Transcription
You would think growing up in a Christian home that you would just naturally step into things of Faith. Even though I was in church, we were there anytime it was open. I was the kid that wore the Christian shirt to school and talked to people about Jesus whenever I got up.
Um, to the age where I started to realize that things that my parents said were bad were really fun, I wanted to do all of it. And so at that point, I kind of went off on my own and started kind of going down, uh, a little different journey. The typical prodigal son ended up getting married in that season, uh, right after I turned 19. And we were still in a just kind of a funky, weird season, nearly split up several times.
A friend of mine that I went elk hunting with, we go on this hunting trip. On the way, like, we're drinking and partying the whole time that we were there. And on the way back, I looked down and I had, I told him, I said, if there's anything at all that can keep us from God, no matter how small it is, we have to get it out our lives and we have to do it now. And I looked down and I had, um, two alcoholic beverages in my hand. And so I threw those out the window. Grabbed the bottle of whiskey, threw it out the window.
And it was a little bit of a change right there. Whenever, uh, that season went for about a year and a half where I didn't have any alcohol. In that season, I started to learn that I hear the Lord. And it came not just like instantly that I'm hearing, Kim, but more so as I read scripture. I started to read Psalms and Proverbs every day. And so I ended up going to this two-year School of Practical Ministry. And in there, I read a book called The Ultimate Treasure Hunt. And treasure hunting is where you pray and ask the Lord for clues, and you write them down, essentially a location, a name, a characteristic, an element, and anything unusual. We have been amazed to see time after time, nearly every Friday night for a few years, that we found these clues. We saw people's lives transformed. I wouldn't trade that for anything. I absolutely love hearing, Kim.
And as a result, we ended up realizing that it isn't just the treasure hunt is how the Lord wants to, to speak to us or through that. It's every day. One time I came back from a mission trip in Africa. And when I came back, the Lord said, it's time to quit and volunteer. During that season, I had a few different prophetic words. One of them was, in this season, you can see the Lord's hand of provision. And the next season, it's going to look a lot like yours, but it's still him.
One Saturday morning, we wake up and felt like, uh, it was time to go to Vegas. Lord said, need to go. We go there looking for someone, nearly just like a treasure hunt, except for we didn't have everything written down. We just knew that he said, go. We get there, we're going to a church, and we feel like we are completely striking out. We're asking everyone if they want to go to lunch, and nobody, everyone already had plans. Uber driver shows up, and she was the treasure. It was really cool because the things that the Lord had told us, it starts to come out like, whoa, here's this clue and that clue. And then we invite her to have lunch with us. We're sitting there and we tell her a few of the other clues, and she starts falling, just the love that we were able to share with her and some of the hardships and things that she had been through. Well, part of it had to do with, uh, her husband, I guess, ex-husband at the time. We had heard some things that indicated that we may be walking into an unsafe situation. I just looked at her and I said, you know, the Lord loves him too. Let's go see him. So we ended up going, sitting in his apartment and sharing the love of Christ with him also.
So here we are in this man's home. He's been through some stuff. So he was in a spot where he, uh, he was so excited because someone told him as a boy about Jesus. And he's asking, who is this Jesus? And one day he had a, a grown man tell him, you don't need to believe that junk or whatever the word. And if you want to know truth, read this, and handed him a satanic bible, being, being told this is the truth whenever he asked about Jesus. I found myself in the home of a broken man, a failed marriage, dysfunction. They had been through a lot, and Satan was doing everything that he could to kill, steal, and destroy.
Fast forward a little bit. We go back to Vegas the following year. Now they're back together, uh, and as of a few days ago, just had a, had a baby. And it's so cool to see the restoration of the marriage and the things that the Lord was able to do. And part because we were willing to listen. And I just encourage all of you that he is real and he wants to have that relationship with you. Most of the times it's that we're just not listening or not understanding his voice. But he says, my sheep know my voice. The creator of the universe talks to me. He wants to talk to you. Really think about it. If he is able to create the world with words, why wouldn't you want to know what he has to say? Hearing the Lord's voice is probably the most transformational thing that has ever happened to me. Without it, who knows? My story may be closer to his than what I just told you.