I remember during the season, I went outside
and said, Jesus, I don't understand everything.
And I felt like he whispered in my soul, son,
if you understood everything, you'd be me. I
felt like he said, when your theology fails,
when your understanding of who I am and of my
ways fails, I want you to know this. I'll never
fail you and I'll never forsake you. I'll be
with you always, even through the valley of the
shadow of death, even to the ends of the earth.
And that will be enough. He didn't give me any
answers for what I was going through, except.
My presence will go with you. God promises in
Joel 2 .28 to pour out His Spirit on all humanity.
Welcome to global outpouring, where we contend
for that promised outpouring, we equip for that
outpouring, so that we may engage in that very
outpouring. I'm Philip Buss. And I'm Sharon Buss.
Welcome to the podcast today. We are so delighted
that you're with us and we are delighted to have
with us for a second part. Our dear friend, Keith
Wheeler, a man who has been used by God in such
a powerful way in the nations as he just obeys
God, going from place to place, carrying a cross,
a 12 -foot cross. And he crosses the oceans with
it in an airplane and sets it up. It comes in
pieces, actually. And he puts it together and
he walks and he never knows where he's going
to sleep. He often goes places where nobody even
knows him. But God has led him there and he uses
him to bring Jesus into people's lives. And in
this episode, he's going to share with us some
very amazing experiences that have given him
a real perspective. Thanks so much for joining
us today. We're so happy that you're with us.
And once again, you're going to enjoy this episode
with Keith Wheeler. But before we get started,
we want to encourage you, if you haven't already
done so, that you go to our website, globaloutpouring
.net, that you have made sure that you're on
our email lists. There's a green subscribe button
there that you can subscribe. And you can find
out all the other wonderful things that we have
on our website. future events that we have coming
up and blogs that you can read. And hey, you
can even go to wherever your smartphone store
is that you can download apps and you can download
the app, the Global Outpouring ETH app. It's
out there for you and it helps you to stay connected
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And you can even put prayer requests on our prayer
wall and you can join groups. that we can interact
together. There's lots of things that you can
do there. And we want to encourage you to get
that app. Well, Keith Wheeler, thank you so much
for joining us again. We enjoyed that last episode
so, so much that we just felt like, oh, Holy
Spirit, you've got to give us more. We need more
out of this man. So thank you for joining us
again. Thanks. What a treasure. What a treat
to be rejoined with you guys. I know. Getting
ready for this episode, you told us about how
you've actually listened to some of our podcasts
because we have a mutual friend. Yes, Pastor
Larry Mariello. I love that. Dear brother. Oh,
yes, he is. I actually spoke with him yesterday.
Really? Oh, well, we'll both have to text him
and say we just did two podcasts. Yes, we will.
We will. Oh, that's great. That's great. So you've
been telling us some things. Fairly recently,
you had a heart attack. You had heart surgery.
We heard about that. And so we were praying for
you. I don't know if we reached out to you at
the time. I don't remember that, but I probably
did. I don't know. To be honest, there was a
season that I don't remember much of. Yeah. So
you have on airlines, you told us you've probably
got more than five, six million miles going.
Total, going to the nations, easily that. Correct.
And thousands of miles, surely, walking with
the cross. Is it a million yet, do you think?
No, not even. The distance at the equator is
24 ,901 and a half miles. And I jokingly say
the only ones who will know that are those who
are either going to win like Jeopardy or somebody
who's a geography geek. Or somebody who's actually
walked that distance. And in October of 2018,
with God's help, I actually took the step that
equaled that distance. As best as, you know,
there's no exact science to that. But as best
as we can do. That was the step. And I tried
to take it the month leading down. It was a countdown.
And I got to where, okay, if I walk from here
to here, I can actually finish where I began.
Wow. And it couldn't have been more precious
the way Jesus set it up. It was in October and
the weather had been just spectacular. Beautiful
fall weather in the high 60s, low 70s. Oh, that's
perfect. And the day that I got to do it, cold
front came in and it was. cold and hard rain.
I was in the low 40s. I'm sure a whole lot of
people would have come out. There were people
that were still there. But I said, Jesus, this
is so perfect because this has been my journey
with the cross. It's never been for fans. friends
it's it's just been all for your glory and you've
given me all kinds of weather you said you'll
cause the rain to rain on the just and the sun
same way in fact years ago i i remember one of
my walks i was walking through europe it was
one of my early walks and it rained every day
it was it was the coldest summer they'd ever
had and the wettest And it rained every day and
every night for eight days straight. And I didn't
have a place to sleep. No. No, there was no hotels,
no homes asking me to come in. The best I found
was a barn and I slept in a pile of manure. Because
that was the driest part. And so I was just,
I was cold. I was shaking. And I remember after
eight days, I said, Jesus. James said this. He
said that Elijah was a man with a nature like
ours. And he prayed and it didn't rain for three
and a half years. Could you just stop the rain?
And the rain started letting up and then the
rain stopped. Wow. Hallelujah. And about 15 minutes
later, all of a sudden the rain came down harder.
I said, Jesus, you said in your word. And I felt
like he said, son, I did write that. But I also
wrote that I send the rain. on the just and the
unjust alike. Have fun. And I learned something.
So often we struggle against things we have no
control over. And it creates stress. It creates
anxiety. It creates fear. I don't have control
over the weather. He does. It's his weather.
And I've learned to walk whether it's hot or
whether it's cold. I've walked in temperatures
almost 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Roadside temperature,
I don't know. I actually, behind me, I've got
a basket of shoes, old shoes I've worn around
the world. And one of those is the shoes. It
was a Vibram sole. The sole burnt off. It melted
the Vibram on it. And I've got that in that basket.
I walked as cold as minus 57. So it extremes.
And I've walked in flood conditions and blizzard
conditions. And Jesus has promised to be with
me always. Even through the valley of the shadow
of the dead, even to the end of the age or the
ends of the earth, He has promised. And I love
what Moses prayed. He said, Lord, if you don't
go with me, don't send us. Because what else
is going to separate us from all the other peoples
on the planet? It's the nearness, the intimacy,
the sweetness, the goodness of His presence.
And that's been the greatest truth of this journey
with the cross. Beautiful. Beautiful, beautiful.
So you've walked through all extremes of weather.
You mentioned in our last episode about how you
stood before a firing squad, and you mentioned
in passing, like, oh, just another thing that
happened. And you've been beaten. I've been beaten
and left for dead twice. I was unconscious for
about three weeks one time. I've been stoned
with rocks. I've had knives pointed at me, swords
at my neck, guns pointed in my eye, in my ear,
up my nose, in my mouth, at my neck, firing squads.
More than one firing squad? Well, even when you
say firing squad, to be technical. I don't have
a cigarette in my mouth and a blindfold over
my eyes. So it's not the banditos kind, but it's,
yeah. I mean, where you're standing before multiple
guns and they're counting one, two. But I've
been snake bit on my finger, on my fourth finger,
on my right hand. I've got a scar on my forehead
where a spider bit me in the Amazon. And it rotted
and nearly killed me. The skin on the top part
of my forehead is from my behind when I was beaten.
And they had to take that skin and do a skin
graft. I've been bitten on the neck by a monkey,
on the behind by a baboon. I've been chased by
rhinos and elephants and hippos. Almost eaten
by a lion. That's one of my funny... In fact,
I'll tell that in just a moment. It just shows
the grace of God. So the firing squad, they count
one, two, put the clips in, and they all fall
backwards, screaming like little girls. The light,
it's too bright. It's too strong. I never saw
them move. I mean, I never saw light. I never
felt anything. Then they left their guns. They
had two big King Cat trucks jumping in, spinning
gravel, and they ran away. Wow. I thought it
was a dream or maybe a vision that I'm still
outside. I'm still missing teeth. Even to this
day, they knocked out two in my lower jaw. So
I was still bleeding from that. The guns were
still there. And those guys came back a couple
of times. People say, how come you didn't leave?
I say, where do we go? Yeah, right. I mean, these
guys know the jungle like the back of their hand.
Right. We're just passing through. And also,
that place was pretty safe right there. But more
important, when do you stop running? It's not
wrong to be afraid. It's what you do with your
fears that matter. So that was very supernatural.
On the other hand, very natural. I was walking
down the road one evening in western Uganda.
And sometimes my road takes me through game parks.
And I was going through this area where they
had animals. And I saw on the hill far away there
were three female lions. But I mean, they were
far away. And so I wasn't really concerned. And
I kept walking and sun is setting. I don't know
where I'm going to sleep in a car. A truck slows
down and the driver says, get in the car. And
I said, no, no, I'm walking. I'm walking for
Jesus. No, you must get in the car now. Almost
angry. I said, no, no, it's okay. I'm walking
for Jesus. He loves you. And this cross is a
reminder how much he loves you. He died for you.
You can know him. He's alive. And he says, yes,
I know that. But if you don't get in the car
right now, you will die. And I said, peace, my
friend, peace. He goes, me? Not me. The lion,
he will eat you. And he looked and probably 15
yards in front of me, there was a, I've got a
picture because I actually got in the car. There
was a male lion right by the side of the road
where the road had been. shoved off by a road
grader. So you have the dirt right there and
there was a big thorny bush and I couldn't see
on the other side of the thorny bush, the lion.
So that's why I got Indica. I guess. So there's,
you know, how many times though daily do we,
you know, I mean, we go down the highway going
65 miles an hour and someone's. Passing the other
side, if they look at their cell phone or take
their eye off the road. Yeah. Or, you know, where
you guys live, you know, you go out for a walk
and there's a copperhead and you don't see it.
Yeah. You reach underneath the sink for something
and there's a brown recluse spider. I don't know.
Or even in the night, you know, so. Life is a
gift. Life is a gift. And we got bears, too.
Yes. Yeah. And mountain lions. And mountain lions
and wolves. Yeah, right. Wow, you're right. So,
I mean, life is a gift, and we're not guaranteed
the next moment. How are we going to choose to
use our breaths and our heartbeats? And my goal
has been I want my heart to beat in unison with
the heartbeat of Jesus. Probably my favorite
scripture in the Bible is John 13, verse 23.
And I would sign it to my name if people, if
it was a little clearer. But it says there was
leaning on Jesus' chest, the disciple that he
loved. Yeah. When you lean your head on someone's
chest, you hear something nobody else can hear.
True. You hear their heartbeat. And the only
way to do that, though, is by drawing near. And
near enough that you press in. And I think I've
heard his heartbeat. And I don't think his heartbeat
goes bump, bump, bump, bump. His heartbeat goes
people, people, people. I've never forgotten
that. I remember hearing you say that years ago.
And I've told my fairy tale princess, I had a,
with my heart attack last year, I've been telling
her I'm going to have a heart attack. It's, it's
just inevitable. My heart is so tiny and my love
for Jesus and my love for her. family and the
peoples of this world, it doesn't fit in there.
My heart is just going to explode one day. So
tell us about this experience that you had that
caused you to have to have heart surgery. Well,
you look at me and I'm pretty fit. And that's
what we all thought. You know, I worked out on
a regular basis, but apparently I'd been having
heart attacks for four and a half years. I guess
the doctors can look at your heart when they
get in there and kind of like rings on a tree
and tell whether you've been having drought season
or whatever. They said those heart attacks had
only been about a two and a half to three and
a half on the Richter scale. But September of
23, I came home from a trip and I felt like Jesus
said, I want you to stay home for the next four
months. So in other words, I don't want you traveling
until the new year. till January 24. And I want
you to begin working on a book intentionally.
I've dabbled at the book for a while, but just
be intentional about it. So January came and
I spoke at my home church to the youth. The next
week I traveled by car out to Western Oklahoma
and I spoke at my first big service in over four
months. The next week I flew to Upstate New York
actually had to fly to get there, had to fly
through New Hampshire and then drive. And on
the way, I felt really weird. And I don't even
know how to describe it, but I felt really weird.
And I got up there and I was better. But Saturday
night before I spoke on Sunday morning, once
again, I felt really weird. And this time the
feeling was like someone had put a blood pressure
cuff on my arm too tight and they put their thumb
up underneath me. And a friend had had a heart
attack and my wife had just got me a brand new
watch for my anniversary. And the readings were
off the charts. And I was like, man, I must not
know how to work my watch because it's telling
me that I'm sick and I can't be that sick. But
my friend had these symptoms. So I did all the
things you're supposed to do. I ate a banana.
It was cold outside. I went for a walk in the
snow and took a cold shower. I couldn't sleep.
And after really wrestling. I checked into the
ER and my wife made me do it. She was home and
she told me I was trying to avoid her. And I
was because I told her something was wrong. I'd
actually even written a goodbye letter to her
just in case. Because I knew something was off.
But I didn't want to go on an ambulance. And
finally, the pastors where I was going to speak,
their phones were off. The guy at the hotel couldn't
take me because he couldn't leave the desk. So
I had to call 911. And I said, listen, there's
a lot of clients here in the hotel and you're
not going to know who called you. If you guys
come with your bells ringing, if your buzzer
is buzzing and your sirens flashing, I'm not
coming out. But if you come stealth mode, I'll
get in. And they did. I went to the hospital.
And after seven hours, I said, if I'm not dying
and if I'm not needing surgery, I'm preaching
in 15 minutes and I need to preach. So I did.
Oh, my. I walked out and I preached and I flew
home the next day. And two days later, flew to
Phoenix, Arizona, preached for a week, carried
the cross out there actually at altitude and
no problems and came home. And two days later,
I was getting ready to go to Africa. Now, here's
the embarrassing thing and the humbling thing.
And this is my confession of pride. I had never
had a physical in my life. I didn't even have
a primary care physician. I had had a lot of
tune -up jobs on my journey. I'd broken over
50 bones. And so I've had to go in for patch
-up jobs, repair jobs. But for a physical, because
of fear and because of pride, I hadn't gone.
The pride part was, and I didn't say it this
way. I promise I didn't say it. I think deep
down in my heart, I felt this way. I'm Keith
Wheeler. I'm tough. I can push through anything.
The doctor said that last four months when God
had me stay home, that if I would have traveled
during that four months from September to January,
that I would have died. Had I flown 100%. They
were surprised that I was still alive. But I
was just, you know, I've walked across deserts.
I've walked through jungles. I've walked through
wars. Sure. Whatever I was experiencing, I attributed
those pains to broken bones, all the things.
So I had symptoms. I ignored them because I thought
they were something else. Wow. I nearly died
from COVID. I'd had broken ribs, a punctured
lung, and COVID all at the same time. And so
you can see, I just thought it was the residual
of all of that. And then the fear part, it's
not the fear that I'm going to die. No, that's
a win -win situation. Yeah. Well, the fear for
me was 65 years old, 63, I guess at the time.
And if you look at any 60 plus year old guy at
his body, especially somebody who's eaten and
drank all the things and been exposed to as much,
you're going to find something. And I've watched
the TV commercials about meds. 75 % of the medicine
commercial is about all the side effects. So
then you're going to have to take more meds and
then your insurance rates are going to go up.
No, thanks. I'm just going to opt out. If Jesus
wants me to keep going, he'll keep me going was
kind of my motto. But I came home and was getting
ready to go to Africa. And I was going to be
leaving on a Saturday. But on Thursday night,
I had the same symptoms that I had that caused
me to go to the hospital in New York. And so
when I woke up, my wife said, if you weren't
traveling with somebody to Africa, I was going
to West Africa, Ivory Coast, Cote d 'Ivoire,
which has no health system. But she says, if
you weren't traveling with somebody, would you
still go? I said, I don't think so. I think I
would stay home and just figure out what's going
on. She goes, could you please? So we had a friend.
He arranged a stress test. I showed up at the
stress test. The lady looked at me and it's on
Friday. At 11 a .m., doctors leave at noon. And
she said, I can't give you this because the test
that you're going to pass, you look in great
shape. You're going to pass this test you need
to take is the nuclear test. So they tried. And
by now I'm having the symptoms again. So I go
to the ER and I wait three and a half hours in
the ER and they don't see me. And finally, my
wife says, baby, let's go home. I'd rather you
die at home than here in this place. Oh, my.
And so we start home, but now I've got a primary
care doctor who actually has become a dear, dear
friend of mine. We want to say thank you to him
and his nurses for trying to get me into the
nuclear test. So we take him some gift cards
from Chipotle. It was on the way home. And I
walk into their office and they say, oh my gosh,
turn around and go straight to the ER. And I
said, well, that's where we've just come from.
And they said, you need to go to the other one.
There's another hospital. Go to the other one.
I go to the other one, and the receptionist looks
at me, and she doesn't even take my information.
She said, oh, my goodness, come right away. And
she calls Code Blue, calls everybody to come
get me, and they start working on me. My first
nurse of all places, she was from Ivory Coast,
West Africa. Oh, my goodness. But I looked at
my princess, my wife, and I said, baby, I'm not
going to Africa tomorrow. But we're getting ready
to go on the best mission trip we've ever gone
on. It's going to be the hardest one. It's going
to be the most painful one. It's going to be
the most expensive one for sure. It's going to
be the best one. And I promise you, it was. It
100 % was the best mission trip we've ever been
on. Wow. We had Chipotle parties for all the
nurses. Chipotle bashes is what we call them.
Pizza parties for... We wanted to be the room
that every doctor, every tech, every nurse wanted
to come. We wanted to celebrate them. Before
they ask me how I'm doing, I'm going to ask you,
how are you doing? And there's not going to be
anybody that's going to come in there that's
not going to get a Jesus sticker. We had Jesus
stickers, little stones with crosses carved in
them, and those little wooden crosses from, olive
wood crosses from Bethlehem. We give them to
everybody. You're not going to get out of my
room. You can't leave unless I pray. I totally
manipulated the situation. I said, listen, you
can't deny a dying man his last request. Oh,
my. And so many other things. The night before
I had to have my surgery, they realized, you
know, your widow maker is 100 % blocked. You've
got major blockages, other arteries. So I said,
well, this may be the last time I'm on this planet.
I need to go outside. And the night before my
surgery, they got clearance. I went outside.
One of my best friends, my wife, my princess,
and a nurse. But before I went out there, it's
a Catholic hospital here in town. And the little
receptionist outside, her name was Summer. She
said, Mr. Wheeler, you can't leave without this.
In every room, they have a crucifix. And she
jumped up on the wall, pulled the crucifix off
and said, now you can go outside. You can carry
the cross. And so that became my journey. Somebody
else gave me a cross where we weren't stealing
it from the hospital. But I had a little wooden
cross in every walk around the hall, every exercise
that I did all along the way. I did with that
on my shoulder, reminding me that there's a purpose
in this. So as they wheel me downstairs, I said,
I need you guys to know a couple things. Number
one. You're about to saw me open, crack me open
and pull my heart out. And a lot of people are
praying for me. So you may get in there and you
may say, oh, crud, because you're going to see
a miracle. You're going to say, what are we going
to tell his wife? We didn't need to do this to
him. I said, or you're going to do that when
you hold my heart in your hand. You're going
to say, oh, that's what Jesus looks like because
he lives right in the middle of my heart. And
I know that you guys are some of the. best physicians
around, but I'd like to introduce you before
I go under to the greatest physician. And I have
them there. A couple of guys, doctors give their
lives to Jesus. I said, I'm sure that you, you
know, once I get in there, you put me to sleep,
take off my robe. You guys dance around, play
loud music and do what you're supposed to do.
Can I give you this playlist? And I had on my
phone instrumental worship. I said, can you just
play this while I'm under? And they did, and
they loved it. I said, and the last thing, I'm
sure you guys are amazing, but in baseball, if
you hit it four times out of 10, every time you
come up to the plate, and that doesn't even count
swings, four out of 10, you'll end up, make a
career of that, you'll be in the Hall of Fame.
My wife is a freshman counselor. Six out of 10
will get you to the next year. I hope you're
better than Hall of Fame baseball players and
freshmen trying to go to sophomore year. But
if you have an off day today and I close my eyes
and open them and see Jesus, it's a win. But
if I close my eyes today and I open them and
I see my fairy tale princess, it's a win. Either
way, it's a win -win. Have fun today. Wow. And
the rest of the story is the surgery was a success.
I made it to the room. Obviously, it's still
cardiac critical care unit. But I'm recovered.
three hours out of surgery. And the nurse just
came by to get some vitals and my heart stopped.
And my fairy tale princess was right there. Next
to her, my best friend since 1978 was there.
And I loved that she didn't run away. She moved
toward. And I'm convinced that in hospitals and
these units, they have ninja nurses. because
in no time there were 13 nurses all around me
trying to resuscitate me and bring me back. I
think they hide under your bed or behind the
plants in the corner, come out of the ceiling
tiles, but they were there. And they were great.
But people ask me, and you did before, and you
said, we'll wait until. Yeah. Did you see Jesus?
I'm convinced Jesus wants me here. Because that
four months leading up to it, and I won't talk
about this, but. Right before in September, I
was in Florida. I've never had this experience,
but Jesus came to me. And I won't describe it,
but I mean, physically, I saw him walk on the
water, take five steps on the water. He didn't
say anything, but it was amazing. And I think
he was preparing me for this. But that four months,
had I traveled, I would have been dead. So he
wants me here. And people say, did you see him?
I said, well, if I would have seen him, I'd still
be with him. He's too beautiful to step back
from. He knows me, but he came to me and he spoke
with me. He stood behind me and he put his right
hand on my right shoulder. And when your kids
are little and they're afraid to do something,
you squeeze their shoulder like you've got this.
He squeezed me three times. I can tell you exactly
where his four fingers were and where his thumb
was. And he didn't whisper, but there was definitely
no thunder. And his face was right here, four
inches, three inches from mine. And he just gently,
but so strongly said, my son, you don't have
to be afraid. I'm here and I'm with you. Beautiful.
And then he let me know that I had died. Told
me technically what had happened to me. And I
think that was for the purpose of the doctors
so I could tell them. And then he said, but don't
be afraid. I was dead. And I'm alive now. And
I'm the one who holds the keys to death and the
grave. So don't be afraid. I'm here. And I'm
with you. Wow. And once again, the greatest truth
of my life has been his presence. Yes. I mean,
that says. As I have walked down the road, people
say, first of all, do you have a plan when you
go to these countries? I say, Jesus has a plan.
This is my plan. Jesus has a plan. I don't want
there to be any explanation for Keith Wheeler's
life when they put him in the ground the last
time besides Jesus. And when I go someplace,
many times I don't know anybody over there. Most
of the time, I don't know anybody over there
except Jesus. And the only one I know who's going
to speak English for sure is Jesus. And the only
one I know for sure who knows where I'm going
to sleep is Jesus. Wow. And some nights he's
had me sleep on park benches or bus stops. I
can promise you that he slept there with me.
He's been with me. And some nights I've slept,
it's been raining and he's helped me find either
a bridge that I could sleep under. Or he's helped
me find a playground. I sleep under a slide to
get out of a little bit of rain. But he was with
me. Some nights I've been in prison, surrounded
by other people. But Jesus was right there with
me. Some nights I get to stay in somebody's home.
They invite me, and that's just the best. Sometimes
that's the king or the prime minister or the
president. But some nights, I don't have a place.
And I walk all night long because Jesus just
wants to visit with me. And I just say, how can
you describe that? How do you describe that feeling
of getting on a plane and going where I've never
been? And I don't know a soul and nothing is
arranged. How do you describe that? And going
to sleep and you don't know where you're going
to sleep. How do you describe how your body feels
at the end of the day when you walked in the
hot heat? All day long, the cross is bearing
down on you. Your sun burned or you're wet. Your
eyes are stinging from sweat dripping in your
eyes. You're so thirsty and dehydrated you can't
even spit. How do you describe that? Your feet
are blistered. And it's all you can do to take
another step. And everything in me is crying
out to stop. I think there's only one word. That's
glory. It's the beauty and the glory of God.
Because He's there. Wow. Glory to God. You know,
there's physical abuse and physical trauma, really,
that you've been through and, you know, weather
and all this sort of thing. But there have also
been heartaches. And I think you've been through
times where, thinking of the book of Job. you
know, first his kids are wiped out and then his,
I don't remember the order of them, but you know,
the flocks are gone, the herds are gone, the
kids are gone, everything, bang, bang, bang,
bang, bang, bang. And now he's covered with boils.
Sometimes life brings us those series of things.
And I can tell from your description of your
walk with Jesus that He has been, I'll just say
it this way, in one of my hardest times in life,
tremendous pain I was in. I had a herniated disc
and we were traveling and I could feel every
seam in the road. Every seam. I mean, you know,
there's seams every so many feet. Yeah. I could
feel every seam in the road. But the sweetness
of his presence. Yeah. To me. It was like I would
go through anything to have this sweetness. So
you went through a season where you had bam,
bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam against you. And
you talked to us before this session about the
choices that you were presented with. Can you
just outline that for us to give our listeners
hope if they're going through one of those bam,
bam, bam situations? Yeah, the first thing I
would say to frame it, probably one of the greatest
gifts that God has ever given me, apart from
his presence, apart from my family, has been
the gift of perspective. And I'll never forget
when God gave me this gift. A moment, I can tell
you the moment. I was in, of all places, Fiji.
Now, when most people think Fiji, you think beautiful
beaches. I've seen beaches in Fiji, and I've
never seen what I would call a beautiful beach.
I'm sure they have them at the resorts. But Fiji
is so mountainous, and the interior is so treacherous.
It's called the world's greatest endurance race,
and the last one that they had was there. The
last third of a walk, I had walked from a place
called Nandi, which is where you fly in, down
to Suva, which is, and that's a long walk, which
is the capital. And then I was going up north
through the interior. And it was before they
had, I've been there since, and now the road
is paved. But in those days, it was old dirt
road. You guys know about dirt roads? Oh, yeah.
We live on one. This was more like a logging
trail. Wow. Dirt road. Ruts. Yes, and through
the jungle. And so at night, it would rain every
night. It was as regular as a clock goes around.
The rain was a relief because up until then,
mosquitoes were just draining the blood out of
you. It's warm, warm, warm, warm, and you can
barely sleep. So much so that in the daytime,
my eyes would be so puffy. My eyelids, I couldn't
open my eyes. They were just swollen and full
of fluid. I had a safety pin. I would have to
lance the edges of it and drain my eyelids. Oh,
wow. Just so I could open my eyes. Oh, my. And
itching. But the rain, you get wet, you get jungle
rot, and I'm sleeping on the jungle floor. There
are leeches, and leeches don't just get on your...
The parts that are, you can see, they crawl inside
your clothes. So you're having to pull off leeches
every morning. And then because I'm soaking and
soggy and the temperature is hot and it's uneven,
I started getting blisters. And I didn't just
get one or two blisters. I went through, when
you get a blister, it breaks and the skin is
new skin, red underneath, painful. I went through
four layers of skin. Oh, my. And the only way
to keep your feet from hurting is to keep moving,
then your feet go numb. But I wasn't eating or
drinking properly, so I was cramping. So my calves
would cramp, my toes would cramp, my hamstrings,
my rear end, the muscles in my low back to support
the cross. Everything was cramping, so I couldn't
keep moving. Just to be honest, I was whining.
Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. Wish I was
home, sitting in the air -conditioned room, watching
a football game. Wish I was eating some good
food. And my feet. Oh, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah,
my feet. And I got to the next little town, village,
and there was a fellow there. And I guess he'd
been waiting for days. He had an ear -to -ear
grin. He was happier than I've ever been. And
he said, I heard you were coming. I haven't left
this place for days because I didn't want to
miss you. And the moment that I saw him, I got
that gift of perspective. Here I am complaining
about my feet, my legs, and the sunburn, and
the mosquitoes, and the leeches. This fellow
lives in it. This fellow doesn't have any legs.
And he doesn't even have a wheelchair. He's got
this little square piece of plywood. And it's
not even plywood. It's skinny plywood. And he's
got four coaster wheels on the bottom of it.
And he pushes himself around with two wooden
blocks. It's logging trails that he's pushing
himself. Muddy, rainy season logging trails.
And he's happier than I've ever been. Here I
am complaining about my feet and he doesn't have
legs. And what I saw in that moment is, first
of all, pain is a gift. Because pain lets you
know something is wrong. That's why leprosy is
so important. Evil. Because leprosy doesn't kill
you. Leprosy numbs the nerves. And then you get
hurt and you don't know it and you get an infection
and you die. So pain is a gift. And that's what
our world's culture has done. It's numbness.
Take a pill for this. Here's seven steps to peace
and happiness. And so we've numbed down our soul's
ability even to feel. And so he took me to his
house. He lived under a bridge. That's where
all the mosquitoes came from. And he fed me.
The only bread that he had, you could have thrown
it through the drywall in the wall of your home.
But he gave what he had. So I saw in that moment,
yes, things can get better. I can be closer to
God. I can be closer to my fairytale princess,
my kiddos, my friends. I can be in better health.
I can have more stuff. But things can always
get worse. And if I remember that, then I have
a heart of gratitude. And a heart of gratitude
is a heart of joy. Very true. So I took that.
That was part of the lesson. And I went through
this horrible season. And this horrible season,
I kept remembering things can always get worse.
In fact, in the hospital last year, people would
often say, how are you doing? I said, I'm better
than 99 .99 % of the people on the planet. I've
got a hole in my chest, but you know what? I'm
better because my heart is doing so well. My
soul is doing so well. And even when I was going
through this painful season, I mean, literally,
there was one short part of it. I literally lost
10 and a half pounds in two days just from crying
and weeping so hard. There was so much loss.
There was so much brokenness, so many things
taken away from me. Honestly, up until that time,
everything I touched was golden. So it was just
such a juxtaposition of two different ways of
living. Everything that I knew. Everything that
I held dear, I literally, it was Job -esque.
And it was a season that lasted, one day was
too long, but it lasted nearly seven years. Wow.
And I remember in my apartment, I looked out
and it's looking out over the Arkansas River
here and nothing like the Buffalo River, but
it's a sunset. You know, we've got sandy, muddy
water. You guys got clear water, beautiful bluffs.
But you can see deer, you can see bald eagles
and the sunset every night. And I had a choice.
Do I want to look at that? Or if I look down,
that's where the dumpster for the whole apartment
community was. I got a choice. Am I going to
look at the beauty or am I going to look at the
dump? Yeah. And during that season, God gave
me this incredible scripture. It's in Isaiah
chapter six. It starts out, verse one says, in
the year that King Uzziah died. If you notice,
it didn't say in the day or the month or the
week or the moment. It said in the year because
it seems like sometimes when something bad happens,
something else bad happens. It seems like sometimes
it's an avalanche and it feels like your soul
can't take it. But the next part of that sentence
says, I saw the Lord. High and lifted up. And
the train of his robe filled the temple. And
then it talks about in verse two, these glorious
creatures, the seraphim and how they look. And
it's just amazing. And verse three, it says,
and they said one to another, holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty or the Lord of hosts
or the Lord of armies. The whole earth is full
of his glory. The thing that's important is it
doesn't matter whose political party you're on,
even if you didn't like the king, that's still
a tragedy for the nation. The king is dead. But
he, in that year, wasn't the only one who died.
Somebody lost their spouse. Somebody lost their
child. Somebody went to jail. There were wars
that were fought. Tragedy happened. Babies went
to bed. Children were molested. That wasn't the
only bad thing that happened. Right. So these
creatures say the whole. And when I grew up,
if you wanted to emphasize something, you drug
the word out. So it wasn't just the whole earth.
It's the whole earth. What does whole mean? It's
every part of the earth. Every single part of
the earth is, not will be, not was, right now
is full. I mean. Full is overflowing. Yeah. Every
square millimeter of the earth right now is overflowing
with the glory of God. Wow. Yes. Hallelujah.
And how could they say that? Somebody's baby
died. Somebody, the king died. You know, we lost
this war and this child was molested and hurt.
And how could you say that? And I realized the
secret was. Their eyes were on a king, but not
the dead king. Their eyes were on the king of
all kings. And then I started looking through
scripture and you could go and start out in numbers
and the spies go into the land, but everybody
comes back and says, oh, it's scary. It's dangerous.
There's giants. Yeah, there's good stuff. But
we're like grasshoppers in our own eyes. And
otherwise they were looking at themselves and
they were looking at the giants. They weren't
looking at our God. Right. Josh and Caleb had
a little bit different story. And then you look
at David, you know, his parents say, hey, take
up some peanut butter sandwich, take up some
shawarmas and falafels to your buddies, to your
brothers. And he can't find them because they're
hiding. And he says, where are you hiding from?
And they said, it's a giant. And he peeks and
he says, no, that's a target I can't miss. Valley
of dry bones. What do you see? Oh, I see an exceeding
great army. What am I choosing to look at? Giants,
dead bones. And in the New Testament, Jesus sends
the disciples across the Sea of Galilee. And
the waves come up. It's the darkest part of the
night. And they say, we're going to die. And
they look up and they see Jesus walking to them
on the water. And because of the darkness of
the night, but because of the darkness that fear
brings, they look at Jesus and they say, they
never had seen a ghost. But they chose to see
a ghost instead of the God of glory walking to
them on water. Fast forward, Jesus is crucified.
He's buried. He comes out of the grave. And John
chapter 20 starts out by saying, while it was
still dark. And yeah, the sun hadn't come up,
but it meant the darkness in their heart because
the loss that they'd suffered, the pain, the
sorrow. And Mary goes to the tomb. She doesn't
see one. I know some of your listeners have seen
angels. I've never seen a real angel with wings
and muscles and swords drawn. I've never seen
the glory like that. But she sees two big angels
rolled away the stone. Stone rolled away. Jesus'
clothes folded. The tomb is empty. And she turns
around and she's face to face with Jesus. And
she sees a gardener. Because it was still dark.
Because of the darkness of her sorrow, because
of the darkness of their fear, they saw gardeners
and ghosts and giants. And it's really what am
I choosing to look at? The gift of perspective
puts everything in perspective. Yes. And that
perspective is Jesus is here right now. I can't
see him, but I can't see air. Without air, I'm
a goner. I'm a goner. I need air desperately.
And I need him desperately. More than I need
my next breath. More than I need my next heartbeat.
Because when I do close my eyes and he doesn't
just put his hand on my shoulder, one day I'm
going to see him face to face. Yes. But in between
time, he's promised to take me by the hand. And
through the darkest valleys, I've walked into
drug dens, more than 40 nations at war. I've
walked through. I've walked through difficulties
and challenges, both personal and ministry wise.
And Jesus has never, ever, ever left me. He promises,
I will never leave you. I will never forsake
you. And in the original language, we can't say
it this way because it loses, but it's, I will
never, never, ever leave you. And I will never,
ever, never, ever, never forsake you. Wow. That's
a great promise. Yes. He'll be with us to the
end of the age. Amen. And nothing, nothing, nothing.
I remember during the season, I went outside
and said, Jesus, I don't understand everything.
And I felt like he whispered in my soul, son,
if you understood everything, you'd be me. I
felt like he said, when your theology fails,
when your understanding of who I am and of my
ways fails, I want you to know this. I'll never
fail you. And I'll never forsake you. I'll be
with you always, even through the valley of the
shadow of death, even to the ends of the earth.
And that will be enough. Hallelujah. He didn't
give me any answers for what I was going through,
except my presence will go with you. Yeah. I'd
much rather go through difficult times with him
than great times without him. I remember a card
we got from our Orthodox travel agent. Yeah.
Sent us a card. And she said, sometimes we go
through things that only God understands. I thought
that is so well said. Yeah. And Jesus said, in
this world, you will, he promised us, we will
have struggles, have tribulation. There will
be problems and confusion. But he said, take
courage. I have overcome the world. Right. And
he is our peace. He is the one who guards our
hearts and mind with his perfect peace. Times
of refreshing come from his presence. He's near
those who are brokenhearted. The sacrifices of
God are a broken and contrite heart. He promises
that even if weeping endures for a night, a shout
of joy is going to come in the morning. And that
we get to exchange ashes and we get to receive
beauty. What a deal. I'll say this last one and
this kind of relates. It does relate. I was carrying
the cross in Africa one time and I was hot and
I was tired. I came over this hill and I was
just wonderstruck. There was the most beautiful,
magnificent, spectacular tree I've ever seen
in my life. The flowers, the color, the size.
I don't know if it was the flowers I was smelling.
It had fruit in it. It makes my mouth water to
this day to think about. And they had these little
weaver birds that make upside down nests. It
was full of life. They had little monkeys. I
was awestruck. I mean, it was just, it was awesome.
And I just kept, I sat there and looking and
looking. And okay, I've got to get on down the
road. And I leaned down to pick up the cross
to put it back on my shoulder. And when I looked
down, I saw the shadow of that tree. And I felt
like Jesus said, look at that shadow and look
at that tree. And look at that shadow again and
look at the tree again. What can you tell me
about that tree from that shadow? Well, I couldn't
tell texture. I couldn't tell flavor. I couldn't
tell scent. I couldn't tell anything except the
general outline. I felt like he said, my son,
I've given you a privilege that very few have
ever had. I've allowed you to see the icebergs
of Antarctica. I've allowed you to see the great
migrations of the Serengeti and the Masa Mara.
I've allowed you to see the sunsets. In the South
Pacific. But as beautiful as what you've seen
is, it is as that shadow is to that tree of what
I'm preparing for you. Yes. Wonderful. And the
awesome thing is, yeah, heaven's pretty cool,
but he fills heaven. Yes. Jesus fills heaven.
Yes. How can anyone describe that? That comes
back to what I said. How do you describe all
this? There's only one word. That's glory. Amen.
That's the glory and the beauty, the majesty
of the presence of God. Beautiful, beautiful,
beautiful. Thank you, Jesus. Wow. What would
you pray for our listeners? King Jesus, we bow
together with angels and archangels and elders
and saints and living creatures. And we say worthy
is the lamb who is slain. Yes. To receive honor
and glory and blessing and power. You're worthy.
You're so beautiful. And I thank you for every
listener right now. That's taking the time with
us. That's given us the gift of their time. And
I ask that you would meet with them where they
are. For those who are confused. For those who
are lonely. For those who are broken. For those
who, as I said, just couldn't stop weeping. They
have the dry heaves of the soul. Their breath
seems to be taken away from them. For those that
are facing sickness and illness. For those who
are taking care of someone who's sick. For those
who lost loved ones. Thank you that you're near
the brokenhearted. Yes. And your promise is that
you're faithful. Yes. And I pray that those big
arms you stretched out on the cross, you would
hold them close and you would give them the grace
to trace their name that you carved in the palm
of your hands, that they would know that you
have kept every tear that they've ever cried
in your bottom. I pray that they would hear you
singing and dancing over them. I pray that you
would encourage them to keep moving forward,
to keep leaning into you. Leaning their head
on your chest and allowing you to hold them.
Would you bless them? Would you strengthen them?
May they hear your voice. Yes. Beautiful Jesus.
Beautiful, beautiful Jesus. We adore you. Yes,
Lord. Yes, Father. Thank you for your strength.
Thank you for your compassion. Thank you that
you weep together with them. But Lord, I also
know that you are mighty. You are strong. And
that there's nothing in nature. There's nothing
created by man. There's no name that's greater
than your name. No power that's greater than
your power. And I know that you're the same yesterday,
today, and forever. And I pray for every one
of our listeners that you would touch them. I
thank you that you're the restorer. That you
would restore them. That you would redeem them.
I pray that you'd be mighty in the midst of their
pain. Yes. I pray for great miracles. Reach out
your nail scarred hand and touch them and make
them whole. Yes, Lord. May each of our listeners
fulfill every dream, every plan, every purpose
that you dreamed for them even before they were
formed in their mother's womb. Amen. May they
fulfill all the days that you've appointed for
them. Yes. And every purpose. We adore you. Yes,
Jesus. And we pray it in that name that is so
high, so beautiful, so precious. And we're honored
to say your name, Jesus. Amen. Amen. And while
we were doing that, do you know what this is?
I'll describe it to the listeners. It's a blue
bottle. It's hand -blown glass. It was given
to me in Iran. And it's a funny -looking bottle.
And I asked them, what is this bottle? They said,
it's a tear -catcher. And I said, I don't understand.
What do you mean? And they said, in the old days
of battle, When the soldiers would go off to
fight, the wives would miss their husbands so
much. They wanted to show, to demonstrate how
much they loved their husbands. Oh, wow. And
so whenever they started crying, missing their
husbands, they would cry their tears into the
bottle. And when their husbands would come home,
they would hold up the bottle and they would
say, this is how much I love you. This is how
much I miss you. Wow. And the Bible tells us
that every tear that we've ever cried. Jesus
has kept in his bottle. It's true. Yeah. And
when we get home, he's going to hold up that
bottle or for some of us buckets. And he will
say, this is how precious you were. Every tear
you've ever cried, I've kept in my bottle. Every
prayer that we've ever prayed, he's kept in a
golden bowl. During COVID, we found my baby book
and my mama wrote down all these things. First
hair, first tooth loss, first steps. He didn't
write just down the first steps. He's written
down every step. He's carved her name in the
palm of his hand. He loves us. And He didn't
just carve our name. He was crucified on a cross
and rose again. He loves us, and every detail
matters to Him. Amen. Your review helps the podcasting
platform suggest this podcast to other listeners
who are also looking for a great move of the
Holy Spirit. Check out our website at globaloutpouring
.org to find out more information, read our blogs,
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our web store for life -changing anointed books.
Until next time, this is Sharon Buss. And I'm
Philip Buss. God bless you with His overwhelming,
loving presence.