Have you ever been caught off-guard by a sudden realization or insight that completely shifted your perspective? Join us on today's Finding Faith and Losing Sleep podcast as we reminisce about our own AHA moments and how they've impacted our faith journeys. We share personal stories, like Wes and Pierre's vehicle-buying experience with a Gideon's sign and Michelle's house-hunting adventure that led to divine intervention, emphasizing the power of specific prayer and openness to God's plan.
Dive into the story of Cornelius from the book of Acts, where an angelic messenger delivers an AHA moment that changes his life. We also discuss the importance of being bold and listening to God's calling, with examples from biblical figures like Gideon, Paul, Peter, and Jesus' disciples. Discover how God can use people as messengers, and learn that sometimes the answers to our prayers may come in unexpected ways.
Faith journeys are not meant to be traveled alone, and we believe in the power of community and connection. That's why we encourage you, our listeners, to reach out, share your thoughts, and join us in building a supportive network of faith seekers. So, let's embark on this quest together, uncovering our AHA moments and reminding ourselves that we are never alone in our pursuit of a deeper relationship with God.
Email: findingfaith.losingsleep@gmail.com
Twitter: @FindingFaithPod
Have you ever been caught off-guard by a sudden realization or insight that completely shifted your perspective? Join us on today's Finding Faith and Losing Sleep podcast as we reminisce about our own AHA moments and how they've impacted our faith journeys. We share personal stories, like Wes and Pierre's vehicle-buying experience with a Gideon's sign and Michelle's house-hunting adventure that led to divine intervention, emphasizing the power of specific prayer and openness to God's plan.
Dive into the story of Cornelius from the book of Acts, where an angelic messenger delivers an AHA moment that changes his life. We also discuss the importance of being bold and listening to God's calling, with examples from biblical figures like Gideon, Paul, Peter, and Jesus' disciples. Discover how God can use people as messengers, and learn that sometimes the answers to our prayers may come in unexpected ways.
Faith journeys are not meant to be traveled alone, and we believe in the power of community and connection. That's why we encourage you, our listeners, to reach out, share your thoughts, and join us in building a supportive network of faith seekers. So, let's embark on this quest together, uncovering our AHA moments and reminding ourselves that we are never alone in our pursuit of a deeper relationship with God.
Email: findingfaith.losingsleep@gmail.com
Twitter: @FindingFaithPod
It's time to wake up and pray up here on the Finding Faith and Losing Sleep podcast, the AHA edition. The AHA edition, pierre. I told you last time I had a great idea, which doesn't happen very often, and I thought the AHA edition of this podcast would be a good one, and so it's kind of like an AHA moment for me right now.
Speaker 2:Well, there you go, And it also shows our listeners that I do listen myself to you And I take suggestions. So hopefully you know they'll shoot over some suggestions as well. We have some thoughts on what we want to do move forward, But right now it's AHA moments.
Speaker 1:Michelle, is that true? Does he listen?
Speaker 3:For the most part. yes, i would say he does See you try to set me up.
Speaker 1:You set yourself up. I was just going with the flow. You threw the little softball pitch up to me and I was trying to knock it out of the park there. Hey, that is Michelle and Pierre. They are a married couple here on the Finding Faith and Losing Sleep podcast. You can find them on Twitter at Pee Wee. 31 for Pierre and Michelle is at GoPackGo911 now that Aaron Rodgers is out.
Speaker 3:That is not 1-1. You're right.
Speaker 1:It's GoPackGo at 411. And you can find the podcast as well over on Twitter at Finding Faith Pod. Right, Is that what it is?
Speaker 2:That's correct. It's a podcast platform From Apple Podcasts, spotify, iheartradio, all the things were available, so take a listen.
Speaker 1:We are And tons of past episodes that I think are probably green Is that the right word, the terminology green? They stay, they have staying power is what they do. It's not time sensitive or anything like that. So you can find out a little bit more about us, find out a little bit more about the podcast and some of the other episodes that we have covered and some of the other thoughts that we have covered, because we're just a normal, average everyday podcast, talking about normal average everyday concerns, because that's all we are Normal average everyday people. That's what we are and that's what we try to talk about are things that keep us awake at night, and that's why our name is Finding Faith and Losing Sleep Podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and there's concerns. There's sometimes positives, but there's still thoughts. So there's things that you think about. You're trying to better understand yourself, and I think sometimes the best way to understand is to talk things out and talk things through with others that are struggling with the same thing.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, it's always good to have other people involved in things, and if you would like to be involved with the show, if you have a topic that you'd like for us to discuss, or if you have comments, something that we may have glossed over that you that you have some insight on, maybe that we said wrong or anything like that, pierre, tell them how they can get in touch with us via an email.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so findingfafelosingsleepcom, i did have some. I can't remember. I have to pull it up. I wish I didn't think about this, but there was an episode where we were talking about. I don't even know what you're talking about now, it just completely lost me. But I'll look it up because there's a thought where I said something at the end about how it didn't have anything to do with what we were discussing and I got pointed out that it actually did have something we were due.
Speaker 1:We'll circle back, i'll find that and be more prepared for it next time, michelle, you must have wrote the email, because it sounds like you pointed something out there for Pierre.
Speaker 3:I didn't, but it would be a good idea. Maybe that's what I should start doing. Wes Like, if I have something I want to complain about, I'm just going to send it anonymously through the email to Pierre.
Speaker 1:I don't steal my tricks, Michelle. Hey, you can also leave a comment or leave anything you want to on whatever listening platform you like to listen to the show on. Anything like that is always helpful to the show, not helpful to us. We're not here to brag, We're not here to complain. We're not here to get a million likes, a million downloads or anything like that. if it just helps one person, that's all we're after. And the aha moment, I couldn't help it. You guys remember that song by aha, the take on me song. What are the lyrics to that song? You take on me Remember? Take on me take me on.
Speaker 2:I'll be gone in a day or two.
Speaker 1:I think maybe How did you know that? I didn't know that until I heard the slow down, really like when they're older, and he just really slowed it down and he tried to hit that note. He did a good job. I mean he was older and he did a good job.
Speaker 2:but that me that was always one of my favorite songs. I remember the song. I really liked the video. It was like the little caricature where they were drawing. He was stepping out of the drawing or something like that. I remember that as a kid. I was a youngster when that came out.
Speaker 1:I was too, but it was kind of an aha moment for her because she was looking through the magazine or the newspaper or whatever it was that she was looking through And these things started coming to life and she's like, oh, and then the lady threw it away and she ended up being. I don't remember the exact video, but I just know she had an aha moment And I think about some of the aha moments that have happened in my life in relation to God or in relation to spirituality And there's been plenty of aha moments in the Bible as well, where people just get I don't want to say woke, because that's taken on a different terminology nowadays, but they did. They got woken up, i guess, from their sleep or their slumber, or there was a new idea or a new revelation.
Speaker 1:Michelle, and you're the one who struck this up whenever you were talking about your house And I still remember what you said The real estate agent called you and called you a kiddo. He said, hey, kiddo, i got some bad news and some good news, but yeah, that's just an aha moment. Sometimes we're God, it feels like nudges us in a certain direction and we're like, oh, thank you for letting me know and making it so clear to me And I know that was a thought for you, michelle about the real estate agent.
Speaker 3:It was and something, and you just said that to us and it really struck me when and I never thought about it until you just said it. but he said I have some bad news And sometimes just to I'll come back to that what I was going to say. but to talk about that, oftentimes we might think we're delivering bad news, but what he didn't know is that was the best news he could have given me, because I was struggling with that, making that decision, and I didn't think about it until you just said it about bad news, but it was actually the best news. So sometimes we might think we're delivering bad news to somebody, but it might be exactly what they need to hear. So back to what he said Yes, he said you know he had some bad news, that the other house had an accepted offer And you know just to kind of expand on that a little bit, it really blows my mind looking back, because it was my first house. I had moved back to Indiana from out of state and I just didn't have anything And the people that I bought the house from. Irony of all ironies, i had a max that I wanted to spend. It was $30,000. outside of that max. I was approved for it but I wasn't about to spend that much And they dropped.
Speaker 3:when I was in the other house looking at it, trying to decide between the two, is when they called and said, drop it $30,000, let's get it sold. And I heard the realtor like trying to tell them why don't you just rent it or something for a little while Long. you know, story shorter. I said okay. after he told me the other house had an accepted offer, i went to look at it again and he was late getting there. So they asked if they could come over.
Speaker 3:they were sitting across the street at the church, asked if they could come over and meet me because the owner, the gentleman, had built the house. It was on like his family's land and he wanted to know basically who's going to buy it, that they're going to take good care of it. And when they came in and talked to me, they walked me through the house and they said you know, if you buy this house, we'll give you this bed and we'll give you this desk and like these recliners and plants and patio sets, i mean like all kinds of stuff that they gave me because I didn't have anything. And but in the midst of that, the thing that really stuck out to me is the lady the wife had had. I just donned on me that it was melanoma, sorry.
Speaker 1:You're all right.
Speaker 3:So she had had melanoma, which, for those of you that don't know, is what I'm currently dealing with. She had it externally, though, and she'd had the one spot removed previously. She said she went through chemo and radiation, and she told me that. She said honey, I want you to know something. I can feel the love exuding from you and I want you to know, if you buy this house, God is in this house. She said. I'm just going to tell you a quick story.
Speaker 3:I was walking by this trash can right here one day, and my cancer had come back, and I decided not to do the treatment again. I just said I'm putting it in God's hands and if he wants it to go away, it's going to go away. If he doesn't, it won't. That's just how it's going to be. She said I was walking by and I heard something hit in the trash can. I thought I knocked something off of the counter. She said I took a shower, went to the bathroom and I'm putting lotion on, and I realized that melanoma that spot literally fell off into the trash can. That was the sound that she had heard, and she was cancer-free. I guess that was an aha moment for me, right there, as we're recording. I just realized that it was basically the same thing. Anyway, it's just incredible to be able to see things come full circle, and I guess that's how God speaks to me is when things come full circle, and it's just too much to be coincidence.
Speaker 1:Yes, it definitely is. Whenever I pray for God to I don't want to say speak to me, but just to make things clear for me, pierre I always ask him not to use a hammer over the top of my head, because I'm not always quick to listen. It seems like there's a lot of things going on and everything. It's one of those things where I don't want God to have to shot with a megaphone just to get my attention. I don't want him to hit me over the top of the head with a hammer. It just didn't order for me to be able to slow down and listen to him a little bit, or to maybe go in a direction that he wants me to go in.
Speaker 2:Well, it's tough because I know even now Michelle and I will talk about, not that we're afraid to pray we're not afraid to pray but we're conscious to be careful and subconsciously, i guess, to be careful with how we pray, because God answers and it's in ways that we may not be willing or wanting him to answer. Again, we talked about her cancer diagnosis and hopefully I'm not going to stumble over what she's going to discuss, but she had mentioned her having an internal issue of giving things to God and in past, obviously that cancer diagnosis. There's nothing else you can do. When I even think about it from ourselves.
Speaker 2:We're married and just like any other married couples, we have some struggles here or there with disagreements, with a variety of things, but even some of my prayers has helped to make our marriage stronger. There will be things that I would pray. The cancer battle honestly made our marriage stronger as well, and I wish it could have been something else, obviously. But that's the thing like. Sometimes what you pray for is going to be you going into the fire and getting pulled out stronger made new those type of situations, because God's answer is going to be maybe different than what you're picturing in your head.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, i was similar to a story whenever we were honeymooners and we were trying to buy a house and everything like that. Michelle, we found this old country house. Now, keep in mind, you guys know my childhood a little bit. You can go back and listen to some of those past podcasts to find out more about me but essentially I was just a nomad. I just moved around from place to place, apartment to apartment. It was just one of those things. I found this old country house, and it was a great deal two and a half acres of land, a fixer upper. The only problem is I didn't know which side of the hammer to use. Yeah, i just didn't know how to fix up anything, and so this place became a money pit. For us is what it ended up becoming, and that was the house that ended up burning down and everything later on.
Speaker 1:Eventually, way down the road, but all along the way of buying the house, there were just tons of obstacles, obstacles after obstacles. I mean, we're having to climb over walls and do this. You know the mortgage company would say that, the other person would say this, and it was one of those things where God just didn't have that path laid out before us and making it easy Not that everything should always be easy, but, man, looking back at it in hindsight, as a mature Christian now, i wish I could have seen the tea leaves back then where God was trying to keep us. I believe trying to keep us out of the house. He didn't want us in that house. Yeah, it's just one of those things where I don't know what it was that we were, other than our money disappearing in that house, but I just think that he was trying to keep us out of there. Whenever you look back at it and seeing all the different hurdles and obstacles that we had to overcome to even get in there, Well, and then it burned down.
Speaker 3:So I think the message is loud and clear.
Speaker 1:Well then it goes back to the epiphany that I had out here with my daughter riding the bicycle and all that, and that's an apostat podcast, so you'll have to listen to a couple of those just to find out which one that one is. Pierre can tell you which one it is specifically, probably because he hangs on every word that I say. But I also think I think, though, being specific about prayers, pierre, you go back to being careful about the prayers that you say. I think back to Gideon, who had an aha moment as well. He was chosen by God to deliver the Israelites out of the Midianites hands, and it was, he was, he was the guy, and there was an angel, the Lord, that came to him even at some point, and the angel, the Lord, was sitting underneath this tree And he's like hey, there were a young warrior of God, and so Gideon's attention. But then Gideon wasn't quite sure of all this stuff. He, he did what God asked him to do, which was tear down some of the old statues of Baal and some of the old statues of some woman or something like that that he wanted to tear down. So he did those things in the middle of the night because he was still a little bit concerned that he was going to get some resistance from the Israelite people and from the people of the surrounding areas. And then God was like OK, now, this is what I want you to do. And Gideon was like OK, god, i got to ask you to do me a favor, just give me a little bit of a sign. And so essentially what he said was I'm going to lay down a blanket, and if the blanket is wet and the ground around it is dry, then I'll know you really want me to do this, ok. So Gideon is asking He's a judge, right? It's guy that God chose to do this. So he asked him, he asked God to do it. So that night the blanket got wet and the ground stayed dry. And Gideon was like OK, all right, lord, tonight let me lay down another blanket, and if the grass gets wet around it and the blanket stays dry, then I'll know you're really talking to me. You know. So, being specific about our prayers, i don't think it's necessarily a bad thing, but it's listening for God's reply. And you talked about God answering those kind of prayers, and I think he does. But we've got to make sure it's not ourselves answering those prayers And we're trying to see the direction God has for us.
Speaker 1:I bought a truck one time It was the first truck I ever bought And a guy down here in Alabama. You've got to have a truck And it was a nice, pretty truck. I was getting a great deal on it And I wasn't sure if I should buy the truck. The guy let me drive it home that night just to think about it. You know how car salesmen are. They get you in that car, they get in your driveway. You ain't going to return that thing. But I didn't know if we could afford it and all that. So I was like I don't know.
Speaker 1:I really wanted it, though. I really wanted the truck, and I remembered that story about Gideon And I said, ok, all right, let's do this. And so I went out there. I stood by the truck. I pulled a quarter out of my pocket. Is what I did? I pulled a quarter out of my pocket And I said, lord, i'm going to go to the truck. If you want me to have the truck Heads, i get it.
Speaker 1:Tails. I don't. That's what I did. I put my hey, hey. I don't know if that's right or wrong? I don't know. I'm just going by Gideon's example. I don't think it's wrong, i, so I did it. I flipped the coin, came over, put it on my hand tails, i don't get it. And I looked up at the sky and I said okay, lord, that's two out of three. You know, it actually came up heads, turned out to be a great truck I, i just I drove it for years and years and years and years. So it was an awesome vehicle. But I don't think that that's necessarily wrong And I don't think that I'm putting God to the test y'all. Maybe I'm, maybe I'm wrong on that, but I just don't think I'm testing God with that, because I'm not. I'm not daring him to do something.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm, i agree, and I I had a similar car type situation. So with the vehicle I have now, we actually were looking for Michelle. Mostly she, she had sold her car, was looking for something else. So she had been looking for a while and I started having issues with a hybrid where it just got to the point the cost To do any type of repair was just too substantial. So where I was like, okay, well, we'll start to look in, i Had I kind of saved and you know, reached out to a couple of dealerships via email About a few cars that we had kind of screwed up, you know, looking through in bed middle of the night, and in doing so Michelle showed me one there look like almost a glitch on her phone, like it kept appearing over and over and over again Yeah, no matter what, like she's going to multiple sites in this same car, keep showing up in a row and I'm like, okay, whatever.
Speaker 2:So Stoops was a dealership that was supposed to to call me the next day to kind of set up, you know some time for me to come in and, you know, test drive, do the standard things. And it's about Five minutes before they're supposed to call and I start to pray at my my work desk saying, you know, lord, if you know this, this car for me, if you can just kind of help the process to go as smoothly as possible, yes, and something reliable, you're not really appreciated. Second, i stopped praying, my phone dings like a text message. I get up across the room and it's a completely different dealership saying hey, thank you for the interest in our car. We were trying to reach out to you, get an idea if you want to come in and test drive it. And I'm looking and I'm like I don't. I remember looking at this car like what car? what brain it like? it shows like Lincoln. What I have shows a Lincoln. And like what car, or is this? so I go to their website and I look at what the car is that they're reaching out to me about. It's a dealership I hadn't reached out to myself And it's the car that kept appearing on Michelle's phone over and over and over again, is the car that they're reaching me out about.
Speaker 2:So I send them a text, because we're now about 15, 20 minutes beyond when students are supposed to call me. So I go ahead and reach out to this dealership to text me and say, hey, i didn't reach out, but you know, if it's something available I'd like to, you know, come look and test it out. So ended up setting up a time with them, as they caught me back immediately after I responded to their text. We ended up going, you know, test driving a couple while we were there And we were in between a few and I ended up walking around towards the back, this blue car that kept appearing and there's like an emblem of the star of David On the back of this vehicle. I'm like, okay, i gotta get this vehicle. We ended up getting that vehicle. Stoops actually never caught me, never contacted me, and it's been a very reliable call.
Speaker 3:So Hey, he was like, did you contact them about this car? and I was like, nope, sure did not Miss crazy.
Speaker 1:I like those stories. I do because I I Don't know now how to necessarily approach all those things all the time, because I grew up without a father. So as a father now I know, as my children asked me for things, i'm like, okay, yeah, you're asking me for stuff And I I don't want you just to use me, though to bail you out of a situation, you know, or to use me just to get whatever it is you want. Yeah, i would like to get it My, my, my opinion, to give you advice about what is best. That's that's kind of what the way I approach it as a father now. I I never received all that information as a recipient of fatherly advice, but I try to listen to the direction and the opinion that God has for my life now. So I think that that's how God wants it, because he is called our father and we are his children.
Speaker 2:I agree, i agree, and it's some type stuff obviously in the in the moment, and I think we experience the same with our, you know, earthly parents or earthly relationships, where You know even those signs are are pointing that they're right. We want to, we want to make our own decisions, and I think we do the same with God. He could toss everything at us and we will even bicker that he's not answering our prayer, when he actually might be Answering the prayer, as we've even discussed in the past, and we're just too busy Focused on what we want the answer to be versus what the answer actually is.
Speaker 1:I Think about the Cornelius's vision to he had. He had an aha moment there in Acts, chapter 10, and I guess acts is kind of just where.
Speaker 1:Oh, oh, there's a lot of great stories in the book acts you know just a lot of aha moments that end up popping up, but Cornelius was one of them. Says he was a righteous man and everything, and a centurion, and Italian cohort is what it was, but he was a devout man, one who feared God with all his household and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God Continually. So I don't know what those prayers were, but I do know this An angel of God came to him in a vision one time and said Cornelius, now Listen, if an angel of the Lord comes to me and says Wes, i honestly I don't know what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 2:About that all the time like I would like flip out. Probably, like you always say, you want to experience what they experience. But if some year angelic being creature just appeared, i probably flip out. I.
Speaker 1:Think the word angel even is translated. We see angel and then we think about the wings and all that. But it could just be messenger. So it could just be an average person. Maybe it's not, i don't. I don't know, but whatever it was, it fixed his gaze upon him and, being much alarmed, cornelius said what is it, lord?
Speaker 1:So he was alarmed, so obviously it just wasn't a dude, you know, or just a person, just a female or anything. And and the angel said your prayers and alms have been answered, and so that's cool to be able to see that. And then He told Cornelius to send for Peter, who was sitting at, you know, at a house, and so he sent some people there to go get Peter. And then Peter fell asleep at this person's house and When he did it was kind of like this trance, and he got this vision where this big sheet was laid down in front of him with All these different animals and says Peter, go and eat these things. And Peter's like nah, man, i never ate that stuff. I'm a Jew, i stay clean, i do everything right for God, and it doesn't like three times. And then Peter's like I don't understand. And then these people came knocking on the door and said Hey, we were told to come here and get Peter.
Speaker 1:And the Peters like, wait a minute, what's going on? You know, just a hot moment for him, even where he realizes now something special is going on and he goes with the flow. He, he goes with the flow, he goes with those guys, goes back to Cornelius's house, sees an amazing thing happen at Cornelius's house. The same thing that was happened to Him and his apostles back in Acts, chapter 2 I believe it was were kind of like a rushing wind speaking in tongues and all this stuff was going on and Peter's like, okay, all right, i'm starting to understand some things now and He realizes that the sheet being laid down in front of him was was a kind of another message from God for the gospel to be reaching into the Multitudes, not just for the Jewish people, and that was Peter's aha moment.
Speaker 1:And I think that all of our stories kind of tell us Well, especially like my house story where I didn't go with the flow. I kept kicking against the goats, so to speak. I kept pushing through the flow, trying to go upstream, and all I did was get a bunch of resistance. And it seems like to me, guys, when we kind of go with the flow, see the pattern that God has laid out before us, things kind of go a little bit differently than they did with my first house That I was talking about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but so something caught me when you said that how many, how many times did that happen with Peter Trace, trace? I mean, how many times that that Peter denounce Jesus?
Speaker 1:Toa. I say it in different languages because you and Michelle are world travelers now.
Speaker 2:So it's just, it's funny how just that at three times, you know, again appears and Maybe that was Peter's aha moment in that moment as well. I, he, you know, he was gonna deny Jesus three times rooster crows, etc. And now he's Not gonna eat and again takes three times for him to kind of snap out of. It comes to the realization that, okay, maybe I should follow this, that, that three being the magic number for him there.
Speaker 3:Well, and even we were just in Nashville for the Kayla Fanner words this past weekend and Chris Tomlin was talking about Holy, holy, holy, like Three times remember, and if you think about it, it's the holy trinity, like Yeah, so Did anybody say hi to me at the K level words? no.
Speaker 1:Did we win an award? we did not we did not.
Speaker 2:We were not up for for podcast of the year, but we we were in attendance just in case.
Speaker 1:well, forget all the humble stuff I said earlier about not being for us. I want reviews, i want stars.
Speaker 3:I want ratings No.
Speaker 1:I'm just, hey, i also think about Steven, or no, philip. I'm sorry, Philip, as he had an aha moment whenever he was about to go one direction, god comes to him and says, hey, no, i want you to do. An angel Lord again says to Philip I want you to go south to the road that descends to Jerusalem, to Gaza and Gaza. And then he did that and, as he did, he saw this person riding in a chariot right and it ended up being an Ethiopian eunuch and I love what he says to him. Philip saw him reading the scriptures right And he ran up to him, heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said do you understand what you're reading? I think of the King James version. It's like do you do, if you understand it, what you read it? I think that's what he says in the king. I'm sorry, i think so. And and he said, well. The eunuch said, well, how could I, unless someone guides me? and he invited Philip, but come up with him and sit down with him Now.
Speaker 1:The passage of scripture that was ready, and it was. It was about Jesus. And so Philip started talking to him about Jesus, all the things that happened, just just you know, a short time before and started explaining all these things to the Ethiopian eunuch. And Please tell me.
Speaker 1:The eunuch said to Philip, of whom does his prophet say this? of himself or someone else? and Philip opened his mouth And, beginning from the scriptures, he preached Jesus to him. And as they went along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, hey, look, here, there's some water. What prevents me from being baptized? And so the guy gets baptized and then a rushing wind rushes Philip out of that way and everything in the book. I asked, but Philip went with the flow right and And, and he found somebody that needed the scriptures explained to him. And And I a lot of times forget That that is my purpose here right, our purpose is to be that example. Our purpose is the knowledge that we have to give to other people, so if they can know some of the same peace and comfort, so they don't stay up all night long thinking about some of these things And we don't know who God places in our path in order to do so. I think that that's something that we all need to remember.
Speaker 3:I.
Speaker 2:Agree, because there's there's so many situations where, like, looking back on it now, you start to like wonder, like, was that my opportunity and was I not bold enough? You know, to kind of speak, you know my truth, the truth, those type of situations when you cross paths with someone and there's a struggling and you kind of tell the line At times, at least with me you know, you tell the line on how much you're gonna kind of get into Faith and religion, even at work, like I'll do it. Where someone's struggling and I, i I try to poke around and get a sense for for where they kind of are mentally When it comes with their own faith, and if I don't feel like there or whether need to be, then I might not even comment or say anything. And I'm just trying to get better at that because I don't want to miss the opportunity. Where I'm, i'm someone that you know God's trying to use the to plan a seed In someone else and I'm too fearful or too hesitant to have that conversation based on Backlashes I think may happen.
Speaker 3:Well, and I think sometimes, like you know, you can, you can speak to someone and you can be the seed that's planted, but perhaps Sometimes you're the messenger to bring peace or comfort as well. Like you know, west, you were talking about people. You know, if we were laughing about if an angel appeared, we'd probably flip out. But and here and I do talk about that a lot But you know, i honestly believe that God used Pierre as a messenger for me Really quickly, and he'll know what I'm talking about here in a second. He's giving me kind of a weird face right now, but when I was in the high school, i Walked into a room I was in another relationship at the time Saw the back of someone's head and I knew that I would marry him. It was like I knew my own name. It was the weirdest experience I've ever had in my life. Fast forward a couple of years later He died in a motorcycle accident and My first thought was now what like if there's one person for you in this life that God has for you and I know that was mine. Now what? and Many, many years, 20 plus years later well, around 20 years later, at his funeral they played cats in the cradle and There are many facets to the story, but I'm giving you the very abridged version. All of a sudden, i'm like Sitting, i'm driving.
Speaker 3:One day, and you know how I knew Pierre was the right person for me was for all of those years. There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't think of him and and just be really sad. And when I met Pierre, those days were fewer and further between, and You know, i just it kind of became less and less and less. And not that I didn't think of him, but it just wasn't at the forefront of my thoughts. I was more, you know, invested in what I was building than what I'd lost.
Speaker 3:And One day in particular I was driving home and I'm like man, why is this just bothering me so much today? I don't understand. And it kind of hit me that I think it's because I don't know Where he stood with God, i don't know. I didn't know if he was in heaven. And All of a sudden, that day it was bothering me. So I went home and I'm trying, you know, not to let it show that this is sitting on me heavy And I'm just sitting in. I'm sitting in this recliner. Now, mind, you also tell you this really quickly as a side note The day he died is also Pierre's birthday and is also the day that Olivia was due. So I'm sitting in this recliner And I'm just kind of praying for a second And I'm like God. I think the heaviness I'm feeling is I just need to know if he's with you. And I kid you not, in that exact moment Pierre, sitting across from me, breaks out singing Cats in the Cradle. And what did you say to me?
Speaker 2:Basically like why are you staring at me like you see ghosts? It was really awkward. It's the way she looked at me like a ghost disappeared. I'm like why are you looking at me like that?
Speaker 3:And I mean I honestly you could not convince me that God did not speak through him. because I said to him, why are you singing that? And he said I have no idea And you can never, ever, there's nothing you can say or do that would convince me that God didn't use him as a messenger to answer my question and to answer and to make me feel at peace and to know, hey, you're right where you're supposed to be. Like I'm not saying that he had to die for you to get where you needed to be, but that was part of the equation, right. Like that isn't what I had planned for you, but you were dead set on it.
Speaker 3:And I'm not saying that's why he died. I'm not please. no, i'm not putting that out there. I'm just saying that God can use those tragedies and those things It's all perfectly laid the way that he wants it to be And we can be so singularly focused on this is what I'm sure is supposed to happen. but God can say hold on, but wait, there's more. And I'm just so thankful And, like I said, i honestly believe that God can use people as messengers, but for me, he speaks to me through things that are just too big to be coincidence. It just it can't be.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's a good story. And I'm trying to sit here and go. Okay, what songs was I singing today And what kind of message was intended for you? And the only thing I can remember singing was like the Barney theme. It meant nothing. I don't think it meant anything, but it's one of those things, too, where you were afraid about that. You were looking for an answer and possibly God was able to use Pierre for the answer to that, and Pierre was a willing instrument of God to open up his mouth to sing a song, right? But you're also listening for that response And I think, pierre, you said a little bit ago that you struggle with sharing those things, and I think people maybe struggle with being a vessel of God and allowing themselves to be used like that.
Speaker 1:At a whimsical time, in an office, in a work environment, i was like, yeah, anywhere Just being used by God, because maybe they feel like they're not worthy to be used by God too. You know what I mean. Like, okay, i'm not clean enough, my life's not in perfect order, my life is chaos. I don't do all the right things. I need to be a little bit better than before I start being a witness for God, right, and it reminds me of an aha moment for Paul, his very first aha moment, actually, where he was trying to do good things but actually he wasn't doing good things at all. It says in Acts, chapter nine, that he was saw, now saw still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, against the disciples of God, against the disciples of Jesus, went to the high priest and asked for letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus so that if he found any people belonging to the way, which the way was a Christian, i guess, if I said that right at the time both men and women that he might bring them bound to back to Jerusalem. And it came about. As he was journeying, he was approaching Damascus and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him And he fell to the ground and he heard a voice saying to him Saul, saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said who are you, lord? And he said I'm Jesus, who you're persecuting? I want you to rise up, i want you to go into a city and then I'll tell you what to do. And the men who traveled with him just stood speechless hearing the voice, but they saw no one. So Saul got up from the ground and though his eyes were open, he couldn't see anything. And they led him by the hand and brought him to the city of Damascus. And he was there three days without sight and he didn't eat, didn't drink.
Speaker 1:And then a certain disciple from Damascus named Ananias appeared to Ananias in a vision. The Lord appeared to Ananias in a vision and said Ananias, and he said here I am Lord. And the Lord said to him arise and go to a street called straight. I always like that And inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus, their name Saul. And he's praying And he has seen a vision and a man named Ananias will come to him and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.
Speaker 1:Well, i'm sure Saul was a very popular guy, he's the big sheriff in town, and so when Ananias heard it was Saul, i'd imagine there was some hesitation there. And Ananias said Lord, i've heard about this man and how much harm he did to the saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priest to bind up everybody who calls upon his name. And the Lord said to him listen, just go. He's a chosen instrument of mine to hear my name before the, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel, for I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake. And I don't know what all that means.
Speaker 1:We get the letters, we get the stories of Saul and all the different things that he had to go through and everything. But Ananias departed there, laid his hands on him and said brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales and he regained his sight and he arose and was baptized. He took food and was strengthened. And it's cool to see his journey from there on out too, because we get introduced to Saul.
Speaker 1:Even prior to this story. He held the coats of people who murdered Stephen, i believe, as Stephen was the first martyr And we get to see all the different actions and how people didn't trust Saul at first because of his actions before. They kind of thought he was coming in to find out all their names, to sabotage them, to ruin all the followers of Christ, and the people were very hesitant to listen to what Saul had to say. But it was just by his persistence and by his actions and by his deeds and by his words that they began to trust him and listen to him. And then he became the apostle Paul, you know just somebody that we have all loved and listened to for years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, i mean that's change. And you're right, kind of as we were speaking, it took disobedience, it took obedience from you know all parties involved to kind of play out you know God's plan and purpose for them. And I'm gonna throw you something Wes, So I know you kind of usually are in the driver's seat here Pull up John 20, verse seven for me. Okay, listen There you go.
Speaker 1:John, what I didn't listen. I was trying to be a small guy John, 20, verse seven. Okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 2:And what's that say? Read that for our listeners, for me Read that for our listeners.
Speaker 1:Okay, i will. It says. And the face clock which had been on his head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.
Speaker 2:Okay, does that mean anything to you?
Speaker 1:I mean just not right off the top of my head, but I know that it's talking about Jesus being in the tomb right there, and so you know the face cloth being by itself. that's how they wrapped them up, kind of mummified them for burying.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so I'm gonna read the KGV version just here in front of me. Instead of face cloth, it says and the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself, and this was something that our pastor recently covered. That was an aha moment for both of us, and the thing that's pulled from there is so the rest of the clothes were just kind of tossed on the ground is how you read that. The napkin itself kind of stood alone, from how I'm reading it here, and was kind of placed together and folded up where it should have been. And when you think about Jewish and Hebrew customs, when you're at a dinner table and you're done eating, what do you do? Do you know?
Speaker 1:It's not one of those customs where you burp out loud and it's not.
Speaker 2:It is not. You tend to ball up your napkin, your cloth, and just ball it up and toss it to the side or discard it. If you're done, if you're done, correct, what do you do? Do you know what they did? if they were?
Speaker 1:returning. I would imagine that they fold up their napkin and place it right there at the front so that they can see that, hey, I'm coming back for more Correct, and so this is what Jesus did for his disciples.
Speaker 2:Who would have known this? He tosses his linens aside, but the one wrapped around his face he folded up and left neatly in the tune as a sign that he wasn't done and that he was returning. I had never read that verse that way, so that was a big aha moment of Jesus's return and the fact that he is coming back based off of that had me in tears at church.
Speaker 1:I'm shocked that you were crying.
Speaker 3:I know Anybody who knows me would be really shocked by that, but I mean, it really was just one of those moments that was just like holy cow, like it's been right there the whole time and we just never saw it.
Speaker 1:The thing that strikes me that people say about being a Christian or trying to live a different life is that it just ain't as fun. Boring, You know. Boring You know you go church. I'm boring. A it might be if you're not doing it right. True, But I don't know that because I consider myself a vessel of God. I put myself in strange situations, Right, And I open up my mouth and I try to be bold.
Speaker 3:That you.
Speaker 1:But I, you know, i don't, I don't mind saying things, that and I do, i don't do it in a terrible way, i don't think or anything like that, but I mean I'm just not going to. I'm not, i'm not going to not say something, i'm not going to try and approach people, i'm not going to try and share this good news that has been shared with me. And if it wasn't, guys, i just don't know how in the world that I would still be alive today to enjoy all the benefits of this life has to offer, with my daughters, with my wife and the happiness that comes from them. But at the same time, i suppose Christianity can be kind of boring If you don't be bold, if you're not going to dare to be out there and to be used as one of God's instruments.
Speaker 1:When we read through the book of Acts, when we read through all the Bible, the Old Testament, everything, i mean what if Gideon would have just said there's just somebody sitting by the tree, you know, and never recognize that it was an angel of the Lord, what, what, what if Paul would have said, oh, that's just a bright light? and he would have just been blind and couldn't see for the rest of his life, right? What if? what if? Peter would have said, well, that was a weird dream. And so people came and knocked on the door and he said oh, they got to be Jehovah's Witnesses You know, just ignored him And they're not gone with him to see all the great events that happened?
Speaker 1:What if, when Jesus said to his disciples, hey, come and follow me, they said hi, you know, I got something better to do.
Speaker 3:I think it's perspective to right, like if you think about all the things I can't do because I'm a Christian, or I can't do this, i can't do that, if you look at it in a negative way, you're going to get negative results. But if you say you know, i'm going to let God use me and leave me where I need to be and really just look at it in a positive way and all the things that you can do, it's very different perspective and a very you have a very different experience.
Speaker 2:I think, I think a lot of things that folks say you can't do, you can.
Speaker 2:Yeah there's just, there's prerequisites, i guess. So the things that you want to do, for the most part you can do, but you might have to do it in moderation or you might have to wait until marriage to do it, and so just those type of items. It's not like they're outlaw people, just as you see. They just like to cut corners, they like to have instant type of gratification, which is the world we live in right now. But a lot of things that they feel they can't do is doable. There's just within certain guidelines with this, certain commandments. You know that you have to fit things within, but it's not like you can't do them at all. You're just like that kid when your parents say, you know, don't, don't have that cookie just yet. You know, wait till after each or dinner, and they try to sneak the cookie. It's those type of situations. It's not saying you can't do it, it's just wait. And you know, do what I'm asking you to do first. Put me first, pray first, do these things first, and then your reward will come.
Speaker 1:I like that. I like that. Hey, the aha moment turned into a kind of a push to be bold, a push to do things, a push to listen. I like that as good. Great show topic, pierre. That's a wonderful show topic, that's picked up.
Speaker 1:I like your aha. At the end, too, don't forget to leave a like, leave a comment, all those things. Let us know about your aha moments. We love to share our victories with you. We love to share our stories with you, but we want to hear from you as well. We've loved to hear from you in the past and we just want to continue to build up this relationship with the listeners out there, because we're not doing this for us, we're doing this for y'all and we really want us to be a part of your life. We want you to be a part of ours as well.
Speaker 2:I agree. I agree We're doing it for God as well. That's part of the reason that we wanted to do this is we're working through our own faith. We're working through our own obstacles and we feel like this is a good outlet to work through again our own just ends an out of life, but also give God praise in the process of what we're going through daily with our own routines.
Speaker 1:I agree, I love God out of that. That was terrible. That's not a terrible host right there Wes, Hey, but if you want to get in touch with us, reach out to us at findingfaithlosingsleep Was that how the email is At G-Yep, at gmocom, At findingfaithlosingsleepgmailcom. You can reach out to us there. You can leave a comment on whatever listening platform you like to listen to the show on. You can find us over there on Twitter as well. Just find us on at findingfaithpod and all the links will be there for all the rest of us And you can find us there. But more importantly than all those things, guys, we always want to ask you to pray for us and we will pray for you.