Testimony Time.

In this episode we will have brother Louis Alvarado sharing his testimony. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Alrighty guys, welcome to the fourth episode of the podcast. Today we're gonna have a special guest speaking and a special prayer from a special out of that guy's life. And today we're doing a testimony. So it's gonna be a special type of episode. And today we have and he's gonna be doing our prayer, okay?

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Okay, thank you for the stake. And please all don't mess up anyone whenever you speak in, please.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

And amen. Amen. And amen. Amen. So we're gonna get into the fourth episode of the New Life Ments podcast. I want to start this off with a verse. I'll be in First Corinthians 2, 3 through 5. And I believe this is the New Living Translation. So it says, I come to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preachings were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Holy Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power. Amen. And so today we'll be doing a special episode, I guess you could call it, where we'll be listening to Brother Louis' testimony. But let's go ahead and introduce everybody.

SPEAKER_05 1:24

My name is Victor. My name is Pete. I'm with the men's group. And like Vic said, this is actually a actually a special episode, right? We get we're actually getting to hear a testimony. And of course, for guys, anybody first tuning in, this is your first episode. We always like to let everybody know that this podcast is intended, of course, for the men perspective, right? You know, for for those guys who usually struggle with wanting to get involved with the church or maybe nervous or or feel like, hey, you know, they're gonna be a judge or something like that. You know, you know, the enemy works so many different ways on keeping men out of church or keeping men from uh entering into fellowship with Christianity. You know, of course, uh the enemy attacks us so many different ways, right? But so we just pray that this is what this podcast will do, you know, is is is lighten lighten it for them, you know. Like, hey, well, it's not that's not, you know, it's not too bad, you know. Maybe maybe it's something I do want to get a be a part of, right? So so we pray, and we always pray that these uh podcasts do that. Reach the man that's struggling with that right now, you know. But yeah, well, we got here Brother Louie. You want to introduce yourself, Louie?

SPEAKER_03 2:35

Hey guys, well, thank first of all for asking me out here. It's an honor. My name is Louis Alvarado. I've been with the ministry here going about 19, almost 20 years. Amen. I've been here for a while, as they were saying. I've been here for a minute, as they say. Um a long minute. Started out here just showing up church with Nancy, and we weren't married yet. Showing up, yeah, just going through the motions. And slowly but surely I started getting involved little by little. And 20 years later, um I work with the children's. We have a fishing ministry we use, which I invite both of y'all to show up.

SPEAKER_04 3:11

Yes, you're doing.

SPEAKER_03 3:13

And it makes it it's an eye-opening experience when you start opening up yourself to the church, to the Lord, to your fellow men who are all trying to do the same thing. Not knowing when I first got here.

SPEAKER_04 3:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:26

What am I supposed to do? So you show up, you listen to the word, that's right, and you just keep going on, and little by little, when you're from the world, there's so many obstacles in front of you that you don't see are there. Because you think it's part of life. That's right. But once you start coming to church, you start noticing that's holding me back, and I didn't even know that. Yeah, this is stopping me. And I didn't even, I thought that was part of it. But it opens up your eyes slowly. Sometimes it shocks you. Like, I've been doing it wrong and not knowing I've been doing it wrong. Yeah, you're thinking you're a good person, and but you're not. Yeah, yeah. You're not, you're like, I, you know, I'm kind to people, I help people, but that doesn't work. That's not the right way of doing it. And like, so that's right. Here we are, you know, and I'm one of the teachers here for the children's ministry. And I have both y'all's kids. Some no, and not yours yet, but I got y'all's. Yeah, you guys mine. Yeah, I got you two little, two little handfuls there sometimes. They can be a handful, but I love them. But uh when I tell them, they just look at me like sir, and they'll sit down. I'll come up there and play with them, roughhouse them, but they're good kids, they're really good kids.

SPEAKER_05 4:42

It's funny, bro. I got a uh I got a uh coworker, they call them the beastie boys.

SPEAKER_03 4:48

I look at them like we got Ivan the Terrible and his partner, Jace the menace right here. So here they come. And they'll come up here to me and run up to me and hug on me, and then they'll take off.

SPEAKER_05 5:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:00

When I first got in there, they were just looking at me all scared and wouldn't be now. They're like come up to me and pop me in the back, like, hey, get over here.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Louis thinks he has his hands full now. Wait till Javi turns five and he has to go join them. Oh man.

SPEAKER_03 5:13

Oh, I got a trio right there, which are cool. The trio right there, they always, anytime they're together, and then I got my two little ones in there, plus all the other ones at first who would just look at me like scared. But now that I've been there a while, yeah, oh my gosh, they're we could be sitting out there in the sanctuary, and your boys come up to me and hug on me like, get away, get away, you little yeah, go somewhere. You don't have to go home, go, you know, you don't have to just go home, but get somewhere. But yeah, so I've been doing that for a while, and we're and we're doing a fishing ministry where invite all the people, even non-church people, anybody wants to come out there. Bring your kids, being being a fisher of men, is what you call it.

SPEAKER_05 5:56

Uh something you said like really stood out just right now that I wanted to emphasize on, right? You says whenever we first come to the church, we don't know what we should be doing, right? Because that's exactly how I was too. When I first came, and and and of course, you know, maybe some members are like, nah, I just want to go and do my church part, right? But we know it's not just that. Now that we're veterans in it, you know, we kind of know like that's not how it works. You don't just show up and fill up a church pew, right? So and so, but if you do have the thought, like, what am I supposed to do? At least you're on the right track right there, right? Because you know you should be doing something aside from just attending.

SPEAKER_03 6:38

But the deal is you don't know what to do. But you don't so yeah, that's where your fellow men come in. Yeah, and us as men, we should observe the I don't want to call them rookies coming in. Yeah, yeah, but take a look at them. I'm like, hey, he's new, he's been here a couple times. Yeah, let me go talk with him just to say hi.

SPEAKER_04 6:56

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:56

That's it. That's all that's all it took for me here. Yeah, but then again, I was loud when I showed up. Yeah, Chris, Pastor Chris, I call him basically Pastor Chris, Pastor Furman. We clicked really hard. You're talking hardcore. We clicked together. And there was times when our wives would be like, Y'all three get together? Y'all you just know I don't know what you're doing to them, but you're not pastor no more. Like, hey, hey, hey, hey. So yeah, we they showed me how to do it, but didn't rush me. Yeah, they just gave me the options. Sure, look. And I think back now, Chris and Furman and Gene, Pastor Jesse would give me options, but wouldn't pressure me. Yeah, and just give you, hey, do you think about this? Or invite me over to the house. Not knowing. I I look back now, they were feeding me. Yeah, yeah, not like meals, but spiritually, and showing me, yes, what are my options and where to go and just like you said, a seed. I didn't know that. But they did. Man. And they just nurtured it. And almost 20 years later, I'm still here. And it's just things that uh, you know, because you sit there and look back like now it's our turn to continue. Yeah, that's right, bro. To continue to do that. Because you've been here for a little while. Vic, can you here with two or three years? Two years. Two years. And I remember when you first got here. How can you not forget that big old hair? Nice hair. Nice hair. Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry, Peter.

SPEAKER_05 8:39

I didn't mean to say anything bad. Bro, you guys that don't know, I'm the one without the hair on the picture. I'm not a picture.

SPEAKER_03 8:45

He's the one who's shiny. He's the one who's shiny. But yeah, um, it's one of them things that you see him come in with families or sometimes by themselves, and you go to them. You being a guy, if somebody comes up to you and the and they're crew with you, you want to come back. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 9:02

You want to start hanging out, you want to go up there.

SPEAKER_03 9:05

Hey, I like that vibe. Yeah. It's not just about the vibe, but you got to start off still thinking, they're still thinking from the world. Yep. So you got to use some of that world instinct, but start turning, start showing them stuff that they didn't see. Like I didn't see.

SPEAKER_05 9:19

Yeah. Because a lot of people have a perspective, right? If we can agree that, well, church is church bells, and and everybody's uptight, and nobody can laugh, and nobody can talk, and nobody can- It's all upright, and you say, Amen, two or three times, let's go home. Yeah, yeah. That's it.

SPEAKER_03 9:33

No, it's not like that. It's just not like that. Once you get involved, this place is run. There's a pastor and there's a senior leadership. But the place is run by so many different people from different avenues that keeps it running. Yep. That keeps it flowing. There's so many things that we as men with our families, everybody gets involved. And not even knowing about it. And next thing you know, when you're part of this group, like, I'm down, let's do this. Let's go. Yeah, I'm with it.

SPEAKER_02 10:03

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 10:03

And nobody wants to take the lead on this silence again. I'll take it. I'll I got this. Come on, guys, follow me. I don't may not know where I'm going, but we're all gonna go together. We're gonna get there. We're gonna get there. We're gonna get there. But yeah, it's that's one of the things I noticed when I started coming here. They were friendly, they were cruel, they were open, they were honest. If they saw something I did wrong, and they wouldn't jump on me, but they were just like, hey, this is what happens out there. Yeah, and here, think about your options. And I was like, never got discouraged. It just felt I wasn't getting scolded, I was getting taught. Yeah, I was getting taught. Yeah, like, hey, you we want you here, you want to be here.

SPEAKER_05 10:44

Let's go this way. And the Bible teaches us God chastises those he loves. And they're they were chastising you in love. They were like, hey, this this is this is how it's supposed to go.

SPEAKER_03 10:54

This is how it's gonna be. There's gonna be a lot, there's gonna be a lot more problems now. Yeah, and you're thinking, why if I'm gonna go with God? Yeah, yeah. Boy, they were right. Yep. The outside world, equ with Sue, they just come and just shun you. They just terrorize you and just make fun of you and ridicule you. And you're like, you want to jump back, but then you start remembering the teachings. You still bless them. Yeah, you still, you still honor, like you gotta just bite your tongue and remember what it said that he fights for you. You sit there and you're with him. He takes care of the battles. And that's the hardest part to do.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:37

Sitting on your hands going, ee, well, so you know what? I'm gonna go take a walk. I'm gonna go walk, I'm gonna go calm myself, I'm gonna go grab a Dr. Pepper and a Diablo sandwich. That's like and I'm gonna chill. And I'm gonna relax. As good as you're like, and you're thinking, thinking, like plays like, you know what, I could go over there and just put it. Ain't no better. Yep. That's the difference between our house and the world. And the world. Yeah, there's gotta be a difference. Yeah, and it's not the church, it's the house. And you respect the house. Yes. So you respect the rules. Like your house and your house, and you got rules that as people show up, you say this is this and this. Yes, sir. This is your house. Yeah, I got my rules in my house. God has his rules. There's no questioning it. That's his house. We respect it. We do it. Yeah, move on. It works on the end.

SPEAKER_05 12:29

It's deep because um, I was hearing it on the on the way over here. I was listening to uh because I try my best to film myself with us when I'm not reading the Bible instead of social media or whatever, try to replace it with sermons and and stuff like that, right? So I was hearing one on the way over here, Jonathan Kahn, he's one of my favorite uh pastors, right? And he's talking about love, bro. The the real definition of love, man, you know, and and he says that, you know, he uses, of course, Bible. And I like the way he he puts it out is love has been like watered down by society, right? We feel that love is an emotion. And he's like, the Bible shows us, of course, love is not an emotion, right? Because an emotion is something that's gonna go away. It can go away in 24 hours, it can go away in a day, two days, a year, but he says it's not an emotion. He goes, love is just a choice, right? He's like, it's easy to love those who love you, but we Jesus says, I'm not asking you to do that, I'm asking you to love those who are impossible to love. Yep. And that's he says, that's the definition of love.

SPEAKER_03 13:35

That is tough right there. When you have somebody who ridicules you or treats you rough, oh, I love you, man. It just does, it just okay, I gotta go through that. No matter what, yeah, and no matter what, because you know what? God fights my battles. That's right, man. And I've learned through love and patience, He does fight your battles. He does, bro. Because we're gonna talk about something that happened to me in 2018.

SPEAKER_05 14:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 14:03

Let's go ahead and get into that, right? Okay, yeah, yeah. You want to introduce it?

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Yeah, let's start from the beginning. Let's start. I want to ask you growing up as a kid, were you raised in the church? Were you raised like I want to know from the beginning to you know where you are now? Were you raised in the church? Were you, you know.

SPEAKER_03 14:19

Well, growing up as a kid, I grew up Catholic because my parents were Catholic. So we went to the Catholic Church, and I did the things to me, and I don't want to sound rude or anything, but to me, the Catholic Church was all tradition. Stand up, sit down, kneel down. I used to call it, let's go get our Sunday gym. We used to get down your knees, get up, stand up, you know, stretch, stretch, high. Yeah, just work it out. Yeah, come out and your knees are creaking. I did good. I did good. Yeah, yeah. And the sermons, because I didn't know nothing. I just knew that's what it was. That was church. We went in there, the priests would talk, and I didn't know now, and I'm not talking about it about Catholicism. Don't get me wrong. Yeah, everybody has their own religion their own way. So the way I see it, all these religions have a different way. It's also the same God.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:12

Also the same trees. How we do it, the how you get there doesn't matter, but we're going in that in that direction. So I grew up as Catholic. I got became an adult, grew up, Catholic went away. I became just got out there working, you know, being a young old rascal, as people would say. Going out there, taking care of business, being doing stuff that being Louie. Being Louis being really loud and doing stuff, you know. I was doing stuff like that. Yeah, I used to come back and now that think about it, I should have been dead a long time ago, the stuff I did. Like, I can't believe I managed to do that. Wow. You know, just doing stuff that I don't want to, you know, say stuff at all. There was stuff that I walked away from stuff like car wrecks, bike accidents. Like, I'm okay, I'm good. You know, and that's how my life was. Testimony in itself, because yeah, you know, because not knowing, but God is looking out for you, even when you don't believe in him, he believes in you. That's right.

SPEAKER_05 16:17

I got a plan for you.

SPEAKER_03 16:18

Yeah, and you may not know what's going on, but he's like, you know what? I'm gonna let this guy roam around there, out there in the in the desert for a while. Yeah, I'm gonna let him wander, but I'm keeping an eye on this, yeah, on this little messing down here. Just seems like he's known, like he's going somewhere, but he's lost. But I'm gonna, yeah, I'm gonna keep him okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

He's letting you tell his testimony.

SPEAKER_03 16:38

God, God looks out after so many people, and you're like, at first, why is he so lucky? Now I'm now thinking he's waiting for his chance to come up. He's waiting for him to throw him something, and he's gonna do it. Everybody has a reason, as they say, there's a there's a reason for the season, yeah, and they're waiting for his turn. He may not know it, she may not know it. God does.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 17:03

So you're cruising around all solo, all crazy, but he'll bump you and push you over and knock you down. But he's like trying to hurt a bunch of cats. Think about that. You gotta herd of cats. That's almost they're gonna go everywhere.

SPEAKER_05 17:16

That's impossible.

SPEAKER_03 17:16

It's impossible, but nothing's impossible with God. Yeah, he's gonna hurt the whole cats, he's gonna make them go paya. Yeah, so yeah, and growing up, oh man, just going to stuff, you know. In high school, they used to tell me you're gonna wind up in jail or prison. Wow. And they were pretty much right. Wow. You know what? I went to work for the prison system. I worked for 20 years in the state peeing. So technically they were right. Right, but I was in the prison, but I worked. Yeah, I got to go home every day. Yeah, residence. Yeah, yeah. I wasn't a client, as they called it. You know, they paid me to go to work. So I yeah, I did that for a while. Did some jobs, just some long-term jobs, had had a life, crazy life. And then uh I met Nancy, but first, this is my second marriage. Okay, okay. My first wife, we had two boys. Didn't work out. Didn't work out. But I still kept in touch with our boys to this day. My boys are men now, and they still call me dad, they still call me, we still hang out. We I used to go, I used to go pick them up. Now it's like, dad, could you meet us over there? Yes, sir. I'm on my way. And we'll sit down and talk. But yes, you know, and they're men now, and they're not boys no more. I kept that in touch. So I met Nancy. Nancy, me and her were the same spirit. Wow, we got along crazy fun. You're talking two wild spirits. We got together, everybody says, y'all ain't gonna work out. Okay, we'll find out. Yeah, but 20 years later, we're still here. Yeah, we're still here, you know. Just like because you can speak on this yourselves. Marriage isn't perfect. No, no, there's good and bad days.

SPEAKER_05 19:03

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 19:04

But the way we see it, if you have for every one bad day, if you have 10 good days, yeah, you can't beat that. There's you got two different people staying in the same house. Sooner or later, they're gonna clash, they're gonna clash on something like you get dressed and she doesn't like the color of your shirt, and that's all it took.

SPEAKER_05 19:22

Yeah, I got it, it's on. If I want to especially on a Sunday morning, Sunday.

SPEAKER_03 19:28

If you're not color coordinated, that's what I've heard from my friends. If you're not color coordinated, it's on. It's all you walk out dressed and you look at her and she looks at you, and I'm speaking from a friend telling me the story. Oh my friend, okay, it's from a friend, and you look at each other and she looks at you, and she's like, Ah, gotcha. You know what? Pick your battles.

SPEAKER_05 19:49

Yeah, you know what?

SPEAKER_03 19:50

You you sure are right. That's what I've heard. So, you know, because they go in there and change out.

SPEAKER_05 19:54

So don't pray for that guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:56

He's he's learning, he's learning, he's learning. So, yeah, we meet, and then a friend of hers, who she was coming to this church for a long time, invited Nancy. So Nancy invited me to come with her.

SPEAKER_02 20:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 20:10

And Pastor Chris, Pastor Ferb, and Pastor Jesse will tell you the day that I showed up because they still talk about it every now and then. Okay, they won't let it go. It got me interested. I want to hear this. So we're here. They have this little get-together out here on the back of the parking lot, back here in the back of the church. They have like the little jumpers for the kids, they have volleyball tournaments. Oh, no, I'll take it back. It's at the church in Wolforth.

SPEAKER_02 20:38

Oh, yeah, Wolfford's worshiped.

SPEAKER_03 20:39

And they have this big old thing back then because they had a pool back there.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:42

Nice pool, volleyball tournament. You know, they had this big old backyard hangout, you know, in the summer. Yeah. First time I go. I walk in. Pastor Chris, Pastor Fern would never let it go. I walk in, cigarette hanging in my mouth, just hey guys, what's up? Hey guys, what's up? How y'all doing? And we're just talking, and then he asked me to just be a referee in their volleyball game because I don't know anybody, so I'm neutral.

SPEAKER_04 21:12

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:13

So I get the shirt. All right. Yeah, so and so, you're out, this and that, and I'm calling it. And Furman comes up, sir. We don't smoke here. My bad. I did not know. You know, I'm you. I thought it was Cali where you can bring a beer in the 12 pack, it'd be good. You know, that's how we do it. Yeah, you know, like, oh Jamaica style. Yeah, you know, still Jamaica. Yeah, yeah. No, and I like that. You know, and they were cool about it. So I thought, yes, sir, no problem. I dumped the dance, you know, kept going. You know, I didn't know. I just thought, you know, and they still because you had the Catholic background. Yeah. That's why. Yeah. So they still, Chris doesn't care. Oh, we grabbed it. I'm like, man, it wasn't like that, sir. It was like this, there was that this. Yeah, it was not that type of cigarette to her. So that's around a different road. So we talked, we clicked. Nancy, she is quiet.

SPEAKER_04 22:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:11

Because y'all know her. Oh, yeah. Very polite. Oh, she's very professional. And you know, I love that woman. I can't say nothing. Sometimes she's just a great woman. She's the one who brought me here. That's awesome. We had our issues, but we were not married yet, and we were dating. But they thought we were married. Ah, okay. So we were working on it. It took us a while. You know, she kept asking me. I kept telling her, no, you know, have to wait, baby. Yeah, you know, have to have a wait. She had to wait. Time's time not right now. Yeah, you gotta relax. It's okay, daddy. I ain't going nowhere. Don't push me. Yeah, stuff like that. Pressure, no pressure. But yeah, it's just one of those that, and then slowly we started coming in Sundays, and then we started hitting Wednesdays. And Wednesdays was my click. Because Sundays I work a lot, but Wednesdays I was off. So I try and make every Wednesday. A lot of Sundays I can't because I'm working. But Wednesdays I knew I could make it. And we start showing up. We start showing up. Pastor Art, he was another guy that he's the guy who baptized me here. Oh man. Pastor Chris is dead. Pastor Art is the one who dunked me. I fought him. I fought him up there. And he looks at me. I'm gonna put you in water. Oh no, you're not, sir. I'm gonna put myself in the water. Don't hold me extra, sir.

SPEAKER_04 23:29

I said, don't give me more.

SPEAKER_03 23:32

You're gonna make sure I'm soaked in the spirit. But he's still with the baptized me up. That's awesome, bro. Yeah, so we start coming to church, start getting involved. I started doing stuff with Nancy because she's doing it. I'm helping her. I want to be with her.

SPEAKER_04 23:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:49

I'm still not, I'm still with the church, but I'm still not quite dating. Excuse me. So it's one of the things that you start coming for for her and doors start opening up. Oh yeah. Things start clicking. At one time there was a TV show at night that they guys did from here that they played. I can't remember what cable TV. And they did live prayer. Okay. So they had people on the phones, which was the dream team. Nancy, me, and Pastor Chris. Wow. We took phone calls. That's awesome. People call for prayer. And they're asking me. And you're new to the whole thing. I'm like, I'm within a year or two, and I've been hanging out with them and like, come on. You're gonna do it. Okay, I can do this. Yeah, so we're up there taking phone calls. Pastor Chris is showing us how to do it. We're taking we're all sitting in offices. That first phone call. Nancy grabs it. Ring. Chris grabs the second one, ring. Well, there's nobody else. It's my turn.

SPEAKER_01 24:57

It's my turn now.

SPEAKER_03 24:58

Boom.

unknown 24:59

Hi.

SPEAKER_03 25:00

And we're watching on the TV show. It's take, but we're with it because we're seeing live with our number. And it's ringing. We're getting people from Mexico, Arizona, all over the country are watching this, or wherever they're at. I never asked because I'm like, hi, how can we help you? What's going on? And you hear the stories and you sit down and pray with them. Sometimes people just want to say what's going on.

SPEAKER_04 25:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:22

And you're there. And then you sit down and you just feel what you have to say, right? And it's crazy because when you first did that first one, I didn't know what to say. I had no idea. Started listening. Just came out. What to say. And just talking. Did my first one. Oh wow.

unknown 25:43

Cool.

SPEAKER_03 25:43

I'm done. Uh oh. I hang it down, but another one.

SPEAKER_05 25:47

Somebody put call wait on this. I'm running out of stomach.

SPEAKER_03 25:54

I was forwardable or whatever, but there's I couldn't because I would look and I see Nancy on the call. And Pastor Chris, another one. I gotta take it. You got to. And it got easier.

SPEAKER_04 26:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:03

Just like life. And the more you do it, the more you follow it, the easier it becomes.

unknown 26:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:08

And that was cool. We did that for quite a while. But there were groups of us. But this was at midnight. Oh wow. Oh wow. On a Tuesday night.

SPEAKER_02 26:17

Yeah, so you had a yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:19

That's dedication, bro. Because you know what? You know, it is dedication now, but the time it was fun. Yeah. Not thinking it was work. If you didn't think about it as a chore, and it was something that you're doing for the house of God, out of respect, you did it. It just worked. It just flowed. If you learn not to fight it, it just rolled with you. Roll with you. That's awesome, bro. It got easier and easier. Then that system went away. It just slowly, the TV show, whatever happened, that was beyond my yeah. But we did our part.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:57

I got stories on top of that. Me and Chris were okay. I'm gonna say this. Brother Bill would get mad at the youth. Okay, okay. Because he would find little pellets all over this church. Pellets like from a pelican? Yeah, from a pellicle. Oh wow. Plastic pellets. Not real pellets, but plastic ones. Yeah. There was, and we can't get in trouble because I'm in God's house, so I'm gonna say the truth.

SPEAKER_01 27:22

Yeah, he said you gotta tell the truth.

SPEAKER_03 27:23

Yeah, I'm not gonna lie about it. There were two of those three people who brought up BB Clubs one night and went after each other all night. Oh man. During the call? During the call, because we let Nancy, because Nancy said that she could cover. Okay. We had no problem. Yeah. So we're chasing each other through the whole church. Oh wow. Exactly. Uh oh. And there was pellets everywhere. Brother Bill, we're like, boy, them kids. Why do you find all these pellets? I don't know what to tell you, Brother Bill. Drive on, you know. Yeah. You hear that, Bill? It's the kids. Yeah, Brother Bill, you can listen. That's what I heard from a friend. So yeah. So it's one of those things that we got along good. Me and Chris just we just did some crazy. That's awesome, bro. And uh, so we just kept going, kept going. Nancy started doing stuff with uh with the children's flags and doing the screens. I started with Adam behind the scenes doing all the cameras. Awesome. Awesome. So, you know, jumped in where he would ask for help, and I'm like, hey, I'll try it.

SPEAKER_02 28:23

I'll do it. I mean I know what I'm doing, but you know what? Yeah let's figure it out.

SPEAKER_03 28:26

Yeah. Did that for a while. And then that was rough. That was rough because there was so much to do and there wasn't enough of us at one point. Which there never is right now. We're still in the same boat, no? Yeah, yeah. Now it says there's a there's a stat out there that 20% of the staff does 80% of the work in the church. Yeah, yeah. Because you multitask. Yeah, sometimes it's needed, and it happens, but we're trying to change it one person at a time, one family at a time. And it's working, but yeah, so that's where I'm at. I'm here going on 20 years now and just active member, active member, yes, trying to be except for COVID. COVID pretty much knocked everybody down for a while.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:06

We were out for a little while because we couldn't come to church.

SPEAKER_05 29:09

Yeah, yeah. We we you know, but they they got they got creative with it, they had it on the parking lot.

SPEAKER_03 29:16

Yeah, well, you could park out here in the parking lot in your vehicle, and he would have it on the radio. Yeah, oh wow, so you would have everybody lined up sit in their cars like the movie theater, yeah. It was just like a movie, just like a driving, because you bring your lunch and a little burger. So you didn't have no excuses that you had to dress. If you're in the car, nobody would see you either. If you were a t-shirt, I would dress up nice and then a pair of shorts and crocs. Nobody was going on. I'm gonna sit there. I just put a top and then I got a clip on tight throw, and I'm wearing crocs and uh yeah, pair of cargo shorts. I'm riding. Ready, huh? I'm just kicking it. Yeah, so that's why we did it. That's awesome. It was cool. So we started coming back. COVID came and went. Everybody said it was gonna kill everybody, but you know what? God's mightier than anything that happens. Amen. And came back stronger, amen. Came back stronger.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

So I would like to ask you. So I want to know when did you feel that love in your heart? Like, well, that touch from the Holy Spirit that you were stuck in, like not stuck, because I don't want to say you're stuck, but committed. Yeah, you were on that fire, you had that fire for him. When would you say it hit you?

SPEAKER_03 30:26

It's not like an instant, like like a fantastic four flame on guy. No, it's not like that. It's more like it's it comes on and it's I may not see it like that, but the way I see it is you instead of it, it wasn't an instant fix, it was more of a foundational fix. He planted you on the ground first.

unknown 30:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:45

Because before you bounce around, he plants you, gives you stability. Then you start noticing stuff, you slow down. Because out there in the world, it's run, run, run, move, move, move, and you're already behind. When you when you wake up in the morning, you're already late.

SPEAKER_05 31:03

That's right. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 31:04

That's right. Here, you start slowing down, you start seeing how everything works. And you plant you. Sometimes you're in a hurry, and he comes and he'll oh stop.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

Yeah, stop being trying to do it. Wait, train.

SPEAKER_03 31:15

Wait, wait, wait, where do you think you're going? Yeah. And you're like, okay. And you start listening to the pastor's sermons and their teachings. They're not just talking, they're telling us life stories of how to do our life. We just have to implement that story and put it into our version. What worked for him maybe may work for him, but it may not work for me. But I can grab that root, plant it, and it's gonna plant my direction what God needs me to do. You may see a story, it may tell you to do one thing, it tells me to do something, it tells you to do something else. But he still plants it in all of us. That's right. So I must. So it wasn't a fire, it was more like, okay, I'm doing this, I'm doing this. Next thing I know, I'm doing like all these things. And I'm in no rush. I got time.

unknown 32:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:03

More of a peace.

SPEAKER_03 32:04

Yeah, exactly. It's more of a peace of mind, and like, you know what, it's this is gonna work. You still doubt yourself, like, I don't know what to do. And pastors and buddies and God, and everybody's telling you, you got this. Just don't overthink it. Don't just do this and let me take care of the rest. Yeah. Okay. And then you start seeing it like, the siren, it's working. It's crazy, but it's working. Yeah, you don't understand it. It's not meant for you to understand, it's just meant for you to just go with it. There's a lot of things we don't understand. Oh, yeah. And we fight it. And that's the problem. We fight it when we shouldn't be fighting it. Yeah, that's true. So, yeah, it's it wasn't an instant, it was more, it happened around four years, five years into it. I'm like cruising with it, like, okay, we need help with this. I got it. We need something to do. Yeah, we can do it. We can do it. Nancy would be like, I volunteered us. All right, cool. Let's figure it out. Let's go. Well, let's go do that.

SPEAKER_05 33:06

So we started doing that. Go piggybagging off that, right? So your planet, you're you're you're falling in love with the ministry, you're, you know, it's part of you now, right? So, and I know, and I love to let the Holy Spirit lead, right? So I know we're probably a little bit off topic, right? But we were gonna talk about healing, right? Where where does your testimony on that fall? Is it while you're falling in love with the ministry? Does it happen before, after, during? Do you feel like it's maybe something that the enemy trying to place there to knock you to see? Kind of like Job, you know, like you took everything away, that's what you got.

SPEAKER_03 33:47

Yeah. On that part, I'm doing my stuff. I'm I'm coming, I'm doing it. But I'm not like, as you said, on fire. I'm not there yet. But I'm doing it because I'm like, it feels like it's the right thing to do, and I'm doing, I'm getting that way. It doesn't happen overnight changing. You want it to, but it doesn't. For me, it didn't. Slowly I went. I would go forward and fall back a step. Get back up. All right, let's go. I messed up, I did this wrong. But you keep going, you keep going, and it got harder. I wouldn't say harder, wasn't it? Difficult, just more stress because I'm trying to do live as they say in the middle, trying to do God's work and still live out here. You can't do that. Nope. And people say you can't, but you're always stubborn. You know what? I can do it. Yeah, yeah. Oh, you can't. You can't, yeah. And even though you oh, I can handle both. Pass, it hit you. You can't, and you won't. Yeah, you do this side or do this side. That's right. And they tell you that. I can do it. I know I can. I'm gonna be the first one in history. No, you're not. You're gonna get back in line. Let's go. Yeah. I'm gonna get back in line. Let's go. Hey Louie, pass. I'm gonna put you back in place. So we go to the healing factor. I'm here, I'm doing it. I'm still both sides leaning more towards church and trying to figure out how to break away, which is tough.

SPEAKER_04 35:18

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:19

Because you have friends, oh yeah, and once you start going to the church, they don't want to be your friends no more. Nope. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 35:25

And it's crazy, like and it's not just friends, you also have family members.

SPEAKER_03 35:29

Yeah, family wants to shun you because like, and you're like, I'm not doing, I'm still the same guy. But you know what? I don't drink. Yeah, I don't partake in the what's it called, the devil's lettuce, as they call it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The devil's lettuce lettuce. That's what they call it. And um, and those guys that I used to hang around, that's what they'd like to do, and then they still want to do it. I'm like, hey, I'm doing it because I don't want to. I'm not telling you not to do it. I would like for you for not to. Yeah, but I'm not gonna do it. And they were sending me. Wow. Like, oh man, because you're not cool no more. I don't go out to the clubs no more, I don't go out drinking and dancing. And because I used to do a mean two-step back in the day. I didn't see this. I could have Nancy spinning like a top down the thing. Let's turn these cameras on. Let's get this remote. Let's go video and I'll show you. So yeah, it was. I started coming this way and it got harder and it got harder. But I started like, okay. So we're going into it, we're going into it, we're going into it. We get married. It's a little bit easier because now my foundation has gotten bigger. It's me, Nancy now. It's just not me, it's a family. So we're both planted. So it's like anything else. If you have a tree out there in the wind, it's gonna hold itself. But if you put a bunch of trees around it, it just gets stronger. That's right. It takes a lot more to knock it down. So we're going through it. We're going, we can we finally get married. We go out there. Pastor Chris is the one who married us. Amen. So he's been in and he's weaved it and out through her little lives. You know, he's been around. And we start coming to church more and more, start making a regular thing to a conscious effort. Let's start making because we will be on Wednesdays. Oh, we're gonna go hang out. Let's not go to church. Yeah, yeah. We start going to church. Let's start making for sure. Sundays we both work, not every week, but Wednesdays is our day, and we can make it just no matter what. We can make Wednesdays. So we're going to church. And this happened on a Wednesday. I wasn't feeling good for like a month. I didn't feel right. I felt exhausted. I'm gonna go into the healing part. How sometimes God will put you in that place. So I go to the doctor on a Wednesday morning. I'm at work and I get an appointment and I go up there. Doctor says, Ah, it looks like it's a cold. You're just not feeling good. No, I'm not feeling right. I don't feel good. You got some love work. I'm gonna go home, I'm gonna take a shower, and I'm gonna come back to work or to church. I'm driving home. And the doctor calls me and says, Wherever you at, I need you to meet me in the ER. Wow. Okay, this is like this is like, and I need you now. Yeah, that's bad. Yeah, yeah. You already know it's not. I just left the doctor and he said I'm good. Yeah, I'm like driving home. Nancy knew about it. Because I guess my they called her. She's waiting for me at T York. Oh wow. Yeah, that's Wednesday. We're here. We're supposed to be here. And uh I get there. This is weird, bro. This is totally weird. I'm walked in. Are you Lewis? Yeah. They grabbed me and threw me on the on the bed. Won't let me get up.

SPEAKER_05 39:05

What is going on?

SPEAKER_03 39:06

Exactly. I'm thinking what's going on. I just walked here. Yeah. There's something wrong. What is it? You know. They take me back to the back in the yard. Put me in the back, and I'm sitting there and they're like doing all sorts of tests on me, drawing blood. They won't let me get up. They won't let me stand up. I need to use the restroom. They give me a little thing. Like, okay.

SPEAKER_01 39:29

Yeah, okay. That's bad.

SPEAKER_03 39:32

They're like, okay. So, you know. Then the doctors come in and they do blood work and they say that it's crazy. I'm gonna try and bring it down because we've been talking for a while. I don't know what the limit is, so I'm gonna keep it quick in point. Well, they tell me that my platelet count in your blood. Yeah. Everybody has white blood cells, platelets. You're supposed to be 250. I'm not even sure exactly what the number 250,000 to like 400,000 is the normal. I'm at 2,000. So you're under. I'm at 2,000. It's supposed to be 250,000.

SPEAKER_01 40:10

Oh, you're dry. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:12

I have nothing. Yeah, that's I have nothing in there. They're saying you could get a paper cut and die because you can't clot. Really? So you can't get hurt at all. I can't even get a paper. That's why they have me laying down. Can't even get up and move.

SPEAKER_05 40:29

Really?

SPEAKER_03 40:30

So we're sticking with the ICU. Intensive care unit. I'm sitting in there with I'm looking. We're sick, right? But there's guys in the other room with ventilators and all sorts of stuff. These people can't move. I'm in the same place. And I'm sitting there like, hey, when do I get my plate? Yeah. Yeah. I'm here. I'm you know, bring me a pizza. Yeah. It won't let me do nothing. Wow. Because they're afraid if I bruise, it'll just bleed my whole body. I won't be able to clot. Wow. You know how you cut yourself with it bleeds and then it dries up. Yep. Well, my blood wasn't doing that.

SPEAKER_02 41:09

I didn't know.

SPEAKER_03 41:11

I just was like, it's a miracle you're even walking, you're talking. Person under 10,000 is dead. Really? Wow. Yeah, two. I'm a two. Wow. Which is nothing. They're saying, how do you even walk? How are you even talking? I don't know, sir, but I'm right here. You know, don't find me in third person. I'm right here with you. I'm still here. I'm like, ah, I am right here. Freaking me out of the board. I'm like, okay, okay. So yeah, they put me in the hospital. They start kicking me, uh, they tell me that they're gonna give me platelets, they're gonna infuse me, do stuff like that. I asked, what is it? We don't know yet. Okay, you don't know. I don't wanna I don't wanna have a disease named after me. That's one thing I don't want. Yeah, exactly. I don't you got a case of the founder. Yeah, founder. Great, there's only one one in the world. Great, I'm the only one. So they do all sorts of things, and they find out it's a form of leukemia. It's like a stepcousin's uncle, it's in the family, yeah. But I live down the street, yeah. But they aren't quite too sure, so they call it ITP, which I had to look it up because I can't, I still to this day can't say it. And it's called you ready for this? Immune thrombone synthenia. Also known as ITP. Much better. Yeah, we'll call it ITP. ITP, yeah. How is that? And it's a blood disease where your blood vessels, your platelets kill each other. Wow. They they produce and they start a civil war inside you. So your body's just kind of yourself. Like for some reason, like, yeah, I don't like you. Palos. Wow. And it goes on. So they give me platelets, they infuse me. My number skyrocket. All right, you're good. Two days later, palos. I'm back down again. Back down again. Because they eat they just cannibalize each other, that's what I call it. Yeah, they just like they just find each other off. And I'm like, man, you guys shouldn't be fighting each other. Come on now. Love, guys. We're all on the same team here. We're on one team.

SPEAKER_05 43:16

Everyone should listen to the sermon at your.

SPEAKER_03 43:18

Come on, guys. You guys are listening. Yeah. So they do that a couple times. It goes up, it goes down. They finally figured out that they can keep me at a certain level. They can't get me no higher, but they just can't do anything with. So they give me chemotherapy. Mother, that is one shock to your system that they even tell and they don't sugarcoat it. They tell you this is what's gonna happen, this was gonna happen, this was gonna happen. But it's gonna fix you. And you're like, wait a minute, you're gonna do this, this, and this, and it's supposed to fix me?

SPEAKER_01 43:55

Yeah, yeah. That just don't make sense. Yeah. Can I can I ask you right there? Going through your chemos, how did it affect like because to me that I would I feel like I would have been affected in my walk with Christ. Did it how did it affect you when you were going through your chemos and all this news?

SPEAKER_03 44:11

During all that, Adam and Brother Bill were the first two to show up. Okay. Adam and Brother Bill. I give Brother Bill all sorts of heck, but I love that man. He was there. Adam was the first one, him and Bill. First one to show up at the hospital. Wow. And I'll never forget that. I give Brother Bill all sorts of heck when we get down at the at the door. I give him, I rib him, but I love the man because he was there. Yeah. Day one. And I'll never forget that. So going back, it's crazy because I was never worried. That's awesome. I honestly was not worried. Because I had Nancy there. And she was telling me this is what's going to happen. And I said, Yeah, it's going to happen. But you know what? I'm okay. It just felt like I might get through this. You had a peace inside. I had a peace of mind inside. And the doctors would say stuff. I'm like, okay, I'm good. Yeah. Let's do it. Bumble, let's do it right now. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:15

So they're going to send me to chemo, but first, they're going to do what they call a bone marrow biopsy. So they're going to drill into your bone and pull a little chunk out.

SPEAKER_02 45:29

Oh it is.

SPEAKER_03 45:31

And then I'm like, where my body here, my arm, my neck, on your tailbone. You're kidding me. Oh wow. Yeah. They take me in. Asleep. I would hope. Asleep. Yeah, that would be an experience awake. Yeah. I come back to the room and I got my arms tightened. Wow. I'm not lying to you, my backside hurts. They drilled, they showed me the drill. It looked like a DeWalt drill, but it wasn't a DeWalt with a long and then when they grab a piece out. Oh wow. Exactly. What you're doing with that facial expression, and I don't remember, I remember them putting me out and waking up. But I come back and I wake up, but my arms are strapped. Yeah, that's scary, bro. Yeah. Why am I strapped? Waking up where you can't move. Why am I strapped when you woke up in the operating room? Oh wow. I did. I don't know. You don't remember that. You said I was throwing people around. Oh wow. Yeah. I don't remember this. I said that I threw a nurse across the room. Oh my. First of all, I didn't know it was that strong. Yeah. I was working out. I must have been working out. Oh, that was a pain, bro. So he goes back to the autopsy comes back or the biopsy comes back. Yeah, there's something there that's not working. Hmm. So what is it? We don't know. Wow. Okay. We don't know that game. We don't know. But we're gonna try this and this just was work before. So they send me the chemo. Nancy's with me. Nancy's with me the whole time. That girl never left my side. I would have to tell her go home. Yeah. That woman, she's she should be a saint. So she was there with me the whole time. And she knew all the language. So straightforward. We do chemo. We go up there. And they're telling me this is gonna happen to you. This is just gonna happen. You know, when you get home, you have to make sure that you're using the restroom. Make sure that you don't because you're gonna be radioactive. Yeah, you want to be Spider-Man? Yeah, he said that's fine. I'm gonna have some sort of power or something. I'm a Marvel camera. I'm gonna do something here. So we get in there, and that's with me, and they start doing that stuff. We pray on it, and for a split second, I'm worried, but then I'm like, you know what? I'm okay. I'm gonna be okay. And I'm watching other people beside me. This is a big old room where that's all that you're doing is chemo.

SPEAKER_04 48:13

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 48:14

And I'm looking over and I see people throwing up and like, you know what, this ain't for me. This ain't for me. And Nancy's saying, you are healed. You are healed. So they start dropping that gold little juice in me. And I'm looking at it and I'm like, you know what? We're gonna, we're going through it. I go through the whole drip. It's like a bunch of bottles that they pour into IV style. And then you gotta use the restroom. Okay. And they're just waiting on me. They're all like, they look like a bunch of people just looking around, like waiting for me to fall down or start freaking out. Yeah. I'm sitting there going, can I get something to eat? Can I eat that? Yeah, I'm like, I'm getting hungry. Where's that pizza? Yeah, like and they're looking at me like, you don't feel bad? And like, no, I'm hungry. What? Could I get something to drink? Okay, well, here's some juice. Can I get a coke or something? I've been sids. It took like five hours.

SPEAKER_01 49:14

Oh wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:15

It wasn't it wasn't a they just slowly dripping. Yeah, and you're watching it, and they got another RV on your other arm with fluid to keep it balanced balanced. Well, I gotta use ratio. Yeah, I get up and I'm walking around with two big old chunks of chemicals walking, and I have to have that gown on. You guys know about the gowns. Yep, those are not popular, those are not they're not friendly, they're not friendly. Yeah, they're not friendly. So I'm walking back and I go come back and I get through, and the doctor's like, you okay? Like, yeah, you feel sick, sir. I am hungry. I've been telling you guys for three hours.

SPEAKER_01 49:53

I'm trying to get something to eat.

SPEAKER_03 49:54

Yeah, like, let's go. Yeah. So he unhugs me to do the stuff, and I'm trying to get up, like, no, no, no, no. I get up, like, I felt dizzy, but I've been sitting there for five hours. Yeah, yeah. I get up and like, okay. They look at me like, okay, we walk out. I mean I can go get birkin. Wow. Radioactive birkin. Radioactive burkin. But I did get sick. I never felt nauseous. My hair never fell out. And I was like, I'm like, you know what? It falls out, I'm gonna look slick. I will look like you, which is very, very nice.

SPEAKER_05 50:30

Fermist says milk dud. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 50:33

That's what Ferma says. Yes, it is a milk dud. Never gonna live that now. It's stuck. It's stuck. So we got a milk dud. We got a milk dud in the house. And we got a chia pet on the other side. Oh, anyways.

SPEAKER_01 50:49

There you heard that one. I heard that one.

SPEAKER_03 50:51

So we go through that. Go back to the doctor. Uh-huh. Well, they let me go. Because it's whatever's working, it's not working, it is working, but they can't figure it out. Like my system, it's not supposed to be running. And I'm sitting there talking, walking, talking.

SPEAKER_05 51:10

So they expect you to be like zombie down.

SPEAKER_03 51:13

Yeah, they're like they can't figure out why. I'm still standing and walking, and like and I drove home from the chemical. I drove like I got there, let's go. Speed ranger, let's go. And uh kept going back and forth. Then my platelet started dropping again. And we were having issues getting platelets because it's such it's not a pop, it's not a real demand.

SPEAKER_04 51:43

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:44

So Nancy asked a few people here at the church to donate. Boy, we had to turn people away. Wow. So many people coming out there. Amen. That's awesome, bro. That's right. But the church having your back. Yeah, they had my back with no hesitation. Yeah, there's a few people out there that I thank in private for what they did, what they covered. My gosh. Wow. They came Astavi had so much that their blood was coming to me.

SPEAKER_02 52:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:17

That's awesome, bro. Wow. I had more than enough. That's awesome. They had to turn people away. So we're going to the emotion, blah, blah, blah. We do all that.

unknown 52:27

Dr.

SPEAKER_03 52:28

Sheridan Lubbucker, like, we're gonna send you to MD Anderson in Houston. That's one of the big cancer centers in the world. The one in Houston? Yeah. So we go down there. Meet this specialist. Uh before that, I'm a backtrack. I did that one biopsy and then they did another one just to make sure because they thought maybe the first one was bad. I'm like, really? You want to go back and do it again? So they do it again. So I got two notches in my pack.

SPEAKER_05 52:55

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 52:56

Okay. Did you wake up on that time too? No, that one I just remember that one really hurt. When I woke up, that was really stung. Nancy was taking pictures, and now that it goes back, she inadvertently created a timestamp of all the things that happened. And she showed it here that one time at church. Oh, yeah. And I didn't know, I didn't know that she had done it. She had not, she had did it not knowing what it was gonna be, but it worked out like that. Yeah. So we go through and they don't know what it is. We're getting blood transfusions. I can't work for a year. Oh wow. They won't let me go to work. So this is a whole year I'm out of work. Oh wow. That's gonna be rough, man. It's rough. No income. Yeah, it was rough. You know what? We made it.

SPEAKER_01 53:41

It was all provided.

SPEAKER_03 53:43

It worked. It worked. It just thinking back, God God was out there with me. His hand was there the whole time, bro. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 53:51

And uh just give me a second. Yeah, take your time, brother.

SPEAKER_03 53:59

Yeah, that's a deep story, bro. We go to Houston because they don't know what to do. They don't know what to do. They tried everything, it's not working. Wow. By then me and answer talking, you know what? I've had it so long, I probably just got used to it. This is me. Yeah, we're gonna live through this, we're gonna make it. God is my witness, we're gonna make it. Yeah. Never gave up hope. Never gave in. Never accepted I was sick. Yeah. That was crazy because I never accepted it.

SPEAKER_01 54:29

Cashwell, how long? Like from at that point we are going to Houston and everything, about how long was that time period?

SPEAKER_03 54:35

Between the initial diagnosis, seven months, six months into it, because they didn't know what to do here in Lovett. They didn't know what to do with me. Because I didn't fit no category. Didn't fit no plausible system of how to treat me. They were throwing darts at it. Yeah, that's what I could see. Okay, that didn't work. Let's try this. Let's try this. So they sent me to Houston. MD Anderson, get over there. I'm not worried about it. I drive that day of the apartment, it's at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and we leave at 6 in the morning. No, no, no, let's go. Get over there. MD Anderson, if nobody's ever been there, it is a complex. Oh my gosh, blocks and blocks, miles of hospitals all connected. Wow. No, they deal with cancer off for cancer. Wow. We walk in, we finally get to our spot and we're sitting there. Nancy, right then there says, You do not belong here. Because there's guys sitting next to me, Peter, right here, talking to each other. Well, I got this cancer, and I gotta do this, and I gotta do this. Defeated.

SPEAKER_01 55:36

They accepted it.

SPEAKER_03 55:37

Defeated. Nancy said right there, no, you don't belong here. That's gulp. You do not belong here because you are not sick. Yes, ma'am. I am not sick. We accepted the fact right there. We are healed. It's we are healed. We're just waiting for the response. It's coming in. So we go in there. We go to the doctor. Doctor looks at us. I gotta do a biopsy. Number three.

SPEAKER_04 56:00

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 56:01

Oh wow. Number three, I'm like, you're gonna hurt me. Okay, okay. Even crazier, right there. It's outpatient. No sleep. I'm awake. Wow. I'm awake. They kind of shoot me back there with them shots. So that you're gonna feel a pinch. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And they laid me down, and I got these handles in front of me. And I'm like, okay. And she says, Don't move. I don't want to paralyze you. Did you say that right? What? What? Okay. Okay, I'm done moving. I want to walk out of here. And I hear that drill. Oh and I can, it's numb, but you can still feel it move you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 56:50

And then I felt it hit the bone. And I'm like, okay, we're done. I'm like, that was painful. And I'm awake.

SPEAKER_01 57:03

Yeah. Right away.

SPEAKER_03 57:04

They do what they do back in the back, pack it up, caution, whatever. You know what? And I got up, got dressed, and walked out of there. Hey man. Walked. There's that picture that I remember seeing. Where I'm on the elevator or on the escalator, and I got my arms up. I got my arms up and I'm just gliding down like this, this doesn't bother me. One bit. We're good. It didn't hurt to sit down for a little bit because we were going back up and it was like, it's kind of tender. But you know it's a long drive. It's a long drive back. I'm like sitting sideways, like, you know what? I'm good. Yeah you know, little pain right now doesn't do me nothing to the overall thing, and I'm healed.

SPEAKER_04 57:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:47

I'm healed. So we come back, doctor calls. We don't know what's wrong with you. Oh, great. Thanks. Wow. Yeah, that's exactly. I got the same thing, Houston, back here. We're gonna manage it. Okay. But my numbers never came up. Never came up. They had me all sorts of medication. Then all of a sudden it went up. Wow. It went up.

SPEAKER_05 58:16

Lord.

SPEAKER_03 58:16

Then they're like, well, whatever we're doing, it's working. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 58:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 58:22

Okay, doctors. Yeah. What are we doing? Yeah, what are we doing? I don't know what we do, but it's not a good thing. Yeah. I just put it, God did it. It had to be, bro. God did it. So it goes back to the story of Job, where sometimes God has to take stuff away from you. Yeah. Just say, hey, get back in line. Yeah. That's terco. You're stubborn.

SPEAKER_04 58:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 58:48

I might have to, you know, it's called tough love. That's what I see.

SPEAKER_04 58:50

It yeah.

SPEAKER_03 58:51

Sometimes, hey, I'm trying to help you. And you don't want to listen, we gotta go this route. Andale. Vamos get back in line. Yeah. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. That's what that's what I see. That's right, bro. That is what it looks like. Because um, there's nothing else. Yeah, because God's like, hey, look, you're being hard-headed about something, right? I've been trying to help you. Yeah. But you want to be stubborn, you know what? Andalin. Yeah. Now what? Sir, you're right. Okay, let's get back in line because you gotta do that to your kids. Self-love.

SPEAKER_05 59:22

That's right, bro.

SPEAKER_03 59:22

You still love them, but sometimes you gotta you gotta put a put a put a hand on the backside, like, hey, that's the I hate to do it.

SPEAKER_05 59:30

That's the part that people don't understand about God. The Bible says he's merciful and he's just. But people don't understand the just part. Just means he's gonna do what's right. And sometimes we ain't gonna like what's right, bro.

SPEAKER_03 59:44

Yeah. At the time, at the moment. But later on, you're like, yeah, you're right. You were right, sir. I'm sorry. Yeah. And you live and learn. And ever since then, God Jesus, golly, the people, the love that I got from the church, how can you not accept it, knowing that this is God's work? Yeah. Yeah. And I'm not perfect. I am not an angel standard. I make mistakes every day to the to this day. I'm not perfect. I do things like, oh, why did I do that? Why did I do that? I'm sorry. Sorry. Yeah. But you try to, those mistakes are less and less.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:27

But it's conviction. That's why they say once once you don't feel that, that's when you're in trouble. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:33

Yeah, that's exactly true. You start thinking about stuff that 20, 25 years ago, 30 years, whatever. It was cool to say stuff. Now you're like, yeah, you know what? You know what? I'm gonna let that go. I'm gonna let that go. I'm gonna let that go. Yeah. Yeah. You start thinking about like, you know, and yeah, to this day, ever since then, I go see the doctor every at first it was every month with the three months, now it's every six months. And he's like, I'll see you in six to eight months. Yeah. So I go back, we do the checkup. My numbers are good. Hey man, I gotta pay him to tell me I'm a little bit overweight. Like, I paid you for something I know.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:11

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:11

Yeah, you know, tell me something I don't know. You know what I'm saying? Come on now. Change the news. Yeah, like I'm overweight.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:17

What?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:17

Yeah, I did not know that. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:19

It's like I tell my my wife, whenever the the doctor first told me when I started going, you know, he's like, Yeah, you're obese. I go, no, he says, I'm a beast. You're a beast. Yes, you know, you're a beast.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:32

And you're also hard of hearing. Yes, sir. So God is my witness. God is strong. God is awesome. He will put you where you need to be, not where you want to be. It's a question of it's not what I it's not what I want, it's what I need. Amen. There's a difference. We all want to be millionaires. We all want to have that million-dollar mansion, that 52 impala, sitting there all decked out. But you know what? I have a house.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:00

Amen. I have a wife, I got a vehicle, I got a job. Amen. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:05

That's crazy because I so there's this guy on Facebook Texas, and he does like little things like, hey, this is what I heard. And one of them is, do you notice you're in the spot that you were praying for before?

SPEAKER_05 1:02:16

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:17

And like even I think of that now, like, man, I my wife's a stay-at-home mom. I got my three boys. They are like pains in the butts, but they are blessings.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:26

But they're yours.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:27

Yeah. And like everything's paid for.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:29

Everything's it's yours. Yeah. It's crazy how you said that because you wish for, like, I wish I had this and that. Then you get it. You don't even realize until it's there, like, oh man, oh yeah, that's right. I have it. Yeah. I did want this.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:43

It's because the world teaches us, bro. Good is never good enough. Yeah, it's never good enough.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:47

It's never gonna that's you always gotta think about what's what's the next thing you gotta tackle. Yeah. Sometimes what you got is what you need. That's it. That's all you need. You know, you know, everybody wants to have that double refrigerator with 10 briskets in it. I guess it's just me. I guess it's just me. I'll come out of your house. You know, but I have a wife at the house, loves me, supports me. I support her. The family I have with the extended family, with the grandkids and everybody else, just the church family here.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:23

You're a millionaire, man.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:25

It's not always about finances. No, no, it's not always about finances. So if anybody out there listening, it's not always about the dollar bill, bro. It's not always about the dollar. Nope. It's not because there'll be some times where you're broke, and then you figure out I've been broke for a week. How am I doing it? How am I making it? Yeah, yeah. Don't ask why. Just thank the Lord. Yeah, that's right. Thank the Lord say thank you for waking me up today. Amen, bro. Amen.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:52

Man, that was a treat, Lou. Thank you, sir. I appreciate the time. I've known you already because I I returned back to the church, I think faithfully now, like six, six years, seven years. And I've known you those six, seven years. I didn't know that happened to you, bro. And uh so that was a big treat for me, right? And uh, and I know for everybody listening, that's that's uh that's big on them too, man. And uh because somebody out there listening may be going through something similar, maybe not with cancer, but with something else, right? Because we there's diseases out there, it doesn't have to just be cancer that to take you out, bro. You know, and and maybe they feel defeated. But if you have that attitude that you've you've already defeated it, right? Because I've heard Pastor Carey say that we pray from how did he say it? We pray from victory. We don't pray for victory, you pray from victory because you've already defeated it.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:48

Yeah, because the blessing's here already. You're just waiting for it. It's already here. Yeah, it's already here, it's coming. You know it. Yeah, it's coming. You just have to sit there and just do your thing, accept it. It's gonna be here. That's it. And yeah, the church stepped up. Uh people here, you know, because it was an honor when everybody, when Nancy asked for a few people, and everybody volunteered.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:14

Everybody said, No, we're doing it. I couldn't just felt great, yeah. Like, okay, that's awesome. Tremendous love. That's awesome, man.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:23

I'm still here to this day going on. This happened in 2018. Wow, we're in 26. So what is that? Eight years ago? Eight, yeah, six, yeah, eight years ago. And I'm still here kicking it with all my people here. Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:38

And meeting new people too.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:41

Meeting new people, and also coming to the church doesn't mean we're not all gonna be pastors, no, we're not all gonna be evangelists. No, there should be teachers, you're gonna be somebody who they recognize to come in here and do stuff. We're not all gonna be in the front lines. No, sir. It takes a lot to run a church. It sure does. There's a lot to back to be out there pictures of men. That's right. We all do our one part to move forward. That's right.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:08

And take care of the house and the flock. Man, that was awesome, bro. Awesome, awesome. Vic, you got anything to end that off with, bro?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:16

That's kind of hard. Yeah, that's kind of hard to end off with, but I do have this verse I'd like to end it off with. It's Isaiah 25 1. Lord, you are my God. I will exalt you and praise your name. For in perfect faithfulness, you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:30

Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:32

That fits perfect with the story, man. Thank you. Thank y'all for enjoying this episode. Thank you.