421 Show
(Hand Of Refuge Ministry.) Hello, my name is James Keith (JD) This podcast is part of my ministry. God says to take the gospel to the highways and hedges compel lost. We all come from different walks of lives, but one thing we all have in common is we have a testimony to share.
In this podcast I want share Gods testimonies, the word of God, all his goodness.
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421 Show
Travis Freeman Testifies on Navigating Life's Challenges with Faith and Community
After navigating through skepticism and denial, Travis Freeman shares how his faith journey took unexpected turns that transformed his life. Growing up in a family steeped in religious ministry, Travis struggled to connect with his faith, especially after a heart condition shifted his focus from sports to music. His candid testimony takes us through the emotional landscape of performing in bars and clubs, wrestling with spiritual skepticism, and eventually finding a profound connection with the Holy Spirit. Listeners will hear how music became both a detour and a guiding light on his path to spiritual awakening.
As a seasoned police officer with nearly 14 years of service, Travis also opens up about the intense challenges faced in the line of duty. One gripping story recounts a domestic violence call that escalated into a life-threatening situation, forever altering his mental health. This episode delves into the emotional aftermath of such experiences, highlighting the importance of seeking help and processing trauma. Through divine guidance and community support, Travis shares how he navigated feelings of isolation and depression, eventually finding healing and understanding.
The transformative power of faith, music, and community threads through this episode as Travis discusses pivotal moments that shaped his spiritual growth. From mentorship and friendship to the enduring influence of family traditions, listeners are invited to explore the journey of continuous spiritual development. Through personal anecdotes and reflections on biblical figures, Travis emphasizes themes of faith, love, gratitude, and the importance of embracing one's unique spiritual path. Join us for an inspiring conversation that promises to leave you reflecting on your own journey of faith and transformation.
Contact Information: https://www.facebook.com/travis.freeman.14
For God so loved the world, he gave the world a young son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God has not determined that the world might be saved, but that the world of him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is your host, Eddie. You're listening to 421 Show. If you guys like to check out our website, go to hor421showbuzzsproutcom for all your latest content and information. Remember to tune in every week to Debra Osborne with Bible Talk. She is now on WIC 88.1 Christian Radio Station every Sunday at 5 pm. If you guys like to support the show, you can support it through PayPal at slash HOR421 or you can go through the website at HOR421showbuzzsproutcom. All shows are recorded live no post editing Recorded at the 421 studio. For contact information for all your studio needs, you can email at hor421ministries at gmailcom. Phone number is 239-849-1502.
Speaker 1:We got a special guest with us today, Travis Freeman. Welcome to the show, Travis, Thanks for having me, man. And today, folks, he's going to be sharing his testimony with us. I'm super stoked to have our brother with us. He is an awesome brother in the Lord and a awesome musician and I thank God for having him here. You can start from the beginning, however you want to do it.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm going to start by thanking you for inviting me out here to share with everybody. Yeah, definitely. So if anybody knows me, like I said, my name is Travis Freeman. I've been a police officer now for later this month I'll make 14 years. I've been a police officer now for later this month I'll make 14 years, and when it comes to my story, I've kind of been in and out of the religious side of things, on and off kind of throughout my whole life.
Speaker 2:My whole family growing up, man, they were just surrounded by preachers mainly, and they were just, you know, surrounded by preachers mainly. You know my mom's dad. He was a pastor of the Teetersville Church of God for years and years and then when he passed his son, which is my uncle, larry Branson, he took over, which you know. Larry's son is Jeff, the one that plays drums with us at the church. Okay, so me and Jeff are first cousins. So then that's on my mom's side, my dad's side, his brother's a preacher at Victory Baptist in Everett, and then his sister is married to Billy Owens, who is a pastor, and my grandparents were always in church. My sister, her ex-husband, he was a pastor.
Speaker 2:So it's been around me and I didn't necessarily grow up in the church because my parents, just I could count probably on both hands how many times I've been there. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:I could relate a lot to you on that, because when I was growing up, the only time I ever went to church was when my grandmother took me, and I can probably count on one hand.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, and that's the thing. So I went for special occasions, bible school. Occasionally my grandparents when I was younger they were going dressing right there, that church, and I think that's how they initially met John, because he knows them from way back. Then they switched to my uncle's church in Everett, victory. But you know, I've been there on and off. My wife was a member of Victory Baptist for years and years and years and I kind of went with her. When me and her started dating, her started dating. But you know, for me personally I never had that connection or that experience that drove me to the cross like that. I never really had a connection. So growing up I kind of just did my own thing. I'll start back from way back in the beginning. I'll start back from way back in the beginning.
Speaker 2:So when I was like 12 or 13, I was always into sports and playing every sport I could. Well, I was in my brother's wedding and I passed out, which is funny. If you watch the tape you can see me standing there and they edited it out because obviously my brother doesn't want that in a wedding video. So I just kind of teleport out of nowhere and disappear. But sure enough, I passed out, um, come to find out that I had, like, a heart condition and they wouldn't let me play sports anymore. So they wouldn't let me do that and they wanted me to be homeschooled, just to make sure everything was all right, which you know. Praise the lord, everything is, and everything worked out. But during that time I didn't have anything to fall back on. So I started playing music, I started playing guitar and that's kind of shaped or shifted the shape of my life, right. So then I just started chasing this music thing. I was playing with all my friends who obviously were, you know, getting into trouble and doing things we shouldn't, of course, yeah, and that you know. And then I started getting older and we were playing in different bars that we could find and other places like that, you know. And that's, at the time, that's all I wanted to do. I didn't want to go hang out in a church, like it just didn't have any grasp on me, right. So I was living on my own, I was looking for my own thing Right, it on my own, uh, I was looking for my own thing right.
Speaker 2:And, um, I say, from that it just kind of it kind of went like I spent all those years just kind of chasing that and and for years, none of the biblical stuff that I was grown up learning about, or I had grown up learning about, was like none of it really registered with me, and I spent years denying it even existed. Like I was like, okay, well, yeah, I know this and that, but I didn't believe it. I didn't fully believe it because I didn't have an experience and I never had anything that really drove me to it. So I guess some people would list that as like an atheist type thing, right, agnostic, whatever you want to call it. I just didn't really have. It, wasn't really either way. I wasn't against it, but I wasn't really for it and I just didn't have much of a drive for it. So, anyways, that goes on for years.
Speaker 2:Um, and the the majority of my younger life, you know, um, I would still go to church in and out, like for, obviously, occasions um Easter and you know things like that. However, for me, um, and for me it just never clicked like that. So, fast forward, I go through the police academy when I'm 21. I start policing at the Harlan County Sheriff's Office and that career is going along pretty well, but then I realized how kind of jaded police officers and stuff are. You know what I saying? Like I can, I feel like I can say that because I'm one of them. Right, yeah, you got, you got it all right too. Yeah, man. And so it's like it's. It's so hard to be a positive person or be a light in such a dark job, right, because we're not, we're not dealing with the best people of society and it's very easy to get to where you just dislike dealing with people and it becomes like your heart gets really hardened towards a lot of things and it kind of has to as a protection thing.
Speaker 1:You have to.
Speaker 2:So that's the thing. It's such a stressful job and a lot of people or I'd say a lot of police officers rather, you know, the statistics are crazy with police officers that have heart attacks early or have severe alcoholism or even commit suicide, things like that, because the stress level is constantly up and down and it's such a demanding job and the hours you work in the shift, the way it goes.
Speaker 1:It's just it's not healthy, Right? No far bar, I mean, is not healthy.
Speaker 2:It's really not. And if you really have no foundation, nothing to center you and ground you, you're just out there, you're a. You're a lost ball in high weeds, really. You're just out there. You're a lost ball in high weeds, really. So, anyways, I kind of go through that for a number of years. Well, about year 12, 13, I had an experience. I want to start by saying I'll try to give you as many details of this as I can without it being too graphic.
Speaker 2:Also I want to be respectful of everybody that was involved in it. I don't want to in any way paint this like it's a good thing. It was a terrible, terrible thing, and there's not really any good that can come out of this situation. However, the reason I bring it up is because I want to show you that, even in a tragic situation, the Lord is what brings you out of it, right, right.
Speaker 2:So it all started one night. We were at the police department and we get a call of a domestic. So me and my partner, we head out and we go towards it and when we get up on the scene, there's an ambulance already there and they come up and they're like hey, man, look, you got to get up here. It's pretty bad, Right. So I don't know what I'm going to walk into. All I heard was a domestic. So in my mind I'm kind of preparing myself for the worst, which I think is probably going to be. Maybe we're going to go in here and have to fight somebody, or you know, it's going to get whatever.
Speaker 2:Um, so I run up the hill and go in the to the apartment. Well, the door is open a couple inches, but the screen door is shut. So I can hear what's going on in this apartment, but I can't see it, and I can hear a struggle, clear struggle screams this and that you know this and that you know. Well, I opened the door and I think a way to put this without it being crazy it's basically an attempted murder with a knife involved, right, and this is in progress. So in my mind I'm thinking, oh, oh, my God, like, what do I do here? You know, of course, you kind of hit a freeze up moment and I look at my partner and I'm thinking this is bad, this is so bad. What are we going to do? Your mind's racing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And so you know, the police's job is to protect and, you know, obviously save lives if we can. So I try to get the guy's attention, I start yelling police and I'll drop the knife. Well, from there the situation escalates and from then he decided that she was no longer the target, but I would be. So then, as he comes towards me, I'm trying to back up and get away from him and he just keeps going faster and he covers us. You know, we probably move back about eight to ten feet from the door and I draw down. He's still coming at me. He raises the knife and then I go through and boom, like that I've been involved in the shooting.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, and at the time it was really surreal and I was kind of like, oh my God, I've been training for this for years. You know, heaven forbid it ever happened. And you know it. After it's over and the realization sets in, man, you're talking about the lowest of the low feelings. Right, I already had a little bit of trouble with depression and anxiety, but from me, man, it was so bad I had spent the majority of my career being trying to be the most personable police officers I could be. Okay, and a lot of people will tell you that anybody that knows me or anybody that knows me as the police or whatever, they'll say hey, you know, he's a good guy, he'll treat you fair.
Speaker 1:I remember the first time I ever met. You is very respectful.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You smiled. You wouldn't like any other. You know the guys. I'd been around when I worked as a deputy jailer. You know sour. You know chip on her shoulder. You know that's because I was new jd yeah you. You was new, but you know you could tell a lot too by a person. Yeah, you really can, because the person that I met then, I still see that person in you today and I hope so.
Speaker 2:I'm so glad to hear that too. Yeah, and it really. You know, I've dealt with police officers before. I was the police and obviously I've always been that kid I was the long hair kid that played music and skateboarded all the time so obviously my take with the police wasn't great at the one time, you know. But then I grow up and end up working with some of those guys. But you know, I say all that to say like I've really prided myself on being a person who genuinely will care and do my best to help you out.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right, my last resort is to take you to jail. I really want to help somebody and, heaven knows, I don't want to hurt anybody. So when this come down and I found out that you know the subject that was in that call, he ended up passing away, man, they hit me like a ton of bricks. Obviously, you kind of deal with both sides of the emotions where it's like you know well, it was kind of a, it was like a self-defense thing, you know, like, hey, this guy's going to, he's actively trying to kill me now, right, or other people, but at the same time, man, it's, it's a very heavy thing for a person to handle. When it is, and and if it doesn't affect you like that, there's probably something wrong, right.
Speaker 2:So I've always been a type of person to be. You might need some medication. Yeah, a hundred percent. So I was really struggling, man, um, after that all come down, I just didn't know what to do. Um, like I said, I I knew a little bit of scripture, but nothing, nothing enough to give me comfort, okay, and I didn't know anything.
Speaker 1:Ain't that amazing, though Just a little bit, just that little grain of mustard seed, sparked something.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the only thing. So this is when it all changed. So after that happened, you know, mandatory, they got to give you the officer two weeks off yeah and it's just like to decompress so they can.
Speaker 2:They can do what they need to do with the investigation and all this other things. Did you had to take counseling or anything? I did and I'll get to, and that kind of leads to what really was the shift in my life. But I remember in my two weeks off I had to sit on my porch and I just sit there and just watch the cars go by. Right, it was just. You know, you're just sitting there like watching paint dry, basically.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And the only thing that was going through my head was like the only thing I knew was like Psalm 23,. Right, so the Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want and I would kind of. For some reason I had that running around in my head and I'd played with the idea. I told my wife, I said hey, you know, I really think I should like maybe go to church or something, because nothing else is helping, right.
Speaker 2:I should like, maybe go to church or something, because nothing else is helping, right, and because I promise you sitting on the porch watching cars go by wasn't helping. Going to the liquor store down the street and getting something that wasn't helping, no Right, and that was the absolute worst thing you could do.
Speaker 1:That's what happened to me, was I found myself, when I walked away from God, sitting on a bar stool.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And before you know it, it was literally seven days a week, over $200 a week just drinking with my buddies.
Speaker 2:Because temporarily you're going to forget, mm-hmm, and that's what I'm doing. I guess you're self-medicating to forget about something right? And I had these horrible flashbacks, man, and I still do from time to time. I had one yesterday at the ballgame. I stopped and told my wife. I said there was a guy walked by and he was actually one of the ems workers that were on that call and I just totally relived that moment and it that happens not all the time, but you know I still struggle with it people don't know what ptsd until it actually hits you Right, because there's things in my life that all of a sudden I'll go off to a deep stare.
Speaker 1:I'm right back at that moment when that happened, whatever tragic part of my life was, yeah, and I definitely have PTSD at this point. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I hate to even say that because it makes me feel like it's something I should be ashamed of or something you know as me being prideful. But I mean, it's true, it's, it's a situation that really bothered me and I agree with you, I hate using that word, but that's the only word that people associate with right right. So anyways, getting back to the whole story, there is, after the two-week period, they let you go back to work yeah um, and the two-week period was good and I'll well, I'll say it this way the first week.
Speaker 2:So initially, right after the the shooting happened, first week comes by and all my friends are coming by. All my buddies come by just check on you. You know, hey, man, just checking on you, make sure you're good, you need anything, we love you, glad you're safe, blah, blah, blah. You know, and you feel that by the time week two rolls around and there's nobody there and it's just you and your thoughts. That's a terrible thing. It's dark, it's very dark, very dark. And the one thing I was struggling with was, like, trying to how do you jumpstart life again? You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Like how do you?
Speaker 2:how do I just go in the kitchen, make a sandwich and then go to bed? You know like it's not the same. And so I finally go back to work and I'm still struggling at this point. But they, through the department, they do a thing called PCIS, which is like post-critical incident seminar. That's what it stands for and it's a.
Speaker 2:It's an event that they do in Lexington and it's for people that have been involved in situations like that. So they set you up, they have these seminars that go on throughout the day, and you bring your wife with you, they buy you a hotel, they put you up and it's basically about trying to get your mental health To realize hey, this happened, you'll be okay, but it's okay to not be okay right now. You get what I'm saying yeah, definitely. So, like I said before, I told my wife, you know I'm saying yeah, definitely so, like, um, like I said before I'd told my wife you know I was, I was kind of like I think I need to start going to church just to try to see if there's something there that'll help me. Well, this PCIS thing when we show up, the address is at a church, a huge church in Lexington.
Speaker 1:Yeah, steps of a righteous man are ordered by God. So God was directing you, oh, brother you just wait.
Speaker 2:So I was like, okay, I see what you're doing here. Yeah, so we walk in, they introduce us. You know we're in this. It's like a gym that's off of the church and it's a huge church. It's right next to like where the Meyer and all the shopping centers are up there.
Speaker 2:So, anyways, we go through and they're talking about responding to incidents like that and we all share our story and you feel like there's a sense of community there, right? So when they would do that, they would break us up into groups. So, like there was me and a couple other guys who'd had similar kind of incidents and they put us in one group. Then there was other people that had incidents that were, I won't say less, less than, but like it was different. You know, their situation may be completely different.
Speaker 2:There was, um, like, for example, there was a. There was a police officer there who, um, him and his partner were sitting just side by side on the roadway and then they get a call. Well, his partner goes to pull out and a car T bones him, drunk driver, kills him and he had to sit there and witness that his buddy, you know. So he was being a separate room. The people with stuff like that, and it's just terrible situations, right. So the ones they put us in were like Sunday school rooms. So the room that I'm in, we're standing there looking and I'm looking at this big whiteboard and on it there's this it's like a piece of construction paper and it doesn't say what the verse is. It looks like a kid wrote it.
Speaker 2:It does not say what the verse is. It looks like a kid wrote it. It does not say what the verse is, it just says Genesis 50-20. So me standing there waiting on the counselor to come in, I'm thinking, hmm, what is that? So I pull out my phone and I look it up and Genesis 50-20,. I mean in context it may not fit me very well, right, because it's about Joseph and his brothers.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So. But the verse itself says but as for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Brother, you're talking about hitting me like a ton of bricks. I was like, okay, that's somebody saying, well, here's your sign, literally a sign on the wall. And me being so stubborn, it was like, hey, you know, there's a reason that I'm in this place, there's a reason that that sign is right here, right.
Speaker 2:And when I read that man, I could feel it from the top of my head to my shoes, where I was like, ok, lord, I'm listening, you know, I hear you, I see what you're doing and I know you're there. And and it was that day we had a talk like we had a full on. You can look at me right now and see the chills Right, we had a full on. You can look at me right now and see the chills right, we had a I could feel it man. Right, it was me saying okay, you're there, you're there. And he says I've always been there, I've just been waiting on you. He's never left us. He's never left us. He said I've always been there, I've just been waiting on you, you big dummy, you know I, you big dummy, you know, I know right.
Speaker 2:And the crazy thing was, you know, like, from that point I was like, okay, there's, he's real, because I felt him. He's came into my heart and he spoke to me directly. I had a full on experience You're talking about. Turn your whole world upside down, right. So from there I was kind of like now, what do I do, right? Right, for one, I got this thing out and dusted it off.
Speaker 2:Right, I've had this Bible for years that my mother-in-law, when I was dating my wife, she bought it for me years ago and, I'll be honest, I cracked the cover a couple times, like I said, when we went to church, but other than that, it never got read at my house, right, it never did so. Then I started breaking this thing open and reading it and, man, it was just a game changer. And when I started going through, people were like, you know, I've always heard read the Gospels, read Matthew, mark, luke, john, all that. It's easier to get the Jesus story, jesus's words, the red letters. And I'm thinking well, why am I giving Genesis the first book of the Bible, you know, with this Old Testament stuff, and this story is even about Joseph getting sold into slavery and then his brothers coming back. Well then, if you look up the definition of the word Genesis, it's the formation of something new.
Speaker 1:Oh amen, you know what I'm saying, and that was me. I can relate a lot to you on the Genesis part because when I come back to the Lord after walking away, he spoke to me through genesis and he spoke through me through you know, abraham yeah you know, in the life of abraham and the fear of god, because when I got saved that night in my room it was the fear of god that came back into my life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I could totally relate a lot to you on that. Why genesis? Why not the four?
Speaker 2:gospels. That's what I'm saying, like it was. It got to a point where I'm asking these questions internally and I feel like I'm really receiving the answer. You know, and that's if you know who Brandon Lake is. Right, it's the singer. He had a thing he was on a podcast one time and he was talking about. He's like you got to follow the nudge. When you feel that nudge in your life that tells you, hey, do this, hey, listen to that. I started really doing that and then it was like almost we could have this conversation, like I have questions. Well, once I open this book, hey, the answers are all in there. Right, they are. It may not be the one you want, right then, but it's in there.
Speaker 1:It's in there.
Speaker 2:So, like with me personally after that whole incident, I'm still struggling because I'm thinking, okay, I'm so unworthy of this Right, I'm the most undeserving person in the world. I've been a liar, a cheater, I've been lustful, I've been everything. And then, especially now, when you're feeling like a murderer.
Speaker 1:I was going to ask you that question Because I've never murdered anybody, but I've come really close, you're right. I mean as far as like, like super close. They could have died, yeah, and they didn't, thank god. But there was things in my life, lord. How am I going to stand before you, knowing all this stuff that I had done yeah, you know, physically, mentally, to people? How am I going to be able to stand before you and you tell me that I'm okay?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know that that's. That was a huge thing with me. I was thinking, man, how can I, how can I be accepted into this and how can I be allowed there? You know, like, like this, in my, in my non-church way of looking at things, I was like that's where the perfect people are. You know, so far from it. So far from it. When you get in the Bible, you realize how unperfect you really are, right. But when you're out in the world, it doesn't really matter that much. But when you're looking in the Bible, you know, I even wrote it down earlier just so I could remember this. So everyone has something like that, right. So I'm sitting here thinking, hey, you know, I've been this and I've been that and I've got this reputation now and I've got that reputation now. You know what I mean, yeah. And then you add the incident on top of that. Man, it's a heavy load. But then you think about it and you're like, okay, so jonah ran from god oh yeah peter denied god or jesus, rather right yeah uh, thomas doubted him.
Speaker 2:Uh, david, I mean he was. He had an affair and everything. You know, paul, when he was a guy called Saul, he was definitely not perfect, no, but then look at the latter half of the Bible. You know what I'm saying. If he's writing all these letters and he's telling people how to then go about it, for me to think that there is not some kind of thing to come after that, that's preposterous.
Speaker 1:Even today I said Lord, how are you forgiving me this? And he does that same thing. He goes. What about Samson? Yeah. What about Paul? Yeah, it was no different. They had the same feelings and same thoughts that you've got Exactly.
Speaker 2:You know? Do you know the? Do you know? I forget how to exactly pronounce his name, but Vody Bauckham, I think it's something like that. He's an older black gentleman. Gray beard, he's a preacher.
Speaker 1:Oh yes. Yeah, Vody.
Speaker 2:Vody, something like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So there was a thing where he was talking about something similar to that and he was like for me to think I'm above, this is me, my flesh, thinking that I'm wiser than solomon, stronger than samson and godlier than king david? I think not. Yeah, you know what I mean? Yeah, definitely. So I mean, if that don't set you on fire, you know what I mean yeah, man, from that point I was kind of.
Speaker 2:It was almost like I have these questions now and this world's been opened up to me, but then God's coming through, he's like it's okay. It's okay, take your time.
Speaker 2:Right and I'm like I don't understand this book. There's too many, I don't understand how to read it. Where do I start? What do I do? I don't understand how to read it. Where do I start? What do I do? And from that point it was the strangest thing, because then I really met John Carter as the pastor. So for you who don't know, he's my neighbor, lives across the street from me, seen him for years, okay, but I never really had a relationship with him. I was just like, hey, how are you neighbor? Whatever man.
Speaker 1:Knowing him, he probably prayed for you every day, and you didn't even know it.
Speaker 2:He sure did you know, you know he did so. You know he, uh, he started like sending me text occasionally. You know he got my number for you know, obviously because he lives right close to me if something else is to happen or whatever, right. So he would start sending me scriptures at night, just a verse. Be like, you know, hey, um blah, blah, blah, whatever, and then give me the verse and say loving prayers. You know, I'm sure he does that to everybody, but it was the strangest thing because I would be feeling some type of way and then he would send something and it would would be like don't worry about anything.
Speaker 2:Instead, pray about everything you know. Just right on time, and I was like, how are you getting the words? Like, do you have like a camera in my house? You know what I'm saying? Like, how are you knowing this, john Right?
Speaker 1:And now you know, but then you're like, then I didn't now you know.
Speaker 2:But then you're like then I didn't right, you don't know. So I was. I told him one time. I said whatever you have I don't know what it is, but you have like a. It's almost like you have a direct line with the big man, right, yeah, and I'm just trying to get a piece of that. You know what I'm saying. So, like he would come through and he would talk about these other things and, um, you know, send me these verses, and they were just always right on time, always right on time. And I would tell him that and he would just be like hey, you know, that's not me, it's the wrong JC. You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 1:It's the wrong JC, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's not me.
Speaker 1:And I had a spiritual mother that would do that for me. Yeah, you know, when I was just at my darkest moment, about to give everything back up again, she'd call me or she'd just say I love you, she'd send something you know, and I think you really need that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you're new to the faith right if you're you're just now discovering it for yourself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you really need someone to help you along well, and you're saying that you know the here, not too long ago, the story of lazarus. Christ rose him from the dead. Exactly, yeah, but who took the grave clothes off? And the lord says james, I want you to take those grave clothes off. When they come up and when they pray, when they say I need help, all right, you're going to be there with them to take those clothes off.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know, I still struggle with things like that. So like even if I'm at church right now and I see somebody up there praying and John's like hey, come up here and pray for them, I'm like, oh well, I'm not really qualified to do that.
Speaker 1:You know, I'm not, and that's just my flesh thinking yeah, it is, and it's hard, man. It was hard for me to do this podcast, and then the Lord, through Scripture, revealed things to me. Like John the Baptist, we're proclaiming the second coming. He proclaimed the first. We're preaching on the mountaintops, we're preaching to the Sadducees and the Pharisees, and all of that Because what we're doing right now is exactly the same thing John the Baptist did. That's what gets me through.
Speaker 2:I always thought I remember reading that and thinking that was the coolest thing.
Speaker 2:He was like oh, you think I'm cool, this next guy coming, I can't even take off his shoes. I know, right, that's how cool he is. Yeah, and I try to tell people sometimes, like especially at work, when I'm trying to get some of the guys onto it, and I'm like, you know, even if they don't know, or if they do know, I'll try to break it down in you know dummy terms Like, hey man, look, the Bible's hard, the Bible, some parts you know, yeah, and they're like what? No, it's always like this, thou blah, blah. I'm like no, no, no, check this out. So I show them, like psalm three, and it's like smite them on the face and break the teeth of the wicked.
Speaker 1:I was like man, this is hard actually that was one of my prayers for a long time. When I first read that, I said lord, break my enemy's arms.
Speaker 2:You know david prayed, said break their teeth I said break their arms and feet, man, it's so true, but I mean, it's like there's 10 000 enemies around me and he's just panicking. He's like, help me, help me, and you know, for the longest time, what I was doing was I would read a psalm a day. And it was just, man, they were right on time, always right on time, and, and I think the big thing is really staying in there Because, like I said, all the answers are in here- that was the key for me.
Speaker 1:It was a constant. I had to put myself on a schedule.
Speaker 2:You have to.
Speaker 1:I read in the morning, in the evening, then if I had time in between that, I would do it. But I had to stay in the mornings and I still do that today because I don't want to fall from it again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, If I go, if I only open this Sunday, wednesday and Sunday, boy, that's a bad week for me. You know what I mean. Like over with. Yeah, it's like man, I'm feeling really, really down on myself and this and that.
Speaker 2:But if I stay in the Word just a little bit, you know, and I struggle with it. I'm not going to sit here and say I read it like I should, as much as I should, rather, but man, you don't get what you put in it. Yeah, yeah, very, very well, put right there. Yeah, I agree 100%. But I think there was a thing I shared on my Facebook the other day and I was telling you about this before it started but it said good people don't go to heaven, forgiven sinners do, and that just really, it really struck a nerve with me, you know, and I was like that's so true, right? Because, like, when I started talking to John and he would start to say things like you know, hey, come up to church, I see you play guitar, I see you on your porch all the time, I hear you all the time. Man, we could use a guitar player. Blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 2:And man, I just didn't know what to say to the guy, because I was like how do I tell you, listen, I am as dumb as a third grader when it comes to this Bible, right?
Speaker 2:How do I tell him that, you know? And how can I have a conversation with somebody who is super well-versed in Scripture, very knowledgeable, yeah, very knowledgeable. And the only thing I could go back on was I was like, well, you know, my family is this and my papa, my uncles and this and that, and he was like that's great for them. For them, yeah, they've done their work, but what about you, about me? And he would put it right back on me yeah, and man, I really had to go through some spiritual journeys of my own to really do my own work right, and I had to sow my own seeds. You know what I'm saying? Like, I had to do my own work to get to where I am now and I still got a long way to go and I'm not where I want to be, but at least, thank god, I'm not where I was yeah right, you know what I'm saying, definitely.
Speaker 2:Um. So from that point I started actually like getting in church. I went to a couple of different places and I never really I still didn't feel it Right. And then I went to John's and there was something there for me personally and I was like, oh man, this, that's the first time I went to a church and I actually felt like I received something. It wasn't John's doing, no, it was the Spirit.
Speaker 1:Because when I came in I think it was you guys were during the revival you had just started to play, yeah, on the worship team, yeah, on the worship team, and I walked in because I was already going to another church. I walked in I felt such a drawing, yeah, and I already knew what that was. You know it, knew what that was, you know it was. You know the spirit connecting, you know, with the other people in that church and with the pastor you know it.
Speaker 1:Just, it was all there. Yeah, well, I left. That spirit never left me. Yeah, and and and one thing led to another. I ended up, you know the lord telling me he wanted me to go there. And I was like well, lord, how do I go there? They already got. You know a musician there. You know a guitar player, I'll work it all out, don't worry about it. Yeah, you know a musician there. You know a guitar player. I work it all out, don't worry about it. Yeah, you know. So. I sat there like a lump on a log. You know, every time I went to church there, I mean the spirit would just come up on me and it was just. It was so beautiful, yeah, you know, and it was just. I got such fed and peace. And then, one thing, you led to another I'm up there playing with you guys, play it to another. I'm up there playing with you guys, and it works out yeah, 100%.
Speaker 2:And the thing with it is man. The Holy Spirit frequents that place.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And especially before I was even part of the team. I was just a member out in the pew. And I remember there was a service that John never said anything, it was literally just the team. They played a song and it kind of started moving and I looked at my wife and I said something is happening here. You could feel it.
Speaker 1:Don't you love that shift in the spirit?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and this was me being brand new I said there is something stirring right.
Speaker 1:That goes back to the scripture where the Lord says his sheep know his voice. Oh yeah, they sure do. It's like you don't have to be a theologian, you know in the word of god, to say hey, I know something is supernaturally moving amongst us no, if you got, if you got heart beating in your chest man. That's it.
Speaker 2:It's a man, yeah and by that second song the altar was full and they just they played whatever song it was for at least 25 minutes straight, because they couldn't stop, because there was people on the altar.
Speaker 2:And I was like Jesus, I'd never seen anything like that and I never felt a move of the Holy Spirit like that and it just blew my mind. Transition period of me discovering my relationship with the Lord and me becoming a member of the church. There was this gap where the only church I got was music right, for some reason, like me being, I used to be into like metal, right, and just the heavier stuff and very guitar driven things, you know. But all of a sudden those old things didn't really have the same effect on me anymore. Right, I just didn't want to listen. Um, I heard, like you can look actually in the front page of this, and there's a, uh, there's a bunch of songs I'd hear the worship team play and I'd be like, oh, I like that and I'd write it down.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what is what is rattleattle? Let me write that down. And I looked it up, man, and, and I would like I'll go to work and I work third shift, so I'm at it not all the time. There's nobody out on the highways, so you see this cruiser just going down the road blaring, uh, christian music and that's awesome me having, I'm having church brother, you know like that's the truth. So there was some stuff that I would be like, so ignorant with the word, I remember I haven't asked my wife one time, and this is a grown man, this isn't very long ago. This is, you know, a year or two, whatever.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I was like what does he mean when he's saying, uh, it's a cory asbury song, but he's like he left the 99. I was like what?
Speaker 1:does that?
Speaker 2:mean she was like duh the 99 for the one I was like.
Speaker 2:I don't know what that verse is, so she had to show that to me yeah because you know her parents raised her to do that and you know through a lot of that music that that was my gateway to really delving into it, and I think the Lord knew that, because it was he's like hey, look, I'm going to get your attention right. Like he said, I've always been here, I've just been waiting on you and this is the way I've got to transition you. So I would find things out and I'd be like oh man, that's a really cool lyric. Well, that lyric is a scripture verse.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying yeah so I would go back and forth and then when I started going to church I was like, oh, something different's happening here, and I would look and I'd say, okay, they got a bass player. They got a like four or five singers, piano player and a drummer yeah there is not a guitar player which which, at the time, travis was playing like acoustic over here in the corner. Yeah, you know what I?
Speaker 1:mean.
Speaker 2:They didn't have electric guitars. No, they didn't have any of that. And I was thinking, you know, I think I could fit that. You know what I mean. And it wasn't like, hey, I want to play with them. It was like, look, dummy, once again I'm putting it right in front of your face because you're too blind to see it. Right, this is where you need to be. I got a place for you I have a place for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and see, that was my thought process. You know, when I came to that church I was like I was so drawn to it but I was like okay. I said, okay, I've got my music ministry, I travel already. Yeah, I play with, you know, with the one of leavens right you know, I'm hardly guitar player, acoustic, whatever, wherever she needs.
Speaker 1:You know, and I was like this, this'll work. You know, I've got this podcast, This'll work. Next thing, you know, I'm up there with you guys. Yeah, I was like Lord, how's this going to work? Don't worry about it. And you know, because I thank God for it though I thank God for putting you guys in my, you know, my area. Yeah, because I have little, no friends except for church and what I do, that's it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, that's, you know, we love having you up there, man, I love playing with you and that's, and like even here recently, when you've been up there, I've been able to not have that burden of playing and I've kind of got back into the word, you know, and it's good to take that little break and figure out things of being like there's a balance. I don't want this guitar playing and this music to be the idol.
Speaker 1:Well, see, I've been there. I know what it's like to just go up there and then all of a sudden you shouldn't be up there.
Speaker 2:You should be doing a sabbatical or something you know yeah, exactly, man, and and that's the thing I would get so lost sometimes and I'd get overwhelmed. And I do it with everything that I'm into. If I'm into something, I'm going to go 100 miles an hour in that direction.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely, that's the habit that I have, but I don't ever want the music, even though it is a huge part of ministry for me and a big part of my spiritual journey. I don't ever want that to overpower me being a Christian as far as like, just the word. You know what I'm saying. Like I'm there. I'm there to worship. I'm not there to play a killer guitar solo. Be like slash, with my hair blowing in the wind. You know I'm not, that's not what, that's not what we're doing. And solo, be like slash, with my hair blowing in the wind. You know it's, I'm not, that's not what. Yeah, that's not what we're doing. And and it's been really good to have you as an addition there and there's times like I've, you know, I think we had a guest musician a couple weeks ago and, uh, I forget what his name was, but you're talking.
Speaker 1:Oh you're. You're talking about bowman or are you talking about seth? Seth, play the piano. Yeah, seth.
Speaker 2:Louis style. Yeah, just Seth. He was like play that guitar and I just looked over at you and I was like go ahead.
Speaker 1:I played with Seth so I knew exactly what he was going to do.
Speaker 2:I don't know exactly what you want, but go ahead, James.
Speaker 1:Go ahead and play that thing.
Speaker 2:But anyways, when all that happened, man, I was like if somebody looked in there and there was like hey, that's you know who that is. That's on your all stage. He don't deserve to be up there.
Speaker 1:And I'm sure, oh, my dad crosses my mind. I was like I see somebody walking in the door. You know that I booked in jail and I've had dealings with and I'm like what if it's somebody that I've arrested?
Speaker 2:I'm saying, yeah, and I've had to deal with stuff like that too, man, but that's just pride, and you know, we're all there to worship and we're all children of God and we've got to put all that worldly stuff aside. Man, I'm sure, like I said, there's people that have seen me walk in and be like, oh, I can't go to that church because he goes there and I know who he is, you know and that craziness, and I promise you you can't tell me that I don't deserve to be up there, because I promise, I tell myself that and I'm not there for me, I'm not there for my glory.
Speaker 1:The devil calls me hypocrite all the time yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm not there for Travis's glory. Yeah, you know, I'm there for him and this is my way of doing it. Like I can't cook, I can barely teach these kids, you know, because I need to be in Sunday school myself, right, we all do, right? So it's like I don't. What is the way that I can best serve this house in his name, glorify his name? Well, you know what I'm going to take this talent. That's a God-given talent and I'm going to use it for him. And you know a lot of that's thanks to Tyler, you know the worship leader, and me and him have become really good friends now and, man, I lean on him a lot.
Speaker 1:I've been around a lot of worship leaders, yeah, and every one of them is different. Yeah, tyler, I'll have to say, is exceptional when it comes to dealing with the group, I'll have to say 100%. He's truly exceptional in all aspects and if you're out there and you listen, you know what I'm talking about. You know exactly what I'm talking about. Yeah, because they some people it's just hard to deal with.
Speaker 2:yeah, well, tyler's. You know he's, he's, he's humble, yeah, he's truly a man of god, yeah, and he has his heart in the right direction and he's it's very, it's geared towards what it needs to be Right. And when I fostered this friendship with him, I respect him so much, man. There's so many of the older guys there that I just I have immense respect for whether it's Jason or John, obviously, tyler, you know all those guys, man. They just been such these spiritual big brothers.
Speaker 1:And what's amazing, though, is, Years down the road, the Lord don't come back. You're going to be that mentor. Oh Lord, see the Lord's teaching you. And the Lord always shows me a full circle in everything that life is. Yeah, you know, through his word of God and through my everyday life, he shows me full circle things. Yeah, he says James, you're going to be this one day. You're going to be that old man that sits in the corner and little Paul over here is going to say I need to come talk to you, How'd you do this? And nobody's going to know no different, except for you and whoever you talk to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I could see things progressing, man, but stuff like that scares me the future. You know, I'm just lucky to get by playing these you know four chords and just falling off my iPad and this and that you know.
Speaker 1:But see, I didn't do the music scene before I got saved. Oh really, yeah no, my life, my life was party, party, party, nightlife I let whoever else play the music scene.
Speaker 1:yeah, you know, my forte was I had my own little thing that I like to do at the house and I love the draw been doing it since I've been a kid. That was my, my gateway, you know, to to get my feelings out. Yeah, but when I got saved you was talking about how you got saved and lord put you right up there on stage exactly what happened with me is when I got saved, two days later my neighbor come over and put a guitar in my hand. Yeah, and all I had was some old tapes of my grandmother's you know Charles Johnson and the revivers, the McKinney's, you know stuff that you know our pastor listens to. That's all I had. So I put the cassette tape in and play along with him Next day. I know two months later I'm playing in the front. Yeah, you know, and so I can relate to a lot on that. But I didn't have nothing like that. Yeah, I didn't. I was searching, though.
Speaker 2:When I was growing up in my grandparents' house, like I said, they were all religious, you know, and my dad's sister was married to my Uncle Billy, and then, you know, all of their kids were musical and in church. And then, on the other side, you know, all of their kids were musical and in church. And then, on the other side, you know um my other uncle, which is my dad's brother. You know, they were just always music.
Speaker 2:There was a piano in my grandma's living room and Thanksgiving Christmas, you know, the whole family was there and it was red back hymnal, just whatever.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Sherry would get on the piano, joe would get on the guitar and and that that kind of really helped me. I didn't know any of those songs but at the time, like it, there was a musical upbringing you know what I mean. And my brother played guitar and I remember when he would leave he wouldn't let me get the guitar out, but I wanted to learn so bad yeah I would go in while he was gone. I'd get the guitar out, but I wanted to learn so bad.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would go in while he was gone and I'd open the case and I'd just strum the strings. Yeah, and there was something that drew me to it from a very young age and I always had that love for it, those old kind of songs like you were talking about. If you look that Taylor Acoustic that I have, there's a piece of paper that's taped to the top of it and it's all old and faded now, but it was the chords to.
Speaker 1:I'm Using my Bible as a Roadmap. Oh yeah, that's good.
Speaker 2:We played that at my grandpa's funeral and I didn't know it, so we had to write down the chords and I just taped it to the top. I'm using my Bible for a road map.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so good, and it's still on there to this day. Wow, and I'm looking back now considering how things are. I was so blessed from the beginning and I'm just too dumb to see it. You know what I mean. Like there's a reason that this was surrounding me, but the time just wasn't right for me and I was too stubborn to really give into it. Time just wasn't right for me and I was too stubborn to really give into it. Right? Um, and I'm definitely not saying that I've I'm the perfect example of anything, because I'm surely not. You know my. I'm still fresh on my walk. John called me a babe in christ one day. He's like you're still a baby in, you know, and the way I look at it is like you know, it's like kids learning to walk right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:When they first start to walk, they're going to fall right. But if you say, hey, look, sorry, you can't try to walk anymore because you failed last time, yeah, no, you got to get up and let them try it again, and they're going to fall and eventually they're going to be walking and running and doing all this. So it's a process that takes time and I think we just got to have patience and I asked the Lord one day.
Speaker 1:I said Lord, when am I going to get in my teenage years with you? Because I said I'm tired of it, but there's still a lot of things in my life that I'm still holding on to. I still got a long way to go.
Speaker 2:I do. Yeah, there was a verse in Isaiah, let me find it. What is it? 31. Yeah, it says but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Right, you know? And that's that's just waiting upon the Lord at this point, you know. But I've been beyond blessed to be put in the position I am and surrounded by the people that I am, who really care and foster my faith journey and my walk. They truly care and I'm not just saying this about me, I've seen this from everybody that I've been in contact with in this journey. They truly care about people and they care about growing the kingdom.
Speaker 1:And that is the first commandment of God is to love thy neighbor. And showing that type of respect to one another is showing the love of God, and if we show that love of God, all that rest of the mumbo jumbo that comes along with religion would not even really matter, right, because it'll all come out in the wash, as long as we love one another.
Speaker 2:John said that this last sunday was, you know, without love. It's all pointless.
Speaker 1:It is pointless, it is absolutely pointless, because see, my whole life growing up, you, you know, is I was always searching for love. You know, I grew up in very I guess they use the word toxic nowadays, but I grew up in a very toxic household.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:You know, if I was running from a dope dealer, running from literally somebody trying to kill me and my mom and my sister, you know, hiding out, we had bug out bags. You know, in the house we had trap doors in the house to hide stuff from my stepfather Jesus, you know we would stay on the road for weeks. I can honestly sit here and tell you I ate from a dumpster, I lived in a park, I showered in a gas station, you know, and, and I look at my life today and it truly amazes me, yeah, look at where you are, look around yeah and and I truly know what love is when Christ saved me and made me part of his family, because I grew up without a family.
Speaker 1:They was two foot in front of me, but I grew up without them. Yeah, I love my mom. She's saved, she's went on with the Lord before she died. She's a very strong Christian woman. You know, john can tell you that and a lot of people can tell you that. But it all boils down to it takes the love of Christ.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and that's another thing. My situation was completely different than that. I grew up in a very loving household, thankfully, thank the Lord. You know I didn't realize how rare that was. It's super rare Until I get older, you know, and see that there's a lot of broken households and there's a lot of split families and this and that you know. But with my parents and my brother and my sister, we all, you know we didn't really. I won't say we were spoiled, right, but we didn't. My dad made sure that we didn't have to want for anything. You know what I'm saying and there's nothing wrong with that. If I wanted something, my dad made sure that we didn't have to want for anything.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm saying and there's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 2:If I wanted something, it better be reasonable you know what I'm saying?
Speaker 2:Yeah, but if it's like food or something like that, of course you know that my dad will bust his tail. He still works in the mines to this day, you know, and and um, he's a foreman, so I don't think he does much anymore, but he's got it made. He's got it made. He's deserved it. At this point, yeah, because I've worked underground.
Speaker 2:But you know, growing up, man, even so, we weren't in church all the time. My dad was always at work. If he'd come to my ballgames, he's covered in coal dust and you know like I'd very rarely seen him because he was always just working to provide for us. Thank the Lord that I was blessed with a father like that, but my mom being a pastor's kid, she would always kind of reiterate these things the Bible says this, and the Bible says that, and the Lord said this and the Lord said that. So, even though I wasn't directly in a church, I still was guided by someone and raised in a household that was respectful and that tried to pass along this word and these values and these commandments. You know it's a big thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and even because I growing up I didn't have a curfew, I didn't have moral values, it was you go out and hit them first before they hit you. I'm sorry I don't have enough money to give you to go do that. We literally. That's totally different, totally opposite. So all my whole life I totally wanted to, I searched out, you know, wanting a family to be involved.
Speaker 2:But then, look, that's the thing. You know, that's. I think we have to take that into consideration, that everybody's life is different. But given that situation, the way you grew up, the way I grew up, it's going to be almost polar opposites. But then look at us, we're in the same room sharing the same love for the Father. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:We're here together and we're all children of God when it comes down to it, and I think we all need to realize that and get rid of this worldly mindset of us. It's us against them or I don't like them because I said this and blah, blah, blah. Man, just get that hate out of your heart and humble yourself and realize, hey, the Lord put us here to do good, to do this right. So that's what we need to do.
Speaker 1:I don't, don't know, man, it's, it's like the, you know the thieves on the cross that hung before. You know that hung with christ. It was two different men yeah, two different, two different men, two different, and I mean, but you know, one went to heaven and you know the other one didn't. That's the way it reads. But you know, we, we're all different, we've all fallen short of his glory. Yes, exactly, oh man.
Speaker 2:So my thing now is I try to be mindful every day, to not forget where I once was and where I am now. Right, so there's such a difference. I was actually helping Jake one day with the teens and went over. There was a verse in Matthew and the human nature we're that. It's kind of like in the desperation and the desperate moments, you know we're we're just looking for the Lord, but when we get on those mountaintops then it kind of fades off and we don't need him as much. We're kind of leaning our own understanding. You know, I don't ever want to get in that position where I forget about things, right. So the one in Matthew that I was telling you about was I think it's in chapter 8. Yeah, but chapter 8. They're in the boat, storm's raging.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And everybody's panicking. Now, at this point, they know that Jesus is working miracles, right?
Speaker 2:And he's doing all these things and they're witnesses to this. They're there present, watching him do this, so they know what kind of person this is. But then, when the storm comes and hits, they're all panicking. Do you not care if we live or die? Wake up, why are you sleeping? He comes up and rebukes the wind and then it completely stops. Imagine that You're in the middle of a storm and all of a sudden, the sea just calms down. He's like all right, now I'm going back to bed. You know, like, like, I was so not worried about this that you're panicking over these little situations. I was so not worried about this that I was asleep.
Speaker 1:Yeah, can't even be bothered to be woke up I, but I personally myself, I battle with fear and anxiety. Right, I can relate a lot to that, to the story of them in a boat, because I'll be okay one day and then all of a sudden, something will happen and I get into a panic right.
Speaker 2:But that's the best part of this story, because right after that they all look at each other and I said what manner of man is this that even the wind and the waves obey try? That's right. And you're thinking, and that's basically Jesus' way of saying don't forget who I am and what I've done.
Speaker 2:I know y'all kind of got in your worldly ways for a second and you're thinking, oh my gosh, we're going to die. I told you I was going to sleep and I ain't worried about it, so you don't need to worry about it. That's right, let me handle it, trust me. And it's almost like. It's like when Peter was you know if you're really who you say you are, let me walk out to you. And he's like come on, just keep your eyes on me.
Speaker 1:You know what amazes me, a God? That it's all about remembrance. Yeah, from Genesis and I've said this before, it's all the way from Genesis to the revelation it's all about remembrance. Remember who you come from, remember your first love. Then he looks at us and he says he'll cast our sins and remember them no more.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That is for a God to say. He's going to forget what we have done as long as we do his commandments. Yeah and God, amazing though it really is.
Speaker 2:There was a song that just come out it's been a couple months, but it was a Ben was a song that just come out, like it's been a couple months, but it's been fuller song. Um, it was called don't let me forget. And man, I've seen a video of him, uh, at the church, at a, not the church at a concert and he was, you know, he's telling his testimony, telling his story, yeah and he's just saying, lord, don't let me, don't ever let me.
Speaker 2:Forget that I'm nothing without you. That's right, right, and I think that just plays on my mind all the time. Even in my life I can be on the mountaintop, but I've been in the low valleys, in the shadows, and he was there. And if you look like, even right here on my arm, I got this tattooed after after that and it says mountain or valley yeah and this is.
Speaker 2:You know, it's got this dove here. I have to. I have to look at that as a constant reminder all the time that you know. He was there with me in the low valleys and he's going to be there with me at the mountaintops, but my it's on me, my duty is to not forget him in either of those places and everything will be okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah I think that's one of the keys of, you know, following christ is remembrance. Just remember and you know, and that's why I like to do these testimonies here, because I want people to remember where god had brought them from yeah and to remember that there's other people out there that's going through the same thing that you're going through.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's not perfect. No, it's not perfect. It's not going to be a straight ascent from you know it's not going to be a straight line from you know. Terrible to good. There's ups and downs and obviously there's parts where you go kind of stagnant for a while and you'll dip down and you'll kind of lose a little faith and you get back. But there's another verse in Matthew that says if you're not received in that town, once you leave, shake that dust off your feet, which means we're not even taking a speck of dust that can stick to the bottom of your shoe next to where we're going. That's right, leave that behind. It's not worth it.
Speaker 2:Yeah all that stuff like that. You just keep on a positive mindset, keep him straight ahead, you know, and just truck along. Do the best we can, man.
Speaker 1:We're all in this together. Yeah, definitely, this is awesome.
Speaker 2:Got any more. We can sit here and talk as long as you want to, brother, definitely I do want you to come back on the show, though.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'd love for you to come back on the show.
Speaker 2:I can sit here and ramble.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I could too. I could too, but I want to use guidance from the Lord too. Yeah, definitely, make preparations. I want you to come back and we'll go deeper into your testimony. Amen, I would love that. It don't matter if you're out there, you're listening, you know. It don't matter if you're from the jailhouse to the White House, we're all the same. Yeah, it really don't. We're all going to stand before God. We're all going to be accountable for our sins. And if you're not out there and you don't know the Lord, I beg you from the bottom of my heart that you give your heart to Christ and you know. And, uh, before we leave, I'm going to ask brother travis here to uh, lead us out with prayer.
Speaker 2:And another thing here also is you don't necessarily have to be in the church house. No, you know what I'm saying. You people got saved from. I did get saved here and there you know it says. You know it says in the bible that, um, you know, if you believe in your heart and you confess with your mouth that you know he's the Lord, that's it, and God raised him from the dead. And you know, if you believe that you can be saved, yeah Right, so that is the main thing.
Speaker 1:The both times that I gave my heart to God, I was saved in my own room. Yeah, I was in my own sin, in my own room.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll tell you another thing before we get out of here, yeah definitely it was very, very new in my faith journey with you know currently and John, he asked me to go with him to a church in Middlesbrough because he was preaching that night.
Speaker 2:And he was like, hey, you could ride down with me. And I said, yeah, cool, so me and him are going get, we get down there and we do the whole thing. We go out to eat afterwards and he's like man, I really appreciate you coming. Well then, as we get like on 119 back towards harlan, he just looks at me and the conversation gets serious for a second. He was like trav, you know, if you were to die, you know, hit me with that one. If you were to die, do you know you'd be going to heaven? I said, yeah, absolutely. He said hallelujah, he almost wrecked the car. Man.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I could see him all that way.
Speaker 1:He's like. That makes me so that's a hard question to ask somebody because you know you don't know where that conversation is going to go. No, but it's really true, but it's a truthful question. It's one of those questions that I think people need to ask more often. Do you know exactly where you're going to go?
Speaker 2:I heard somebody say something one time, though, and this kind of makes sense, is that all the things you want out of life are just a step outside of your comfort zone. So if you stay in that zone where you've always felt comfortable, you're going to get what you always got yes, right, and to grow a little bit you have to expand, and you have to take these little chances and these little. You know you've got to walk by faith, not by sight, and that's the main thing, and that's just. You know you put your focus straight ahead.
Speaker 1:You know keep your nose, christ gives us good examples of, you know, stepping out of your comfort zone. You know he could have been stoned to death so many times. Right, Because he stepped out. You know, like the harlot, that they was going to stone and but he, he knelt down and he started to write something in the sand. They could have stoned that man right there write something in the sand. They could have stoned that man right there, right then. But he stepped out on faith, because he was in the flesh. He stepped out knowing that they can, you know, stone right then, right there. But you know, and there was so many other occasions that you know he just come out of his comfort zone. Yeah, that's great. I love that analogy.
Speaker 2:That's true man, it's true, I wish I could give credit to whoever said it, but I can, can't remember.
Speaker 1:Well, we'll just give credit to God.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because if it would be truthful, if you did get it, it was probably from God. That's where it all comes from. It all comes from God. That's it, man. But, brother, if you want to lead us out with prayer, Lord, we come to you our lives.
Speaker 2:I want to thank you for the opportunity that you've given me to tell my story of how you came into my life and changed my life. We want to give you thanks for James and his outreach and just trying to spread your word and your love to anyone out there who can hear this and know that there is a change possible in their lives. It doesn't always have to be just all bad all the time and things like that. Lord, we know peace and freedom all comes through your name and the blood of your son, jesus Christ and Lord in your name we pray Amen.
Speaker 1:That was wonderful. I'd like to thank everybody for listening to the show. This is your host, JD, and if you guys like to go to our website at hor421showbuzzsproutcom, you can get all of our information to helping us out with the show financially or anything else, and all shows are recorded live, no post-editing recorded at the 421 studio. For contact information for all your studio needs, you can email at hor421ministries at gmailcom or your phone number is 239-849-1502. We'll see you next time.
