Why God Calls the Unqualified with Pat Schatzline

This week’s episode is a special one! I got to chat with my good friend and fellow author Pat Schatzline AND it is the official launch day for my book When Words Don’t Come Easy, which you can order here. 

Pat’s messages had a huge influence on me while I was struggling through depression and hurt, and he is truly one of the reasons this book is out in the world today.

In this episode, Pat and I talk about:

Why believing you are unqualified is a lie

Overcoming the idea that God is mad at you

Understanding that God is calling you now, no matter your “spiritual resume”

And, how Pat and I ended up preaching together on a stage in South Africa…

Remember, what qualifies us to stand in the presence of Jesus is not our accomplishments but simply our God. He is our only qualification.

Learn more about Pat’s ministry and find his amazing books here.

Follow on Instagram & Facebook: @AndyBHoward
Buy the book on Amazon: www.amazon.com/When-Words-Dont-Come-Easy/dp/1955362084
Listen to the first chapter: soundcloud.com/andy-howard-788712319
Learn more at AndyHoward.com!

Transcript

Speaker 1:
Welcome to When Words Don't Come Easy. A podcast for anyone who wants real hope in a busted up world. Each week your host, Andy Howard, will deliver hope, breakthrough, and practical tools to help you move forward in every area of your life. Now here's Andy with this week's episode.

Andy Howard:
Welcome everybody to the When Words Don't Come Easy podcast. Today is such a special day for me. It's September 27th and a dream come true. My book is officially out, and let me tell you all the places because if I don't do this now, I will get so excited with our special guest and forget about it. But today you can get it on Amazon through paper or hardback or audible.com. And if you're a Kindle person, it's available for you there. And if all else spells, just go to andyhoward.com. You can find out everything about When Words Don't Come Easy. So excited that it's finally out. I'm going to go ahead and introduce my friend Pat Schatzline and welcome him to the podcast.

Pat Schatzline:
Brother, this is a huge day. This is a massive day. I'll never forget the day we launched our first book. It was one of the most surreal. When I wrote the book years ago, Why is God so Mad at Me? And he's not mad at you, he's mad about you. But that was one of the most surreal days for us. And I just want to tell you, this is a party day. This is a celebration day. This is a year's worth of birthing day. And I'm so proud of you folks. Listen, go get this book. If you're listening to this podcast, go get it because it's one of the most authentic books I've ever read in my life. And Andy, September 27th will go down in history as the day that a dream was fulfilled and a baby was birthed. So congratulations, brother.

Andy Howard:
Dude, thank you so much. That means the world to me, honestly. And you already touched on something I want to jump back into. But first, before I go any further, I want to give you an actual formal introduction of what you deserve. Just for people who may or may not know. And I know a lot of people know Pat Schatzline, but I got this off your website so I'm just going to read it so I don't screw this up. Okay?

Pat Schatzline:
I'm going to get so embarrassed. [inaudible 00:02:20]

Andy Howard:
If he turns a little red it's okay because he embarrasses me from time to time. I turned all kinds of shades of pink. But here we go. Pat Schatzline is an international Christian evangelist, author and CEO who, with his wife Karen, founded Remnant Ministries International in 1997. I'm going to pause there not to call you old Pat, but I graduated high school in 97. Hey, but it's all good. We're such good friends and I can say that but I love you dearly.

Andy Howard:
But Pat has traveled the globe ministering the gospel. He is known for his unique ability to communicate God's word with passion, compassion. Pat and Karen's mandate from God is to see all generations encounter God's amazing love and supernatural power. Through his writings and TV appearances, Pat has reached millions worldwide with a message of freedom, God's love standing for truth and overcoming insecurities to step into God's call on your life. And I, for one, can testify to that. Again, going to get into that in a minute.

Andy Howard:
But I do want to touch on some of these books because you need all of them. So Pat is the author of Why is God So Mad At Me? Special book to my heart. Again, we'll get to that in a minute. I am Remnant and Unqualified, another great one. Together, Pat and Karen have also authored Rebuilding the Alter and their newest book, Restore the Roar. It's a powerful book on defeating fear through the breath and power of God.

Andy Howard:
I also want to say you can catch him on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube at Pat Schatz. So that's P-A-T-S-C-H-A-T-Z for Twitter and Instagram. And Pat Schatzline on Facebook. He also has a YouTube channel, Remnant Ministries International. So youtube.com/remnantministriesinternational. Wow, that's a mouthful but it's because you're a big deal. So I'm glad to read the book.

Pat Schatzline:
We just took up the whole podcast.

Andy Howard:
No, we didn't. Hey, I did get something just in from my producer, so I want to get this out of the way. We cannot talk about Alabama football on the show. So I did want to throw that out there.

Pat Schatzline:
Look, we were supposed to go to that game last year, and if you remember, Alabama A&M, we were supposed to go. And the last minute, I'm just like, "You know what? I don't think I'm going to go to that." I am shouting to high heaven I did not go to that game.

Andy Howard:
Once every 10 years. Once every 10 years God shines on us. And for that day it was beautiful. But anyways, that's another story in itself is the Alabama A&M. Not so much rivalry but Pat's side has had it for a while.

Andy Howard:
So anyways, with that said, you touched on your book, Why is God so Mad at Me? And yes, he's not mad at you, he's mad about you, but that's a lie from the devil, right? And I fell for it hook, line and sinker. Those who have heard my story about when Peyton was born and I was a youth pastor for crying out loud, I was doing all the right things. I felt like I was serving God. I was doing my best to be the best Christian I could be. And then somewhere along the way, these sincere earnest prayers to God turned into bitter prayers to God. And next thing you know, I fell into depression. I didn't even know it was depression at the time.

Andy Howard:
I am watching and I just want to take a couple minutes here because I want you guys to realize how huge this is. I don't believe in accidents, coincidences. I do believe in God, divine appointments. And I am sitting here flipping through TV one night, this guy named Pat Schatzline is on there interviewing, I can't remember if it was TV in it or the other local Christian station we have here, but it might have been Day Stars. That's the one, I'm sorry. But anyways, either way I am watching him interview about this book. Why is God so Mad at Me? I didn't know Pat from Adam at the time and he is sharing this story and gosh, it grabbed my heart. And I ordered the book immediately.

Andy Howard:
And fast forward, this is so crazy. I started following him from afar. The book really, and I talk about this in depth in my book, but it was one of the beginning milestones I would say of breaking free from the depression. It was a journey. It didn't happen like that, but it was one of the beginning, first times that I broke free from it was the power of this book. So that's why I would encourage you to go get it.

Andy Howard:
Fast forward how small of a world this is. Here's this guy that I admire and I love. We both start coaching and we're both independent Optavia coaches. We start coaching through this program and we're on this team training. And one night I elbow Tiffany and I'm like, "That's Pat Schatzline, he's on a training. What are the odds?"

Andy Howard:
Well let's take it a little bit further. I don't know how many thousands of coaches there are, but we both earned this trip to Greece of only 10 couples, got to do that, with a lot of hard work I will say. But only 10 couples got to do that. And here I am, I find myself in Greece face to face with Pat and getting to tell him my story of how his book helped me. Not only that, if this isn't wild enough, they moved from Alabama to Texas right up the road and have become dear friends of ours. You couldn't make this stuff up.

Andy Howard:
So I just want to say, tell me a little bit more about the book, one, but then it's about the relationship that has happened and how God uses ... You may think it's some random coincidence by how God sets up these divine appointments.

Pat Schatzline:
I'm going to be honest with you, my heart is so stirred in about 20 different directions because on this, your book release day, you're talking about my book. That's just the heart of what we have here. I mean, you're break all [inaudible 00:08:17], because When the Words Don't Come Easy, literally could be my own book. It could be my Why is God so Mad at Me because of walking through different things in life.

Pat Schatzline:
And that book, Andy, it was the first book that would launch into I Am Remnant book and then Unqualified and then Rebuilding the Altar, Restore the Roar. And then now we're working on how to be both priest and king. That you can actually walk in the anointing and walk in business and do both. Which is actually, Acts 2:30 David says David was prophet and king. And so that's what I'm working on right now.

Pat Schatzline:
But when I go back to this book, let me tell you how it happened. I wrote a message called Why is God so Mad at Me because my sister had said to me right before she died of a drug overdose, "I just think God's mad at me." My grandmother who was precious to me. I mean, if I thought I missed the rapture, that's who I called. I mean that's what ... I mean, if she answered, I'm good. But she had said to me when she found out she had cancer nine months after my grandfather died of cancer, she said, "Do you think, son, do you think God's mad at me?" And boy I couldn't get over it. I heard it so many times as a youth communicator, as a youth pastor, all those things speaking all over the world, and all the lies. Jesus called the devil out and called him in John chapter eight said, "You're a liar. You're the father of lies."

Pat Schatzline:
But here I was, my parents got radically saved when I was about five years old. Drug dealers on the streets of Detroit. My dad worked for the mafia. Crazy back story. Nobody in our family knew Christ. But he had an encounter with God in the bathroom one night. But even then, when you're raised and you come out of a really dark lifestyle, you tend to go really, really strong into being more religious or strict. I was raised in that. And so my whole life, I never saw God as a father. I saw him as a Lord, but not as a father. One of my goals in life is to break the orphan spirit off people to help them understand. John 14, John 15 that he said, Jesus said, "I'm not going to leave you as an orphan." And how great is the love? The father's [inaudible 00:10:32] we get to be called as kids. But I preached it, I talked it, I led a good game, but I didn't believe it. Battle with depression, battle with discouragement, the whole thing.

Pat Schatzline:
And finally when I wrote the message, Why is God so Mad at Me, and it's really about the prodigal and how dad outran the village to get to him because back then there was, if ... The prodigal messed up and he burns his inheritance, Jewish boy gets two inheritances. Bible says the Father was waiting on him and watching for him every day. And when the boy comes over the hill, broken.

Pat Schatzline:
Here's what people don't realize. There's a thing called the kezazah. Kezazah is a Jewish tradition. If you embarrass your family and lose the money, the village would run out and meet you before you got home and break a pot of burnt beans and corns at your feet. And that meant your cutoff. It means the cutoff. Kezazah means cutoff. And it meant that he would have to be a slave to the village before he could ever come home again. He would have to pay off his debt.

Pat Schatzline:
But dad, rich in mercy, rich in love takes off running. And people think he was running because he missed his boy. It says when he was a long ways off, verse 30, Luke 17, it says the father went running, which he broke the law by doing that. But he embraces his boy, kisses him and says, "Put on my clothes, put on my robe, put on my shoes, put on my ring." Here's why. Because the village was about to get there. Dad outran the village so that when the village got there, they didn't see the son, they saw the father. And he was saying, "You're not going to cut my son off."

Pat Schatzline:
Well that story alone, when you go deep into it, you begin to realize all the lies of culture, all the lies that's going on out there right now. Because truth is the new hate speech. When you begin to study all of that and you begin to realize that he's not an absentee dad. I adopted my daughter from China. When we got her that night in that village in China, it was darkness. Abby was nine months old, but she had never been held. She had been tied to a chair, all of these different things. But when I took her home, if you look at the pictures, Andy, of the day we got her, three days later she looks like a completely different child because love invaded her. But a good father doesn't leave you where he finds you, he takes you where he is going.

Pat Schatzline:
And so it took me so long to begin to realize that I'm adopted into the family, to begin to realize that I sit at the table every morning with the king, that we have conversations. He's my dad. Breaking that orphan or orphia spirit off of somebody and helping them realize God's not mad at you, he's mad about you. But Jesus said in John 16, in this life you're going to have so many trials and sorrows, but take heart, I overcame the world. He didn't say it was going to be easy. He didn't say we wouldn't go through hell. He didn't say any of that. He said, "But know this, I overcome the world. And you're not of this world." You're an alien.

Pat Schatzline:
Yeah, I spoke on this in Georgia yesterday. You're a pilgrim in a [inaudible 00:13:32] you don't belong in right now. The minute Christ enters into you, you're a temple, not a shack. Take down the for sale sign. The minute you begin to realize that he's a true father, he's not an uncle. An uncle will cheer you on but won't discipline you. A true father will discipline you. But the other thing is he has secured me. I'm seated with him. Anything I ask in his name, if it lines up with his word, I get it. And breaking off poverty mindsets and all that, every bit of that comes with.

Pat Schatzline:
Believing God's mad at you. So my mom tried to commit suicide several times growing up. My sister died of an overdose. All of that piled up and I just thought, "Man, I just think God's mad at me." And then I started to do a personal study and it led to this book. So here's a cool backstory. This sounds crazy and somebody's listening right now, you're like, "That's not true." But I promise it is. As I begin to share this word, people that cut themselves, cutters, which isn't new. I mean you'll find it all the way back first King's 18, but they cut to release pain because it's a pain they can control. But all of a sudden in all these events, kids that cut themselves in the middle of my services, true story, their scars would disappear. And it was dumbfounding to me. I'm like, "How is this happening?"

Pat Schatzline:
I'll never forget, my son and I were doing a thing called Spirit West Coast and there's tens of thousands of young people, about 50,000 young people, and I'm on stage speaking at the big thing in Monterey, California. And I get done, I get off stage, they take me to the speaker's trailer. I think DC Talk or somebody was singing or something.

Pat Schatzline:
And all of a sudden Nate comes running in, he's a senior in high school, big football player at the time. Comes running goes, "Dad, you got to come outside." I said, "Nate, I'm exhausted. I flew to LA down to Monterey, got here at 5:30 this morning, I'm going to the hotel to sleep." He goes, "Dad, you got to see this." I'm like, "Ah." And I said, "What is it?" And so I walk outside and there's a line as far as I could see and I said, "What is that?" He said, "Dad, those are kids whose scars disappeared while you were preaching today."

Pat Schatzline:
And I went, "What?" I mean, some still had blood on their clothes where they had cut themselves that morning in their tents because it's a big kind of music festival. And I said to the Lord later, I said, because it happened again in Orlando. And that's where the book came out of because the publisher was there and he is like, "You got to write this into the book." And I'm writing after a big event where it happened again. I'm going, "What the heck is this? So weird. I can't find it." And God said, "When the love of Father enters in, he not only heals the inside, but he'll heal the outside." And you look at you, this incredible CEO, incredible leader. I've watched you stand on stages in, we were together in South Africa and I watched the entire crowd as a love poured out of you.

Pat Schatzline:
And Andy, I look at this book, When Words Don't Come Easy. And in that one night God said, "You know what? Hey Andy, I know where you're at. I'm going to make you look at Christian television, because lots of people don't even watch. I'm make you pause there for a second because I got something so big for you, I'm just going to give you a little meal ticket real quick." That's what he did that night. Just to start your journey. There was millions other things that led to your journey.

Pat Schatzline:
But anyway, that's how the book, Why is God so Mad at Me started. So Reinhard Bonnke, who's in heaven now, he led 78 million people to Christ, he was a great missionary. He wrote the forward for it. And then my friend Banning Liescher wrote the other one from Jesus Culture. But what made this book so special is I hit every issue. Why did I get sick? Or I've made too many mistakes.

Pat Schatzline:
And what's crazy is people say to me all the time, Andy, they say, "Well I've just messed up too much." And I want to look at them and say, "How dare you think you have the power to negate the cross." Romans eight says, He became me so that I could become Him to this world. He took my place." That's why when the Bible says that the father didn't recognize him. The reason why he said, "Why have you forsaken me?" Well I'll tell you why. His own dad looked at Jesus on the cross and said, "I don't see you anymore. I see Pat."

Pat Schatzline:
And I tell people all the time, grace is so hard to explain, but it's an empowerment to live a godly life. And I tell people, "It's impossible for you to have messed up so much that the cross won't cover you." And so it just breaks all those lies. But anyway, there you go.

Andy Howard:
And that is so good. And you actually touched on my next point, South Africa, very fun time. And actually, if you don't mind, I'm going to go back to my phone because I want to read this word for word. I looked this up right before we jumped on here. It was actually April 28th, 2019. That's a long time ago. But I sent you a text. So I say it's a journey a lot because, and I have seen it sometimes for some people, it's radically, bam, it's like, you're healed. Whether it's a healing, whether it's depression. And then with others, I feel like they do have to walk it out and then work it out and it's a journey. And that's what happened with me.

Andy Howard:
So I had found your book. I started having better days. I no longer wanted to stay in bed all day. I started working, I started getting better, started working on my mind. We found an incredible health program along the way, which helped with so much. So I started getting physically better and it made me feel better, releasing those endorphins by working out and walking more. So there were so many things along the way.

Andy Howard:
But on April 28th, 2019, it was a Sunday night. I'll never forget it. I had went up to my man cave, just wanted to get away, scrolling through Facebook. So thank you for one, posting your stuff online live because I was just mindlessly scrolling. And again, stumbled on this guy named Pat Schatzline, who I don't even remember what church you were at. But I caught probably the last 20 minutes of your sermon. And so then I immediately, this was at 6:49 so I'm glad you don't keep your phone on while you're speaking. It was 6:49 and I said, "Thank you for your ministry. I caught the last 15 to 20 minutes of your message. I'll go back and watch the rest of it. But it was live so I couldn't start from the beginning. I want to know how I can get ahold of your book, Unqualified. And also I want to let you know that I'm ready to come out of hiding.

Andy Howard:
"I've been hurt, beat up, knocked down. And honestly, I have no belief in myself. I feel like a failure. I have no purpose in my life. Seriously, Tiff is the rockstar and I'm so grateful for her. But I need purpose in my life and I honestly just feel useless. Not trying to get all sappy on you, but for the first time in a long time I felt hope tonight. I don't know what to do, but I want to start with your book, Unqualified and go from there. Love you man. So thankful for you and Karen."

Andy Howard:
And you replied and it was around 10:34. So by the time you wrapped up service and alter call and you guys may have went and ate or something, I don't know. But you replied and you said, "Seriously, you have no idea how much you're being authentic has blessed me. Seriously, we are going to become brothers. I need you to travel with me some. It's time to awaken the anointing once again. I believe in you." That text of just hearing a small glimmer of hope that you believe in me.

Andy Howard:
Fast forward. So that was on April 28th. On August the 20th, I also received another text with an invitation to go to South Africa with you to speak to gosh, thousands of people. Still one of my favorite memories of us. So tell me about that trip. And I want you to start with the lions because it was Restore the Roar and that was awesome. And it restored my roar, personally. I felt like I got back in the fight, back in the game. But tell me about the funny part. So we'll go a little light first and then we'll get serious. But tell me about our trip on the safari with the lions. I thought that was so fun.

Pat Schatzline:
Well, and I remember that night getting that text from you. And the Unqualified book, that's really, we'll come back to it, but that's my resume. I'm just a redneck kid from Alabama. My parents moved from Detroit when I was five, or when I was seven. Moved there and spent my whole life. I could walk on stages and speak to thousands and go back to my hotel room and go to sleep crying. Head in pillow, why do you use me, god? Why do you use me? Every time you doubt, every time you doubt why God would use you, I personally think it would be like my own son Nate, who I'm so proud of looking at me going, "Dad, why do you love me? Why do you think I'm special?"

Pat Schatzline:
And the Lord spoke to that to me. God spoke to me one night when I was just having one of those moments and I got delivered. I wrote about it and Unqualified. I danced in the battlefield of Gettysburg. He said, "Go dance and worship me and I'll lift that off. Go dance where others have died." And obviously Gettysburg's a very precious place. 53,000 people died to prove that all men are created equal. But it was there that I finally broke depression. And I write about that in Unqualified.

Pat Schatzline:
But the reason why I'm saying all that is, is for that book to minister to you, it was my resume. It was an authentic, what in the world, why do you use me? And you know who I found out, Andy? It leads us to Africa where I'm going with this. But God always uses the unqualified. It's first Corinthians 1:26 through 28 and the message Bible says, "Take a good look friends at who you were when you got called in this life. And I don't see many of the brightest and best among you, not many influential, not many from high society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that culture overlooks exploits and abuses. He chose the nobodies to expose the hollow pretensions of the somebodies."

Pat Schatzline:
Then it goes on to say, so that nobody gets the glory. So I look back at all of my life's journeys, 3 million miles, that trip to South Africa. You know how I am. I am one of the silliest people that ever lived. I don't get serious till I open my Bible. And it's who I am. I'm like, "How can you use an idiot like me, God? Every one of my report cards, talks too much, daydreams." That was all prophetic about my future. I'm not the smartest guy. But what I found out was when we went to Africa, here's this incredible movement there. You and I, watching you on stage, people going, "He's just so real, he's so authentic." They're not used to that in some churches because they just see the pomp and the religious stuff. But then I remember one time we went on that safari and it was pretty cool because a giant elephant walked right in front of my room that morning. Roll tide.

Andy Howard:
I said we can't do that.

Pat Schatzline:
I mean, it happened. I'm like, I got up and I went, "Oh look at [inaudible 00:24:25]." But you and I went on safari, and folks, this is a real safari. This is not going to the Fort Worth Zoo. This is real. You get an open air Jeep and if you are not in the right situation, you will die. So we stood like this, up in the air stuff, and I have our assistant with us. We have a good friend that was a Hall of Fame rugby player with us. And at one point we decided to be stupid.

Andy Howard:
I believe you decided to be stupid. We were just on the ride with you.

Pat Schatzline:
Andy, you were all about this.

Andy Howard:
This was the time that I wet my pants, I believe, just to be honest with you.

Pat Schatzline:
We downloaded a roar on YouTube of a lion. Well here's what we didn't know. Male lions, all they do is have sex all day and sleep. I mean, they got the life. The females are the freaks. They're the ones that hunt and kill. So we see these male lions just chilling. I mean, they got their hair up all around them. And we pull up to them, and Mario, that was the guy that was our tour guide. We said, "Mario, can we plug our phone into the speaker?" And he goes, "Okay, yes." And so next thing you know, we pull up and there's all these lionesses laying around and we didn't know that they had attacked somebody apparently two weeks before. We didn't know all that. It's not important.

Andy Howard:
Till afterwards.

Pat Schatzline:
Mario didn't want to lose his tip. And so all of a sudden, we plug the phone in and we start playing this roar. Well, a lion will attack if they hear a roar. And a lion's roar will go five miles. But it's pretty powerful. But a lioness, when she's getting ready to attack, her tail will stick straight up. Well, we didn't know that. We're like, "Oh look."

Pat Schatzline:
And she's laying there and all of a sudden she stands up. Now folks, we're only about 12 feet in the air in this open air jeep. They jump 20 feet and they will-

Andy Howard:
You're dead.

Pat Schatzline:
And kill you. So at that point, this lioness stands up and Mario starts screaming, "We got to go. We got to go." Thankfully, my assistant, Daniel that was with me, we almost sacrificed him to [inaudible 00:26:38]. We were like, "We'll tell your parents you died for the cause." But I'll never forget-

Andy Howard:
Daniel and the lions den, right?

Pat Schatzline:
So we're like hot. I mean we're flying out of there to try to ... And that lioness followed us. And anyway. But we had some great ... Remember riding in the car?

Andy Howard:
Well that was my next ... Well, so, we split up. So it's Sunday and we split up to ... They have several churches there with this group that we were visiting. So we were trying to divide and conquer, I guess. So that Sunday morning, and this is just another cool God thing. I love sharing these kind of moments because I just want you to know if you feel alone or forgotten or whatever, I want you to know, you're never alone. You're not off God's radar. He sees exactly where you're at.

Andy Howard:
So I was freaked out, dude. I'm just going to be honest. When you invited me, as most things, I'm like, "Heck yeah, let's do it." But the closer at got, I'm like, "I'm about to screw this thing up for Pat Schatzline. They will never invite him back again." So I am terrified with my own fear, not trusting in the Lord. And that was the first problem.

Andy Howard:
So here we are, the whole time from that moment, I got that text on August 20th. There was a song that was just so powerful at the moment, and it was, I Raised a Hallelujah. I just started just listening to it on repeat the whole time. And it was helping me prep my story and prep what I was going to be sharing on the whole time. And even as our girls were going to school, we would listen to it and I'd pick them up and we'd listen to it.

Andy Howard:
So then that driver picked me up on Sunday morning as we split up. And I was absolutely terrified, even though I knew God was with me and what I was supposed to speak on. The scariest part was his driving. I'll let you elaborate on that in a minute.

Pat Schatzline:
I threatened him. Remember that? I got mad.

Andy Howard:
Oh dude. But we finally got to, and this is just God's wink again. That's what I call them, a little God wink. We got to the place where I was speaking first that Sunday morning and I could hear the praises of his people through the church on the outside. And you would not believe what song it was. It was I Raised a Hallelujah. And it was just a little confirmation to, "Hey, you've been terrified for three months. You've been worried about all this, but I got you. And this is the same just as it was in your room studying as you were praying with me, as you were asking for what we were about to talk or share on. It's the same exact setting." And so that was confirmation for me everything I needed.

Pat Schatzline:
So I'll never forget that night. That was crazy. The guy comes to pick us up, it's dark out, it's South Africa, and we've had an incredible time. And I think this was the next to last night I was going to speak and we get in the car and the guy was running late because South Africans run late. They have what's called African time. And I'm freaking out because I got to be there on time. I'm like, "How am I going to get my head on straight?" And all of a sudden he's driving. Well, I think he knew I was freaking out, we're running late. So he starts driving like a madman.

Pat Schatzline:
Now, if you've ever been in a foreign country, China, Africa, same thing. There's really not rules for the road. It's get out of the way. And this guy is going around curves on freeways. And finally I just looked at him and I said, "Okay, we need to slow down." He starts laughing. I said, "No, you don't understand. I am not going home in a box." I said, "Dude, bring it down." And Andy's in the back seat. I look back at Andy-

Andy Howard:
Holding on to both handles.

Pat Schatzline:
[inaudible 00:30:16] covering your eyes because it's so scary.

Andy Howard:
It was.

Pat Schatzline:
I got in the flash for a minute there. I was ready. I was like, "Dude, I didn't come here to die."

Andy Howard:
But that was incredible. Well, about that night. So I remember that night very well as well. And you knocked it out of the park as well. Killed it. We're at the alter call and I'm chilling on the side watching all this happen. And man, I admired it so much. It was so fun to just get to travel that week with you. But you were just a powerful speaker. It's the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I know that. But you let him use you. You're always open to that. And I love that about you.

Andy Howard:
And anyways, this is a moment you may not even realize how big a deal it was. Because again, it's that guy with no confidence that I'm working on and walking in God's power. And you turn over in front of thousands of people, hand a live mic, which is probably very dangerous to me. You say, "Hey man, speak life into these people." And I was terrified. But at the same time, sometimes you do things scared, right? And I just did all I knew to do and the Lord used me and it was a very powerful moment.

Andy Howard:
But even after that, we went back because that was the closing night. And we went back to the open area of the hotel room in the lobby and must have talked till well past midnight. But even that night, you began speaking life into me of how God is going to use you and how he has his hand upon you. And I don't know that you will ever fully realize the power of your words. Because even then, that was long before I started writing the book. I knew for a decade I was supposed to write this book, but I thought for every reason why I was going to, there was 20 reasons why I wouldn't.

Andy Howard:
So anyways, that was a special night that night of you just ... And you may think these are so small, why are you even touch ... They were just special moments for me personally. So thank you.

Pat Schatzline:
Well, I want to add to do that. I also want you to know that when I do something like that in a service, that's an unction of the Holy Spirit moment. I mean, God speaks to me in three ways. So God the Father, so it's a voice of authority. He'll say, "Do this." Then I'll hear it through the son, and it always comes out with the love, compassion. But then the Holy Spirit is an empowerment moment when ever he says, "Do this." And I'll almost hear it, "Give the mic to Andy, give the mic to Andy, give the mic to Andy." An empowerment moment.

Pat Schatzline:
And one of the things that I want everybody who's listening to understand is those that want it, don't get it. Those that don't want it, get it. God's a God of opposites. He exhausts the humble. And what I mean by that is God is always looking for those that nobody else would. Yeah, he's a great guy, he's got this. But God says, "No, no, no. He's got me. He's got the man. He's got the one that can span the universe with his entire hand." And yet he knows every breath that we take.

Pat Schatzline:
And Andy, Matthew 10:27 says, "What I whispered to you in the dark, you'll proclaim from the rooftops." So God had been telling you for a long time, whispering, "Write this book, write this book." And his long suffering [inaudible 00:33:42]. But there also comes a crossroads of discernment moment or authority moment or decision moment where God says, "Either you do it or I'm going to go find another Andy to write it."

Pat Schatzline:
And I'll never forget when we were writing Rebuilding the Altar, and Karen was diagnosed with leukemia and then she was later healed and all that kind of stuff. I said to the Lord one morning, I said, "I can't do this. I can't write this. I'm being attacked for writing about how to have encounters. Just attacks." And God spoke, [inaudible 00:34:08] said, "Okay, I'll give it to somebody else." And I felt Him, true story, leaving the room. Like, leaving the room. I said, "Oh, hold on, hold on. Hold on. I got this." And I'm weeping. I said, "I got this."

Pat Schatzline:
Here's what I want to say to everybody that's listening. When Andy wrote the book, When the Words Don't Come Easy, when he wrote that, he didn't write that for himself. We always write at the end of our revelation. You don't write in the middle of a revelation. You weren't even writing that for yourself anymore. You were writing that to send a message to somebody to say, "It's okay. Hold on. You've got destiny on you. You're still breathing. You've already had your worst day. And your past is not your prison, it's your university." And when you begin to write that book, I remember praying for you, going, "Let it flow like honey." But then there was other days where I'm sure you sat down and like, "I got nothing."

Pat Schatzline:
Those are good days, too. But I just want to tell, I know we're out of time, but I just want to encourage everybody with this. Go get this book. This is a book that I will give to my daughter, my son who just ran for office and won. He's a nobody. But God spoke to him to run for office. He ran for office. He's a state rep. Texas state rep now. The Lord showed me when I prayed for him, four steps to the White House. This is the first step.

Pat Schatzline:
But here's what I want to say to everybody. Everyone needs this book because I don't care who you are. You're there. You've dealt with this. And whether it was during COVID when you lost things or you lost your business, or you lost a loved one, there's just moments where words don't come easy. And those are the best moments.

Pat Schatzline:
But I just want to tell you, brother, I'm so proud of you because once you get the writing bug, after that, everything that happens, you're like, "Well, that could be a book." I've got in my room upstairs in my office, I've got 10 future books that are laid out, because once you start writing, people have no idea the torture of it. But once you get it out there, it's beautiful. So this is a big day.

Andy Howard:
Dude, Thank you so much. Thank you for coming on. And one, I know you're one of the most, I mean, honestly, you're one of the most busy people in the world. While you're speaking, whether you're running your business. But you took time here not only for me, but for all the people listening. And I just wanted to thank you. And again, let me run through this again. What a special day it is. It's a dream come true. Honestly, for 10 years I thought I was supposed to, but I really, I can't honestly say that I ever believed I would be at today's day ever. And I'm just so grateful for it. But amazon.com, or audibles and andyhoward.com if you need any other info like that. But thank you again, Pat, for joining me. Look forward to seeing you again soon. And hey man, that's a wrap for this one. We'll talk to you soon, buddy.

Pat Schatzline:
Hey, love you, brother.

Andy Howard:
Love you, man. Thanks so much for tuning in. If this episode helps you in any way, it would mean the world to me if you would leave a review and share it with somebody else. Thanks so much. I'll catch you next time.