Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio. This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
You know, sometimes you just got to put it out there. The life of the Christian is one of faith taking risk. They are interchangeable terms, and it's part of what we do. We get out of the boat, we put a toe in the Jordan. God says, be strong and courageous. I know there's giants in the land, but let's go. Big boys and big girls. We got Jesus on our side. Why are we hesitant to put it out there sometimes, Ali?
Well, I mean, because we're so acutely aware of our own limitations. And so we have a thought that it depends on us. And so if I'm, if I think that I'm limited to what I have, boy, it's I'm not going to go much past what I think I can do.
That's a good summation. I think that's right. And the only remedy for that Because if we look at our own capacity, unless you're absolutely like, cocksure of yourself was what my dad always used to say. If you're cock sure of yourself, that'll get you into some trouble. Because sometimes you get out into the middle of the storm, you realize, whoa, I don't have this thing here.
It doesn't take much for us to be confronted with that. Even the most confident person you come up against things that you cannot handle all the time.
Yeah, but most of us struggle with the man. I'm pretty certain I don't have what it takes, so I'm going to stay at home. There is a phenomenal passage in Ecclesiastes that is just a hoot. Ecclesiastes is a comedy book.
Why? Why is Ecclesiastes a comedy?
No, it's filled with comedy. If you just read it straight up. Let me give you a couple of samples.
Here.
Okay? If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth. And if the tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.
Okay.
Okay. Yeah. Fair.
Yeah. Rain is gonna come down. It's gonna fill those leaves. And when the tree falls. We don't know if it's north or south. But there's going to lie.
There's the tree. It is what it is.
And then the next verse is even better. He who observes the wind will not sow. And he who regards the clouds will not reap. You know what that's talking about. You can analyze yourself into spiritual paralysis. Oh, look at the winds. Ain't going out today. Look at the clouds. Yeah, we better not do that.
Mhm.
Yeah. There's always going to be winds and clouds.
Yes.
There's going to be scorching heat. Chance we could get hit by a meteor. I guess the odds are kind of low but chance is real.
Yeah.
So this this day today, I want you to think about putting yourself out there. Not recklessly and not presumptively, and not being so sure of yourself that you're like, I got this. But absolute faith in God that he's got this. Yeah. Which is a game changer. One of those guys that puts it out there every day is one of the coolest dudes in Chicagoland. I'm not overstating it, Ali. No. No way.
No. I mean, he's a faith walker, for sure.
Hang on. Because we're going to get to a story here. I'm imagining more than one. Phil Kwiatkoski Pacific Garden mission. Been around for how long now?
Oh, boy. It's the country's oldest continuously operating gospel rescue mission.
It's got to be over 100 years old. I mean, you got this thing started.
It founded in 1877.
Oh, yeah. So it's well over 100 years old. Like close to 150, 50 to be accurate here. That's been around a while.
Yeah, 148 years.
The building's looking pretty good.
Yeah.
Guess it's a.
Different.
One. Yeah. It actually used to be just down the road a piece. You remember when that was still there? Super high.
I do, I do.
But now they. They've grown and expanded. Hang on. Buckle up. Get a swig of water. Ali, what are we heading into?
We are headed into stories of life change. When you think about the crisis that we. The addiction crisis. The homelessness crisis. The despair crisis. What do you do? What do you do? This guy's got some answers and some examples of hope restored.
He was sharing the gospel on the radio. And then he got saved. Young thunders in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
Ali, do you ever look at people that do ministry and go, how do they do that?
Yes, all the time.
How do they do that? This guy is one of those guys. When you think about ministry and sometimes you look at someone and go, I couldn't do that. This man's in that category. Phil Kwiatkoski with us right now. Pacific Garden Mission has been around a while, hasn't it, Ali?
It's the oldest continuously operating gospel rescue mission right here in Chicago. And Phil, you've been president for how many years now, boy?
Since 2013. But I've been here since 1988.
Oh my word. Yeah, I was a student.
At Moody Bible Institute when I came down here, and I've been here ever since, so it's been a long, long time.
So a gospel rescue mission in a city like Chicago, with all of its challenges. From your vantage point, what keeps you going after so many years of doing this? Because you see many stories of hardship, but also so many stories of victory, right?
Yeah. I mean, this is a place of incredible pain, but what keeps me going is those stories of redemption. When you see changed lives, people that were absolutely broken, drug addicted, homeless and you see them a year or two later coming in. They're married, you meet their families, they're working. To me, that's what keeps me here. Every time I hear these stories, I say, that's why I'm here.
Do you ever look around Phil and go, I don't know if God can change that life now. You know what I'm talking about here. I'm not. I know you got you. And I got our theology right. But sometimes you look at things and go, I don't know. Does that happen?
Unfortunately, it happens all the time. Some people I look at and I think, I don't think anything is ever going to happen with that guy or girl, and it seems so far gone. But then you see, miracles take place. Yeah. You know, I was thrilled recently and I just want to share this with you. There was this, uh, two migrants. This one guy was a part of the Venezuelan. That gang, that notorious gang. And his girlfriend was here. They had a kid. He overdosed right down by the Chicago River.
And a group of us went out there and they tried to bring them back, and it didn't work. The ambulance came and they gave them a shot of something, and they brought him back to life. But he was he was gone for 15 minutes dead. He came back. He was pounding on the windows. He was angry, violent. And his girlfriend got saved. So she got saved. They have a little kid. And then soon thereafter, he accepted Christ.
And I just saw him. He's walking around with his Bible, and they call him Lazarus because he was risen from the dead. And here's the fruit of the salvation. She was offered free housing for one year. And she said, I don't want to take it because I want to live right before God and I can't live in sin. So she decided I'm not going to take the housing right now. She says, I want to marry this guy. So they're going through marital counseling, but he's telling his
other migrant friends about Jesus. They're making fun of him. And I thought here was a guy almost overdosed from drugs, went to hell, and now he accepted Christ. He wants to be a family man. I hear that story and I say, that's why I'm here.
Oh, Phil, I mean, he's in Tren de Aragua. I mean, come on. And God delivers him.
He was violent, and the guy said he would walk around mean angry again. One time he's banging on our windows and I'm thinking, is there any hope for this guy? And somehow he got saved and to see his family. But when his girlfriend said, I can't accept free housing because I know it's going to be temptation and I want to live right now.
Wow.
I said, that's the fruit. There's something happened to these folks.
How many of these people that you minister to have a little bit of an upbringing in a real committed Christian home or kind of culture, and when they get saved, everything starts to click together. Is there some of that going on?
Oh, yeah. There's a number of people that are raised with Christian families, are raised in the church, and they just walked away from it. But when they come here, they encounter the gospel themselves and come to Jesus Christ, and you hear families call us and say, thank you. And I had a mother. This one, this one girl, Lisa, was a drug addict for years. She did not see her mother for three years. Imagine as a parent, not seeing your child for three years. She said her heart
was broken. The daughter came here. She accepted Christ. The two of them sit together in service every Saturday now. But the mother said to me, thank you for giving me my daughter back. And when I heard that, I just you almost break down in tears. And her name was Lisa again. And she shared the story. When she was living in sin, she was one day sleeping in the bed with her boyfriend and a gang broke into the room and shot and killed her boyfriend. The guy's
body was there, the corpse was there. She was in trauma, addicted to drugs, no hope in life, separated from her family and to see her sitting in a service now with her Bible singing praises to God.
Wow.
Goodness.
I always say that to the staff. I said, that's why we do what we do. Yeah, that's the reason.
Well, Phil. Phil Kwiatkowski, Pacific Garden mission with us right now. Let's talk about a little bit about what you do, because people are hearing the stories and go, what in the world happens inside this building? You still on Canal Street last I checked. What's happening inside those walls? That this kind of transformation is possible.
It's the gospel. It's primarily a homeless shelter. Men, women, children will walk through our doors. We'll see on any given night, anywhere from 600 to 800 homeless individuals. And many of them, when they come here, they come here in crisis. And real quick, I just this guy named James, he was a drug addict, meth addict, took everything from him. He was on the streets. And this is what he said to me. He wrote me a letter. He said I cried the first night I slept on the third
floor because they gave me a pillow. I hadn't had a pillow in over three years. Here's a guy crying because he has a pillow. When I'm at home, I'm worried that my cable go out or, you know, he's crying because he. He didn't have a pillow. So people come here, they're broken. And think about this. In order to come to a shelter, that means every door is closed. Your family either can't have you or doesn't want you. Every door. So you end up at Pacific Garden Mission.
And we have the gospel. Three times a day. We don't make it voluntary. It's mandatory if you want soup. We are not government funded. So we can set our own rules because God's people support God's ministry. You have to hear the gospel.
I love it.
And once you hear the gospel, if you get saved, we have a drug program. People will deal with their addiction from a biblical perspective. There's a discipleship program. You can stay here for a year and a half, be discipled, grow, go to classes and a lot of these folks because as we know, Carl, I heard you a couple of weeks ago talking about salvation. There's a lot of lot of issues people deal with, right? And it's just the beginning.
But you counsel with somebody, you talk with people. Then we have graduations where we get jobs for folks, and people come here and they hire our folks and they can go back into society. But to see somebody who was drug addicted and homeless when they graduate and they go to work, I just praise God and lift up my hands and.
Say, thank you, Jesus.
Now, here's what's weird about your job is that you guys are down there serving people, many of whom are enemies of the cross, and they don't like what you're selling. And I remember one time as a little guy going with my dad to the Anchorage Rescue Mission. He went every week and he preached and he played his fourth string guitar. And I got up there with my dad and he says, all right, we're going to sing a song to you. Me and my son. And we sang
a song at that rescue mission. And then this guy in this front row, man, I found out later he got saved. But he was a cussing fool. First time I'd ever heard anything like it in my life. My dad's in the middle of preaching and he starts cussing out my dad while he's preaching the gospel, raging on
him and then looking at me, raging on me. How do you handle when you're up there giving the gospel, or you're given a cup of soup and they're basically shaking a fist at God, not you, but they're shaking a fist at God. How do you handle that? Because a lot of people try to share their story and they meet resistance. How has God given you the ability to soldier on?
I would rather have somebody angry than apathetic, because when you're angry, it shows. Maybe something's going on when you just don't care, it's harder to reach them. And again, you know you're going to have opposition. And we do most of those folks, if you have a conversation with them outside, say, come here for a second. Look, if we're giving you free clothes, we have a clinic here. Lawndale clinic runs our clinic. We have doctors, we have nurses,
we have a barber. We give you three meals a day. And how you pay rent. We ask you one thing. Just sit in the service. You don't have to believe what we believe. You don't have to like it. Just out of respect. And most folks, I found out. All right, I got you. You know, they will sit there because especially in the winter time, uh, the alternative is what? You have to leave and you stand outside so they will listen to the gospel.
All right. Give us a quick word of encouragement for someone who's like, all right, I'll sit there. And then one day, the Holy Spirit blindsided him. You got to have one of those, Phil.
There's guys that have been sitting here, and I see them all the time, maybe for five, ten years. And I think of a guy that was recently on our program, and he was sitting here for many years, and all of a sudden somehow. And that's where it's God.
Yes.
Something just clicked.
Yeah.
Something clicked. And he gets saved, joins our program. And when you see him now in the program, it didn't make sense before. And that's just the Holy Spirit. It makes sense and real quick. What also is exciting is I got a letter from somebody, an email. And this guy says he was here in 2005 for four months. He says, I was a drug addict, I was hopeless. And he says while sitting at the old lighthouse. And this is his own letter on State Street at 20
years ago, I accepted Christ. He said, now I have founded an outreach called children of the Lord. I have pastored a church in Milwaukee, am now pastoring a church in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. He says, keep doing what you're doing.
It works. Here's a guy that's here 20 years ago. You know, he's he's.
Not a convert that I would ever know his name. He never joined a program. Nobody would. He wouldn't be in one of our newsletters. I have no idea who he was, but he heard the gospel left, and now he's pastoring a church. And I thought, wow. I mean, that's that's the power of the gospel.
One of the ways that you capture some of the stories, like you've shared today, Phil, is through the unshackled radio program, which is an incredible, compelling drama, true life stories, as this is a ministry of Pacific Art mission. Capturing some of these stories. Give us a word on unshackled!
Oh, unshackled is amazing. It is the oldest radio program, secular or Christian in the country. Every Saturday we tape it live at 3:00 and people are welcome to come and they sit and it's a live audience. But guys, to hear the stories again real quick. There was a lady, Rose, who was a crack cocaine addict. We just did her story two Saturdays ago in the midst of her addiction. She was going to sell her child for $10,000, and she stole $65,000 from her mom for her drug addict.
She comes to the mission, gets saved. She comes back, does her story. And seated in that audience was that daughter that she would have sold for $10,000 and her mother was next to her. And at the end of her unshackled story, they recreated what happened to her. Her mother has dementia, and the judge was going to award custody to somebody in the family. So some in the family were saying Rose was no good. She was a drug addict, the judge said. She's been down to Pacific
Garden Mission in her life has changed. I award custody to the mother, but the mother was sitting in that unshackled story. It's one of those I walk out with tears how different her story could have been if she would have sold her child.
And.
Then her child was in service with her. That's unshackled. The stories of real changed lives.
Oh, I gotta exhale, man. I hold my breath. I don't know how you do it. Still, that's where we started. I do not know how you do it. But, Phil, you've never done anything but come in here and bring the juice, man. You're filled up with God, man. Okay, here's what we got. Boom crew. We got a link for you that is totally different. We're going to turn you on to some stories that are really cool, and there's going to be a way for you to find a link if you want to throw some shekels. Phil
kwiatkoski his way through Pacific Garden Mission. But Ali, how do we do it?
Yeah. If you want more on the unshackled radio program and Pacific Garden Mission, just text garden to 800 555 7898. You'll find it all using this one link garden to 800 555 7898.
You can take him out of Alaska, but you can't take Alaska out of him. Carl is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
If your hand is shaking, maybe you're sweating a bit.
Chills.
Scratching. Chills. Pacing the floor. It could be, in fact, that you have suffered from. Ali thinks it's funny. Withdrawals. Oh, and we want to care for you right now. No more scratching. No more sweating. No more.
You are back. Oh.
I'm back. See, Ali's getting so crazy working with me. She doesn't know you like you do, Sabrina. She goes. She just goes on top of it. I'm back.
Yeah.
Okay, just pull up to the car and crew, drive through and pick up your prescription of. Ali thinks it's funny.
Oh, I like it. Yeah.
Oh, it'll get that sweating and scratching.
Okay.
Got it You did that just for you.
You.
Withdrawals that have those symptoms. Come on! Fire! The stupid spot you're under.
Well.
Why does herself.
Laugh no matter who joins her? It's time for Ali. Thinks it's funny.
Sitting here hanging me out like summer sausage.
Well, you generally, like, don't say anything anymore.
Oh, you fired all the time without me saying anything.
Oh. That's funny.
Guys. Ready?
All right. Yeah. Sorry. We're duking it out in here.
Ready to have your mind blown.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
You just you just set yourself up for a lot of expectations.
I don't care. She doesn't care because she doesn't think. If you think it's stinko, she thinks it's funny.
Oh, whatever.
Okay, so what do you call a fly who accidentally enters the beehive? He's in trouble, by the way. A fly who accidentally enters the beehive.
Oh, man, I don't know.
He's a wannabe.
That's pretty good. That's good. That's a good one. That's a good one. Okay. This ought to be super. I will not even.
Crack.
A smile. No she won't.
This next one's gonna get her because I got to gear myself up for this. This one's a little wing. Nutty.
Oh, good.
Oh, this one is okay. Okay. I got to gear up for this one. Oh. What do you call a mother in the UK who is on the shorter side?
Oh, goodness.
A mother in the UK who is, let's say five for shorter. Folks. She is crying so.
Much trying to get.
This joke out.
A mini mum.
Come on. My eye's twitching a mini mum.
I am losing it. It's all done. That's outstanding. Jonathan and Diana, can.
We check their temperature?
What's the matter.
With you.
Two? Seriously, man.
I don't get it.
We're going to get a prayer committee going.
Minimum. Minimum.
Minimum.
Minimum. Minimum.
Oh my goodness.
Jonathan.
What?
Oh, boy. He didn't get.
It. Thinking of the flowers.
In there really bad.
Were you thinking the flower?
I don't even know what the flower is.
Jonathan. A mom.
A mom I don't know what a mum is.
Has nothing to do with the. What were you thinking?
That she just totally stepped in.
The goose poop there?
Yes. I was like, the only thing that came to my mind was mini mart, but that I knew that, wasn't it? I didn't know.
Minimum, Jonathan.
I didn't catch it.
See, next time when I assume that he's not laughing because he didn't get it. Don't shame me because he's not laughing because he didn't get it. You got it. Text jokes to 805, 55, 78, 98. Text jokes to 805 five five, 7898.
Again, I have to confess something, though.
You didn't get it either.
A joke? Oh, no, I got it. I got it. But there was one told way, way, way back. And I thought I got it, but it didn't really. It didn't really resonate with me. I can't remember what the joke was. And I got in the car and I'm driving out of here and I'm about halfway home, and the thing hit me like.
A ton of bricks.
Well, that would be funny.
If I had embarrassment that.
I didn't.
Get.
It while I was live on.
Air. It's okay.
But then.
I thought I did.
You know, it's one of those. It's like, okay.
I.
Got it, you got it.
Well, that's not very funny though.
I know. Only those with a more refined sense of humor. I mean, I get it. Sometimes there's levels to this.
That's a shot at Young thunder and super die I got.
I counted.
You guys are rubes.
I counted two texts of people who said they also did not get the the minimum punchline. So.
So you're finding other people to validate?
Okay. It's okay. Like I said, there's levels.
There's there's.
Levels.
7% of America thinks chocolate milk comes from brown cows. So be careful with your small percentages.
Is that a real stat?
That's a real stat.
Yes it.
Is.
Come on stat Statman text jokes to 800 555 7898. I love torturing my teammates with this.
Yeah.
No, it's it's just good.
I got.
Tears again.
Oh, the two of you.
Oh, yeah.
I think she's genuinely hilarious, especially with the British accent.
It was such a bad British.
It was a bad British accent.
That's what makes it good.
She was crying, but I knew that I had to go for it. I knew it just. It would just add something if I just went for it. So.
Clip, clip.
That for me. I got to send that to my mother in law because she's from Scotland.
She'll see if.
She.
Gets it.
Yeah, well, she'll get it, but I want to get I want to I want her to rate your accent.
Well.
000, no.
That's terrible.
Man.
When I married my bride, I could not understand my mother in law.
Oh, and then.
I found out that was a good thing. No.
I'm kidding. Whoa, whoa.
I'll send that to your mother in law.
I like my mother in law.
Yeah.
Chop that.
Up. Chopping it over the line.
Now I'm over the line.
Yeah, it was too far.
Oh, for crying out loud. All right, coming up here in a moment. Uh. Let's see. What are we doing here? Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember where we're at. Gotta follow those breadcrumbs out there. Um. Boy, there's. Look, I'm just going to give you the punchline right now. Butch and sunny. I didn't really understand how much they put it out there until I began to understand what it takes to even come back. Details coming up. Got a little soundbite. I never get tired of these things.
Does anyone else get tired of this stuff?
It's a great story. It's a great story. Yeah.
Cool stuff.
A basketball mom who's mastered the dad joke. Ali is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
Okay, I'm going to. I'm going to give you the lead right now because I want to get calls in here. Uh, I saw this live. Anyone will see it live. Super die. You did, I did.
Oh, my. Really cool.
So glad I did. Oh, the biggest, the best part of this whole thing was the dolphins.
Oh, I didn't hear about the Dolphins.
The dolphins? No, literally, the capsule hits the water. It's bobbing around for about 30s. And then all of a sudden those dolphins pod starts, just starts swarming around the pod.
And they're pretty.
They're jumping out of the water like they're excited. Oh, but it was beautiful. I mean, bluebird day seas were absolutely calm. All right, take a listen to this.
200 copy, 200m brace for splashdown.
And space freedom. Splashdown. Good. Main relief.
Copy. Splashdown. We see main chutes cut. Nick. Alex. Butch. Sonny. On behalf of space X, welcome home.
MC astronaut. Alex. Cosmonaut from Russia. Excuse me. Butch and sunny. Stranded in space. Excuse me. It began as a three hour tour and went on for nine months. Man.
Seriously? It was supposed to be a week. No joke. A week. Nine months later, they're finally, finally back home.
Here's the kicker. They know that going in that anything can happen. Yeah, you know that. They know it going in, guys.
I guess you mentally have to be prepared for that because otherwise, I mean, it's a floating tin can in the sky that you can't get off of on your own. And so if there's a problem, you have to be prepared to be up there for a while.
And here's the verse right out of Ecclesiastes 11, verse four. I love this. He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. Do you know how easy it is to get your eyes on all the obstacles to God's calling on your life?
Hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo!
Oh, I love even saying that because it's it's it's self provocative to me. I love that, I love saying things that get me going. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's like yeah, that's true. It is. We all know what it's like to hear or suspect. At least we hear God's voice calling us to do something, jump into something, lead this, do this, take this job. Um, somebody texted in earlier and said, man, God told me I got to remodel my wife's bathroom. We couldn't afford a contractor.
I've never done it before. And I am literally joining God in this thing. You know what? There's I don't know how many opportunities in a day God says, jump in there. Let's go. And I'm asking you to do it. And we want the stories of those of you that have. We're going to get a just a couple in here. But we want to get those stories of you who have heard God's voice, and you're putting it out there and there's an element of faith and risk involved, no
question about it. Get your call in here right now. We want to hear your story. Calls 800 555 7898 800 555 7898.
She's a choreographer extraordinaire and everything is Greek to her. Super dei is in the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
In an instant, heat shield comes off. Poof, vaporize. No bits and pieces of the vessel. No fragments of them gone. Poof. Why descending at. I forget what the mileage is, but going through heat of 3500 degrees, that's more. That's hotter than molten lava. That's hot. And then two chutes have to open, and then four more come out and then everything's got to be just right. And there's a level of risk involved. But the reward is huge. And that's
the same way it is with God. We're not promoting recklessness or presumption, but man walking by faith is hearing his voice and going, I'm going to step out there. I'm going to put it out there. Isn't it fun, Ali?
It is. And so we asked you to call in and share. What is the risk that you feel God is calling you to take in this season? Let's go to Paul. First time caller from Tennessee.
Good morning. Thanks for having me on. I guess I'm jumping back into the fire, going back to a position that I was a company that I was let go from during the pandemic, while three jobs and one of the positions that I lost, the company is doing better and they want me back four years later. Wow. So I'm really praying that it's a praying that it's a reset and not a repeat.
Oh, you know what? That that's some guts there, Paul. How do you feel going back in? Are you are you. How's your heart with the guys that had to let you go? Obviously, you know that there was financial constraints, but how are you doing?
Uh, it's a calling. I'm going back to work in foster care. Um, and it's a it's a place that really needs people with experience to serve our kids that don't have a permanent family. So I'm trusting God that I'm going to go back in it, and it's going to be different this time.
Cool. Paul, stay on the horn, man. We're going to get you a Carl and Crew prize pack. Thanks for taking the time to call in. You didn't call in so you could get something, but we want to get it in your hands. Thanks for calling, Paul.
Let's go to Gary. First time caller from Illinois. Gary, tell us about the risk you feel God's calling you to take.
Um, I'm going to be, uh, in July and August of this year. I'm going with a team from my church to Kenya to minister to Kenyan pastors. I'm going to be doing a financial workshop for the Kenyan pastors, but we'll be going to four different It's also a widows and orphans ministry. And then. But prior to the trip to Kenya, I'll be hiking Mount Kilimanjaro with my son.
Wow. Wow.
Wow. That's great. Dude. That's putting it out there. Uh, are you fearless on this thing, or do you have a little bit of caution here?
I've got some trepidation, no doubt about it. That's healthy. But, uh, you know, I'm. I'm saying, hey, this is the time to do it, so way to go. And, uh. Yeah. So, uh, I'm, you know, I'm praying to God that he's going to give me the courage and the strength.
Where'd he go? Gary? Stay on the horn. You're getting to Carl and crew prize pack. I didn't tell you that ahead of time, but that's the surprise. I got a great one came in here. Honestly, Carl, remodeling our bathroom. It needs fixing, having moisture issues, but I can't afford contractors, so I have to do it myself.
Wow. Oh.
My heart.
My wife is a great accountability partner. She will make sure it gets done right.
I love.
That.
The problem is I've never remodeled before. I'm taking a big risk. However, God has already blessed me with a free vanity and wall set. Okay, see, this is. This is the life of a disciple, right? Ali, that's the stuff.
Yeah. I mean, and you look to hear from the Lord on this stuff. You don't just decide. Okay? Time to take a risk today. Let me figure out the riskiest thing I can do.
No, but when he tells you something, you go for it, right? And it can be remodeling a bathroom or going to do financial stewardship training in Kenya.
In Kenya.
How awesome is that? Here's what I'd say today. Put it out there. The clouds are always going to be there. The rain is going to fall. Put it out there, Saint.
Let's go to Cathy calling in this morning from Wisconsin. Tell us about the risk God called you to take.
Hi. Good morning. It's about a year ago now. A little bit over a year ago, that I was called to take on a role in county government, and it meant leaving a job that I liked, that I did well, that I was secure in, to step into a role which required a whole lot of faith and trust and an election. And it's been great. It's been hard, but it's been great.
How long is that job?
I've done it. Uh, I have a four year term right now.
Oh, so you went for it and got this thing, is that right?
I went, I went, I was I was appointed to fill a role that had been vacated, and that was only for about eight months. And then I had to run for the for the job. I had to run for election to keep the job.
Wow, Kathy.
For four more.
Years. Come on.
Kathy feels. That feels risky, right?
It was scary. Very, very scary. And in the election process, ended up having an opponent that I wasn't expecting and had to go through a primary, so I had to run for election twice. I had to go through an election, I had to go through a primary process and then through a general election. Um, yeah, it was wonderful. I couldn't could not have done it without the Lord Jesus at my side. Uh, without encouragement from my husband and my family and neighbors. And and it was just great.
Beautiful. Cathy, stay on the horn. You not only won a governmental position, you just got a car and crew prize pack.
Love it.
Yes.
Okay. Put it out there. Here's my word to you guys today. I want you to listen to me clearly. Faith has uncertainty, but better to walk by faith than to sit on the spiritual couch and to come up with reasons to say no to whatever. Leading a group, going abroad, changing jobs. I mean, whatever it is, put it out there, right? Ali. Absolutely is risk.
Faith is risk.