WEBVTT 00:00:02.760 --> 00:00:04.860 Eternal Father, again, we thank you for this 00:00:04.860 --> 00:00:07.820 wonderful day that you've made. And Father, with 00:00:07.820 --> 00:00:09.759 the words that I'm going to share, help it to 00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:13.300 be yours and not mine. And please bless each 00:00:13.300 --> 00:00:15.279 person here and what they've got on their minds 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:16.780 today. We ask these things in Christ's name. 00:00:16.859 --> 00:00:19.620 Amen. All right, so a little background. Years 00:00:19.620 --> 00:00:22.440 ago, you know, I was at the Dolphin Island Sea 00:00:22.440 --> 00:00:24.420 Lab. That's where I did my graduate work as well 00:00:24.420 --> 00:00:27.879 as research. And that's a little island off of 00:00:27.879 --> 00:00:31.789 the coast of... Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico, 00:00:31.929 --> 00:00:34.509 and it's a consortium of 21 universities throughout 00:00:34.509 --> 00:00:37.490 the state of Alabama. And while there, I was 00:00:37.490 --> 00:00:40.509 able to work, had a job with National Oceanic 00:00:40.509 --> 00:00:43.850 Atmospheric Administration. And this is a dredge, 00:00:43.850 --> 00:00:45.829 so I don't know if the kids would like to see 00:00:45.829 --> 00:00:48.130 a ship, but anyway, there's a ship, and that's 00:00:48.130 --> 00:00:50.450 a dredge, and that would keep the shipping channels 00:00:50.450 --> 00:00:53.750 open because they tend to fill with sediment. 00:00:54.229 --> 00:00:59.229 And so this would... remove the sand and sediment 00:00:59.229 --> 00:01:01.990 from the shipping channels. And so my job was 00:01:01.990 --> 00:01:05.010 flying with the United States Coast Guard once 00:01:05.010 --> 00:01:08.280 a week looking for sea turtles. making sure sea 00:01:08.280 --> 00:01:10.980 turtles weren't using the shipping channels to 00:01:10.980 --> 00:01:13.700 take a nap because those dredges then would make 00:01:13.700 --> 00:01:16.219 them into turtle chowder. And so, anyway, just 00:01:16.219 --> 00:01:18.019 flying around, make sure everybody was safe, 00:01:18.180 --> 00:01:20.620 and then continue on with the dredges. And so 00:01:20.620 --> 00:01:22.319 I wasn't a member of the Coast Guard, but I would 00:01:22.319 --> 00:01:25.640 fly in that gunner seat with the door that's 00:01:25.640 --> 00:01:29.079 open and would go from Pensacola, Florida, to 00:01:29.079 --> 00:01:31.620 New Orleans. I never met my boss. He was in Galveston, 00:01:31.620 --> 00:01:34.659 Texas. I think God allowed me to get a lot of 00:01:34.659 --> 00:01:37.239 things out of my system by the time I was 27 00:01:37.239 --> 00:01:41.079 years old. I had every opportunity with science, 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:44.879 anything I ever wanted to do with science, either 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:49.640 did or was offered. And so one of the things 00:01:49.640 --> 00:01:53.060 was doing deep sea research. And the submersible, 00:01:53.099 --> 00:01:56.079 we'd go down about 2 ,000 feet. And people have 00:01:56.079 --> 00:01:58.280 actually, sorry, but they've died on the submarine 00:01:58.280 --> 00:02:01.379 before, on this one. And so when the Titan accident 00:02:01.379 --> 00:02:04.599 happened back in June of 2023, my phone lit up 00:02:04.599 --> 00:02:06.340 with people going, well, what do you think about 00:02:06.340 --> 00:02:07.879 this? And I was like, they knew what they were 00:02:07.879 --> 00:02:10.120 getting into. We had to sign off on all kinds 00:02:10.120 --> 00:02:12.240 of papers. We'd go through decompression drills 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:15.580 because something unfortunate could happen. But 00:02:15.580 --> 00:02:20.889 anyway. It was just bizarre. I got to work with 00:02:20.889 --> 00:02:22.889 the Smithsonian Institute with these dives and 00:02:22.889 --> 00:02:25.770 discovered a new species. I know. Who is that, 00:02:25.909 --> 00:02:28.930 right? That was back before my hair was gray, 00:02:29.110 --> 00:02:32.270 and I had a mullet, and mullets used to be cool 00:02:32.270 --> 00:02:35.030 and things. So that's the submarine in the background. 00:02:36.090 --> 00:02:39.050 These were people I worked with. They came from 00:02:39.050 --> 00:02:42.710 all over the world. John Gage, Paul Tyler here, 00:02:42.830 --> 00:02:45.330 they wrote the book on deep sea biology. Craig 00:02:45.330 --> 00:02:48.210 Young, he was chief scientist. And then one of 00:02:48.210 --> 00:02:50.310 my good friends, Tony Rice, he's the curator 00:02:50.310 --> 00:02:52.530 of the British Museum for Natural History. He 00:02:52.530 --> 00:02:54.710 wrote the book on voyages of discovery. And there's 00:02:54.710 --> 00:02:57.650 more. He's such a great guy. This is one area 00:02:57.650 --> 00:03:00.629 where we used to do a lot of our dives and sub 00:03:00.629 --> 00:03:04.650 -crewmates here. And anyway, I worked with deep 00:03:04.650 --> 00:03:08.919 sea coral. So all of that. We discovered a new 00:03:08.919 --> 00:03:11.840 species of deep sea snail. This is a slit -shelled 00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:14.060 snail. It's now at the British Museum of Natural 00:03:14.060 --> 00:03:16.400 History. There you go, British Museum of Natural 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:19.819 History. And all kinds of dive sites in the Gulf. 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:24.800 Different deep sea corals and clams we work with. 00:03:25.960 --> 00:03:29.539 And then what was interesting was that I was 00:03:29.539 --> 00:03:33.180 able to go take the specimens once we brought 00:03:33.180 --> 00:03:36.050 them up. I was over all biological specimens 00:03:36.050 --> 00:03:39.490 on these expeditions, and then I'd package them 00:03:39.490 --> 00:03:41.069 up, preserve them, and then I'd take them to 00:03:41.069 --> 00:03:45.090 the Smithsonian. And what's really cool, my first, 00:03:45.129 --> 00:03:47.530 as a visiting scientist, my first experience 00:03:47.530 --> 00:03:50.129 there, one of the scientists met me out in the 00:03:50.129 --> 00:03:51.770 foyer with that big elephant. Anybody ever been 00:03:51.770 --> 00:03:53.729 to the Natural History Museum? Some of you guys 00:03:53.729 --> 00:03:55.870 have been? Yeah. So where the elephant is, off 00:03:55.870 --> 00:03:58.509 to the side of the marine exhibit, there was 00:03:58.509 --> 00:04:01.250 this, it was just a keypad. And so the scientists 00:04:01.250 --> 00:04:03.750 punched in on this keypad, and no kidding, you 00:04:03.750 --> 00:04:05.830 got all the tourists, you know, people are there 00:04:05.830 --> 00:04:08.759 visiting, but the wall opened up. No kidding, 00:04:08.879 --> 00:04:11.020 a wall. There was no door. It was a door, but 00:04:11.020 --> 00:04:12.840 it was a secret door. So they punched a little 00:04:12.840 --> 00:04:15.479 button, and the wall opened up, and we disappeared 00:04:15.479 --> 00:04:17.339 behind it. And a few people who were paying attention 00:04:17.339 --> 00:04:19.439 were like, what just happened? And the wall closed 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:21.800 behind us. And that's happened a couple of times 00:04:21.800 --> 00:04:23.600 in different areas. I won't talk about the others. 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:26.620 But anyway, what's really cool on the lower, 00:04:26.759 --> 00:04:32.110 let me see, this portion is 99 % of... the museum's 00:04:32.110 --> 00:04:35.589 collections over 99%, it's not an exhibit. And 00:04:35.589 --> 00:04:37.110 they have multiple places where the collections 00:04:37.110 --> 00:04:39.449 are kept. So anyway, it's just teeming with all 00:04:39.449 --> 00:04:42.389 kinds of scientists in the honeycombs behind 00:04:42.389 --> 00:04:44.470 those walls. These were people that I worked 00:04:44.470 --> 00:04:46.689 with, Dr. Frederick Baer, he's since passed away 00:04:46.689 --> 00:04:49.250 a couple of years ago, and Dr. Stephen Cairns. 00:04:50.540 --> 00:04:53.199 So each year, you know, I'd give this talk, and 00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:57.259 so for years I said, if anybody, any student, 00:04:57.339 --> 00:04:59.399 if you want a behind -the -scenes tour of the 00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:01.779 Smithsonian Institute, just let me know and we'll 00:05:01.779 --> 00:05:07.160 go. And so that's been going on for like 20 -something 00:05:07.160 --> 00:05:09.759 years now, and someone caught me about a year 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:11.720 ago. One of the students said... I want to do 00:05:11.720 --> 00:05:14.040 it. Let's do it. And I was like, what? And I 00:05:14.040 --> 00:05:16.079 was like, the behind -the -scenes tour. And I 00:05:16.079 --> 00:05:17.740 was like, where? And they said, the Smithsonian. 00:05:18.220 --> 00:05:21.120 And I was like, oh, okay. A couple of weeks go 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:22.459 by, and they said, are we going to go to the 00:05:22.459 --> 00:05:24.579 Smithsonian? And I was like, what? And they reminded 00:05:24.579 --> 00:05:26.180 me. It's like you said, behind -the -scenes tour. 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:28.819 And I kept forgetting about it. And finally, 00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:31.160 they did this thing every couple of weeks. And 00:05:31.160 --> 00:05:32.959 so, well, let me ask the principal. So I asked 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:35.259 Mr. Baldwin. I was like, hey, they want to do 00:05:35.259 --> 00:05:37.810 a behind -the -scenes tour. We can do one. It's 00:05:37.810 --> 00:05:40.730 okay if you say no. It's all right. And I didn't 00:05:40.730 --> 00:05:41.970 think he'd say yeah. And he goes, yeah, go for 00:05:41.970 --> 00:05:46.170 it. So anyway, Cairns and I, we were reunited 00:05:46.170 --> 00:05:48.529 after a few years. And so that's Cairns and here 00:05:48.529 --> 00:05:51.410 are the students. So we've been up a few times 00:05:51.410 --> 00:05:53.110 giving them a behind -the -scenes tour at the 00:05:53.110 --> 00:05:54.769 Smithsonian Institute, seeing their different 00:05:54.769 --> 00:05:57.550 collections. And Cairns was, you know, really 00:05:57.550 --> 00:06:01.129 awesome to do that for us. So anyway, Collegial 00:06:01.129 --> 00:06:03.689 Academy students and other folks were able to 00:06:03.689 --> 00:06:05.230 go up there and see the behind -the -scenes. 00:06:07.849 --> 00:06:10.829 Anyway, there's different things that I was involved 00:06:10.829 --> 00:06:13.829 with with other scientists, and there were museums 00:06:13.829 --> 00:06:16.430 around, and this is one of them here with the 00:06:16.430 --> 00:06:21.689 submarine. So during this time, again, God let 00:06:21.689 --> 00:06:24.129 me get all of this out of my system, I'm sure. 00:06:25.139 --> 00:06:27.939 and so during this time, I hadn't met her yet, 00:06:28.040 --> 00:06:31.060 but it was my wife, would become my wife, Zinnia, 00:06:31.220 --> 00:06:34.199 and we actually met at church, but during this 00:06:34.199 --> 00:06:35.959 time when I was doing submarine stuff, she was 00:06:35.959 --> 00:06:38.560 doing space shuttle things. She was working on 00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:40.120 the space shuttle engines. She's an engineer 00:06:40.120 --> 00:06:43.240 with NASA doing launch code, and she's really 00:06:43.240 --> 00:06:45.899 humble, and she won all kinds of awards. I didn't 00:06:45.899 --> 00:06:48.060 know. We'd been married for years, and I went 00:06:48.060 --> 00:06:49.860 to pick up this box because we're moving again, 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:52.100 and I was like, I looked inside it because it 00:06:52.100 --> 00:06:54.399 was heavy, and I was like. Here are all these 00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:56.399 awards. And I was like, hey, what's up with this? 00:06:56.439 --> 00:06:57.959 And she goes, oh, it's nothing. Put it back. 00:06:58.980 --> 00:07:00.879 So anyway, now I'll put it in this presentation. 00:07:01.180 --> 00:07:03.439 So that's why she's not here today. But anyway. 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:08.740 But she got all kinds of awards for that. Okay. 00:07:08.920 --> 00:07:12.019 So everything wasn't always great. The one thing 00:07:12.019 --> 00:07:15.860 I had always going for me was science. So let's 00:07:15.860 --> 00:07:18.540 back up. I'm in the second grade. That was a 00:07:18.540 --> 00:07:22.459 long time ago. Another century, actually. And 00:07:22.459 --> 00:07:28.300 so. So anyway, I'm in the second grade, and school 00:07:28.300 --> 00:07:30.819 had already started, and there was this girl. 00:07:30.860 --> 00:07:33.000 She walks in the classroom. I didn't know what 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:36.540 love was because I was never told by my parents. 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:39.379 We were never told we were loved, never hugged. 00:07:39.379 --> 00:07:42.019 We never saw our parents, period. My grandparents 00:07:42.019 --> 00:07:45.540 raised my brothers and I. And so anyway, I didn't 00:07:45.540 --> 00:07:47.019 know what it was, but there was something special 00:07:47.019 --> 00:07:50.500 about this girl. She walks in, and anyway, I 00:07:50.500 --> 00:07:53.910 thought it was really cool. And so, anyway, there 00:07:53.910 --> 00:07:55.610 was an empty seat next to me. And I was like, 00:07:55.689 --> 00:07:57.689 if she sits there, she likes me too. I don't 00:07:57.689 --> 00:07:59.649 know what like was or love, but she feels the 00:07:59.649 --> 00:08:01.610 same way if she sits there. Well, she comes in 00:08:01.610 --> 00:08:03.569 and she sits right there. And I was like, yay, 00:08:04.029 --> 00:08:07.170 you know. And so, anyway, she had a Miss America 00:08:07.170 --> 00:08:10.490 lunchbox and I had a Scooby -Doo lunchbox. It 00:08:10.490 --> 00:08:12.870 couldn't get much better. And so, anyway, it 00:08:12.870 --> 00:08:16.189 was just really, really cool. Oh, that's creepy. 00:08:16.329 --> 00:08:19.899 Sorry about the eyelashes. Anyway, that's a creepy 00:08:19.899 --> 00:08:22.800 photo. Anyway, a few months later, we're on the 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:27.639 playground, and the playground was a public school 00:08:27.639 --> 00:08:32.039 in the middle of nowhere, Alabama. And so, anyway, 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:35.980 a train track went through our playground. Okay, 00:08:36.059 --> 00:08:39.059 you guys would go, what? Well, with second graders, 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:41.059 the third graders were also on the playground, 00:08:41.159 --> 00:08:43.679 and they told us about the penny. Anybody ever 00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:45.679 heard you can derail a train with a penny? So 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:47.320 that's how we enjoyed our time was trying to 00:08:47.320 --> 00:08:49.200 derail a train. Anyway, these third graders would 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:50.480 take their pennies and put them on the train. 00:08:50.539 --> 00:08:52.820 Anyway, they tried to derail our train. Anyway, 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:55.799 so I don't know where the teachers were, but 00:08:55.799 --> 00:08:59.340 we were having lunch. It was kind of a winter's 00:08:59.340 --> 00:09:02.159 kind of a day. We're sitting out there, and anyway, 00:09:02.259 --> 00:09:04.639 I leaned over, and I kissed her on the cheek. 00:09:05.809 --> 00:09:07.990 Yeah, her first kiss, my first kiss, I kissed 00:09:07.990 --> 00:09:10.990 her on the cheek. And anyway, I felt bad for 00:09:10.990 --> 00:09:13.450 her friend. She was sitting there too, so I kissed 00:09:13.450 --> 00:09:18.950 her too. I wound up in Snoopy's doghouse. That 00:09:18.950 --> 00:09:24.509 did not fly. Okay, anyway. So the next year, 00:09:24.730 --> 00:09:28.190 you know, again, consider ourselves an item. 00:09:28.210 --> 00:09:29.990 I don't know if that is in second grade, if it's 00:09:29.990 --> 00:09:32.250 eating crayons during lunch or what. I don't 00:09:32.250 --> 00:09:36.840 know. together anyway so the next year came by 00:09:36.840 --> 00:09:40.220 and when it started she had already missed a 00:09:40.220 --> 00:09:42.360 lot of school here and there but when the school 00:09:42.360 --> 00:09:44.720 year started i was like i wonder if we're still 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:48.220 an item whatever that is and so i was wondering 00:09:48.220 --> 00:09:51.379 if we're still an item and As I went into the 00:09:51.379 --> 00:09:54.019 classroom, same teacher. We didn't fail, all 00:09:54.019 --> 00:09:55.879 right? They used the same teacher for second 00:09:55.879 --> 00:09:57.899 grade and third grade, different things, public 00:09:57.899 --> 00:10:01.159 school. And so anyway, I come in, and before 00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:02.620 we could sit down, the teacher says, no, no, 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:04.980 no, everyone remain standing. And then the bell 00:10:04.980 --> 00:10:07.159 went off, and she said, okay. Just like last 00:10:07.159 --> 00:10:09.419 year, I didn't catch this from last year. She 00:10:09.419 --> 00:10:11.840 said, just like last year, I seat you alphabetically. 00:10:12.179 --> 00:10:15.100 Beasley, that's me, here. Crocker, that's her, 00:10:15.240 --> 00:10:17.440 here. And I suddenly went through self -doubt. 00:10:17.460 --> 00:10:19.379 I was like, are we even an item? Is this all 00:10:19.379 --> 00:10:23.019 make -believe, whatever? Were we ever? Anyway, 00:10:23.539 --> 00:10:26.320 we were, and so it was really cool. It was really 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:28.220 cool. We picked up where we left off. But she 00:10:28.220 --> 00:10:31.100 was missing more and more classes, and I didn't 00:10:31.100 --> 00:10:33.679 think anything of it. And then there was a... 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:39.200 It was in August of 1975. I'd just turned nine 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:40.840 years old. I know you can do the math. I'll save 00:10:40.840 --> 00:10:44.320 you. I'm 59. And so anyway, the principal, she 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:46.759 makes an announcement on the intercom. And the 00:10:46.759 --> 00:10:49.440 principal said, students, at the beginning of 00:10:49.440 --> 00:10:51.139 the day, she goes, could I have your attention, 00:10:51.320 --> 00:10:54.480 please? And so we're listening. And then she 00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:56.940 went into too much information. That's where 00:10:56.940 --> 00:11:01.809 she said, Mary Crocker died this morning. She 00:11:01.809 --> 00:11:03.549 had a brain tumor the size of a lemon. She's 00:11:03.549 --> 00:11:06.370 been fighting cancer the past two years. I had 00:11:06.370 --> 00:11:09.029 no idea. That's how I found out about death. 00:11:09.389 --> 00:11:12.330 I thought we just lived forever. And, you see, 00:11:12.370 --> 00:11:15.049 I was raised not knowing anything about God whatsoever. 00:11:15.470 --> 00:11:17.809 It wasn't like my parents said, there is no God. 00:11:17.990 --> 00:11:19.929 You can't believe in a God. Nothing was mentioned. 00:11:20.009 --> 00:11:21.909 We had no Bible in our home, and nothing was 00:11:21.909 --> 00:11:25.789 ever mentioned about God. And so, anyway, it 00:11:25.789 --> 00:11:29.159 was... I didn't know what death was. And that's 00:11:29.159 --> 00:11:31.080 what I'm thinking. Like, when people say they're 00:11:31.080 --> 00:11:33.100 atheists, I think they're the most depressed 00:11:33.100 --> 00:11:35.919 person on the planet. Period. We'll talk more 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:39.720 about that in a moment. But it's like where I 00:11:39.720 --> 00:11:44.620 was born with a sense of forever. How do you 00:11:44.620 --> 00:11:47.200 explain that? You have a sense of forever because 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:49.580 you're here today worshiping the one true God. 00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:53.860 I had a sense of forever born with it. I think 00:11:53.860 --> 00:11:56.710 that's the way God instills this. The condition 00:11:56.710 --> 00:11:59.169 that we're in now, this sin condition, we're 00:11:59.169 --> 00:12:01.610 terminal, each one of us, we're terminal. But 00:12:01.610 --> 00:12:03.730 through God and the blood of Jesus, we have eternal 00:12:03.730 --> 00:12:06.289 life. We're born with that sense of forever. 00:12:08.090 --> 00:12:10.929 This is her grave. I didn't know what it was, 00:12:11.029 --> 00:12:13.309 but I guess it would say closure a couple of 00:12:13.309 --> 00:12:15.309 years ago. I didn't even say goodbye. I mean, 00:12:15.330 --> 00:12:17.370 my parents knew she was dying on top of everything 00:12:17.370 --> 00:12:19.409 else, and they didn't tell me anything about 00:12:19.409 --> 00:12:23.289 it. It just happened. But anyway, I found her 00:12:23.289 --> 00:12:25.049 grave. I looked and looked and looked for years, 00:12:25.129 --> 00:12:28.269 and then I found out where. And so about a year 00:12:28.269 --> 00:12:30.389 and a half ago, I was able to go to her grave. 00:12:30.750 --> 00:12:34.110 Anyway, I took a picture here. So August 26, 00:12:35.210 --> 00:12:41.570 1975. So anyway, I went into a bad way mentally 00:12:41.570 --> 00:12:47.070 on this. About a few months later, it was in 00:12:47.070 --> 00:12:49.690 December or January, the seniors at our school, 00:12:49.769 --> 00:12:52.649 public school, they were having a fundraiser, 00:12:52.690 --> 00:12:54.529 and they were going to show Treasure Island. 00:12:54.789 --> 00:12:56.809 Well, I like ships, and I like treasure. You 00:12:56.809 --> 00:12:59.590 put them together, Treasure Island. And so you 00:12:59.590 --> 00:13:03.370 pay your 50 cents, and it was one of those reel 00:13:03.370 --> 00:13:05.929 -to -reel movies. Some of you guys remember that, 00:13:06.090 --> 00:13:08.129 those big projectors? And so we paid our money, 00:13:08.210 --> 00:13:11.509 and you went in, and I was enjoying it right 00:13:11.509 --> 00:13:13.700 up until the scene where... It was a black and 00:13:13.700 --> 00:13:17.080 white film, and color had been invented for younger 00:13:17.080 --> 00:13:19.279 people. We didn't live in a black and white world. 00:13:19.320 --> 00:13:20.799 It was just the film was black and white. But 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:23.799 they had a, anyway, there was a wave washed on 00:13:23.799 --> 00:13:26.179 the shore, and as it pulled back from the beach, 00:13:26.220 --> 00:13:28.779 there was a skeleton. And I had, I guess you 00:13:28.779 --> 00:13:31.460 would call it tunnel vision or something, because 00:13:31.460 --> 00:13:34.419 it hit me. I realized, and I couldn't express 00:13:34.419 --> 00:13:36.500 it. I'm in the third grade, but I didn't know 00:13:36.500 --> 00:13:38.399 how to say it, but this is what it would be today. 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:42.399 Life had no purpose. There was no meaning to 00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:46.200 life. I saw this skeleton in this movie, and 00:13:46.200 --> 00:13:47.500 I'm sure there were other things going on, but 00:13:47.500 --> 00:13:50.200 with that skeleton, it just hit me. Life has 00:13:50.200 --> 00:13:52.700 no meaning, no purpose. We're all going to die. 00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:55.860 Remember, I had no idea about God, and so it 00:13:55.860 --> 00:14:01.159 was where if I get close to you and I die, you're 00:14:01.159 --> 00:14:05.259 hurting. If I get close to you and you die, I'm 00:14:05.259 --> 00:14:09.039 hurting. You hurt either way. So I walled myself 00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:12.950 out from everyone. I chose no friends. That was 00:14:12.950 --> 00:14:15.769 it, third grade. I didn't want any friends. I 00:14:15.769 --> 00:14:17.549 didn't want to be hurt again. I didn't want them 00:14:17.549 --> 00:14:20.490 hurt again. I didn't know how long we had, if 00:14:20.490 --> 00:14:24.269 that makes any sense. No meaning, no purpose. 00:14:25.269 --> 00:14:30.250 So there was this thing. Young people, you have 00:14:30.250 --> 00:14:33.559 these devices. I'll see if I can find mine, okay? 00:14:33.659 --> 00:14:36.480 A magic box. Okay, anyway, it's a cell phone. 00:14:36.620 --> 00:14:39.740 But back in the day, we had these things attached 00:14:39.740 --> 00:14:43.500 to a wall or on a counter. It's called a telephone, 00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:47.100 and it had this cord, and we were very careful 00:14:47.100 --> 00:14:49.960 not to, anybody ever, like, not wrap it around, 00:14:50.039 --> 00:14:52.419 you know, you don't want to die that way. Anyway, 00:14:52.679 --> 00:14:55.379 the corded telephone. Anyway, it made a noise, 00:14:55.500 --> 00:14:59.240 and it went ring, ring, ring, ring. So you answer 00:14:59.240 --> 00:15:02.179 it, you pick it up. This is a handle. You pick 00:15:02.179 --> 00:15:04.179 it up, and then you can identify yourself if 00:15:04.179 --> 00:15:07.519 you want to. And I went, hey, this is Stan. That's 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:09.840 my name. And it was my great -uncle Monroe. He 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:12.100 goes, this is my grandfather's brother. And he 00:15:12.100 --> 00:15:14.340 goes, hey, this is Uncle Monroe. And I said, 00:15:14.360 --> 00:15:16.500 well, hey, Uncle Monroe. He goes, I want to know. 00:15:16.620 --> 00:15:19.779 This is like a Thursday. He says, I want to know, 00:15:19.820 --> 00:15:22.779 do you guys want to go to church? Well, my parents 00:15:22.779 --> 00:15:25.120 weren't home. It was just my brothers and I. 00:15:25.480 --> 00:15:27.240 And I put my hand over the receiver, and I was 00:15:27.240 --> 00:15:29.620 like, Uncle Monroe. You remember Uncle Monroe? 00:15:30.019 --> 00:15:32.460 Saw him a couple of times in our life, once or 00:15:32.460 --> 00:15:34.179 twice. And he goes, he wants to know if we want 00:15:34.179 --> 00:15:36.220 to go to this thing called a church. And they 00:15:36.220 --> 00:15:38.620 said, yeah, we got nothing better to do. And 00:15:38.620 --> 00:15:40.980 I was like, okay, yeah, sure. And he goes, I 00:15:40.980 --> 00:15:42.480 thought he was picking us up then. I thought 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:43.960 we were going to this thing called a church then. 00:15:44.360 --> 00:15:48.340 He goes, I'll pick you up Saturday morning. And 00:15:48.340 --> 00:15:50.019 I got off the phone, I looked at my brothers, 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:53.110 and I was like. Uncle Monroe's picking us up 00:15:53.110 --> 00:15:56.549 Saturday morning to go to church. We were horrified. 00:15:56.889 --> 00:15:59.129 Horrified. Why? Because on Saturday morning, 00:15:59.269 --> 00:16:03.269 cartoons. Do y 'all remember that? It's getting 00:16:03.269 --> 00:16:04.690 fewer and fewer people. Yeah, y 'all remember 00:16:04.690 --> 00:16:07.590 that? It was like, it was the thing. You know, 00:16:07.629 --> 00:16:09.529 it was the thing. You know, you had to watch 00:16:09.529 --> 00:16:11.070 your Saturday morning cartoons. They even had 00:16:11.070 --> 00:16:13.309 like a big kickoff, you know, in the fall of 00:16:13.309 --> 00:16:16.549 the year. But for what's new in the slate, and 00:16:16.549 --> 00:16:18.429 you'd talk about it with your neighbors, whatever. 00:16:18.610 --> 00:16:20.750 But anyway, cartoons. So anyway, we go to this 00:16:20.750 --> 00:16:23.620 thing. And it's called a church. We'd seen them 00:16:23.620 --> 00:16:28.440 before, just never made a connection. So this 00:16:28.440 --> 00:16:31.960 is the church. About a year and a half ago, I'm 00:16:31.960 --> 00:16:33.580 driving through, it's in a place called Clanton, 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:37.100 Alabama. It's about 10 miles from where I grew 00:16:37.100 --> 00:16:39.379 up. I grew up in Jemison, Alabama. And so you 00:16:39.379 --> 00:16:43.070 go to this thing, it has not changed. You ever 00:16:43.070 --> 00:16:45.429 wondered what life was like 50 years ago and 00:16:45.429 --> 00:16:47.789 everything or whatever years ago? It hadn't changed. 00:16:47.850 --> 00:16:50.450 The tree is bigger. This is from a year and a 00:16:50.450 --> 00:16:53.690 half ago. The parking lot is still gravel. The 00:16:53.690 --> 00:16:55.769 parking lot's gravel. It looked the same here, 00:16:55.909 --> 00:16:58.309 you know. And then they have these things. It 00:16:58.309 --> 00:17:01.669 was called Sabbath School. It was in the basement. 00:17:01.789 --> 00:17:05.150 And so we went in. Now remember, I'm public school. 00:17:05.670 --> 00:17:08.750 I am in high school now. Freshman, I think, in 00:17:08.750 --> 00:17:16.660 fifth grade. We go downstairs. It's kind of dark. 00:17:16.680 --> 00:17:18.220 They got some lights on, but it's kind of dark. 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:22.420 And so there was this older lady. Remember, I'm 00:17:22.420 --> 00:17:27.240 public school. There's a difference. And so on 00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:30.680 this part, and so the lady goes, today we're 00:17:30.680 --> 00:17:35.200 going to do a craft. I freak out in my mind because 00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:39.309 we just studied Salem, you know, and so. what 00:17:39.309 --> 00:17:43.109 have I gotten myself into, okay? She goes, we're 00:17:43.109 --> 00:17:49.269 going to do a craft. So anyway, it turns out 00:17:49.269 --> 00:17:53.470 it was a bee, okay? It was a literal craft, okay, 00:17:53.509 --> 00:17:55.150 what you would call a craft today. I didn't know, 00:17:55.250 --> 00:17:57.890 but anyway, I made it. And so the other kids 00:17:57.890 --> 00:18:00.490 were slinging them around. I was making this 00:18:00.490 --> 00:18:02.369 buzzing noise, but I was too cool for that. I 00:18:02.369 --> 00:18:04.420 built the thing, but I was too cool. They rang 00:18:04.420 --> 00:18:05.920 a bell. They turned out the lights and everyone 00:18:05.920 --> 00:18:08.940 left. And like, so I'm just down there by myself. 00:18:09.220 --> 00:18:11.740 And I look around. Nobody's there. I'm by this 00:18:11.740 --> 00:18:14.319 column. And I take that B. And I just want to 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:16.400 see if mine works. Because I'm public school. 00:18:16.440 --> 00:18:18.119 I'm too cool for this. But I want to see if it 00:18:18.119 --> 00:18:20.380 works. And so nobody's looking. Nobody's there. 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:23.200 And so I spin it. And it makes that noise. Mine 00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:26.519 works too. This is my first craft. And so, but 00:18:26.519 --> 00:18:29.220 anyway, the floor creaked upstairs. And so I 00:18:29.220 --> 00:18:30.660 thought, oh, someone's going to see me. So I 00:18:30.660 --> 00:18:33.519 darted upstairs. So we come into this thing. 00:18:34.559 --> 00:18:37.420 Remember, I'd never been in a church. So I walk 00:18:37.420 --> 00:18:41.220 in where everybody else was going, and I saw, 00:18:41.319 --> 00:18:44.220 it was like the Andy Griffith show. You ever 00:18:44.220 --> 00:18:46.859 seen that, Mayberry? And so in front of the Andy 00:18:46.859 --> 00:18:49.279 Griffith show, Floyd's Barbershop, they always 00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:51.940 sat like on a bench here and there. And this 00:18:51.940 --> 00:18:55.220 was like the mother load of benches. So it had... 00:18:56.119 --> 00:18:58.400 Anyway, this room was full of them. I don't know 00:18:58.400 --> 00:19:01.059 if they were a friendly place. And so you call 00:19:01.059 --> 00:19:03.380 it a pew in case you didn't. Of course you know. 00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:06.380 These are called pews. And so it was packed with 00:19:06.380 --> 00:19:11.240 people everywhere. And so then this person comes 00:19:11.240 --> 00:19:14.619 out from the side, and they're soft -spoken. 00:19:15.259 --> 00:19:19.539 And the guy goes, turn with me in your Bibles. 00:19:19.539 --> 00:19:21.720 I didn't have a Bible. My great -aunt Maxine 00:19:21.720 --> 00:19:25.160 had one. And so she turns here. And she goes 00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:27.819 to, you know, they open up whatever it was in 00:19:27.819 --> 00:19:30.819 the Bible, so they turn, and anyway, I'm following 00:19:30.819 --> 00:19:33.960 her finger, and I'm reading along, and this guy's 00:19:33.960 --> 00:19:36.279 just quoting it, whatever this scripture was. 00:19:36.460 --> 00:19:38.519 And I was blown away because science was always 00:19:38.519 --> 00:19:41.079 my thing. And I just assumed the guy had memorized 00:19:41.079 --> 00:19:43.900 the entire book. And I was like, wow, that's 00:19:43.900 --> 00:19:47.319 incredible, okay? That's awesome. And so when 00:19:47.319 --> 00:19:53.799 the sermon was over, Uncle Monroe said, You guys 00:19:53.799 --> 00:19:56.400 want to come back next Sabbath? It was still 00:19:56.400 --> 00:19:58.940 hard for me to say, but Sabbath, okay? I'd never 00:19:58.940 --> 00:20:01.079 heard of that before and hadn't heard of a lot 00:20:01.079 --> 00:20:03.160 of things until then. And I was like, yeah, absolutely. 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:05.099 My brothers, we were all excited. Yeah, absolutely. 00:20:05.779 --> 00:20:07.859 And so we came back the next week and the next. 00:20:08.180 --> 00:20:10.180 And we heard about Jesus, and it was amazing. 00:20:10.900 --> 00:20:13.420 And it was like just the truth of God is like 00:20:13.420 --> 00:20:15.619 you have that sense of forever, and then it gets 00:20:15.619 --> 00:20:18.559 squished. And then it's like now you're back 00:20:18.559 --> 00:20:21.339 to forever again. And it was like this is amazing. 00:20:21.500 --> 00:20:24.349 So my parents were coming to church. My grandparents 00:20:24.349 --> 00:20:26.829 on my dad's side, we had peace in our family 00:20:26.829 --> 00:20:29.329 for the first time because, see, my dad was a 00:20:29.329 --> 00:20:33.470 smoker, drinker, partier. He retired early. Never 00:20:33.470 --> 00:20:37.369 saw the guy. Anyway, there's more to it. When 00:20:37.369 --> 00:20:39.690 he was around, I just thought it was normal that 00:20:39.690 --> 00:20:41.410 we'd have police at the house. I just thought 00:20:41.410 --> 00:20:43.349 that was the way you grew up, you know. It was 00:20:43.349 --> 00:20:47.490 like, here he is. There's my dad. Anyway, so 00:20:47.490 --> 00:20:51.359 anyway, it was just rough. Rough, rough. But 00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:53.299 we had peace in our home for the first time. 00:20:53.799 --> 00:20:58.079 And so they had, I think my dad started having 00:20:58.079 --> 00:21:01.319 questions whenever, because there was an evangelistic 00:21:01.319 --> 00:21:04.559 series going on called Revelation Seminar. And 00:21:04.559 --> 00:21:07.319 so there were some questions my dad had. I think 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:09.759 it was kind of when it was hitting, it's wrong 00:21:09.759 --> 00:21:13.119 to cheat on your wife. And smoking and drinking, 00:21:13.119 --> 00:21:15.119 probably not the healthiest move you can make 00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:18.240 with your life. And so I'm not sure if that was 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:21.920 it or not. But anyway, they did a thing you would 00:21:21.920 --> 00:21:24.599 call an altar call. So I'm sitting there. I like 00:21:24.599 --> 00:21:26.539 sitting up close to the front. That's me. That's 00:21:26.539 --> 00:21:28.480 where I like to be. But we're in the back. And 00:21:28.480 --> 00:21:32.220 anyway, it says the seminar person, the evangelist 00:21:32.220 --> 00:21:34.640 goes, if you want to accept Christ in your life, 00:21:34.819 --> 00:21:37.960 come on down. I couldn't get down there fast 00:21:37.960 --> 00:21:40.220 enough. Anyway, everyone steps out into the hall, 00:21:40.259 --> 00:21:42.319 the aisle, you know, kind of a thing. Small church, 00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:45.200 small. But they stepped out into the aisle. And 00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:48.299 I was like, I can't get here fast enough. You 00:21:48.299 --> 00:21:51.000 don't know. This means the world. And so anyway, 00:21:51.140 --> 00:21:53.079 I'm just like roller derby. Boom, boom, boom, 00:21:53.160 --> 00:21:57.240 boom, boom. All the way down. And anyway, I get 00:21:57.240 --> 00:22:00.039 over here on this side. And there's 17 of us. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:02.160 And most of them are rubbing their elbows here 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:06.160 because I just came down like fast. And so there's 00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:08.259 my mom, my brothers. And I look around. My dad's 00:22:08.259 --> 00:22:10.720 not there. And I said, I asked my mom. I was 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:13.940 like, hey. Shouldn't we wait for dad? And she 00:22:13.940 --> 00:22:16.619 goes, oh, no, no, no. She goes, I'm getting re 00:22:16.619 --> 00:22:20.619 -baptized. And when you're baptized, you'll be 00:22:20.619 --> 00:22:24.339 fourth generation Seventh -day Adventist. Remember, 00:22:24.380 --> 00:22:26.859 we had no Bible. God was never mentioned. But 00:22:26.859 --> 00:22:31.779 I'm fourth generation. Wow. You know the welcome? 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:36.339 Some of you guys may remember the... South Carolina 00:22:36.339 --> 00:22:38.539 welcomes you. Seventh -day Adventist church welcomes 00:22:38.539 --> 00:22:40.640 you. My Uncle Munner started all that with the 00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:42.059 billboards and everything and all this where 00:22:42.059 --> 00:22:45.039 the church signs are and things. So I didn't 00:22:45.039 --> 00:22:51.519 know. Anyway, so we're there. And so we go through 00:22:51.519 --> 00:22:53.420 this baptismal things. And again, my dad had 00:22:53.420 --> 00:22:55.759 a lot of questions. So it's the night for the 00:22:55.759 --> 00:23:01.529 baptism. There are 17 of us. And so... We're 00:23:01.529 --> 00:23:03.609 putting on our robes, got these black robes. 00:23:03.609 --> 00:23:05.869 We're behind there. I've never seen a baptism. 00:23:06.069 --> 00:23:08.009 They tried to describe how it was going to be. 00:23:08.109 --> 00:23:10.569 You're going to get wet, a full immersion event. 00:23:11.029 --> 00:23:14.109 Okay, that's cool. So these people would go up 00:23:14.109 --> 00:23:16.849 the stairs to the baptistry dry. I'm in the back. 00:23:16.970 --> 00:23:19.509 And they would come down those stairs soaking 00:23:19.509 --> 00:23:22.349 wet. Okay, I got to see a number of them. I'm 00:23:22.349 --> 00:23:24.009 going to say I'm number 13, all right? Someone's 00:23:24.009 --> 00:23:28.069 got to be 13. I'll be 13. So I go up and I look. 00:23:28.599 --> 00:23:30.859 It's a nighttime baptism, small church, but it 00:23:30.859 --> 00:23:33.059 is packed. Folding chairs in the hallway down 00:23:33.059 --> 00:23:35.839 the aisle. The foyer is open. It is packed as 00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:37.700 well. They were worried about fire code. Would 00:23:37.700 --> 00:23:40.359 somebody turn them in? And anyway, I get into 00:23:40.359 --> 00:23:42.400 the water. Here's the evangelist, and I'm just 00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:43.900 looking around. They have candles. They thought, 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:46.180 you know, it's like, it was beautiful. And they 00:23:46.180 --> 00:23:47.559 turn out all the lights, and here's these candles. 00:23:47.900 --> 00:23:51.240 And so I never seen anyone like that. And I looked, 00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:53.440 and my dad had shown up. He's on the back row, 00:23:53.579 --> 00:23:58.259 but he's glaring at me. He is full of hate. But 00:23:58.259 --> 00:24:01.180 I'm not there for him. I'm there for God. I'm 00:24:01.180 --> 00:24:03.220 there for Christ and the peace that only Jesus 00:24:03.220 --> 00:24:07.579 can give. And so the pastor goes, the pastor 00:24:07.579 --> 00:24:09.880 goes, or the evangelist goes, all right, you 00:24:09.880 --> 00:24:11.480 ready? Yeah. And he goes, in the name of the 00:24:11.480 --> 00:24:14.880 Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity. 00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:18.700 We believe in the Trinity. Down I go. It was 00:24:18.700 --> 00:24:22.480 a rush. It was such a rush. I'd never had such 00:24:22.480 --> 00:24:24.480 a feeling in my life, but it was such a rush. 00:24:24.599 --> 00:24:27.240 He brings me out of the water and I... I scream. 00:24:28.200 --> 00:24:29.980 I've never been in a baptism. This is my first 00:24:29.980 --> 00:24:31.660 one. I've never seen one. I saw wet people, but, 00:24:31.740 --> 00:24:34.559 you know, and so I screamed. And I won't scream 00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:38.259 it for you, but this is what I screamed. I screamed, 00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:44.900 let's do that again. There's more laughter. And 00:24:44.900 --> 00:24:47.599 anyway, there were a lot of amens. There was 00:24:47.599 --> 00:24:49.380 laughter, but knowing now what I didn't know 00:24:49.380 --> 00:24:55.049 then, I'm surprised you didn't go, okay. No more 00:24:55.049 --> 00:24:58.130 bubbles. No more bubbles. He's one of us. Anyway. 00:24:59.690 --> 00:25:03.269 It is a thrill for baptism. It is a thrill. You 00:25:03.269 --> 00:25:06.390 have salvation. I think we take it. Anyway. I 00:25:06.390 --> 00:25:08.210 think so often we take our relationship with 00:25:08.210 --> 00:25:10.450 Christ for granted. When we get to the kingdom, 00:25:10.670 --> 00:25:15.589 it's like, whew. Amazing. Eternal peace. So we 00:25:15.589 --> 00:25:19.009 get home. Dad shows up about 30 minutes later. 00:25:19.430 --> 00:25:23.750 He's drunk and he's in a rage. He takes our Bibles. 00:25:26.799 --> 00:25:29.859 And it's horrible. What happened next? Really 00:25:29.859 --> 00:25:33.339 bad. We'll leave it like that. He takes our Bibles. 00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:37.160 He forbids to ever go back to church again. Who 00:25:37.160 --> 00:25:40.220 could do that to a kid? I've got kids. Like, 00:25:40.259 --> 00:25:42.519 we named Christian our firstborn. We named him 00:25:42.519 --> 00:25:44.099 Christian so my dad would have to acknowledge 00:25:44.099 --> 00:25:47.980 Christ. I told him, yeah, his name's not Chris. 00:25:48.380 --> 00:25:51.299 It's not CB, you know, for Christian. No, no, 00:25:51.319 --> 00:25:54.140 no. It's Christian. If you want anything to do 00:25:54.140 --> 00:25:58.630 with him. You got to call him Christian. So we 00:25:58.630 --> 00:26:02.289 never talked again. I'm kidding. Yeah, he would 00:26:02.289 --> 00:26:05.509 call him Christian. Anyway, no Bible, no church. 00:26:05.769 --> 00:26:08.170 But this is where that one -on -one thing, you 00:26:08.170 --> 00:26:09.529 know, it's like your little time of trouble. 00:26:09.670 --> 00:26:12.329 I know we haven't been through it yet, but we 00:26:12.329 --> 00:26:14.950 went through something really bad. No Bible, 00:26:15.089 --> 00:26:17.809 no church. But here's the thing. You cannot take. 00:26:18.410 --> 00:26:20.329 that relationship with Jesus Christ away from 00:26:20.329 --> 00:26:22.589 any individual. That is your choice. That is 00:26:22.589 --> 00:26:24.950 your individual choice and nobody has a right 00:26:24.950 --> 00:26:28.650 to do it. There is nothing. Satan himself can't, 00:26:28.650 --> 00:26:34.130 can't take Christ away from you. Freedom of choice. 00:26:34.690 --> 00:26:40.430 Praise God for freedom of choice. And so, I didn't 00:26:40.430 --> 00:26:42.589 know how to pray. I still don't know how to pray. 00:26:43.450 --> 00:26:47.539 It's just talking with God. So I'm at university 00:26:47.539 --> 00:26:50.019 now. This is the University of Montevallo. And 00:26:50.019 --> 00:26:54.079 so I'm majoring in biology, and I only had a 00:26:54.079 --> 00:26:57.140 few weeks of exposure to Christianity, formal 00:26:57.140 --> 00:26:59.700 Christianity, and a Bible. And that was it. Now 00:26:59.700 --> 00:27:01.819 I've gone years without a Bible. That was my 00:27:01.819 --> 00:27:03.880 freshman year in high school. Now that I'm in 00:27:03.880 --> 00:27:06.700 college, and they're telling me there is no God. 00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:10.720 If you acknowledge God and you bring it up in 00:27:10.720 --> 00:27:17.009 class, you're labeled. You're one of those. And 00:27:17.009 --> 00:27:20.829 so all my classes were evolution -based. And 00:27:20.829 --> 00:27:23.750 so my question then was, God, I have peace. I 00:27:23.750 --> 00:27:26.829 pray to God, I talk to God, and I say, God, I 00:27:26.829 --> 00:27:30.650 only have peace with you. Please show me you 00:27:30.650 --> 00:27:34.650 exist where they're telling me you don't. Please 00:27:34.650 --> 00:27:37.450 help me. And so the only thing I had was science. 00:27:38.130 --> 00:27:40.289 And what I'm about to share with you was never 00:27:40.289 --> 00:27:41.990 meant for anybody. It was just between God and 00:27:41.990 --> 00:27:43.750 I. And I do a number of these presentations, 00:27:43.990 --> 00:27:45.750 you know, out of the country and in the country. 00:27:46.359 --> 00:27:50.380 But it was just really what helped me was through 00:27:50.380 --> 00:27:54.480 God's creation. Not let evolutionists and Satan 00:27:54.480 --> 00:27:58.579 hijack God's creation, God's second book. So 00:27:58.579 --> 00:28:01.579 I'm taking this class, Evolution, and it is evolution. 00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:04.019 And on this one, I don't know if you can see, 00:28:04.160 --> 00:28:07.200 but you start off like an invertebrate or biochemistry, 00:28:07.400 --> 00:28:09.019 whatever, and then you wind up with a human. 00:28:09.339 --> 00:28:14.259 And that's what evolutionists buy into. And so 00:28:14.259 --> 00:28:19.450 a few years ago, A student asked, hey, what's 00:28:19.450 --> 00:28:21.970 it say on the bottom? Oh, what's it say over 00:28:21.970 --> 00:28:25.210 here? And I was like, oh, huh, chaos. And I was 00:28:25.210 --> 00:28:27.529 like, isn't that opposite of God? God is of order. 00:28:28.089 --> 00:28:30.750 We have six -day creation. We have a seventh 00:28:30.750 --> 00:28:34.289 -day Sabbath. You can't explain it by the moon 00:28:34.289 --> 00:28:37.930 or our orbit around the sun. Thanks for bringing 00:28:37.930 --> 00:28:39.430 that up earlier, you know, that we're really 00:28:39.430 --> 00:28:43.839 close to the sun now. You can't explain. This 00:28:43.839 --> 00:28:46.319 week. And you've heard that before. And then 00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:48.240 a couple of years after that, I hadn't noticed 00:28:48.240 --> 00:28:50.500 this. I was so busy on this thing. Somebody said, 00:28:50.640 --> 00:28:53.299 hey, what's it on the bottom? It's bold. I miss 00:28:53.299 --> 00:28:54.980 things. I can't see the forest because of the 00:28:54.980 --> 00:28:57.700 trees. And it goes, man is but a worm. And I 00:28:57.700 --> 00:29:00.880 was like, isn't that what Satan would have you 00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:03.519 believe? Is that you ultimately came out of a 00:29:03.519 --> 00:29:06.619 biochemical accident. You became an invertebrate. 00:29:06.619 --> 00:29:09.079 And over time, that first cell. And over time, 00:29:09.079 --> 00:29:12.279 you evolved into what you are. And then you die. 00:29:13.869 --> 00:29:17.190 But that is not it. Yes, we came from mud. Adam 00:29:17.190 --> 00:29:20.250 was formed in the very image of God himself through 00:29:20.250 --> 00:29:24.730 that dirt, that mud, that God. That is where 00:29:24.730 --> 00:29:28.470 we came from is that God formed Adam in his image. 00:29:28.490 --> 00:29:31.430 There is no other creature in this universe that 00:29:31.430 --> 00:29:34.789 is made in the very image of God. You are special. 00:29:35.289 --> 00:29:38.349 When you're feeling down, where we live now in 00:29:38.349 --> 00:29:40.009 this time in Earth's history and everything, 00:29:40.700 --> 00:29:42.900 Whoo, mercy. It's easy to get down. There's so 00:29:42.900 --> 00:29:44.619 much garbage going around with the news and this 00:29:44.619 --> 00:29:46.400 war and that war and everything else going on, 00:29:46.440 --> 00:29:48.299 whatever's going on in your life. But please 00:29:48.299 --> 00:29:51.039 remember, you are special. You are created. You 00:29:51.039 --> 00:29:53.279 are the creature created in the image of God. 00:29:53.819 --> 00:29:57.880 You're hit and you have purpose. You have meaning 00:29:57.880 --> 00:30:02.759 in your life. Share the good news of Christ. 00:30:03.259 --> 00:30:05.819 If you have no other purpose, that is your higher 00:30:05.819 --> 00:30:10.059 calling. So when I'm taking this course, Evolution, 00:30:10.420 --> 00:30:13.420 this is my mentor. And it hit me a few years 00:30:13.420 --> 00:30:15.000 ago. It's like, wait, what's opposite of mentor? 00:30:15.160 --> 00:30:19.059 Tor -mentor. Tor -mentor. Tor -tear you apart. 00:30:20.539 --> 00:30:22.980 Mentor builds you up. And so Sledge and I were 00:30:22.980 --> 00:30:26.740 good friends. I would house -sit for him when 00:30:26.740 --> 00:30:32.839 he was away. And he was very humble. Any of you 00:30:32.839 --> 00:30:36.279 guys ever heard of what is it called? Band of 00:30:36.279 --> 00:30:39.240 Brothers? Band of Brothers, it was like a series 00:30:39.240 --> 00:30:40.900 or something. Have you heard of the Pacific, 00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:44.000 anyone? There's usually maybe one, but it was 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:46.220 a 10 -part miniseries. Sledge wrote a book with 00:30:46.220 --> 00:30:48.480 the old breed at Peleliu in Okinawa. He was a 00:30:48.480 --> 00:30:52.799 Marine in World War II. And to help him cope 00:30:52.799 --> 00:30:56.559 with survivors' guilt from World War II, he ultimately 00:30:56.559 --> 00:30:59.579 wrote this book, his memoir. And he was very 00:30:59.579 --> 00:31:02.940 humble, and it was meant to help his combat veteran 00:31:02.940 --> 00:31:05.990 friends and other combat veterans. I would house 00:31:05.990 --> 00:31:07.670 sit for him when he was on book tour. Again, 00:31:07.710 --> 00:31:10.150 he was never full of himself. Tom Hanks, Steven 00:31:10.150 --> 00:31:12.369 Spielberg, other producers wanted the movie rights 00:31:12.369 --> 00:31:14.230 to this book, but he didn't want to sell it. 00:31:14.289 --> 00:31:17.509 He just wanted to do his thing. His wife did 00:31:17.509 --> 00:31:20.930 sell upon his death. She sold it, and they, anyway, 00:31:20.990 --> 00:31:23.829 Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, they made this 10 00:31:23.829 --> 00:31:26.170 -part miniseries called The Pacific. Sledge never 00:31:26.170 --> 00:31:28.430 got over the war. Anyway, Sledge is my mentor. 00:31:29.630 --> 00:31:32.269 So I'm taking evolution, and in this evolution 00:31:32.269 --> 00:31:35.759 class, God impressed me. I say, God help me. 00:31:35.940 --> 00:31:41.700 Every day it was something. It's like, God help 00:31:41.700 --> 00:31:45.019 me. And God impressed me. Here's one of them. 00:31:45.079 --> 00:31:47.559 It's like, ask Sledge two questions. Have you 00:31:47.559 --> 00:31:49.819 ever had one of those gotcha moments? You know, 00:31:49.839 --> 00:31:51.839 where you just, they set you up and then you 00:31:51.839 --> 00:31:53.980 get blindsided. I think it's happened to all 00:31:53.980 --> 00:31:56.460 of us and it doesn't feel good. And God was like, 00:31:56.640 --> 00:31:59.539 don't do Sledge this way. Here are the two questions. 00:31:59.720 --> 00:32:01.880 Wait a couple of weeks in between them. And so 00:32:01.880 --> 00:32:05.359 here we go. It was like, here's the two questions 00:32:05.359 --> 00:32:07.259 that God impressed me to ask. I was like, Sledge, 00:32:07.380 --> 00:32:10.940 where did life on this world come from? And he 00:32:10.940 --> 00:32:13.920 goes, ah, glad you asked. He said, consider this. 00:32:13.960 --> 00:32:17.519 Consider our universe. If we were to bring into 00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:20.619 our lecture hall here a wheelbarrow full of sand, 00:32:20.839 --> 00:32:24.920 each sand grain represents one galaxy. He said, 00:32:24.940 --> 00:32:26.720 in our universe are billions and billions and 00:32:26.720 --> 00:32:28.279 billions and billions and billions of galaxies. 00:32:29.390 --> 00:32:32.329 And then he said, now consider a second wheelbarrow 00:32:32.329 --> 00:32:35.369 full of sand. And each sand grain now represents 00:32:35.369 --> 00:32:38.269 a star system in that galaxy, like our solar 00:32:38.269 --> 00:32:40.529 system here. There are billions and billions 00:32:40.529 --> 00:32:42.630 and billions of star systems in each galaxy. 00:32:42.930 --> 00:32:44.710 So you have trillions and trillions and trillions. 00:32:45.029 --> 00:32:48.769 And he said, that's not even counting the moons, 00:32:48.890 --> 00:32:50.849 the stars, the asteroids, the cosmic debris, 00:32:51.049 --> 00:32:55.309 dust. But now then consider everything. He said, 00:32:55.349 --> 00:32:59.220 everything in the universe. He said, at one time, 00:32:59.279 --> 00:33:02.099 was squeezed down to the size of a basketball. 00:33:02.599 --> 00:33:05.140 And then he said, then we thought about the size 00:33:05.140 --> 00:33:07.200 of a football. And he said, then we thought the 00:33:07.200 --> 00:33:09.539 size of a baseball, a golf ball. I don't know 00:33:09.539 --> 00:33:12.500 what it is about evolution in sports, okay? But 00:33:12.500 --> 00:33:15.279 it was like, he says, at that time, he says, 00:33:15.299 --> 00:33:18.319 we now believe that all the matter, like what 00:33:18.319 --> 00:33:20.779 this is made of, everything was squeezed down 00:33:20.779 --> 00:33:24.500 to the size of a head of a pin. That takes a 00:33:24.500 --> 00:33:28.220 lot of faith. And so... I was teaching this class. 00:33:28.299 --> 00:33:31.019 It was a dual credit class a few years back. 00:33:31.359 --> 00:33:35.240 And on this one, the latest on this is that they 00:33:35.240 --> 00:33:38.980 say that all the matter in the universe was squeezed 00:33:38.980 --> 00:33:42.119 down to billions of billions, with a B, of times 00:33:42.119 --> 00:33:46.359 smaller than the tip of a needle. That takes 00:33:46.359 --> 00:33:48.900 faith. And then they said something happened. 00:33:49.000 --> 00:33:51.599 Something happened, and then it just blew out. 00:33:51.700 --> 00:33:54.480 Boom. About 13 billion years ago. Evolutionists 00:33:54.480 --> 00:33:58.079 will hide in time. And so on this one, if you 00:33:58.079 --> 00:34:01.339 think about all of our matter, like this room 00:34:01.339 --> 00:34:04.180 squeezed down our planet, squeezed down billions 00:34:04.180 --> 00:34:05.779 of times smaller than the tip of a needle, our 00:34:05.779 --> 00:34:08.760 solar system, our galaxy, the whole universe, 00:34:08.880 --> 00:34:10.840 everything squeezed down smaller than the tip 00:34:10.840 --> 00:34:12.199 billions of times smaller than the tip of a needle. 00:34:12.420 --> 00:34:14.460 Something happened, he said, 13 billion years 00:34:14.460 --> 00:34:19.219 ago, and it blew out. Then he said about 425 00:34:19.219 --> 00:34:22.599 million years ago, you had the early Earth. Then 00:34:22.599 --> 00:34:26.900 he said that about... 400 million years ago, 00:34:26.960 --> 00:34:30.139 roughly, there was a planet the size of Mars, 00:34:30.219 --> 00:34:33.019 hits our planet, blows out the back of Earth, 00:34:33.179 --> 00:34:37.119 and that becomes the moon. Right? Okay, I heard 00:34:37.119 --> 00:34:39.519 somebody go, huh, and that's where I am with 00:34:39.519 --> 00:34:42.070 it. It's like... No way. That moon is round. 00:34:42.429 --> 00:34:45.030 There's some other things we can talk about later. 00:34:45.150 --> 00:34:46.929 There's something called gravity. It wouldn't 00:34:46.929 --> 00:34:48.989 be that perfect sphere. How many remember it 00:34:48.989 --> 00:34:50.989 was about, was it 10 years ago? They had that 00:34:50.989 --> 00:34:53.269 perfect eclipse here. Did anybody see that? The 00:34:53.269 --> 00:34:56.110 full solar? Yeah, there you go. It's just, I 00:34:56.110 --> 00:34:58.670 wouldn't say magical. It was amazing. And so 00:34:58.670 --> 00:35:00.829 the moon is the correct distance from the earth 00:35:00.829 --> 00:35:02.750 and the correct distance from the sun and the 00:35:02.750 --> 00:35:05.309 right size to cover up to get that diamond effect. 00:35:06.630 --> 00:35:09.619 Anyway, it's just amazing. The moon had to be 00:35:09.619 --> 00:35:13.820 created. It couldn't come from a collision. And 00:35:13.820 --> 00:35:16.480 then he said, hundreds of millions of years ago, 00:35:16.599 --> 00:35:19.800 the earth was covered in an ocean. And this was 00:35:19.800 --> 00:35:22.079 full of chemicals. And because of volcanic activity 00:35:22.079 --> 00:35:24.500 and different chemistry going on, these chemicals 00:35:24.500 --> 00:35:26.460 started bouncing into each other. So you had 00:35:26.460 --> 00:35:28.739 this primordial sea. And then he said, because 00:35:28.739 --> 00:35:31.880 this thing was filled with chemicals, Then, ultimately, 00:35:32.059 --> 00:35:34.639 by accident, he didn't say by accident, but these 00:35:34.639 --> 00:35:37.719 chemicals just bounced into each other and became 00:35:37.719 --> 00:35:43.440 a cell. And then he said, in that cell, given 00:35:43.440 --> 00:35:49.000 time, divided. Millions of years later, ancient 00:35:49.000 --> 00:35:52.110 marine life. millions of years later, the evolution 00:35:52.110 --> 00:35:54.050 of land animals. And this was crazy because you've 00:35:54.050 --> 00:35:56.070 got the perfect environment in the ocean or land 00:35:56.070 --> 00:35:58.570 or lake or whatever. Why in the world do you 00:35:58.570 --> 00:36:02.030 want to pop out where the air is toxic to that 00:36:02.030 --> 00:36:04.829 individual? You already have a niche. It's almost 00:36:04.829 --> 00:36:07.389 like, oh, I'm going to tell my kids, yeah, we're 00:36:07.389 --> 00:36:08.889 going to go to Mars. You're going to be a colonist 00:36:08.889 --> 00:36:11.489 there. And you know what? The atmosphere is mostly 00:36:11.489 --> 00:36:13.750 CO2. That will kill you. But I want you to just 00:36:13.750 --> 00:36:15.289 take off your helmet and just take a little breath. 00:36:15.789 --> 00:36:17.969 So that in so many generations, your offspring 00:36:17.969 --> 00:36:21.110 will be able to breathe CO2 and live. No, it'll 00:36:21.110 --> 00:36:26.929 kill you. So anyway, age of dinosaurs. And then 00:36:26.929 --> 00:36:31.469 what he said was, every living thing on this 00:36:31.469 --> 00:36:36.869 planet came from that one cell. Okay? All the 00:36:36.869 --> 00:36:39.190 biodiversity, every living thing came from that 00:36:39.190 --> 00:36:42.650 one cell. And I was like, okay. So I waited two 00:36:42.650 --> 00:36:45.340 weeks. Here's the other question. Okay, catch 00:36:45.340 --> 00:36:47.900 that. That's what the evolutionists say. So two 00:36:47.900 --> 00:36:50.179 weeks later, here's the question that got impressed. 00:36:51.260 --> 00:36:54.139 Sledge, what would happen if you took two complex 00:36:54.139 --> 00:36:57.280 organisms, a male deer and a female deer, and 00:36:57.280 --> 00:36:59.039 you put them on a deserted island somewhere? 00:36:59.639 --> 00:37:01.900 No animals, no squirrels, no rabbits, no birds, 00:37:02.039 --> 00:37:03.960 nothing. You got plants and you got two deer, 00:37:04.039 --> 00:37:06.099 a male deer, a female deer. What happens? And 00:37:06.099 --> 00:37:08.880 he goes, oh, great question. Thank you, God. 00:37:10.119 --> 00:37:14.349 They will mate, have offspring. The offspring 00:37:14.349 --> 00:37:19.150 grow, become mature, they interbreed. And he 00:37:19.150 --> 00:37:22.349 said, because of it's such a limited gene pool, 00:37:22.610 --> 00:37:26.090 you get mutation and disease. And he says, within 00:37:26.090 --> 00:37:33.650 300 or 400 years, extinction. I said, thank you. 00:37:33.690 --> 00:37:37.309 That's all I needed. So catch this. Contradiction. 00:37:38.739 --> 00:37:40.760 Evolutionists would say, they don't say it, they 00:37:40.760 --> 00:37:42.159 don't want to say it, but all the biodiversity 00:37:42.159 --> 00:37:44.760 on our planet came from one cell, and at the 00:37:44.760 --> 00:37:48.559 same time, from this one, isolated complex organisms 00:37:48.559 --> 00:37:52.039 go to extinction. So every living thing came 00:37:52.039 --> 00:37:56.300 from one little cell, extinction. You can't have 00:37:56.300 --> 00:37:59.440 it both ways. On this one it says, no pets allowed, 00:37:59.659 --> 00:38:03.300 all pets must be on a leash. You can't have it 00:38:03.300 --> 00:38:06.880 both ways. In the beginning, God created the 00:38:06.880 --> 00:38:09.329 heaven and the earth. I mean, that's where it 00:38:09.329 --> 00:38:12.469 starts, is with God. God is the Alpha and the 00:38:12.469 --> 00:38:15.869 Omega. He's always been. God saw everything that 00:38:15.869 --> 00:38:19.230 he had made, and behold, it was good. So God 00:38:19.230 --> 00:38:25.570 started it and created us. So in closing, you 00:38:25.570 --> 00:38:29.989 know, it's just like, you know, growing up with, 00:38:30.090 --> 00:38:37.070 in a way, absentee parents, absentee dad. You 00:38:37.070 --> 00:38:39.909 long for a relationship. I try to be the dad 00:38:39.909 --> 00:38:43.190 to my kids that I never had. And I want them, 00:38:43.210 --> 00:38:46.030 and I stress it, please be a good parent to your 00:38:46.030 --> 00:38:49.230 kids when you have them. We all make mistakes. 00:38:50.769 --> 00:39:01.659 And so, with my dad, he was like, He continued 00:39:01.659 --> 00:39:04.179 to make some poor choices. But he did call Christian, 00:39:04.300 --> 00:39:11.000 Christian, my son and mother's son, Caleb. And 00:39:11.000 --> 00:39:17.460 so he had had a stroke. It was a bad one. And 00:39:17.460 --> 00:39:21.099 so the family called us, and we were supposed 00:39:21.099 --> 00:39:23.679 to go down and unplug. And so we go down there, 00:39:23.800 --> 00:39:25.960 and they said, hey, we don't know what it is, 00:39:26.019 --> 00:39:29.809 but he's going to make it. He wasn't going to 00:39:29.809 --> 00:39:32.730 make it, but now he is. And so going to the hospital 00:39:32.730 --> 00:39:35.809 room, he said he's paralyzed on his left side. 00:39:36.329 --> 00:39:40.150 And so we go into the hospital room, and his 00:39:40.150 --> 00:39:44.789 eye opened. I'm the only one in there. And they 00:39:44.789 --> 00:39:47.510 said he could only speak in a whisper. And so 00:39:47.510 --> 00:39:55.389 he's coming to, and I said, I'm looking at a 00:39:55.389 --> 00:39:58.219 dead man. I said, your funeral is supposed to 00:39:58.219 --> 00:40:02.619 be today, but by a miracle, you're here, whether 00:40:02.619 --> 00:40:06.019 you believe in miracles or not. You're paralyzed 00:40:06.019 --> 00:40:09.599 on your left side, and there's nothing you can 00:40:09.599 --> 00:40:11.960 do about it, but it's a miracle you are here. 00:40:12.500 --> 00:40:15.599 And so what I'm going to do starting now, and 00:40:15.599 --> 00:40:18.340 every time I see you, I'm going to pray for you, 00:40:18.440 --> 00:40:21.619 whether you like it or not, beginning now. I 00:40:21.619 --> 00:40:22.940 know it's kind of harsh, but what do you do, 00:40:22.960 --> 00:40:30.579 right? And so I had prayer with him. And in wood, 00:40:30.739 --> 00:40:32.800 it got to where we would form a circle around 00:40:32.800 --> 00:40:35.579 him, you know, around his chair, whatever. And 00:40:35.579 --> 00:40:37.619 he didn't invite it. He would allow us to pray 00:40:37.619 --> 00:40:39.460 for him for the next year and a half. It was 00:40:39.460 --> 00:40:43.920 near graduation time. And a year and a half later, 00:40:44.039 --> 00:40:52.219 and there was... So I called my parents. My dad 00:40:52.219 --> 00:40:53.960 never answers the phone because he's really not 00:40:53.960 --> 00:40:55.900 able and you can't hear him. I called that day. 00:40:56.860 --> 00:40:59.739 He answers the phone. And I was like, oh, great. 00:40:59.940 --> 00:41:02.400 I don't want to talk to you. Because he's at 00:41:02.400 --> 00:41:04.800 a whisper, but I'll continue. And he goes, I'll 00:41:04.800 --> 00:41:06.380 sit where you can hear it. It's at a whisper. 00:41:06.460 --> 00:41:10.000 He goes, hello. So he said, hello. And I was 00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:13.440 like, hey, dad. Just bring the kids down. Graduation's 00:41:13.440 --> 00:41:15.099 coming up in a couple of days. And then we'll 00:41:15.099 --> 00:41:17.519 bring them. Then you can see your grandkids. 00:41:18.360 --> 00:41:20.639 And I said, okay, I've got to go. And he said. 00:41:22.909 --> 00:41:32.170 And then he goes, I love you. I was floored. 00:41:32.670 --> 00:41:37.969 We got off the phone. That night, he has a massive 00:41:37.969 --> 00:41:42.710 stroke. We go down and I had one last prayer 00:41:42.710 --> 00:41:44.449 with him before literally, you know, you unplug. 00:41:45.530 --> 00:41:48.190 But it was crazy. The words that I longed to 00:41:48.190 --> 00:41:51.269 hear my entire life. were the last words said 00:41:51.269 --> 00:41:56.769 to me. It's never too late. And as much as I 00:41:56.769 --> 00:41:59.429 wanted him to be that present father and it didn't 00:41:59.429 --> 00:42:02.510 happen, I heard the words I needed to hear before 00:42:02.510 --> 00:42:06.909 he passed away. You have, there's the one true 00:42:06.909 --> 00:42:12.050 father. You've got Jesus Christ who died for 00:42:12.050 --> 00:42:15.349 each one of us for that relationship. That's 00:42:15.349 --> 00:42:17.710 the most important thing. We're imperfect here 00:42:17.710 --> 00:42:21.619 on this world. And as it says in 1 John 3, 1, 00:42:21.760 --> 00:42:25.420 see what great love the Father has lavished on 00:42:25.420 --> 00:42:29.679 us that we should be called the children of God, 00:42:29.880 --> 00:42:36.179 each and every one of us. This is the last slide, 00:42:36.260 --> 00:42:38.880 if that helps you. But love is so amazing, so 00:42:38.880 --> 00:42:42.699 divine, demands my soul, my life, and my all. 00:42:44.179 --> 00:42:46.860 May God bless you, each and every one of you. 00:42:47.960 --> 00:42:50.280 As we prepare for his kingdom, it's coming soon. 00:42:51.619 --> 00:42:53.780 Dear Jesus, again, we thank you for your love. 00:42:53.820 --> 00:42:55.960 We thank you for creating us. We thank you for 00:42:55.960 --> 00:42:59.300 paying the price on the cross. Your blood is 00:42:59.300 --> 00:43:02.159 as fresh today as it was 2 ,000 years ago. Please 00:43:02.159 --> 00:43:04.519 be with each one of us in our struggles. Give 00:43:04.519 --> 00:43:06.460 us your strength. Be with our friends and family 00:43:06.460 --> 00:43:08.519 members wherever they are and whatever concerns 00:43:08.519 --> 00:43:11.059 they have. And please help us to go both ways. 00:43:11.039 --> 00:43:13.460 in your name this week. Time is drawing to a 00:43:13.460 --> 00:43:16.619 close, and we long to see you face to face. Help 00:43:16.619 --> 00:43:19.079 us to remain faithful, and we ask these things 00:43:19.079 --> 00:43:20.199 in Christ's name. Amen.