:32,440
Do you know what I mean? 
Did that did was that a negative

66
00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:35,680
experience for you guys or was 
that the play factor? 

67
00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:42,920
We always stayed away from the 
mega churches because like your 

68
00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:48,280
dad, like pastor, we wanted a 
family atmosphere. 

69
00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:51,400
We wanted something that we 
could connect to. 

70
00:04:51,840 --> 00:04:57,680
And we had visited, not trying, 
not looking for a church for us 

71
00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:01,040
to attend, but we had visited 
with friends or family or 

72
00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:06,280
whatever, some of the larger 
churches and it just wasn't for 

73
00:05:06,280 --> 00:05:07,960
us. 
There was no connection. 

74
00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:15,000
And kudos to those that are able
to find that connection through,

75
00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:16,960
you know, small groups or 
whatever. 

76
00:05:17,280 --> 00:05:23,640
But it just wasn't for us. 
And we have really been been 

77
00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:29,520
glad that we were sitting here 
because we have grown. 

78
00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:36,720
I mean, this is a family. 
I mean, this is more penny in my

79
00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:40,600
family than our blood relatives 
by far. 

80
00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:46,800
And we grown into this family 
and others have come and grown 

81
00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:51,320
in with us. 
And you're not going to find a 

82
00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:55,680
closer knit group then here at 
Lifegate. 

83
00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:00,520
If you don't mind, can we talk a
little bit about just family 

84
00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:05,120
with you guys First off? 
Like did you guys grow up when 

85
00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:08,120
close knit families? 
I guess is that your background?

86
00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:12,280
I'm going to let pennies speak 
to this first if that's OK, and 

87
00:06:12,280 --> 00:06:17,200
then I will. 
So growing up, I'm the oldest of

88
00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:19,480
seven kids. 
DC, who also goes here, is the 

89
00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:22,200
youngest of the seven. 
So, you know, there's a lot in 

90
00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:22,680
between. 
US. 

91
00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:28,400
But we were very close growing 
up. 

92
00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:35,520
But my dad is very devout, godly
man and instilled everything 

93
00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:40,720
good in me came from my dad and 
we were very close. 

94
00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:45,280
Because of him I played a kind 
of a different role in my family

95
00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:49,160
than oldest sibling. 
I was often a more of a did the 

96
00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:53,520
female leader of the family and 
because of that I was very close

97
00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:56,720
to my siblings. 
As we have grown, there's few of

98
00:06:56,720 --> 00:07:01,560
us that has grown apart. 
DC and I are the only two in 

99
00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:03,840
church. 
I do have a sister that lives 

100
00:07:03,840 --> 00:07:07,840
out in Colorado. 
I think she might attend church,

101
00:07:07,840 --> 00:07:12,480
but honestly I don't know. 
But we're not we're not very 

102
00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:15,760
close anymore. 
We we keep in contact but 

103
00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:17,440
unfortunately we've kind of 
drift apart. 

104
00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:22,080
We see each other a few times a 
year and text daily, but we only

105
00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:23,320
see each other a few times a 
year. 

106
00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:28,720
I do try to stay in touch with 
my family, but growing up we 

107
00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:32,840
weren't really in church as much
as we should have been. 

108
00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:36,680
My dad was a preacher when I was
really younger in in the Church 

109
00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:39,320
of God. 
And then he fell away from 

110
00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:42,080
Christ. 
And so of course the whole 

111
00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:44,840
family did. 
If you know a lot, as with most,

112
00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:47,920
a lot of families, if the dad's 
not in church, nobody is. 

113
00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:50,920
So we didn't go to church for 
several years. 

114
00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:55,240
And then in my late teen years, 
he came back to Christ. 

115
00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:59,320
And but unfortunately, by that 
time, many of my siblings had 

116
00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:02,520
grown and grown away and, you 
know, train them up in the way 

117
00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:04,680
they should go. 
It's the truth. 

118
00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:07,560
Because the ones that didn't 
grow up into it have no interest

119
00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:15,280
in going to church. 
So, you know, we're I think 

120
00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:18,280
because of us being closer when 
we were so much younger, but not

121
00:08:18,280 --> 00:08:22,800
now is one of the main reasons I
craved the family setting that 

122
00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:25,280
we have now. 
And when we first started going 

123
00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:30,440
here, all of ours were little 
and hadn't grown up at all yet, 

124
00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:33,000
and we had just adopted them, so
we were just starting our family

125
00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:34,760
as well. 
So we really wanted that 

126
00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:38,640
extended family setting and 
feeling for them to grow up in. 

127
00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:43,880
Yeah. 
So for for me, we did have a 

128
00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:50,480
very close knit family. 
However, we we did not attend 

129
00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:53,840
church. 
I didn't grow up in church and 

130
00:08:54,080 --> 00:09:04,600
so my father passed when I was 9
and he was 33 when he passed so 

131
00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:10,760
died at very young age. 
So it left my mom with her six 

132
00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:15,840
children. 
Two of them were already married

133
00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:20,880
or about sorry, my oldest 
brother was already out of the 

134
00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:25,600
house, he was married. 
My next oldest brother was about

135
00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:29,200
to get married. 
And then my oldest sister ended 

136
00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:31,720
up getting married shortly after
that. 

137
00:09:32,320 --> 00:09:36,240
So she was left basically to 
raise three children. 

138
00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:42,720
And she was very moral. 
I would not say she was godly, 

139
00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:51,800
at least not growing up. 
And so she taught us Christian 

140
00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:59,120
morals without having the 
Christian background and we she 

141
00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:01,960
was kind of the glue that kept 
the family together. 

142
00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:07,720
So she passed in 2014 and we 
somewhat grew apart. 

143
00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:13,600
But I still have two brothers 
that I'm pretty close to, and 

144
00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:20,680
I've got a third that I 
communicate with but don't see 

145
00:10:20,680 --> 00:10:26,160
him very often. 
But we, growing up, did things 

146
00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:34,120
as a family and extended family.
But unfortunately for me, a lot 

147
00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:36,400
of my relatives passed at a 
young age. 

148
00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:41,960
My grandfather, my grandmother 
and I had relatives in New York 

149
00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:47,600
from my mother's side that we 
never really saw could obviously

150
00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:56,200
been so far away but as a within
the home we were very close and 

151
00:10:56,200 --> 00:11:02,000
stayed close into adulthood 
until till my mother passed so. 

152
00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:05,200
Yeah. 
So how important do you think it

153
00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:08,320
is to be like a, like a church 
family, to be there for each 

154
00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:09,240
other? 
You know, I mean, what does that

155
00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:10,720
mean to your life? 
You know what I mean? 

156
00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:15,680
Like I. 
I think it's crucial to maintain

157
00:11:15,680 --> 00:11:19,480
the unity. 
And if you don't have people 

158
00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:25,480
buying into this is my brother 
talking, you know, I'm looking 

159
00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:29,360
at Kobe, I know you can't see 
that looking at John and saying 

160
00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:33,720
this is my brother, this is not 
somebody I go to church with, 

161
00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:40,240
this is my brother. 
And it's, it is from a spiritual

162
00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:43,000
context. 
But when you have that unity, 

163
00:11:43,560 --> 00:11:48,920
you can throw away the spiritual
context of it because it truly 

164
00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:55,120
is what you say is as family and
you can say, well, he's not 

165
00:11:55,120 --> 00:11:58,600
blood. 
Well, Christ would disagree. 

166
00:12:00,680 --> 00:12:09,840
This is more so my blood than 
than my brother from my mother 

167
00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:12,640
and father because this is 
eternal. 

168
00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:19,520
And so yes, it I think it is 
absolutely crucial to have the 

169
00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:26,520
environment that your dad pastor
has has set for life gate. 

170
00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:35,560
And I think the way he started, 
he's differently wise beyond his

171
00:12:35,560 --> 00:12:41,560
years to, to know from such a 
young age that this is how you 

172
00:12:41,560 --> 00:12:44,280
start a church. 
This this is how you build a 

173
00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:47,840
church. 
So, so yes, I think it's of the 

174
00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:53,320
utmost importance. 
I'd like to, I like to emphasize

175
00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:55,400
something that you mentioned 
earlier when you first started 

176
00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:58,360
coming to Life Gate, you talked 
about you felt like you weren't 

177
00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:01,360
getting anything out of it, but 
then God talked to you and said 

178
00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:02,960
maybe you should put some more 
into it. 

179
00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:07,600
And I'm like, that is a powerful
thing to say because how many 

180
00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:11,080
people do you think come through
our doors or any doors and they 

181
00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:13,600
leave and they go, I didn't get 
anything out of that. 

182
00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:16,480
And, and really it could be one 
of those things where God could 

183
00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:18,120
be saying, well, what did you 
put into it? 

184
00:13:18,680 --> 00:13:21,320
You know, I think of that as 
like a investments, you know, 

185
00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:24,040
when we're, we're, we're 
investing, you know, and stocks 

186
00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:26,320
and so forth like that. 
You don't care about the stocks 

187
00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:29,800
that you're not invested in. 
If I'm not buying NVIDIA, I 

188
00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:33,200
don't care if it crashes or if 
it goes through the roof, but if

189
00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:37,600
I've got investment in that and 
I've put my money into that, I 

190
00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:40,520
care a lot whether or not it 
goes up or it goes down. 

191
00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:43,680
And I think the same can be said
for your spiritual life. 

192
00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:47,400
The more you put into it, the 
more you invest into it, the 

193
00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:50,160
more you're going to care 
whether or not it's, it's in the

194
00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:52,320
UPS or it's in the downs. 
And I think more often than not 

195
00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:54,440
it's going to be in the UPS. 
That's just how it's designed to

196
00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:58,800
be. 
So I, I, I really like that, you

197
00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:00,040
know, God talked to you in that 
way. 

198
00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:02,120
And I think that's a very, very 
important thing that I think 

199
00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:04,760
he's trying to tell a lot of 
people besides just the handful 

200
00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:06,680
of us, just in my own personal 
opinion. 

201
00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:11,000
I I would agree with that. 
Yeah, and we see I, I can't tell

202
00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:13,760
you how crucial you are, 
especially for me, because even 

203
00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:17,600
when I got out of church, it's 
knowing that you're a guy I 

204
00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:20,360
could call up at any time and 
you come there for me. 

205
00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:23,640
And that's something where you 
said beyond a spiritual context,

206
00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:26,760
that's a community, you know, 
and you're doing that from a 

207
00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:30,040
spiritual context where you're 
like, this is my brother, my 

208
00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:32,520
brother in Christ. 
But it didn't matter how far 

209
00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:35,760
away I went, I knew that there's
a lot of people here that cared 

210
00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:38,360
about me. 
And I think it speaks to how 

211
00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:41,760
intentional you guys have been. 
And that's why we see the fruit 

212
00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:44,960
with your children too. 
You know, look at your kids. 

213
00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:47,240
They're completely bought in and
their family as well. 

214
00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:53,600
That that means so much to me as
a dad now because that's a lot 

215
00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:58,600
of what what brought me back is 
a community in itself and having

216
00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:03,400
a place for for people to join 
together in the the way kind of 

217
00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:04,560
we did in the upper room and 
all. 

218
00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:10,240
But sorry, you, you left an 
impact you, you, you both have 

219
00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:11,760
left a really big impact on my 
life. 

220
00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:14,480
I. 
Do appreciate that I have to say

221
00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:17,920
since you've inserted that and I
I don't want to turn this into a

222
00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:22,120
Patty tiller on the back, but 
it's it's honest and from the 

223
00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:27,680
heart, but it was one of the 
things I noticed when we came to

224
00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:33,480
life gate was you young guys 
sitting right here now Kobe and 

225
00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:41,520
yes and Cameron and Johnny. 
You were the welcome team and it

226
00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:47,360
was so sincere. 
It was not hey, you kids need to

227
00:15:47,360 --> 00:15:52,640
get out here and greet people. 
When people came in, your face 

228
00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:57,520
is lit up like my best friend 
just walked in the door. 

229
00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:02,120
For me and Cam specifically, I 
mean we we had a lot of times 

230
00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:04,680
where there were no faces. 
So that meant a whole lot. 

231
00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:08,680
I mean, some of the stuff y'all 
were talking about as far as 

232
00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:11,360
like not having family close, 
not having those things, that 

233
00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:13,760
was really true for us, you know
what I mean? 

234
00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:16,800
So I mean, just having somebody 
like you guys come through the 

235
00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:21,240
door who's going to be there for
us and actually be our extended 

236
00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:24,000
family was such a big deal for 
us, you know what I mean? 

237
00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:25,760
Like it. 
And that's not it wasn't 

238
00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:28,000
fakeness. 
We were genuinely just excited. 

239
00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:31,200
So you come through your kids, 
you know, I mean, that was, I 

240
00:16:31,200 --> 00:16:33,880
was a little bit older than than
most of your children, but it 

241
00:16:33,880 --> 00:16:36,520
just having that like that 
connection, it meant a lot to 

242
00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:39,120
us, you know what I mean? 
Just being there. 

243
00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:42,400
So we do appreciate it. 
And you know, I'm sure John can 

244
00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:44,680
relate because John came in when
there was 5 people. 

245
00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:47,120
So everybody who came to the 
door and John's another 

246
00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:51,160
transplant from far away, you 
know, so that's very true for 

247
00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:53,800
all of us in this room. 
And so I think that's important 

248
00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:56,160
what the church becomes though 
that that is, you know, that 

249
00:16:56,320 --> 00:16:58,080
that's how we get through this 
together, right? 

250
00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:00,640
Like, because if I, if I'm not 
there for you and you're not 

251
00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:02,840
there for me, I mean, clearly. 
And we'll go on. 

252
00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:06,040
But times do get hard, you know,
and we really do got to kind of 

253
00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:09,800
be there for each other. 
Well, actually if you don't 

254
00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:14,680
mind, could we hear how you guys
met if give us a little context 

255
00:17:14,680 --> 00:17:22,319
on that? 
So how Penny and I met, we, we 

256
00:17:22,319 --> 00:17:25,280
actually met at work. 
I was actually her supervisor. 

257
00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:28,400
I worked at Hardee's at the 
time. 

258
00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:35,400
And so I'm getting some eyes cut
at us because I will say we had 

259
00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:39,840
to transfer to different 
locations after we started 

260
00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:43,680
seeing each other. 
But yeah, that's how we were, 

261
00:17:44,200 --> 00:17:48,600
how we met. 
See, walked in the door and she 

262
00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:52,520
had a Letterman jacket on. 
And my heart sank because I 

263
00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:55,480
felt, you know, it was she was 
wearing a boyfriend's jacket, 

264
00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:58,800
right? 
So I found out it was actually 

265
00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:00,600
hers because she was in the 
band. 

266
00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:06,680
And I was like, yes, so you. 
Say there's a chance. 

267
00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:12,200
So it took, it took about a year
before she actually went out 

268
00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:18,320
with me. 
So, so we were working together,

269
00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:20,840
right? 
And I wasn't a Christian at the 

270
00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:25,520
time, so I've got it. 
I've got to say this, but so 

271
00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:28,240
we're not supposed to be dating 
in the same store. 

272
00:18:29,360 --> 00:18:36,080
So, so I had to ask her, do you 
have a, a date Saturday? 

273
00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:39,760
And she said no. 
And I said, do you want one? 

274
00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:42,720
And she said no. 
So I I left there. 

275
00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:48,960
Asking me out. 
But he tried. 

276
00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:52,720
He tried. 
So I didn't ask her again for a 

277
00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:57,520
long time, but. 
We had been dating a while when 

278
00:18:57,520 --> 00:18:59,600
he asked why did you turn me 
down that first time? 

279
00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:01,400
And I'm like, what are you 
talking about? 

280
00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:06,640
So, so that's how we met and I 
was in. 

281
00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:14,400
So we met in 199091 maybe and we
were married in 93. 

282
00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:18,120
So. 
So you guys, you guys made a 

283
00:19:18,120 --> 00:19:20,760
decision that, like I said, a 
lot of people kind of struggle 

284
00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:24,200
with sometimes, you know, that 
was that you guys fostered and 

285
00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:27,840
adopted children, you know. 
Can you speak about what led you

286
00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:29,320
to that decision? 
Absolutely. 

287
00:19:29,320 --> 00:19:32,400
I'll take this one. 
So we both are. 

288
00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:38,360
We both had childhood cancer. 
He had one that he had to have 

289
00:19:38,360 --> 00:19:41,560
lots of treatment and surgery 
for very serious, very rare, 

290
00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:46,000
very deadly cancer. 
I had leukemia and I was 

291
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:48,080
miraculously healed, like on the
spot. 

292
00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:53,440
They literally told my parents, 
she's probably not going to make

293
00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:55,840
it another six months, and those
six months will be in the 

294
00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:58,240
hospital. 
And that next morning, they woke

295
00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:00,760
up and I was bouncing off the 
walls. 

296
00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:05,760
And how old are you? 
Four, they said I was in it like

297
00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:08,120
the incubator things where they 
put their hands in these gloves 

298
00:20:08,120 --> 00:20:10,440
to touch you. 
And mother said she walked in 

299
00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:13,440
and I had my feet out of one 
side and my hands out of the 

300
00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:16,360
other flipping around, whereas 
the night before I couldn't even

301
00:20:16,360 --> 00:20:20,560
open my eyes to look at them. 
So it was a miraculous healing 

302
00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:26,960
overnight he just as miraculous,
but it went through surgeries 

303
00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:29,320
and chemotherapy and that sort 
of thing. 

304
00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:36,040
So from that, the reason that's 
relevant is there was damage 

305
00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:40,400
done when I was sick and through
his treatment that made it 

306
00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:44,840
difficult for either of us to 
parent children the natural way.

307
00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:47,600
I remember being nervous to tell
him because he was so good with 

308
00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:50,360
my younger brothers and sisters.
I mean, he was just, they were 

309
00:20:50,360 --> 00:20:56,960
all DC that you guys know was 3 
when we started dating and just 

310
00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:01,480
he was so good with him and I, I
knew he's made to be a daddy, 

311
00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:06,200
but, but, and so I was nervous 
to talk to him about it, not 

312
00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:09,160
knowing he was kind of feeling 
the same way, you know. 

313
00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:11,760
And so we finally, you know, 
when the decision was made, OK, 

314
00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:15,520
we're getting married. 
Then we both sort of breached 

315
00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:17,320
the subject and we're like, 
well, guess what? 

316
00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:21,800
I can't either. 
So, so it kind of, you know, 

317
00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:24,400
worked out, but that didn't the 
desire to have children didn't 

318
00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:28,320
go away. 
So we were married about 10 

319
00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:34,320
years and you know, of course no
children and we didn't go to the

320
00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:38,360
extent that some people do with,
you know, that fertility drugs 

321
00:21:38,360 --> 00:21:42,720
and that we, we saw a doctor to 
see if anything could be done 

322
00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:44,880
and nothing easily could be 
done. 

323
00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:47,800
So we talked about it and we 
prayed about it. 

324
00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:54,880
And a lady actually that I knew 
through some extended people was

325
00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:57,560
talking to me once and she was 
talking about fostering 

326
00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:01,040
children. 
And I was sad, as everybody 

327
00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:05,920
says, I would love to do that, 
but I just, I, I couldn't give 

328
00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:07,360
them back. 
That would hurt so much. 

329
00:22:07,360 --> 00:22:09,680
And she looked at me and she 
goes, well, isn't that sweet 

330
00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:12,960
that it's all about you? 
I was like, oh, oh. 

331
00:22:13,360 --> 00:22:14,760
Oh, how you convinced somebody 
in my. 

332
00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:16,040
Opinion. 
Exactly. 

333
00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:18,760
Well, it wasn't me. 
I was like, you're right. 

334
00:22:19,120 --> 00:22:22,640
And she said she showed me her 
wall and she had just down her 

335
00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:24,720
hallway just hundreds of 
pictures. 

336
00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:27,920
And she said I love every one of
these children. 

337
00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:32,720
And 90% of them went back to 
their homes, 80% of them non 

338
00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:34,800
successfully. 
She said. 

339
00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:38,440
So these children when they grow
up, whether they be in prison or

340
00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:41,880
in a happy home, when they look 
back on their childhood, they at

341
00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:44,680
least have one good memory and 
that's me. 

342
00:22:45,360 --> 00:22:48,920
They at least have one person 
that told them about Jesus and 

343
00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:52,400
that's me. 
And I was like, OK, we're going 

344
00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:54,920
to be foster kids. 
So I went and talked to Kevin 

345
00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:57,080
and he was like, yeah, 
absolutely. 

346
00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:01,360
We never ever even thought about
the thought never crossed our 

347
00:23:01,360 --> 00:23:02,920
mind that we'd be adopted in the
children. 

348
00:23:03,120 --> 00:23:05,520
We were just literally going 
into foster. 

349
00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:10,680
If any of you know of any foster
parents, they do dozens a year, 

350
00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:15,320
if not hundreds. 
And if you, we were in foster 

351
00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:19,880
care for 15 years, literally we 
should have fostered, you know, 

352
00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:24,480
hundreds of kids over the 15 
years we fostered 5 to 4 we were

353
00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:28,560
adopted and one more. 
So literally God had these kids 

354
00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:31,840
for us. 
He just needed us to go into 

355
00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:35,480
foster care at the right time. 
And the first two that we got 

356
00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:41,200
were Joshua and Cassidy and then
Gabrielle and then Christopher 

357
00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:44,960
just right there together. 
And then we had one little boy 

358
00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:48,480
that came and ended up getting 
adopted by his grandparents, I 

359
00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:51,360
think it was. 
But those first four that came 

360
00:23:51,360 --> 00:23:55,880
into our foster care, we adopted
and you know that. 

361
00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:59,400
And there there's no way I could
love them more if I gave birth 

362
00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:01,800
to them myself. 
They are made for me, Gabrielle.

363
00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:05,120
Paige is spitting image of me 
and fortunately acts like me. 

364
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:07,600
Christopher the same way with 
his dad. 

365
00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:10,000
And Cassidy gets more like me as
the days go on. 

366
00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:14,520
So, you know, and Joshua's a 
mama's boy. 

367
00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:15,960
It's, it's pretty precious to 
see. 

368
00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:22,440
So it's these are our children 
that God got us to us in a 

369
00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:24,920
different way. 
Yeah, I don't know what he's 

370
00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:29,400
doing, but so on that on that 
subject, I, you guys have done a

371
00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:32,720
lot from what I understand in 
the adoption community, even 

372
00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:36,240
just in this area. 
But I think it's almost like, 

373
00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:40,400
and, and my, and my growing up, 
and I hope this is not coming 

374
00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:43,560
off wrong, but the word adoption
is almost like a just this weird

375
00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:46,440
taboo word, right? 
Because you know, it, it 

376
00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:48,880
ultimately meant, you know, most
people's because you couldn't 

377
00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:53,960
have one or you chose not to. 
But it's just not something that

378
00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:56,680
people really lean towards. 
But what from what you guys have

379
00:24:56,680 --> 00:25:00,520
gone through, what would you say
to people who are worried about 

380
00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:02,960
being in that same position? 
Because I, I know for myself I'd

381
00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:07,200
be just, man, could I, this kid 
that's not mine, that's not my 

382
00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:09,320
blood. 
Could I see them as my own blood

383
00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:12,720
as time went on or from the get 
go, you guys, it seems like, 

384
00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:15,880
like you said, whether they were
yours biologically or not, they 

385
00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:18,240
were yours. 
Well, the first thing to 

386
00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:21,560
remember is we're all adopted by
Jesus. 

387
00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:24,840
Does he love us? 
You know, so I mean, that's the 

388
00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:27,120
first thing. 
It's literally biblical. 

389
00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:31,280
So that's the first thing to, to
remember when you're thinking 

390
00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:33,520
about adoption. 
And the second thing is to 

391
00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:37,280
celebrate it. 
I mean, we, we chose our 

392
00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:39,720
children. 
You know, you don't, you give 

393
00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:42,200
birth to a child, you're stuck 
with what you get. 

394
00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:51,320
But for real, you and we 
celebrate it. 

395
00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:56,960
We, we have had people come to 
us and ask us, how did you tell 

396
00:25:56,960 --> 00:26:00,160
your child they were adopted? 
At what age did you explain it 

397
00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:02,880
to them? 
And there was no age, there was 

398
00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:06,160
no telling them. 
We, from the moment we got them,

399
00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:10,840
we celebrated the fact that they
were chosen and that they were 

400
00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:12,920
adopted. 
They have a birthday and an 

401
00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:15,040
adoption anniversary. 
We do not call it Gotcha day. 

402
00:26:15,360 --> 00:26:17,440
Gotcha. 
Sounds like, you know, I played 

403
00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:20,480
a joke on you and ha ha, gotcha.
So we don't call it that, but we

404
00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:21,920
do call it an adoption 
anniversary. 

405
00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:24,720
And so their adoption day is 
what they call it. 

406
00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:27,560
And we celebrate it just like a 
birthday every year. 

407
00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:30,120
You know, even the ones that are
grown, they're like this what 

408
00:26:30,120 --> 00:26:32,760
day it is, you know, and they, 
they get it a gift. 

409
00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:34,920
We'll go out to dinner. 
So, you know, but we celebrate 

410
00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:38,360
it from the beginning. 
We celebrate how blessed we are 

411
00:26:38,360 --> 00:26:41,840
that they're in our lives and 
how, you know, I can't believe 

412
00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:45,240
God loves me so much that he 
gave these children to me. 

413
00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:51,360
So that would be my, my advice 
to everybody is celebrate it, 

414
00:26:51,360 --> 00:26:55,040
embrace it and be thankful that 
you get the privilege and honor 

415
00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:57,120
of getting to adopt. 
Absolutely. 

416
00:26:57,120 --> 00:26:59,520
And I mean, even just you read 
the Bible, you know, so much of 

417
00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:01,480
what they have to say is about 
taking care of those and the 

418
00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:03,200
orphans. 
That thing that's that's that's 

419
00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:05,400
a command. 
Sometimes it doesn't necessarily

420
00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:08,200
get emphasized to the Christian 
community, you know what I mean?

421
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:12,040
So I just kudos to y'all for, 
for raising up these kids. 

422
00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:13,880
But also like what 
encouragement, what 

423
00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:16,520
encouragement would you give to 
those who might decide to go 

424
00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:17,760
that path? 
You know what, what 

425
00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:19,200
encouragement would you give to 
them? 

426
00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:21,640
Say this is going to make a 
difference in somebody's life. 

427
00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:26,240
So it is important one to 
remember, especially if you go 

428
00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:27,880
the route we did through foster 
care. 

429
00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:33,160
It's not all roses and rainbows.
I mean, anybody that knew us 

430
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:36,400
that when my kids were growing 
up knows there's some rough 

431
00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:39,280
patches, but there's rough 
patches with biological children

432
00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:43,800
too. 
You just have to roll with the 

433
00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:47,440
punches, the good and the bad 
take the good with the bad. 

434
00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:55,040
And you have to be the person 
that that is their safe place. 

435
00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:59,480
So it, it doesn't matter what 
they say, what they do, how 

436
00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:03,440
angry they make you, how much 
they hurt you, they're just 

437
00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:07,520
slashing out because people have
left them, especially in our 

438
00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:08,840
case. 
And you know, if so, if you've 

439
00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:11,760
adopted somebody from the 
hospital, maybe not. 

440
00:28:12,120 --> 00:28:16,200
But in in the cases, especially 
with my older ones that had 

441
00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:19,920
memories of their biological 
families, everybody abandoned 

442
00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:23,000
them when the going got tough, 
their families got going. 

443
00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:26,080
So of course they're going to 
push the boundaries to see what 

444
00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:28,920
is her limit? 
When is she going to walk away? 

445
00:28:29,360 --> 00:28:33,200
And you just have to show them 
you're not going to walk away, 

446
00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:37,200
love them no matter what and let
them know that's fine, whatever,

447
00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:38,960
you're going to get your 
punishment. 

448
00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:41,960
But I'm still going to be here. 
I'm staying right here. 

449
00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:43,640
And I think that is really 
important. 

450
00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:48,480
And the strongest advice I would
give to an adoptive parent is 

451
00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:50,720
love them through it. 
Regardless of what they say or 

452
00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:55,360
do, just love them. 
I think the encouragement is 

453
00:28:55,520 --> 00:29:00,720
though, that when you pour 
yourself into anything and now 

454
00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:07,320
you're talking about human 
beings, there's no greater love.

455
00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:12,840
You know, Jesus had the 
conversation that who's going to

456
00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:18,840
love me more than one? 
I forgave whatever 2 bits or 20 

457
00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:21,200
bits, which one's going to love 
me more. 

458
00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:27,760
I feel like it's the same when 
you got these little human 

459
00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:34,400
beings that are just wanting to 
be loved and you are willing to 

460
00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:40,840
do that. 
Then there is no greater reward 

461
00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:46,480
than seeing these children. 
You come home from work or 

462
00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:52,000
wherever you've been and they 
light up and they, you know, 

463
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:58,080
it's just a joy to see that you 
given them some joy because they

464
00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:02,040
have a place to call home, 
because they they do have 

465
00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:03,600
somebody to love them. 
That. 

466
00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:10,000
And some of these kids don't 
come from terrible situations, 

467
00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:15,480
but many of them do. 
And so when you're able to kind 

468
00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:20,000
of reap the reward of of the 
work that you put in for those 

469
00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:24,120
kids, to me that's the 
encouragement. 

470
00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:26,960
Well, and when they first decide
of their own accord to call you 

471
00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:31,200
mommy and daddy, there's nothing
sweeter now, you know, the the 

472
00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:33,720
younger 2, they were weren't 
even talking yet when we got 

473
00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:35,440
them. 
So it was just the, you know, 

474
00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:37,840
just like your own that you gave
birth to. 

475
00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:40,880
But the two older ones were 
talking and we were Penny and 

476
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:43,600
Kevin. 
And of their own accord, they 

477
00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:45,960
decided that I was mom and he 
was dad. 

478
00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:52,520
And that was nothing sweeter. 
And no memory in my heart is 

479
00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:55,840
more precious all. 
Right, because we never, never 

480
00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:59,320
force that on any of them to to 
do that. 

481
00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:02,120
It was always. 
And Cassidy might kill me for 

482
00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:03,640
telling this, but I think it's 
sweet. 

483
00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:07,440
She would call him my daddy, 
which is very telling too. 

484
00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:11,960
But not just daddy, my daddy. 
Hey, my daddy, can we go here? 

485
00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:13,280
And they're there. 
And it was really sweet. 

486
00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:16,040
So did you? 
Did you, did you ever think 

487
00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:19,760
about it in a way when you first
started fostering that you had, 

488
00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:23,480
you had in a way stepped out and
started your own ministry? 

489
00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:27,240
Because through those kids that 
you worked with ultimately being

490
00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:32,640
the four of them, you didn't 
just give them a home to get off

491
00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:34,800
the streets or to get out of a 
foster home or anything like 

492
00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:38,720
that, But you gave them a home, 
that new truth and you walked 

493
00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:41,240
them and you guided them through
that and you gave them that kind

494
00:31:41,240 --> 00:31:44,600
of environment. 
How how important do you think 

495
00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:47,760
that was to the to the growing 
of that growing up? 

496
00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:58,240
So I tell everybody, I honestly 
believe that God put those kids 

497
00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:02,480
in my life and I'll just speak 
to me personally, not for their 

498
00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:09,200
benefit, but for mine because I 
have, I have learned way more 

499
00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:14,400
having to raise those kids than 
I could ever imagine to teach 

500
00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:19,360
them. 
So it does work both ways, but 

501
00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:27,240
in a way, I don't think I would 
be serving God with the intent 

502
00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:30,800
that I am now if it were not for
those gifts. 

503
00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:35,200
Because it gives you a new 
perspective, a new 

504
00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:38,960
responsibility of saying, well, 
this isn't just me. 

505
00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:45,680
This isn't just my wife anymore.
I'm responsible to teach these 

506
00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:53,200
children of who Jesus Christ is 
and when you study the Bible, 

507
00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:58,160
God does not look favorably upon
those that neglect the children.

508
00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:08,640
So, So for me, that's what I 
always tell people when they and

509
00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:13,960
they intend well, mean well of 
saying, oh, y'all are such great

510
00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:17,200
people for, for taking these 
kids on. 

511
00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:22,560
And it's like, wait a minute, 
wait a minute that we have 

512
00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:25,240
received a bigger blessing. 
There's no doubt. 

513
00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:29,080
So, yeah, beyond that, John kind
of talked about it. 

514
00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:32,680
Not only did were you guys 
involved with your children, but

515
00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:35,400
you guys have been involved in 
the community with lots of 

516
00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:38,560
adoptive agencies and you've 
known lots of people through 

517
00:33:38,560 --> 00:33:41,680
that. 
That's something that kind of 

518
00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:44,400
has inspired me a lot. 
So what what kind of 

519
00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:46,920
encouragement would you give to 
those maybe who aren't going to 

520
00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:50,080
be, you know, able to foster 
children or adopted, but just to

521
00:33:50,080 --> 00:33:51,800
get involved with that? 
I mean, that's a serious 

522
00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:53,440
opportunity to help make a 
difference. 

523
00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:54,920
You know what? 
And that there's a huge 

524
00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:58,360
opportunity out there for that 
as I've pushed, you know, with 

525
00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:01,680
that, doing the different things
with bows and Bros for the 

526
00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:05,440
Foster Children's Alliance of 
Madison County. 

527
00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:08,239
Brandon Bishop is the one who's 
over that. 

528
00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:11,280
He actually come has come to 
several of our trigger treats 

529
00:34:11,560 --> 00:34:13,440
because of us go in and helping 
with that. 

530
00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:17,920
But there is a huge need out 
there of not just taking kids 

531
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:20,440
in. 
There's also, there is the 

532
00:34:20,639 --> 00:34:23,920
Foster's closet that's out there
that collects. 

533
00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:26,159
Then they don't just take all 
your old junk. 

534
00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:30,520
They have specific needs that 
they have and they'll, they'll 

535
00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:34,440
put list out there and they have
a, a delivery address and an 

536
00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:36,800
Amazon wishlist. 
You can go on that Amazon 

537
00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:38,880
wishlist and order things and 
have it shipped there. 

538
00:34:39,199 --> 00:34:41,480
And there are some cheaper 
things, but there's also more 

539
00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:44,880
expensive things because, you 
know, foster kids come into 

540
00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:49,120
foster care with a garbage bag 
and clothes that don't fit them.

541
00:34:49,199 --> 00:34:51,600
That's just life. 
I mean, every one of ours, with 

542
00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:55,800
the exception of Christopher, 
came to us with a garbage bag of

543
00:34:55,800 --> 00:34:58,560
mismatched things that you could
tell didn't belong to them that 

544
00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:01,400
was just thrown together. 
And so there are agencies out 

545
00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:04,760
there to give them suitcases. 
There's an agency out there to 

546
00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:06,720
give them backpacks and school 
supplies. 

547
00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:11,760
There's agencies out there that 
raise money to give to it's 

548
00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:15,960
called Kincare and it's, it's 
where a child goes into foster 

549
00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:20,440
care and a relative takes them. 
Those people don't get any kind 

550
00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:23,600
of financial assistance for 
that, but they have taken on a 

551
00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:25,880
child that wasn't theirs out of 
the blue. 

552
00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:30,160
So there are there's help for 
those people to buy things and 

553
00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:32,440
you know, formula and you know, 
stuff like that. 

554
00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:36,600
So there's so many opportunities
out there to help foster 

555
00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:41,360
children that doesn't involve 
just taking in foster kids. 

556
00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:44,720
And I'm not saying don't do 
that, but a lot can't. 

557
00:35:44,720 --> 00:35:46,160
I mean, it's just a fact of 
life. 

558
00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:49,080
We no longer can, you know, we 
have our hands full with our 

559
00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:51,680
own. 
So that's why we get involved 

560
00:35:51,680 --> 00:35:55,880
through Foster Children's 
Alliance, the focal group and 

561
00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:57,560
all the things, all the ones 
that I've named. 

562
00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:00,560
There's just so many 
opportunities out there where 

563
00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:03,120
you can help these foster 
children. 

564
00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:06,320
And if all else fails, pray for 
them. 

565
00:36:06,760 --> 00:36:12,160
If you have no other thing that 
you can do, pray and not just 

566
00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:16,920
for reunification, but pray that
the best possible path for that 

567
00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:20,760
child is what happens. 
Because sometimes a mom or a dad

568
00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:24,240
just need to get their act 
together and losing that child 

569
00:36:24,240 --> 00:36:26,240
or children is the thing that 
fixes it. 

570
00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:31,360
However, sometimes kids are in 
foster care over and over again,

571
00:36:31,600 --> 00:36:34,880
so if you have absolutely 
nothing else to do, pray for 

572
00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:39,160
those babies because they've 
done nothing wrong and to cause 

573
00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:44,080
the situation that they're in. 
Yeah, that's and what what you 

574
00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:46,680
guys are doing is incredible and
there's not many people who are 

575
00:36:46,680 --> 00:36:48,960
willing to do it. 
So the fact that you are doing 

576
00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:51,680
it and doing it so well is, is 
massive. 

577
00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:56,240
I'm, I'm going to throw us all a
curveball real quick, but I want

578
00:36:56,240 --> 00:36:59,360
to take us back again. 
Whoever wants to volunteer 

579
00:36:59,360 --> 00:37:03,000
first, I'd be like, I would like
to know how each of you found 

580
00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:04,880
your salvation. 
In other words, how do you got 

581
00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:06,760
the Holy Ghost? 
When did you get baptized? 

582
00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:09,880
What was what was your 
experience of leading up to that

583
00:37:09,880 --> 00:37:11,960
and developing your own 
relations with Christ 

584
00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:15,120
personally? 
So I'll go first, I guess. 

585
00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:26,360
And so this is has some comedy 
in it and it's kind of 

586
00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:30,720
unbelievable, but just again, 
being transparent. 

587
00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:41,080
So I was 19 years old and I had 
tried to read, like I said, I 

588
00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:44,240
wasn't raised in church. 
I tried to read the Bible a 

589
00:37:44,240 --> 00:37:49,480
couple times because, you know, 
that's what God does. 

590
00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:54,560
It's like, hey, I'm here, you 
know, I'm, I'm calling you. 

591
00:37:57,320 --> 00:38:01,240
So I had tried a couple times. 
Course I had no understanding of

592
00:38:01,240 --> 00:38:05,520
it. 
And so I kind of, I was probably

593
00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:12,320
as a young teenager when I was 
19, I wanted this Camaro. 

594
00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:22,320
It was a 1976 Camaro and this 
was in 9090 one. 

595
00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:31,840
No, 90 or 91 doesn't matter. 
But I actually told God, I said 

596
00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:38,280
if you'll let me get this car 
because I had to get a loan, my 

597
00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:42,320
mom had to get a loan for it. 
So this is tells tells you how 

598
00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:49,240
old I was at that time. 
The banks would not lend for a 

599
00:38:49,240 --> 00:38:52,120
car loan if it had over 100,000 
miles. 

600
00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:56,560
So I'm bargaining with God, you 
know, because I don't know any 

601
00:38:56,560 --> 00:39:00,240
better. 
And anyway, I said, if you'll 

602
00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:03,040
allow me to get this car, I'll 
go to church twice. 

603
00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:08,240
Two times so for a Camaro. 
So I'm playing this game all 

604
00:39:08,240 --> 00:39:13,560
wrong. 
So so I I just this should tell 

605
00:39:13,560 --> 00:39:15,520
people though how much God loves
you. 

606
00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:24,400
So ended up got the car the the 
president of the bank was 

607
00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:30,240
retiring and he pretty much, 
well, he said this car is not 

608
00:39:30,240 --> 00:39:36,080
worth what they're asking for 
it, but he's on the way out the 

609
00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:38,600
door and he's like, but I'll 
give it a loan. 

610
00:39:40,160 --> 00:39:45,040
So, so got the car. 
I kept my promise. 

611
00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:53,480
So the first two churches I went
to I didn't like so at this 

612
00:39:53,480 --> 00:39:56,120
point I know I need to go to 
church. 

613
00:39:56,160 --> 00:40:00,600
I've now I've met my wife which 
we're not married yet but now 

614
00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:05,200
I'm thinking OK it's time to 
settle down because I was not 

615
00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:10,840
settled down and we had her 
cousin. 

616
00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:15,600
We were keeping him as a small 
child and this was before foster

617
00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:19,200
care, but we were already Foster
and just not through the 

618
00:40:19,200 --> 00:40:23,520
government. 
And anyway, his daycare teacher 

619
00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:27,880
invited us to her church, which 
is it, which was a Church of 

620
00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:35,000
God. 
And so we ended up going to Five

621
00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:38,760
Church of God. 
And when I walked in the door, 

622
00:40:40,560 --> 00:40:49,200
God's presence was so strong and
there was no doubt, and it was. 

623
00:40:49,480 --> 00:40:53,560
I had heard about it my whole 
life, but literally you hear 

624
00:40:53,560 --> 00:40:57,000
about people grabbing the Pew 
white knuckled because I 

625
00:40:57,000 --> 00:41:00,360
couldn't sit still. 
He was like dragging me to the 

626
00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:02,480
altar. 
I can interrupt and add this was

627
00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:05,200
on my birthday and it was his 
birthday gift to me to go to 

628
00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:05,960
church. 
That's. 

629
00:41:06,160 --> 00:41:14,520
Awesome. 
So anyway, it was at that point 

630
00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:17,720
that I turn my life over to 
Christ filled with the Holy 

631
00:41:17,720 --> 00:41:25,040
Ghost. 
And so we ended up later moving 

632
00:41:25,040 --> 00:41:30,480
to Huntsville and we tried some 
churches Church of God because 

633
00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:33,320
that's, you know, that's what we
had done. 

634
00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:40,480
And I was baptized in in the 
Church of God, which as you 

635
00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:47,720
know, Father, Son, Holy Ghost. 
So anyway, just move forward to 

636
00:41:47,720 --> 00:41:51,000
1998. 
We moved to Madison County began

637
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:56,680
seeking a place and we went to a
Church of God for several years 

638
00:41:57,240 --> 00:42:05,720
and and ended up leaving for 
reasons I won't get into but so 

639
00:42:05,720 --> 00:42:11,520
we ended up being out of church 
so for several years until we 

640
00:42:11,520 --> 00:42:16,760
started seeking a church again. 
Ultimately came to life Gate and

641
00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:20,120
was later baptized in Jesus name
at life gate. 

642
00:42:20,840 --> 00:42:29,280
So that was a quick synopsis of 
but but there was two things 

643
00:42:29,280 --> 00:42:35,920
that God used to to workout, 
help me work out my salvation. 

644
00:42:36,240 --> 00:42:39,840
And it was the car and it was my
wife. 

645
00:42:39,960 --> 00:42:46,640
And I don't say that because she
was she's sitting here, but I 

646
00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:51,560
was on a very destructive path 
path and I didn't, I didn't do 

647
00:42:51,560 --> 00:42:55,800
drugs, thank thank God. 
But if there was anything else 

648
00:42:55,800 --> 00:42:58,320
that could get me in trouble, I 
was I was doing it. 

649
00:42:58,840 --> 00:43:08,320
And I met my wife, future wife, 
and said it's worth, worth 

650
00:43:08,320 --> 00:43:11,080
settling down for. 
So. 

651
00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:15,800
So anyway, and here we are 
today. 

652
00:43:16,160 --> 00:43:19,320
There you go. 
Was there like a so you, you 

653
00:43:19,320 --> 00:43:22,360
were baptized the first time and
the Father Son, the Holy Ghost, 

654
00:43:22,600 --> 00:43:25,360
then you, you come to Lifegate 
and now you're, you had to have 

655
00:43:25,360 --> 00:43:28,360
realized at some point I need to
be baptized in his name. 

656
00:43:29,080 --> 00:43:30,840
What's that? 
What's that revelation process 

657
00:43:30,840 --> 00:43:32,080
there? 
Because there had to be a little

658
00:43:32,080 --> 00:43:36,080
bit of a revelation to you. 
Like, Hey, I I was doing my best

659
00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:39,120
to serve the Lord, not that 
there was anything wrong with 

660
00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:40,040
it. 
But then you realize, oh, 

661
00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:41,720
there's a whole nother level to 
this. 

662
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:48,520
Well, and I think more than 
anything for me, I'd like to say

663
00:43:48,520 --> 00:43:53,760
that it was a complete 
revelation for me. 

664
00:43:54,880 --> 00:44:02,000
I, I do buy into the oneness 
and, and that is important. 

665
00:44:02,000 --> 00:44:06,920
Obviously it's very important, 
but for me it was obedience. 

666
00:44:07,400 --> 00:44:12,760
If, if this is where God brought
me there, there's a reason he 

667
00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:17,120
brought me here. 
So I felt like you can call it a

668
00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:22,560
revelation, I guess, but it for 
me, it was like God didn't bring

669
00:44:22,560 --> 00:44:27,920
me here if he if I did not need 
to be baptized in Jesus name, I 

670
00:44:27,920 --> 00:44:31,840
wouldn't, I wouldn't be here 
under this pastor, you know. 

671
00:44:31,840 --> 00:44:38,760
So for me it was an act of 
obedience, not that I Jesus name

672
00:44:38,760 --> 00:44:41,440
is important. 
I don't want to diminish that. 

673
00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:45,360
I'm just being transparent and 
saying I was doing it out of 

674
00:44:45,360 --> 00:44:48,880
obedience because I did think it
was the right thing to do. 

675
00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:52,480
And then with me. 
So I grew up, excuse me, I grew 

676
00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:57,480
up in the Church of God, like I 
said, as when I was as long ago 

677
00:44:57,480 --> 00:45:02,000
as I could remember from birth, 
my parents actually met because 

678
00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:05,760
my daddy was preaching at a 
revival at her church. 

679
00:45:05,760 --> 00:45:09,520
So he was a preacher before they
even got married and he remained

680
00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:14,480
a Church of God preacher until I
was probably in elementary 

681
00:45:14,480 --> 00:45:16,360
school and that's when he fell 
away. 

682
00:45:16,720 --> 00:45:20,560
So I grew up in church. 
I was saved as a child, very 

683
00:45:20,560 --> 00:45:23,720
young, baptized when I was, you 
know, 5 or 6 years old in a 

684
00:45:23,720 --> 00:45:26,440
lake, you know, out in the 
middle of nowhere in Etowah 

685
00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:29,440
County. 
Aurora Lake, if anybody's ever 

686
00:45:29,440 --> 00:45:32,440
heard of it. 
But, and it was quite comical 

687
00:45:32,440 --> 00:45:37,280
because it was a Sunday morning 
and the Saturday night remnants 

688
00:45:37,640 --> 00:45:42,480
of things going on was thrown 
about and it was, it was quite 

689
00:45:42,480 --> 00:45:46,080
comical. 
But so I grew up in it. 

690
00:45:46,800 --> 00:45:51,960
Even when my parents fell away, 
I did not. 

691
00:45:51,960 --> 00:45:55,920
And I was able to stay steadfast
during my teen years. 

692
00:45:55,920 --> 00:46:00,480
It was just always ingrained in 
me and I think because of my 

693
00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:06,840
childhood cancer, I had a dream 
when I was, I don't know if it's

694
00:46:06,840 --> 00:46:09,360
a dream or what I've told him 
about this before and I don't 

695
00:46:09,360 --> 00:46:13,560
really know what to call it, but
I was very sick, hurting all 

696
00:46:13,560 --> 00:46:15,400
over. 
Excuse me. 

697
00:46:15,400 --> 00:46:17,840
And they're 2. 
Two different things happened 

698
00:46:17,840 --> 00:46:20,720
when I was sick. 
One night in particular, I 

699
00:46:20,720 --> 00:46:24,040
remember just my whole body was 
hurting so bad and I was only 5.

700
00:46:24,040 --> 00:46:27,680
So it's you know it, but the 
memory was so intense that I 

701
00:46:27,680 --> 00:46:30,640
remember it. 
And I remember that I'm a 

702
00:46:30,640 --> 00:46:31,960
daddy's girl through and 
through. 

703
00:46:32,280 --> 00:46:35,920
And he worked just all the time.
He was just always at work. 

704
00:46:36,320 --> 00:46:40,040
And Mother had told me to get 
over in this chair and lay in it

705
00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:42,720
so she could make the bed and 
then I could get back in the 

706
00:46:42,720 --> 00:46:45,200
bed. 
Well, Daddy must have come home 

707
00:46:45,200 --> 00:46:47,640
early because he picked me up 
and sit me down, hold him in his

708
00:46:47,640 --> 00:46:49,200
lap. 
And it's like everything just 

709
00:46:49,200 --> 00:46:50,720
felt better because Daddy was 
holding me. 

710
00:46:51,160 --> 00:46:53,720
And so Mother said, all right, 
get in bed. 

711
00:46:53,720 --> 00:46:55,440
And I said, well, can Daddy put 
me in bed? 

712
00:46:55,760 --> 00:46:57,280
And she's like, well, he's not 
home yet. 

713
00:46:57,680 --> 00:47:00,000
And I opened my eyes and I was 
sitting in the chair alone and I

714
00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:04,320
realized in my 5 year old mind 
that was God holding me as a 

715
00:47:04,360 --> 00:47:08,960
little child, holding me because
he is my daddy. 

716
00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:12,160
And it made me feel better. 
And I knew, I knew beyond 

717
00:47:12,160 --> 00:47:15,880
knowing that it was nothing 
spooky or weird, it was God. 

718
00:47:16,320 --> 00:47:21,880
And then the night of my 
miraculous healing, I had a 

719
00:47:21,880 --> 00:47:24,440
dream. 
And in that dream I was talking 

720
00:47:24,440 --> 00:47:29,720
to God and he asked me, do you 
want to come home or stay here? 

721
00:47:30,240 --> 00:47:32,840
And I said my parents would miss
me, I'll just stay here. 

722
00:47:33,320 --> 00:47:35,440
And I woke up the next morning 
completely healed. 

723
00:47:35,440 --> 00:47:39,440
Wow. 
You don't walk away from that. 

724
00:47:39,840 --> 00:47:44,920
You know, our entire testimony, 
if we were to be able to just 

725
00:47:44,920 --> 00:47:48,760
sit and tell, it is so healing 
focused. 

726
00:47:49,040 --> 00:47:55,480
God has from that young four and
five year old age till today, we

727
00:47:55,480 --> 00:48:00,880
have been absolutely surrounded 
by miraculous healings in 

728
00:48:00,880 --> 00:48:04,640
ourselves and others around us. 
It's just been, you know, so I, 

729
00:48:04,680 --> 00:48:09,480
I never straight away, I never 
doubted that God was God ever. 

730
00:48:09,480 --> 00:48:14,240
Because of that, there's no 
doubt in my mind that that was 

731
00:48:14,240 --> 00:48:18,720
God loving me and taking care of
me and even gave me a choice. 

732
00:48:19,160 --> 00:48:28,560
So then Fast forward to meeting 
Kevin and my dad was just 

733
00:48:28,560 --> 00:48:34,200
getting back into church right 
then and I knew as a Christian I

734
00:48:34,200 --> 00:48:36,240
should not date a non Christian.
I knew that. 

735
00:48:37,320 --> 00:48:42,880
But man he was cute. 
There was nothing spiritual 

736
00:48:42,880 --> 00:48:44,440
about it, like he said it wasn't
him. 

737
00:48:44,440 --> 00:48:49,320
I just thought Oh my gosh. 
And so and in that car, my 

738
00:48:49,320 --> 00:48:52,800
goodness, but for real. 
You needed the guard. 

739
00:48:52,800 --> 00:48:58,200
He says he was like you need 
something, but for honestly 

740
00:48:58,200 --> 00:49:01,480
though, he just I just it was 
almost love at first sight. 

741
00:49:01,480 --> 00:49:04,080
I mean I saw him and I was like 
holy Toledo Batman. 

742
00:49:04,520 --> 00:49:07,280
This is the one for me which. 
Is crazy since you turned him 

743
00:49:07,280 --> 00:49:10,880
down. 
Exactly. 

744
00:49:11,080 --> 00:49:17,080
Thank you for that to. 
Ask you but so you know, we but 

745
00:49:17,080 --> 00:49:19,960
I knew that he needed to get in 
church so as we're dating, you 

746
00:49:19,960 --> 00:49:24,840
know I didn't just pound it on 
him, but I, you know, as subtle 

747
00:49:24,840 --> 00:49:28,640
as I could, you know, but mostly
just tried to be a good girl 

748
00:49:28,640 --> 00:49:33,520
around him and in front of him. 
And so, like I said, he told me 

749
00:49:33,520 --> 00:49:38,080
that one of his birthday gifts 
to me right after we got 

750
00:49:38,080 --> 00:49:40,120
married, I mean, I think it was 
our first, my first birthday 

751
00:49:40,120 --> 00:49:45,240
after we were married is he 
would go to church and he got 

752
00:49:45,240 --> 00:49:48,120
saved, but he got saved that 
night. 

753
00:49:48,400 --> 00:49:52,520
And that's awesome. 
I mean, the the rest is not, as 

754
00:49:52,520 --> 00:49:55,080
they say, is history now on on 
mine. 

755
00:49:55,080 --> 00:49:57,560
I was baptized in the father son
and the Holy Ghost. 

756
00:49:57,880 --> 00:50:02,160
And now it is something that's 
interesting to me is when I 

757
00:50:02,160 --> 00:50:06,480
started coming to Lifegate and 
they kept talking about that 

758
00:50:06,880 --> 00:50:10,200
other denominations, churches, 
whatever, believe in three gods.

759
00:50:10,440 --> 00:50:12,600
That blew my mind. 
I had no idea they were talking 

760
00:50:12,600 --> 00:50:15,960
about what I believe because I 
never saw it as three gods. 

761
00:50:15,960 --> 00:50:21,280
I always saw it as one God that 
had, you know, three. 

762
00:50:21,600 --> 00:50:24,200
I don't know, maybe 
manifestations. 

763
00:50:24,200 --> 00:50:25,760
Yes, there you go, 
manifestations. 

764
00:50:25,960 --> 00:50:29,120
But I always saw it as one God. 
So I may have always been one 

765
00:50:29,120 --> 00:50:30,360
this and didn't know it. 
I don't know. 

766
00:50:30,440 --> 00:50:32,280
But I never saw it as three 
gods. 

767
00:50:32,280 --> 00:50:36,040
I always saw it as one God. 
But we were going through the 

768
00:50:36,080 --> 00:50:38,800
infamous. 
What is the Bible study that 

769
00:50:38,800 --> 00:50:42,800
we're doing now exploring God's 
word with the Stewarts? 

770
00:50:42,800 --> 00:50:46,760
And that's when I we finished 
the one that talked about Jesus 

771
00:50:46,760 --> 00:50:49,440
name baptism and they left and 
I've told Kevin I was like, we 

772
00:50:49,440 --> 00:50:50,960
need to get baptized in Jesus 
name, don't we? 

773
00:50:50,960 --> 00:50:53,560
He's like, yeah. 
There you go and that and that's

774
00:50:53,560 --> 00:50:55,880
the truth hit on something for 
real though, is that most people

775
00:50:55,880 --> 00:50:58,120
when you think about they think 
about Jesus being on the throne.

776
00:50:58,120 --> 00:51:00,680
They don't think about that and 
that only it's only your 

777
00:51:00,680 --> 00:51:04,640
theologians that will get into 
debates on the personas of God. 

778
00:51:04,640 --> 00:51:06,920
You know what I mean? 
Whenever most people who try to 

779
00:51:06,920 --> 00:51:11,280
understand God, understand he is
1 Lord, you know, And so that's 

780
00:51:11,280 --> 00:51:14,080
a you know, and it's just, it's,
it's important people 

781
00:51:14,080 --> 00:51:19,560
understand, you know. 
But one thing, let's talk about 

782
00:51:19,560 --> 00:51:21,560
some of those healings you've 
seen over your life. 

783
00:51:21,560 --> 00:51:24,560
God's moved in a mighty way in 
so many different circumstances.

784
00:51:24,560 --> 00:51:27,320
Yeah, life obviously ups and 
downs. 

785
00:51:27,320 --> 00:51:29,760
And I think with believers, a 
lot of times, if there's anybody

786
00:51:29,760 --> 00:51:33,480
out there who happens to listen,
who is wanting to join the 

787
00:51:33,480 --> 00:51:37,920
faith, you know, it's not just 
smooth sailing after you come to

788
00:51:37,920 --> 00:51:40,120
Christ, you know that, oh, all 
your problems are gone. 

789
00:51:40,640 --> 00:51:43,760
And you guys are a testament of 
strength for one. 

790
00:51:43,760 --> 00:51:46,360
And then I think faithfulness 
overall. 

791
00:51:46,600 --> 00:51:50,120
And so could you touch on that 
for us and kind of dive into 

792
00:51:50,120 --> 00:51:53,200
maybe not just the mountains, 
but some of the valleys that 

793
00:51:53,200 --> 00:51:55,080
you've been through and how God 
seen you through it? 

794
00:51:56,480 --> 00:52:04,040
So I want to say one thing 
before I say that is you were 

795
00:52:04,040 --> 00:52:07,960
talking about there's ups and 
downs and and God doesn't fix 

796
00:52:07,960 --> 00:52:10,520
everything when you come to 
Christ. 

797
00:52:12,160 --> 00:52:15,320
But what it does is gives you a 
different perspective. 

798
00:52:15,400 --> 00:52:17,280
It gives you a godly 
perspective. 

799
00:52:17,920 --> 00:52:23,760
And the things that drive the 
world crazy, like financial 

800
00:52:23,760 --> 00:52:30,080
issues and medical issues, yes, 
they're still important to 

801
00:52:30,080 --> 00:52:33,400
anybody that's having to live 
here, but it's not the most 

802
00:52:33,400 --> 00:52:36,480
important thing. 
And if you're going through it 

803
00:52:36,480 --> 00:52:40,040
without God, it is the most 
important thing in your life. 

804
00:52:40,720 --> 00:52:43,560
And it doesn't matter. 
And I'm not asking for it, 

805
00:52:43,600 --> 00:52:47,400
obviously, but it doesn't matter
what's going on in your life 

806
00:52:48,360 --> 00:52:52,120
from a worldly perspective. 
If your car's broke down or your

807
00:52:52,760 --> 00:52:57,800
house is on fire or whatever it 
may be, it's never going to be 

808
00:52:57,800 --> 00:53:00,720
the most important thing as a 
Christian. 

809
00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:04,960
So it gives you a new 
perspective to realize these 

810
00:53:05,120 --> 00:53:09,280
these things are temporary and 
they're going away anyway. 

811
00:53:09,280 --> 00:53:13,440
So when you're going through it,
you've got a different 

812
00:53:13,440 --> 00:53:17,400
perspective. 
So, so on the miracles though, 

813
00:53:19,960 --> 00:53:25,280
this literally could be a novel 
for for my wife and I. 

814
00:53:25,280 --> 00:53:28,840
And I know, I know you guys have
been through it too. 

815
00:53:29,240 --> 00:53:35,320
I've grown up with your family, 
so this isn't exclusive to me. 

816
00:53:35,320 --> 00:53:39,280
But since we're talking about 
the brights right now, I'll 

817
00:53:39,280 --> 00:53:42,320
indulge. 
But so we've already touched on 

818
00:53:42,320 --> 00:53:48,080
the cancer that I went through a
little bit as as a four year old

819
00:53:49,000 --> 00:53:56,640
when I was diagnosed with that 
cancer, I was given 50% chance 

820
00:53:56,640 --> 00:53:58,160
of making it through the 
surgery. 

821
00:53:58,720 --> 00:54:05,200
And the doctors literally said 
he's he's got a 50% chance if we

822
00:54:05,200 --> 00:54:09,800
do the surgery, he's got 0% 
chance if we don't. 

823
00:54:10,840 --> 00:54:16,040
So on top of that, they said if 
he makes it through the surgery,

824
00:54:16,040 --> 00:54:18,160
it'll give you about another six
months. 

825
00:54:19,200 --> 00:54:25,800
So obviously made it through the
surgery, but during the surgery,

826
00:54:27,640 --> 00:54:32,840
so the cancer is a hard tumor 
should be and they've got to cut

827
00:54:32,840 --> 00:54:38,600
it away and when they got when 
the doctor got in there to cut 

828
00:54:38,600 --> 00:54:43,680
it away when he made the 
incision to cut it, it poured 

829
00:54:43,680 --> 00:54:50,640
out. 
So it minimize the risk of what 

830
00:54:50,640 --> 00:54:55,080
he was having to do. 
Although still had most of my 

831
00:54:55,080 --> 00:55:02,280
right lung removed, chest 
muscle, back muscle, you know, 

832
00:55:02,440 --> 00:55:08,400
rib tissue and muscle because 
they had metastasized. 

833
00:55:08,680 --> 00:55:12,000
It started in my lung. 
Although it was not lung cancer,

834
00:55:13,280 --> 00:55:18,520
Rhabdomyosarcoma is what it was.
It was the second case ever 

835
00:55:18,520 --> 00:55:21,800
diagnosed in the state of 
Florida, which is where I was at

836
00:55:21,800 --> 00:55:28,120
that time. 
So made it through all of that 

837
00:55:28,720 --> 00:55:39,240
and they said you know if I made
it six months, then I would 

838
00:55:40,880 --> 00:55:43,360
maybe make it another six months
after that. 

839
00:55:43,640 --> 00:55:48,280
So basically they said the 
longer you make it, the less 

840
00:55:48,280 --> 00:55:50,800
sense you it is going to come 
back. 

841
00:55:51,080 --> 00:55:55,640
So went through all of that. 
Obviously I'm still here today, 

842
00:55:55,640 --> 00:56:04,840
went through some pretty severe 
chemotherapy and radiation and 

843
00:56:05,560 --> 00:56:10,120
they actually call it the Red 
Devil is what I had to take for 

844
00:56:10,120 --> 00:56:15,520
the treatment. 
And so made it through all that 

845
00:56:17,000 --> 00:56:20,800
later on. 
Obviously you guys know, but 

846
00:56:21,040 --> 00:56:28,280
your audience does. 
It ended up with a diagnosis of 

847
00:56:28,280 --> 00:56:39,240
cancer in my jaw and they were 
set to do the operation on. 

848
00:56:39,640 --> 00:56:44,840
November 18th, Friday. 
So, so right. 

849
00:56:44,840 --> 00:56:48,800
That would have been a Friday. 
I'm taking my wife's word for 

850
00:56:48,800 --> 00:56:55,480
it. 
So the church actually let me, 

851
00:56:55,560 --> 00:56:59,120
let me pause here and let my 
wife because she was involved in

852
00:56:59,120 --> 00:57:03,000
the prayer meeting that went on 
and I was not. 

853
00:57:03,400 --> 00:57:06,800
So I'm going to pass the mic to 
her for just a second. 

854
00:57:07,480 --> 00:57:12,120
So he, as he said, it was the 
surgery was scheduled for that 

855
00:57:12,120 --> 00:57:15,160
Friday. 
The doctors called and wanted to

856
00:57:15,160 --> 00:57:19,200
come down to UAB on Tuesday to 
get an additional CT scan 

857
00:57:19,200 --> 00:57:23,480
because it was such an 
aggressive bone cancer that they

858
00:57:23,480 --> 00:57:24,800
said it would be continuing to 
spread. 

859
00:57:24,800 --> 00:57:27,880
And they needed to know exactly 
how big it was because if you 

860
00:57:27,880 --> 00:57:30,760
cut into the cancer itself, it 
will immediately spread. 

861
00:57:31,120 --> 00:57:33,680
And they needed to make sure 
they had a good parameter. 

862
00:57:33,920 --> 00:57:37,320
And this was probably going to 
end up in him losing his entire 

863
00:57:37,320 --> 00:57:38,840
job. 
It was, it was very serious 

864
00:57:38,840 --> 00:57:42,280
cancer. 
So we went to Birmingham on 

865
00:57:42,280 --> 00:57:47,040
Tuesday and got the CT scan that
Wednesday night. 

866
00:57:48,040 --> 00:57:54,080
Sister Penton was having a choir
with the younger people, not the

867
00:57:54,080 --> 00:57:55,640
entire choir, but with the 
younger people. 

868
00:57:55,920 --> 00:57:59,560
And Gabrielle and Cassidy were 
both in that choir rehearsal. 

869
00:58:01,160 --> 00:58:03,640
If either of you remember 
Gabrielle and Cassidy or know 

870
00:58:03,640 --> 00:58:06,720
them now, they are not Let's 
hold hands and pray together 

871
00:58:06,720 --> 00:58:10,760
kind of sisters. 
So they would do anything for 

872
00:58:10,760 --> 00:58:13,960
each other. 
But they are like, you know, oil

873
00:58:13,960 --> 00:58:20,560
and water, hot oil and water. 
So they, I don't remember which 

874
00:58:20,560 --> 00:58:25,200
went down first, but one of them
went down and during choir 

875
00:58:25,880 --> 00:58:29,240
rehearsal went down and started 
praying for their daddy and the 

876
00:58:29,240 --> 00:58:32,040
other one joined them and the 
Holy Ghost fell. 

877
00:58:32,640 --> 00:58:34,680
Excuse me. 
And so Wednesday night, before 

878
00:58:34,680 --> 00:58:38,640
church had even started, there 
was just, you know, praise and 

879
00:58:38,640 --> 00:58:41,600
worship, the Holy Ghost falling 
everywhere. 

880
00:58:41,880 --> 00:58:46,760
And excuse me, I believe that 
night was when he was healed. 

881
00:58:47,480 --> 00:58:51,760
So the next day, Thursday, the 
doctor called me at work and he 

882
00:58:51,760 --> 00:58:56,600
said, he said, first of all, let
me start by saying I took the 

883
00:58:56,600 --> 00:58:59,040
test myself. 
And I had my colleagues look at 

884
00:58:59,040 --> 00:59:02,440
them because it was found by him
going to the dentist and the 

885
00:59:02,440 --> 00:59:05,880
dentist saw a spot on when he 
was X raying the teeth and he 

886
00:59:05,880 --> 00:59:08,880
was like, oh, you need to go see
somebody. 

887
00:59:09,240 --> 00:59:13,400
So he said I had these doctors 
look that are smarter than me, 

888
00:59:13,400 --> 00:59:16,000
no more than me. 
They confirmed, yes, it's cancer

889
00:59:16,320 --> 00:59:19,680
and it's not pretty. 
He said I had the same doctors 

890
00:59:19,840 --> 00:59:24,200
look at the test I did Tuesday. 
And those same doctors said 

891
00:59:24,520 --> 00:59:25,880
there's no way that's the same 
mouth. 

892
00:59:25,880 --> 00:59:29,520
There is nothing there but 
what's supposed to be no cancer,

893
00:59:29,760 --> 00:59:33,720
no bone cancer, nothing but a 
healthy mouth. 

894
00:59:34,320 --> 00:59:38,200
And so I believe with all of my,
I was in my office at work at 

895
00:59:38,200 --> 00:59:42,000
the time just shouting and 
praising God and, but, and I 

896
00:59:42,000 --> 00:59:44,400
called him, I was like, you 
could work Friday because you 

897
00:59:44,400 --> 00:59:49,280
don't have cancer anymore. 
So God literally miraculously 

898
00:59:49,280 --> 00:59:52,400
healed him and they cancelled 
the cancer or cancelled the 

899
00:59:52,400 --> 00:59:54,960
surgery Friday and we actually 
went on a day date. 

900
00:59:54,960 --> 00:59:56,000
So. 
That's incredible. 

901
00:59:58,080 --> 01:00:03,200
That's awesome. 
So one more and and I'll pass it

902
01:00:03,200 --> 01:00:07,320
to. 
Penny But again, as you guys 

903
01:00:07,320 --> 01:00:14,000
know, I'm going to tell a story 
of, of how I discovered that I, 

904
01:00:14,040 --> 01:00:19,960
I'm in the heart failure. 
And so I've been having some 

905
01:00:19,960 --> 01:00:27,200
difficulty breathing different 
stuff as far as overexerting, 

906
01:00:27,200 --> 01:00:32,160
having some Lightheadedness. 
And it was, it was becoming a 

907
01:00:32,160 --> 01:00:36,880
problem at work. 
And so it was becoming more and 

908
01:00:36,880 --> 01:00:44,680
more difficult to just to do my 
job and came home on a Tuesday 

909
01:00:44,920 --> 01:00:49,400
after working 12 hours. 
And I had set a doctor's 

910
01:00:49,400 --> 01:00:52,600
appointment for the next day 
because I'm I was off on 

911
01:00:52,600 --> 01:00:56,400
Wednesdays. 
So I had set the doctor's 

912
01:00:56,400 --> 01:00:59,760
appointment for Wednesday and I 
came home Tuesday and literally 

913
01:00:59,760 --> 01:01:05,200
just kind of fell out in the bed
and still had clothes, shoes, 

914
01:01:05,200 --> 01:01:09,040
everything on just kind of face 
down on the bed, just fell 

915
01:01:09,040 --> 01:01:13,080
asleep. 
And so Penny thought I was in 

916
01:01:13,080 --> 01:01:17,960
there just hanging out and she 
came in there to check on me and

917
01:01:17,960 --> 01:01:22,800
I was sleeping. 
She woke me up and said I have 

918
01:01:22,880 --> 01:01:27,680
they have to find something 
tomorrow because I can't keep 

919
01:01:27,680 --> 01:01:32,200
doing this because I had been 
going to doctor for probably 10 

920
01:01:32,200 --> 01:01:37,240
years trying to find out what's 
going on and it just got to the 

921
01:01:37,240 --> 01:01:40,440
point where I couldn't push 
through it anymore. 

922
01:01:41,240 --> 01:01:44,680
So go to or. 
I wake up next morning on 

923
01:01:44,680 --> 01:01:50,840
Wednesday and I felt fine. 
I was like OK, I'm good. 

924
01:01:51,760 --> 01:01:55,720
So go to the doctor and I'm kind
of aggravated because now I feel

925
01:01:55,720 --> 01:01:59,040
fine and you know how it is. 
You go to the doctor and say oh,

926
01:01:59,040 --> 01:02:05,280
we don't see anything. 
So I go to the appointment. 

927
01:02:05,280 --> 01:02:13,040
First thing they do is EKG and 
it was a younger male nurse and 

928
01:02:13,520 --> 01:02:18,880
I could literally see the panic 
in his eyes and he's kind of 

929
01:02:19,120 --> 01:02:23,800
fidgeting around and and he said
I'm on, I'm going to move these 

930
01:02:23,800 --> 01:02:26,480
and do it again. 
So he did. 

931
01:02:26,480 --> 01:02:30,440
He moved a little little. 
Magnet stickers. 

932
01:02:30,440 --> 01:02:33,040
Yeah, the little stickers you 
know, that they put on you. 

933
01:02:33,040 --> 01:02:35,760
He moved them around and he did 
it again. 

934
01:02:35,760 --> 01:02:39,400
And as soon as he got the 
reading, he he literally ran out

935
01:02:39,400 --> 01:02:47,200
of the room and him and the 
doctor come quickly back into 

936
01:02:47,240 --> 01:02:51,520
the room and he's got 4 aspirin 
and he said take these. 

937
01:02:52,240 --> 01:02:57,240
So I took them and, and they're,
they're like in front of me 

938
01:02:57,240 --> 01:03:00,480
discussing you think we should 
give him nitroglycerin? 

939
01:03:01,200 --> 01:03:03,800
And I'm like, hey, I'm good. 
I feel fine. 

940
01:03:03,960 --> 01:03:06,840
Do not get the paddles. 
I'm OK, I was joking, you know, 

941
01:03:06,840 --> 01:03:08,600
and saying don't get the paddles
out. 

942
01:03:08,600 --> 01:03:13,560
I'm good. 
But they from the EKG, they 

943
01:03:13,560 --> 01:03:15,920
thought I was actively having a 
heart attack. 

944
01:03:17,160 --> 01:03:23,920
And so they said, well, you 
we're calling an ambulance. 

945
01:03:24,600 --> 01:03:30,400
And still I'm like, I feel 
better than I felt in a year and

946
01:03:30,400 --> 01:03:35,240
a half, you know. 
And so the doctor asked me, you 

947
01:03:35,240 --> 01:03:37,160
want to go to Madison or 
Huntsville? 

948
01:03:37,680 --> 01:03:40,640
And I said, well, Madison's 
closer because I'm thinking, 

949
01:03:40,640 --> 01:03:42,000
hey, they're going to check me 
out. 

950
01:03:42,000 --> 01:03:43,600
So yeah, you're fine. 
Go home. 

951
01:03:44,520 --> 01:03:50,560
So the EMT's get there and the 
ambulance and they said, well, 

952
01:03:50,560 --> 01:03:54,880
let us do one with our bigger 
machine, let us do an EKG. 

953
01:03:55,840 --> 01:03:59,280
So he did. 
And he he said, so where were 

954
01:03:59,280 --> 01:04:02,120
you going? 
I said, I think just Madison. 

955
01:04:02,800 --> 01:04:07,160
And he said you, you might need 
to go to Huntsville. 

956
01:04:09,400 --> 01:04:14,160
And and so I said, well, are you
are you saying that they're not 

957
01:04:14,160 --> 01:04:16,720
equipped to handle what's going 
on? 

958
01:04:16,720 --> 01:04:23,640
He said probably not. 
So we get to Huntsville and they

959
01:04:23,680 --> 01:04:27,920
and I'm still thinking I'm going
home. 

960
01:04:28,040 --> 01:04:31,440
You know when. 
Yeah, You know, as soon as I 

961
01:04:31,440 --> 01:04:34,000
figure out nothing's wrong with 
me, I'm going home, you know? 

962
01:04:34,320 --> 01:04:37,720
Got yours today. 
I got to work, you know, I got 

963
01:04:37,720 --> 01:04:38,600
to work tomorrow. 
We're. 

964
01:04:38,880 --> 01:04:41,560
Trying to figure out how to get 
both cars home because you know.

965
01:04:42,440 --> 01:04:49,120
So anyway, again, my memory is 
much worse than my wife, so 

966
01:04:49,120 --> 01:04:52,400
again, I'm going to pass a 
microphone and let her tell you 

967
01:04:52,400 --> 01:04:56,160
what happened at the hospital at
that point, and then I'll let 

968
01:04:56,160 --> 01:04:58,160
her. 
So they were doing all kinds of 

969
01:04:58,160 --> 01:05:00,160
tests. 
And again, like he said, we're 

970
01:05:00,160 --> 01:05:03,640
both thinking this is some 
fluke, this is something weird, 

971
01:05:03,640 --> 01:05:06,160
you know, maybe a little bit of 
blockage, but he's in, you know,

972
01:05:06,160 --> 01:05:09,400
the epitome of health, you know,
not an ounce of fat on him. 

973
01:05:09,800 --> 01:05:13,000
Plays basketball, schools. 
Are you young kids, you know, 

974
01:05:13,480 --> 01:05:17,000
so, you know, literally he'd 
been playing pickleball a few 

975
01:05:17,000 --> 01:05:19,600
days before. 
And so, you know, we're we're 

976
01:05:19,600 --> 01:05:21,960
thinking, you know, this is 
going to be, you know, whatever 

977
01:05:21,960 --> 01:05:25,440
that they might keep him tonight
for tests, but that's it. 

978
01:05:25,800 --> 01:05:28,440
Well, keep in mind, that's still
our mindset. 

979
01:05:28,440 --> 01:05:31,800
And the only thing we can figure
on this was that the doctor 

980
01:05:31,800 --> 01:05:35,200
didn't know that nobody had 
talked to us before he walked in

981
01:05:35,200 --> 01:05:37,280
there. 
But they did. 

982
01:05:38,000 --> 01:05:40,080
And they did so many tests. 
I don't remember what was what, 

983
01:05:40,080 --> 01:05:43,840
but they did a maybe an 
angiogram, I don't remember. 

984
01:05:43,840 --> 01:05:47,840
But anyway, something where they
determined is there truly 

985
01:05:47,840 --> 01:05:50,800
blockage because they had said 
that they'd like took the 

986
01:05:50,800 --> 01:05:55,040
pictures of it and there was 
some fuzzy spots and they were 

987
01:05:55,040 --> 01:05:56,440
like, we can't tell what that 
is. 

988
01:05:56,440 --> 01:05:58,120
We don't we don't know what's 
going on. 

989
01:05:58,120 --> 01:05:59,680
Maybe he moved while we were 
doing it. 

990
01:06:01,120 --> 01:06:04,120
We later found out why that was.
But at that time they didn't 

991
01:06:04,120 --> 01:06:07,640
know when they were like, we we 
need to do a better thing. 

992
01:06:07,880 --> 01:06:10,800
So they went in with the 
cameras, you know, trying to see

993
01:06:10,800 --> 01:06:12,240
exactly where the blockages 
were. 

994
01:06:12,800 --> 01:06:15,920
Well, we're sitting there for 
those results thinking that 

995
01:06:15,920 --> 01:06:19,040
they're going to say it was just
you moved, you know, so you get 

996
01:06:19,040 --> 01:06:20,840
to go home. 
So we're sitting there, we're 

997
01:06:20,840 --> 01:06:24,000
making jokes and laughing and, 
you know, just being all funny. 

998
01:06:24,240 --> 01:06:28,920
And this surgeon comes in and is
talking about the results of the

999
01:06:28,920 --> 01:06:33,920
test and from us thinking he's 
going home because of a messed 

1000
01:06:33,920 --> 01:06:38,800
up test. 
We hear the heart failure is 

1001
01:06:38,800 --> 01:06:42,640
severe. 
The there's so much blockage, we

1002
01:06:42,640 --> 01:06:46,560
can't handle it here. 
He needs to go to UAB and if he 

1003
01:06:46,560 --> 01:06:49,040
needs a heart transplant, 
they'll discuss it there. 

1004
01:06:50,120 --> 01:06:53,960
And we were like, I'm sorry, you
must have came in the wrong room

1005
01:06:54,200 --> 01:06:57,720
because he moved during the test
and we're going home tonight. 

1006
01:06:58,000 --> 01:07:02,360
And he said that and walked off 
and we're both just like staring

1007
01:07:02,360 --> 01:07:04,400
at each other like, did this 
just happen? 

1008
01:07:04,680 --> 01:07:09,160
So some some random nurse walks 
in and I was like, we need to 

1009
01:07:09,160 --> 01:07:12,120
talk to somebody because I don't
know if what we just heard is 

1010
01:07:12,120 --> 01:07:15,240
real. 
Was this for the right room? 

1011
01:07:15,480 --> 01:07:18,840
And she was like, yes ma'am. 
And so then we got a better 

1012
01:07:18,840 --> 01:07:20,480
explanation of what was going 
on. 

1013
01:07:21,160 --> 01:07:22,800
They still didn't know what was 
causing it. 

1014
01:07:22,800 --> 01:07:27,760
But he had his chest was in such
bad shape that they couldn't 

1015
01:07:27,760 --> 01:07:33,320
even get a proper test and he 
needed he had three blockages. 2

1016
01:07:33,320 --> 01:07:38,400
of them were life threatening 
and they were not acquitted. 

1017
01:07:38,400 --> 01:07:41,680
Huntsville Hospital is a pretty 
significant hospital and they 

1018
01:07:41,680 --> 01:07:46,320
have their own admission could 
not handle his case and he had 

1019
01:07:46,320 --> 01:07:50,600
to be sent to UAB. 
So they, and they told us it 

1020
01:07:50,600 --> 01:07:53,640
could take days, it took a 
matter of hours. 

1021
01:07:54,800 --> 01:07:57,280
And they they emulate, there had
to be a certain ambulance that 

1022
01:07:57,280 --> 01:07:59,600
took him because they had to 
have certain equipment in there 

1023
01:07:59,600 --> 01:08:01,480
because apparently he could die 
at any minute. 

1024
01:08:02,000 --> 01:08:04,480
So at this point, we're no 
longer laughing. 

1025
01:08:04,480 --> 01:08:07,560
We're realizing, oh, OK, this is
a little more serious than we 

1026
01:08:07,560 --> 01:08:12,520
thought. 
So we get to Birmingham and for 

1027
01:08:12,520 --> 01:08:16,399
the sake of time I will just say
lots of tests at this point. 

1028
01:08:16,600 --> 01:08:22,319
He was starting to have episodes
that were he not in the hospital

1029
01:08:22,319 --> 01:08:25,560
where he was, would have been 
heart attacks that would have 

1030
01:08:25,560 --> 01:08:28,680
killed him. 
It was very scary. 

1031
01:08:29,600 --> 01:08:33,000
He had one in particular the 
night before surgery that was 

1032
01:08:33,000 --> 01:08:36,920
absolutely petrifying. 
But God was there with us. 

1033
01:08:36,920 --> 01:08:39,600
That is one thing I can say. 
I never felt abandoned. 

1034
01:08:39,600 --> 01:08:44,399
I never felt alone and we were 
kind of initially not spreading 

1035
01:08:44,399 --> 01:08:47,880
it to everybody because it still
felt so unrealistic. 

1036
01:08:47,960 --> 01:08:54,319
And our pastor and his wife was 
on a cruise and we did not, we 

1037
01:08:54,319 --> 01:08:56,399
were kind of not sure what to do
because like, I don't want them 

1038
01:08:56,399 --> 01:08:59,600
to know what's going on and it 
ruined their cruise. 

1039
01:09:01,040 --> 01:09:03,520
So I don't want to tell anybody 
where to get back to them 

1040
01:09:03,640 --> 01:09:05,439
through the Grapevine. 
So we're in a kind of a weird 

1041
01:09:05,439 --> 01:09:07,800
spot on that. 
And we did end up telling them, 

1042
01:09:07,800 --> 01:09:11,359
obviously, but it, it was a 
weird situation on that as well.

1043
01:09:12,200 --> 01:09:14,920
We actually, what made us think 
tell them is the thought of 

1044
01:09:15,080 --> 01:09:16,840
having to deal with both of them
when they got back. 

1045
01:09:16,840 --> 01:09:21,279
Had we not told them that we 
were like, we'll call them. 

1046
01:09:21,399 --> 01:09:24,840
Well, at the point they did 
start giving me nitroglycerin, I

1047
01:09:25,040 --> 01:09:27,080
thought OK, let's. 
Let's call Pastor. 

1048
01:09:27,279 --> 01:09:31,000
We've never let them know. 
Before and I didn't have good 

1049
01:09:31,000 --> 01:09:33,840
connection when I first talked 
to sister Penton as well and she

1050
01:09:33,840 --> 01:09:35,319
was like what what are you 
saying? 

1051
01:09:35,840 --> 01:09:37,080
I'm like, no, you heard that 
right. 

1052
01:09:37,760 --> 01:09:44,160
So at any rate, many doctors 
came in that were very good 

1053
01:09:44,160 --> 01:09:47,760
surgeons, good at what they did 
and said they could not do the 

1054
01:09:47,760 --> 01:09:50,600
surgery. 
Reason being that the fuzziness 

1055
01:09:50,600 --> 01:09:54,960
they saw on those tests was 
because apparently radiation 

1056
01:09:54,960 --> 01:09:56,600
never stops working in your 
body. 

1057
01:09:56,960 --> 01:10:00,080
They gave him radiation to his 
chest at four years old. 

1058
01:10:00,640 --> 01:10:02,600
So he's had what are you like 
80? 

1059
01:10:02,600 --> 01:10:06,560
No, I'm kidding. 
So at 50 plus years old, it's 

1060
01:10:06,560 --> 01:10:10,520
had, you know, 50 years, you 
know, ultimately to continue 

1061
01:10:10,520 --> 01:10:12,480
working in the area that they 
put it on. 

1062
01:10:12,680 --> 01:10:17,960
And it basically has melded his 
veins together in his chest. 

1063
01:10:18,200 --> 01:10:21,520
And it's just almost melted in 
there. 

1064
01:10:21,840 --> 01:10:26,720
And the blockages aren't from 
bad eating habits or are, you 

1065
01:10:26,720 --> 01:10:29,360
know, build up cholesterol build
up. 

1066
01:10:29,360 --> 01:10:33,000
It is literally from the veins 
and arteries melding together 

1067
01:10:33,160 --> 01:10:36,080
from the damage from the 
radiation. 

1068
01:10:36,640 --> 01:10:39,080
And so now the doctors, they 
were like, you know, they're 

1069
01:10:39,080 --> 01:10:43,200
just everything we think we can 
do, we can't. 

1070
01:10:43,760 --> 01:10:49,400
So there is this Rockstar 
surgeon up there called Doctor 

1071
01:10:49,400 --> 01:10:52,080
Steele. 
Her name is Doctor Steele and 

1072
01:10:52,280 --> 01:10:58,160
she is good at doing an open 
heart beating surgery. 

1073
01:10:58,160 --> 01:11:00,840
And that means they keep your 
heart beating. 

1074
01:11:00,840 --> 01:11:02,800
They don't put you on the bypass
machine. 

1075
01:11:03,160 --> 01:11:07,840
They keep your heart working and
beating while they do it because

1076
01:11:07,840 --> 01:11:10,120
putting him on the bypass 
machine was too dangerous and 

1077
01:11:10,120 --> 01:11:13,680
they couldn't disconnect his 
heart like they do because of 

1078
01:11:13,680 --> 01:11:18,120
all of the damage. 
She told us beforehand she has 

1079
01:11:18,120 --> 01:11:19,520
most surgeons. 
She's very cocky. 

1080
01:11:19,520 --> 01:11:22,640
And she said, you know, I, I 
have no doubt that I can do. 

1081
01:11:22,640 --> 01:11:26,000
He needed three bypasses. 
She said, I'm very confident I 

1082
01:11:26,000 --> 01:11:29,680
can do one. 
She said, just know while I 

1083
01:11:29,680 --> 01:11:34,280
can't do the other two, I will 
fix the one that they called the

1084
01:11:34,280 --> 01:11:37,520
Widowmaker, which is a horrible 
name when you're the woman going

1085
01:11:37,520 --> 01:11:39,600
to be the widow if it, you know,
that is made. 

1086
01:11:39,600 --> 01:11:40,920
I was like, please call it 
something else. 

1087
01:11:41,320 --> 01:11:45,400
But they said we'll fix the 
Widowmaker and then figure this 

1088
01:11:45,400 --> 01:11:47,560
other out now. 
But this is the one that's 

1089
01:11:47,560 --> 01:11:48,920
literally trying to kill him 
right now. 

1090
01:11:49,400 --> 01:11:52,720
So we'll get that fixed, but the
others we'll deal with later. 

1091
01:11:52,720 --> 01:11:54,520
Just, you know, don't let don't 
stress over that. 

1092
01:11:54,520 --> 01:11:57,840
She said, I'll look at them, but
we know from the test it's not 

1093
01:11:57,840 --> 01:12:01,080
going to. 
I was like, OK, so she came out 

1094
01:12:01,240 --> 01:12:02,760
to surgery. 
He was in there all day. 

1095
01:12:02,760 --> 01:12:05,600
I mean, it was literally like 8 
hours something. 

1096
01:12:05,600 --> 01:12:08,800
I mean, it was just all day with
no word. 

1097
01:12:08,800 --> 01:12:10,680
You know, he's they're focused 
on that. 

1098
01:12:10,680 --> 01:12:14,760
So we're just waiting. 
She finally comes out and she 

1099
01:12:14,760 --> 01:12:18,640
said he did die once during 
surgery and she got his heart 

1100
01:12:18,800 --> 01:12:20,840
back beating because she was 
holding in her hand, which is 

1101
01:12:20,840 --> 01:12:26,080
just very crazy to me. 
But she said that his chest was 

1102
01:12:26,080 --> 01:12:31,200
an absolute mess. 
But the three veins, arteries, 

1103
01:12:31,200 --> 01:12:39,040
whatever you call them that were
needed to bypass was completely 

1104
01:12:39,080 --> 01:12:43,120
open, no blockages. 
And she was able to do the 

1105
01:12:43,120 --> 01:12:45,120
connections that she needed to 
do. 

1106
01:12:45,280 --> 01:12:48,680
She was able to do only on those
3. 

1107
01:12:48,680 --> 01:12:50,600
Nothing, nothing else would have
been. 

1108
01:12:51,760 --> 01:12:53,520
She couldn't have done it 
anywhere else other than on 

1109
01:12:53,520 --> 01:12:56,920
those 3 arteries and they were 
completely clear and she was 

1110
01:12:56,920 --> 01:13:01,800
able to do what she needed to do
to do the surgery and him come 

1111
01:13:01,800 --> 01:13:05,600
through it. 
So it was just they didn't 

1112
01:13:05,600 --> 01:13:08,160
realize how bad the heart 
failure was and that's what he's

1113
01:13:08,160 --> 01:13:10,560
dealing with now. 
But the actual open heart 

1114
01:13:10,560 --> 01:13:14,440
surgery and blockage was 
completely just a miraculous, 

1115
01:13:15,120 --> 01:13:18,840
you know, able to do it because 
these three arteries were open. 

1116
01:13:20,320 --> 01:13:24,080
Me being personal with you on 
that story, you know, it, it 

1117
01:13:24,080 --> 01:13:26,200
it's happened in the Bible in 
the past where people would 

1118
01:13:26,200 --> 01:13:28,000
question God, they would 
question Jesus. 

1119
01:13:28,000 --> 01:13:29,600
Why would you let certain things
happen? 

1120
01:13:30,200 --> 01:13:32,520
And you know, they always 
assumed it was because you did 

1121
01:13:32,520 --> 01:13:35,520
something wrong or he was upset 
with you or something like that.

1122
01:13:35,520 --> 01:13:39,160
But it was explained that, you 
know, there are times when 

1123
01:13:39,160 --> 01:13:44,000
things happen just so that he 
can show how good he is and and 

1124
01:13:44,000 --> 01:13:49,520
so that he can use you to show 
his, his ability to protect you.

1125
01:13:49,520 --> 01:13:53,240
And when I hear a story like 
that, that's what clicks in my 

1126
01:13:53,240 --> 01:13:55,600
mind. 
God said, God said, you know, 

1127
01:13:55,600 --> 01:13:57,880
you're going to have to deal 
with this, but not because it's 

1128
01:13:57,880 --> 01:14:00,440
not that I don't love you or 
anything, but it's because I'm 

1129
01:14:00,440 --> 01:14:02,960
going to use you and I'm going 
to use what you're going through

1130
01:14:03,440 --> 01:14:07,040
to show everyone else that I'm 
still here. 

1131
01:14:07,560 --> 01:14:10,680
And even if it's something that 
someone says, we can't do this, 

1132
01:14:11,280 --> 01:14:14,440
I, I, I still can. 
So that's like the first thing 

1133
01:14:14,440 --> 01:14:16,240
that comes to my mind when I 
hear that story. 

1134
01:14:16,240 --> 01:14:19,040
I'm like that. 
That's that's awesome and and 

1135
01:14:19,040 --> 01:14:21,440
just powerful to me when I when 
I hear that, when I think of it 

1136
01:14:21,440 --> 01:14:23,920
in that kind of way. 
Yeah, and on a, a personal 

1137
01:14:23,920 --> 01:14:29,320
level, a, a direct influence of 
that, when that situation 

1138
01:14:29,320 --> 01:14:34,920
happened, my boys, they're 
they're five and, and three and 

1139
01:14:34,920 --> 01:14:37,320
we've, we pray with them, you 
know, every night with Lord's 

1140
01:14:37,320 --> 01:14:39,880
Prayer, all that, just teaching 
them to get in the habit of 

1141
01:14:39,880 --> 01:14:42,680
praying. 
And when, when that started 

1142
01:14:42,680 --> 01:14:45,800
happening with you, that's where
I took them. 

1143
01:14:45,800 --> 01:14:47,960
And I was like, all right, boys,
we're going to, we're going to 

1144
01:14:47,960 --> 01:14:50,880
learn how to pray for people. 
And I'm like, y'all know Kevin 

1145
01:14:51,000 --> 01:14:54,200
and Kaden, for whatever reason, 
he, he hates everybody, you 

1146
01:14:54,200 --> 01:14:58,000
know, and he hated you forever. 
And then one Sunday out of 

1147
01:14:58,000 --> 01:15:01,200
nowhere, before we ever any of 
this news broke, he comes up and

1148
01:15:01,200 --> 01:15:03,120
says, where's Kevin? 
And then he wants to go give you

1149
01:15:03,120 --> 01:15:04,520
a hug. 
And I'm like, that's weird. 

1150
01:15:06,000 --> 01:15:09,960
But then after that, for me 
personally at night time at 

1151
01:15:09,960 --> 01:15:12,360
prayer, I'm like, all right, 
we're going to learn how to pray

1152
01:15:12,360 --> 01:15:16,400
for people and those boys every 
night we're praying for Kevin to

1153
01:15:16,400 --> 01:15:19,880
come through that. 
And and now I've done I've done 

1154
01:15:19,880 --> 01:15:21,840
started a problem. 
They're looking for people that 

1155
01:15:21,840 --> 01:15:23,160
are sick. 
They're like, what are we 

1156
01:15:23,160 --> 01:15:25,120
praying for? 
Yeah, exactly What do we got? 

1157
01:15:25,360 --> 01:15:28,120
What do we got on the list that 
I'm like, hey, everybody, 

1158
01:15:28,120 --> 01:15:29,560
everybody's been kind of healthy
right now. 

1159
01:15:29,560 --> 01:15:31,680
You know we're doing OK I'm. 
Gonna. 

1160
01:15:33,040 --> 01:15:37,080
Pray for me. 
I'll take a few. 

1161
01:15:37,080 --> 01:15:38,920
Wow. 
But I mean, you think about that

1162
01:15:38,920 --> 01:15:42,280
you were walking around like 
that with with blockages and you

1163
01:15:42,280 --> 01:15:44,520
didn't even know about it. 
I mean, you think about. 

1164
01:15:45,000 --> 01:15:49,600
Right. 
And, and of course, you and I'm 

1165
01:15:49,600 --> 01:15:57,600
not one to ever blame God and 
I'm not, it sounds like I'm 

1166
01:15:57,600 --> 01:16:02,360
patting myself on the back, but 
it, it's just, if I'm going to 

1167
01:16:02,360 --> 01:16:07,720
believe God is God, I'm not 
going to question it when things

1168
01:16:07,720 --> 01:16:11,760
don't go my way. 
And you know, however that makes

1169
01:16:11,760 --> 01:16:15,760
me look, so be it. 
But but I've never been one to 

1170
01:16:15,760 --> 01:16:19,480
question God of why are you 
doing this to me or why have you

1171
01:16:19,480 --> 01:16:22,880
let this happen? 
But I do ask what, what do you 

1172
01:16:22,880 --> 01:16:28,040
want me to learn from this? 
And I don't want to steal her 

1173
01:16:28,040 --> 01:16:31,360
testimony, but he spoke to both 
of us when she went through what

1174
01:16:31,360 --> 01:16:35,960
she had to go through and it he 
made it clear why we were going 

1175
01:16:35,960 --> 01:16:45,040
through it. 
But just just to say, I'll let 

1176
01:16:45,040 --> 01:16:49,920
it, I'll, I'll let Penny give 
hers and I'll gather my thoughts

1177
01:16:49,920 --> 01:16:50,440
on that. 
But. 

1178
01:16:51,400 --> 01:16:54,040
Yeah, before I probably give you
that chance, I want to. 

1179
01:16:54,040 --> 01:16:55,640
I want to. 
I'll be the brown noser real 

1180
01:16:55,640 --> 01:16:59,520
quick, OK? 
How valuable must it have been 

1181
01:16:59,640 --> 01:17:01,280
that you're going through all of
this? 

1182
01:17:01,720 --> 01:17:04,360
But to have the support system 
not only from your family, but 

1183
01:17:04,360 --> 01:17:07,680
from your wife to walk with you 
every step of the way. 

1184
01:17:07,680 --> 01:17:09,880
I mean, you had the Lord with 
you, which was the most 

1185
01:17:09,880 --> 01:17:12,160
important, and you had your kids
with you, had your church with 

1186
01:17:12,160 --> 01:17:14,920
you. 
But to have a wife who was for 

1187
01:17:14,920 --> 01:17:17,600
there for you while also taking 
care of her family and doing 

1188
01:17:17,600 --> 01:17:20,760
everything she had to do. 
You can't put a value on 

1189
01:17:20,760 --> 01:17:25,000
something like that. 
So I will say, and I'll say it 

1190
01:17:25,000 --> 01:17:29,960
sincerely, not being modest and 
she knows I've said it over and 

1191
01:17:29,960 --> 01:17:36,400
over, what what I went through 
was nothing compared to what she

1192
01:17:36,400 --> 01:17:39,520
went through having to deal with
it. 

1193
01:17:39,760 --> 01:17:47,640
I would have much rather from a 
ease standpoint, I would much 

1194
01:17:47,640 --> 01:17:51,600
rather have been doing what I 
did and what she had to do 

1195
01:17:52,440 --> 01:17:55,600
through all that. 
There's to me, there's no 

1196
01:17:55,600 --> 01:17:58,800
comparison. 
So you're absolutely right. 

1197
01:17:58,880 --> 01:18:06,320
It, it was a lifeline, no doubt.
So you, you are definitely 

1198
01:18:06,320 --> 01:18:11,600
hitting a nail on the head when 
you say it was crucial support. 

1199
01:18:11,640 --> 01:18:19,120
Because had she not been there, 
I could go on and on about just 

1200
01:18:19,120 --> 01:18:26,280
from a comfort level of saying, 
you know, the doctors or the 

1201
01:18:26,280 --> 01:18:29,520
nurses weren't doing what needed
to be done. 

1202
01:18:29,520 --> 01:18:33,360
And she's going to them and 
saying, you're going to do this.

1203
01:18:34,120 --> 01:18:37,400
You know, you're going to give 
him his medicine or you're going

1204
01:18:37,400 --> 01:18:43,520
to, you know what, whatever the 
case may be, but he's not being 

1205
01:18:43,520 --> 01:18:45,800
treated the way he needs to be 
treated. 

1206
01:18:45,800 --> 01:18:50,160
And you need to fix it. 
Because we saw people there 

1207
01:18:50,160 --> 01:18:52,800
without that support, without 
family. 

1208
01:18:53,120 --> 01:19:01,040
And it's heartbreaking to to 
know people are laying in ICU 

1209
01:19:01,840 --> 01:19:07,320
with nobody and who knows if you
know who knows if they're 

1210
01:19:07,320 --> 01:19:10,160
Christian or not. 
I mean they literally might be 

1211
01:19:10,160 --> 01:19:15,200
there with nobody. 
So yes brother Johnny, you are 

1212
01:19:15,400 --> 01:19:19,360
absolutely correct and it is 
crucial support. 

1213
01:19:19,960 --> 01:19:24,760
Well, and on that note, I have 
to say to excuse me, that one of

1214
01:19:24,760 --> 01:19:26,480
the most powerful moments for 
me. 

1215
01:19:26,480 --> 01:19:30,200
So keep in mind at this point, 
I've known that he died once, 

1216
01:19:30,480 --> 01:19:33,160
was in the room when he died a 
second time, Complete heart 

1217
01:19:33,160 --> 01:19:37,600
failure gone, and I had to do 
all the things that you see on 

1218
01:19:37,600 --> 01:19:39,760
TV to bring it back. 
I'm stuck in a corner and can't 

1219
01:19:39,760 --> 01:19:42,160
even leave the room. 
I have to watch it, can't get to

1220
01:19:42,160 --> 01:19:44,480
my phone to ask anybody to pray.
So I'm just sitting there 

1221
01:19:44,480 --> 01:19:48,280
praying. 
It's the things that he went 

1222
01:19:48,280 --> 01:19:50,920
through that I watched. 
You just would not believe and 

1223
01:19:50,920 --> 01:19:54,240
it was horrible. 
So keep keeping that in mind. 

1224
01:19:54,240 --> 01:19:57,880
He was very weak, couldn't do 
for himself, couldn't stand up. 

1225
01:19:57,880 --> 01:20:01,440
He was having to use a Walker. 
The first time he was able to 

1226
01:20:01,440 --> 01:20:06,200
get out of bed and walk, holding
the Walker, still very weak. 

1227
01:20:07,880 --> 01:20:11,440
The first thing he wanted to do 
was the floor that we were on 

1228
01:20:11,440 --> 01:20:14,440
with the very critical patients 
that had a very good chance of 

1229
01:20:14,440 --> 01:20:16,960
not making it. 
The very first thing he wanted 

1230
01:20:16,960 --> 01:20:19,960
to do when they let him get up 
and walk was walk the halls and 

1231
01:20:19,960 --> 01:20:25,560
pray for the other patients. 
And it was the most humbling and

1232
01:20:25,560 --> 01:20:28,120
powerful thing I've seen. 
And that's what he did. 

1233
01:20:28,480 --> 01:20:31,720
He walked the halls and there 
were these, he was one of them. 

1234
01:20:32,000 --> 01:20:35,920
But there were these patients 
that had this red paper on the 

1235
01:20:35,920 --> 01:20:37,440
door. 
And that meant that these are 

1236
01:20:37,440 --> 01:20:39,000
the bad ones. 
These are the one that's 

1237
01:20:39,000 --> 01:20:41,160
probably not going to make it. 
And those are the 1. 

1238
01:20:41,160 --> 01:20:43,960
I had to follow him with a 
wheelchair because he wasn't 

1239
01:20:43,960 --> 01:20:45,720
strong enough to make it the 
whole way. 

1240
01:20:45,960 --> 01:20:48,960
But he did not want to stop 
until he passed every one of the

1241
01:20:48,960 --> 01:20:52,680
red doors and prayed for them. 
And that's what we did. 

1242
01:20:53,040 --> 01:20:55,680
And we did that every day. 
And that was his walk. 

1243
01:20:56,160 --> 01:20:59,000
His walkabout that he was 
required to do was walk in that 

1244
01:20:59,000 --> 01:21:00,720
floor and praying for those 
patients. 

1245
01:21:01,320 --> 01:21:03,160
You note that part out if you 
want no. 

1246
01:21:04,840 --> 01:21:07,360
We're not going. 
That's not going to happen. 

1247
01:21:10,440 --> 01:21:13,840
That's you could go on and on 
about that kind of stuff, man, 

1248
01:21:13,840 --> 01:21:15,840
just to hear that kind of stuff 
it's. 

1249
01:21:15,840 --> 01:21:18,520
Very amazing. 
Yeah, because I, I know for 

1250
01:21:18,520 --> 01:21:22,000
myself personally, if I was in 
that role, those are the people 

1251
01:21:22,000 --> 01:21:23,920
who have been the last thing on 
my mind I didn't. 

1252
01:21:23,920 --> 01:21:26,360
I wanted to go to the vending 
machine and get a Coke, you 

1253
01:21:26,360 --> 01:21:34,960
know? 
Man, I'll for the sake of time, 

1254
01:21:34,960 --> 01:21:36,800
because we've been going on that
for a while, but we'll, we'll 

1255
01:21:36,800 --> 01:21:39,720
transition because he touched on
it a little bit earlier. 

1256
01:21:39,720 --> 01:21:41,880
But now we want to, I want to 
hear a little bit more about 

1257
01:21:41,880 --> 01:21:43,560
what you went through because 
that was also. 

1258
01:21:44,640 --> 01:21:48,520
It a lot it was. 
So for starters, I blame Kevin. 

1259
01:21:50,400 --> 01:21:52,760
It happened in in February of 
21. 

1260
01:21:52,760 --> 01:21:57,040
Well, in December of 2020, we 
met with pastor and sister 

1261
01:21:57,040 --> 01:22:00,200
Penton just about like a you 
know that where do you see your 

1262
01:22:00,200 --> 01:22:02,160
ministry going and that kind of 
thing. 

1263
01:22:02,440 --> 01:22:04,720
And we're sitting there talking 
about how rough the years been. 

1264
01:22:05,200 --> 01:22:07,760
My husband, who I thought was 
smarter than this says to 

1265
01:22:07,760 --> 01:22:12,480
pastor, you know, we have had a 
really good few years. 

1266
01:22:12,480 --> 01:22:14,880
We haven't really don't have 
anything to complain about. 

1267
01:22:16,120 --> 01:22:23,600
Thanks for that. 
So then February of 2020, I was 

1268
01:22:23,600 --> 01:22:26,240
or 2021, I was diagnosed with 
breast cancer. 

1269
01:22:27,920 --> 01:22:31,800
I found the lump and they did 
the biopsy first. 

1270
01:22:32,200 --> 01:22:37,160
And so we had prayer about it. 
And during the prayer about it, 

1271
01:22:39,120 --> 01:22:40,840
God told me it was going to be 
cancer. 

1272
01:22:41,440 --> 01:22:44,080
So I knew it was going to be 
cancer beforehand, which is good

1273
01:22:44,080 --> 01:22:46,440
because I was able to deal with 
it, but I knew it was going to 

1274
01:22:46,440 --> 01:22:47,720
be cancer. 
I didn't share it. 

1275
01:22:48,120 --> 01:22:50,000
I can't remember if I shared it 
with Kevin or not. 

1276
01:22:50,000 --> 01:22:52,480
I don't think I did. 
I think I think I kept it 

1277
01:22:52,480 --> 01:22:56,320
completely to myself, just 
trying to process with that. 

1278
01:22:57,320 --> 01:22:59,960
And then of course, I got the 
phone call that it was going to 

1279
01:22:59,960 --> 01:23:03,840
be cancer. 
And for the first 10 minutes 

1280
01:23:03,840 --> 01:23:06,280
after getting the word, I 
wallowed in self pity. 

1281
01:23:06,280 --> 01:23:09,200
And you know, oh, woe is me. 
I never questioned God. 

1282
01:23:09,200 --> 01:23:12,600
I'm, I'm with Kevin on that. 
Neither of us, I guess, because 

1283
01:23:12,600 --> 01:23:15,600
we've seen so much, but neither 
of us, no matter how bad the 

1284
01:23:15,600 --> 01:23:17,960
situation is, I've never been 
like, God, why are you letting 

1285
01:23:17,960 --> 01:23:20,840
this happen? 
It's just God isn't letting it 

1286
01:23:20,840 --> 01:23:24,120
happen and it's happening now. 
What do I need to learn from it 

1287
01:23:24,120 --> 01:23:26,200
and what good is going to come 
of it? 

1288
01:23:26,400 --> 01:23:27,880
And that's how we both always 
been. 

1289
01:23:29,280 --> 01:23:34,120
So for about 10 minutes I was, 
you know, kind of wallowing and 

1290
01:23:34,120 --> 01:23:36,680
then I was like, OK, I got it. 
Actually, God used the song. 

1291
01:23:37,320 --> 01:23:39,840
There's a song that and I don't 
like repetitive anything, but 

1292
01:23:39,840 --> 01:23:43,640
there's a song that repeats. 
It's going to be OK, It's going 

1293
01:23:43,640 --> 01:23:45,080
to be OK. 
I would sing, but I don't want 

1294
01:23:45,080 --> 01:23:47,760
that. 
But and then the the last one 

1295
01:23:47,760 --> 01:23:51,200
says, you're going to be OK. 
Well, that song was playing and 

1296
01:23:51,200 --> 01:23:53,280
because it was repeating over 
and over, it finally broke 

1297
01:23:53,280 --> 01:23:56,360
through and I knew God was 
because I wasn't listening to 

1298
01:23:56,360 --> 01:23:59,440
him right then he was using this
song and I was like, OK, you're 

1299
01:23:59,440 --> 01:24:01,960
right, I'm going to be OK. 
So let me make some phone calls.

1300
01:24:02,440 --> 01:24:05,640
So because it was still during 
COVID, they had called and told 

1301
01:24:05,640 --> 01:24:07,720
me on the phone. 
I didn't see anybody in person. 

1302
01:24:08,040 --> 01:24:11,800
I was actually driving to work 
and it was very icy outside on 

1303
01:24:11,800 --> 01:24:14,080
my way to work to do a 
disciplinary action and 

1304
01:24:14,080 --> 01:24:17,840
terminate somebody. 
So, you know, I pulled over and 

1305
01:24:17,840 --> 01:24:21,920
I pulled myself together and I 
called Sister Pitten first 

1306
01:24:22,040 --> 01:24:25,680
because I needed to have prayer 
going before I called, told him.

1307
01:24:26,200 --> 01:24:32,400
And so I told her and then 
called Kevin and, you know, we 

1308
01:24:32,520 --> 01:24:35,640
sort of prayed through things 
there on side of the road and 

1309
01:24:36,400 --> 01:24:39,560
then went on about my day, told 
the kids that night, which my 

1310
01:24:39,560 --> 01:24:42,120
kids still make jokes because I,
I stopped by and bought them 

1311
01:24:42,120 --> 01:24:43,680
each a teddy bear and handed 
them the teddy bears. 

1312
01:24:43,680 --> 01:24:44,760
And they were like, what is 
this? 

1313
01:24:44,760 --> 01:24:49,960
I was like, I've got cancer. 
And so now if I have a teddy 

1314
01:24:49,960 --> 01:24:51,920
bear in my hand, they're like, 
no, what do you think of the 

1315
01:24:52,040 --> 01:24:56,240
Telus? 
She literally called them their 

1316
01:24:56,240 --> 01:24:58,280
cancer bears. 
You should get them all a bear 

1317
01:24:58,280 --> 01:25:00,720
for Christmas. 
Have them all open boxes. 

1318
01:25:00,720 --> 01:25:03,560
And be all in particular, she's 
really traumatized by it. 

1319
01:25:05,000 --> 01:25:08,720
But so, you know, then we made 
the announcement to everybody 

1320
01:25:08,720 --> 01:25:10,640
that, you know, it was cancer. 
We didn't know what was going 

1321
01:25:10,640 --> 01:25:16,200
on, you know, what the treatment
and stuff look like and the 

1322
01:25:16,200 --> 01:25:19,800
prayer with everybody was, you 
know, complete healing just like

1323
01:25:19,800 --> 01:25:22,240
we'd seen over and over and we 
knew it is possible. 

1324
01:25:22,240 --> 01:25:25,560
It wasn't one of those things 
like NAYCA few years ago was 

1325
01:25:25,560 --> 01:25:27,880
don't measure the miracle and 
sometimes we measure that 

1326
01:25:27,880 --> 01:25:29,960
miracle. 
I wasn't measuring the miracle. 

1327
01:25:29,960 --> 01:25:31,720
I knew he could completely heal 
me. 

1328
01:25:32,920 --> 01:25:36,360
But I I had a complete piece 
about it from the beginning. 

1329
01:25:36,360 --> 01:25:39,320
Well, 10 minutes after the 
beginning, I had a complete 

1330
01:25:39,600 --> 01:25:41,600
piece about it that never left 
me. 

1331
01:25:42,000 --> 01:25:48,520
And pastor was preaching about 
being victorious and having your

1332
01:25:48,520 --> 01:25:52,080
train fill the temple and each 
piece of that train is a battle 

1333
01:25:52,080 --> 01:25:55,080
that you've won and all. 
And I was just like, oh this, 

1334
01:25:55,280 --> 01:25:57,880
this is going to be a healing. 
And God spoke to me, said, no, 

1335
01:25:58,320 --> 01:26:01,640
it's not going to be healing. 
You're going to go through this,

1336
01:26:01,880 --> 01:26:04,280
you're going to fight the 
battle. 

1337
01:26:04,400 --> 01:26:07,000
It's not going to be pretty. 
You're not going to die. 

1338
01:26:07,280 --> 01:26:09,800
Actually, he didn't say that. 
He said you're going to be OK. 

1339
01:26:10,080 --> 01:26:14,960
Because I remember thinking, OK 
could mean I made it to heaven 

1340
01:26:15,480 --> 01:26:18,720
or OK could mean, you know, so 
literally I'm like, could you 

1341
01:26:19,520 --> 01:26:21,200
expand a little bit on that, 
please? 

1342
01:26:21,480 --> 01:26:23,680
But he did give Kevin that he, I
wasn't going to die. 

1343
01:26:23,680 --> 01:26:27,040
So that was good. 
But he, he said you're going to 

1344
01:26:27,040 --> 01:26:30,760
be OK, but you're going to walk 
through this so others can see 

1345
01:26:30,760 --> 01:26:38,800
how you handle it. 
And I was like, OK, So I told 

1346
01:26:38,840 --> 01:26:43,000
him and God had already spoken 
to him as well and said the same

1347
01:26:43,000 --> 01:26:45,120
thing. 
So this was before I knew I was 

1348
01:26:45,120 --> 01:26:49,560
having to get chemo or anything.
So, and part of me was in a 

1349
01:26:49,560 --> 01:26:52,680
weird place because people were 
still praying for my healing. 

1350
01:26:52,960 --> 01:26:56,960
And I almost wanted to tell him,
no, no, pray that I handle this 

1351
01:26:56,960 --> 01:26:58,360
OK. 
And I was like, you can't do 

1352
01:26:58,360 --> 01:26:59,840
that. 
So it was like in this weird 

1353
01:26:59,840 --> 01:27:04,280
place for people praying for my 
healing when I knew, you know, 

1354
01:27:04,520 --> 01:27:07,520
but ultimately, you know, I'm 
healed, just in a different way,

1355
01:27:07,520 --> 01:27:12,240
right? 
So, you know, we, we adjusted to

1356
01:27:12,240 --> 01:27:14,760
that, actually handled that 
pretty well. 

1357
01:27:14,760 --> 01:27:18,080
I mean, I was, you know, really 
didn't even except for that 

1358
01:27:18,080 --> 01:27:20,920
first 10 minutes, didn't even 
shed a tear over all of that. 

1359
01:27:20,920 --> 01:27:22,560
It's stunk. 
And I was like, well, I wish 

1360
01:27:22,560 --> 01:27:25,120
that wasn't your plan, but you 
know, OK, so be it. 

1361
01:27:26,040 --> 01:27:29,640
Just give me the strength I need
to be a good example to the ones

1362
01:27:29,640 --> 01:27:32,120
that you're wanting me to be a 
good example to. 

1363
01:27:32,520 --> 01:27:35,800
Then I found out I need a chemo.
I didn't think that was. 

1364
01:27:36,080 --> 01:27:37,640
I didn't think I was going to 
have to need chemo. 

1365
01:27:37,960 --> 01:27:41,480
Well, until God also spoke to me
and told me that I was going to 

1366
01:27:41,480 --> 01:27:43,000
have to chemo before the doctor 
told me. 

1367
01:27:43,480 --> 01:27:45,680
And I didn't share that with 
anybody either because I didn't 

1368
01:27:45,680 --> 01:27:48,680
want it to be true. 
He knew just because he knows 

1369
01:27:48,680 --> 01:27:51,400
me, but he told me when I told 
him I had to have chemo, I went 

1370
01:27:51,400 --> 01:27:55,480
by myself to find out in in 
hopes that it wouldn't really be

1371
01:27:55,480 --> 01:27:56,520
real. 
And he was like, you knew 

1372
01:27:56,520 --> 01:27:58,600
already, didn't you? 
And I was like, yeah, I did. 

1373
01:27:58,600 --> 01:28:02,240
But I was really hoping that he 
would change his mind and I 

1374
01:28:02,240 --> 01:28:04,240
wouldn't. 
So I didn't handle the getting 

1375
01:28:04,240 --> 01:28:09,720
chemo as well as I did others 
just because in my mind I can 

1376
01:28:09,720 --> 01:28:12,400
kind of push through a lot of 
stuff and that's how I'm going 

1377
01:28:12,400 --> 01:28:14,840
to be strong for everybody, 
which is probably why I had to 

1378
01:28:14,840 --> 01:28:17,600
have chemo because I was still 
thinking no matter what, I'm 

1379
01:28:17,600 --> 01:28:19,560
going to be strong. 
And you know, that's how I'm 

1380
01:28:19,560 --> 01:28:21,520
going to be An example. 
It's got like, yeah, it's not 

1381
01:28:21,520 --> 01:28:23,600
you. 
I'm wanting them to really see 

1382
01:28:23,600 --> 01:28:27,760
as the strong one. 
You know, I was like oh, OK, so 

1383
01:28:28,200 --> 01:28:35,240
I had to go through chemo and in
going through that walk it was 

1384
01:28:35,240 --> 01:28:37,400
very hard. 
First of all, I am a very 

1385
01:28:38,040 --> 01:28:40,400
headstrong person. 
I don't know if y'all know that 

1386
01:28:40,400 --> 01:28:45,640
about me, but it's very 
headstrong, very independent. 

1387
01:28:45,920 --> 01:28:49,200
You know, I get things done 
sometimes too, too much. 

1388
01:28:49,200 --> 01:28:51,680
You know, you tell me something 
and I finish it and then you're 

1389
01:28:51,680 --> 01:28:53,560
like, you know what, we're not 
going in that direction. 

1390
01:28:53,560 --> 01:28:55,240
Well, too late, you know, it's 
already done. 

1391
01:28:56,360 --> 01:28:59,360
And I couldn't do that. 
I was, it really knocked me off 

1392
01:28:59,360 --> 01:29:03,440
my feet. 
And wow, did Lifegate step up. 

1393
01:29:03,440 --> 01:29:07,720
Let me tell you, if I hadn't 
already decided that Lifegate is

1394
01:29:07,720 --> 01:29:10,640
my family forever, that 
solidified it. 

1395
01:29:11,320 --> 01:29:12,720
I couldn't take care of my 
babies. 

1396
01:29:13,160 --> 01:29:17,000
And you know, I just, there was,
I couldn't, I was defenseless, 

1397
01:29:17,000 --> 01:29:20,200
useless, weak. 
It was just, it was terrible. 

1398
01:29:20,200 --> 01:29:24,880
And every night for weeks on 
end, somebody showed up at our 

1399
01:29:24,880 --> 01:29:29,520
door with dinner, somebody came 
and cleaned our house. 

1400
01:29:29,720 --> 01:29:32,640
Somebody, you know, what do we 
what can we do? 

1401
01:29:32,640 --> 01:29:35,920
Just like it's like people were 
almost stumbling over themselves

1402
01:29:36,040 --> 01:29:38,800
wanting to help my family and it
was so humbling. 

1403
01:29:38,800 --> 01:29:41,720
My room look like a florist 
after the surgery because there 

1404
01:29:41,720 --> 01:29:46,040
was so many flowers and candy 
and cards and it was just like, 

1405
01:29:46,280 --> 01:29:48,800
it was amazing. 
I mean, just life get really, 

1406
01:29:49,080 --> 01:29:53,600
really stepped up. 
And that's kind of when it 

1407
01:29:53,600 --> 01:29:58,720
started for me. 
This this is a very weird thing 

1408
01:29:58,720 --> 01:30:05,000
to say and I feel weird saying 
it, but the way God did things 

1409
01:30:05,000 --> 01:30:09,840
in the way as close as I grew to
him during that and as I was 

1410
01:30:10,200 --> 01:30:15,880
honored to have been the one he 
chose to let walk that path, I 

1411
01:30:15,880 --> 01:30:19,800
felt honored to be the one that 
he let do this, even though it's

1412
01:30:19,800 --> 01:30:21,280
stunk. 
Don't get me wrong. 

1413
01:30:21,280 --> 01:30:26,080
And there were days that I just,
I was so weak, but I was never 

1414
01:30:26,200 --> 01:30:28,480
sad. 
I was never depressed. 

1415
01:30:29,560 --> 01:30:32,720
I hurt. 
And you know what it it was not 

1416
01:30:32,720 --> 01:30:36,000
fun. 
But he never left my side. 

1417
01:30:36,200 --> 01:30:39,400
He was there every step of the 
way. 

1418
01:30:40,120 --> 01:30:46,560
And it was just my my bond with 
him was so much stronger after 

1419
01:30:46,560 --> 01:30:48,720
that. 
Our bond was stronger after that

1420
01:30:48,720 --> 01:30:52,440
because of I'd always been, you 
know, I wasn't one to, Oh, I'm 

1421
01:30:52,440 --> 01:30:54,320
the little damsel in distress, 
take care of me. 

1422
01:30:54,480 --> 01:30:56,720
But I was during that. 
He had to hold me up. 

1423
01:30:56,720 --> 01:31:01,440
He had to take care of me. 
And that made our relationship 

1424
01:31:01,440 --> 01:31:05,000
that was already good, don't get
me wrong, but even better and 

1425
01:31:05,000 --> 01:31:08,240
prepared us for things to come 
during this. 

1426
01:31:08,880 --> 01:31:14,720
So it just, and I've had people 
reach out to me that I never 

1427
01:31:14,720 --> 01:31:18,160
thought was looking at me, that 
I never thought was talking to 

1428
01:31:18,160 --> 01:31:23,160
me and say to me, you know, 
because of how you handled this,

1429
01:31:23,160 --> 01:31:28,040
I was able to do this or I came 
to church because of how you 

1430
01:31:28,040 --> 01:31:31,000
were handling this. 
And it was just, it was really 

1431
01:31:31,000 --> 01:31:32,640
amazing. 
And I was able to tell everyone 

1432
01:31:32,640 --> 01:31:34,200
of them, it's not the way I was 
handling it. 

1433
01:31:34,520 --> 01:31:40,360
I am not strong. 
I it is Christ through me that 

1434
01:31:40,360 --> 01:31:43,320
is strong. 
It I can't stand it when people 

1435
01:31:43,320 --> 01:31:46,640
tell me who you're the strongest
person I know there is nothing 

1436
01:31:46,640 --> 01:31:50,200
strong in me. 
It is Christ in me and that is 

1437
01:31:50,200 --> 01:31:54,040
what you're seeing. 
That is what is resonating with 

1438
01:31:54,040 --> 01:31:57,160
your spirit and be able to 
witness. 

1439
01:31:57,720 --> 01:32:00,400
I mean, you, you want somebody 
to listen to you be a bald 

1440
01:32:00,400 --> 01:32:04,080
headed female that is obviously 
going through chemo and people 

1441
01:32:04,080 --> 01:32:05,560
will listen to every word you 
say. 

1442
01:32:05,840 --> 01:32:09,000
And I witness to strangers all 
the time. 

1443
01:32:09,000 --> 01:32:12,320
I mean, if I I could see people 
look at me with it, Oh, look, 

1444
01:32:12,480 --> 01:32:18,720
and I'd be like, I have cancer. 
Can I tell you about God all the

1445
01:32:18,720 --> 01:32:21,200
time, all the time. 
And it was great. 

1446
01:32:21,200 --> 01:32:24,160
I mean, I just, it opened up so 
many doors that I was able to 

1447
01:32:24,160 --> 01:32:27,440
just witness to people and I was
like, I think I'm going to keep 

1448
01:32:27,440 --> 01:32:30,000
my head shake. 
This is really open it to doors.

1449
01:32:31,760 --> 01:32:35,880
And now I have a lot of people 
online that reach out to me that

1450
01:32:35,880 --> 01:32:38,760
I don't know don't know where 
they're coming from through 

1451
01:32:38,760 --> 01:32:42,480
Facebook asking for prayer and 
advice in their walk. 

1452
01:32:42,760 --> 01:32:46,760
Because you know, this person or
that person has told them about 

1453
01:32:46,760 --> 01:32:51,120
my journey and they'll reach out
and ask for for prayer. 

1454
01:32:51,400 --> 01:32:55,040
And you know, of course I do. 
And you know, it's people that 

1455
01:32:55,040 --> 01:32:58,760
maybe in other states that'll 
never come here to life gate, 

1456
01:32:59,080 --> 01:33:01,920
but they're reaching out for 
prayer and who knows where 

1457
01:33:01,920 --> 01:33:06,600
that's going to lead. 
So it's just God really worked, 

1458
01:33:07,160 --> 01:33:10,920
not through a healing process 
like I would have thought, but 

1459
01:33:10,920 --> 01:33:14,560
the miracle upon miracles that 
he worked through that. 

1460
01:33:14,760 --> 01:33:19,640
And I have to say, because I'm 
talking to you, brother John 

1461
01:33:19,640 --> 01:33:25,440
Bozing, Johnny's daddy, if you 
had asked me who's going to 

1462
01:33:26,120 --> 01:33:29,640
other than your husband, who's 
going to speak life into you the

1463
01:33:29,640 --> 01:33:32,320
most and help you the most 
through this, I would have said,

1464
01:33:32,320 --> 01:33:35,400
well, other than Kevin, it would
be pastor or brother Mac Testin.

1465
01:33:36,600 --> 01:33:39,360
John Bosing's not somebody that 
I would have thought, you know, 

1466
01:33:39,360 --> 01:33:41,160
and he probably would have said 
the same thing, you know, It's 

1467
01:33:41,160 --> 01:33:43,480
not, you know. 
Yeah, exactly. 

1468
01:33:43,480 --> 01:33:46,000
Yeah. 
I'm not going to be Penny's word

1469
01:33:46,000 --> 01:33:52,760
here, but he on two different 
occasions, he came up to me and 

1470
01:33:52,760 --> 01:33:56,120
said, you know, this is, this is
weird, but God has spoke to me 

1471
01:33:56,120 --> 01:33:58,160
and I, I need to, to share a 
word with you. 

1472
01:33:58,520 --> 01:34:02,920
And one of them was when my hair
was growing back and it was 

1473
01:34:02,920 --> 01:34:05,400
just, it was too uncomfortable 
to keep wearing a hat. 

1474
01:34:05,400 --> 01:34:07,360
But my hair was like, you know, 
Peach fuzz. 

1475
01:34:07,640 --> 01:34:10,040
And I was like, you know what, 
I'm going to, I'm going to 

1476
01:34:10,040 --> 01:34:12,360
church with no hat on. 
It's just too uncomfortable. 

1477
01:34:12,640 --> 01:34:15,720
And I was so self-conscious 
about it, trying not to, you 

1478
01:34:15,720 --> 01:34:18,000
know, trying not to have my hand
up on my head. 

1479
01:34:18,320 --> 01:34:21,000
And Brother John Bozing came and
he was like, I'm so glad you're 

1480
01:34:21,000 --> 01:34:23,840
not wearing your hat. 
And I was like, OK, that's 

1481
01:34:23,840 --> 01:34:26,200
weird, but OK. 
And he was like, no, seriously. 

1482
01:34:26,840 --> 01:34:30,280
We, the whole church, we've 
spent this time praying for you.

1483
01:34:30,640 --> 01:34:34,760
And your hair is like that 
regrowth is like, the healing is

1484
01:34:34,760 --> 01:34:36,680
working. 
It's a new beginning. 

1485
01:34:36,680 --> 01:34:42,640
It's a new start. 
And it's a a visual reality of 

1486
01:34:42,760 --> 01:34:46,000
that what we've been praying for
is coming to fruition. 

1487
01:34:46,280 --> 01:34:49,080
And so that I was like, yeah, 
look at my Peach fuzz. 

1488
01:34:50,800 --> 01:34:55,920
It's beautiful. 
But he, he really helped me 

1489
01:34:56,760 --> 01:35:01,120
through those times. 
And he was the one that planted 

1490
01:35:01,120 --> 01:35:05,720
the seed of not being a 
survivor, but being a warrior 

1491
01:35:05,720 --> 01:35:07,800
and a champion. 
He said, you're not coming out 

1492
01:35:07,800 --> 01:35:11,680
of this limping and, you know, 
with torn clothes and burns on 

1493
01:35:11,680 --> 01:35:12,880
you. 
He said you're walking with your

1494
01:35:12,880 --> 01:35:16,120
head held high, a better person 
than you were before because of 

1495
01:35:16,120 --> 01:35:18,240
Christ. 
And because of Christ, you're a 

1496
01:35:18,240 --> 01:35:20,840
champion. 
And he just, he will never know 

1497
01:35:20,840 --> 01:35:24,520
how much that helped me and 
meant to me both instances. 

1498
01:35:24,520 --> 01:35:27,320
So I do want to take this 
opportunity to give him that 

1499
01:35:27,320 --> 01:35:29,440
shout out. 
And I'm glad that he listened to

1500
01:35:29,440 --> 01:35:32,480
God and said those things to me.
Yeah, he was, he's, he's always,

1501
01:35:32,480 --> 01:35:35,360
usually he, we, we mentioned 
that to us in the episode we had

1502
01:35:35,360 --> 01:35:36,960
with him. 
He's always like kind of 

1503
01:35:36,960 --> 01:35:38,920
self-conscious, but he does it 
anyways. 

1504
01:35:39,640 --> 01:35:41,720
That's one thing. 
I'm I'm happy that he does it. 

1505
01:35:41,720 --> 01:35:45,000
When he feels like God tells him
to talk to somebody about 

1506
01:35:45,000 --> 01:35:48,480
something, he does it. 
That's just how his brain works.

1507
01:35:48,800 --> 01:35:53,000
But I remember when all that 
happened, it, it impacted him a 

1508
01:35:53,000 --> 01:35:57,560
lot because when he when, when, 
when, when God talks to him, 

1509
01:35:58,160 --> 01:36:01,080
he's not purposely and I'm 
spilling his beans, but he's 

1510
01:36:01,080 --> 01:36:03,440
never intentionally praying 
about something in specific. 

1511
01:36:04,000 --> 01:36:07,120
The way that he for him is he'll
just, he'll just usually it will

1512
01:36:07,120 --> 01:36:10,400
read and then he'll just like 
sit in silence and just listen. 

1513
01:36:10,960 --> 01:36:13,840
And so to, to him, the way that 
he's always described the way 

1514
01:36:13,840 --> 01:36:16,640
that God will talk to him as 
it's like, it's as close to an 

1515
01:36:16,640 --> 01:36:19,560
audible voice as he can get 
without it being audible. 

1516
01:36:19,760 --> 01:36:21,720
It's almost as if someone's 
talking in his brain. 

1517
01:36:22,200 --> 01:36:25,840
So he, when he told us he was 
like he was, he told us pretty 

1518
01:36:25,840 --> 01:36:28,400
much what he had told you. 
But obviously it was like, hey, 

1519
01:36:28,400 --> 01:36:32,320
don't this is don't tell nobody 
nothing because he's always just

1520
01:36:32,320 --> 01:36:33,760
nervous. 
Like I don't want to bring 

1521
01:36:33,760 --> 01:36:37,000
attention to something or make 
someone feel uncomfortable or 

1522
01:36:37,000 --> 01:36:40,280
anything like that. 
But I do remember how much of an

1523
01:36:40,280 --> 01:36:42,160
impact it had on him watching 
all that. 

1524
01:36:42,160 --> 01:36:46,960
And he, he knew, he told us that
he knew when God told him that 

1525
01:36:47,640 --> 01:36:51,040
he knew at that point in time it
was going to be, it was going to

1526
01:36:51,040 --> 01:36:54,160
be a healing, but there was, 
there was not going to be any 

1527
01:36:54,160 --> 01:36:56,000
more problems. 
It was going to happen because 

1528
01:36:56,000 --> 01:36:59,640
he felt like God told him this 
is the start of something new. 

1529
01:36:59,640 --> 01:37:02,000
Because I, I think he phrased it
something along like the lungs 

1530
01:37:02,000 --> 01:37:05,240
of a new promise or a new 
covenant or something like that.

1531
01:37:05,240 --> 01:37:07,680
And that's what he told because 
me and him have our 

1532
01:37:07,680 --> 01:37:09,240
conversations. 
He told me that he said, you 

1533
01:37:09,240 --> 01:37:14,160
know, God told me this and I 
know it's going to be fine. 

1534
01:37:14,680 --> 01:37:17,840
There's we don't need to be 
praying for for her to make it 

1535
01:37:17,840 --> 01:37:19,840
through it. 
We just we need to be thanking 

1536
01:37:19,840 --> 01:37:20,960
God because it's going to 
happen. 

1537
01:37:21,440 --> 01:37:24,080
So I know that it made a huge 
difference on him as well. 

1538
01:37:24,760 --> 01:37:30,360
So most of you would shared a 
lot right now about going 

1539
01:37:30,360 --> 01:37:36,160
through these circumstances. 
What what advice would you give 

1540
01:37:36,160 --> 01:37:39,400
to those who find themselves in 
the situation like that? 

1541
01:37:39,400 --> 01:37:42,360
What kind of, you know, God's 
giving you both powerful 

1542
01:37:42,360 --> 01:37:48,000
testimonies and situations, both
instant healings, long form 

1543
01:37:48,000 --> 01:37:50,080
healings? 
What advice do you give to 

1544
01:37:50,080 --> 01:37:59,040
somebody to make it through? 
So it it's so simple that it is,

1545
01:37:59,800 --> 01:38:03,880
it almost sounds like a cop out,
but trust God. 

1546
01:38:04,560 --> 01:38:07,600
And there's really nothing you 
can add to that. 

1547
01:38:08,000 --> 01:38:10,800
It's when you're going through 
something. 

1548
01:38:11,640 --> 01:38:17,040
Trust God. 
I can tell you in the 30 plus 

1549
01:38:17,040 --> 01:38:22,120
years that I've tried to serve 
Him, I cannot name you one time 

1550
01:38:22,520 --> 01:38:26,520
when He let me down. 
I can name a bunch when I let 

1551
01:38:26,520 --> 01:38:31,680
Him down, but I cannot tell you 
one time that God let me down or

1552
01:38:31,680 --> 01:38:36,680
disappointed me. 
So I wish I had some 

1553
01:38:36,840 --> 01:38:40,960
philosophical lying to give you,
but I know. 

1554
01:38:41,160 --> 01:38:45,160
It's no, but that that is and 
and I think even with Penny, 

1555
01:38:45,160 --> 01:38:50,400
especially because you're such a
type A, you know, and and go. 

1556
01:38:50,520 --> 01:38:51,320
Through and through. 
Yeah. 

1557
01:38:51,320 --> 01:38:55,560
And in in my life, it seems like
when I was taking hold of 

1558
01:38:55,560 --> 01:38:57,480
everything, everything was kind 
of falling apart. 

1559
01:38:57,880 --> 01:39:00,360
And so while you're saying it's 
not philosophical, it is. 

1560
01:39:00,360 --> 01:39:03,480
It's easy to say, but it's hard 
to do, especially you think 

1561
01:39:03,480 --> 01:39:07,240
about what we just heard all of 
your story to sit there in the 

1562
01:39:07,240 --> 01:39:10,960
places you guys have been and 
actually say, you know, I trust 

1563
01:39:10,960 --> 01:39:13,600
you got whatever happens from 
here on out. 

1564
01:39:13,960 --> 01:39:17,600
This this is you and and I'm 
going to follow your will. 

1565
01:39:18,120 --> 01:39:21,200
It it's easy to say it's hard to
do and you guys are living proof

1566
01:39:21,200 --> 01:39:26,240
right now that it can be done 
and that the fruit of doing it 

1567
01:39:26,360 --> 01:39:29,320
it it's beautiful. 
And one thing I want to touch 

1568
01:39:29,320 --> 01:39:31,320
on, I don't know if we're 
wrapping up soon or what not, 

1569
01:39:31,320 --> 01:39:34,480
but I wanted to say this to you 
guys as well to speak on y'all's

1570
01:39:34,480 --> 01:39:37,520
character because you know the 
y'all humble people that don't 

1571
01:39:37,520 --> 01:39:39,640
like being. 
We are characters I'll give you.

1572
01:39:40,000 --> 01:39:45,000
That you are characters. 
But this we're putting y'all in 

1573
01:39:45,000 --> 01:39:47,120
the limelight. 
Y'all don't like that, but but 

1574
01:39:47,120 --> 01:39:49,360
we like it. 
We we want to get this story out

1575
01:39:49,360 --> 01:39:51,000
there especially. 
When you came on the pod. 

1576
01:39:51,240 --> 01:39:53,080
That's right, terms and 
conditions. 

1577
01:39:53,320 --> 01:39:59,800
But I'll tell you for, for me, 
some of the hardest times that 

1578
01:39:59,800 --> 01:40:05,680
I've have ever had to go through
in my life personally, the the 

1579
01:40:05,680 --> 01:40:11,400
death of people that really 
close to me, my grandparents, my

1580
01:40:11,400 --> 01:40:15,080
grandma's, my grandpa and then 
my uncle. 

1581
01:40:15,640 --> 01:40:19,960
And it it's crazy, like, you 
know, we traveled for these 

1582
01:40:19,960 --> 01:40:24,440
funerals all this time away and 
you're so caught up in your 

1583
01:40:24,440 --> 01:40:25,800
grief. 
A lot of times you go to this 

1584
01:40:25,800 --> 01:40:29,200
funeral and everything. 
And each and every one of those 

1585
01:40:29,200 --> 01:40:32,800
times, y'all don't know how much
it meant to me that y'all made a

1586
01:40:32,800 --> 01:40:39,480
drive for multiple hours. 
It's not a fun drive, you know? 

1587
01:40:40,280 --> 01:40:43,200
But seeing y'all's faces there, 
and I think that speaks so much 

1588
01:40:43,200 --> 01:40:46,640
to y'all's character that you're
willing to take a drive to be 

1589
01:40:46,640 --> 01:40:50,440
there for someone else that's 
hurting and even in the midst of

1590
01:40:50,600 --> 01:40:52,840
everything going on in your own 
life. 

1591
01:40:53,240 --> 01:40:55,400
And I can't thank you enough for
doing that. 

1592
01:40:55,400 --> 01:40:58,280
And I, I can never tell you how 
much that's meant to me over the

1593
01:40:58,280 --> 01:41:02,080
years. 
I appreciate you saying that. 

1594
01:41:02,160 --> 01:41:06,480
And I have to take this 
opportunity to say this because 

1595
01:41:06,480 --> 01:41:11,640
we kind of touched on it earlier
when when I talked about you 

1596
01:41:11,640 --> 01:41:16,200
being my brother. 
And it goes beyond even, you 

1597
01:41:16,200 --> 01:41:22,480
know, even if you take the 
spiritual aspect of it out and 

1598
01:41:22,480 --> 01:41:28,920
when you feel that connection 
with people, you would rather go

1599
01:41:28,920 --> 01:41:33,600
through, let hurt yourself than 
to see your brother go through 

1600
01:41:33,600 --> 01:41:39,360
it. 
So it for us, and I know I speak

1601
01:41:39,360 --> 01:41:45,680
for Penny as well, those 
actions, there's nothing else we

1602
01:41:45,680 --> 01:41:52,560
can do to ease your comfort. 
But, but be there and say, hey, 

1603
01:41:52,560 --> 01:41:57,720
we're, we're here, you know, 
we're here and we love you and 

1604
01:41:58,240 --> 01:42:02,040
we hate you going through this. 
And that's why we do it. 

1605
01:42:02,120 --> 01:42:07,840
It's not, it's not a a burden or
a sacrifice, But I appreciate 

1606
01:42:07,840 --> 01:42:11,720
you, the sentiment that you have
given. 

1607
01:42:11,720 --> 01:42:15,960
And and we do it because we love
you, because that's what family 

1608
01:42:15,960 --> 01:42:21,640
does. 
And I'm, I'm telling all the 

1609
01:42:21,640 --> 01:42:26,640
listeners out there, there, 
there's no greater place to find

1610
01:42:26,640 --> 01:42:31,240
that connection than right here.
And we want to see everybody 

1611
01:42:31,520 --> 01:42:35,040
saved and going to heaven, even 
if it's not life gate. 

1612
01:42:35,560 --> 01:42:39,920
But if you're looking for a 
place, you're going to find it 

1613
01:42:39,920 --> 01:42:42,240
here. 
If you're looking, if you're 

1614
01:42:42,240 --> 01:42:45,480
looking for fault, you can find 
that here as well. 

1615
01:42:46,120 --> 01:42:49,680
But if you're looking for a 
place where you can connect, 

1616
01:42:49,960 --> 01:42:53,400
there's no other church on the 
planet that's going to be more 

1617
01:42:53,400 --> 01:42:55,680
connected than right here at 
Lifegate. 

1618
01:42:55,960 --> 01:43:00,200
Well, to close it out, I guess I
will say you guys already know 

1619
01:43:00,200 --> 01:43:02,320
it. 
But one of the I I told you when

1620
01:43:02,320 --> 01:43:05,240
I first asked you if you would 
come on the podcast, I said your

1621
01:43:05,240 --> 01:43:09,360
story and what y'all have been 
through to me is, is if I could 

1622
01:43:09,360 --> 01:43:14,320
visualize, it would be like that
stone that you build on being 

1623
01:43:14,320 --> 01:43:16,800
able to see people who go 
through it and they never change

1624
01:43:16,800 --> 01:43:17,920
them. 
You never change them. 

1625
01:43:17,920 --> 01:43:20,560
I mean, goodness gracious you, 
you're still dealing with the 

1626
01:43:20,560 --> 01:43:23,560
heart issues and we still see 
you out there cutting the grass.

1627
01:43:23,560 --> 01:43:26,760
And I'm thinking, man, I'm well,
this, this basketball. 

1628
01:43:27,200 --> 01:43:29,360
Yeah, this. 
We're not talking about that. 

1629
01:43:30,480 --> 01:43:32,560
But I mean. 
We weren't supposed to disclose.

1630
01:43:32,560 --> 01:43:34,960
The basketball fan might. 
Go Yeah, you can blame him for 

1631
01:43:34,960 --> 01:43:35,640
that one. 
Yeah. 

1632
01:43:35,800 --> 01:43:39,320
But you know, you never stop. 
You never stopped. 

1633
01:43:39,320 --> 01:43:41,560
You never let it get you guys 
down, at least not that we could

1634
01:43:41,560 --> 01:43:44,600
see as as bystanders. 
We never saw it. 

1635
01:43:44,600 --> 01:43:47,240
It always looked like you were 
just like, like, like we said, 

1636
01:43:47,240 --> 01:43:49,560
you know, summarize it 
perfectly, like you guys were 

1637
01:43:49,560 --> 01:43:52,000
not survivors. 
You were overcomers. 

1638
01:43:52,240 --> 01:43:53,840
And it showed to the rest of the
people. 

1639
01:43:54,080 --> 01:43:56,640
And that was one of the reasons 
why we were like, we, we got to 

1640
01:43:56,640 --> 01:43:59,000
get you guys on and we got to 
get you guys on quick because 

1641
01:43:59,000 --> 01:44:03,200
that's, that's a spirit that I 
would love to see flood into the

1642
01:44:03,200 --> 01:44:05,160
rest of the church and to the 
rest of the people. 

1643
01:44:05,160 --> 01:44:08,400
Because I believe that if that 
could happen, you could go to a 

1644
01:44:08,400 --> 01:44:12,760
whole other dimension of, of 
church and of family and, and 

1645
01:44:12,760 --> 01:44:16,160
having people like you guys here
that are, are that grok for us 

1646
01:44:16,160 --> 01:44:19,360
to watch is, is very powerful 
and very valuable. 

1647
01:44:19,680 --> 01:44:22,560
So that was one of the reasons 
why we wanted to get you on is 

1648
01:44:22,560 --> 01:44:25,360
because we wanted to tell you 
that and and make sure that 

1649
01:44:25,360 --> 01:44:27,840
other people could hear and, and
believe that as well.

