Life Church Podcast
A ministry of Life Church Winnsboro.
Life Church Podcast
God in My Story: Deryle Shipman
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A testimony from Deryle Shipman.
Welcome to the Life Church Podcast, a place where the Word of God comes alive through scripture teaching and real stories of faith. Each episode, we dive deep into the Bible and share what God is doing in and through Life Church Windsboro. And we're going to hear powerful testimonies from people walking daily with Jesus. Whether you're seeking spiritual growth, encouragement, or a closer relationship with Christ, you're in the right place. No matter where you are on your journey, our prayer is that this podcast feeds your soul, strengthens your walk with Christ, and draws you closer to the heart of God. Let's get started. And welcome back to the podcast. I'm Jason Foster, and this is another episode of God and My Story. Today I've got a very special guest with me, Daryl Shipman. Some of you may know him as Coach D. He's been an integral part of this church since we've moved here to 2330 Highway 15. He's been involved with many aspects of ministry, but specifically he's been involved with our student ministry. And he knows some things about this church that many people may not know. I'm not talking about gossip or personal secrets. I'm referring to the fact that he's been involved in the literal construction of this building so he knows where all the wires and the pipes and all that secret hidden stuff is. And he's got a wonderful story about learning to trust God, not just in one moment, but over the course of his life. Coach D, I'm glad that you're with me today.
SPEAKER_00I'm excited to be here. I just want to thank you for doing these podcasts. Uh I really I think it's something that's just fun for everybody to hear and possibly learn about people that uh I know I've listened to several podcasts, and and you just learn a lot about people that you see on an everyday basis that you didn't know.
SPEAKER_01That's right. Yeah, I that's one of the reasons why I wanted to start something like this is just to give uh our church members an opportunity to tell their story and others can know them a little bit more rather than just waving to them on Sunday morning. And uh so let's get started with that. So for those that may not know you, tell us a little bit about yourself.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Well, you you mentioned um you call me Coach D. That's right. For over 30 years, I've always been involved with young people, whether it was coaching ball and possibly teaching Sunday school or something like that. So when I started back a few years ago here at Life Church working with Tanya uh Cobb, she was leading the youth, and uh she asked me if I'd come speak one night, and I did, and I introduced myself as Coach D because I didn't want to be Mr. Shipman. That didn't sound right, and it would be disrespectful to say Daryl, right? Right. So I came up with a coach D, and that's what the players call me. And and I also I said, you know, I've been coaching ball and teaching those kind of things. I wanted to be of some kind of influence in a life coaching lesson for young people in their journey through the Lord through experiences. I will turn 64 the 27th of this month, and April's kind of big for us. April the 15th, Kim and I will have been married 43 years, so we're excited about that. And I'm gonna tell you something. Uh God made her especially for me. We uh I couldn't be uh more blessed. I'm just so blessed to have her. She's a big part of who I am. Yeah, not only in my walk with the Lord, but in our businesses as well. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01She's been there for a partner in in life.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Uh I do have three daughters, and they're all married, and uh they have uh created beautiful homes, and I have seven grandchildren, and between the daughters and the son-in-laws, and uh we have a really, really awesome family, and they are they are our our world. And Kim and I, we we want to be the best grandparents that we could be, and we strive every day to do that. Uh we try not to miss any of their events, so that's that's what we do, and it's been really fun. We've been uh very blessed in that area for sure. And of course, some of them live close and some of them live far away, so we do the best we can with that.
SPEAKER_01That's right. So you'd mentioned being connected to the church uh for quite a while. So uh and you Bill, it was your company that built the original building here, right?
SPEAKER_00Yes. Uh funny story, we uh we were currently going to Temple Baptist Church. We'd been there a long time, and you know, sometimes when when you go to a church for a long time, you just you you you kind of searching and making sure you're where God wants you to be. And we were we were kind of in the middle of that that prayer. Where should we worship the Lord and serve and and uh that kind of thing. Well, Kevin and Mark Whitney actually walked in my office one day. I didn't even know Kevin. Of course, I knew Mark, and he wrote out a set of plans. I said, we want to build a church. Well, I looked at him and I was thinking, sometimes I have a way of saying, is this really gonna happen or not? Because I get a lot of people with a lot of a lot of ideas, a lot of dreams that may or may not happen. Right. So I just kind of laid it to the side, and a few days later they called and said, Hey, did you get the price? And I'm like, hey, I think they're serious. So we started going to church over on Lone Cedar Road when do you remember you you came?
SPEAKER_01No, I was that was before me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was a real small church, and uh we we weren't early board birds uh most of the time. So if you if you did not get there early, you didn't get to go to church there. You could listen to it through the door. Yeah, and that happened a couple of times, so we started having to make a habit of getting there a little early, but it was an awesome experience, and you know, we just immediately fell in love with the the the style of worship and the sincerity that the whole praise and worship team and and of course Kevin his messages just just you could tell they were straight from the Lord and it spoke to our hearts and just really had a big major um it was kind of a a turning point, so to speak, of uh uh a new type of worship and and really just seeking God's will.
SPEAKER_01Tell us how you came to know Jesus as your Savior. Let's start with that.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Um I was very blessed to be raised in a Christian home. My mother and dad, they uh they were from Baskin. They went to Baskin uh school, they graduated in the same class, they went to Baskin Baptist Church their whole entire life, and they were married in that church. And so I was raised, um, my sister and I, I have a sister that's two years older, Terry, and uh we were just raised going to church. You know, we we would ask occasionally if we're going to church in the morning on a Saturday night, and we found out really the answer was going to be the same. So we kind of we kind of stopped asking that. We just knew we were gonna go. And my mother and dad were very faithful members, and uh at that at that time we lived in Jasper, Texas. Uh most people don't know that we lived in Texas for a while, but my mother and dad had moved away from here, lived in Texas for job-related uh situations. So we lived over there until I was in the uh sixth grade. But kind of a cool thing. Uh, when I was in the third grade, my third grade teacher, her name was Miss Cannon. She was my third grade teacher at school, and she was also my Sunday school teacher. So you can imagine we had a lot of talk about Jesus and Bible stories, and it just it just kind of flew through the whole week, not just on Sunday. Right. Because she she she represented uh the Lord in a very strong way in her classroom, and it was very good. So uh I began to really kind of think about this decision that I kept hearing about. And I was, like I said, in the third grade, I guess what, seven, eight years old. I don't really remember exactly, about eight years old. Right. And my dad was off working on a job. We were in the basement of a church. They were going through a remodel. I remember it like it was yesterday, folding chairs, and they were singing just as I am, and I had heard the message. And I remember tugging on my mom and saying, Mom, I want to go down there. I I want to do, I want to be saved. Yeah. And my mother leaned down and told me, she said, Uh, Daryl, why don't you wait until next week your dad will be home? And I remember saying, Mom, I don't want to wait. I want to go now. And it wasn't like it was a revival or anything like that. And I've always held on to that. I knew it was real. It was never a doubt. You know, you hear people getting saved at that early age, and you kind of sometimes doubt. There's never been a doubt at all. The Lord came into my life that at that time. Now, what, Jason, what I didn't know at that time, I was really doing it because I'd heard about heaven and I'd heard about hell.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I knew I wanted to go to heaven. That sounded like a good deal to me. Right. You know, I can just ask and be saved, and I'm gonna go to heaven. I I signed up on that deal and I liked it, and that was it. I mean, how much sin can an eight-year-old boy actually have in his life? So that was just it. I I was going to heaven and I felt good about that for a long time. I lived in a neighborhood with a lot of friends, and we played ball in the yard and rode bicycles and all that fun stuff because we didn't have an iPad or something like that. That's right. So we were raised like that, a lot of fun, great memories. But I do remember telling my friend, and I was baptized the following week, and he did, one of my best friends about the same age came to see me be baptized. So I, you know, once again, that's just reassurance that I was excited and and I was actually telling someone about it. I was very, very proud of it, and and uh it's about all I really knew at that time.
SPEAKER_01That's right. So uh that leads us to the next question I have. So, you know, uh you always knew, you know, so you you never really doubted your your salvation, uh, but that's all you knew at that time. So, so tell us about like the the the next step as far as your development and your relationship with the Lord. When wouldn't I I I talk about the same thing that I knew that I was I was saved when I was young, but I didn't start growing until my high school years.
SPEAKER_00Right, sure. So we we lived there a few more years, and and when I was in the sixth grade, we moved back to Baskin, lived out there by Union Church, and it was just my sister and I. There was no neighborhood, there weren't no more kids. It was just us in the back of a cornfield in a trailer house while my dad built a house. So it was quite a change for us, and it it allowed me to have a you know, it's just my sister and I. We were used to playing with other kids, so we ended up with a horse and you know, the go-karts and all the things to ride and play on. So we we had a a good childhood, other than there wasn't a lot of friends around close by. But there wasn't there wasn't an opportunity to get in a lot of trouble, so to speak. And then of course my dad was a disciplinarian along with my mom, and he he he kind of he he took that role that we weren't gonna get in a lot of trouble. So we weren't bad as far as you know the bad little kids and stuff that I need to ask for forgiveness for. I mean, I I wasn't uh I I say this not to be funny, but I wasn't allowed to lie because if my daddy caught me in a lie, that belt would come off quicker than Matt Dillon drawing a six-shooter. I mean, he was he was good. Now, as far as the development, we rocked along like that for a long time. And I I think I'm trying to remember, I think I was around 12 years old, and my mother uh had some kind of simple surgery. Just going to St. Francis, not a big deal. You know, everybody was there, and of course, I think that's when they made the kids wait in the waiting room down below. You couldn't even go up in the room. Do you remember that? You know, a long time ago. Yeah, I know. So we're waiting around, and all of a sudden things just seemed off, and there were people stirring around, and my dad came down and everybody looked worried, and the next thing you know, my mother had had a reaction uh when they put her under. Uh, she had some kind of reaction, uh, it was kind of like a malignant hypothermia type deal, and she actually died on the operating table. And as I'm hearing this as a young boy, teenager, uh, it really scared me. Sure. And uh I didn't really know what to do, and I don't know why I was alone. Seems like that could have been arranged a little better, but I was. So, in fact, I was just telling Kevin about this the other day when we were at the hospital, but I walked over to that big parking garage and I got on the top, and it was about 10 o'clock at night, and I remember just praying for my mom. You know, I just I just couldn't stand the thought of her her not being there for us and dying. And as far as I remember, that was the first time I really had a significant need to reach out to the Lord for something that I needed. And and I was thankful that I guess I had been to church and paid attention enough to know and talk with my mom and dad that we could talk to the Lord and ask for things like that. And uh, you know, we'll we'll call it a miracle because she came back around and and you know, weeks later she's fine and never never looked back. So uh that was kind of a turning point in my life that that I could I could fall on on uh what I've been taught or put it in use.
SPEAKER_01As we as we prepared for this, you you mentioned various points where you had to figure out what it meant to to trust God. Uh talk uh let's talk about you made the comment about uh outrunning God outrunning God and doing things your way. What what so what did that look like in your life? Yes.
SPEAKER_00What that looked like, even I had that great answered prayer, and and I was very thankful. It's like it almost didn't it didn't resonate that hey, this is the direction I need to go with everything. It was more like uh I'm um I just move fast, uh, uh talk fast, I I just get something on my mind, I want to do it. And I just went through the rest of my teenage life doing what I wanted to do. And I don't mean I don't mean that in a bad way. I mean if I if I wanted to do something, whatever it might be, I never included the Lord in it. I I just did it my way, however I thought that way should be. And all the way up through graduating, I made a decision not to go to college. I was gonna kind of fall in my dad's footsteps and be an opreneur. I started farming. Jason, it's I'm embarrassed to say this. I never prayed about should I go to college? Should I start farming? Should I do any of that? I just didn't. I just did it. And now, looking back that many years, I I try not to make that mistake. When we go to do something, I try to let the Lord lead in the decisions and open up doors and and put things in place for us. And uh and and to be honest with you, all those things that I'm speaking of, the farming, that didn't work out. It didn't work out.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I ended up getting out of farming at a uh I started farming at 18 and I was out at 21.
SPEAKER_02Wow.
SPEAKER_00Uh I didn't go bankrupt, but we didn't have a lot of money, we had a lot of debt.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So, and that was right along the line that Kim and I got married. So uh that was just fun times, you know, when you're when you're counting, counting up the little dollars, see if we got enough for milk. That's right. And uh actually turned our electricity off one time. We didn't uh really uh think that would happen. So, you know, we were we learned a lot of stuff the hard way.
SPEAKER_01So did at that time that you were going, you know, young and figuring things out, did you realize that you weren't including the Lord, or was that something you later on now in life you look back and I mean you weren't necessarily you were outrunning God, but you weren't running away from God instead of it.
SPEAKER_00I wasn't running away from God, I was just going so fast, I just didn't take the time to include Him, is the way I kind of analyzed it for myself. And the reason I analyze it like that, I do that to this day, even though I know better. Now, here lately, in the last, you know, well, I did it once about a year and a half ago. I did something and I just I was just driving down the road and I just stopped. I said, Lord, I got ahead of you on this, I outran you. I'm not gonna do this particular adventure. It's just not gonna work out. I'm done with it. And uh that's a cool story, I guess I could go ahead and share. Sure. It was looking at building an RV park in in Ravel. Okay. Uh had that a lot of people, you know, with the meta come and it was gonna be a good idea. So I just went with it. You know, I briefly talked to the banker, we can make that happen, and we started looking for land. And I went up there for three months at least looking for it to happen. And on the way home, after couldn't find the right land and it was so expensive, I literally stopped and said, Lord, I got ahead of you on this. I'm sorry, I'm not building RV park. So that was it. I told Kim, I got home, I said, Well, I'm I'm just not gonna do it. It's just not gonna work. That was on whatever day that was. The next morning I walked outside, I was on my back porch getting ready to start my day, and uh the phone rang, and it was a person that I had built many buildings for. I knew him well. He's actually uh the brother to my son-in-law. And he called me wanting to build a building in Ravel, and I said, Well, what are you thinking about building? He said, Well, I want to build a storage building. I said, Well, gosh, I tell you what would be good is an RV park. He told me where his property was, which is ideal park property, most perfect property for an RV park in Ravel, you can imagine. And he said, Well, I don't know anything about it. I said, Well, I do. I've been doing the research. And he goes, You want to partner up? I've got the land and you're a contractor and you can make it happen. We formed that partnership pretty quickly. And to me, that was just me getting out of the way, realizing I was trying to do it, I couldn't do it, I gave up on it, and the Lord surprised me with a blessing that's truly has been a blessing in the last year and a half.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It really has. Um, so that's what I mean by outrunning God. I think too many times when I come up with an idea, I just go with it and I get to thinking about it so fast. I don't put the proper I think about it like this when you're doing a business adventure or any kind of thing, you know, you tend to look at, I mentioned the finances and looking at all the things that have to be done. But wouldn't it be smart to to to to pray about it and get a clear answer from the Lord and then he'll line all that up. That's right. It's kind of like you can do it the backwards way or you can do it the right way from the get-go. Right. Now, once again, I want to say I'm I'm doing better at that. But you can imagine how many times that I probably went the backwards way. Yeah, we're all we're always in the process of of learning. So that was a that was a real uh, you know, that was a real uh another reality, how great God is. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So another turning point for you would be when your parents decided to separate. Yes, yes. You know, talk talk with us a little bit about that and how that impacted you and your your relationship with that.
SPEAKER_00That was probably we we kind of jumped ahead with RV Park because that just happened a year and a half ago. This happened when my parents uh uh got a divorce. I think I was 25, 26 years old. Heather, our oldest daughter, was five, and I think Sam, our middle daughter, was one. And uh my dad and I were so close, we were we were best friends, and and we we worked till the day he died. And uh it was just really amazing because um that just snuck up on me. I had no idea, and it was one of those things that without going into a lot of details, no man is perfect, and uh, you know, you know, that something happened that uh I'd rather not talk about necessarily, but you know, it resulted in my mom and dad getting a divorce. And it it was one of those things when I heard about it, uh we were going to church. We we were good, but I'm not gonna say my my my spiritual um growth has had developed yet. You know, I read the Bible some, uh went to church, but I'm not sure that I was fully engaged when I would go to church. But when this happened, here's what I did. I am going to fix this. I got my mother and daddy together, and as a 25, 26-year-old man, I set them down and said, We're not having it. Y'all are gonna make up, we're gonna have forgiveness, and we're gonna get through this, and y'all are gonna be together. And I wasn't having it. Yeah, and that was my mindset. I uh emphasize on that was gonna fix it. Yeah, and that's been the biggest downfall of my entire life is when I decide I'm gonna do something instead of what I believe now that I'll I'll share in a minute. Which goes back into the story with the trailer with the uh RV part. Exactly, exactly. So what I did, it didn't work, Jason. I couldn't talk them into it, it couldn't be fixed, it was over. They said they cried about it, prayed about it, thought about it, and they decided it wasn't gonna work, so they went their separate ways. I was so angry about that, and I was I was having and Kilm will tell you that was the hardest time in my entire life. So it was very hard to deal with, and it was it was a sad time, kind of a depressing time. And wouldn't you know, and we were we had just started going to Temple Baptist Church. I mentioned that earlier, and we uh just decided to go there. Uh Tommy and Diane Timms were going there, and we worked together, and man, he was just coming to work every day and talking about stuff here and this and that. It just it just sounded like that was a great place to be. So we we visited and we decided to start going there. I hadn't been going to church there six months when all this happened. And somebody came up to me and asked me, would I teach a Sunday school class? And I'm thinking, really? I mean, I've never taught anything. Um I don't know, I can't quote all the books of the Bible and I can't r recite a bunch of scriptures and all that. So I think, why am I asking? To be doing this, but they really thought, they really taught me into it. And uh, so I went in that room, and this is what happened, and I'm so thankful for it. Okay, it not did it just encouraged me that I need to read that lesson for Sunday and read this scripture, I had to. Yeah, I couldn't walk in that room unprepared. So it started, it and and that's what saved me, I believe, from being angry at the Lord for what had happened. I could have blamed him. I was wanting to blame him for what happened with my mom and dad. I was ready for the blame game, and I was gonna be mad. And through that Sunday school experience, through some of those boys, I I I I won't name them all, but but one of them uh was Kevin Graham. He was like 12 years old, and I walked in there and these little boys and Mark Spence and Jay that goes to church here, and and several more, uh, Matt Shirley. It was just a bunch of boys, Clay Shivers. They were in there and they're looking to me, and we're we're having a good time. Uh, I probably taught Sunday school a little bit different than anybody you've ever seen. It was a little different. Yeah. And uh they still they still talk about some of the things we did. We would, you know, just do crazy stuff because I was half kid myself at that time. But what it did, it it helped me to uh it helped me to look to the Lord and and get me through that and and see a different uh aspect of that.
SPEAKER_01So through these turning points, you know, we talked about different as different points in in life where you're learning to trust trust the Lord. At what point do you did you start looking at these turning points more as like mile markers or even anchor anchor points where you can say or look back and it were would remind you to like, you know, I'm you said I'm now I'm gonna do this God's way. You know, like like I need I need to stop trying to do this my way and and do this God's way.
SPEAKER_00Uh it was a turning point. We were Kim and I then were asked to start working with the youth way back then. So we were leading the youth group and we did that for a pretty good while. And and they had this thing called choir tour. And uh I think his name was Jerry Swimmer, and he was he was in charge and had choir every Sunday night. They'd practice, and then we'd go on tour. Instead of camp, it was a choir tour.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So we were we were uh chaperones and we went with along with others and rented a big bus, and there would be 40, 50 kids. So we went to this little church out in the country, and we went in there, and uh it was a small church, and we had 50 kids and 15 adults, and we're uh in there and we're having this service, and I just thought about this as you've asked the question, but it was a major, I I remember it now very well, and uh did our thing and somebody said something, and that that night I actually I just I just it weren't any people there. There's probably eight, ten people there from from their church, somewhere in Mississippi. I don't remember the town. Yeah, but I just went forward to that altar and I I just it the Lord spoke to me that I can do better and I need to I need to step up my game and put more trust in him and and just be the dad I need to be and the the Christian leader and those kind of things and especially working with a youth group. So that was a oh that was a quite a quite a night.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you said you and you said that uh sometimes when you were preparing lessons, God was actually speaking to you in those Yes.
SPEAKER_00That's that's exactly right. I'm I'm uh yes, that's when it started happening. When I would start to prepare a lesson, just like you just said, it's like this topic or this thing. And after I start, just it would just it would just come to me so fast I couldn't hardly write, read my own handwriting. And uh that's before we started typing on the computer. Yeah. Of course, now spell check can identify the words I'm trying to type in. But uh it's kind of funny. But uh who knows what we'll get, right? That's right. So um, but that's that's what happened. It it it just it just it was a it was a what they call a God moment. And um, so it was really a turning point. And of course, through all this, I have to mention Kim. Kim has been so solid, it seems like she's never had these up and downs like I had. In fact, we uh had some money, it was kind of an embarrassing thing, it was a questionnaire like who is the spiritual leader of your home? And I had to be honest about that answer. And I couldn't say it was me. Right. It was her. And of course, that's that's not necessarily uh the right thing. You know, why couldn't it be me? Why wouldn't it me? And it was simply because of what I just said before. I'd get so fast outrunning God, doing things my way, and then until I needed him.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And uh, of course, that is a very humbling experience when you when you do outrun God and you realize you need him, and it's only one prayer away that he's there for you. That's right.
SPEAKER_01So you also said that trust is difficult sometimes. We can't trust without commitment to the Lord. So do you think that the commitment uh that you had working with students helped you, and which I guess we just talked about this, did it it help it certainly helped you to trust God more.
SPEAKER_00Yes. And I think a lot of that watching these students. When you have students that maybe haven't heard a lot about the Lord, and some simple little couple of verses or some simple little message through some stories, and next thing you know, you see someone's life changed. Uh, I never will forget the first time we were at some some deal, and and you know, people were students were coming to know the Lord. And on the drive home, it's like such a humbling experience to see that. Yeah. But we were there and we had a small, small part in it. And that that just that just does something to you. And uh it's very uh inspirational to want to do it again.
SPEAKER_01That's right. I yeah, and I think you know, and the I guess the way that I I I read what you what you had written about um you we can't trust without commitment. I I would say you could replace that word commitment with service. You could. You know, we could I think we can read our Bible, we can even go to church and slip in, hear the sermon, sing some songs and slip out. And but when we start to serve people, right, uh is a is a big thing, I think.
SPEAKER_00The level of commitment will also it also enhances the conviction. When we're fully committed to the Lord, we're close enough to the Lord that that he can speak to us and we can have conviction when something's not right. I believe if a fellow just walked away from the Lord and wasn't close to him, he might, he might actually sin and never really feel convicted to ask for repentance. Right. That's just what I found because I know the closer I am to the Lord and my commitment, the higher the level of commitment is. It just it just helps me to walk a straight and narrow path uh a lot easier.
SPEAKER_01Here so here's another statement that I'd like you to expand on a little bit. You said the Lord is present, but how close we walk is up to us.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01Tell us a little bit more about that one.
SPEAKER_00Okay. What I meant by that, the Lord takes care of me so many times. We do not have enough time on this afternoon. So many blessings of things that I don't deserve. So many, just like you know, my family, I look at that as something really, really big in my life. I didn't do anything to deserve what I have with my girls and my grandkids and the way they've made their families with their husbands. I didn't I didn't do anything to deserve that. That's just a blessing from God. Um, so uh but yet when we um where was I going with that? With the commit, the well, how close we walk. Yeah, how close we walk. Yeah, how close we walk. Okay, so we could just uh we could just take that and not do anything with it. But when we see these blessings of the Lord, it just it kind of enhances the commitment, or at least it should, I think. Yeah, and and just uh enhance that commitment as we have our prayer life and reading our Bible and things like that, uh listening to praise and worship music. There was a few years ago that I didn't even hardly listen to music, and now in the last few years, just recently, and I'd say three or four years ago, I started listening to praise and worship music, and that enhances my my walk with the Lord also. And uh I'm big about talking while I'm driving. Uh I love hands-free in our trucks because people really don't know if I'm talking to myself or talking to someone, you know, when I pass them on the interstate. And half the time I'm probably talking to myself. Yeah. So uh I just uh I think that's a way we can enhance our our commitment level is not necessarily praying to the Lord, but talking to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01Certainly, yeah. And that's kind of where I was going with the idea of you know service. We're talking about you know trusting the Lord. You know, uh we learn to trust the Lord more when we're when we by serving. Uh and that idea of w the how close we are is is up to us. It is up to us. We we can slip in and slip out of a church every Sunday and feel like that we've checking all the the boxes.
SPEAKER_00And that's what I've learned. Uh and and the com the level of commitment is definitely up to us. And you know, you can look at it like this. Um, I think I used this example a long time ago. But you know, you take a good ball player, and I know, you know, Emma plays college softball, and you know, she's good. I've seen her, I knew she's good the first time I ever saw her, but practicing will make her better no matter how good she is. And if we relate that to our Christian walk, we can be a Christian and we we we know some stuff, and we we do come to church occasionally, but the more we do it, it seems like it's just gonna enhance our walk, it will enhance our walk with the Lord and we'll be better.
SPEAKER_02That's right.
SPEAKER_00You know, no matter how good we are, just like that ball player, you can always be better. That's right. So that's how I look at that.
SPEAKER_01Let's let's talk about some some scripture that that uh that you wanted to pull out. Let's talk about start with Proverbs three if you if Yes. If that's the one you want to start with.
SPEAKER_00Yes, that's that's that's great. You know, Proverbs 3.5 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. That just means so much to me because and it goes with a couple of more scriptures that that are key in my life. And in these scriptures that I'm telling you about, we've all heard them. Most people can quote them, but that's okay. I love them. It it if they're the popular one, that's that's why they're popular. Exactly. So when it says trust in the Lord with all your heart, you know, that doesn't mean part of our heart. In all those years that I spoke about when I feel like my whole heart wasn't there. It wasn't. Until these, these, these turnaround, turning points, then my heart's all there. And it's a heart thing. And and you can just tell the difference when your heart's into something, whether it's serving the Lord at work, bald, it doesn't matter. You can tell when one's heart's in it. And uh, I think it just pleases God when he just looks down and says, Oh yeah, he's got his heart in it. Yeah, I can tell.
SPEAKER_01Well, and I think if you don't mind, I I so just when I was looking up, I looked up that verse, but also read a little bit further, and it goes on. Proverbs chapter three goes on after verse five. It says, uh, and verse six it says, Think about him in all your ways, and he will guide you on the right paths. Verse seven says, Don't consider yourself to be wise, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. This will be healing for your body and strengthening for your bones. Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest, then your barns will be completely filled and your vats will overflow with new wine. And I just to me it was like, you know, if we will just trust the Lord. And I'm not preaching a prosperity gospel, but I'm saying, you know, to me, it's like if you will trust the Lord, then all those things that you worry about in life, you will have peace about because you'll know that He's gonna handle them.
SPEAKER_00Everything you just followed up with there, if you go back and look what we've been talking about for the last 20 minutes, it fits like a T. You know, it fits it fits perfectly. And uh, and then the big thing that really gets me on verse five is uh do not lean on your own understanding. I like to understand things because I'm a builder. I can't build anything if I don't understand it. So this kind of this kind of clouds my walk with the Lord because I want so desperately to understand it. And the more that I do um walk through this journey, it the scripture just says it, Daryl. Just listen. You're not supposed to understand it. I I I I I think back to when my mom and dad got dad got a divorce. I I didn't necessarily have to understand that. Right. But I did have to trust that it was going to work out. And and what's so cool about that story, if there's something there is something cool about it, and there is, the person that my dad ended up marrying was had never known the Lord, was not raised in church, didn't know Jesus from, never even really heard of him. And she became, she they started going to church and she found the Lord, was saved, and hasn't looked back. And then my mom, the Lord provided with her a gentleman that just was perfect for my mom to finish out her adult life in her elderly years with gardening, garage sales, collecting junk, all the stuff that my mom loved that just to be honest with you, I don't like, and my dad didn't like. Yeah. But isn't that cool how God provided that for her? Yeah. So that was cool. And the other verse, uh, James 1, uh verse 2, consider it joy, my brother, and when you encounter various trials.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00This one, it it's it's not my number one. These are a close race for number one uh as far as what they mean. But we all know that we're not promised this thing's gonna be easy. That's right. And it doesn't say if you encounter various trials. We will encounter trials. But when we encounter these trials, doesn't it go with trust in the Lord in all your heart, do not lean on your own understanding? Because that was a various trial for me. And I've had a bunch of them. And every time I just put down my hard-headed self and say, just trust the Lord. Try not to understand this, just trust him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And and and again, just I want to keep going a little bit going a little bit further because whenever you experience these trials, knowing that testing your faith produces endurance. Yep, but endurance must do its complete work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.
SPEAKER_00Once again, that's that's me.
SPEAKER_01We're not gonna get there unless we experience some hardships.
SPEAKER_00I've I've been through enough hardships, I've been through enough trials and always eventually let the Lord handle it and let it be what Jeremiah 29, 11 says, for I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not calamity, to give you future and hope. I can't tell you how many times since the time that we were getting out of the farming and didn't have two quarters to rub together, and just trying to go through starting a new business and just basically uh, you know, wondered if this was all gonna work out. But the Lord knew the plan. And I have so many play, I have so many things to back that up, just like the the RV park. Uh, I have another cool story. If we have time, I'll tell you about it. How just out of the blue. Um, have you ever thought about that when you say out of the blue? Out of the blue, if you look up in the sky, it's blue. Yeah. And that's very close to heaven. So out of the blue means I think something coming from God. Oh Lord, yeah. So you say, just out of the blue, so-and-so showed up. Just out of the blue, God provided this.
SPEAKER_01So we yeah, we say uh it's such a coincidence. Yeah. Maybe it's not a coincidence.
SPEAKER_00It's not a coincidence, it's it's out of the blue, and we can replace that word out of the heavens. You know, that's where this came from. I have so many things in my life like that. Sure. I can't tell you how thankful I am that that we uh we have uh a God like that and and the things that he does for us.
SPEAKER_01Let's talk about Noah and Abraham. You you uh had talked about these and the examples, and and again, we we kind of have hit this point, but I wanted to just again just to talk about scripture, you know, about those the story of Noah, the story of Abraham, and uh what do those examples of trust mean to you personally?
SPEAKER_00Okay. Back to the third grade Sunday school teacher. I remember we built a project in that Sunday school class of Noah's art. And it was just fun, whatever materials we were using. I don't know, it was fun, looking forward to. And we I've known that story since then and heard it a bunch of times after that, and told the story a few times, but it never gets old to me. And the big thing that sticks out with that story is how you know God came to Noah and and presented this plan for him to do this, and Noah didn't have any questions. That's what sticks out to me. I I I wish to goodness that I could get that, get to that point where I never had a question when something's going on. You know, it's kind of natural for us to have questions. And if you think about it, when he built the ark, it didn't have a rudder or sails or oars. And that's because, you know, when he got up in the ark and is floating around in the water, you know, he never intended for Noah to steer that ark and put the ark where Noah wanted the ark to go. The ark would go where God wanted it to go. That's right. So if we use that in our life, just put down the oars, drop the sails, and tear the rudder off of what we're doing, and just just set back and say, Lord, I'm here. Where do you want me to go? What do you want me to do? And then you'll have to be close enough to Him that we can hear His voice. So Abraham still is kind of the same, kind of along the same lines. It is, and and that story, if there's ever a story in the Bible that blows my mind, that's one of them. Abraham. It is. I mean, to wait that long for a son and then you're gonna be asked to sacrifice. I mean, can you imagine as a father? Right, that's right. Uh, you know, I am a father and you're a father, and I'm like, oh, you know, what what would I mean that just shows a level of trust. Yeah. High as it can get. High as it can get. So that goes with the the scripture, trust in the Lord with all your heart and not lean on your own understanding. Um, so that's definitely goes hand in hand, and and I think back that. Uh, I just don't think we've ever had a bad day when you think about the day he had, what was it, two and a half, three days to to go to the place that God had instructed me to go, walking with his son, knowing we're gonna put some wood up here and take care of this. Yeah. I mean, that's that's just it's just really, I hate to say it like this, hard to believe, but it's in the Bible and I believe it. That's right. I do. And I think it's a great example of why it was there for us to to lean on that when things are tough for us.
SPEAKER_01So trusting uh of Noah and Abraham, you said uh in the the notes you had, you said Noah trusted without questions, Abraham trusted without hesitation, and and then you're going back to the uh the Proverbs chapter three verse, not leaning on our own own understanding, neither neither one of those, Noah or Abraham, really understood they did not understand what God was uh how he was gonna work that out.
SPEAKER_00And and that's the thing. If there's one thing that I would strive to do better, and like kind of like old Top Gun said, I'm not gonna leave my wingman, yeah. I'm just not gonna leave my wingman again. I just want to say, I'm never not gonna trust God again. If I can make that statement and you could hold me accountable for that, I'd really appreciate that. Okay. Because I I just never, never, ever want to not trust him again. And when I see so many things, whether it's with our with our kids or our grandkids or you know, whatever we're facing, you know, you just and I know why, because the enemy, the enemy doesn't like it when we trust God. So he puts these thoughts, the what-ifs. Look at this. He, you know, he's he he tries every way in the world to attack us.
SPEAKER_02That's right.
SPEAKER_00And the more we do for God, just be ready. You know, he'll he'll you know that he'll he'll attack us. So that's when we just have to once again be strong and be practiced up, ready to go. Yeah. Ready to go. I I had an encounter uh one day in my truck. I do I spent a lot of time in my truck, Jason, and uh something was happening with my family, and it it upset me so bad. I would I got on the interstate in Raven when I was headed to Monroe, and I just started, I just started like praying. I got through my prayer, and then I was just mad at Satan. And I just started like getting angry. I was talking to him and told him to get out of my truck, get out of my life. You you don't belong. I look, I've already signed up on The Jesus team, okay, you're not getting me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I was literally hitting my steering wheel. It hurt my hands. I was so mad. I I hate to admit that I have a temper sometimes, but I was mad that Satan was trying to do something to my family to the point. And uh I think I made an impact. Uh I think he heard me. And uh I I quoted a few scripture to him and said, you know, Jesus is my king, he died for me, and he he died on the cross so that I might have eternal life, and that's the way it is, and nothing's gonna change that, buddy. That's right. I actually used that little buddy word on Satan there to get his attention. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh I I wrote this down trust is obeying even when it doesn't make sense. So a few years ago, you made the decision to sell a business. Yes. A business that you had had for 43 years, I think that's what you said. Right. So in that moment, uh, did that make sense to you? It it really didn't. Yeah. It didn't. Let me tell you how that. Even after so, even after all these years, like this is not this is not back when you were a teenager and this was this was this was two years and four months ago.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Uh I know the date. Uh so here's what happened on that. I'm minding my own business. I mean, like, I don't mean the business that you're speaking of. I'm just, you know, uh having just a day, a normal day. And the phone rang, and it was a person that we're good friends, and um, I don't think he'd mind sharing me sharing his name. His name is Richard Richardson Jr. And we he's uh he goes to uh church over in Monroe, and I've been to church and I know him real well. He's actually a lay preacher from time to time. And so anyway, we're good friends, great Christian man. And he called me out of the blue. There you go, out of the blue. Yep. And uh so it was made in heaven. And he said, Daryl, what are you doing? And I said, Oh, I'm just riding along here. He said, Look, we he asked me how I was doing, we had a little small talk. He said, I'm gonna ask you a question, but do not answer. He said this exact words, do not answer until you thought about it and prayed about it. I said, Well, what are you fixing to ask me? He said, Would you consider selling your business? And I thought, oh, he said, Don't answer. Don't answer. Yeah. So we talked about some more stuff, and I went home, told Kim about it, and we'd begin to pray about it and think about it. And it it just didn't really make any sense for me to do that. I didn't know what I would do or how I would handle it. And uh the how I would handle it part was the part that I didn't make any sense. How would it make sense for me to be my own boss for 43 years? And now all of a sudden I'm gonna sell my business and someone else is gonna be the owner, and I'm gonna work for them for several years, and that was part of the deal. And it didn't make any sense, did it? How would I do that?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So we prayed about it, and uh, after we prayed about it, and we had several visits over about three months, uh, the Lord put everything in place, and it started to make sense when Richard laid out what I would be doing. His simple words were you'll do everything you like to do and nothing you don't like to do. You know, I didn't like filling with insurance, estimating projects, uh paperwork in general, paying bills, all that stuff. I like meeting people and I like building things. Right. So through this, through this business deal that was out of the blue, which means it was made in heaven, yeah, I I get to see people, I get to sell. I've got this amazing team surrounding me, the greatest, greatest employees that you can imagine, right-hand men that take care of me. Uh it's just, it's been amazing. It's truly amazing to see how God orchestrated this. Because the truth of it is my daughters had their own careers and my son-in-laws had their things going on. It would really, it's hard to say this, but it was kind of, I don't want to use the word boring, but it was like, what's the point? I was strictly doing it to keep the lights on and make a little money, but the adventure and the fun had seemed to have left it because I kept looking at getting older and what will I do? How will I retire? And now through this out-of-the-blue call, oh, it's set me up for a retirement plan. Yeah, that's okay. Now that's no time soon. Right. Okay. In case Richard's listened to this, don't freak out, Richard. I'm gonna be there a long time, okay, because I love it. And we we have a great relationship, and and the company's doing very well through the support team that I have. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But at the time, you I'm sure, you know, before you you figured out how all those things were gonna work out, when someone comes to you and says, Hey, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna buy your means of support, and you're thinking, like, well, if I get rid of that, what else am I gonna do?
SPEAKER_00So the big thing that I was thinking about, we talked about there were changes to be made. So I'm all of a sudden, you know, we have a a board, so to speak, when we make big changes. We have, we have uh, you know, we have things in place. It's not just because, hey, I think this is a good idea, I'll do it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Those days were were over pretty much. Now I still have good ideas and I still get to run with some of those ideas. And uh it's been a very, it's been an experience that that could only been made in heaven.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I promise you.
SPEAKER_01And it was a it was so so the the the here you're faced with this big thing, and and I I would say, you know, one I would think, uh, not that I own any businesses or anything that anybody wants to buy from me. But I would I would imagine trying to put myself in your shoes, that that's probably one of the bigger, bigger things. It was the biggest thing.
SPEAKER_00It was, yeah, and and it was life-changing. And uh, and when I say life-changing, let me just go ahead and say, uh, give thanks to the Lord. It was life-changing in a very good way. I have more time than I've ever had, I have more help than I've ever had. And uh, you know, for the first time in my life, I get a check every week. How about that? Yeah, that's kind of cool. So did this I never knew there was such a thing.
SPEAKER_01It's a steady paycheck. So this this be like you said, being the being the the biggest thing that maybe you had you had to deal with, was it a different level of trust? Did you find yourself going back and say, listen, I I I you know, I I walked through this story with my mom. I've walked through the story with my parents and and and all these things, and you're like, now I know. Now now I know what to do in this.
SPEAKER_00No, it it really wasn't a surprise. It really wasn't a surprise. Um after we had a Kim and I had a very clear uh answer from the Lord, and in the way sometimes on a deal like that or a major change, the way I like to do it, and and right or wrong, this is what I do. I I have this thing about open doors and closed doors. And we actually said this, I said, we'll move forward with this transition of putting the deal together. Because obviously there's a lot of a lot of areas to cover. And we said, if there's if there's a closed door, we don't have to do this. He didn't need it, he didn't have to do it. I didn't have to do it, I didn't need it. So we just thought, I I I honestly I I've asked him several times, and I really think that he got he got his guidance, I know he did, from the Lord, and a lot of it was to take care of me. I think he was in obedience to offer this situation for me. Yeah, and that's pretty special.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's it is it's awesome to look back. Things that you don't learn till you get older, you know, whenever you're able to look back and say, oh, that makes sense.
SPEAKER_00I I wouldn't have, I wouldn't probably not have taken it to the Lord for prayer 10 years ago. I would have just said no. You know what I'm you know what I mean, Jason. I I I I I didn't I didn't I wouldn't have been strong enough possibly in my faith, or possibly it just didn't seem like it wouldn't have seemed like a good idea 10 years ago, and possibly not, and everything's in God's timing, so the timing was right. Yeah and it was it was definitely we'll use that term out of the blue and blue representing heaven. That's right.
SPEAKER_01So if someone's listening to you, listening to us right now and they're they're struggling to to trust God, what what would what would you have to say to them? What would what would you want to tell them?
SPEAKER_00I would say, I would say write down these four scriptures I have. We've only covered three, but I have one more. Um, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Definitely do not lean on your ununderstanding. That that speaks for itself, and we've covered that. And just realize in James 1, 2, we are gonna have various trials, but it's okay. It's okay. We'll make it through it. And then, of course, uh, just like this business buyout. Do you think I knew that was gonna happen three years ago? No, I did not. I didn't never even thought about it. Never was a thought in my mind that I could sell a business and sell something that we built for 43 years, my wife and I, and and and sell it and make a profit, and and hey, it's a pretty good deal. Uh, so that's Jeremiah 29, 11. I have declares the Lord plans for welfare and to give you a future and a hope. I mean, it's pretty spectacular when you put it all together. But all that can't work unless you have Philippians 4.13. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. If we try to trust in the Lord, we're not gonna be able to do it. We have to have the strength that we gain from the Lord. And then, of course, if you, you know, if you really analyze it, how are we gonna get that strength? We're gonna have to be associated with the Lord. We're gonna have to be walking with the Lord, not outrunning him like I did for years. We're gonna have to be right there with him. He's gonna have to be right there with us. And I think that's big. And then through all that, just know that God's gonna take care of us. God's gonna be there in a perfect timing. But I would say to help us as we do this, and I say us, let's just let's just hide these these words in our heart and let's communicate with the Lord. And uh, you know, I I can't help but think about, and uh I touched on this the other night. I was talking to somebody, um that song that we sing at Easter. He lives. I can face tomorrow because he lives. You know, I thought about it and I kind of was preparing something, but you know, today was yesterday's tomorrow. Today was yesterday's tomorrow. So we're preparing today for tomorrow, and it's just a cycle. Yeah. We have to always we have to be ready. We we have to be able to face tomorrow, and we can face tomorrow through all these mainly, you know, there's there's how many scriptures in the Bible? There's a lot, and there's some a lot of good stuff, but you know, these four right here are get her done.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. It will. Those are the ones that you hang on to to fight the doubts and the fears.
SPEAKER_00I didn't talk to you earlier about this on the on the questionnaire, but I just feel I wanted to share one little thing to kind of to kind of I guess we're getting close to the end. Yeah, yeah, we're kind of wrapping up now. Okay. So this so this will be, as Kevin would say, in closing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, God is always present, and we're his children. You know, you're you I know Emma's in Mississippi or somewhere right now, but you're this close away. You will be there for her no matter what. You'll jump in that truck and you'll drive 90 to nothing to get there, and all your kids. And and that's what a father and a parent, a mother does. And how much more does God love us and look after us? I I just want to kind of close with a story that's that's uh it's another torn turning point that I didn't put in our little shortline. Um, several years ago, um, my oldest grandson, he's his name is Bryce. He's uh 14 now, and I want to say he was four. I may have it off a few months, but they lived in Ruston and they're just having a great day in the fall. Uh people are over there, and Bryce is out in the backyard playing with some more little boys. And all of a sudden, um this is almost hard to talk about, but it's it's a good thing. Um my son-in-law, Chad, married to Sam. They he was in there, they were watching a game or something, and he got up to go to his truck. And then we walked through the kitchen, he looked out the back window and he saw a little boy laying on his on his stomach, looking, and there was this round green lid laying there. And this little boy was looking, and he could tell that lid wasn't where it needed to be. It was a lid for a septic system. Okay, so Chad just looked at that and instantly thought something's not right. So he ran over there and he looked, and when he did, he looked down in that hole, and Bryce, my little grandson, he could see the top of his blonde head bobbing up and down in this green hole, as we call it now. And Chad immediately just reacted, and of course, Chad's over six foot tall, and he reached down in there, and you know, we don't know if he grabbed his head, his neck, his ear, or whatever, he pulled him out of there. Now, we have guardian angels looking after us because we're his children. And that day, that right there, the fact that he just got up when he did to go to his truck for some reason, and he just glanced out there, and just in the split second timing, had it been 30 seconds or a minute, it would have been too late, Jason. He would have drowned. And he came out of there, and it it it was a it was another difficult day. It scared me so bad. But once we started thinking about how miraculous God's timing is and God's uh love and protection through we have guardian angels to take care of that situation is something I I'm forever grateful for. And just I just think it's it's a wow moment in our entire family for that to happen. And uh, you know, we talk about those guardian angels with Bryce. We feel like his guardian angels are really tired. God has to swap them out every day or two. And I feel the same way with my guardian angels. Uh God has always had guardian angels protecting me in any and everything I do.
SPEAKER_01I think it's gonna be amazing when we get to heaven one day and find out all the ways that the Lord has worked that we just never knew. You never knew.
SPEAKER_00Um So, in summary, it's been an amazing journey my entire life from having Christian parents and grandparents and being raised like that and being exposed to that through teachers and Sunday school and and just being uh not necessarily pushed to do that, but but having it there for me. There's a lot of people in the world that that uh necess don't necessarily have uh families that that raise children like that. Yeah, and it's sad. So that's why I kind of am I really, I really like being involved with the with the students and and that to bring that back around. Uh maybe some of them are hearing things I've never heard before. And of course now I help Caleb from time to time, which Caleb's doing an amazing job, and is it it's a heart thing with Caleb. Yeah, you can tell. Yep. You can tell. Yeah, it's so important. And we have other good leaders also. So uh, but yeah, it's been an amazing 64 years. It has. Amen. Uh very excited.
SPEAKER_01Trusting God isn't always easy, but it's always worth it.
SPEAKER_00It's always worth it. Definitely. Close us with a word of prayer. I will. Thank you, Lord. We just thank you for this day, Lord. You think we thank you for Jason and taking his time to to meet with people like me so we can we can just share a little good news about how great you are. Lord, as I go over these stories and uh I just reminisce on how great you've been in my entire life, even when I left you for a little bit, or I just kind of didn't trust you fully, Lord. Just uh just thank you so much for still being there. And I was you were only one prayer away, Lord. Thank you for the uh the way you provide for us when we don't even know it. Just like the deal with Bryce, how you put that all together to actually uh have that guardian angel there for him that day. Lord, thank you for the phone calls that just come out of the blue, which we've established. These phone calls are from you, Lord, no doubt. Lord, just thank you for that. We look forward to what uh what uh we can accomplish in the future. Just give us the the wisdom and uh and the and the level of commitment. Help us to stay strong as we commit to you to do your work, Lord, as there's so much to do. We just thank you for life, church. We thank you for everything it represents and and the way that lives are being changed in this very building, Lord. We just love you and we just ask you to be with us always. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
SPEAKER_01Amen. Thank you for listening to the Life Church Podcast. We pray today's conversation encouraged you, challenged you, and brought you closer to Jesus. If you enjoyed the podcast, consider sharing it with someone so that they might be encouraged as well. To learn more about Life Church Windsboro, get connected, or find spiritual guidance, you can find us online at the LC.us or follow us on Facebook. But the best option is for you to join us in person each Sunday, 10 30 a.m. at 23 30 Highway 15, Windsboro, Louisiana. Jesus said, The one who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit. So until next time, continue walking with Jesus, allowing yourself to be fed from his word.