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So we got brother Eric Mcgar 
here today and we're I'm going 

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to, I'm going to just jump right
into it because I don't want to 

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keep everybody here all night, 
but I'm going to pick up, pick 

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back up what we were talking 
about earlier today, just 

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because I wanted to talk more 
about it, but I didn't have 

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time. 
There's not a lot of people who 

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are really into biblical 
archaeology the way that me and 

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my dad are. 
And you are absolutely, I don't 

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know, Colby, if you've ever 
watched Joel Kramer on YouTube. 

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I love dude, actually. 
That stuff is so cool. 

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And I'm like, Eric Magar is the 
one other dude in this church 

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who's like, he's in it. 
And I'm like, if I see something

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cool, I'm like, I bet because I 
often know you watch that. 

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I've probably seen most of his. 
You're talking expedition Bible.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've probably 
seen most of them. 

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I kind of check back and forth 
to see if there's a new one out,

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but I just think it's incredibly
fascinating. 

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I've listened to a lot of Wes 
Huff stuff. 

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He's a Christian apologetist, 
he's a head of Christian 

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apologetics of Canada. 
And he goes more into like the 

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biblical manuscript side of it 
more so than the archaeology. 

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But I find all of it extremely 
fascinating and more so in the 

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last year is is really when I've
started to get into it. 

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Get into it, yeah. 
No, Dad has been on that for 

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years and he finally got me into
it. 

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I like expedition Bible, but 
there's I like watching just a 

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lot of them in general because 
there's a lot of them that are 

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like, it's like Jewish people 
who live in Israel and they'll 

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do like historical archaeology 
stuff. 

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And to see their point of view 
for a lot of it is so cool 

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because it's they know their 
history and their culture. 

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I watched 1. 
I don't know if you've seen it, 

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but these two guys, they, they 
had excavated a city not too far

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from Jerusalem itself. 
The Israelites have or 

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Israelites, Israel has excavated
a city and I this guy that was 

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on it was like a vice president 
of Israel and they were talking 

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about this city they had found 
where they just, they had found 

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so much stuff in it, like coins 
from the city of the shows, like

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the Star of David on it. 
And they're like these has got 

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to be at least 1500 years old 
and stuff like that. 

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And I'm like, it's just so it's 
like a visible like it shows you

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like historically. 
Hey, this stuff is legit. 

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Have you seen the one with Joel 
Kramer where he talks about it 

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was like Egyptian. 
It was like a tablet that's like

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a letter from some king in the 
land of Canaan to Egypt 

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referencing the Israelites that 
were when they were invading. 

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They called him the hobby Roux, 
have you? 

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Seen that one? 
Yeah. 

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Have you heard of that one? 
That is the wildest 1 I think 

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I've seen all together where 
they're like the I, I couldn't 

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imagine the perspective 
historically from all of the 

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different kingdoms that were in 
the land of Canaan when the 

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Israelites came back in with 
Joshua. 

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Like, and that gives sight to 
that. 

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You're like, Oh my gosh, there's
these people that come out of 

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nowhere. 
We have no idea who they are. 

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And they're literally toppling 
Kingdom after Kingdom after 

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Kingdom. 
And he writes that letter to 

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Egypt. 
And I'm sure the Egyptians are 

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like, we've had enough of them. 
Y'all are on your own. 

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Yeah, There was a guy that I was
kind of witnessing to on and off

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that kind of triggered my 
interest in all of that. 

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And he's a very analytical type.
And he was just routinely coming

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back to me and asking me 
questions. 

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And they were like existential 
life question type questions. 

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He's very philosophical. 
And my main goal was to, I have 

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to prove that the Bible is real 
because he can't just say the, 

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you know, read the Bible. 
He needed to prove that the 

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Bible was real. 
So it's one thing to believe in 

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something and it's another thing
to be able to defend it, right. 

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And, and so I kind of went down 
that rabbit hole as a way of my 

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conversation with him. 
And then it turned into I 

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actually did the Bible study on 
a Wednesday night a while back, 

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called the People versus God. 
I don't know if both of you were

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here or not, but that was a lot 
of that material was my stuff, 

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my research where I had been 
talking to him and it was, it's 

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one of those topics where kind 
of like a lot of things, the 

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more you look into it, the more 
you realize you don't know. 

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And it just, it's very 
fascinating. 

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I love being able to have that 
evidence. 

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Like of course, I believe what I
believe because I have 

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experiences that you can't take 
away. 

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But to know there are so many 
archaeological finds and 

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manuscript proofs that cooperate
what we believe is is really 

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incredible. 
That's that's kind of my. 

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Yeah, that was, that was huge 
for me coming back into church 

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because I think apologetics did 
a lot more. 

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There was just a lot that I was 
finding. 

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One thing that really struck me 
just on the note that I've I've 

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found fascinating because like 
you said, if you speak to people

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that are, you know, professing 
atheists or whatever, their 

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biggest thing is proof, wanting 
to see proof and all. 

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And you don't have physical 
proof of God because it is a 

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faith thing, you know, But then 
when you look at manuscripts, 

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when you look at archaeology and
all of that comes together with 

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prophecy was one thing that blew
my mind. 

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Like in Revelations, there's 
this one dude talking about it. 

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The temple stones that John, I 
don't Have you ever heard this 

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about the temple stones? 
Maybe, but maybe. 

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Yeah, I'll proceed. 
I can hear it again. 

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So in the In the Prophecy of the
New Temple, John lays out the 

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the 12 Stones that are that are 
on the temple steps right in 

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order going down at all. 
And then he emits like diamonds 

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and a few others. 
There's like 4 stones that he 

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emits that aren't a part of 
that. 

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Well, you come to find out when 
you put those stones that were 

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used in his description of the 
temple under direct light, like 

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an LED light, they shine and 
they glimmer. 

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Whereas diamonds, if you put 
them under a direct light like 

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LED or anything, they'll turn 
black completely. 

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So the stones that are used in 
the New Temple, in the New 

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Jerusalem, right after this 
whole world is over, they're the

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1 stones that will radiate when 
under direct light. 

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And that was crazy to me because
back in the day they didn't have

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access to that. 
That's nothing he would have 

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known. 
It's, it's that that could only 

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be some sort of revelation. 
And the biggest argument to that

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a lot of atheists get into is 
that it's a story that was 

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fabricated after the fact, 
right? 

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And when you get into prophecy, 
stuff like that, I like seeing 

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that because I'm like, even 
those people 500 years say that 

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people just wrote a story 500 
years after Jesus. 

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They wouldn't even have that 
knowledge. 

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You wouldn't have had that 
knowledge until well into our 

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time right now. 
Little stuff like that. 

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Yeah, it it it really does. 
It helps me at least I. 

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Like the discovery of the Dead 
Sea Scrolls because exactly what

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you're saying some of the 
messianic prophecies oh that was

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just written after the fact. 
But when they discovered this 

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library of manuscripts and 
ancient writings, that was pre 

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Jesus, So you know that that 
shows you right there that the 

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prophecies are true. 
It wasn't written after the 

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fact. 
Yeah. 

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Yeah. 
I mean, I, I, I could get into 

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that all day long prophecies and
stuff because like, like my 

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favorite, my favorite one, when 
you talk about that, I mean, 

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well, a lot of people, you know,
they're like, well, we, we don't

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want to get into the prophecies 
of Revelation just because no 

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one really knows. 
And this that and the other. 

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And I'm like, that's true. 
But there's a lot in there that 

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we can dissect and look at. 
And there are some very, very 

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coincidental, like very close to
stuff. 

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Like nowadays, like when they 
describe like stars falling from

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the sky. 
It's like back then, if I saw, 

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if I'm sure, if John saw a a 
marvelous light streaking out of

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the sky towards the Earth. 
Yeah, it looks like a star. 

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But today we're like, oh, we 
know what? 

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There's rockets or I, I forget 
what it was called, but the 

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locusts that have steel breast 
plates and they look like men in

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the face and they have the 
Stinger on the back and they're,

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that's, they're loud. 
That's what he was referencing. 

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And you're like an insect. 
That's crazy. 

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But then you think about it, 
it's like, well, we have Apache 

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helicopter that they draw the 
face of a man on the front of 

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it. 
It has the back end of it that 

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looks like a Stinger. 
Those things are incredibly loud

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and it's covered with an iron 
breast plate or what you would 

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look like an iron breast plate. 
So that, that stuff there, it's 

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like, I could talk about that 
all day long getting, getting 

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into prophecies and stuff. 
But I, I just, I just love 

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seeing things like 'cause, 
'cause that's the big narrative 

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today is, is that there was no 
Israel, right? 

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Like that was all just story. 
It was always a certain subsex 

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land. 
It's their history. 

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All that other stuff wasn't 
real. 

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There was no King David da da da
da. 

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And it's like, if that were the 
case, why are we like so adamant

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that we can't do these 
archaeological like digs where 

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these things are supposedly at? 
And when we find homes and roads

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and cisterns and jewelry and all
that, that's like clearly 

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evident to that time frame. 
It just, it just solidifies that

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one thing is true and another 
one clearly is not because it is

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the exact opposite of it. 
You know what I mean? 

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So it's like that stuff to me is
just as a ministry all on its 

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own, especially for people who 
are of that like show me kind of

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mindset. 
Those Missourians out there, you

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know, show me. 
Yeah, I'm with you. 

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And I think it's important 
period in building your faith 

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personally and then also being 
able to reach a different class 

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of people and in Huntsville 
specifically, very educated 

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territory. 
You I don't know, I'm sure you 

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can reach people on feeling and 
faith alone in some capacities. 

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But at the same stroke, we 
generally reach out to God when 

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things are going bad. 
You know, that's when people are

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emotional wanting to reach out 
to God. 

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I think you've got a good 
opportunity here if you really 

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hound in and study to so show 
yourself approved. 

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I think it's a great opportunity
to reach the people in this city

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specifically by by diving in. 
And even the people that I've 

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spoken to that are these green 
personality mindsets and it end 

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up, you know, falling away where
kind of the witness opportunity 

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kind of seems like it's has 
closing. 

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But like you said, at some point
in the future when they have 

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some sort of emotional loss or 
something and they are looking 

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for what is out there that's 
more than me, then they can 

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think back and and have that 
person of contact. 

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I'm with you and I think that 
matters too, man. 

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I I, I, I'm repeating myself 
from a former podcast, but that 

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when I was in church and young, 
it was all about life gate. 

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It was like, oh, get people 
here, you know, and not that 

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it's not now, if you will. 
Of course, everybody in Madison 

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can come to life gate. 
We'll have to buy a different 

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building and all, but that's 
always a a desire. 

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But the biggest thing, like you 
said, wherever you reach people,

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if you can just plant a little 
bit of a seed, it doesn't matter

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if they're in Washington state, 
if they're in Florida, wherever,

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it's about the Kingdom of God 
and being able to plant those 

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seeds and the opportunity that 
we have being vigilant too. 

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Yeah, there's a person that I 
reached out to, her name's 

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Shawna, and she actually lives 
in Michigan. 

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I was going to ask you about 
this too, by the way. 

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He's talking about people from 
other states, but I just want to

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go on the story now or. 
Yeah, go ahead. 

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This is a really cool story. 
So I was watching this video 

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Amber sent me of Indiana Bible 
College had come out with a song

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that kind of had some viral hits
and was kind of making the 

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rounds. 
And she was like, check this 

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video out. 
Or it was a reaction video of 

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people who are not in church who
are watching this video. 

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And they're like, man, these 
people have something. 

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There's really just something 
different with with this group. 

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And of course, anytime you watch
a video, you get a well, if you 

223
00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:32,280
like that video, then watch this
video, which led me to a 

224
00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:37,520
reaction video from a YouTube 
who was reacting to another 

225
00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:42,600
Indiana Bible college song. 
What a God and it was one of IBC

226
00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:45,360
songs this last recording. 
Love that song. 

227
00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:47,640
Fantastic song, love. 
It. 

228
00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:53,320
And she was watching the video 
and at the end when I kind of 

229
00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:57,680
got into towards the end and it 
slowed down a bit, she just 

230
00:12:57,680 --> 00:13:02,880
began to weep. 
And I just felt, I felt the pain

231
00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:06,600
through watching her. 
And I was like, I recognize that

232
00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:08,720
pain, you know, I recognize 
that. 

233
00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:14,120
And I just was drawn to her and 
it's completely crazy outside of

234
00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:16,560
my norm. 
I'm not a very outgoing person 

235
00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:21,160
in general. 
And definitely this was out of 

236
00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:23,320
my outside of my comfort zone. 
But I reached out to her on 

237
00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:27,080
Facebook because I didn't want 
to write anything on YouTube in 

238
00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:29,160
a public setting. 
It just seemed awkward. 

239
00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:35,080
So I found her on Facebook. 
I reached out and I said, hey, a

240
00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:37,800
lot of people on YouTube are 
saying you should go visit the 

241
00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:39,960
next recording. 
And I completely agree with you.

242
00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:41,920
But that's a year away because 
they had just done the 

243
00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:44,000
recording. 
And I said, but if you're 

244
00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,120
looking for the atmosphere in 
the presence of God that you 

245
00:13:47,120 --> 00:13:52,040
felt in that video, you will 
fill it at NAYCI said NAYC is 

246
00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:55,440
happening in Indianapolis, IN, 
which is the hometown of Indiana

247
00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:58,720
Bible College. 
Perhaps we'll have some of the 

248
00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:02,160
same singers involved. 
I said, but you will feel that 

249
00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:05,280
Spirit of God there. 
And I said I didn't know she was

250
00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:10,760
from Michigan at this point. 
And I said, if you want to make 

251
00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:15,000
it to NAYC, let us know. 
We'll we'll make sure that you 

252
00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:18,360
get there somehow. 
And I said, you know, I'm a 

253
00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:20,240
stranger. 
This is complete crazy. 

254
00:14:21,240 --> 00:14:25,120
Here's my church website. 
You know I'm a real person. 

255
00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:27,800
Yeah, you. 
Know my first thought is all 

256
00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:30,480
right, he's going to ask for my 
bank account information. 

257
00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:33,280
Soon, give me your Social 
Security number. 

258
00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:39,080
But she reached out and she said
I would absolutely love to come.

259
00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:44,320
And she said, you know, let me 
know if if you can make it 

260
00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:47,200
happen at that time because the 
way NYC has done, the tickets 

261
00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:50,120
are sold ahead of time. 
So I reached out to Lexi, our 

262
00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:53,880
youth leader, and she said well,
couple people backed out. 

263
00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:57,400
So there's a couple tickets. 
Just let me make sure pastor's 

264
00:14:57,400 --> 00:14:59,480
OK with it because he had 
offered them to some other 

265
00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:02,800
people. 
Long story short, she came, she 

266
00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:06,240
flew from Michigan, she stayed 
in the hotel right next to our 

267
00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:09,800
church group hotel. 
And then we picked her up every 

268
00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:17,720
service and she got re baptized 
on Thursday mornings service and

269
00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:19,680
then she got the Holy Ghost on 
Friday night service. 

270
00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:20,640
That's. 
Awesome. 

271
00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:24,400
Yeah, I love that and so. 
But props to you 'cause like, 

272
00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:26,720
honestly haven't known you all 
this time. 

273
00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:28,960
That's super out of character. 
It is, yeah. 

274
00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:31,280
You're not a approach strangers 
type of guy. 

275
00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:35,920
No, no, I have a hard time not 
talking to people I know so. 

276
00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:39,360
Yeah, but what kind of feeling 
does that have to to know that, 

277
00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:42,240
you know, you took that step and
because you took that step, 

278
00:15:42,240 --> 00:15:46,280
somebody was able to experience 
that and get the Holy Ghost and 

279
00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:50,960
get baptized and and essentially
get saved like and that's 

280
00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:53,480
because you took that step. 
So prop to you that's that's got

281
00:15:53,480 --> 00:15:54,960
to be a great. 
Feeling it is a pretty 

282
00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:58,000
incredible feeling. 
And it was really cool when my 

283
00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,840
daughter Bella, at one point, I 
forget when it was, but she was 

284
00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:05,880
like, Dad, if you didn't reach 
out to her, she might not have 

285
00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:07,680
got the Holy Ghost. 
That's really cool. 

286
00:16:08,040 --> 00:16:11,000
Yeah, that's right. 
Yeah, that is really cool. 

287
00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:15,320
Was I was like and if whatever 
she does in her life will be a 

288
00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:19,280
result of me stepping out in 
faith and how that domino effect

289
00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:24,000
can just change generations. 
I think one of the interviews 

290
00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:26,720
you did, you're talking about 
that generational effect. 

291
00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:29,240
Oh yeah. 
So that was really incredible. 

292
00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:33,520
And not to spoil her news, but 
she's actually moving to Alabama

293
00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:36,440
in February. 
So she's going to, she's going 

294
00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:39,080
to be joining Lifegate. 
That's awesome. 

295
00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:40,960
Yeah. 
She said, and this was really 

296
00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:44,440
incredible too. 
She she went back after NYC and 

297
00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:47,280
she said, and we've been doing 
Bible studies every other week 

298
00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:51,160
since then. 
And she said I just, she said, I

299
00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:55,280
love my church, but I just can't
keep going there because I feel 

300
00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:59,680
like they're just asleep. 
And she's like, I feel like God 

301
00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:02,720
wants me to start over somewhere
where I can be a part of a 

302
00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:04,440
church that has what I felt 
there. 

303
00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:08,119
And so she visited a while back,
a couple months during the Lynx 

304
00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:10,800
sessions. 
Yeah, she visited and and then 

305
00:17:10,800 --> 00:17:13,040
she just let me know recently, 
me and Amber, that she was 

306
00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:15,319
moving here in February, so. 
That's awesome. 

307
00:17:15,839 --> 00:17:18,240
Look at look at Lifegate, man. 
We're getting, we're getting new

308
00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:20,760
converts and new people in and 
we're not even just, we're not 

309
00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:23,000
even staying in Madison. 
We're going all the way up to 

310
00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:26,760
the great white N to get them. 
Yeah, that's the, that may be 

311
00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:30,200
the record for the longest, 
longest distance. 

312
00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:33,040
Yeah, between the new member. 
That's the way to go, Eric. 

313
00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:34,760
That's, yeah. 
I love that story. 

314
00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:37,160
He told that story during the 
link, during the link sessions 

315
00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:39,000
when she was here. 
She kind of told a little bit of

316
00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:41,920
it too. 
And I, I was like, that's 

317
00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:43,240
awesome. 
That's just, that's really 

318
00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:45,920
incredible to be able to have 
that faith and see it pay off 

319
00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:47,400
like that. 
Yeah. 

320
00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:50,520
Definitely makes me want to step
out more 'cause I'm like, you 

321
00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:54,720
know, I took that step of faith.
I was super awkward, but look 

322
00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:57,280
what it led to. 
So it's kind of boosted my 

323
00:17:57,280 --> 00:18:02,160
confidence too, when I feel that
again, not to just, you know, 

324
00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:04,720
let it subside, but you could 
change someone's life. 

325
00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:07,840
So Oh yeah, take that step. 
John Ford talked about that, 

326
00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:11,280
that that feeling, you know, and
like trust in that when you 

327
00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:14,840
really feel something going 
after it and I it makes you 

328
00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:17,760
reflect differently to, you 
know, like even everyday 

329
00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:20,640
interactions. 
But you know, definitely, I 

330
00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:22,880
think all of us can learn from 
that, especially take that leap 

331
00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:27,160
of faith because you never know 
what Christ can do through us if

332
00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:30,480
we just take that little bit of 
a chance of maybe being awkward,

333
00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:31,920
maybe getting shot down, you 
know? 

334
00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:33,680
Yep, absolutely. 
Which is, which is. 

335
00:18:34,360 --> 00:18:36,840
I mean, that's, that's very 
it's, it's, I mean, it's kind of

336
00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:39,080
redundant to say Christ like, 
but I mean, if you really think 

337
00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:42,880
about it, like when when Jesus 
was walking the earth, I mean, 

338
00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:45,760
how many times did he just 
decide like, Oh, I'm going to go

339
00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:49,120
here and do this. 
And everybody around him is 

340
00:18:49,120 --> 00:18:52,120
like, why, yeah, like this makes
no sense. 

341
00:18:52,120 --> 00:18:54,920
We're going out of our way. 
The Samaritan woman, perfect 

342
00:18:54,920 --> 00:18:56,640
example. 
They're all like, we, we don't, 

343
00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:58,160
why would we go through this 
area? 

344
00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:02,120
Why would we're, we're literally
just taking a random detour and 

345
00:19:02,120 --> 00:19:05,000
they have no, no reason why. 
Like, why are we doing this? 

346
00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:07,920
But he's he God is just so 
thinking so far ahead that he's 

347
00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:13,720
just like, I'm going to get that
from A to B, but I can meet this

348
00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:16,440
person on my way there. 
And it's just so spur of the 

349
00:19:16,440 --> 00:19:19,160
moment and it's just so time 
like to us, it's just random. 

350
00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:22,040
But I'm sure to from from 
heaven's perspective, it's just 

351
00:19:22,040 --> 00:19:26,200
purposely fine-tuned and and 
maticulated and just put 

352
00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:29,200
together perfectly to where it, 
the timing is just perfect. 

353
00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:31,280
And to us, it's just like 
random, like it's just 

354
00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:35,480
incredible how all that works. 
And it's incredibly, incredibly 

355
00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:40,920
humbling to to get that, you 
know, get that feeling to hey, 

356
00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:47,080
reach out that that God would, 
would use me to reach someone's 

357
00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:51,600
life and their whole life is 
going to be changed because of 

358
00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:53,960
that step of faith. 
Yeah. 

359
00:19:56,960 --> 00:19:59,600
So let's, let's, let's hear a 
little bit about you, man. 

360
00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:03,480
Tell, tell me where you're from.
Your, your growing up. 

361
00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:07,200
Were you born into this faith 
or, or did you find it? 

362
00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:12,000
From originally from Indiana, 
grew up in Indiana from a little

363
00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:15,760
small community called Quincy. 
IN anybody who ever asked me 

364
00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:19,120
where I live, I say Indiana's 
basically nothing but cornfields

365
00:20:19,120 --> 00:20:21,480
to drive out in the middle of 
nowhere in the cornfields. 

366
00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:23,440
And then once you're in the 
middle of nowhere, go 5 more 

367
00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:25,600
miles. 
And then that's where Quincy is.

368
00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:31,720
And it was basically just one 
giant circle Rd. with the houses

369
00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:34,160
on the inside and outside and 
everybody knew everybody. 

370
00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:37,320
Not definitely not an affluent 
area. 

371
00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:40,920
Two of my neighbors didn't even 
have running water. 

372
00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:47,040
It was so far out there that we 
didn't even have St. addresses. 

373
00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:49,840
We everybody had put post office
boxes. 

374
00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:52,480
And so since it was called, we 
called it the block. 

375
00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:54,920
And since we were on the 
backstreet of the block, we just

376
00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:57,240
called it backstreet. 
But it wasn't until I was 

377
00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:00,080
probably 8 or 9 where we 
actually had St. 

378
00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:02,840
St. addresses. 
So you were a? 

379
00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:05,480
Backstreet. 
That was a Backstreet Boy. 

380
00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:08,080
Yeah, Ted Board. 
Ted Board loves that. 

381
00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:12,200
But we lived in that. 
We didn't have much. 

382
00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:14,680
We lived in a house that was 
over 200 years old. 

383
00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:18,400
I remember there were holes in 
the walls and we would duct 

384
00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:22,520
tape, we would duct tape the 
holes with cardboard, try to 

385
00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:24,560
keep the bugs out, which didn't 
work. 

386
00:21:25,120 --> 00:21:29,960
And there was always, it was 
always infested with bugs and 

387
00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:31,400
spiders. 
And we had a snake get in the 

388
00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:33,760
house one time and there was 
bats that I got in the house. 

389
00:21:34,360 --> 00:21:38,160
We had mice all the time. 
I vividly remember my dad 

390
00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:41,560
sitting in a chair in the 
kitchen with mouse traps with a 

391
00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:45,680
BB gun and shooting mice because
it was just, they were always. 

392
00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:50,680
And it was the house is 
horrible, but and looking back, 

393
00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:54,080
you know, I see I had both 
parents, I was healthy, but, and

394
00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:55,720
so I'm not saying I had the 
worst childhood in the world, 

395
00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:58,440
but when you're a kid, all you 
see is what you don't have. 

396
00:21:58,440 --> 00:21:59,680
You don't really see what you do
have. 

397
00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:05,320
And so most of my childhood, all
I remember was just being in 

398
00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:10,440
poverty, like very bad poverty. 
Family of six, single income. 

399
00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:14,440
I was the youngest of four kids,
two older brothers and oldest is

400
00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:17,040
a sister. 
So I had the hand me downs of 

401
00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:21,640
the hand me downs. 
And when there was really hard 

402
00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:26,480
times where we would share milk,
my brother would eat his cereal 

403
00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:28,200
and then I would get his 
leftover milk. 

404
00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:32,800
And, and because we just, we 
were so poor and there were 

405
00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:37,000
times we ate ketchup sandwiches,
which my mom would hate to hear 

406
00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:38,680
me say that, but she probably 
won't listen to this. 

407
00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:42,000
It doesn't matter. 
But we were very, very, very 

408
00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:46,000
poor. 
And but I was raised in church, 

409
00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:49,520
so I was one third generation 
Pentecost. 

410
00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:54,360
My grandmother on my mother's 
side was introduced to this 

411
00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:59,000
belief by a door knocker. 
Somebody he was door knocking 

412
00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:01,840
actually offended her with what 
they had said. 

413
00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:04,760
And my grandma said she slammed 
the door in the person's face. 

414
00:23:05,120 --> 00:23:10,240
But what they had said bothered 
her so much that she got out her

415
00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:12,120
by 1 and she started praying to 
God. 

416
00:23:12,120 --> 00:23:17,960
If I if I'm missing something, 
show me and and Long story 

417
00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:21,120
short, you know she's the kind 
of the patriarch of our family's

418
00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:25,720
faith and she's the greatest 
prayer warrior of I've ever 

419
00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:27,040
known. 
She's going on to be with the 

420
00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:34,480
Lord now, but third generation I
even though I was raised in 

421
00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:40,120
church, though I have somewhat 
of a different story than most 

422
00:23:40,120 --> 00:23:43,920
because my parents never would 
stay at the same place too long.

423
00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:48,960
And so by the time I was 16, we 
had changed churches 14 

424
00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:53,200
different times. 
And so it was very, very hard. 

425
00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:57,040
You'd make friends at one place 
and then for whatever reason, 

426
00:23:57,240 --> 00:23:59,880
you would, we would quit that 
church and we'd go start over 

427
00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:03,120
somewhere else. 
And so by the time it was me and

428
00:24:03,120 --> 00:24:08,120
my older brother Jason, the two 
youngest, we just kind of became

429
00:24:08,120 --> 00:24:13,280
indifferent to the new churches 
and kind of bitter at the whole 

430
00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:17,080
cycle. 
And so when it got finally to 

431
00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:20,680
me, all of my, both my brothers 
and my sister both went all 

432
00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:23,040
different churches across the 
state where, wherever they 

433
00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:26,480
lived. 
And when I was turned 16 and got

434
00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:34,120
my car and got my job, I, that's
when I stopped switching with my

435
00:24:34,120 --> 00:24:40,240
parents and I called Emmanuel 
Apostolic in Martinsville IN my 

436
00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:42,200
home church. 
And we actually went there on 2 

437
00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:45,640
separate occasions there when I 
was younger. 

438
00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:48,960
There's a different pastor and, 
and they did around too, 'cause 

439
00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:55,240
there's another pastor and, but,
but yeah, third generation 

440
00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:58,080
actually. 
And another thing that's an 

441
00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:02,520
important part of my story is I 
finished high school living with

442
00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:05,800
another family. 
And actually all three of us 

443
00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:09,680
boys moved out before we were 
out of high school for family 

444
00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:11,880
reasons, internal family 
reasons. 

445
00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:16,520
And so I actually finished high 
school living with a family 

446
00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:18,680
called the Williams family. 
And they were like a second 

447
00:25:19,120 --> 00:25:21,840
family to me and my brother, my 
brother Jason actually lived 

448
00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:27,880
there when he left home. 
And and then when I left, my 

449
00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:31,680
parents moved to Tennessee. 
But I finished high school 

450
00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:35,560
living with them. 
And so I was. 

451
00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:38,440
And the reason I say that is 
because it was during this time 

452
00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:42,160
where I almost turned away from 
God completely because I was a 

453
00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:45,200
teenage boy, which is already 
hard enough time to stay in 

454
00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:49,080
church on its own. 
But I was living with a family 

455
00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:50,960
who themselves didn't even go to
church at all. 

456
00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:54,280
My brothers and my sister all 
went to different churches in 

457
00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:56,240
that in separate parts of the 
state. 

458
00:25:56,880 --> 00:25:58,960
And I was still going faithfully
to church. 

459
00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:04,520
I was making myself go, but I 
was working a lot and because I 

460
00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:08,720
was trying to support myself and
the family had helped me file a 

461
00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:11,800
court case to get emancipation 
from my parents. 

462
00:26:12,520 --> 00:26:17,960
And I ultimately was denied 
that, but I still lived with 

463
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:23,440
them anyway. 
And so I I was going through a 

464
00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:27,560
lot of stuff at that time that 
made me kind of drift away from 

465
00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:30,400
God. 
And I started sitting at the 

466
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:38,080
back at church, becoming very 
disengaged and not going to the 

467
00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:41,280
altar anymore. 
I was working a lot. 

468
00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:43,920
So I stopped going to youth 
events because, you know, when 

469
00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:45,520
you're a teenager and you're 
working, that's the most 

470
00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:49,560
important thing in your life. 
And so I started to drift away 

471
00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:53,720
from God. 
And I felt like I was getting 

472
00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:56,440
angry because I felt like the 
sermons, every sermon was 

473
00:26:56,440 --> 00:27:00,200
towards me, felt like it was 
pleading to me, drawing towards 

474
00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:02,320
me. 
And on the inside I was really 

475
00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:07,480
convicted, but on the outside I 
was very cold and unaffected and

476
00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:11,840
unmoved. 
And I was about just to be done 

477
00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:16,440
with church all together. 
And my sister who always kind of

478
00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:19,480
looked out for me all and looked
out for my brothers. 

479
00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:23,480
And she was trying to convince 
me to go to church, to church 

480
00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:26,160
camp. 
Indiana UPC has a Fourville 

481
00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:30,320
church camp up north. 
And I hadn't went the previous 

482
00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:35,640
year because I was had my job 
and teenagers think that their 

483
00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:38,800
job is the most important and 
like who would who would refill 

484
00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:41,880
the horsey pumps at Arby's if I 
didn't go to work this week? 

485
00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:46,480
So but she kept harassing me to 
go because she knew I was 

486
00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:50,200
struggling spiritually. 
And I didn't go Monday, Tuesday,

487
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:53,560
Wednesday, Thursday, and 
finally, finally Friday came and

488
00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:57,320
she was just the way I remember 
just kind of harassing me, like 

489
00:27:57,480 --> 00:27:59,560
just go. 
And she was always really good 

490
00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:01,400
to me and looked out for me. 
So I don't want to hurt her 

491
00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:03,160
feelings. 
And really just to get off the 

492
00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:08,200
phone, I said yes. 
So I went to Four Girl Camp and 

493
00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:11,080
it was like an hour and 45 
minute drive from where I lived.

494
00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:15,480
And I remember the conversation 
I was having with myself driving

495
00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:21,200
up there like it was yesterday. 
And I was saying out loud in the

496
00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:23,960
car to myself, probably to 
convince myself what I was 

497
00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:26,440
saying was true. 
But I was like, you know, this 

498
00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:31,320
is old and antiquated and, you 
know, I'm tired of being 

499
00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:34,360
preached at and I just want to 
live my life. 

500
00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:38,080
And, you know, these people are 
all crazy. 

501
00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:42,920
And I just, I'm done with this. 
And I said the statement, this 

502
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:46,440
will be the last service I ever 
attend and I'm done. 

503
00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:53,040
And so I got to the church camp 
and was very disengaged 

504
00:28:53,040 --> 00:29:00,040
throughout the worship service. 
And and then Brother Doug White,

505
00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:02,880
who has preached some of the 
men's conferences around here, 

506
00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:07,440
got up and preached a message 
titled The Echoes of My Sermons.

507
00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:13,160
And he was talking about how he 
saw the echoes of all his 

508
00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:16,440
sermons through the lives of the
people he's ministered to. 

509
00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:20,200
And he talked, he kind of ended 
the sermon with this one young 

510
00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:23,800
man in his church who sadly had 
taken his own life. 

511
00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:28,960
And he said that he and the 
mother found the boy in his room

512
00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:34,120
after he's taking his life and 
he was laying over a box of 

513
00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:38,880
preaching tapes. 
And he said, and he ended the 

514
00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:41,520
service like this. 
He said, and if you walk out of 

515
00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:46,040
this service tonight and you 
never come back to church, how 

516
00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:49,200
many of your pastors sermons 
will echo in your eternity? 

517
00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:54,040
And I, man, I was, I was 
fighting and I was, I was 

518
00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:55,520
standing because everybody was 
standing. 

519
00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:58,760
He was closing the service. 
I was white knuckling the seat 

520
00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:02,480
in front of me, face facing 
down, tears streaming down my 

521
00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:05,320
face. 
And he brother White called me 

522
00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:08,280
out at church camp. 
And you can hear it on the 

523
00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:09,400
record. 
I have the recording on my 

524
00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:10,600
phone. 
I still have the message. 

525
00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:12,240
I listen to it every once in 
awhile. 

526
00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:17,000
But he said, young man, I see 
you in the back weeping and 

527
00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:19,960
you're not a camper this year, 
but God's trying to move you. 

528
00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:25,280
God wants to move you. 
And I broke it. 

529
00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:30,360
It distill obviously affects me 
today, but I broke and I served 

530
00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:33,160
in my life that day. 
And it was that service. 

531
00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:36,880
That's my like determining 
service where my walk with God 

532
00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:41,400
stopped being something that I 
was raised in and became my 

533
00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:44,040
foundational stance of I'm going
to serve God. 

534
00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:51,640
And that's kind of when I, when 
I, when I kind of corrected my 

535
00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:57,440
path there made it real. 
That that's it That's, that 

536
00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:01,960
brings up a thought to me where 
you see it a lot and you see it 

537
00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:07,640
a lot with people nowadays that 
this is how it was for me. 

538
00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:12,120
We, we the Bible talks about, 
you know, new converts and it 

539
00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:14,760
almost likens them, likens them 
to children, you know, with, 

540
00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:17,960
hey, they eat milk and cookies, 
you know, little things. 

541
00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:20,400
And then you as you grow you, 
you can take in more. 

542
00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:23,640
But it reminds me of like how it
is for so many people where 

543
00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:27,320
obviously your situation is a 
little different, but still a 

544
00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:29,560
little similar where you just, 
you have so many people where 

545
00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:32,400
you, you believe in it. 
Like like for me, when I first, 

546
00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:36,800
when I first got in this, like 
in my head, I was sold out. 

547
00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:42,520
But at the same time it was more
of like this mindset of how 

548
00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:45,480
great that was a great feeling. 
But now I don't, I'm not really 

549
00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:49,120
wanting to change anything. 
And, and you're just that fresh 

550
00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:52,120
face and you, you're, you're 
not, in my opinion, I was not 

551
00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:54,880
like sold out like I thought I 
was. 

552
00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:58,080
But then you have that service 
or you have that, that thing 

553
00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:00,520
happened that, that where God 
touches you. 

554
00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:03,640
And this is not a, oh, I'm 
getting the Holy Ghost at this 

555
00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:05,440
point. 
Like you're already, this is a, 

556
00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:09,040
a moment in time where it's 
almost like God just like gets 

557
00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:12,680
real with you and says, OK, it's
time to take the training wheels

558
00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:15,360
off. 
And this has to be, you have to 

559
00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:18,160
decide you're going to sell out 
to this. 

560
00:32:20,120 --> 00:32:22,760
So I think that's really cool. 
And I, I, I feel like you might,

561
00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:25,560
I, I, it sounds to me like it 
was kind of how that was like, 

562
00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:28,320
you know, you were obviously 
like done with it, but just how 

563
00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:31,960
many people are at that point? 
You know, where you, you know 

564
00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:35,640
it, you know about it and you 
think, you think you're in it 

565
00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:38,240
or, or you're trying to decide 
or whatever the case may be. 

566
00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:41,480
And then you just, you have that
moment where it's like God gets 

567
00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:44,640
real personal with you in a way 
that you just, you're not ready 

568
00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:50,840
for it and you never forget it. 
What a landmark man that and I 

569
00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:52,640
think that's important. 
You saying you still got it on 

570
00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:55,840
your phone too, because I think 
it's super important, man. 

571
00:32:56,480 --> 00:33:00,880
We've all been in low, low spots
before where God reached down 

572
00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:04,920
each of us walking in here, I 
think and similar to the the 

573
00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:07,840
children of Israel when Joshua 
had them set up the stones, you 

574
00:33:07,840 --> 00:33:10,320
know, I think it's really 
important to not forget that 

575
00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:12,360
either. 
It says a lot that you still got

576
00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:14,360
that on your phone and still 
revisit everything. 

577
00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:17,640
And then I listen. 
To it this week because I was 

578
00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:19,920
trying to remind myself of 
things, you know, Yeah. 

579
00:33:19,920 --> 00:33:22,080
In preparation for this, I was 
like, I got to listen to that 

580
00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:22,880
sermon again. 
Yeah. 

581
00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:24,440
No, that's great. 
That's great. 

582
00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:27,400
Converted from ACD. 
Oh, look at that ancient 

583
00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:28,760
technology. 
Yeah, yeah. 

584
00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:33,040
Now it's, it's important, I 
think holding on to that. 

585
00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:37,240
But what a story too, man. 
Yeah, it always, it always moves

586
00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:44,280
me again because it's such a 
phenomenal, a phenomenal just 

587
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:48,280
dedication, like foundational 
change, like my life path 

588
00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:50,520
changed that day. 
So it's very, it's a, it's a 

589
00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:51,640
stone. 
It's my stones. 

590
00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:55,240
You know, it's, it's something I
always can look back to and it 

591
00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:58,200
moves me every time I tell that.
Yeah, Oh yeah, man, you got to 

592
00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:01,120
think about the same God who the
earth is. 

593
00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:03,720
His footstool doesn't need us at
all. 

594
00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:08,280
Formed us from the earth, looks 
down, knows the thoughts you're 

595
00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:13,280
thinking, hears you and decides 
you know what I'm going to 

596
00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:15,239
today? 
I'm personally going to visit 

597
00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:18,840
you and I'm going to pick you up
and change your life. 

598
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:23,000
Had had no reason to do so for 
any of us but for that feeling 

599
00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:25,560
you know you had. 
It's like he had no, God doesn't

600
00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:28,679
need us. 
There's there's the fact that he

601
00:34:28,679 --> 00:34:33,480
goes out of his way to get us 
when we're the ones who should 

602
00:34:33,480 --> 00:34:35,199
be going out of our ways to get 
him. 

603
00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:38,639
That's just so incredible. 
That's that that did a lot for 

604
00:34:38,639 --> 00:34:41,320
me too, because I think I've 
reached the point of being 

605
00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:44,120
agnostic where it's like, if 
there is a God, he really don't 

606
00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:47,600
care about us, you know, And 
then you see time and time again

607
00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:51,400
where the, the, the story of 
Jesus coming down here to die 

608
00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:54,199
for our sins. 
And, and when you put it in a in

609
00:34:54,199 --> 00:34:56,600
a personal perspective, and I, 
I've been trying to do that with

610
00:34:56,600 --> 00:34:59,920
my voice, like it's not, Oh, 
Jesus died for all of our sins, 

611
00:34:59,920 --> 00:35:01,920
right, Because that's good. 
And that's, that's the message. 

612
00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:06,080
But thinking about he also came 
down here just for you, you 

613
00:35:06,080 --> 00:35:09,880
know, and he came down here for 
you to be white knuckling that 

614
00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:13,680
Pew back there and then Reverend
Doug White call you out. 

615
00:35:13,840 --> 00:35:17,520
And then that be a landstone, 
which leads to Shawna, right? 

616
00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:18,960
Oh, absolutely. 
Exactly. 

617
00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:21,520
True. 
Without that moment there, and I

618
00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:23,480
just look at it, even if it's 
just two souls, because the 

619
00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:27,600
Bible says when one soul 
converts and one soul comes to 

620
00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:29,400
Christ, that all of heaven 
rejoices. 

621
00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:31,720
And right there in the story, I 
feel like we've got 2 off of 

622
00:35:31,720 --> 00:35:33,440
that one moment, you know? 
Absolutely. 

623
00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:35,120
And I and like I said, I wasn't 
even a camper. 

624
00:35:35,240 --> 00:35:39,000
And so the God would would move 
on him to preach a message. 

625
00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:41,320
I mean, of course it was 
obviously for other, other 

626
00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:43,280
people, but that message was to 
me. 

627
00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:44,800
Yeah, that was for you. 
Yeah, Yeah. 

628
00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:47,840
Other people got something from 
out of that was for you. 

629
00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:50,280
And then a white knuckling, he's
like, young man, I see you in 

630
00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:51,320
the back and I'm like, all 
right. 

631
00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:57,360
What's the what's the 
conversation like with your 

632
00:35:57,360 --> 00:36:00,720
sister when you when that 
service ends, when you're like 

633
00:36:00,720 --> 00:36:03,800
over like you're fighting her to
go and now you're like, thank 

634
00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:06,080
God I went, thank God that you 
begged me. 

635
00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:08,040
What's that conversation like? 
She. 

636
00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:11,680
Was very, she was very, very 
good to me. 

637
00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:18,280
She was kind of a a parental 
figure because I had some family

638
00:36:18,560 --> 00:36:23,240
issues, but she was she looked 
out for me. 

639
00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:27,800
So I mean, she's, she's never 
like said anything like, oh, 

640
00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:31,320
it's because of me, you know, 
but I'm thankful for her. 

641
00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:35,360
She's always been a person that 
I can look up to. 

642
00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:39,120
In a way it is because of her, 
so absolutely you should be 

643
00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:41,040
grateful. 
Have you ever told her that 

644
00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:41,840
straight? 
Up Amy. 

645
00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:42,920
I'm grateful. 
There you go. 

646
00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:44,720
Exactly. 
Amy, if you're out there and 

647
00:36:44,720 --> 00:36:46,400
you're listening right now, Eric
is grateful. 

648
00:36:46,400 --> 00:36:48,800
And it's because of, you know. 
Her name now we'll find her. 

649
00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:51,720
He found he found the can't be 
that Sean on Facebook me and 

650
00:36:51,720 --> 00:36:53,600
Colby can find her. 
On Facebook, Amy. 

651
00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:56,040
You need to listen to this. 
Clip He's on there. 

652
00:36:58,240 --> 00:37:00,160
That looks like bless your 
heart. 

653
00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:04,040
Yeah, and I think something 
sticks out to me too. 

654
00:37:04,640 --> 00:37:08,320
I've seen it in our our church 
plant work as well. 

655
00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:13,760
A lot of kids that grow up in 
and I don't want to put any any,

656
00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:17,880
any labels on whatever your home
situation, but tumultuous at 

657
00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:19,760
least. 
Like it feels tumultuous, you 

658
00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:24,680
know, from church to church, all
that stuff, not as steady as 

659
00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:28,600
could be, to say the least. 
I, I've seen a lot of people in 

660
00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:32,560
that situation that like you, 
you take it out on God's own. 

661
00:37:32,560 --> 00:37:35,960
Like if your parents are 
professing Christians and then 

662
00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:37,640
your upbringing isn't the 
greatest. 

663
00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:40,920
A lot of times it's easy to turn
on God because of that and say, 

664
00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:45,560
no, obviously whatever they were
doing was wrong. 

665
00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:47,080
So I'm just going to live my 
life. 

666
00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:48,680
I think that was a big moment 
for you. 

667
00:37:48,680 --> 00:37:52,040
But also, I think you said that 
you're everybody else attends 

668
00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:53,640
church, right? 
All of your siblings. 

669
00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:55,440
Yeah, they all, they all attend 
church. 

670
00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:57,520
Yeah, yeah. 
That's my brother, actually. 

671
00:37:57,520 --> 00:38:00,040
My my brother Jason actually 
pastors at church now. 

672
00:38:00,240 --> 00:38:01,320
Wow. 
So yeah. 

673
00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:02,800
That's awesome. 
That's awesome. 

674
00:38:02,800 --> 00:38:05,160
Pastors at church in Georgia. 
Fantastic. 

675
00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:07,680
And my brother Randy and my 
sister Amy, they both still live

676
00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:10,040
back in Indiana. 
OK, I got. 

677
00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:13,360
You, isn't it? 
That's kind of a kind of a deep 

678
00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:18,880
topic to think about how many 
parents think that they are 

679
00:38:19,720 --> 00:38:23,440
doing the best thing by their 
child and they probably are, but

680
00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:27,920
they can't. 
It's just you know, and I'm I'm 

681
00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:29,760
sure it's it's a super common 
thing. 

682
00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:32,120
The amount of parents who who 
think that they're doing 

683
00:38:32,120 --> 00:38:35,960
everything right by their child,
but don't realize the just 

684
00:38:35,960 --> 00:38:39,520
getting on a kids level and the 
way that kids see it, or even 

685
00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:47,280
preteens and teens and and by 
not by just it becomes it can 

686
00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:51,080
become a blind spot. 
But I mean, like I would say the

687
00:38:51,080 --> 00:38:56,560
most attacked generation or not,
I want to say generation sect of

688
00:38:56,560 --> 00:38:59,840
people is, is the younger 
people. 

689
00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:02,240
Is, is those teenagers in those 
preteens. 

690
00:39:02,240 --> 00:39:06,400
I mean, they get, they get we, 
we, we tease them by saying 

691
00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:08,320
they're immature or they don't 
understand. 

692
00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:09,960
And when they grow up, they'll 
get it and da da, da, da. 

693
00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:15,640
But like we say that, but 
obviously you, you have a force 

694
00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:22,080
that takes advantage of that 
and, and just pounds on them and

695
00:39:22,720 --> 00:39:26,760
messes with them in a way to 
where like parents just, I think

696
00:39:26,760 --> 00:39:29,400
sometimes their kids can become 
their own blind spot, but they 

697
00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:30,880
think that they're doing 
everything right. 

698
00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:33,120
And they just don't realize that
like their kids are going 

699
00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:35,680
through things or maybe dealing 
with things. 

700
00:39:35,680 --> 00:39:44,040
And it's, I hate that it's that 
way that younger people are 

701
00:39:44,040 --> 00:39:47,000
attacked in that kind of way 
that you go through so much at 

702
00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:53,120
that age. 
I've seen it a lot where that 

703
00:39:53,120 --> 00:39:55,920
happens. 
You know, it just, it strikes a 

704
00:39:55,920 --> 00:39:58,320
chord with me even thinking 
about that message where a young

705
00:39:58,320 --> 00:40:01,480
man takes his own life and the 
parents are downstairs and they 

706
00:40:01,480 --> 00:40:04,600
have no idea. 
They think they they think their

707
00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:09,000
son or their child is up there. 
Doing whatever and, and you have

708
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:11,080
no idea what, what your kids are
going through. 

709
00:40:12,040 --> 00:40:15,960
And it's just it to me, that's 
just, it's a touchy subject for 

710
00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:17,200
me. 
That's where I will start to get

711
00:40:17,200 --> 00:40:19,960
a little, a little emotional 
just because I just I, it's not 

712
00:40:19,960 --> 00:40:22,320
fair. 
It's not fair that, you know, 

713
00:40:22,320 --> 00:40:25,000
you live in a world where our 
children are not off limits. 

714
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:27,120
They're they're like prime 
targets for us. 

715
00:40:28,080 --> 00:40:32,680
And but that's like, like I tell
Brooke all the time, like that's

716
00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:35,480
one thing for me. 
Like as as Braden gets older, 

717
00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:41,160
I'm like, I don't care how what 
age he is, I'm going to 

718
00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:44,840
prioritize getting on his level 
as much as I can because I, I 

719
00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:49,600
want to do everything I can to 
make sure that I don't fall 

720
00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:53,920
asleep at the wheel while my son
might be getting attacked. 

721
00:40:54,200 --> 00:40:56,320
You know, if, if that makes any 
sense at all. 

722
00:40:56,320 --> 00:40:57,280
You know what I mean? 
Just. 

723
00:40:57,720 --> 00:40:59,680
And stuff. 
It's a huge responsibility. 

724
00:40:59,800 --> 00:41:02,840
We're we're a little further 
away from his stage of life with

725
00:41:02,840 --> 00:41:04,080
his kids. 
You got a teenager, huh? 

726
00:41:04,360 --> 00:41:06,520
Yeah, 15, She's got a learner's 
permit. 

727
00:41:06,960 --> 00:41:08,440
Not Saturday. 
She's got a learner's permit. 

728
00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:11,760
Congratulations, you say this is
this is totally off topic and 

729
00:41:11,760 --> 00:41:15,360
not spiritual, but kids today 
don't seem to want to drive. 

730
00:41:15,360 --> 00:41:18,080
So I'm very happy she went out 
and got a learner's permit 

731
00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:22,000
because for whatever reason, I 
remember I was 15 and I'm like, 

732
00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:24,160
let's go that day. 
It was like a Sunday, so we 

733
00:41:24,160 --> 00:41:25,800
couldn't. 
And I'm like as soon as the 

734
00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:28,640
office is open. 
I borrowed money from my grandpa

735
00:41:28,920 --> 00:41:31,880
so I could take driver's Ed so I
could get my license as soon as.

736
00:41:32,040 --> 00:41:33,960
Exactly. 
I don't know. 

737
00:41:34,200 --> 00:41:37,000
And I got a job the day I turned
16 there. 

738
00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:38,680
Yeah. 
There you go. 

739
00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:42,000
I was ready to go, but yeah, 
they got it too good. 

740
00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:43,800
They just don't want to. 
Leave No, that's what it is. 

741
00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:46,800
We're too soft. 
See, we, we grew up having to, 

742
00:41:47,120 --> 00:41:50,680
to get told no and, and work for
our own stuff. 

743
00:41:50,680 --> 00:41:53,240
And so we, we didn't want that 
for our kids and now they're 

744
00:41:53,240 --> 00:41:55,120
just too soft that that must be 
what it is. 

745
00:41:55,720 --> 00:41:58,680
We've made too good of a life 
for them or not. 

746
00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:01,160
Not me with my five and four 
year old, but we'll, we'll see 

747
00:42:01,160 --> 00:42:06,800
in time. 
So on the 16 been working. 

748
00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:08,240
You've been working ever since, 
I suppose. 

749
00:42:08,240 --> 00:42:10,120
Huh. 16 got out the house 
started working. 

750
00:42:10,200 --> 00:42:16,280
Yeah, I started working at 16 at
Arby's in high school and I 

751
00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:22,000
worked every chance I could get.
And and then I even graduated 

752
00:42:22,400 --> 00:42:26,760
high school early, graduated 
after the first trimester so 

753
00:42:26,760 --> 00:42:31,160
that I could work more because I
was quasi support myself. 

754
00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:33,080
I was living with the other 
family and they didn't charge me

755
00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:35,560
rent, but you know, everything 
else I was paying for. 

756
00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:39,960
So I was working a lot. 
And that's kind of probably 

757
00:42:39,960 --> 00:42:45,360
where a lot of my drive and 
motivation comes to better 

758
00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:52,320
myself is I had to hustle, you 
know, I had to, I had to make my

759
00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:57,240
own way, so. 
Which I, I think overall in life

760
00:42:57,440 --> 00:43:00,760
period, we talk about trials, 
we'll go through spiritually, 

761
00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:04,600
but then even just in, in life 
like that, the struggle, I mean,

762
00:43:04,720 --> 00:43:07,440
you, and I'm not going to talk 
on, on your whole life, but you 

763
00:43:07,440 --> 00:43:10,640
have you, you've made a very 
successful life for yourself. 

764
00:43:11,080 --> 00:43:15,520
And I think you go back to 16. 
I think 16 year old Eric would 

765
00:43:15,520 --> 00:43:19,560
be insanely impressed with Eric 
right now. 16 year old Eric 

766
00:43:20,680 --> 00:43:24,880
would say that if you told If 
you told 16 year old where I am 

767
00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:27,760
today, Eric at 16 would laugh at
you. 

768
00:43:29,400 --> 00:43:31,880
What about Eric that had the 
cardboard floors? 

769
00:43:34,440 --> 00:43:39,160
Man, hopeful. 
Yeah, that kid would be hopeful.

770
00:43:39,920 --> 00:43:41,760
Get out of this. 
Yeah. 

771
00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:45,800
I'm not going to, I'm not going 
to ask you to go through your 

772
00:43:45,800 --> 00:43:49,240
whole life story, but obviously 
you're very involved with the 

773
00:43:49,240 --> 00:43:53,400
ministry now, as you mentioned 
earlier, you, you taught a Bible

774
00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:55,440
study here. 
You're very, very involved. 

775
00:43:55,880 --> 00:44:00,080
Where at what was there a point 
in time where you, you made a 

776
00:44:00,080 --> 00:44:02,640
decision to dedicate yourself to
the Lord in general? 

777
00:44:02,640 --> 00:44:04,840
Was there a point in time where 
you had made that decision that 

778
00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:07,680
you weren't going to just be a 
everyday churchgoer and that you

779
00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:11,480
were going to be more and you 
were going to be more used? 

780
00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:15,200
Was there a time where you just 
like you made that decision and 

781
00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:17,560
what might have led to that when
you got to that decision? 

782
00:44:17,560 --> 00:44:20,440
I. 
Don't know if there is an exact 

783
00:44:22,880 --> 00:44:26,880
event that made me start to be 
involved rather than just 

784
00:44:26,880 --> 00:44:28,880
attend, you know, on a regular 
basis. 

785
00:44:28,880 --> 00:44:35,600
But my parents weren't super 
involved as far as like, you 

786
00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:38,000
know, my kids complain all the 
time that we're always at the 

787
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:39,360
church. 
You know, we're all, they're 

788
00:44:39,360 --> 00:44:40,880
like we're the last ones to 
leave on Wednesday. 

789
00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:45,240
So it was never like that when I
was growing up. 

790
00:44:45,680 --> 00:44:51,480
So I, I didn't get it from, from
them per SE, but when I, when 

791
00:44:51,480 --> 00:44:56,400
Amber got in church and we 
eventually got married, we just 

792
00:44:57,000 --> 00:44:59,160
weren't, we just got involved in
a lot of things. 

793
00:45:00,480 --> 00:45:04,840
I think I looked at my pastor in
Indiana as like a, a father 

794
00:45:04,840 --> 00:45:12,080
figure and, you know, I just 
wanted to do anything that I was

795
00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:16,680
asked to do. 
So I got involved playing the 

796
00:45:16,680 --> 00:45:20,400
drums. 
I played the drums at Emmanuel 

797
00:45:20,400 --> 00:45:23,480
for five years straight as the 
only drummer. 

798
00:45:25,080 --> 00:45:26,560
Colby has no idea what that's 
like. 

799
00:45:27,400 --> 00:45:33,080
Yeah, so, and then my, my wife 
taught Sunday school there and 

800
00:45:33,080 --> 00:45:35,840
we were on the church cleaning 
schedule for a long time. 

801
00:45:35,920 --> 00:45:40,120
And we were involved in choir 
and I sang when there were more 

802
00:45:40,120 --> 00:45:43,760
drummers I would sing with like 
the praise team and they they 

803
00:45:43,880 --> 00:45:46,080
did solo. 
So I pretty much did anything I 

804
00:45:46,080 --> 00:45:48,240
was asked to do just because I 
wanted to. 

805
00:45:52,160 --> 00:45:53,960
I don't know, I just wanted to 
be involved. 

806
00:45:54,560 --> 00:45:57,200
How? 
How old were you when you got 

807
00:45:57,200 --> 00:46:00,320
married? 
I was 20, Amber was 18. 

808
00:46:00,560 --> 00:46:03,440
Dear Lord. 
So, yeah, we got married really 

809
00:46:03,440 --> 00:46:07,200
young and of course, I would not
suggest that to anybody, but it 

810
00:46:07,200 --> 00:46:08,920
worked for us. 
Yeah. 

811
00:46:09,680 --> 00:46:13,080
So I met Amber in high school. 
She went to the same school as 

812
00:46:13,080 --> 00:46:17,160
me. 
She was a grade below me and I 

813
00:46:17,160 --> 00:46:19,360
met her actually through my 
friend. 

814
00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:23,200
My best friend was dating her. 
We're no longer friends. 

815
00:46:23,720 --> 00:46:25,800
Yeah, and at Jessie's girl 
situation. 

816
00:46:26,720 --> 00:46:28,560
And he, he. 
Won. 

817
00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:31,360
Yeah, I did. 
Yeah, He introduced me to her 

818
00:46:31,520 --> 00:46:34,360
and I was just kind of like. 
As his girlfriend. 

819
00:46:34,360 --> 00:46:37,960
Yeah, looking at her and looking
at him and I was like, how in 

820
00:46:37,960 --> 00:46:41,120
the world did you get this girl?
Because of course she's 

821
00:46:41,120 --> 00:46:45,280
gorgeous, so. 
But and the the way this all 

822
00:46:45,280 --> 00:46:47,920
worked out was not because I'm a
horrible person and I stole my 

823
00:46:47,920 --> 00:46:52,560
best friend's girlfriend, but 
because my main ploy to get 

824
00:46:52,560 --> 00:46:55,280
people to end school to come to 
church was I would say, hey, 

825
00:46:55,280 --> 00:46:58,640
come hear me play the drums. 
And I got a lot of people to 

826
00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:00,600
come. 
And so I had said it to him at 

827
00:47:00,600 --> 00:47:04,800
one point and she was there and 
he just flower said, Nah, church

828
00:47:04,800 --> 00:47:06,560
isn't for me. 
And she was like, well, he's 

829
00:47:06,560 --> 00:47:08,680
your best friend. 
You should go here and play the 

830
00:47:08,680 --> 00:47:11,360
drums. 
She just support him and I think

831
00:47:11,880 --> 00:47:14,240
trying to force him to say yes, 
she said, well, if you don't go,

832
00:47:14,240 --> 00:47:17,640
then I'll go. 
And instead of him being like, 

833
00:47:17,640 --> 00:47:19,040
OK, I'll go. 
He was just like, fine, go. 

834
00:47:19,880 --> 00:47:23,040
Wow. 
And she was like, oh, all right.

835
00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:25,800
So then I, she asked me to pick 
her up. 

836
00:47:26,240 --> 00:47:29,520
And so I took her to church and 
she was attending a Baptist 

837
00:47:29,520 --> 00:47:33,880
Church at the time. 
She's originally a Baptist and 

838
00:47:34,720 --> 00:47:38,080
she attended the church and she 
really liked it. 

839
00:47:38,080 --> 00:47:40,280
And she said that she felt 
something in our church that she

840
00:47:40,280 --> 00:47:43,800
didn't feel at her church. 
So she wanted to keep attending,

841
00:47:44,480 --> 00:47:48,040
keep visiting. 
And then she asked me, you know,

842
00:47:48,040 --> 00:47:50,120
hey, if I'm going to visit your 
church, you visit my church. 

843
00:47:50,120 --> 00:47:53,640
So that was the first time I, I 
visited her church a couple 

844
00:47:53,640 --> 00:47:56,720
times. 
And like I had said, I'd been to

845
00:47:56,720 --> 00:47:58,720
a lot of different churches, but
they were all Apostolic 

846
00:47:58,720 --> 00:48:01,160
Pentecostal churches. 
So this was the first time I've 

847
00:48:01,160 --> 00:48:06,200
ever been to one that was not 
and it was very eye opening to 

848
00:48:06,200 --> 00:48:10,360
me because you don't realize 
what you have until you see 

849
00:48:10,360 --> 00:48:13,280
someone who doesn't have it. 
And so when I was in this church

850
00:48:13,520 --> 00:48:16,280
and the Spirit of God, it was 
just absent. 

851
00:48:16,800 --> 00:48:19,640
It just was not there. 
The singing wasn't once it 

852
00:48:19,640 --> 00:48:23,080
anointed. 
They're just like it was so 

853
00:48:23,320 --> 00:48:25,280
empty. 
And I'm not saying that to be 

854
00:48:25,280 --> 00:48:27,320
me. 
I just, I was, it's very, it was

855
00:48:27,320 --> 00:48:31,520
very eye opening, man. 
What keeps them coming back? 

856
00:48:31,520 --> 00:48:33,520
Because you just, there's 
nothing here. 

857
00:48:34,120 --> 00:48:38,520
And, and she felt it too. 
And so she just started coming 

858
00:48:38,520 --> 00:48:44,280
to my church more and hers less 
until finally we were on the 

859
00:48:44,280 --> 00:48:48,120
phone one night and this topic 
came up. 

860
00:48:48,120 --> 00:48:49,320
You know, why is there a 
difference? 

861
00:48:49,800 --> 00:48:52,400
Why, why do I feel this at your 
church and not mine? 

862
00:48:52,400 --> 00:48:55,000
And then we started again to 
what differences there were 

863
00:48:55,000 --> 00:48:57,600
because up until that point, I 
think she just thought we, we 

864
00:48:57,600 --> 00:49:01,800
believe the same thing. 
And and so it kind of got tense 

865
00:49:01,800 --> 00:49:04,800
on the phone a little bit and 
the call didn't end very well 

866
00:49:04,800 --> 00:49:08,640
like it would. 
Even though she's never changed.

867
00:49:10,560 --> 00:49:14,040
It kind of, you know, in a, in a
lot of times it can turn into 

868
00:49:14,040 --> 00:49:16,760
oh, you're so you're saying that
blah, blah, blah. 

869
00:49:16,760 --> 00:49:20,680
You know, yeah, yeah. 
And I'm like eventually I'm not 

870
00:49:20,680 --> 00:49:24,960
saying anybody saved or not. 
I'm not God, that's not, I have 

871
00:49:24,960 --> 00:49:28,560
no right to say that. 
What I, what I can say is here's

872
00:49:28,560 --> 00:49:32,800
what the Bible says we need to 
do for salvation and I want to 

873
00:49:32,800 --> 00:49:35,000
be saved. 
And so more so than what I've 

874
00:49:35,000 --> 00:49:39,840
been raised to believe, more so 
than what I've been taught what 

875
00:49:39,840 --> 00:49:41,680
I believe, it doesn't really 
matter. 

876
00:49:42,520 --> 00:49:45,640
It's this is what matters. 
And so the, the conversation 

877
00:49:45,640 --> 00:49:48,600
ended very tense, but then she 
called me the next day. 

878
00:49:48,600 --> 00:49:51,760
I was at work and she called me.
I answered the phone and she 

879
00:49:51,760 --> 00:49:57,200
said I got the Holy Ghost what? 
And I and I said and I was the 

880
00:49:57,200 --> 00:50:00,920
exact same reaction because it 
was the middle of the day and I 

881
00:50:00,920 --> 00:50:03,880
was like what? 
And she goes, I got the Holy 

882
00:50:03,880 --> 00:50:09,600
Ghost and I spoke in tons and I 
said what, when, where, how? 

883
00:50:10,240 --> 00:50:13,360
And she said I had a dream last 
night after I think it was the 

884
00:50:13,360 --> 00:50:16,560
next night. 
And she said I had a dream that 

885
00:50:17,120 --> 00:50:22,280
I found myself in hell. 
And it scared me so bad that 

886
00:50:22,280 --> 00:50:24,440
when she woke up, she started 
praying. 

887
00:50:24,880 --> 00:50:26,560
She was at home alone in her 
living room. 

888
00:50:27,240 --> 00:50:29,800
She got the Bible out and she 
kind of somewhat to what my 

889
00:50:29,800 --> 00:50:32,480
grandma went through. 
She's like if I'm missing 

890
00:50:32,480 --> 00:50:35,760
something show me. 
And she had a little prayer 

891
00:50:35,760 --> 00:50:38,600
meeting in her own living room, 
and she got the Holy Ghost in 

892
00:50:38,600 --> 00:50:40,320
her living room. 
That's insane. 

893
00:50:40,760 --> 00:50:42,120
And how? 
Old would she have been in time 

894
00:50:42,120 --> 00:50:45,560
1718? 
She was 17. 

895
00:50:46,280 --> 00:50:48,280
Yeah, and. 
She just decided that's insane. 

896
00:50:48,280 --> 00:50:51,160
She just decided to whip a a 
Bible out and then pray until 

897
00:50:51,160 --> 00:50:53,720
she got the. 
Oh man, you have some, you have 

898
00:50:53,720 --> 00:50:56,560
some nightmares, man, when you 
wake up and that is sweat, dude,

899
00:50:56,600 --> 00:50:58,520
that is true. 
You got a you got a pose in her 

900
00:50:58,520 --> 00:50:59,440
shoes. 
I'd be like. 

901
00:51:00,360 --> 00:51:05,280
And so she was 17 when that all 
happened. 

902
00:51:05,880 --> 00:51:13,240
I proposed to her on her 
birthday of 2007, March of 2007 

903
00:51:13,960 --> 00:51:18,000
and then we were married. 
March of 2007. 

904
00:51:19,720 --> 00:51:21,560
Yeah, we've been married for 18 
years. 

905
00:51:21,560 --> 00:51:22,520
That's. 
Crazy dude. 

906
00:51:23,400 --> 00:51:26,120
And so she 12 years old, we got 
married. 

907
00:51:26,960 --> 00:51:31,600
We got married on July July 7th 
of 2007. 

908
00:51:31,600 --> 00:51:36,280
So she got the Holy Ghost at 17 
between her junior and senior 

909
00:51:36,280 --> 00:51:37,760
year. 
So when she went back to school,

910
00:51:38,320 --> 00:51:40,600
she was completely changed. 
And so, I mean, that's her 

911
00:51:40,600 --> 00:51:41,640
testimony. 
Yeah. 

912
00:51:42,680 --> 00:51:49,600
But yeah, we got married in 
2007, and we kept going to 

913
00:51:49,600 --> 00:51:53,520
Emmanuel Apostolic EAC Pastor 
Mark Abernathy from the time I 

914
00:51:53,520 --> 00:51:55,440
was 16. 
She got in a church. 

915
00:51:56,000 --> 00:51:58,640
We got married. 
We went to that same church 

916
00:51:58,640 --> 00:52:00,400
until we moved to Alabama six 
years ago. 

917
00:52:01,040 --> 00:52:03,040
And we got married in that 
church. 

918
00:52:03,320 --> 00:52:04,680
Our kids were born in that 
church. 

919
00:52:04,680 --> 00:52:07,160
My both of my kids were 
dedicated in that church. 

920
00:52:08,880 --> 00:52:13,880
Pastor Mark Abernathy is a a 
huge pillar in my my upbringing.

921
00:52:14,160 --> 00:52:20,640
Yeah, so obviously. 
You left Indiana with fond 

922
00:52:20,640 --> 00:52:23,520
feelings of yeah, what brought 
you to Alabama? 

923
00:52:23,920 --> 00:52:28,760
So in two. 1008 the housing 
market crashed. 

924
00:52:29,240 --> 00:52:33,600
I had just got married and I was
doing at the time doing windows 

925
00:52:33,600 --> 00:52:37,320
and doors, residential windows 
and doors, and I was paid peace 

926
00:52:37,320 --> 00:52:39,480
rate. 
So I got paid based on what I 

927
00:52:39,480 --> 00:52:41,080
put in. 
So the more I installed, the 

928
00:52:41,080 --> 00:52:43,480
more I can make. 
But also if there's no work to 

929
00:52:43,480 --> 00:52:46,760
do, there's there's no pay. 
So in 2008, I had a really good 

930
00:52:46,760 --> 00:52:48,600
year. 
The housing market crashed, but 

931
00:52:48,600 --> 00:52:50,200
the recession hadn't really 
kicked in yet. 

932
00:52:51,240 --> 00:52:55,560
In 2009, I lost 50% of what I 
had made in 2008. 

933
00:52:56,240 --> 00:53:00,760
And then in 2010, I had lost 
like 30% of what I made in 2009.

934
00:53:01,160 --> 00:53:05,760
So in a two year span of time, I
lost 65% roughly of my income. 

935
00:53:06,520 --> 00:53:11,360
And that'll devastate anybody. 
Amber was, Amber had a, a 

936
00:53:11,360 --> 00:53:13,280
scholarship, so she was going to
school. 

937
00:53:13,280 --> 00:53:19,920
So she was, I was, it was just 
me working and losing that much 

938
00:53:19,920 --> 00:53:22,480
income in that amount of time. 
And I was also young and dumb 

939
00:53:22,480 --> 00:53:24,520
and we made some stupid 
financial decisions. 

940
00:53:24,520 --> 00:53:28,120
So I was kind of staged myself 
to make it worse. 

941
00:53:28,920 --> 00:53:34,640
And so I ended up defaulting on 
a big student private student 

942
00:53:34,640 --> 00:53:37,280
loan I had taken out that I 
didn't even use on school. 

943
00:53:37,840 --> 00:53:42,360
And I defaulted on some credit 
cards and got sued over my 

944
00:53:42,360 --> 00:53:45,320
student loan and got taken to 
court and sued over one of the 

945
00:53:45,320 --> 00:53:51,040
credit cards and taken to court.
And I eventually quit the job 

946
00:53:51,040 --> 00:53:52,320
just because I just couldn't 
make. 

947
00:53:52,320 --> 00:53:56,600
There was nobody buying like 
remodeling industry was really 

948
00:53:56,600 --> 00:53:57,320
hit. 
Yeah. 

949
00:53:57,960 --> 00:54:00,160
So I eventually quit that job 
and got a job at ALDI 

950
00:54:00,160 --> 00:54:01,640
Distribution. 
It was the only place I could 

951
00:54:01,640 --> 00:54:05,080
find a job at and I was making 
basically nothing. 

952
00:54:05,480 --> 00:54:10,200
And I was getting sued by these 
companies and I had wages 

953
00:54:10,200 --> 00:54:16,440
garnished. 
And we, I mean, it was just a 

954
00:54:16,440 --> 00:54:18,360
very hard financial time in our 
life. 

955
00:54:18,360 --> 00:54:22,920
And it was for years from 2009 
basically up until we moved to 

956
00:54:22,920 --> 00:54:27,600
Alabama six years ago. 
And so I got in this huge hole 

957
00:54:27,600 --> 00:54:33,240
of debt and we had sold 
everything that we had that 

958
00:54:33,240 --> 00:54:38,000
wasn't pretty much necessary. 
And we had our electricity shut 

959
00:54:38,000 --> 00:54:40,600
off. 
And Bella was, she was born in 

960
00:54:40,600 --> 00:54:44,760
2010. 
That year we had our electricity

961
00:54:44,760 --> 00:54:45,880
shut off in the middle of 
winter. 

962
00:54:46,760 --> 00:54:49,840
And then I was behind. 
I was behind on everything, 

963
00:54:49,840 --> 00:54:52,800
behind on the rent. 
They were garnishing my wages, 

964
00:54:52,800 --> 00:54:55,280
which are already weren't enough
to support us. 

965
00:54:56,160 --> 00:55:02,760
We ended up having to move out 
of our apartment and move in 

966
00:55:02,760 --> 00:55:08,400
with my wife's father, who was 
an alcoholic. 

967
00:55:08,920 --> 00:55:14,640
And so it was not only 
humiliating, but it was not a 

968
00:55:14,640 --> 00:55:17,960
great environment either. 
And so now we're living back in 

969
00:55:17,960 --> 00:55:21,040
our hometown. 
I can't find a job anywhere. 

970
00:55:21,080 --> 00:55:24,200
I got fired from the auto 
distribution center because I 

971
00:55:24,200 --> 00:55:27,280
was one minute late and three 
minutes late within a 90 day 

972
00:55:27,280 --> 00:55:30,760
period of time clocking in and 
they had a 0 talents policy. 

973
00:55:30,760 --> 00:55:33,880
So when I clocked in late the 
second time in a 90 day period 

974
00:55:33,880 --> 00:55:38,120
of time they just said they just
walked me out and it was the 

975
00:55:38,120 --> 00:55:40,840
worst of the recession. 
I mean unemployment was at its 

976
00:55:40,840 --> 00:55:42,280
highest rate since the Great 
Depression. 

977
00:55:43,480 --> 00:55:47,040
And I had a plot I was just 
applying in this late to jobs 

978
00:55:47,840 --> 00:55:51,800
and it got even worse once we 
moved in with my father-in-law. 

979
00:55:53,040 --> 00:55:59,200
My wife's car was repossessed 
twice and same car, same car 

980
00:55:59,560 --> 00:56:02,040
twice. 
So it's actually a funny story. 

981
00:56:03,600 --> 00:56:08,840
They repossessed it once and so 
when we were laid on it again, 

982
00:56:09,520 --> 00:56:13,160
they threatened to repossess it.
So we started, Amber's going to 

983
00:56:13,160 --> 00:56:17,440
hate that that's we started 
hiding the car in my in her 

984
00:56:17,440 --> 00:56:19,600
grandpa's barn because he lived 
next door. 

985
00:56:20,320 --> 00:56:23,880
But they repossessed it anyway 
and they just called it an 

986
00:56:23,880 --> 00:56:26,320
unclaimed repossessed because 
they couldn't find the car. 

987
00:56:26,400 --> 00:56:28,080
But they still charged us all 
the money. 

988
00:56:29,360 --> 00:56:30,640
So. 
But yeah, it was a horrible 

989
00:56:30,640 --> 00:56:31,720
time. 
Financially. 

990
00:56:32,320 --> 00:56:34,680
We just kept getting into a 
deeper and deeper hole. 

991
00:56:34,800 --> 00:56:38,280
Amber at this time was still in 
school, so she was working part 

992
00:56:38,280 --> 00:56:41,640
time as much as she could. 
But basically we dug into this 

993
00:56:41,640 --> 00:56:47,800
massive financial hole and many 
times we didn't have any before 

994
00:56:47,800 --> 00:56:50,840
we moved into the following law.
We there mean times we didn't 

995
00:56:50,840 --> 00:56:55,640
have food in in the house and 
only enough gas to get to 

996
00:56:55,640 --> 00:56:57,720
church, but not enough gas to 
get back. 

997
00:56:58,440 --> 00:57:04,480
And God always made a way. 
But kind of what turned the tide

998
00:57:04,640 --> 00:57:09,600
kind of started the recovery was
and this is a funny story too, 

999
00:57:09,600 --> 00:57:15,280
but I was home alone with Bella 
and Amber was at school and the 

1000
00:57:15,280 --> 00:57:19,280
700 Club had come on the TV in 
the living room and I don't sit 

1001
00:57:19,280 --> 00:57:21,640
around watching 700 club and I 
don't even know if you know what

1002
00:57:21,640 --> 00:57:23,880
that is. 
It's really old, old people 

1003
00:57:23,880 --> 00:57:27,800
show, but it's a religious 
program. 

1004
00:57:28,400 --> 00:57:33,360
And what caught my attention was
this lady on on the show saying 

1005
00:57:33,360 --> 00:57:35,920
that she had lost her corporate 
job. 

1006
00:57:35,920 --> 00:57:39,600
And you know, she was like me 
applying to just anything at 

1007
00:57:39,600 --> 00:57:41,360
this point. 
She just couldn't find a job and

1008
00:57:41,360 --> 00:57:42,880
she was just trying to get 
anything. 

1009
00:57:42,880 --> 00:57:46,000
And I was too. 
I'd applied to just endless 

1010
00:57:46,000 --> 00:57:48,640
amount of things and, and to the
point where I've completely lost

1011
00:57:48,640 --> 00:57:51,720
of all my pride. 
Like I'm back in my hometown and

1012
00:57:51,720 --> 00:57:55,600
I'm applying to I'm, I'm, I have
a child now and I'm applying to 

1013
00:57:55,600 --> 00:57:58,920
fast food restaurants and 
janitors and gas stations and 

1014
00:57:58,920 --> 00:58:01,840
nobody will hire me. 
Like gas stations won't hire me.

1015
00:58:02,760 --> 00:58:07,040
Like nobody's calling. 
And so she said that God kept 

1016
00:58:07,040 --> 00:58:10,760
impressing on her that you're a 
child of the king and King's 

1017
00:58:10,760 --> 00:58:14,560
children don't beg. 
And so I sit there and I, you 

1018
00:58:14,560 --> 00:58:17,240
know, I watched the program and,
and she said, so I made a list 

1019
00:58:17,680 --> 00:58:19,360
of everything that I wanted in a
job. 

1020
00:58:19,360 --> 00:58:20,880
And she said she wasn't being 
unreasonable. 

1021
00:58:20,880 --> 00:58:22,080
She knew what her experience 
was. 

1022
00:58:22,080 --> 00:58:25,080
So she wasn't being like lofty, 
but she's like, I put everything

1023
00:58:25,080 --> 00:58:27,880
that I wanted in that job. 
Just started praying like, God, 

1024
00:58:27,880 --> 00:58:30,800
I am a child of the king and 
King's children don't beg. 

1025
00:58:31,280 --> 00:58:33,160
And here's what I'm asking you 
to open the door. 

1026
00:58:33,560 --> 00:58:37,880
And she got a interview and a 
job offering that checked every 

1027
00:58:37,880 --> 00:58:40,200
line on that paper. 
So I did the same thing. 

1028
00:58:40,440 --> 00:58:42,680
And Amber came home from school 
and I was like, hey, I saw this 

1029
00:58:43,120 --> 00:58:48,240
episode of 700 Club. 
Pat Robertson And so I made a 

1030
00:58:48,240 --> 00:58:52,720
list of everything I wanted in a
job and we put it on the bedroom

1031
00:58:52,720 --> 00:58:56,760
door and we were praying over 
every every day and, and, and 

1032
00:58:56,760 --> 00:59:00,160
night, you know, God open a door
because I'm a child of the king 

1033
00:59:00,160 --> 00:59:03,080
too. 
And I told Amber, I said, this 

1034
00:59:03,080 --> 00:59:06,560
month I've applied to over 100 
places and I said that only one 

1035
00:59:06,560 --> 00:59:08,360
of them is 1 I would actually 
want. 

1036
00:59:09,120 --> 00:59:12,200
And it was for an entry level IT
position at an Internet service 

1037
00:59:12,200 --> 00:59:15,320
provider. 
And I said, but it's, they want 

1038
00:59:15,320 --> 00:59:18,360
a degree. 
I don't have a degree, I'm not 

1039
00:59:18,360 --> 00:59:20,560
qualified for it, but I was 
like, I think I would actually 

1040
00:59:20,560 --> 00:59:24,320
enjoy that job. 
So couple days probably. 

1041
00:59:24,320 --> 00:59:27,840
I forget what the time frame 
was, but I got a phone call, not

1042
00:59:27,840 --> 00:59:30,320
from the janitor, not from the 
fast food. 

1043
00:59:30,880 --> 00:59:34,680
Of all the, the, the most 
unqualified position that I 

1044
00:59:34,680 --> 00:59:36,200
applied for is the one that 
called me. 

1045
00:59:36,640 --> 00:59:39,640
And she said, are you still 
interested in this position? 

1046
00:59:39,640 --> 00:59:41,400
And I said, I, I'm very 
interested. 

1047
00:59:41,400 --> 00:59:42,920
I could, I could come interview 
today. 

1048
00:59:42,920 --> 00:59:45,520
And she was kind of giggled and 
she's like, well, it's like 

1049
00:59:45,520 --> 00:59:47,920
3:00, so you'd have to be here 
by 3:30. 

1050
00:59:47,920 --> 00:59:49,200
And I said, I can go out the 
door right now. 

1051
00:59:50,680 --> 00:59:54,640
And she said, OK, well, come on.
And so I interviewed with the 

1052
00:59:54,640 --> 00:59:58,520
boss, the manager of the place, 
and she said, I, you don't have 

1053
00:59:58,520 --> 01:00:00,680
a degree. 
And I was like, no, I don't have

1054
01:00:00,680 --> 01:00:01,880
a degree. 
I haven't finished. 

1055
01:00:01,880 --> 01:00:08,640
And, and, and she asked me some 
technical questions and I didn't

1056
01:00:08,640 --> 01:00:12,840
answer them very well because. 
I did, I, I was a technical 

1057
01:00:12,840 --> 01:00:15,320
person, but I didn't know how to
answer the thing she was asking.

1058
01:00:15,320 --> 01:00:18,920
And so she's like, why should I 
hire you because you don't have 

1059
01:00:18,920 --> 01:00:21,960
a degree and you didn't really 
know a lot of these questions. 

1060
01:00:21,960 --> 01:00:26,480
And I said, you know, Long story
short, I will be the kind of 

1061
01:00:26,480 --> 01:00:29,040
person that will figure it out 
like if you just give me a 

1062
01:00:29,040 --> 01:00:31,400
chance. 
And so Long story short, that 

1063
01:00:31,400 --> 01:00:35,080
job is what kind of started the 
recovery for us. 

1064
01:00:35,640 --> 01:00:39,280
And I was there for like 5 
years, 4-5 years. 

1065
01:00:39,920 --> 01:00:44,080
And I moved from Technical 
Support to network operations 

1066
01:00:44,080 --> 01:00:47,160
and I kept applying for network 
engineering. 

1067
01:00:47,640 --> 01:00:51,280
But they, it was the whole cycle
of we won't hire you because you

1068
01:00:51,280 --> 01:00:53,480
don't have experience and you 
don't have experience because we

1069
01:00:53,480 --> 01:00:57,240
won't hire you. 
And Indiana's not like a hub for

1070
01:00:57,240 --> 01:01:00,760
technology, you know, So there's
really not that much 

1071
01:01:00,760 --> 01:01:04,000
opportunity. 
And so I'd went on my first 

1072
01:01:04,000 --> 01:01:08,800
business trip for my current, 
the job in Indiana and it was to

1073
01:01:08,800 --> 01:01:12,800
Denver, Co for this new piece of
equipment we were going to 

1074
01:01:12,880 --> 01:01:16,680
deploy. 
And I went to, I visited church 

1075
01:01:16,680 --> 01:01:21,000
there and I was considering at 
this time, I was kind of getting

1076
01:01:21,000 --> 01:01:22,760
better at my job for not hiring 
me. 

1077
01:01:22,760 --> 01:01:27,320
I had applied like 8 times. 
And, and so we were, I had 

1078
01:01:27,520 --> 01:01:31,400
talked to Amber, hey, what if we
moved, you know, somewhere with 

1079
01:01:31,400 --> 01:01:33,840
some better opportunity. 
And so I went to the service in 

1080
01:01:33,840 --> 01:01:39,680
Denver, Co, Landmark Tabernacle,
and there was the gifts of the 

1081
01:01:39,680 --> 01:01:44,280
Spirit moved there that service.
And he had asked us to reach out

1082
01:01:44,280 --> 01:01:46,800
to two or three people around us
and tell them the number one 

1083
01:01:46,800 --> 01:01:49,520
thing we've been praying over. 
And I told these two guys, I 

1084
01:01:49,520 --> 01:01:51,920
don't even know these guys, 
'cause I was just visiting. 

1085
01:01:51,920 --> 01:01:53,800
And I said, hey, I've been 
praying. 

1086
01:01:53,800 --> 01:01:57,840
If God is closing this door and 
opening another door, should I 

1087
01:01:57,840 --> 01:02:03,000
move for work and whatnot? 
And, and then the tongues and 

1088
01:02:03,000 --> 01:02:05,400
interpretation came forward 
later and it, and it said, and 

1089
01:02:05,400 --> 01:02:08,160
the, the interpretation was 
you've been looking for 

1090
01:02:08,160 --> 01:02:11,160
direction and I'm telling you 
it's time to move forward. 

1091
01:02:11,800 --> 01:02:15,240
And so I kind of took that as 
like, OK, maybe it's time to 

1092
01:02:15,240 --> 01:02:19,360
move on. 
So the interpretation of that 

1093
01:02:19,360 --> 01:02:22,000
service was you've been looking 
for direction and it's time to 

1094
01:02:22,000 --> 01:02:25,000
move forward. 
And kind of took that as an 

1095
01:02:25,600 --> 01:02:30,640
let's explore some possibilities
of moving for for work 

1096
01:02:30,640 --> 01:02:33,880
opportunity, better work 
opportunity, because that we had

1097
01:02:33,880 --> 01:02:37,400
been in such a hard financial 
time that we really needed that 

1098
01:02:38,200 --> 01:02:41,920
for our family. 
And so God opened up just an 

1099
01:02:41,920 --> 01:02:46,840
incredible amount of doors to 
get me to initially NASA, which 

1100
01:02:46,840 --> 01:02:49,000
is what brought the job that 
brought me here. 

1101
01:02:49,280 --> 01:02:53,240
And I mean, I could spend 10 
minutes just about how God 

1102
01:02:53,240 --> 01:02:58,480
opened those doors. 
But and, and to live gate 

1103
01:02:58,480 --> 01:03:04,000
specifically, you know, once I 
had that job offer to move here,

1104
01:03:04,880 --> 01:03:06,960
of course, I needed to find a 
new home church. 

1105
01:03:06,960 --> 01:03:11,080
And I had looked online and 
tried to find, you know, what 

1106
01:03:11,080 --> 01:03:13,400
churches were here. 
Think I found the Lifegate 

1107
01:03:13,400 --> 01:03:17,240
Facebook page and it confused me
at first because it didn't look 

1108
01:03:17,240 --> 01:03:20,200
like a church. 
And that was, it was right when 

1109
01:03:20,200 --> 01:03:22,960
you guys got in this building 
and the walls still have the 

1110
01:03:22,960 --> 01:03:27,520
green stripe and shelves and 
carts and whatnot. 

1111
01:03:28,120 --> 01:03:32,960
And I initially was like, Nope, 
it kept looking. 

1112
01:03:33,520 --> 01:03:37,760
And the first church we visited 
was in Decatur, but we didn't 

1113
01:03:37,760 --> 01:03:39,360
know where, where we're going to
end up. 

1114
01:03:39,360 --> 01:03:42,520
And Decatur is a little far away
from where we were going to be, 

1115
01:03:42,960 --> 01:03:44,080
what we thought we were going to
be. 

1116
01:03:44,080 --> 01:03:49,320
So I had visited here while 
Amber was still in Indiana 

1117
01:03:49,320 --> 01:03:52,920
because I lived here for 10 
weeks before they came down here

1118
01:03:52,920 --> 01:03:54,320
because they were finishing the 
school year. 

1119
01:03:54,960 --> 01:03:59,640
And so I visited by myself on a 
Wednesday night, went out with 

1120
01:03:59,720 --> 01:04:03,080
the youth group here, even 
though I was not in the youth 

1121
01:04:03,080 --> 01:04:06,160
group, but went out with the 
youth group. 

1122
01:04:06,480 --> 01:04:11,000
And what I had felt in the 
service, like just the worship 

1123
01:04:11,000 --> 01:04:13,240
service, I was like, this is the
place. 

1124
01:04:13,240 --> 01:04:16,920
I mean, like, obviously the 
construction and everything, 

1125
01:04:17,320 --> 01:04:19,560
Visually, it looked a little 
dishevelled. 

1126
01:04:20,600 --> 01:04:23,680
But when I told Amber, I was 
like, maybe this is the life, 

1127
01:04:23,680 --> 01:04:25,680
this is the church. 
And she was looking at the 

1128
01:04:25,680 --> 01:04:30,640
pictures and, you know, she's 
like timing look. 

1129
01:04:30,760 --> 01:04:35,720
Around. 
So but then when she came the 

1130
01:04:35,720 --> 01:04:40,360
first Sunday, I think it was, 
and it was just very refreshing 

1131
01:04:40,440 --> 01:04:45,160
move of God. 
And it didn't I, I, we didn't 

1132
01:04:45,360 --> 01:04:48,800
visit anywhere else. 
We just instantly felt like this

1133
01:04:48,800 --> 01:04:51,120
is where we needed to be. 
Yeah. 

1134
01:04:53,880 --> 01:04:54,480
I know. 
I know. 

1135
01:04:54,480 --> 01:04:55,080
You. 
You. 

1136
01:04:55,440 --> 01:04:56,480
Kind of like, you know, could 
go. 

1137
01:04:56,480 --> 01:05:00,600
All on and on about God opening 
doors for, for jobs and, and 

1138
01:05:00,600 --> 01:05:05,080
stuff like that. 
And you obviously know when I 

1139
01:05:05,080 --> 01:05:10,720
say this, I mean it, but to me 
and, and we're going to get into

1140
01:05:10,720 --> 01:05:13,160
some miraculous things that have
happened, like actual 

1141
01:05:13,160 --> 01:05:18,320
supernatural miraculous things. 
But it is a miraculous thing to 

1142
01:05:18,320 --> 01:05:22,240
be able to get a, a job and a 
career, especially when you're 

1143
01:05:22,240 --> 01:05:25,840
so desperate for it. 
I mean it, it I like in like 

1144
01:05:25,840 --> 01:05:28,160
getting getting that career, 
getting that job, finally 

1145
01:05:28,160 --> 01:05:31,080
getting it after after searching
and trying. 

1146
01:05:31,080 --> 01:05:37,080
I mean, I know what it's like to
apply for 150 a day jobs knowing

1147
01:05:37,080 --> 01:05:38,200
good and well. 
You're like, man, if these 

1148
01:05:38,200 --> 01:05:42,160
people call me like, yeah, I'll 
take it, but this is really not.

1149
01:05:42,160 --> 01:05:45,520
But I just I got to get 
something and to finally get it,

1150
01:05:45,520 --> 01:05:47,160
man. 
To me, I would say that's 

1151
01:05:48,200 --> 01:05:49,840
everybody's situation is 
different, but that's. 

1152
01:05:49,840 --> 01:05:51,680
A miracle thing, right? 
There, I mean that's that's got 

1153
01:05:51,680 --> 01:05:54,280
it's liking to finally being 
able to see after so long not 

1154
01:05:54,280 --> 01:06:00,560
being able to see so and and it 
sounds it, I know for a fact 

1155
01:06:00,560 --> 01:06:03,400
that that is something that has 
impacted a lot of people in this

1156
01:06:03,680 --> 01:06:09,400
in this church personally as far
as just careers and trying to 

1157
01:06:09,400 --> 01:06:12,120
get to that getting that job 
that like, hey, this is the one.

1158
01:06:12,120 --> 01:06:15,120
Not only will it will it pay the
bills, but now I can be involved

1159
01:06:15,120 --> 01:06:16,960
and I'm not on a terrible 
schedule. 

1160
01:06:16,960 --> 01:06:23,760
So I don't want to downplay 
God's ability to take care of us

1161
01:06:24,840 --> 01:06:30,840
and get us those those blessings
because he still does do it and 

1162
01:06:30,840 --> 01:06:34,440
it and it is something that's 
definitely it's it's a nice 

1163
01:06:34,440 --> 01:06:36,360
thing to have. 
It's a nice it's a good thing. 

1164
01:06:37,960 --> 01:06:40,400
And I say that just because, you
know, I've been through that and

1165
01:06:40,400 --> 01:06:42,160
I know there are people who are 
going through it. 

1166
01:06:42,160 --> 01:06:46,600
And God's blessed us with, with 
jobs and careers that we're 

1167
01:06:46,600 --> 01:06:49,360
thankful for. 
And, and it's definitely 

1168
01:06:49,360 --> 01:06:52,640
something he still cares even if
it seems, even if it seems so 

1169
01:06:52,640 --> 01:06:57,240
trivial, like it's not a health 
issue, but you know, he still 

1170
01:06:57,240 --> 01:07:00,000
cares about us and still cares 
about us being able to have a 

1171
01:07:00,000 --> 01:07:03,240
job that we like and that that 
can do what we need it to do 

1172
01:07:04,520 --> 01:07:08,640
well in the the tough times. 
You know, it's easy to be like, 

1173
01:07:08,640 --> 01:07:09,880
well, why didn't God help me 
then? 

1174
01:07:09,880 --> 01:07:14,400
But looking back, you see how 
all of that was shaping you as a

1175
01:07:14,400 --> 01:07:18,200
person. 
So I had mentioned there were 

1176
01:07:18,200 --> 01:07:20,720
times where we I tell Amber we 
have enough gas to get to 

1177
01:07:20,720 --> 01:07:22,000
church. 
We don't have enough gas to get 

1178
01:07:22,000 --> 01:07:25,280
back. 
But we always said God wants us 

1179
01:07:25,280 --> 01:07:27,640
in that in his house. 
So we're going to go to church 

1180
01:07:27,640 --> 01:07:34,360
and God's going to make way. 
And on multiple occasions, I 

1181
01:07:34,360 --> 01:07:35,560
didn't know how we're going to 
get home. 

1182
01:07:36,000 --> 01:07:40,640
And it would always be a random 
handshake that had a $20 bill. 

1183
01:07:40,840 --> 01:07:45,520
One time my pastor had it in 
Indiana, shook his hand and 

1184
01:07:45,520 --> 01:07:49,240
there's $500 in his hand. 
And it was, you know, that 

1185
01:07:49,280 --> 01:07:53,160
secret slip of the money. 
And he said, someone said that 

1186
01:07:53,160 --> 01:07:54,880
God told them to give this to 
you today. 

1187
01:07:56,120 --> 01:07:58,960
And you're like, that's a 
miracle. 

1188
01:07:58,960 --> 01:08:01,440
Like you have no idea, like the 
timing. 

1189
01:08:02,080 --> 01:08:06,760
Another time somebody Amber had 
graduated from, had graduated 

1190
01:08:07,040 --> 01:08:10,680
and this was like a couple 
months later and, and it was 

1191
01:08:10,680 --> 01:08:12,960
another one of the services 
where it was a Wednesday night. 

1192
01:08:12,960 --> 01:08:15,520
We didn't have money to get, we 
had enough gas to get there. 

1193
01:08:15,920 --> 01:08:19,399
And then this lady, this older 
lady came up and she goes, I 

1194
01:08:19,399 --> 01:08:23,359
forgot to give Amber her 
graduation card and it had money

1195
01:08:23,359 --> 01:08:25,800
in it. 
And it's just like so many of 

1196
01:08:25,800 --> 01:08:27,840
those opportunities. 
And so you look back and you're 

1197
01:08:27,840 --> 01:08:32,760
like, God was doing something in
the, the way I, I think he was 

1198
01:08:32,760 --> 01:08:36,439
changing my priorities, but he 
was also taking care of me. 

1199
01:08:36,840 --> 01:08:41,160
And there was multiple times, at
least two or three times where 

1200
01:08:41,800 --> 01:08:44,439
we would open our front door and
there'd be groceries on the 

1201
01:08:44,439 --> 01:08:50,720
floor on the, on the door front.
And God just spoke to somebody, 

1202
01:08:51,200 --> 01:08:54,640
bring him groceries. 
So, you know, God has always 

1203
01:08:54,640 --> 01:08:57,800
provided, even when I talk about
the down times, he was providing

1204
01:08:58,040 --> 01:08:59,399
during those times. 
Absolutely. 

1205
01:08:59,680 --> 01:09:02,080
I I think it's important too. 
Because. 

1206
01:09:02,160 --> 01:09:04,479
We're by no means prosperity 
doctrine people that, oh, give 

1207
01:09:04,479 --> 01:09:06,399
your life to God and then you're
never going to have any issues 

1208
01:09:06,399 --> 01:09:09,399
again. 
But I I think the benefit of 

1209
01:09:09,399 --> 01:09:12,399
that too, is your perspective of
a the hard times, because I 

1210
01:09:12,399 --> 01:09:17,040
don't think financial stability 
is just a mark that Oh, God's 

1211
01:09:17,040 --> 01:09:19,040
got you, you know, OK, you're 
doing right. 

1212
01:09:20,240 --> 01:09:22,319
But even in those times you're 
saying God provided for you. 

1213
01:09:22,319 --> 01:09:25,359
And I think a testament to you 
as somebody that I want to touch

1214
01:09:25,359 --> 01:09:29,880
on Cam would say this as well, 
more so for him personally even.

1215
01:09:29,880 --> 01:09:34,359
But you went through the doors 
that God opened up right. 

1216
01:09:34,359 --> 01:09:36,319
And then a lot of stuff came 
from that. 

1217
01:09:36,359 --> 01:09:40,399
One thing that strikes me about 
you and your character is you're

1218
01:09:40,399 --> 01:09:45,160
not one that gate keeps that or 
is stingy with anything there. 

1219
01:09:45,160 --> 01:09:47,840
You help out everybody, even as 
simple as me. 

1220
01:09:48,240 --> 01:09:50,800
You are actually really good at 
building resumes and all. 

1221
01:09:51,040 --> 01:09:54,160
And when I was applying for this
job, God opened up a door for 

1222
01:09:54,160 --> 01:09:56,520
me. 
I've been struggling financially

1223
01:09:56,560 --> 01:09:59,400
and some job opened up for me 
the potential to get it. 

1224
01:09:59,400 --> 01:10:02,480
And I was like, hey, Eric, do 
you mind taking a look at my 

1225
01:10:02,480 --> 01:10:03,880
resume? 
And he was like, hey, I'll give 

1226
01:10:03,880 --> 01:10:06,720
you my format that I use, blah, 
blah, blah. 

1227
01:10:06,720 --> 01:10:09,160
And it totally shifted the way I
built resumes. 

1228
01:10:09,160 --> 01:10:11,000
I'm like, Dang, Eric really 
knows what he's doing. 

1229
01:10:11,440 --> 01:10:15,120
And that may not even be 
anything big to you, but for me,

1230
01:10:15,560 --> 01:10:18,520
I was even like, that's my, 
that's my blueprint now anyways 

1231
01:10:18,520 --> 01:10:20,920
for resumes. 
And that's so simple of just 

1232
01:10:20,920 --> 01:10:24,320
sharing a link of a resume, but 
things like that. 

1233
01:10:24,320 --> 01:10:26,400
And there's several people 
throughout our church, you can 

1234
01:10:26,400 --> 01:10:28,920
name them if you want, you know,
do a little humble brag, but 

1235
01:10:29,600 --> 01:10:33,240
there's so many people that 
you've went out to help. 

1236
01:10:33,240 --> 01:10:36,160
And I, I relate that to the 
groceries. 

1237
01:10:36,160 --> 01:10:38,720
You may not see it that type of 
way, but you've put me on the 

1238
01:10:38,720 --> 01:10:40,640
stuff I'm studying right now 
doing things. 

1239
01:10:40,680 --> 01:10:44,840
Cameron was in a career field. 
You helped him in an area where 

1240
01:10:44,840 --> 01:10:49,040
he was absolutely miserable. 
You helped him into an Ave. and 

1241
01:10:49,040 --> 01:10:51,920
opened the door, if you will, 
even just for him mentally say, 

1242
01:10:51,920 --> 01:10:54,280
hey, these are things you can do
and things you can explore. 

1243
01:10:54,560 --> 01:10:57,360
And I think if he was here for 
this one, he'd be giving you 

1244
01:10:57,360 --> 01:10:59,760
major props for that because you
you did change his life. 

1245
01:10:59,760 --> 01:11:01,840
He was miserable where he was 
at. 

1246
01:11:02,520 --> 01:11:05,120
I appreciate the kind words, but
I I. 

1247
01:11:05,320 --> 01:11:07,000
I'm I'm not saying that just to 
give you a. 

1248
01:11:07,000 --> 01:11:09,840
Little check on the shoulder. 
I think it's a lesson for us as 

1249
01:11:09,840 --> 01:11:14,680
well, though it's not as simple 
as, hey, if you can make it 

1250
01:11:14,680 --> 01:11:16,920
through the hard times, then 
you're blessed and then it's 

1251
01:11:16,920 --> 01:11:18,080
over. 
You're just good. 

1252
01:11:18,120 --> 01:11:21,960
You know, I think it's a 
testament to once God has given 

1253
01:11:21,960 --> 01:11:24,200
you that opportunity, man, use 
it. 

1254
01:11:24,400 --> 01:11:27,400
You know, absolutely help people
up and I think that's helped 

1255
01:11:27,680 --> 01:11:31,400
several people in our 
congregation alone and and I 

1256
01:11:31,400 --> 01:11:34,280
think you'll continue reaping 
benefits from that as well. 

1257
01:11:34,400 --> 01:11:38,240
I feel like it the times. 
Of always being the person on 

1258
01:11:38,240 --> 01:11:42,640
the needing end for so many 
years and like having so many 

1259
01:11:42,640 --> 01:11:44,880
people in the church who were 
willing to help. 

1260
01:11:45,360 --> 01:11:48,400
I mean, there was times where I,
I didn't have a job. 

1261
01:11:48,480 --> 01:11:51,640
I was applying a job and there 
were people in the church in 

1262
01:11:51,640 --> 01:11:54,560
Indiana who would let me go work
with them like contractors who 

1263
01:11:54,560 --> 01:11:57,000
had their own businesses and I 
know they didn't need my help. 

1264
01:11:57,680 --> 01:12:04,160
And so like God really kind of 
put that on me and Amber's heart

1265
01:12:04,200 --> 01:12:09,760
to, you know, now that God has 
blessed us so immensely that 

1266
01:12:10,200 --> 01:12:13,280
we're going to be the we're 
going to try to do the same, you

1267
01:12:13,280 --> 01:12:19,320
know, Well, I want to say that. 
The church is a family. 

1268
01:12:19,680 --> 01:12:21,840
That's what we all are. 
We call it we, we when we, when 

1269
01:12:21,840 --> 01:12:25,000
we reference each other, we say 
brother so and so, sister so and

1270
01:12:25,000 --> 01:12:29,120
so. 
And in a family, siblings, even 

1271
01:12:29,120 --> 01:12:31,800
if they might go at it or, or 
whatever, they, they're, they're

1272
01:12:31,800 --> 01:12:36,800
there for each other, you know, 
and I've that's, that's, that's 

1273
01:12:36,800 --> 01:12:41,320
an attitude that is, I'm not 
going to say is void because 

1274
01:12:41,320 --> 01:12:43,480
that would be wrong. 
But definitely there could be 

1275
01:12:43,480 --> 01:12:46,200
more of, and I'm one of those 
that you, you know, you helped 

1276
01:12:46,200 --> 01:12:49,000
me a lot. 
I bugged, I bugged you so much 

1277
01:12:49,000 --> 01:12:51,120
when I was trying to get a job 
for so many years. 

1278
01:12:51,120 --> 01:12:53,000
I was like, Eric, I was like, 
dude, I need help. 

1279
01:12:53,000 --> 01:12:54,760
And you were like, dude, apply 
for this, apply for that. 

1280
01:12:54,760 --> 01:12:59,000
Hey, I talked so and so I and I 
learned from those, from those 

1281
01:12:59,000 --> 01:13:01,560
interviews that you got me. 
I didn't get anything, but I 

1282
01:13:01,560 --> 01:13:05,120
learned from those so that when 
I was given an opportunity, I 

1283
01:13:05,120 --> 01:13:08,560
was like, Oh, I can nail this. 
And there's, there should be 

1284
01:13:08,560 --> 01:13:11,560
more of that, I think. 
And, and it's on me too, just 

1285
01:13:11,560 --> 01:13:15,760
being transparent, but of being 
able to say like, you know, hey,

1286
01:13:16,880 --> 01:13:20,040
these, these people who are, who
are with us here like these, 

1287
01:13:20,040 --> 01:13:22,680
this is our family. 
And you know, when you see them 

1288
01:13:22,680 --> 01:13:26,840
in need, regardless of what it 
is to, just to lend out a hand 

1289
01:13:26,840 --> 01:13:28,680
to, to try. 
I mean, I can't tell you how 

1290
01:13:28,680 --> 01:13:34,320
much of A, of an, of how much 
it, it, it, it, it made me feel 

1291
01:13:34,360 --> 01:13:36,960
like for me when, when I was 
bugging you so much and you were

1292
01:13:36,960 --> 01:13:39,800
like, hey, I, I talked to my so 
and so manager or hey, I put a 

1293
01:13:39,800 --> 01:13:41,840
referral here and there. 
And like so many people will 

1294
01:13:41,840 --> 01:13:45,640
say, Oh yeah, I'll, I'll go and 
I'll, I'll, I'll say a word for 

1295
01:13:45,640 --> 01:13:46,800
you. 
And they never do because they 

1296
01:13:46,800 --> 01:13:48,040
don't want to stick their neck 
out. 

1297
01:13:48,520 --> 01:13:50,200
But like, you were willing to do
that. 

1298
01:13:50,760 --> 01:13:53,000
He, he talked about Cam, but you
were willing to do that for me 

1299
01:13:53,000 --> 01:13:54,520
as well. 
And that means a lot to me to 

1300
01:13:54,520 --> 01:13:59,800
know like, OK, you don't know me
from from Adam really, because 

1301
01:14:00,040 --> 01:14:01,880
I, I wasn't able to be at the 
church, Holly dog. 

1302
01:14:01,880 --> 01:14:05,400
So how often I was working. 
But to, to be willing to, to 

1303
01:14:05,400 --> 01:14:09,600
stick your neck out at your job 
and, and say, Hey, I'll, I'll, 

1304
01:14:09,680 --> 01:14:10,960
I'll put a, I'll try to help 
you. 

1305
01:14:10,960 --> 01:14:13,400
I'm going to try to help you. 
I'm going to try to help you and

1306
01:14:13,400 --> 01:14:16,400
actually do it. 
If we could get more of that. 

1307
01:14:17,160 --> 01:14:19,240
And like I said, this, that's 
talking, this is me talking to 

1308
01:14:19,240 --> 01:14:21,040
me. 
If we could get more than that 

1309
01:14:21,040 --> 01:14:24,280
man, just it would make our, it 
would make our church feel even 

1310
01:14:24,280 --> 01:14:27,520
more like a family, which is how
I think it's supposed to be. 

1311
01:14:27,560 --> 01:14:30,400
I've always said that. 
I've always been. 

1312
01:14:30,400 --> 01:14:33,400
Closer to my church family than 
my biological family. 

1313
01:14:33,400 --> 01:14:36,360
I've always felt that, which is 
good. 

1314
01:14:36,480 --> 01:14:40,400
I think there's a aspect. 
To that community, you know, and

1315
01:14:40,400 --> 01:14:43,640
I think as we continue to grow, 
it's difficult. 

1316
01:14:43,640 --> 01:14:45,520
New people get in everything. 
You don't want it to become a 

1317
01:14:45,520 --> 01:14:50,080
clique of, hey, we've got our 
family, you know, and I think 

1318
01:14:50,080 --> 01:14:53,000
that's what's great of, well, 
you know, and you're welcomed 

1319
01:14:53,120 --> 01:14:56,560
like everybody welcomed. 
Me and like instantly just felt 

1320
01:14:56,560 --> 01:14:58,680
like I was part of Lifegate. 
That's good. 

1321
01:14:59,000 --> 01:15:02,680
That's and and now I think. 
You're of that next wave as new 

1322
01:15:02,680 --> 01:15:05,520
people come in, you're kind of 
one of those that's established 

1323
01:15:05,520 --> 01:15:09,400
in people's mind, you know, and 
then it's up to you and newer 

1324
01:15:09,400 --> 01:15:14,000
people as well welcoming them as
also, I feel like that's the 

1325
01:15:14,000 --> 01:15:15,720
biggest part of the community 
aspect. 

1326
01:15:15,720 --> 01:15:19,120
There should never be a point 
where, oh, hey, the the door is 

1327
01:15:19,120 --> 01:15:20,920
closed. 
Like we kind of got our art 

1328
01:15:20,920 --> 01:15:21,720
group. 
Absolutely. 

1329
01:15:21,720 --> 01:15:23,920
And that's another thing of why 
I love. 

1330
01:15:23,920 --> 01:15:28,040
Live gate so much is because and
I and I have nothing negative to

1331
01:15:28,040 --> 01:15:31,520
say about my old church. 
Like I said, I owe a lot to 

1332
01:15:31,960 --> 01:15:38,760
brother Mark Abernathy and but 
there's such a feeling of life 

1333
01:15:39,240 --> 01:15:43,440
like a freshness. 
There's always visitors here and

1334
01:15:43,600 --> 01:15:47,480
it's, it's great to be able to 
come in and see someone new all 

1335
01:15:47,480 --> 01:15:49,440
the time. 
It's incredible. 

1336
01:15:49,560 --> 01:15:54,120
And we needed Lifegate to, to, 
to grow spiritually because it 

1337
01:15:54,120 --> 01:15:58,880
wasn't just a move, it was a 
move for financial work reasons,

1338
01:15:58,880 --> 01:16:04,160
but it also was, we've grown so 
much spiritually as well. 

1339
01:16:04,520 --> 01:16:09,440
So Lifegate has taken us to the 
next level spiritually, and 

1340
01:16:09,440 --> 01:16:13,720
that's a testament to the family
atmosphere here and like how 

1341
01:16:13,720 --> 01:16:17,240
well we're allowed to integrate.
Yeah. 

1342
01:16:19,240 --> 01:16:24,800
So before I, before, before we, 
we, we, we start to close it 

1343
01:16:24,800 --> 01:16:27,960
down here. 
We've talked a lot about how God

1344
01:16:27,960 --> 01:16:31,640
has, he's made himself very 
present in your life. 

1345
01:16:31,840 --> 01:16:33,280
That's for sure. 
Absolutely. 

1346
01:16:33,760 --> 01:16:37,040
But I, I know from what you've 
told us in the past, so I'm 

1347
01:16:37,040 --> 01:16:38,040
going to get you to say it 
again. 

1348
01:16:38,040 --> 01:16:40,240
But there have been a few times 
where he has made himself 

1349
01:16:40,240 --> 01:16:44,080
present in your life in a 
supernatural way, not just 

1350
01:16:44,080 --> 01:16:47,320
groceries on the front door, 
which is great, which is great. 

1351
01:16:47,320 --> 01:16:52,280
But I'm talking like, wow. 
Like, yeah, absolutely. 

1352
01:16:52,280 --> 01:16:53,520
This should. 
This is not. 

1353
01:16:53,520 --> 01:16:56,960
Possible kind of a. 
Thing if you could dive into 

1354
01:16:56,960 --> 01:17:00,320
some of those for me, yeah. 
So 22 big ones. 

1355
01:17:00,680 --> 01:17:04,040
That are most, most people that 
I'm close to have heard. 

1356
01:17:04,040 --> 01:17:14,600
But in 2009, Amber was pregnant 
with Bella and it was October. 

1357
01:17:14,600 --> 01:17:18,240
Our church was doing a trunk or 
treat deal at the park like we 

1358
01:17:18,240 --> 01:17:24,120
did every other year and I was 
having either shocks or struts 

1359
01:17:24,120 --> 01:17:25,640
on my truck. 
I can't remember which ones are 

1360
01:17:25,640 --> 01:17:28,560
on the front but they need to 
replace really badly. 

1361
01:17:28,560 --> 01:17:34,320
So I pulled into my mother in 
law's house because her husband,

1362
01:17:34,320 --> 01:17:36,920
my wife's stepdad was a former 
mechanic. 

1363
01:17:39,520 --> 01:17:41,800
And I was trying to do it really
quickly so I can make truck or 

1364
01:17:41,800 --> 01:17:43,240
treat. 
I don't want to be late. 

1365
01:17:43,840 --> 01:17:46,280
And it was it was a work truck, 
but it was my truck. 

1366
01:17:46,280 --> 01:17:48,360
So I was responsible like it I 
owned it. 

1367
01:17:48,360 --> 01:17:52,320
So I had to fix it. 
And so we jacked the truck up. 

1368
01:17:52,320 --> 01:17:56,760
I didn't use Jack stands really 
stupid, just being very 

1369
01:17:56,760 --> 01:18:01,200
careless. 
And we were trying to get a bolt

1370
01:18:01,320 --> 01:18:04,840
out that wouldn't come out and 
we tried to use an angle grinder

1371
01:18:04,840 --> 01:18:10,760
to melt the bolt, basically melt
through the bolt, but it 

1372
01:18:10,760 --> 01:18:13,000
wouldn't come out. 
So he, he was like was hit it on

1373
01:18:13,000 --> 01:18:15,360
the back, like hit it from the 
backside with a hammer and it'll

1374
01:18:15,360 --> 01:18:17,600
probably come out because it's 
heated up now. 

1375
01:18:18,320 --> 01:18:20,720
And I got on my stomach and I 
slid underneath the engine 

1376
01:18:20,720 --> 01:18:23,040
compartment of the truck. 
So dumb. 

1377
01:18:23,880 --> 01:18:28,520
And I hit the bolt and as soon 
as I hit the bolt, the Jack fell

1378
01:18:28,520 --> 01:18:32,480
off or the the truck fell off 
the Jack and the truck fell on 

1379
01:18:32,480 --> 01:18:35,720
my back. 
And I know how much the truck 

1380
01:18:35,720 --> 01:18:38,280
weighs because I was doing 
windows and doors and I would 

1381
01:18:38,400 --> 01:18:42,080
scrap the aluminum windows. 
So I was weighing my truck all 

1382
01:18:42,080 --> 01:18:44,600
the time today. 
It was depending on how much 

1383
01:18:44,680 --> 01:18:50,360
stuff I had on there. 
It was 6000 to 6500 lbs this 

1384
01:18:50,360 --> 01:18:51,640
truck. 
And it was the engine 

1385
01:18:51,640 --> 01:18:54,320
compartment, which is the 
heavier part of the the truck. 

1386
01:18:54,320 --> 01:18:58,840
And it fell on my back And 
instantly I just accept I'm 

1387
01:18:58,840 --> 01:19:00,640
dead. 
Like you don't survive this. 

1388
01:19:00,640 --> 01:19:04,040
Like it's not humanly possible 
to survive this. 

1389
01:19:04,560 --> 01:19:07,200
Like it's human bodies cannot 
hold this much weight. 

1390
01:19:08,360 --> 01:19:11,280
And so I'm just praying in my 
head. 

1391
01:19:11,280 --> 01:19:13,680
I can't breathe because I can't 
expand my chest. 

1392
01:19:13,680 --> 01:19:17,720
Like I can't take a breath and 
I'm just praying whatever's not 

1393
01:19:17,720 --> 01:19:20,560
under the blood. 
Forgive me God, because I'm I'm 

1394
01:19:20,560 --> 01:19:22,800
dead. 
Like there's no hope. 

1395
01:19:24,120 --> 01:19:30,120
My wife's stepdad had had dump 
trucks, so he had another Jack 

1396
01:19:30,840 --> 01:19:33,360
that he used on my running 
rails, my running boards on my 

1397
01:19:33,360 --> 01:19:37,160
truck to get the truck off. 
And so the truck was off of me 

1398
01:19:37,160 --> 01:19:41,720
after probably, I don't know, he
says like 45 seconds or so. 

1399
01:19:44,320 --> 01:19:45,840
There's no, I don't, I don't 
know how much. 

1400
01:19:45,840 --> 01:19:49,080
Time passed, but. 
So he got the truck off me and 

1401
01:19:49,080 --> 01:19:50,840
I'm laying there and I can't 
breathe. 

1402
01:19:50,840 --> 01:19:54,920
Like I can't take a breath and I
can't feel my legs and I'm just 

1403
01:19:55,440 --> 01:20:00,640
waiting to die and my he comes 
back out with my mother-in-law 

1404
01:20:00,640 --> 01:20:04,720
and my sister-in-law who 
themselves don't serve God. 

1405
01:20:05,800 --> 01:20:11,160
But they got down and started 
praying for me and I went from 

1406
01:20:11,720 --> 01:20:14,560
not feeling my legs and can't 
breathe. 

1407
01:20:14,880 --> 01:20:17,880
Like I can't even attempt to 
take take a breath like I 

1408
01:20:17,880 --> 01:20:23,440
couldn't and gasping just like 
choking on nothing and. 

1409
01:20:25,080 --> 01:20:29,320
They started praying and then 
instantly the feeling came back 

1410
01:20:29,320 --> 01:20:36,480
in my legs and I took a massive 
inhale, breath and I felt 100% 

1411
01:20:36,480 --> 01:20:41,000
fine from that moment forward. 
And the they had called a 

1412
01:20:41,800 --> 01:20:44,720
Lifeline helicopter because they
reported that a truck fell on 

1413
01:20:44,720 --> 01:20:47,360
me. 
So I stayed on the floor. 

1414
01:20:47,440 --> 01:20:51,040
I was on the ground, gravel 
driveway and I was just, I 

1415
01:20:51,040 --> 01:20:54,480
laying there by the time there 
were people were trick or 

1416
01:20:54,480 --> 01:20:56,480
treating. 
So there was a cop literally on 

1417
01:20:56,480 --> 01:20:58,200
the street when they, the call 
came in. 

1418
01:20:59,120 --> 01:21:02,480
And so he came, he was there 
pretty much as soon as they got 

1419
01:21:02,480 --> 01:21:04,520
the truck off me or well after 
they prayed for me. 

1420
01:21:05,120 --> 01:21:08,320
And, and he said the ambulance 
is coming, they're going to take

1421
01:21:08,320 --> 01:21:10,680
you to the school 'cause that's 
the only place big enough for 

1422
01:21:10,800 --> 01:21:15,000
the helicopter to land. 
And I said I feel perfectly fine

1423
01:21:15,000 --> 01:21:17,480
now. 
And he, he's like, well, that 

1424
01:21:17,480 --> 01:21:21,560
doesn't make sense. 
And so I'm just laying there and

1425
01:21:21,560 --> 01:21:25,440
the ambulance shows up and they 
put me on the stretcher or 

1426
01:21:25,440 --> 01:21:31,080
whatever and, and I tell them, 
you know, I, I, I think I'm fine

1427
01:21:31,280 --> 01:21:33,000
like now. 
And they're like, well, that 

1428
01:21:33,000 --> 01:21:34,760
doesn't make sense. 
You probably have internal 

1429
01:21:35,040 --> 01:21:36,640
bleeding. 
If you don't go, you're probably

1430
01:21:36,640 --> 01:21:39,520
going to die. 
And so they take me to, I told 

1431
01:21:39,520 --> 01:21:42,520
him I don't want to go to the 
helicopter because I don't have 

1432
01:21:42,520 --> 01:21:44,840
insurance and so I'm not paying 
that. 

1433
01:21:44,960 --> 01:21:46,920
And they're like, if you have 
internal bleeding, you're 

1434
01:21:46,920 --> 01:21:49,280
probably going to die. 
And I was like, I feel fine 

1435
01:21:49,280 --> 01:21:51,080
though. 
And they're just like, well, 

1436
01:21:51,080 --> 01:21:52,800
that doesn't make sense. 
So they took me to the hospital,

1437
01:21:53,080 --> 01:21:55,920
the close hospital. 
The helicopter flew there to 

1438
01:21:55,920 --> 01:21:58,320
wait for them to say, yeah, you 
do have internal bleeding and 

1439
01:21:58,320 --> 01:22:01,240
you're dying. 
And so they do a bunch of 

1440
01:22:01,240 --> 01:22:03,400
checks. 
The as soon as they put me 

1441
01:22:03,400 --> 01:22:05,880
through the emergency room 
doors, the doctor says, I 

1442
01:22:05,880 --> 01:22:07,560
thought you said a truck fell on
him. 

1443
01:22:07,880 --> 01:22:13,560
And they said it did. 
I saw the truck and so they run 

1444
01:22:13,560 --> 01:22:17,400
a bunch of tests and doctor came
in and they said we can't find 

1445
01:22:17,400 --> 01:22:20,480
anything wrong with you. 
And he's like, it doesn't make 

1446
01:22:20,480 --> 01:22:22,640
any sense. 
The human body can't hold that 

1447
01:22:22,640 --> 01:22:23,640
amount of weight. 
No. 

1448
01:22:23,640 --> 01:22:28,400
And I said no, I know. 
And I left the hospital an hour 

1449
01:22:28,400 --> 01:22:33,440
and a half later walking out and
I never had a bruise. 

1450
01:22:34,520 --> 01:22:38,800
Didn't even have a bruise. 
What I mean so you're you're. 

1451
01:22:39,280 --> 01:22:41,440
The the family, they saw that 
right? 

1452
01:22:41,480 --> 01:22:44,160
I mean, they saw, yeah, that 
truck on mother-in-law, 

1453
01:22:44,160 --> 01:22:46,120
father-in-law, sister-in-law, 
and they got down and. 

1454
01:22:46,120 --> 01:22:47,440
Prayed for you by the time 
Amber. 

1455
01:22:47,440 --> 01:22:49,080
Yeah, by the. 
Time Amber had got. 

1456
01:22:49,080 --> 01:22:52,120
There I was already being put 
into the ambulance, so she 

1457
01:22:52,120 --> 01:22:56,080
didn't see the that part. 
But yeah, yeah, my family all 

1458
01:22:56,080 --> 01:22:58,400
saw that. 
They saw me gasping, they saw me

1459
01:22:58,600 --> 01:23:00,280
gasping, but I couldn't expand 
my chest. 

1460
01:23:00,280 --> 01:23:03,800
So I was basically just choking.
And then they they were crying 

1461
01:23:03,800 --> 01:23:08,280
and praying and instantly I feel
like that would be a huge faith 

1462
01:23:08,280 --> 01:23:09,600
builder for me. 
Yes. 

1463
01:23:09,600 --> 01:23:11,360
Did they? 
Did they, did they talk about 

1464
01:23:11,360 --> 01:23:13,360
that? 
It was a huge faith builder for 

1465
01:23:13,360 --> 01:23:15,440
me. 
But. 

1466
01:23:16,200 --> 01:23:17,960
Now that we. 
Really haven't. 

1467
01:23:18,000 --> 01:23:20,640
We've talked about it a few 
times, I guess just here and 

1468
01:23:20,640 --> 01:23:26,040
there, but and my mother-in-law 
attended here for a short period

1469
01:23:26,040 --> 01:23:30,600
of time. 
But no, it was I guess for me. 

1470
01:23:31,200 --> 01:23:32,320
That's good. 
What? 

1471
01:23:32,320 --> 01:23:33,920
That's good too. 
What part of the truck? 

1472
01:23:33,920 --> 01:23:35,680
Was on you. 
I'm trying the engine. 

1473
01:23:35,880 --> 01:23:37,920
Right, Yeah. 
So the engine compartment I. 

1474
01:23:37,920 --> 01:23:40,600
Slid right underneath. 
The middle of the truck on my 

1475
01:23:40,600 --> 01:23:42,000
stomach. 
Which kids? 

1476
01:23:42,000 --> 01:23:43,840
If you're listening incredibly 
stupid. 

1477
01:23:43,840 --> 01:23:47,640
Like use Jack stands. 
Yeah, and I didn't use the Crick

1478
01:23:47,640 --> 01:23:49,880
Jack. 
For the truck either nice, 

1479
01:23:49,880 --> 01:23:51,840
that's good. 
So it was a compounded, you 

1480
01:23:51,840 --> 01:23:52,960
know. 
God saves. 

1481
01:23:52,960 --> 01:23:55,560
Us from ourselves sometimes. 
Doesn't he? 

1482
01:23:55,680 --> 01:23:58,440
But it's a testimony that I have
told and. 

1483
01:23:58,600 --> 01:24:02,360
Witnessed 2 I've worked with and
I've seen when I've told them 

1484
01:24:02,360 --> 01:24:05,000
the story, I've seen people like
one person said I just got 

1485
01:24:05,000 --> 01:24:08,200
chills. 
So you know, it's a it's a 

1486
01:24:08,200 --> 01:24:11,000
fantastic testimony that I 
shouldn't be here. 

1487
01:24:11,560 --> 01:24:16,840
I shouldn't be alive. 
The other one is I was 16 

1488
01:24:17,640 --> 01:24:23,440
driving to attend church with my
mother an hour away, and I'd 

1489
01:24:23,440 --> 01:24:28,880
stayed up all night on Saturday.
I the church in Brazil IN which 

1490
01:24:28,880 --> 01:24:30,640
is where I was going at at the 
time. 

1491
01:24:32,840 --> 01:24:36,720
I, I, I went to Emmanuel on 
Martinsville, but I still had 

1492
01:24:36,720 --> 01:24:39,400
friends from Brazil so I would 
go to their Saturday night use 

1493
01:24:39,400 --> 01:24:43,360
service sometimes and so I 
stayed up with them all all 

1494
01:24:43,360 --> 01:24:44,720
night. 
Saturday I was driving to 

1495
01:24:44,720 --> 01:24:48,680
Martinsville and had it on 
cruise control and fell asleep 

1496
01:24:48,680 --> 01:24:55,840
behind the wheel and car drifted
across oncoming traffic and then

1497
01:24:55,840 --> 01:25:01,120
went off the road into a little 
ravine ditch beside the road and

1498
01:25:01,120 --> 01:25:04,280
it was on cruise control and it 
was flat enough that it just 

1499
01:25:04,280 --> 01:25:07,240
kept driving. 
And I was just out, like out 

1500
01:25:07,240 --> 01:25:08,880
like a light and it just kept 
driving. 

1501
01:25:08,880 --> 01:25:12,040
And this little ravine right 
beside the road until it got to 

1502
01:25:12,040 --> 01:25:17,160
an embankment where another Rd. 
was perpendicular and it was 

1503
01:25:17,160 --> 01:25:20,800
basically just a Rockwall. 
And my car slammed into that 

1504
01:25:20,800 --> 01:25:24,720
wall at 55 miles an hour and 
launched the car back over 

1505
01:25:24,720 --> 01:25:30,440
front, flipping until it flew 
over the road and crashed. 

1506
01:25:31,280 --> 01:25:34,760
Finally stopped on the other 
side of the road and the car was

1507
01:25:34,760 --> 01:25:37,560
completely demolished. 
And the guy that was behind me 

1508
01:25:37,640 --> 01:25:43,240
had pulled off to the side of 
the road to come help and I had 

1509
01:25:43,320 --> 01:25:45,640
got the door open and crawled 
out of the car. 

1510
01:25:46,360 --> 01:25:49,080
And I stood up and turned around
and looked at the car. 

1511
01:25:49,080 --> 01:25:53,640
And the car was just destroyed. 
And he, he was like running 

1512
01:25:53,640 --> 01:25:56,320
across the road and he just 
stopped and he looked at me. 

1513
01:25:56,320 --> 01:25:59,240
He goes, are you OK? 
And I go, yeah, I think I'm 

1514
01:25:59,240 --> 01:26:00,680
fine. 
And I was like, dust or not, I 

1515
01:26:00,680 --> 01:26:04,360
was covered in gravel dust. 
I said, yeah, I think I'm think 

1516
01:26:04,360 --> 01:26:06,440
I'm OK. 
And he's like, your car was like

1517
01:26:06,440 --> 01:26:10,840
30 feet off the ground. 
And that was another instance 

1518
01:26:10,840 --> 01:26:15,560
where I walked away. 
I had a seat belt kind of seat 

1519
01:26:15,560 --> 01:26:20,200
belt burn on my shoulder, but 
car was destroyed and I walked 

1520
01:26:20,200 --> 01:26:26,120
away because so I I actually 
woke up right before the car hit

1521
01:26:26,440 --> 01:26:30,240
and the only thing like I just 
had a split second and I said 

1522
01:26:30,280 --> 01:26:33,600
and I just said Jesus. 
And as soon as the car hit it 

1523
01:26:33,600 --> 01:26:37,160
just started flipping. 
Wow. 

1524
01:26:37,160 --> 01:26:40,880
So. 
That's two times that I should 

1525
01:26:40,880 --> 01:26:44,080
probably be dead. 
It's got to be traumatizing too 

1526
01:26:44,080 --> 01:26:47,920
dude to go. 
Through that like man, that 

1527
01:26:47,920 --> 01:26:50,240
that. 
I'm surprised you didn't have 

1528
01:26:50,240 --> 01:26:54,880
PTSD for a while unless you did.
I had PTSD from getting. 

1529
01:26:54,880 --> 01:26:58,520
Underneath vehicles. 
I say that, yeah, that's crazy 

1530
01:26:58,520 --> 01:26:59,720
because. 
I never even went through what 

1531
01:26:59,720 --> 01:27:01,320
you went through, and I and I. 
Have that too. 

1532
01:27:01,320 --> 01:27:04,120
It's it's wild. 
You know, I've, I've seen how 

1533
01:27:04,120 --> 01:27:05,680
heavy that stuff is and I'm 
like, yeah, I'm not. 

1534
01:27:05,680 --> 01:27:08,960
I don't, yeah, I try to, I try 
to not go under cars these days.

1535
01:27:09,240 --> 01:27:11,680
That's fair, that's fair. 
That's crazy. 

1536
01:27:11,680 --> 01:27:13,360
Though, and that is a good 
testament to be able to tell 

1537
01:27:13,360 --> 01:27:17,720
people, I think that's too huge 
to holding on to our stories. 

1538
01:27:18,000 --> 01:27:19,680
Like you said, I mean, we're, 
we're on a path. 

1539
01:27:19,680 --> 01:27:24,240
God gives us trials and he gives
us moments, landmarks. 

1540
01:27:24,280 --> 01:27:26,840
And man, if we just keep that to
ourselves in this little 

1541
01:27:26,840 --> 01:27:30,480
personal landmark, that's good. 
It has its purpose. 

1542
01:27:30,480 --> 01:27:32,920
But sharing that with people, 
that says a lot. 

1543
01:27:33,000 --> 01:27:37,120
You've gone through things for a
reason and I think you're using 

1544
01:27:37,120 --> 01:27:38,280
it to the best of your ability 
right now. 

1545
01:27:38,280 --> 01:27:41,760
And I love that man. 
I'm excited about the future. 

1546
01:27:41,760 --> 01:27:44,240
What holds you? 
For one, I know that not too 

1547
01:27:44,240 --> 01:27:47,280
long ago, you you got your 
license, right? 

1548
01:27:47,480 --> 01:27:50,160
Yeah. 
I felt that's a whole. 

1549
01:27:50,160 --> 01:27:53,600
Story in itself, but I felt God 
was, you know, taking me to 

1550
01:27:53,600 --> 01:27:56,760
another level and not 
necessarily that I feel like I 

1551
01:27:56,760 --> 01:28:00,120
should be a preacher or anything
or that's not why I did it. 

1552
01:28:01,400 --> 01:28:06,240
I just really wanted to 
obviously one of God's will. 

1553
01:28:06,240 --> 01:28:13,960
And so I prayed and fasted about
it and, and I, and I, I was, I 

1554
01:28:13,960 --> 01:28:17,600
went on an extended fast and was
like, should I get my license? 

1555
01:28:17,600 --> 01:28:21,280
Because, you know, I don't feel 
like I'm a preacher and, and not

1556
01:28:21,280 --> 01:28:24,360
that you have to be a preacher, 
but the process in general was 

1557
01:28:24,360 --> 01:28:29,040
very beneficial just for my own 
confidence level and just my own

1558
01:28:29,040 --> 01:28:31,240
knowledge level. 
So for that alone. 

1559
01:28:31,720 --> 01:28:34,200
But another thing that was 
really incredible about that 

1560
01:28:34,200 --> 01:28:36,080
story, and I'll try to keep it 
short because I've been going 

1561
01:28:36,080 --> 01:28:41,240
really long, but I was fasting 
about the getting my license and

1562
01:28:41,240 --> 01:28:46,360
I was like, you know, let kind 
of tell me if this is what you 

1563
01:28:46,360 --> 01:28:47,920
want me to do. 
Do you want me to get my 

1564
01:28:47,920 --> 01:28:49,600
license, guy? 
Or is this what you want? 

1565
01:28:50,600 --> 01:28:52,880
So I wanted to extend the fast 
and I was having some really 

1566
01:28:52,880 --> 01:28:56,200
fantastic, powerful personal 
prayer meetings. 

1567
01:28:56,520 --> 01:28:58,880
But at the end of the fast, I 
still didn't feel like a 

1568
01:28:58,880 --> 01:29:01,640
direction on whether I should 
get my license or not. 

1569
01:29:01,640 --> 01:29:05,160
Like I don't want to just do it 
just because like, is this what 

1570
01:29:05,160 --> 01:29:06,080
you want me to do? 
Good. 

1571
01:29:06,640 --> 01:29:10,680
And so we had visited Indiana, 
we were visiting a church in 

1572
01:29:10,680 --> 01:29:14,440
Indiana that my kids adopted 
grandparents go to. 

1573
01:29:15,000 --> 01:29:20,040
And so I was states away and I 
was like, you know, why wouldn't

1574
01:29:20,040 --> 01:29:21,800
I feel a direction like that? 
That was the whole point of the 

1575
01:29:21,800 --> 01:29:26,000
fast. 
And then Lexi, who was back here

1576
01:29:26,760 --> 01:29:31,680
in Alabama, texted me and Amber 
like 5 minutes after the service

1577
01:29:31,680 --> 01:29:36,240
ended that we were attending. 
And the preacher of that service

1578
01:29:36,240 --> 01:29:38,520
preached on how to hear the 
voice of God. 

1579
01:29:39,080 --> 01:29:41,240
And I was like, man, that's like
the perfect title for what I'm 

1580
01:29:41,240 --> 01:29:45,520
needing right now. 
And Lexi and she, she's OK with 

1581
01:29:45,520 --> 01:29:49,480
me sharing this, but she said I 
had a dream last night that I 

1582
01:29:49,480 --> 01:29:52,760
just feel like God really wants 
me to share with you. 

1583
01:29:53,440 --> 01:29:56,480
And she said we were sitting 
down and we were talking about 

1584
01:29:56,680 --> 01:30:01,160
how to hear the voice of God, 
the same exact title as the 

1585
01:30:01,160 --> 01:30:05,240
message we. 
And she said sometimes it's like

1586
01:30:05,600 --> 01:30:09,280
Noah and you have the complete 
blueprints. 

1587
01:30:09,640 --> 01:30:13,760
You know exactly what to do, but
you don't understand the why 

1588
01:30:14,400 --> 01:30:17,400
because the the thought of rain 
is foreign to you. 

1589
01:30:18,280 --> 01:30:22,840
Sometimes she says it's like 
Abraham and you have the end 

1590
01:30:22,840 --> 01:30:26,400
goal, father of many nations, 
but you don't understand the how

1591
01:30:26,720 --> 01:30:28,760
because you're old and barren, 
he said. 

1592
01:30:28,760 --> 01:30:33,000
But the third type is it's like 
Peter, where all you know is 

1593
01:30:33,000 --> 01:30:35,520
what the next step is. 
Follow me. 

1594
01:30:36,360 --> 01:30:40,200
And I was like, that's exactly 
what I need to hear. 

1595
01:30:40,360 --> 01:30:42,160
I don't know what I'm going to 
do with it. 

1596
01:30:42,400 --> 01:30:46,880
I don't know the blueprints. 
I don't know the angle, but I 

1597
01:30:46,880 --> 01:30:49,400
know that this is what God 
wanted me to do this the next 

1598
01:30:49,400 --> 01:30:51,400
step. 
And so I went through the 

1599
01:30:51,400 --> 01:30:58,040
process of getting licensure. 
I got that sometime last this 

1600
01:30:58,040 --> 01:31:00,520
sometime this early this year. 
I can't remember when it was, 

1601
01:31:01,000 --> 01:31:04,880
but yeah. 
So the whole time you're, you're

1602
01:31:04,880 --> 01:31:07,000
like. 
You just had this you just had 

1603
01:31:07,000 --> 01:31:12,440
this feeling like God wanted you
to go into a deeper walk and I'm

1604
01:31:12,720 --> 01:31:15,720
from what I'm not getting. 
You're what kept coming back to 

1605
01:31:15,720 --> 01:31:20,120
you is as well getting getting 
licensed, not necessarily for 

1606
01:31:20,120 --> 01:31:23,480
the title of it, but I'm 
assuming for the wisdom 

1607
01:31:23,480 --> 01:31:26,400
knowledge gained through the 
process. 

1608
01:31:26,400 --> 01:31:29,000
Exactly. 
And I've told a few people, I 

1609
01:31:29,000 --> 01:31:30,440
said. 
I've learned more. 

1610
01:31:31,680 --> 01:31:35,080
I've studied the Bible and 
learned more in the last year 

1611
01:31:35,080 --> 01:31:39,720
and a half then probably my 
first 37 years, you know, 

1612
01:31:39,720 --> 01:31:44,160
combined, just because all I had
learned up to that point was 

1613
01:31:44,160 --> 01:31:47,880
what I, you know, I, I'd learned
obviously things and, and and 

1614
01:31:47,880 --> 01:31:51,560
had experienced in the God, but 
like diving into the word of 

1615
01:31:51,560 --> 01:31:55,840
God. 
It's been fantastic in the last 

1616
01:31:55,840 --> 01:32:01,160
year and a half, the growing 
process, knowledge and 

1617
01:32:02,960 --> 01:32:05,600
spiritual. 
So, So what? 

1618
01:32:05,600 --> 01:32:07,720
What would your what would you 
say to people who might be? 

1619
01:32:07,720 --> 01:32:10,160
Feeling the same thing, like 
let's just say you got people 

1620
01:32:10,160 --> 01:32:14,760
out there who are feeling like 
they have this feeling that God 

1621
01:32:14,760 --> 01:32:18,240
wants more out of them, but they
don't know what they don't know 

1622
01:32:18,240 --> 01:32:23,760
what what it is or how it is. 
What would be what would be your

1623
01:32:23,760 --> 01:32:25,680
advice to that person? 
Like if someone came to you, 

1624
01:32:25,680 --> 01:32:27,320
Said, said, said. 
Eric. 

1625
01:32:27,320 --> 01:32:31,520
I feel like God wants more from 
me, but I have no idea how or 

1626
01:32:31,520 --> 01:32:34,520
what I'm supposed to do or, or 
whatever the case may be. 

1627
01:32:35,280 --> 01:32:37,680
What's your, what's your like? 
Hey, well, here's where you can 

1628
01:32:37,680 --> 01:32:39,280
start. 
And this is what, this is what I

1629
01:32:39,280 --> 01:32:43,320
would do kind of thing. 
I would say definitely fast. 

1630
01:32:43,440 --> 01:32:47,200
Because that's something that 
got us challenged me with since 

1631
01:32:47,200 --> 01:32:53,240
moving to Alabama. 
And I feel like I am closer to 

1632
01:32:53,240 --> 01:32:59,400
God when I go on fasts and I'm 
able to hear the voice of God or

1633
01:32:59,400 --> 01:33:02,320
the direction of God more when I
fast than any other time. 

1634
01:33:02,320 --> 01:33:07,280
And so God's the, the devil's 
definitely not going to ask more

1635
01:33:07,280 --> 01:33:10,520
of you spiritually. 
So obviously God is pulling at 

1636
01:33:10,520 --> 01:33:15,120
your heart and so fast about it.
But something Brother Penton 

1637
01:33:15,120 --> 01:33:18,160
told me when I approached him 
about it, he's just like, 

1638
01:33:18,160 --> 01:33:21,280
obviously God is stirring you. 
And so the thing we have to do 

1639
01:33:21,280 --> 01:33:24,920
is take action. 
And so he gave me some goals, 

1640
01:33:25,400 --> 01:33:27,840
Hey, let's work on this, let's 
do this. 

1641
01:33:28,280 --> 01:33:32,040
And so definitely talk to your 
talk to pastor about it, fast 

1642
01:33:32,040 --> 01:33:34,800
and pray. 
But if and I, and I honestly 

1643
01:33:34,800 --> 01:33:39,200
feel like that helped boost my 
confidence when I reached out to

1644
01:33:39,200 --> 01:33:40,960
Shawna. 
I, I think if I hadn't went 

1645
01:33:40,960 --> 01:33:42,720
through that promise, I probably
wouldn't have reached out to 

1646
01:33:42,720 --> 01:33:46,040
Shawna, but it gave me a 
confidence of going through that

1647
01:33:46,040 --> 01:33:48,360
material because there's a bunch
of requirements. 

1648
01:33:48,360 --> 01:33:52,920
So you have to to go through and
just for me personally, it gave 

1649
01:33:52,920 --> 01:33:56,280
me some more confidence on what 
I knew and what I believed and 

1650
01:33:56,280 --> 01:34:00,240
how to voice that in a 
witnessing setting. 

1651
01:34:00,360 --> 01:34:02,960
Would you say it's probably good
for people even if they. 

1652
01:34:02,960 --> 01:34:07,360
Have no intention of getting 
licensed to take those courses 

1653
01:34:07,360 --> 01:34:09,680
anyways because from what I 
understand you don't have to 

1654
01:34:09,680 --> 01:34:13,960
necessarily get officially 
licensed to take those courses 

1655
01:34:13,960 --> 01:34:17,880
and take those those studies. 
It would you say that's probably

1656
01:34:17,880 --> 01:34:22,120
like a wreck like, hey, you got 
to get licensed, but you you 

1657
01:34:22,120 --> 01:34:26,440
need to do these because, oh, 
absolutely that 100. 

1658
01:34:26,440 --> 01:34:30,800
Percent, I think so and I've 
talked to Amber about it about 

1659
01:34:30,800 --> 01:34:33,760
how it's one thing to believe 
something it's nothing to be 

1660
01:34:33,760 --> 01:34:37,360
able to defend it and I think 
what especially with well 

1661
01:34:37,360 --> 01:34:41,800
anybody but like the young 
people is can you defend what 

1662
01:34:41,800 --> 01:34:44,680
you believe and going through 
that material is definitely 

1663
01:34:45,120 --> 01:34:47,520
foundational and helping you 
know how to defend what you 

1664
01:34:47,520 --> 01:34:52,160
believe. 
I think it's super beneficial 

1665
01:34:52,160 --> 01:34:54,360
for anyone to go through those 
courses. 

1666
01:34:55,240 --> 01:34:57,080
Are you're not? 
You're not doing any. 

1667
01:34:57,080 --> 01:34:58,560
Kind of like Bible studies 
yourself with. 

1668
01:34:58,560 --> 01:35:00,000
Like group Bible study groups or
anything. 

1669
01:35:00,000 --> 01:35:02,400
Are you, I know you were, you 
had mentioned something that one

1670
01:35:02,400 --> 01:35:05,360
of the linked. 
I've been doing Bible studies 

1671
01:35:05,360 --> 01:35:09,760
with Shawna since NAYC and then 
I did Bible and billiards at my 

1672
01:35:09,760 --> 01:35:14,640
house for two different sessions
or two different link sessions 

1673
01:35:15,240 --> 01:35:16,760
and there was always a 
devotional there. 

1674
01:35:16,920 --> 01:35:23,800
I was usually 10 minutes or 
less, but after Shawna moves 

1675
01:35:23,800 --> 01:35:27,240
here, I would like to. 
That's something I was looking 

1676
01:35:27,680 --> 01:35:29,640
towards doing. 
I just recently got the new 

1677
01:35:29,640 --> 01:35:33,280
exploring God's Word charts, so 
they updated the graphics on all

1678
01:35:33,280 --> 01:35:35,880
that. 
But I've really been wanting to 

1679
01:35:35,880 --> 01:35:39,800
do some more Bible studies like 
with group settings. 

1680
01:35:40,360 --> 01:35:42,360
When you do, when you when you 
get to that point, let me know. 

1681
01:35:42,480 --> 01:35:42,800
I would. 
Be. 

1682
01:35:44,480 --> 01:35:48,880
I think it's always good. 
Like you said, group settings 

1683
01:35:48,880 --> 01:35:50,280
and. 
Everything too, because you're 

1684
01:35:50,280 --> 01:35:52,760
able. 
To have it as a presentation of 

1685
01:35:52,760 --> 01:35:55,040
we're learning together and I 
think everybody is, no matter 

1686
01:35:55,040 --> 01:35:57,920
what, like there's never a time 
where, hey, I know everything 

1687
01:35:57,920 --> 01:35:59,960
about God and I've got all the 
answers. 

1688
01:35:59,960 --> 01:36:03,640
I don't need to study anymore. 
You know, I like that a whole 

1689
01:36:03,640 --> 01:36:05,600
lot. 
I also one thing that stuck out 

1690
01:36:05,720 --> 01:36:10,080
to me from all of this, you've 
gone from the lows of the valley

1691
01:36:10,800 --> 01:36:14,960
to the peaks of success, right? 
But you're still hungry, man. 

1692
01:36:15,000 --> 01:36:17,640
You're hungry for God. 
You're hungry to continue 

1693
01:36:17,640 --> 01:36:20,440
working and you're at this point
where it's never just on cruise 

1694
01:36:20,440 --> 01:36:22,080
control. 
That may be from your wreck, the

1695
01:36:22,080 --> 01:36:26,400
PTSD, not wanting to put it on 
cruise control, but I love that 

1696
01:36:26,400 --> 01:36:30,080
so much because, you know, I 
feel like we can get complacent 

1697
01:36:30,080 --> 01:36:33,000
sometimes. 
We get saved, everything's going

1698
01:36:33,000 --> 01:36:36,760
well and then we get a little 
weary and well doing and we can 

1699
01:36:36,760 --> 01:36:39,640
just kind of kind of coast. 
There's kind of a motto I live 

1700
01:36:39,640 --> 01:36:42,200
my life by and if you ask my. 
Kids, what it is, they would be 

1701
01:36:42,200 --> 01:36:44,840
able to to recite it to you 
because I try to drill it into 

1702
01:36:44,840 --> 01:36:47,120
their head. 
And it's originally from a 

1703
01:36:47,120 --> 01:36:50,200
financial, it's like a financial
quote, but I've altered it 

1704
01:36:50,240 --> 01:36:55,600
because the quote is rich people
have what and this I don't like 

1705
01:36:55,600 --> 01:36:56,640
the quote, That's why I changed 
it. 

1706
01:36:56,640 --> 01:36:59,200
But it's rich people have what 
poor people don't because rich 

1707
01:36:59,200 --> 01:37:00,600
people do what poor people 
won't. 

1708
01:37:01,320 --> 01:37:05,000
And I changed it to be 
successful people have what 

1709
01:37:05,000 --> 01:37:08,200
unsuccessful people don't 
because successful people do 

1710
01:37:08,200 --> 01:37:11,840
what unsuccessful people won't. 
And I don't just mean finances. 

1711
01:37:11,840 --> 01:37:14,920
I mean like I, I try to apply 
that in every facet of my life. 

1712
01:37:15,120 --> 01:37:19,120
If you want a spiritual walk 
with God that is more than the 

1713
01:37:19,280 --> 01:37:22,160
average person, then you have to
do more than the average person.

1714
01:37:22,640 --> 01:37:26,200
So you have to be involved. 
You have to be willing to serve.

1715
01:37:26,200 --> 01:37:30,360
You have to you can't be too 
good to clean a toilet like me 

1716
01:37:30,360 --> 01:37:32,560
and Amber were on the clean 
schedule 40 years. 

1717
01:37:32,560 --> 01:37:35,960
Like you're not too good to 
clean like that's right. 

1718
01:37:36,040 --> 01:37:37,960
Be involved. 
Our boy Johnny right here. 

1719
01:37:37,960 --> 01:37:40,920
I think this past weekend was. 
His This man ain't too good for 

1720
01:37:41,160 --> 01:37:42,640
it. 
I was here until 9:00. 

1721
01:37:42,640 --> 01:37:46,160
Last night with with Brother 
Pitton calling me while I was 

1722
01:37:46,160 --> 01:37:47,400
here saying, hey, you're still 
up there. 

1723
01:37:47,400 --> 01:37:51,120
I'm like, yeah, he goes. 
Well, the Roomba stuck. 

1724
01:37:52,520 --> 01:37:54,600
Did you figure out why? 
Oh. 

1725
01:37:54,920 --> 01:37:57,400
Let me look. 
Ah, there's a whole bag of 

1726
01:37:57,400 --> 01:37:59,600
pencils down here 'cause they're
just thrown all over the floor 

1727
01:37:59,600 --> 01:38:02,000
under these little lockers. 
So let me start digging pencils 

1728
01:38:02,000 --> 01:38:04,360
out of this room, bud. 
Figuring that out was something 

1729
01:38:04,360 --> 01:38:06,200
you said. 
I'm maybe with. 

1730
01:38:06,200 --> 01:38:12,640
Eric May, I think there's the 
podcast, but you said something 

1731
01:38:12,640 --> 01:38:15,200
about you don't care if NVIDIA 
stock goes down if you're not 

1732
01:38:15,200 --> 01:38:17,280
investing in it. 
Yeah, I forget what that was. 

1733
01:38:17,680 --> 01:38:19,960
Yeah. 
But basically, like if you, if 

1734
01:38:20,040 --> 01:38:25,040
you want to have more than the, 
the average, the typical, then 

1735
01:38:25,040 --> 01:38:28,600
you're going to have to invest 
the more than the average and 

1736
01:38:28,600 --> 01:38:30,720
the more than the typical. 
So that's the model. 

1737
01:38:30,720 --> 01:38:34,320
I every fast my life. 
Like I, I try not to be on 

1738
01:38:34,320 --> 01:38:39,520
cruise control just because like
I, I, I want to have a higher 

1739
01:38:39,520 --> 01:38:43,040
level of spiritual walk with God
than I had last year. 

1740
01:38:43,480 --> 01:38:46,760
And, and I kind of gauge my walk
like am I, do I feel like I've 

1741
01:38:47,040 --> 01:38:48,800
closer to God this year than I 
was last year. 

1742
01:38:48,800 --> 01:38:54,720
That's kind of how I look at it.
That's a good benchmark and. 

1743
01:38:55,280 --> 01:38:59,960
I think Mac touched on something
similar he that challenged me a 

1744
01:38:59,960 --> 01:39:04,000
lot because I think I struggle 
with scheduling and ADHD. 

1745
01:39:04,000 --> 01:39:06,800
Anyways I've been trying to be 
more intentional about setting a

1746
01:39:06,800 --> 01:39:09,720
time, starting my mornings 
right, reading the word, diving 

1747
01:39:09,720 --> 01:39:12,960
into stuff and staying 
intentional with our walk. 

1748
01:39:12,960 --> 01:39:14,720
But you're right about that. 
The buy in. 

1749
01:39:16,520 --> 01:39:19,480
I'm, I'm very grateful that for 
one, our, our whole 

1750
01:39:19,560 --> 01:39:23,360
congregation, the, the community
that's here at Lifegate, I feel 

1751
01:39:23,360 --> 01:39:26,760
like we've got a, a decent 
percentage of people that are 

1752
01:39:26,760 --> 01:39:29,320
doing that and maybe a decent 
percentage of people that want 

1753
01:39:29,320 --> 01:39:32,080
to buy in more and don't really 
know how to get started on that.

1754
01:39:34,040 --> 01:39:36,920
Grateful for you. 
Of course, I'm very grateful. 

1755
01:39:36,920 --> 01:39:38,960
You came from Indiana. 
You've been a blessing to 

1756
01:39:38,960 --> 01:39:40,600
Lifegate. 
Wonderful voice. 

1757
01:39:40,960 --> 01:39:43,240
We love when you sing weeks and 
weeks in a row. 

1758
01:39:44,080 --> 01:39:49,720
Well, thank you. 
Yeah. 

1759
01:39:50,920 --> 01:39:54,360
That's it's just, it's amazing 
everything that. 

1760
01:39:54,360 --> 01:39:58,200
You've gone through. 
And I'm going to, I'm going to 

1761
01:39:58,200 --> 01:40:00,480
phrase that as it's amazing the 
amount of things that God's 

1762
01:40:00,480 --> 01:40:03,200
carried you through. 
And I don't think you'd have a 

1763
01:40:03,200 --> 01:40:04,600
problem with me saying it that 
way. 

1764
01:40:04,600 --> 01:40:09,360
No, not at all. 
To, to, to just be going through

1765
01:40:09,360 --> 01:40:12,880
so much. 
It's, you know, a lot of people 

1766
01:40:12,880 --> 01:40:16,400
say it, you know. 
Nowhere in the Bible does does 

1767
01:40:16,760 --> 01:40:19,040
the Lord ever say that living 
for him will be easy. 

1768
01:40:19,720 --> 01:40:21,880
It never says that matter of 
fact. 

1769
01:40:21,880 --> 01:40:24,240
I mean, I would be willing to 
bet there's off the top of my 

1770
01:40:24,240 --> 01:40:27,160
head is too tired to right now, 
but it's probably stuff in there

1771
01:40:27,160 --> 01:40:29,320
to say. 
It might even be towards the 

1772
01:40:29,320 --> 01:40:30,600
opposite of that. 
I mean, there's going to be 

1773
01:40:30,600 --> 01:40:32,880
times where it's it's going to 
be hard because of this. 

1774
01:40:32,880 --> 01:40:35,920
Actually, now that I think about
it, Jesus did say like, they're 

1775
01:40:35,920 --> 01:40:38,000
going to hate you. 
The world's going to hate you 

1776
01:40:38,000 --> 01:40:42,520
for my sake. 
It's going to be rough, but man,

1777
01:40:43,680 --> 01:40:47,920
I would much Lord, don't, don't 
take this as a challenge. 

1778
01:40:48,320 --> 01:40:52,320
I would much rather go through 
tough times with him than good 

1779
01:40:52,320 --> 01:40:55,880
times without him because I 
don't think you can ever truly 

1780
01:40:55,880 --> 01:41:01,000
have a good time without him. 
And just, you know, through all 

1781
01:41:01,000 --> 01:41:03,240
the things that you've been 
through, I'm sure it was that 

1782
01:41:03,240 --> 01:41:07,600
faith of he's got me, He's got 
me, He's got me. 

1783
01:41:08,080 --> 01:41:14,080
That kept you from just giving 
up, you know, So I, I think that

1784
01:41:14,200 --> 01:41:18,600
if I could, if I could summarize
this, this episode so far for 

1785
01:41:18,600 --> 01:41:20,920
anybody who's listening, it 
seems to be more of one of those

1786
01:41:20,920 --> 01:41:25,800
like, man, just because the 
tunnel was dark doesn't mean 

1787
01:41:25,800 --> 01:41:27,160
there's not a light at the end 
of it. 

1788
01:41:27,720 --> 01:41:31,920
You just got to keep going 
forward like you like, like you 

1789
01:41:31,920 --> 01:41:35,480
mentioned it with Peter. 
I mean, he was the only one that

1790
01:41:35,480 --> 01:41:38,160
got out there and, and walked on
the water and he had no idea 

1791
01:41:38,160 --> 01:41:40,520
what was going to happen. 
All he just all he just said was

1792
01:41:40,520 --> 01:41:44,200
Lord bid me come. 
And once God said come, he he 

1793
01:41:44,200 --> 01:41:48,680
did it. 
So I appreciate. 

1794
01:41:48,680 --> 01:41:50,320
You I appreciate you sitting 
down with us. 

1795
01:41:50,440 --> 01:41:52,560
This is going to be a little bit
of a longer one, but I enjoyed 

1796
01:41:52,560 --> 01:41:53,960
it. 
Apologies. 

1797
01:41:54,480 --> 01:41:55,400
Yeah. 
No, no, no, no. 

1798
01:41:55,400 --> 01:41:57,720
You just wouldn't stop talking. 
It was all the. 

1799
01:41:57,720 --> 01:42:00,040
It was all. 
The intro, see, we, we, we 

1800
01:42:00,040 --> 01:42:03,720
started talking on a different 
topic than just diving into your

1801
01:42:03,720 --> 01:42:05,400
story. 
So that's kind of it's my fault.

1802
01:42:05,400 --> 01:42:07,360
It's my fault you got you got 
someone who doesn't. 

1803
01:42:07,360 --> 01:42:09,240
Talk very much to stop, not. 
Stop talking. 

1804
01:42:09,520 --> 01:42:27,560
I know I love it. 
None.