As well with my soul written by Horatio staffer . And he wrote that his story was that he was a wealthy Chicago businessman. He and his, he and his , uh, wife were , and their five kids, or six kids, something like that, were taking a trip to England on a Steamboat. And , uh, and , uh, at the last minute, some business interruption came up and he had to stay. He sent his wife and kids kids on England without him. And , uh, and the ship ship , uh, sank somehow. And all of them , all of 'em drowned except his wife lost all their kids. And she sent him a telegram saying , uh, shipwrecked I alone was saved. She didn't name their kids. I alone was saved. And so they lost all their kids. So , uh, he wrote this song after that about his trauma after losing, losing their family. And it is well with my soul no matter what the trauma out there. So that's been one of my favorites forever,

When great .

I love that music that just, it's just so, Christin just builds and builds and such strength. It's , uh, really affirming, isn't it? Well , I got a lot of those old hymns. I really , and I'm , I'm no musician at all. I , I grew up on a farm and we had a piano in the house, but piano was for girls, not for boys. You know, I , I , I can find middle C , but that's about the end <laugh> . So I have no , no , no musical skills at all. But, but I really, I really like , uh, uh, going to music, theater and symphony and , uh, truly liked that very much. 'cause she was very musically inclined. And so we, we , we went all the time. And, and this, this is well of my soul. That just reminded me of some , many of those musicals where the , the songs are just so captivating. You know, just, there's so much, so much life in 'em and so much, it's just , uh, it's just great to go it just to redo 'em , redo 'em over and over and over , you know, very popular that I , I love music and , uh, to my, my limited knowledge of it, limited the exposure, but , uh, wanna do start my , my spiritual life and my , my journey in that regard. Um , I don't get a chance at church and Sunday school to pontificate on his some . But , um, but , uh, it , it's hard to, you know, you , you can't just stop somebody, shake 'em and listen to me. I got something to say, you know, <laugh> , that's kind of what I'm doing to you now. I got something to say, <laugh> , it's difficult to, it's difficult to, to , um, to say, wanna say, say what I wanna say without, without , uh, first off feeling of being a hypocrite or second off. Uh, it'll be misunderstood or , uh, or that I won't convey it. Like I wanna convey it, that that's my problem. I won't convey it like I want to convey it. I know what's in my heart. I know what I wanna say, but sometimes I can't, can't , uh, either enunciate properly or, or say it so that the so what's on my heart really gets out there. But what I do wanna say today in , in this, is that , uh, that , um, I think start off with kind of a self-analysis. In other words, you know , I'm 95 years old. That's a few years, you know, and, and when you, when you start back thinking of years, first off, I'm blessed to be , be given that many years. But , but second, you know, you gotta look around. Or I have in my own my own perspective, you know, God, why am I here? You know, you know , you gave me another day, <laugh> , what do you want me to do today? You know? And , uh, that's kinda sobering. You know, you , you think, okay, I get up and look around and there's nobody demanding my services, <laugh> . There's nobody depending on me for , for something today. You know? So why am I here? What am I supposed to do? You know, what , what , what , what , uh, what can I use this day for? Or what can you use me for? You know? And , and , uh, that's a , that's really a sobering thing. And you turn around, okay, what , what's next? You know , what am I , am I wasting my day? You know, am I doing anything that because I like to do it or I wanna do it or feel I have to do it? So it , it , it's just , just sobering to think that you look out there and look, look what a peaceful world it is. You know, <laugh> like you , what , what a what a wonderful day, Louis arms. What a wonderful, what a wonderful world. You know, see, and it is, it's a wonderful world. And , uh, there are , there are opportunities for pleasure, opportunities for service. They're just all around you , and you just have to pray that, that your antenna will be up to, to recognize when there is one of 'em there, you know? And , uh, sometimes , uh, you get the wrong signal. But , but if, so, you, you do a retake and <laugh> . Let's , let's, let's , let's think this through again. But , but today, have an opportunity to sit down and just just reflect on, on, on where I've been in my, in , in my life. And , uh, again , uh, uh, I like to start off by saying that I come from a family of very strong Christian family on my mother's side and my father's side. They were Methodists, I guess, all the way back to John Wesley. Uh , I don't know how far back, but our family goes back from Arkansas to Kentucky to Virginia. And , uh, and , uh, I don't know, don't know anything about the people who lived in Virginia, but , uh, but , uh, a lot of 'em , a lot of 'em came from, from Kentucky , uh, and , uh, Bullock County, Kentucky, and , uh, another county there. Some of 'em lived in, I forgot the name of it now , Baron , I'm not sure. Anyway, he came from Kentucky to Arkansas, and they homesteaded and , and , uh, 160 acres that , that I grew up on was my, my grandfather's homestead had to give , I think his father homesteaded it. And , uh, 160 acres of farming in southeast Arkansas, which is flat, like country, like wi it always around here. It's not the pine hills. So , uh, had had deep roots there. And my grandfather's name was Edward Harvey. And, and therefore, that's how I got the name Harvey. So Harvey is a family name, and , and there's somebody other Harvey's back, back before him, you know, so Harvey's been throughout the, the , uh, and , and my mother named James is from my other grandfather on my mother's side. So I got my two grandfather's names. But anyway, growing up in that, in that community , uh, method church in a Baptist church, that's all, no Catholic churches, no other two churches. We , we were Methodist. But our , our roots go all the way back. And, and , uh, and uh, in fact, I don't have any proof of this, but , uh, folklore says that , uh, at one of my uncles in Kentucky was a circuit rider, rode horseback between, between his parishes. 'cause even even my day in Arkansas, we couldn't afford a full-time preacher. So, back in Kentucky, a hundred years before that, you know, nobody could afford a preacher. You , so you , you were tender at horseback ready to go from, from , uh, community to community on a horseback and , and , and , and preach it , preach a sermon, you know? So he was a circuit rider, and , um, I don't even know his name, but , um, but that, that's been handed down. And then the other folklore, which I have no proof of at all, but it's handed and told me by my 105 year old Aunt <laugh> , lived to be 105, said that one of , one of the , one of our great grandmothers on my father's side, great, great grand , was one of Abraham Lincoln's school teachers in Kentucky. And , and people say, well, how could that be in Kentucky? Abe Lincoln is , he was the senator from Illinois. He was, he was a , he was Abe , Abe from Illinois, you know, but checked on his ancestry and, and his family lived in Kentucky until he was eight years old. So , uh, he did come from Kentucky. And so I can believe that story's right, but , uh, but I have no, there's no documentation of it anywhere. But anyway, it's kind of a tied to Abraham Lincoln, 'cause he's one of my favorite, you know , um, heroes of the past, you know, think of his life at what adversity he, he lived through, how he overcame obstacles. 'cause he did, he , he had failure after failure as an attorney, even to get into the legislature. And, and he, he just had to keep pulling himself up, but bootstraps over and over and over again, you know ? And , and , uh, it got to the point where , uh, and , and , uh, I said that Gettysburg address is just, I just like to reread it <laugh> frequently because of he said so, so little, you know? And I think one of the great lands from it is , uh, the , uh, the world will a little note no longer member of what we say here, but it can never what be what these dead soldiers did here, you know? And I, I think of that. And , and , and he was severely criticized by the press for great moment of the Civil War battle, the greatest battle of all times, thousands died, <laugh> . And here , he , he , he's, before the microphones got this time, and , and he , he got up and said, talked two minutes maybe on the get . And that became one of the most famous of all speeches of all time. But, but , um, what a humble man, you know, the world with a little note and our longer member of what we say here, see how, how important am I? You know, you know, you know , but, but like you say , uh, I have a hard time keeping a straight face on this. But, but, but you , you just have to know that God has you here for a purpose. Certainly nobody doubt that God had Lincoln there for a purpose. He saved the union, you know? And , uh, one of the greatest things , I come from a slave state. So one of the greatest things I think from everybody was that , you know, Abraham Lincoln saved the slaves, and he's a hero for the slaves. And , and gosh, I support that a hundred percent. But, you know, so he's, he's one of my heroes. And , uh, and , uh, and I can't , uh, in fact, in fact , uh, my grandson wanted What a good said , get me any book about Abraham Lincoln's life. That's what I want for Christmas <laugh> . So, so, so, anyway, I just think they're , they're examples that lived on before us. And, and you say, well, why were they there? And why were, they were , God, I think God used Abraham Lincoln . He was a man for the time. He just was, and I think he did save the union, or he was a very, very prominent, prominent force in saving the union. So I , I'd like to , I'd like to champion him wherever I can. Just makes me feel good. And , uh, and more on the theme of what I'm trying to talk about is that , uh, why am I here? And , uh, and you , you stop and think about it , uh, uh, how did you get chosen to be the one that bring , bring to life? And here , you know? And, and that seems so, so in the , in the realm of, of , um, you know , um, predictability or, or , uh, occurrence , uh, just , just one in a million that you're here, but you're here. And, and once you're here, you've gotta really , it's not by accident. It's not by accident that you're chosen. You're, you're , uh, you , you , you maybe were singled out by God to be here, you know? So, so if you believe here, what you're here, and , uh, so first off, you wanna think, well, well, I'm here and I've got to do my part. I've gotta do my thing. I , I've gotta , gotta conform. You know, remember the family, your responsibilities and learn. Then you , then you have to, you have to provide for your own family. And, okay. So , uh, those , all those things just kind of move you forward and, and , and , and keep you, I guess keep your nose to the grindstone. 'cause things you have to do to, to provide for your family and , and things just, just to , just to exist and be here as a human being. But , but , but under all is it , you know, God created you, you know? And , uh, so keep asking yourself, what, what , what am I here? And what am I supposed to do today? Maybe this is one of the things God wants me to do. I don't know how valuable or interesting it would be to anybody, but , uh, but certainly I want to know that. I want everybody to know that , uh, I recognize God for who he is. And , uh, and as I said, I grew up as a Methodist and baptized in the , in the Methodist church as a young kid with, you know , everybody went to church, all kids went to church back in those days, you know, it was so, so much a dominant part of the community that even the farmers did not farm on Sunday. Sunday was a rest day. And that's completely changed now, because when the grains ready to be harvested, it must be harvested today. It might rain tomorrow, you know? So, so Sunday's a work day , like any other day down there. Now it's just, it's different. But back in those days, everybody took off, and Sunday was a work day . Sunday was a , a rest day. So, so I was baptized in the church just like everybody else, but I didn't really have a comp to come to God moment until sometime later. And I think I was about nine, maybe 10 years old at the time. But , uh, but suddenly, I don't know what the occasion was, but I just remember , uh, in our , in our farmstead there, we had lots of things like, you know, barnards and barns and, and , uh, fruit trees and <laugh> and orchards and , uh, and a vegetable garden where, where , where we had grew lots of vegetables , huge garden, just grew all kinds of vegetables. That's what we lived off of. And, and , um, then we had a , um, um, a potato patch, which is separate, where we just grew potatoes. 'cause potatoes is the main staple, staple crop, staple vegetables. So that , that was year round , you know, you could preserve those potatoes and have , have potatoes year round . I just jumped over the fence , sum reason there at that potato patch. 'cause it'd be fenced in. And , and , uh, and at the top of the fence, I said, my gosh, what, what , what's happening to me? What's, what's got a hold of me? And I just, I couldn't believe all of a sudden , uh, I just didn't seem to have any direction. I didn't know what to do. And , and , uh, and I just looked at , looked up and says , God, why am I here? You know, that's what I'm saying today. Why am I here? But that , that , that was a come to God moment for me. I didn't , uh, I dunno what brought it on. I can't remember that. I just remember that was a come to God moment of sitting on that fence there. And , and it , it brought tears to my eyes. I just couldn't say, well, God, tell me what I need to do at that time. I says , I want to do what you want me to do, and I don't care what , what it does to anybody else. I wanna do what you want me to do. And, and I went, went on, went on home. And I remember that same day I talked to my, see , my mother died when I was a baby. So I never , my , my stepmother was my real mother. And so I told her, and she was just, thank God she was, everybody back there was a dedicated Christian. There weren't any, any people charades or anybody you don't know, they're walking, but there's never any evidence that they, that they're a Christian. But back there, just , just automatically, automatically, everybody went to church. Everybody believed in God. And it was just a , it was a what you called a Christian community. So I told her, and she just says, praise the Lord. So she, she just, and she's the only mother I really had ever really had. So , so , and then , then she died when I <laugh> I was, I was about , uh, 13 or 14. My dad lost two wives there at early age. <laugh> had nine kids, but two wives, and lost both of his wives there . And then remarried later, later married . He , he was the longest marriage of his life. And, and that was a , somebody else who was a widow in the community that he had known all of his life. And so we had a good life. But , but anyway, in the family there of , uh, growing up in a community where, where church was a social life as well as the entertainment, it was, that's just where , where , where , what everybody did. So we had good , good Christian roots and , and no question about it. Just , just good Christian roots. And , and I have no doubt that , that my mother and my father in heaven, I have no doubt that, that , uh, my sisters and all of 'em are just, just as dedicated as I try to be. You know? And so, so we have re reunion every year, Scott , back from one in , in , uh, Sheridan , Arkansas , uh, just Labor Day weekend a couple weeks ago. And that, that feeling is still pretty much there. The only thing is that the lady cousin, whose house we had, it says, told us, they says , check your religion, politics at the door. We're gonna talk about either one of 'em , you <laugh> . But they are , they're very, so I bowled out <laugh> here , this like, well , I think 30, 35 of us were there. And so on Sunday way at 10 o'clock, I bowled out and went , went to church, and went to church where these people go to church. But they had so many things to do with the country union that they skipped church that day. But anyway, I went to , went to that church where they belonged to. And , uh, and I was the only one there. But, but it was a , it was a good thing to, to see. They , they , they had a , had a older audience. Everybody. There was probably, probably, I know maybe 50 people there, I'm not sure. But they were all old people like me, almost no kids. Only, only I think three little girls were only kids there, you know , <laugh> . So, I , I say that because I'm contrasting to where I grew up as a kid and what , what I see today, even in my own church, you know, there's just no children, no young people. There are no , no, almost there . You know, there , there are few, but almost none. And almost no children are maybe at a maximum of , on a day with the most kids, there would be more like maybe 10 or 12 maximum. And most of those were in Hispanic families. 'cause Hispanic families still have a lot of children, you know ? Anyway , I mentioned that, just 'cause that's one of my observation on the times we live in the today and had contrasted the community I grew up in, in Arkansas, and what I express . But I, I still thank God for, for my roots. And I'm, I'm rambling on and on about, about , uh, acknowledging why am I here and, and , uh, what is the purpose? And , uh, and I think that , uh, the , the, the answer keeps coming back. Is it ? Well, if I'm here today, I ought to be witnessing where I can and say , how do you witness? Well, I can't put a , a billboard on my side and walk up and down the sideways say , you know, praise God or <laugh> or , or convert or die. 'cause that would be a very, very ineffective way of demonstrating who you are and what God is. You know, you, you've got to, you've got to , uh, as Jesus did, mix with the people and , and , and try and try to show them the way. You know, not that I know, the way, I just know how I feel about it that way may not be the way for you or, or , or anybody else, you know, but, but at least I feel like, why am I here? I'm here to try to show the way how, how I have , uh, benefited immensely from it. And , uh, in fact, there is , there is no alternate there , there , there just no , there is no alternate. You know? And , uh, and , uh, I I look at the , at the world today and, and , uh, the conflict over there in , in the mid East here. I guess you don't call it a religious war per se, but it really is in many ways , uh, because it's the , it's the Jews versus the Muslims, you know? And , uh, and , uh, and I had a , the Jews just annihilated the , the Muslims in the six day war, just overwhelmed them , blew 'em off their face of the earth almost. And at they , at that, at that same time, one of the, one of the , uh, Arabs from , uh, from , uh, Alexander Egypt happened to be in Wichita visiting Willard . And he was safe from, but, but I remember he said to me, he says, he says, I know this conflict seems, seems , uh, to have no answer, but he says, how do you tell an Arab my family, who have been in this house on that same location, documented for 850 some years? How do you tell, how do you tell us we can't live there? You know? And , uh, and that really demonstrated me, the intensity of the conflict. You know, all of a sudden, all of a sudden , uh, the Jews came in and took over. And, and, and , uh, so , uh, this is, this is , uh, I think God tells us it's not my problem to solve, but it's my problem to observe anyway, that , uh, that , uh, there are religious forces working in the world. And , and , and only God can solve 'em as far as I'm concerned. But, but how do you tell an Arab , but he can't live there. But also, Moses waited 40 years to come into that land . That land was promised to him by God, 40 years in the wilderness, billions of people, I dunno how many, but I think one or 2 million that 40 years in the wilderness wandering around to finally get to the promised land, which God promised them. So, God, you know , why did you promise the land to 'em and give us all this conflict? You know? Well, I don't, I think even just said, you know , my way is the way, but my way is not easy. And all and all , it's not always easy. So , uh, you will have, you will have , uh, moments of , uh, trauma or , or mo moments of , uh, of , uh, I guess, I guess you say, come to God moments or you'll have moments of , uh, of , uh, conflict out there in the world, and do I do this or I do that? You stop and ask . You say , well , well , well , what would Jesus do? Or what would God do? So, so I think that's a, a guideline that kinda helps you all along, but , but it still demonstrates what, what the conflict still out there in the world, you know? Uh , uh, and , uh, and I don't know the answer, and I don't think God requires me to be the answer, but I think He , he does require me to, to , uh, recognize these things. And if there's anything I can do to avoid conflict that I can do to , to , uh, show the way, then that's what I wanna do. So I think, think my conclusion is that , okay, I'm here. So I'm here to witness. And how can I witness? Well , uh, there , there are lots of ways. But, but , but, but I think if, if you have it on your mind, I think before the day is over, somebody will come across your path that you can witness to it . It just always happened . It might be at a grocery store, it might be anywhere, you know? And I find in the neighborhood , uh, just , just just yesterday for instance, next door neighbors are, are , uh, from , uh, the old country, Serbia. They're yugoslavians and they, he's a lifelong engineer at beach. And they're my age here , a couple years younger than I'm, but both of 'em are very decrepit. His wife, kin , when they , I , I walked out to say hello to their son, I didn't even see him . They were sitting out on the front porch to get, get some sun fresh . So all of a sudden , uh, uh, they're , they're Serbians, you know? And , and they , they've been here. Oh , they've lived in that house 20 years or more, 30 years maybe. But, but , but anyway , just , just an opportunity to visit with 'em and , uh, and get to say, okay, you know, I , I'm , I'm here 'cause God has me here. I don't know why you're here, but you know, it's good to nine , five years old. Why am I here? Why I'm here? Because God wants me here, you know, <laugh> , and, and I don't know what message that got to, but , but all of a sudden, that was a , that was an opportunity to witness, you know, and, and completely unplanned unserved . I just happened to walk out to get a breath of fresh air and looked over, and he was picking up some trash. So I walked over to say hello to him. I didn't even see, I didn't even see his parents sitting there. So all of a sudden, here's, here's a chance to witness. You know? So I think if you're, if you're, if you're , uh, attend to it that , uh, that , uh, that , uh, you will find it . And , and if you aren't careful, you'll miss some of those, you know, you , there was an opportunity and it went right by me . I , I , I didn't recognize it, you know? So, so I think that kind of wanted to , as I say, keep your antenna up . Uh , but as I say here, it's right , right . Hard to me even talk about this and say some of these things with, without the feeling that, that , uh, when I say even someone like you or anybody, that the feeling that even my fandom members , okay, dad, you're preaching <laugh> , you know , or you a preacher, you know, <laugh> or you God's message . You're , you're , you're , you're acting like you're, you're pontificating something. You're not, or acting like you have a, you have a right to, to impose these things on me. So I , I want to avoid any idea that I feel like I'm a preacher, and I can tell you what's good for you, and, and you ought to be doing what I say. You know? So it's , it's difficult. It's difficult to, to , uh, position myself in , in that. And , and , and again and again, I think one of the ways it helps on it is , is to discover scripture I brought , brought the Bible. 'cause I do have some talk about some of them. But , but I think spending time in the Bible and how other people have , have , uh, have , uh, cont contingent these problems or opportunities that I'm talking about, how other people have handled them , uh, I think that's, that's very encouraging. It's, it's , it's just a , it's just a guide. It helps . And the , the main thing on that , that witness part is that , uh, if you, if you aren't careful, you know, what you can do would cause somebody else to turn off God, or, or as they say, cause somebody else to stumble, you know , somebody else to say, well, that was a , that was a , uh, his life doesn't show his diet . Life doesn't live out what he's saying. So , so I think that's just an admonition that God puts out there to be careful. And , but on the scripture side, the thing that I wanna get to, most of all the reason to be here, you know, the reason to agree to this with you, is that I think my message is that , uh, you're comfortable with your salvation. I'm comfortable with my salvation. I don't , I don't, I don't worry about dying today. I don't wanna die today. I think there's too many things to do. I wanna talk to you. I wanna go to river next Monday, you know? And so, so , uh, everybody knows we wanna go to heaven. Yeah, I wanna go to heaven, but not today. You know, that's, that's the old admonition. So , uh, uh, uh, you , uh, you just, you just have to somehow, and another , but , but , but , but, but the , the , the scripture that gets me, and that's the one that guarantees your salvation, and it's Romans 10, nine, and I go with King James version. That's one I'm most comfortable with. I like all the others too . But I always find myself going back to the king version, king Jean's version. That's the one I can quote when I can quote anything. But , but this one says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus says , Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And I think that's the , that's the message the world needs to hear. And , uh, if you, if you believe in your heart that he is Lord, and that he saved you, you, you, you know, one of you , you, you, you will be saved. And, and, and , uh, to me, to me, that's your, I would say, that's your ticket to heaven. And, and it's a noncountable ticket, you know ? And, and to me, it's a , it's , um, not reversible. There a feeling out there about some people in the world . They may , okay, well, he , he was saved, but he lost his salvation. Well, if you lost his salvation, my interpretation and my belief in this, he never had it. You know? 'cause if, if you believe in your heart that God raised you from that , that , that God raised Jesus from the dead, you actually believe it. I think that that's irreversible. There's , there's no turning back. I even think to the point that if, if Hitler had you on a witness stand, and you said, do you renounce Christ? You could say, yeah, I renounce him, but God wouldn't believe that. You know, he , he knows what your heart is. You know ? So I think that, that , in a way, it's kind of the old admonition that once saved, always saved . Well, I believe that. But some people use that as , uh, you , you , you , you , uh, you're categorized as a Christian, and all of a sudden you're what they call a backslider, sliders , you know, a back slider . You know, I , I , I , I , I can , I was going on right ? With , now I'm backing around back , coming back to try this all over again. You know, I , I don't like, I don't like that term. I don't, I don't like that. I don't , I I don't know where it has application, because either , either you believe it or you don't believe it. And if you believe it, okay, then accept the rewards. You know, the rewards is okay. Uh , I come from southeast Arkansas. Tornadoes were a scary thing. Back in my younger days, they had no tornado warning systems. There was no radar there . No radio, hardly. They had some radios, but there was no tv. There was no advanced warning of anything. Also, tornado season, spring of the year, you know, tornadoes would come across southeast Arkansas. And they were deadly. And I was visiting one of my aunts on my mother's side, and they lived in a town about Palm , Arkansas, about , uh, oh , a hundred miles southeast of where we lived. And , and my aunt, which is my mother's sister , uh, was telling a story about a tornado, came through there . That , that year. And about that time, I guess, I don't know when it was, but I knew I was a kid. Maybe, I dunno , maybe 7, 8, 10 years. I don't how old I was, but maybe I got to go visit them . Stayed there with 'em for Christmas week . And , and she's talking about tornado season. And , and , and one of their neighbors came, I remember this just like it was yesterday, said, he, he came running down the road and said , save me, save me, save me. 'cause they had a storm cellar, you know, <laugh> . He was running down this road, save me, save me, save me, <laugh> . And she says, why in the world wasn't he asking Jesus to save him? I does . He think I can save him? So that , that , that really stuck on me. Why didn't he ask Jesus? Isn't that, isn't that pathetic? Save me, save me of a grown man. So that really, really, really had a , had a mark on my life. And I still, the fact that human beings out there, you know, get themselves into a pickle and don't know what to do, and, and it's just saved me, saved me. <laugh>, helpless, helpless. When, when it's so easy, take you 20 seconds. It's so easy. So easy. And then I made note here. Uh , I just think that, that , um, you have to be prepared to, to , uh, stand up for what you believe in. And, and it's so easy to think that if I speak out, well , other people , other people question my motives. And , uh, and again, I don't feel like I'm trying to be a preacher. I don't feel like I have any calling from God to be that kind of a messenger. But, but I do. I said earlier, I , I , my main thought is that , uh, through all this rambling, is that , is that I still feel that, that , uh, God wants me to have my antenna up so that , so that , um, every day he will give me opportunities to witness. And , and I wouldn't even recognize it sometimes. And so I pray that I don't miss any of those opportunities. And I pray that when I do speak out, I don't want to misunderstood , be be misunderstood for . I don't think, would you'd be taking your time out to, to make this recording or whatever. You're , whatever you're doing here , uh, at least, at least , uh, you're recognizing something could be significant. Not, not earth shattering, not that the world is waiting for it, or , or, or even , uh, is aware of it or wants to be aware of it. But , but still, it's an opportunity. And one of those things that I , I wanna , wanna keep , uh, at the forefront of everything , everything I do, so that I don't, I , I , I never miss an opportunity. But, but if the world just knew that, that , uh, instead of this save me, save me, that just recognizing that, that all you have to do is just believe that Jesus is Lord, and God raised him from the dead. All you gotta just , just believe it. And He's , he's here to save you. You, you, you, you, everybody. And, and there's evidence that he's done so much in the world during his lifetime, and in the history of, of God's, God's presence on earth, all these, all these years. Uh , how can you not believe he can do all these things? How can you believe he can? He created this world. Some came up today, and I'm amazed that there still comes . They're gonna come up tomorrow. You know, he made it, you know, he made it. Can you believe that? Alice ? Alice ? How , how did it get there? You know? How did , how did , how did you know , you know, the blade of grass out there, you know, is all of , all of all of creation. All of creation, just at his footstep. There's some other scriptures I'd like to, I think, that are really important. But , uh, uh, Romans 10, nine, and that's not here. I'm making so much about that. And that's, that's not Jesus speaking, that's Apostle Paul speaking, Romans 10 , nine . And he was the greatest center of all times, I guess, persecuted in the church. And he was , he was converted. And , and here I'm talking about my conversion. Well, I like to talk about it too, but , but who wants to hear about it? But, but he talked about it all the time that he was the chief of sinners. You know, he persecuted the church, and yet he, he had a come to God moment, and he was proud of it. You know, so, so , uh, I think that , uh, uh, that his message to us is, is just, just so, so route on and to me world , why , why can't you understand this? Why can't you? Why can't you? Because because you have peace no matter where you are, have a tough time holding back to tears. You have peace no matter where you are, what you're doing, what your circumstances are, who you're with. You know , you can have peace everywhere. It might be, it might be, but, but, but all , all of a sudden could . And , and that piece comes because, you know, you recognize that your time on earth is just a few days, just a short time. And that's one of my ver verse I'll get to in a minute. But, but, but, but we are created for eternity. Forever. Forever. And you have a choice where you're gonna spend it. You know? It's so easy. And that's so important. 'cause that's forever, forever. And, and you just wanna shake everybody and say, don't you understand? Don't you understand? But but you also have to recognize, he put us in a world where we have choices. He didn't make us like him or love him, or convert and acknowledge him. He gave us a choice. And I think that's one of the things that sustains all of us . Freedom of choice. Free, free. We we're set free. So you have free, because he could have made us puppets, I guess he , he , he could have made us, but if , if , if he had made us so that we all convert or, or recognized him as Lord, he , he , he could, he could've, I guess we'd just been an angel fluttering around the fluttering around the environment, you know? And we'd just be puppets, you know? But I think he threw us out there and gave us freedom of choice. And he wants us to make that choice. And if we make that choice, then, then he comes in and gives us rewards. And like, I think he's sustaining me by putting, putting opportunities before me to witness. So that's my, I may have a hard time keeping a straight face here, but , but I think , uh, uh, it comes back to that's being , being , being my purpose. And , and some of the best known scriptures that I like to talk about is, is that , and of course, the , the , the greatest of all of 'em that almost everybody knows Christian Rod . And that's John three 16, for God so loved the world, and he gave was an only begotten son. I think almost everybody. And that's, that's , uh, apostle John speaking. And , uh, I guess it wasn't anybody closer to Christ than Apostle John, because he , he was the one that, that was divine. He , he , he had it all together. He , he , he , he not only had all what all the three others had, but he, he just had a dimension that was far greater in, in, in the , the , the divine relationship of God, the man , and what heaven's all about. So I think that, that , that says an awful , awful lot. Another one I like is that , uh, which, which demonstrates salvation. 'cause he just comes right out and says, you know, this is Paul speaking of the wages of standard death. But , but God is eternal life. You know ? So , so , so that's very, very succinct. The what you gain from living a sinful life is eternal death. You don't, don't have any promise or reward. The problem with the society today is that , oh, I recognize that, but , uh, but , uh, I'm not ready to, I , I can't come to grips with that now. You know, I just, and , uh, and , uh, like , like the one guy says, but yeah, I hear what you're saying , but I got plenty of time. I don't have to get involved in that. Now. I got plenty of time. You know, the guys had plenty of time. Maybe the , maybe the tornado waiting over the hill, you know, <laugh> . And so, so there are all kinds of extreme examples. But, but you have to meet people where they are. And , uh, and , uh, and sometimes I , I think I'm privileged because I grew up in an environment, a Christian environment, where I think all these things were probably explained to me better than, and , and I guess avoided that. But I never had to come to grips with, you know, oh, well, yeah, that's good for you, but I , I'm not ready to take on that now. Well , okay, sometime , and even some of my members of my family, I think kinda in that category, you know , but , and then getting out of a , the four gospels and , and , and , and Paul and Romans, we can go to go to Titus. I guess Paul wrote Titus as well. But anyway, again , Tim , Timothy, Timothy says, says that , uh, the holy scriptures, which shall make you wises and to salvation through faith. So here's, here's another, I should say, disciple of Paul. He and Paul were , were great friends here . He's saying that the Holy Spirit is the way and makes men wise to salvation through faith. You don't get any other way. You just have to believe faith is believing. So you just have to believe. And I think that further undergirds my , my thought that , uh, there is no other way in , in another one, Ephesians 2, 8, 9 says, for by , by grace , you have been saved through faith, not of, of your own self-belief, not of in your own self doing , I guess you say it is , it is really the gift of God. I think over and over and over again, salvation is a gift of God. You are just free to accept it. And , and then again, one of 'em just says, do not grieve the Holy Spirit. 'cause with the Holy Spirit, you're sealed unto the day of redemption. So it means once sealed, you know, it's not reversible. That's over and over again. You know, it's, it's not , uh, he's a backslider. He lost his salvation. No, no. You don't lose it. You know? And , uh, that is such a comforting thought back to during this scene. You know, you <laugh> no matter what happens, you know , uh, as , as , uh, as , uh, I think Paul said, you know , uh, to, to, to live as something, but to die as Christ, you know , meaning to, to live as what the word was, he said, but to live is to celebrate the day . But if I, but if I, if I, if I don't live, I'm better off. And we don't know why we're better off. But God says, there are no tears in heaven. There are no tears in heaven. And I think there'll be different levels of tears of existence. I don't know how to explain there , even think about it, but I don't expect, I don't expect to be sitting next to also Paul or Billy Graham <laugh> or whoever. I don't, but , but you don't worry about it. You don't worry about it. You know, you , uh, because there are no tears in heaven. And, and , and you know what your rewards are , but you will have rewards. And you're there. I made it <laugh>. You're there. You know, and, and , uh, and you're not sorry for it. You know, you know, you're happy that you're there and, and things gonna be okay. And, and , and if you believe God made this world, God can do anything. So he can make it okay. It's gonna be right there. It's okay. I'm there and it's gonna be right. I'm going to , I'm gonna like it. See, so, so why, why, why worry about , about , uh, about , about , uh, where I'm gonna be , you know ? Like I wouldn't be comfortable sitting next to Billy Graham anyway. I don't suppose I'd like to do that. Maybe <laugh> to say, say hello, and, okay, I love, I love what you're doing, but, but I don't expect to be, be , uh, I , I , I think there are different, different, different levels of rewards. You know, I do, I do think there are, and I think that, but I think God has a way of handling that, you know, okay, he rewarded Billy Graham. He'll reward me, he'll reward anybody, anybody who accepts him. So I can pontificate by that all day too. And it's , uh, difficult to , uh, structure it. So that has some meaning. But, but , well , again, there's another one , John one, nine, John is , uh, this is getting away from Paul again, but says , if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. So God takes care of the dirty stuff in our life, you know? Okay. We we're , and , and the stuff that we might be doing out there that's, that's not honoring him, okay? He'll, he will, he, he will make it easiest , easy for you to give it up, you know? Okay . It's something I'm doing that , uh, somebody else might perceive, doesn't honor God. Well, okay, it's easy to, there really won't be a problem to , to go his way. It , I'm not giving , I'm not doing anything. I , I , I , I don't want do it . It's just I'm not , I'm , I'm , I'm not being put out. I'm not being bothered. I'm , I'm doing something and he'll make me like what I'm doing. And , uh, it says , uh, this, this is , uh, uh, well , I , James, I think what I wanna get to in a minute, Jane , but that a sobering thought of one of 'em was that whoever turns a sinner from the air of their ways will save them from death. And , uh, so I just think that just underscores what the gospel's all about. You know, converting sinners and who is a sinner, you know, sinner's, not one who, who drinks and corrales. He , he's one who ignores God, you know's one that says , I can do without God. You know, I've got plenty of time. I've got , got plenty of time. Then I think that , uh, you , I keep going back to 10 , nine as a , a non constable ticket to heaven. Nobody can change it. And this is one that moments of weakness or feeling it that , uh, you may be left alone is one I I , I got from my pastor to Mike Garden at the church, and the time in my life, back 30 years , I still work at five 30 years ago. And I went into him and said , well , I've been, I , I pray every day . And I've been, I've been , uh, I've been concerned. And , and it says, it , it , it bothers me, and I need to talk to you. I says , I just feel like that I'm praying and I'm busy back , still working, had a ton of things to do. And , and I don't know what all, what all was my concerns of the day, but it was enough that it about me. It went on for several days, I recall. And I just felt uneasy, couldn't get a grip on myself. And so I went into minister and just wanted , I said, wanna have a few minutes to talk to you about it? So he listened to me very, very attentively. And then he pulled out a scripture and read it to me. And the scripture was, was in Romans 8 26. And this is one, I don't think everybody's always very much aware of it . You don't think of it too often, but it says, and likewise, the spirit also help us, us, in our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought to be praying for, but the spirit of God itself will make intercessions for us with groanings, which cannot be uttered. So have a tough time. But so what that scripture's saying is that to me is that , uh, when you don't know how to pray or what to pray about, God will pray for you. The Spirit intercedes with groomings, which cannot be uttered. In other words, you don't even what to say, but, but if you're a believer, God is there with you all the time. So that, that's a , a come to God moment for me. Uh , years ago, there was a , there was a Baptist preacher in town that , uh, where the, that huge church right across the river on , on Douglas there, metropolitan Baptist Church, I believe it is. But that was split off from the Baptist Church downtown on , on North Broadway there, right across from Methodist Church. And this guy was a very, very charismatic preacher. And he, he , he brought the whole congregation over with him, and he was just, he was just a , uh, and , and , and they were on, on the , on , on radio broadcast on radio maybe every week, I guess, for a while there. Anyway , his name is FB Thorn . He came down like a Billy Sunday, I guess, just show fire and Brimstone, Baptist <laugh> . And , and he , he had a sermon one time on, on the five Mper of the Gospels. And , uh, and I had those written down somewhere, and I remember 'em , and I couldn't find 'em any of my archives anywhere and never could find 'em , and still haven't been able to find them. But, but his imper is where that he's talking about Jesus. And he says, he says, and this is , uh, there in, gosh, I don't have a number written down, but anyway , they're in the gospel of John, and it says he must increase, and I must decrease. That's Jesus speaking, that that's , uh, John speaking, Jesus must be brought, brought to the forefront, and I'm a human being. You know, I'm , he , he's the reason for me to be here. So he must increase. And , and then, then Jesus said, I must need to go through Samaria. His trip through Samaria was where no Jew went. You know, Samaria was anti-Jewish country and , and up in northern Israel. And , uh, the Jews would purposely travel around Samaria to get up to the north. Jesus says he must need to go through Samaria. There was a reason, and his , his trip through Samaria was he met the woman, Samari , Samari woman at the well. And where, you know , uh, you want water here at this. Well, but, but , uh, I'm the one who gives living water. I'm the one who give you water for life. You know, you get water for the day, but I'm the one to give you water for life. So that's, it's quite a dramatic , uh, expression of what, what the Christian life's all about. And, and he, he , uh, he must need to go through scenario . That was a , that was a scripture verse . So he , uh, he , uh, I think, I think to demonstrate what Jesus went , I was way to , to, to, to, I guess you say, not witnessing, but to , to proclaim who he was. He is the way, and that he met the woman as well. And, and there were other others. And I don't, I , I can't find 'em . So I googled what are the five imperatives , <laugh> and the five imperatives were , uh, they , uh, believe in Jesus, abide in him, love one another, bear fruit, and follow me. That's what Google says the five imperatives are. So what's Google know about the Bible? You know , but , but that's a real realism of, okay, what , what's right at your fingertips. You know, what does Google know about the Bible? <laugh> ? Well , they came and see , not , not one of 'em mentioned it to imperative. I had <laugh> and I've been searching scripture and trying to find out where they were, and I can't , I can't find them , you know? But anyways , what ? But I thought that's <laugh> a pretty, because , because you know, the , the greatest admonition of Jesus is to love God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. That's what he said , love God. That that's , that's , that's the criteria you love God. And everything else will fall in place. And , uh, other favorite scriptures I like to mention is that , uh, one of 'em is John 1633, and he says, these things I have spoken to you that ye may have peace, no matter, no matter where you are, what you're doing, you believe these things I've said to you, and you'll have peace. And , and I've been kind of a favor of Mike Pompeo, or ex congressman, ex administration, CI director, and I've met him at the Derm Club here a couple times, and my picture made with him. And so Mike peo posts post political fundraising events for trying to raise funds for their , for their cause. And, and , uh, he, he posts a scripture with a lot of his, this is one of his scriptures, you know , <laugh> , you know , uh, and , uh, and I , I think the reason he's doing it's 'cause I think that there is so much discord in the political sec , the , despite his political triumph, you can't have peace. So I just, it just picked up on the fact that I , I like that scripture, and he , and he , he picked up on it too. And I love this one again, I gotta say, you know, for , you know, not what shall be on tomorrow, you know , not what tomorrow will bring. It is even a vapor, which appears for a little while and then vanishes away. So all of a sudden, nine , five years of my life, you know , gee, you know , you don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring. You know what , you know , nine , five years is such a short time in the scope of , scope of things, such a short time, you know ? And we're here on the earth. And , and , and , uh, as a , as a , who am I trying to quote? Now, here's another little testimony I wanna give it . Uh , I don't know where to start or stop with these things, but , but I , I , I can't sing. I'm no singer, but there's a song that I've never even been able to find the words to it somewhere. But the , but the , uh, the , the course of the song is, is , uh, when life is over. But it says, the course goes like this, must I go there empty handed ? Must I meet my savior soul, not one soul with which to bring him? Must I empty handed go. So, so when you depart the life, you know , uh, am I gonna , yeah , I don't know what life's gonna be, you know, the next, the next absent here , absent the body, present with Christ, you know, absent, absent, present, you know, bingo, just like that. You're , it's gone. So I don't , um, but , but to go there empty handed and , and , and , and really to , here , I'm telling you all this thing and professing what a Christian I am and so forth. But, but sobering thought to me just a couple years ago, or a few years ago, was it was that , um, in all my , uh, Christian witnesses, I can think of only one person that I had a direct hand in , in , in leading to Christ. His name was Clayton Christman. I'd known him for years. He was retired from Boeing, and he and his wife helped , helped my wife, homeless animals. And so we got to be great friends for years, and all of a sudden he was on his deathbed and to visit him in a nursing home. And it just occurred to me, I've known here Clayton all my life and looks like you're dying <laugh> . And I don't even know whether you're a Christian or not, you know? So I just asked him <laugh> and , uh, he had cancer and practically gone. In fact, he died the next day or two days after that. But, but I asked him, he says, I says, do you , do you know you're going to heaven? Do you , do you, you comfortable? Do you know? It says no. I says , well, would you like to? And I says , he says, I sure would. And I said, well, he just, so I just repeated after I said , just repeat after me, John. You know , I mean , uh, Romans 10, nine, you know, you know , if you believe in your heart, Jesus is Lord and Christ raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And he repeated that right after me. And I says , I says, well, you just think about that for a minute. That's your ticket. So he did that and he thanked me and he died . I , my recollection, he died the next day. So , um, but it is kind of a testimony. I'm happy to say that story because I think I had a hand in that. But, but isn't it a sad commentary to think that, you know , must I empty handed goal to heaven? You know, must I empty handed gold ? Is there anybody else? So it kind of puts a, puts a uh , spark, gives you a spark to keep your antenna up . Maybe, maybe there's somebody out there that , uh, that needs to hear what you gotta say and that you can be you . And again, back to John five 13 says that you may know you have eternal life. There is just faith tells you that, you know, you have eternal life. And , and , uh, again, again , uh, God will take care of you no matter where you're, what you're doing. This is another famous him . God will take care of me. Well , I look back at my life and uh , and I try to think of , uh, times when maybe God was looking out for me when I didn't even say I, I professed to to be a Christian all my life, but certainly from my conversion at about nine years old on the fence, potato patch . That's my memory. But, but you look back and , uh, and , uh, things happened to your life and, and was it, was God looking at , looking at after you at that time was God in that change? And uh, to me it's easy to think right now that say, think it's easy to understand and know that he was there helping you

When.