Participants: Cheri Peters (Host), Cheri Buckner-Webb
Series Code: CLR
Program Code: CLR000028
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00:10 Welcome to Celebrating Life In Recovery,
00:12 I'm Cheri your host and today we are going to talk about 00:14 differences in the church. 00:16 If you want to know what that means you have to come join us. 00:19 I'm not even going to give you a hint. 00:49 I remember when I first came into the church, 00:51 I was a mess, literally a mess. 00:53 I had been strung out on heroin and I was a literate. 00:56 I had been homeless and I came running in so happy. 00:59 I had met Christ, I met a Christian women that so 01:02 loved on me and was teaching me the Bible. 01:04 When I came in the church I just decided that I had to 01:08 look the best I could, but the best I could from being 01:12 homeless, working in clubs is that I had a skirt 01:16 that was too tight. 01:17 A top that was too tight and I had tons of jewelry on. 01:21 I had makeup on that was thick because I wanted to look my 01:24 best and I was smoking three packs of cigarettes a day, 01:27 so smoke was billowing in and after I came in. 01:29 I was absolutely a mess and I just looked like a little 01:33 hooker, but I was so, I had met God and God said I was 01:38 lovely and I felt love and safe for the first time in my 01:42 entire life and I looked on the people's faces. 01:45 I realized that I do not know how welcomed I am here. 01:49 Everything in me, I just wanted to weep and to say, 01:53 first of all you will hate this, but I wanted to throw 01:56 myself on the ground and say God this is not fair that 02:00 I have to do recovery here. 02:02 Please don't anyone get offended because I want to talk 02:06 about this, I want a church that no one ever has to feel 02:10 that again, I want a church that was somebody comes in, 02:12 I don't care who they are, they never feel it again. 02:15 The only reason I'm telling the story is that I just 02:17 want you to get it. 02:19 I want to get it myself, but I came in and I wanted to 02:21 throw myself on the ground because if I left the building 02:24 if I did not stay in the house of God I would not survive. 02:28 I would have died and I kept thinking I'll do anything if 02:31 you let me stay here, if you let me sit next to you I will 02:34 behave, I will dress like you, I will take all this stuff 02:37 off, I will try to stop smoking. 02:39 And man that was the hardest thing I think I ever quit. 02:43 Heroin was easier, but I will try to do all that stuff. 02:46 I remembered that for the next 10 years, 02:48 and please hear me, 10 years I tried to behave. 02:51 We are going to talk about some of that today, 02:55 it will be amazing, but first of all I want to introduce 02:57 you to some people at the café. 02:59 Lisa you have been with us here before, Cheri we are 03:02 going to interview you and I love you, from my hometown. 03:06 I like that. Sam, Flo and Larry you've been on the show 03:09 before and Vicki, we did an interview with you and I was 03:12 blessed, but thank you for joining us today at the café. 03:17 Our text for this season is Psalms 51, my favorite Psalms. 03:22 I'm telling you, in between weeks that we see each other, 03:26 or hang out together, read this Psalms because 03:28 you will be blessed every time you read it, 03:31 and you will hear something else. 03:32 Psalms 51:1, it says, "have mercy upon me oh God, 03:35 "according to your steadfast love, according to the 03:38 "multitude of your tender mercies and loving kindness, 03:42 "blot out my transgressions. " 03:43 Oh man, please forgive me, but if you go to Isaiah 58. 03:49 In Isaiah 58 we are talking about not the addicts 03:54 transgressions today, we are not talking about somebody 03:59 that is just strung out on something today. 04:01 We are not talking about porn addict, we are not talking 04:04 about the self mutilator, we are talking to the church. 04:06 In Isaiah 58 talks about the church. 04:08 It says, shout out loud and I'm not going to read it. 04:15 But I want to tell you my take on this. 04:16 It says shout out loud and tell my people their sins. 04:19 Right, I'm thinking, man all right what is it? 04:24 He says they seek me day after day, week after week. 04:28 They come in the building and they pray, they open up 04:31 the Bible and do all that, they do it as if they were 04:35 people doing right, oh shut up! 04:38 And I'm like what else did they do, they are praying 04:42 asking God why aren't you seeing this? 04:44 They are fasting and saying God why are you hearing this? 04:47 They were doing all that stuff as if He wasn't paying 04:50 attention to us, what is it? 04:52 He says, you know the fasting that you do is not the 04:55 fasting I'm asking for. 04:57 I'm asking for you to love on folks, for nobody to ever 05:00 feel like they don't fit in the house of God. 05:02 Love on each other, reach out, feed someone, if someone 05:06 is a widow make the rest of her days feel like 05:10 she's with family, right, God says that. 05:13 If you look at an addict that is trying to stand up, 05:15 there is a thing in Ministry of Healing, it's my favorite, 05:20 it's my favorite book besides the Bible and the 05:23 Desire of Ages, what else? Well is one of my favorites. 05:26 You get the point, but in Ministry Of Healing there is 05:29 a chapter called "Save to Serve", and I was reading that. 05:33 In the first part of my recovery, in this chapter, 05:35 Ellen White is the writer and she says that she wants to 05:40 give a scene of heaven. 05:41 She says there is an addict, imagine an addict, somebody 05:45 stumbling around, getting up for an hour a day and trying 05:49 to do right and they relapse and fall back down. 05:51 She says, now picture this, heaven, God Himself and an 05:56 Angel coming up and saying God, 05:58 can I please have that one? 06:00 Because they are going to need encouragement, 06:02 they are going to need more help and they will need 06:04 someone to lift them up each time they fall down. 06:06 They will get discouraged if they don't, 06:09 can I have that one? 06:11 I cried like a baby, I'm thinking that angel would want 06:15 Billy Graham, no, he wants me because he knows that 06:19 I am going to need some help. 06:20 So when I came in the church, it was difficult to come in 06:23 the church, and now years later, 06:26 I want you to stay with me. 06:27 Years later I step out to do Ministry. 06:29 I'm going to do Ministry with people that are so trashed. 06:33 It is what God does, you come out of the church and He 06:38 is going to come out of addiction, street life, 06:41 He's going to have you ministering in there. 06:44 It is because He knows us. 06:46 So I meet this girl, and how I met her is I went to 06:50 a rehab place, right? 06:52 She literally walked up to some guy and blew both of his 06:56 kneecaps out, I'm thinking man I hope she never gets 07:00 mad at me, and she's like 17. 07:02 She is hard-core she is facing 27 years in prison for 07:07 a drive-by shooting, right! 07:09 Not even, this girl has no sense of guilt. 07:14 Why did you shoot that person? Why did I shoot him? 07:18 She will tell you why, but there is no sense of 07:21 she shouldn't have done that. 07:23 When I first met her what was really funny to me, as, 07:25 she looked at me like, I don't care who you are. 07:29 Don't talk to me, and she didn't trust anybody. 07:33 I could tell she didn't trust the people around her. 07:34 She definitely didn't trust me, who was I, some evangelist 07:38 coming into the treatment center to speak, at one point I said 07:42 something to her and she literally laid into me. 07:45 Cussed me out, and I stood there and thought, I'm shocked 07:49 that you would talk to somebody like this. 07:51 I said to her, do you talk to everybody you meet, like this? 07:54 She's like, Nah, Nah, Nah cusses me out. 07:56 I can see why you would have a problem with communicating. 08:00 She was ready to, if she had a gun she would have shot me, 08:04 but we got into friendship while I was working at the 08:07 treatment center and I asked her in she will come to our 08:10 Ministry and hang out with us, 08:12 work on the cameras or whatever? 08:13 What I had at the time was a show called, 'The Journey Home'. 08:17 I had at risk youth come in and work on the cameras. 08:21 They were really at risk. 08:23 One time I had a Satanist kid that came in, sat on the 08:25 corner of the floor and said, as I walked up to him, 08:28 he said you know what? Don't come near me. 08:30 I will get up and hit you right in the face. 08:33 By this time I was right this close. 08:35 He said I'm serious, I'll bash your face in. 08:38 I said, is this better? He laughed at me. 08:40 As soon as he laughed I thought, I'd got him. 08:43 So I tell these kids to pick anything, pick the cameras, 08:47 pick the soundboard, you can floor direct. 08:50 Floor direct or help us to write out scripts, whatever. 08:52 I had people from the local television station, which is 08:55 Channel 7, come in and literally work with these kids. 08:59 They we come in and set up, because we live in Idaho, 09:02 they would set up tractors that will it be turned 09:04 over and people laying there and teach them how to do 09:07 an 'on scene' interview with someone, 09:10 reporting an accident or whatever. 09:13 They equip these kids, the show itself was just 09:16 doing testimonies so I had this one guy on the show 09:21 who had fallen 130 feet off of a tree, and broke 09:25 every bone in his body on the way down. 09:27 Totally paralyzed, in a wheel- chair, giving his testimony. 09:30 He was an arrogant guy before he fell, but after you fall 09:34 you're not as arrogant. 09:36 Water skier, firefighter and he had all this good stuff 09:41 he could do physically. 09:43 But when he broke his neck, he couldn't do any of that. 09:45 So it's walk with God was interesting. 09:47 When he was doing his testimony, 09:49 Anna was behind the camera. 09:51 She forgot to move the camera, somebody else talked 09:54 and Anna was just on this guy. 09:56 I kept thinking man we have her, we have her. 09:59 Afterward she went up to him and said you know, I feel 10:02 emotionally like you look physically. 10:05 They bonded, he taught her about God and I watched the 10:09 transformation in this kid's life happen. 10:11 I watched her give her life to God and literally, 10:14 literally start writing music for God. 10:17 Started singing for God, start coming in and ministering 10:20 to the outreach kids we brought from a place called 10:22 Hayes Shelter Home, which was downtown. 10:24 She loved on them, it was amazing to watch the transition. 10:28 I took her on retreats with me, I took her out to Teen 10:31 Retreats and it was not the easiest thing to do. 10:33 When I say I took her out to teen retreats, the first Teen 10:36 Retreat I took her to, Hanna likes to sing. 10:38 Cheri she's an incredible singer and Hanna likes to sing 10:41 and she had never been able to sing nice. 10:44 It was all rap stuff that was not really good lyrics. 10:47 She would show me some of the stuff she wrote prior to 10:50 being a Christian, it was intense. 10:52 I go to a Teen Retreat and they are these 4 young 10:55 girls singing special music. 10:57 They love me so I asked them if they would mind if 11:00 Hanna sang with you? 11:01 And Hanna is a Spanish Latino girl and they said yeah. 11:06 She can sing with us, and I told Anna, a gang member, 11:11 right! Gang members are hilarious, her eyes were 11:15 dancing, she was so thrilled to be asked. 11:18 She was like, yeah alright, but her eyes were dancing. 11:21 She wanted to do flips, she couldn't believe she could 11:24 do something so cool, her mom is in the audience. 11:27 The last time her mom was in a room full of people, 11:29 it was a courtroom and she was facing 27 years in prison. 11:32 Her mom was in the audience, tears are streaming down 11:34 her face and she was out there singing with this group 11:37 and holding her own and it is the most amazing thing. 11:40 I watched, I felt the Holy Spirit all over the room. 11:43 Hanna gets done and gets down and sits next to me right! 11:46 She is floating spiritually, God is loving on her. 11:50 I felt like Angels brought her back to the seat, 11:53 it was so amazing, so she sits down. 11:56 All of a sudden 4 little kids come up and sit behind her. 11:59 They are like 10 or 12, little boys. 12:02 They start kicking the chair, they are talking and Anna 12:06 is like, I could feel her tensing up. 12:10 Now she is angry, her face is angry. 12:13 She finally turns around and said you know you are dissing 12:16 in the singer's, they are like what? 12:18 You are a dissing and the singers, you need to shut up. 12:23 She turns back around, 4 little boys, 12:27 what do you think they did next? 12:28 They got louder, and they kicked her chair. 12:30 I said Anna, just let it go, and she finally couldn't 12:33 stand it, you either shut up or I will kill you. 12:37 I had to take her outside, when we go to Team Retreats, 12:40 you cannot kill anyone. 12:42 She was so serious, she was so incensed that this 12:46 disrespect that was being shown. 12:48 So we end up working together, it was amazing watching 12:51 her grow, it was absolutely amazing. 12:54 I could not get her to go to church with me though. 12:57 She would look at me and say, don't even ask me. 13:01 I told you that is off-limits, we can talk about 13:04 everything else but don't ask me. 13:06 Finally one day, when she was just in a really good place, 13:09 I said Anna, can you tell me why you don't want to go 13:13 church? She said, I was adopted when I was 3 years old 13:17 from Brazil, all of a sudden I thought oh, from Brazil. 13:21 She was in a Mexican gang, so I thought she was Spanish. 13:24 She was adopted from Brazil and all of a sudden, 13:26 when she said that, I could so see that. 13:28 I could see the whole culture on her. 13:30 She was adopted from Brazil to a family over here, 13:34 was molested by the Pastor in her church, from 3 to 10. 13:39 At 10 years old, she joined a gang and said absolutely never, 13:43 will I ever be hurt by anybody again. 13:45 Nobody will touch me, I will cut them, do you know what 13:49 I mean? She was serious, so for her when she felt like 13:52 she had to protect herself, she protected herself 13:55 and it was very serious. 13:57 So she is, no way I am not going back into the church. 14:00 I hate them, I hate them, they hurt me, right? 14:04 When somebody is damaged, sometimes it's every single 14:07 Christian on the planet is generalized into that damage. 14:10 I'm not saying everybody is a molester, but in a 14:13 damaged persons mind, that is what happens. 14:15 At one point Anna was changing and changing. 14:18 I even brought her here one time and she did Teen Pathways 14:21 with me, which was a show we had done prior. 14:23 But all that damage is there and at one point she said, 14:28 you know what Cheri? I want to go to church. 14:32 I was like, are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? 14:36 I'm thinking all of heaven, the Angels must have sang out 14:40 because this kid is coming back home. 14:42 I was thrilled, absolutely thrilled that I couldn't stand 14:46 it, I didn't even know, I wanted her to say, she said 14:50 how do I dress? I'd say you could come naked it's okay, 14:54 I don't care how you dress. 14:55 Hun you are back in the building and God is, 14:58 I know smiling. 14:59 So she dressed as been she can, Anna is so damaged that 15:04 she couldn't see herself to put a dress on. 15:07 It was for her to feel phony and fake, 15:10 if you know what I mean. 15:11 It wasn't out of disrespect, but she couldn't wear a dress, 15:14 it was not how she had been for the last few years. 15:17 I said I don't care what you wear, baggy pants, 15:20 jackets or whatever and she comes into the church with me 15:22 and I was thrilled. 15:24 I almost had tears on my face when I walked in the building 15:26 with her in my hand, she actually held my hand, 15:29 like a little girl, she wasn't a little girl but she scared. 15:33 We walked in and someone said something to her about her 15:39 black lipstick, I thought, God what just happened here? 15:45 I watched her withdrawal right back into herself, 15:48 right back into herself and she could have said out loud, 15:51 but was too embarrassed to say it, but if she could have 15:53 said out loud she would have said, see Cheri, 15:55 they do not want me in this building. 15:57 So this whole season we are talking about the Holy Spirit. 16:01 Right now I want to talk about that there is things we can 16:04 do to grieve God's Holy Spirit. 16:07 We can actually grieve all the blessings that God so 16:10 wants to pour into us. 16:11 We can grieve them away by our junk, sometimes our junk 16:17 is that we judge people. 16:19 God says, you know I want you baptized by the Holy Spirit 16:23 every day, fill yourself up every day so when you look at 16:26 people you actually look at them through the eyes of God. 16:29 Everyone of us is so damaged, we may not all look like 16:32 Anna with black fingernail polish and lipstick and 16:36 still cussing up a storm, as she was at that time. 16:39 She no longer is, she is a nurse living in Hawaii and 16:42 loving God with children of her own now. 16:45 It's amazing, but as a church we have got to get it. 16:50 We have a commission, and that commission is the same one 16:53 Christ gave us before He went, love one another, 16:56 love one another and in that they will know who you are. 17:00 In that, I get to heal. 17:02 We will be right back, stay tuned! 17:10 Think you've seen it all? Think again. 17:13 Cheri Peters is back for a second season of 17:16 Celebrating Life In Recovery with more lives 17:20 more stories and more miracles. 17:23 Watch the shocking, the inspiring, and the incredible. 17:27 Check your local listings to find out when 17:29 Celebrating Life In Recovery comes to you and get 17:33 ready for another dose of reality, Cheri style. 17:51 Welcome back, my favorite part of the show where you get 17:53 to meet some of my friends. 17:55 Today I have a friend that lives in the same town I'm in, 17:58 and the first time it was funny, the first time I met her 18:01 she was a vocalist, a gospel and jazz vocalist. 18:04 She started to sing and I just felt the Holy Spirit just 18:08 wash over me, I thought I had to find out 18:12 who this woman is. 18:13 How can someone have a message that comes across so 18:17 clearly, be so anointed, and where did you come from, 18:21 and who are you? 18:23 I'm going to share that with you and you will be surprised 18:25 because what she will say, is I don't like talking about 18:29 myself, I don't have a testimony and you will be blessed. 18:32 It's just amazing, so Cheri I love you. 18:35 I'm glad to be here. 18:36 I'm so glad, because we tried to do this before. 18:38 Yes we have, and our lives are chaotic and I am blessed 18:41 and blessed, and blessed. - Amen! 18:43 So I heard your testimony before and was blessed by it. 18:49 So I want you to share with people, who are you? 18:52 Where did you come from? 18:53 When you say, I have been blessed and I feel guilty, 18:57 when you say that what you mean by that? 18:59 I no longer feel guilty, I just feel blessed. 19:01 That is all that I can say. 19:03 There have been a lot of trials in everyone's life and 19:06 when I look at it reflectively, I have just been blessed. 19:08 And I don't mean just by diminishing it, I just want to 19:11 shout it, I want to talk about it, say it over and over again. 19:14 I was born in Boise Idaho, and yes there are more than 3 19:17 black people in Idaho, because I married one. 19:18 We added to the population. 19:21 When you say that I laugh, because I took Jackie, 19:24 you know I have a daughter, when we moved there she was 4. 19:28 I ended up taking her to Georgia during her homeschooling, 19:32 she was doing a civil war thing, so I took her to Georgia 19:35 and we went into this ethnic restaurant. 19:39 She walked in and she's little, 4, she was like, mom! 19:44 Those pictures have black people in them. 19:48 And I don't know how to respond to that because she is 19:52 just adorable, "and everybody in here is black and they 19:57 are so pretty, oh mom. " 20:00 She went on and on and the owners of the restaurant came 20:03 in and kissed her on the face, made a special meal for her, 20:06 and made over her and all of a sudden I realized that she 20:10 was culturally starved in Idaho. 20:13 I love Idaho, but we have little diversity. 20:18 A little diversity, a little apparent diversity, and it 20:21 is growing by leaps and bounds and I like that very much. 20:25 My family has been in Idaho since 1905, and know we were 20:28 not lost in the desert we made a purposeful choice to be there. 20:30 Both sides of the family, so I love being there and 20:32 I've lived elsewhere many times and came back to 20:34 Boise again and again and I love it. 20:36 I have a strong faith tradition, great-grandfather founded 20:40 one of the first black churches, if you can imagine, 20:42 yes there were enough people for church in Boise Idaho. 20:45 It also became the Idaho Black history Museum of which 20:48 I am one of the founding board members in 1995. 20:50 I got to go during your annual thing this year, 20:53 and I was so blessed. 20:55 There was a Doctor, a woman that got an award this year. 20:58 Who? Doctor Amy Oliver, she was a former professor at 21:01 Boise State University, and now at the Northwestern 21:03 Nazareth University and has been one of my friends and 21:05 mentors for a long, long time. 21:07 I called her husband, who passed away this last year, 21:10 my Pastor since 1970, even when they move to Rhode Island 21:13 and came back, he has been a blessing to me. 21:15 I know that word sounds like it's contrived, 21:18 but I have been blessed, and blessed. 21:19 I grew up in Boise, left Boise and got married and 21:22 came back, got divorced and lived close to my folks, 21:26 about nine blocks from them. 21:27 It wasn't a needy thing, it was a choice, raising kids, 21:29 you have to be close to relatives and 21:31 that was a great thing. 21:32 At one point, one of my sons announced to us he had chosen 21:38 to become, to follow the Nation of Islam. 21:40 Not the nation of Islam, Muslim. 21:43 So he follows Islam, and my husband whom I had been married 21:47 to for 27 years, is a Pastor, a Baptist Pastor. 21:51 Who said, Muslim, who said, Islam what happened to this 21:54 child, he's your child Cheri. 21:55 It was my child, it is his stepfather. 21:58 Still I was blessed, I call the same Pastor, Pastor Oliver, 22:02 who was in Providence Rhode Island at that time. 22:04 Can I ask you Cheri, that as you are talking about, 22:07 because that is a huge thing for any of us to have our kids 22:12 all of a sudden say, you know what I have looked at this. 22:16 You didn't raise ignorant children, you have children 22:20 that are making decisions and you are saying, man. 22:23 You understand that on both sides of my family, 22:26 on my mothers side and my father side, have a long 22:29 history of people in the church. 22:30 Pastors on both sides, deacons, mothers of the church, 22:34 Deaconesses, pianists, and it goes on and on. 22:38 You can walk down the street and somebody would know who's 22:40 kid, in which church you went to, and that kind thing. 22:42 Philip grew up under the tutelage age of my mother, 22:45 my mother didn't teach us fairy tales, but we read about 22:48 comparative religions at 7 or 8, 9 and 10. 22:51 I want you to tell the story that you told me about your 22:55 mom and fairy tales, especially like sleeping beauty. 22:58 Sleeping Beauty, mother said fairytales, we are not going 23:00 to do fairytales, and one of them was Sleeping Beauty. 23:03 She said listen to this story, there is a woman alone in 23:05 the forest, lying by herself in repose, and a stranger comes 23:09 up and laps his lips, uninvited, and unannounced, on this woman. 23:12 This is not a good thing. 23:14 - I love that, I never heard anyone say that. 23:17 You know what, Hansel and Gretel throwing kids in the oven 23:20 are not, - these were not pretty, not pretty stories. 23:23 Children wandering around without parents in a forest, 23:25 it goes on and on and on. 23:27 She wanted you to know that this was the truth, this is 23:29 what I want you to know about the world around you. 23:31 Yes she wanted us to know that the world was 23:33 not just Boise Idaho. 23:34 My mother had lived many other places and just had a view 23:37 of the world, she was really an acronyisms, a woman out of 23:39 her time and she instilled that with me and with my kids 23:42 living nine blocks away. 23:43 She had a very, very powerful influence and my dad was 23:46 more traditional, straight down the line. 23:49 Grandpa was Baptist, I'm Baptist, your Baptist. 23:51 That kind of thing, so it was a real surprise to everyone 23:53 but my mother and I, when Philip made that announcement. 23:56 Not that it wasn't of a concern initially. 23:58 So I call this Pastor, who was in Providence, 24:01 he came home every August and retired in Boise. 24:04 I said, you know this is what's happening, He's known 24:06 Philip since he was 2. 24:07 He said don't sweat it, I will be home, and he didn't 24:09 talk like that he's much more eloquent than that. 24:11 Don't sweat it, I'll be home in August and we'll talk to him. 24:13 Called Philip and he said, he's between 17 and 18, 24:16 he said bring your Koran, bring your Bible and come 24:19 ready to spend time. 24:21 Phillips spent maybe about four hours with him, 24:23 and as Philip was driving his car back home, 24:25 he was calling on the phone and saying this guy really 24:28 knows his Bible and I am proud of him. 24:29 This is an amazing young man, he knows his Bible and 24:32 he also knows his Koran. 24:34 And the reason he knows that is because he was a 24:36 theologian and studied all religions of the world. 24:38 He could give you the literal translation from every language. 24:45 He gave me faith and hope and understanding when he said, 24:47 God is in charge. - Amen! 24:50 I'm not questioning it, God is in charge. 24:52 He is now 30 and still Muslim. 24:53 What is interesting to me is that we do not know where 24:56 somebody is going to go. 24:57 I see people leave, they are doing this stuff, 25:00 and come back was such a clear understanding of who God is, 25:03 I'm not saying anything about your son or where he is at. 25:07 We judge Muslims in a way that would have no idea. 25:14 I went to Thailand, I was so going to go over and do some 25:20 incredible things with Buddhists over there. 25:23 They're so on fire and religious not on fire as for Christ, 25:28 but on fire to what they believe, in their prayers, 25:31 in their commitment to God and I was shamed by that. 25:34 I thought, you know! 25:36 It's been edifying for me, I didn't know what I didn't know 25:39 and I have learned so much about the Muslim faith. 25:42 I have learned stuff about me, I learned that I had some 25:44 judgments, when you talk about the gal walking in and 25:47 she was excited at church with black lipstick, 25:49 people were talking, so I have learned that 25:51 I had to do things with my own mouth. 25:53 There is a song, "right on my tongue let my words edify, 25:58 "let the words of my mouth be acceptable in thy sight. " 26:03 We need to do that every day, we need to hold the judgment. 26:08 Go on, come on, but it is hard, like you said, we judge 26:12 and don't even know we are judging. - that's right! 26:16 So can you share with me with what, if Jackie was going into 26:21 a Muslim faith, I don't even know what that is really. 26:25 I just know what I have been told. 26:27 I also know, by traveling around the world, sometimes what 26:30 I have been told ain't it. 26:32 Well it is no different than when you look in the Christian 26:35 faith, there's all kinds of generations of Christians. 26:37 Even our own churches is generations of what a 26:39 Christian looks like, walks like, talks like, dresses like. 26:42 What kind of lip stick they wear, wear it or not. 26:44 There are a lot of differences, so that is the first thing 26:49 that I've learned, to be open and understand that not 26:52 everything that I have wrapped up in my head, 26:55 is not the stereo typical thing. 26:56 I've never been in a more loving group, we have a very 27:01 small mosque in Boise Idaho who embraced me when I walked 27:04 in the door, things I didn't know, do I wear my shoes, 27:07 do I take them off, what do I have to do? 27:08 Do I cover my head? Let me help you, I'm so glad you are 27:13 interested, let me share, I never felt more embraced than 27:17 I did when I went there. 27:18 I explain, the first time I went, it was to visit my son. 27:22 - even just stopping that whole thing, they hate you. 27:26 Yes, it is not the case, it is not the case. 27:30 Very interested in human rights, very interested in 27:34 preserving all kinds of dignity for religions of all 27:36 different kinds, that is what I found in my community 27:39 in Boise Idaho. 27:41 I'm grateful for those relationships, and grateful for 27:43 what I have learned. 27:44 My son broke his neck. - literally broke his neck? 27:47 Severed C-1 vertebrae in two places. - how? 27:51 Playing football, never played football in high school. 27:53 Didn't like football, he went to play with his 27:56 brother doing fun stuff and broke his neck. 27:58 He was in a town about 300 miles away, and his girlfriend 28:00 called and said, hey, I think he really hurt himself. 28:03 Of course he's a macho kind of guy, no I'm cool, I'm cool. 28:06 - he got up? Yeah he got up and play 3 more plays. 28:09 She called me and I tried to do the mother thing. 28:11 It is hard to do a mother thing on the phone. 28:13 You can only has so much attitude, I was shaking my head, 28:15 people weren't getting what I was saying, you need to get 28:18 your behind, I was doing the best I can, 28:20 but he did go to the hospital. 28:21 The Doctor called me that was there, he said, I think he 28:24 probably got a concussion, he's okay, he's just got stars. 28:27 Before he left the hospital my son said, I really did see 28:29 stars, I think you need to take an x-ray. 28:31 Now there is something wrong when you need to tell the 28:32 Doctor to take an x-ray. - right! 28:34 They found he had severed his C-1 in 2 places. 28:36 The Doctor called... - that's a huge injury! 28:38 That's a huge injury, huge, huge, that's life threatening. 28:40 The Doctor called me and said, he will be fine we are 28:42 going to send him home. 28:43 Then he called me back and said, ah, Miss Buckner, 28:46 I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do. 28:49 - so you are like, don't tell me that, you are the Doctor. 28:52 You have my baby. They put him in a halo. 28:55 By the time I got to Pocatello, three hours away, they had 28:57 released him, now who is in charge? Who is in charge, 29:01 I'm just asking who is in charge. 29:03 He said that C-1 vertebrae, we also had called my Doctor 29:08 as we were going down, 10% of those who sever C-1 live. 29:12 10% live, in all cases, except this exception, 29:16 their quadriplegic, my son is not a quadriplegic. 29:20 He is a highly functioning, amazing guy, 29:22 who also broke his neck a second time. 29:24 - but how did he get up, nobody can answer that then? 29:29 How did he get up and walk? 29:31 I know, you know, who? - let's say it out loud. 29:34 It's a God thing, it's a God thing. 29:36 Yes he was really working out, he developed nice great 29:40 muscles in his neck, because they had trouble 29:43 even putting the screws in to get a halo in there 29:46 but it is a blessing, a blessing. 29:47 One of the things that my son taught me, we came to Boise 29:50 and we realize that Halo is outdated technology and I 29:55 looked for surgeon, surgeons are in those high levels 29:59 of specialties, you have to wait a long time. 30:02 I'm a pushy woman, ultimately after not a very 30:05 pretty story, that wasn't my best Christian self, I said, 30:08 you need to see my baby now and I was acting really bad. 30:11 He did, and he looked at the x-rays and said it was a 30:14 compelling break and we need to get him into surgery. 30:16 - I have seen you when you get intense. 30:19 I'm thinking, those doctors, man. 30:22 They didn't have a chance, they didn't have a chance. 30:25 He did have surgery and they did a lot of amazing things. 30:27 They wired, fused, bolted and all these things. 30:30 The boy, a man is powerful and his brother was with him 30:33 the whole time, it was great stuff. 30:34 We were blessed and blessed, but one of the first 30:37 follow-up appointments I took him to, there had been 30:40 another person from Boise State University who had suffered 30:43 the same kind of injury and was a quadriplegic. 30:46 I was saying to Philip, we are so blessed that your 30:50 going to be fine. 30:51 He said mom, he was blessed and I went, Philip you're 30:56 your fine, you're going to be great. 30:58 He said mom, he was blessed, and it really took me back. 31:00 He was right, when we talk about the glory of God and how 31:04 we can't wait to get to heaven and be with Him. 31:05 But when somebody dies, we go oh! Oh! Oh! 31:10 Philip said, he was no less blessed than I mom. 31:13 So that was a real opening, yeah this kid, but my journey, 31:17 my journey, and obviously this is part of my journey. 31:20 - tell him not to get mad at me for saying this. 31:23 But I hope he comes back to Christianity and just has a 31:27 Ministry with Muslims because he will understand them in 31:31 ways that are unbelievable. 31:33 If he doesn't, it's a God thing. 31:36 There is a job for him, and I think he is doing it. 31:39 He is an honorable loving person, he totally honors the 31:43 Ministry of his father, and the religion of his family, 31:47 his extended family, we are many all over. 31:52 It's been a learning opportunity for all of us. 31:55 I want to talk about that you are now in Ministry. 31:59 You're in a Ministry teaching, talk about what is your 32:02 Ministry, and you just started... 32:04 You left your working gig. 32:07 I've been a corporate person, if I tell you how long you'll be 32:11 counting and saying she must be an old grub. 32:13 I've been in corporate for like 30 years and I opened 32:17 a coaching firm, I believe it really is my Ministry. 32:21 I know that it is, it was over and over again things that 32:24 told me this and I listened. 32:25 My husband said, the burning Bush would be in the front 32:28 yard, and you would be looking for the root cause 32:30 of the Bush burning. 32:31 So, Stop, be still, and listen. 32:33 That is what my husband kept telling me. 32:34 What I am doing is working with people to help them 32:36 realize their dreams, and it is a holistic approach with 32:39 your mind, body and spirit. 32:40 The Spirit is so critical to you finding wholeness. 32:44 It is not just those that have suffered terrible losses 32:47 which everyone has experienced loss, but finding out who 32:50 you are, society has all kinds of dictates about who we 32:53 should be, how we walk in the world, but if we don't walk 32:56 in the world and wholeness, we are not going to find that 32:59 joy that can only come from knowing who we are and where 33:02 we come from and who is in charge. 33:04 Is that combination. - exactly! 33:06 To me I love the way you say that, because when I walked 33:10 into the church, I have to be in a place to where somebody 33:14 gives me that space and the affirmation to do that. 33:18 - That's right, that's right! 33:20 If I come in, what you are saying, you should be 33:22 looking this way, you should be acting this way, 33:25 than I am never going to really look at who I am, 33:28 or celebrate who God created me to be. 33:32 I love that word, celebrating, celebrating our differences, 33:35 our uniqueness, the opportunities we have 33:37 before us and celebrating it. 33:39 My grandma used to say, and I used to think it was all 33:41 hers until I got out the world and found out everybody's 33:43 grandmother said, God don't make junk. 33:46 - yeah, Amen! - He just don't make junk. 33:49 I believe that, our journey is to find out, there is 33:52 another song, that is from another friend of ours that 33:56 is here today, that has a song for everything, but it is, 33:59 'Order My Steps' you know. 34:01 You sang that at a concert and I got to be in the choir. 34:04 You where the choir singing, Singing, singing! 34:07 Sing so off key that I felt bad for every single person. 34:10 - It was a joyful noise. - it was a joyful noise. 34:12 That is all we cared about, we all came together, not all 34:15 of us are singers, but we made a joyful noise. 34:18 I'm grateful for that opportunity. 34:19 In all my steps is God in every single thing, 34:22 every single thing. 34:24 I can make a mess of it, I need some help. 34:27 But you also was it Michael that you are working at? 34:32 Oh Hewitt Packard. 34:33 - I'm sorry, but your call to diversity was? 34:38 I work in cultural diversity and gender work and it was 34:42 wonderful work, it was wonderful work and I am able to 34:46 continue doing that now. 34:47 I work in a corporate environment 34:49 and with individuals. 34:50 I have clients across the world that we do a lot of phone 34:52 coaching, so we work with groups. 34:55 What is interesting to me when I came into the church, 34:58 I realize that I wasn't okay, and now I am totally. 35:02 I can dress right, people want me to come over for dinner. 35:04 I can stay to potluck. 35:06 - I can stand at the grocery store with you now. 35:09 I know, and I love that. 35:10 I think we don't understand, when I started looking around 35:14 and realized that even within the church that there were 35:18 black-and-white issues. 35:19 This person is the Italian, this person is a biker, 35:24 this person is, we had all these separations. 35:27 All these kind of clicks, we even have this is a Korean 35:31 church, this is a Spanish church, this is a black church, 35:35 and this is the White church, and this is the church from 35:38 Russia, this is the bask church. 35:40 We have all will separations, when I came in and looked 35:44 around I'm thinking, aren't we supposed to be one? 35:48 What we find over and over again, if you look at it really 35:51 critically, I don't think there is a church that doesn't 35:55 have good intent, but there is intent and there is impact. 35:59 You say come in and let us be one, but I want you to walk 36:03 this way, you know what I mean? 36:04 I want to get dressed this way, 36:06 I want you to talk that way. 36:07 - You have to play music I like. - yes! 36:10 You are welcome as long as you fit into the box. 36:13 I think it is really a hard thing, but church is a 36:16 microcosm of society, we are diverse, we are different, 36:20 but we have to understand that difference is just that 36:23 we do things uniquely. 36:25 Our goal for me societally, as well as in the church 36:28 is to be inclusive. - Amen! 36:31 It's just not knowing you're different, but act like 36:34 me okay, and by the way I'll probably deride if you try 36:36 to act too much like me, because you know you are not me. 36:39 So the real contradiction of term and that is really true... 36:41 Exactly, so we have this line, 36:42 we need to work on including in what you use that word, 36:47 celebrating, celebrating our differences. 36:49 Sabbath is one of the most segregated times a day in the 36:54 world, it's very true. - I've heard that before. 36:58 I mean you asked the difference between Muslim and Christian, 37:00 think about the Christian faith, it's like you said, 37:02 we have a black church and then we got this church, 37:04 and that church or even a single church, 37:07 because we are so proud to tell you that we also 37:09 have a service in Spanish. 37:11 Of course they all meet by themselves at three o'clock 37:14 and we are out at 11:15. - right! 37:15 - now that it's negative, but it is not as inclusive 37:19 as it should be. 37:21 But what I think about all that, is that you give me 37:23 permission, as my friend, and I'm sure of this. 37:26 I could sit down and say Cheri I want you to teach me 37:29 some things I don't know about our cultural differences. 37:32 I know that you can do that, I can grow in that, 37:36 I can learn from you and do that with some folks, 37:39 as a church, can we do that with each other enough so 37:42 that when you sit next to me, those differences are really 37:46 not there, or are celebrated? 37:49 I think one of the things that we have to try to 37:52 understand is the differences are not going to go away. 37:55 It is a respect for them, I do not like the word tolerance. 37:58 Everybody preaches tolerance, let me tell you this. 38:01 If I said, Cheri I can tolerate you living in my neighborhood. 38:05 Ya hey, I can tolerate your child coming in my house, 38:09 that is not very loving or inclusive. 38:12 I don't like that language. 38:13 So when we get to a point where we can value, one of my 38:16 closest friends at home sings her heart out, sings 24/7. 38:20 We exercise at the gym, yes I do go occasionally, 38:23 it's Monday, it's part of my getting to wholeness, 38:26 I'm getting on a five week program, I'm going to die. 38:28 She just sings, and I mean this girl can't sing. 38:31 The girl cannot sing, but she makes such a joyful noise, 38:35 and we have such a great time. 38:36 So when it comes that I could sit next to this woman and 38:39 just love her and enjoy her, whether she sings on key or 38:42 not, but she makes me want to sing. 38:44 She just lifts me up, that's the thing we hope to happen. 38:47 Or at least it's a goal for me. 38:49 We are going to open up for questions. 38:51 I want to say that I believe when we get to heaven, 38:56 that we will all have incredible differences and we will 39:00 celebrate everyone of them, and just be blessed by the 39:04 people we sit next to. 39:05 But the world right now is looking at us today, 39:09 and they are really looking at a church hoping to find 39:11 a church that no matter where we come from, 39:13 no matter what our background is, they want us to be 39:16 celebrating our differences today. 39:18 I want to have that, I think to me, to the extent that 39:24 I cannot accept the person sitting next to me, 39:27 the person in front of me, the person coming in the room, 39:31 is to the extent that I grieve the Spirit and am unable 39:34 to be blessed the way God wants to bless me as His body. 39:38 I just wanted to say that out loud, I don't know 39:41 who's listening, but I want to say that. 39:43 As a church let's start loving on each other. 39:46 So I'm going to open it up for questions. 39:48 Does anybody have a question? Vicki. 39:50 There is so much that I could say, first thank you for 39:54 sharing because I go to a church that 39:56 I walked into and looked very different, and walked into 40:01 this 90% black church. 40:05 If you look at it, it looks like a quote, unquote black 40:08 church, really it was multicultural. 40:10 We had people from Nigeria, Jamaica, Peru, you name it, 40:13 different countries, so it wasn't black-and-white, it was 40:17 multicultural and I believe we are all meant to be 40:19 to embrace our differences. 40:21 So with that said, as a mother who seems overjoyed with 40:25 love for her son, what would you say to mothers, 40:28 or fathers, that have a son or daughter that is different. 40:32 Whether they are walking to a beat of a different drum so 40:36 to speak, or they showed an interest say, in Judaism or 40:40 perhaps something other than Christianity. 40:44 What would you say to them? 40:45 - if so cryptic, I would say love them. 40:47 Love them and pray for them, pray without ceasing. 40:49 Just like you do with the kids that are not using that 40:52 other path, that is all there is for me. 40:55 - I have to say to Cheri, is sometimes people, 40:59 even when their kids are acting out in any kind of way, 41:02 because I worked with addicts mostly, 41:04 so acting out in addictions. 41:06 So when I see a look in your eyes, I don't want them to 41:09 see fear or judgment, I want to them to see mamma, 41:12 and Mama loves you if you know what I mean. 41:15 It's a huge thing, that if they read in my eyes what 41:20 the truth is, I love you. 41:24 And to sense that it's not different. 41:26 I'm so sure that God is in charge, 41:28 they have to see that in your eyes. 41:30 Sam you had a question. 41:33 Yes, well I have a comment. 41:36 As I mentioned to you that I have no problem with racial 41:43 prejudiced because you see I am and I Italian but most 41:49 people think I'm a Japanese. 41:51 - when you said that I wanted to laugh, 41:53 I'm thinking you are an Italian? You promise? 41:56 That's what people think that I am Japanese. 42:00 That is where the problem is. 42:02 For obvious reasons I can't tell you where, but my wife 42:08 and I went to this church in Michigan. 42:11 We felt so awkward because it was a Caucasian church. 42:19 Practically everybody is Caucasian and they were tense. 42:27 They didn't want to see a Japanese man with 42:31 a Caucasian wife, right. 42:34 - that's hard, mixed marriages is hard for people, 42:37 I'm finding out, and didn't realize, it was such an issue. 42:40 We had a tough time and said we will never return to 42:44 this church, well of course you can't do that because 42:49 of relatives and that is why we went to that 42:53 church in the first place. 42:55 If you years later we went to that church and there was 43:01 100% change, people were warm. 43:05 I notice that there were ethnic diversity, 43:12 many different nationalities attending that church. 43:15 Well I just found out recently that the Minister came to 43:21 that church about seven years ago and the 43:25 whole atmosphere just turned around. 43:29 - so he came in with a teaching spirit? 43:33 Or he just came in and taught? 43:36 Or just through people from the community? 43:39 But the people's attitude had just completely changed and 43:43 I feel that, you know you can turn off people, visitors, 43:49 by not being loving, cordial. 43:54 - can I just take that Sam? 44:00 I know when you can turn off visitors and turn off each 44:04 other, you can hurt and injure each other. 44:06 I want to go a step above that, 44:09 you can grieve the Holy Spirit. 44:12 - what does that mean? 44:14 To me grieving the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit wants to 44:17 pour in to us, wants to use us. 44:18 We are the body of Christ, we are the light of the world, 44:22 we bring God's colors to the world and anytime I my junk 44:25 gets in the way of the Holy Spirit being able to love on, 44:29 edify and affirm, and lift somebody up in front of me, 44:32 when my junk gets in the way, it is like I grieve Him. 44:36 As friends if you and I are hanging together and I say some 44:39 thing that hurts you, you are grieved, you are a vexed. 44:43 Your spirit has to withdraw and figure out what just 44:47 happened, what did she say? 44:49 I think that God, the Holy Spirit is grieved 44:51 in the same way. 44:52 The Bible says don't grieve the Spirit, don't grieve the 44:55 Spirit so I know that all this stuff is very personal for 44:59 each of us, but I also know it's very personal for God. 45:02 As His representatives on the planet. 45:05 Do you hear that? - I hear you. 45:08 I also think that some significant happened here, 45:10 we don't know what happened in this congregation, 45:13 but someone went forward and spread the gospel of 45:17 Jesus Christ and it caught fire, and it caught fire. 45:20 Somebody stepped up. 45:25 That is too funny, I know there was another question. 45:28 Lisa, you had a question. 45:29 When you talk about grieving the Holy Spirit, I know that 45:34 I have done that and got very sensitive to that. 45:37 What I say to the Lord is that when I'm talking, 45:40 ministering, being a friend, a wife, a mother, 45:44 help me to have Your heart on that person. 45:47 Not to see how they are acting, how they look, 45:50 if they are in sin, if they are Muslim, if they are a Jew, 45:53 if it's my mother, if it's someone who I don't like, 45:56 not my type of person, help me to have Your heart. 45:59 Because He died for all of us and loves us all and wants 46:02 to fix us all and I need His help sometimes when 46:06 I am talking to somebody, because I might not have that 46:09 feeling for them and He helps me. 46:12 - We don't know how to love like that. 46:13 On the show we talked about the Holy Spirit and the gifts 46:17 of the Spirit's, or the fruits of the Spirit. 46:19 First fruit is agape love, so God pours that into us. 46:23 So I learn to love only with my dependents on the 46:27 Holy Spirit, because the love with the world has taught 46:29 me is not that good. 46:32 In our humanness, we are human and we try to be like Him. 46:35 That's incredible, when I went to God one time and said, 46:39 God, who do I work with? 46:41 Do I work with Buddhist, we have like 50 billion different 46:45 denominations, do I work with such and such and such and 46:49 such, do I work with an addict, God forbid the prostitute, 46:52 do I work with whatever? 46:53 I am vexed, I'm thinking God I don't know. 46:56 Some people say we should work with them, 46:59 but not this group, so I said in my prayer that 47:03 I want to know, I want to know. 47:06 I don't want to know kind of, I seriously want to know, 47:09 crying, wanting to know. 47:10 The Holy Spirit said, I'll give you something easy. 47:15 I'm thinking easy is good, put a little mirror under 47:19 their nose and if it steams up work with them. 47:22 That is what I'm saying, do I work with them, He said yes. 47:24 And yes, and yes, and yes. 47:26 If they are alive, they are my children, and judgment does 47:31 not come, there is a thing in the Bible that says, 47:34 when judgment comes is at the end of all this. 47:36 There will be a judgment day, but it is not now. 47:39 Jesus said at one time, even the angels don't judge. 47:42 You don't know the end of your life, you don't know the 47:46 end of my life, all you know is that I have breath in me. 47:50 If I have breath in me, as Christians we are to love, 47:53 affirm, edify, lift up, educate if we can. 47:57 If the person is able to be educated at that point, 47:59 but sometimes that is not even our gig. - that's right! 48:02 Our gig is to love on or pray for those things. 48:07 Maybe pray with. - oh, you've gone too far for me. 48:14 So we have a little bit of time and I would like to, 48:18 you have said at the beginning the show, you said to me 48:21 personally, you know I just don't have a testimony. 48:24 But I say that I see a woman that has gone through a 48:28 number of things in your life that has kept the foundation 48:32 in Christ, how do you do that? 48:33 Well you know it is like breathing. 48:36 He is there, and I know He is there. 48:40 There are times that I know that you heard me say this 48:42 before, I'm not sure He is keeping score 48:43 as well as I'd like him to, I'm right at the end, 48:46 this could be a deal breaker Lord. 48:48 He says, ah nah, you are okay, you're okay. 48:51 I believe that is true, I have the core sustaining root, 48:56 foundation and it goes on and on and on. 48:58 I know, I'm trying to fix things and take care of it, 49:01 sometimes it is not my job and I will get to the point 49:04 and say that I know Who is in charge, I've been reminded. 49:07 But you have gotten to the point where you said God this is hard. 49:08 This one is hard? 49:09 Oh yeah, my parents died 8 weeks apart from each other and 49:11 I did all the right things and gave all myself these kudos 49:14 and pats on the back and for handling, handling, 49:16 handling, and I thought I was going to lose my mind because 49:18 that was my linchpin, my core. 49:21 Who are you? When you are an orphan even though you are 49:24 as old as God yourself, it felt really funny to lose both my 49:27 parents and lose them so quickly and it was very hard. 49:30 And how do I stand back up. 49:32 - yes, then my kids god mother died right after that. 49:34 Then one of my closest friends was murdered a month after 49:38 that and I'm going, and I do pray like you do, Lord, 49:41 this is Cheri, remember this is me. 49:42 Have you got me confused with so many down the street 49:45 and I'm getting the overspill, it's a little too much, 49:48 too much for me. 49:49 - because you said you won't give us more than I can handle. 49:51 But now You're pushing it. 49:53 Yes Lord You are pushing it, this is the big one. 49:54 But truthfully that is what sustains me, 49:57 that's what sustains me. 49:58 As Christians is that, that foundation is that I know 50:02 whatever hits me, whether I understand it or not, I can 50:06 go to God, I can walk around and I can weep in His arms. 50:10 I can weep in prayer, I can say I'm confused. 50:14 My mother used to say this all the time, and her brother 50:17 was a minister, there is a Scripture that talks about now 50:19 we see through a glass darkly but later face-to-face. 50:22 Because I want to understand and I want to know what 50:24 I'm not going to know, that is hard for somebody that 50:26 is a little bit of a control freak. 50:28 I'm not supposed to know and the other thing that helps 50:30 the all the time is, faith is the substance of things 50:33 hoped for the evidence of things not seen. 50:35 I need that, and the other one is weeping may endure for 50:39 a night, weeping may endure and that is true. 50:43 I swear that the darkest times for me come at night when 50:47 you are alone and in the dark and truly the morning comes. 50:50 Truly it comes. 50:52 We talked about grieving the Holy Spirit on this. 50:56 I just want to get back to into churches. 51:02 What would you say to somebody in a church that says you 51:07 know what, as you guys talking I realize that 51:10 I have issues with racial differences? 51:13 I have issues with people that are different, a kid coming 51:16 in with piercings or black lipstick or whatever. 51:20 I have issues with that. 51:21 I know when I meet somebody that hear something that changes 51:26 their mindset, and says I don't want to be judgmental. 51:29 I don't want to be that, what would you say to them as 51:31 far as it is how to change that? 51:33 First thing I would say, congratulation, you are human. 51:36 You don't like everybody, I really get concerned when so 51:40 many says, ah, I have no prejudices, I like everybody 51:44 and I am so superior. 51:47 I want to go Hummm, speak with fork tongue. 51:48 What you don't know, you don't know so the top is to say, 51:52 I got this issue, and the next thing is to take the step. 51:55 I do not mean that you have to go throw your arms around 51:59 them because they know what your arms anymore than 52:00 you want to put them around there. 52:01 But the more you know, the more you find out about someone, 52:04 you develop a relationship. 52:06 Everybody doesn't want to be close and touchy-feely, 52:09 but you have to, it is hard to hate somebody when you 52:13 really know them, sometimes when you base it on a 52:16 stereotype you think you know, but when you begin to know 52:20 someone there is an opportunity 52:22 to break down those barriers. 52:23 Open up ask them, who are you? 52:24 Better than that, tell them who you are because you can 52:29 feel under scrutiny when so many comes up and bombards you, 52:33 who are you? Where are you coming from? 52:34 I can have the best intentions but it sounds like 52:37 I'm interrogating you, why don't I share me with you? 52:40 Why don't I share something with you and then give you 52:43 the opportunity to share? 52:45 To me all that, in understanding God not only has to 52:51 bring us from a place of whatever, a place of where we 52:57 were raised in loving families, or place of damage, 53:00 or a place of where ever it is. 53:03 Where every He finds us, that He has to bring us to be 53:06 able to see His face, accept the sacrifice that was made 53:10 for us, and then moves us into a body of all kinds of 53:13 folks all trying to figure out who they are, 53:15 or and what they are in Christ. 53:17 At the same time He is saying now I want you guys to 53:20 look at each other lovingly, and we are like I don't 53:23 know how to do that. 53:25 When I first came into the church what cracked me up is 53:27 I didn't know how to eat with someone. 53:29 I was homeless and didn't have a lot of modeling as 53:33 a child, so when somebody said, let's have potluck 53:38 together, my palms would sweat. 53:40 I didn't want someone to touch me because I knew they would 53:42 feel me sweaty and anxious. 53:44 Then somebody would say just talk about anything. 53:47 I didn't know, people start talking about the weather. 53:50 I thought these guys are so concerned about the weather. 53:54 They talk to somebody else and say nice weather we're 53:57 having, and I'm thinking what are they talking about? 54:01 I didn't even know the typical social things that people 54:04 do to feel each other out. 54:06 All that light talk. - or dance, the dance we do. 54:09 Another piece is humbling ourselves. 54:11 You know I don't know you, I don't want to offend you, 54:15 but Blah, blah, blah, blah, just to be humble. 54:18 Say I don't know everything and ask the question. 54:21 It is so important not to attack, not make someone feel 54:24 they are being put upon, that is my answer. 54:27 Share me, share me. 54:29 - and once we do that we do really fall 54:33 in love with people. 54:34 When somebody opens up to me, like Sam, I'm going to 54:39 tell a little bit about you. 54:40 Sam, I talk to you on another show, but as a kid in Japan 54:45 during bombs going off, Sam ran from those bombs. 54:50 You know what I mean? It is a life that is so different. 54:55 As you talked, you so became a part of my family of 54:59 Christ, I so fell in love with your history and what 55:03 you know about God and how God has brought you along. 55:06 I could talk about everybody on the set today, 55:09 the testimonies and the stories. 55:11 So we have talked about on this show of the fact that 55:15 there is all those judgments being made for each other, 55:19 but as Christians we have the privilege to ask God to fill 55:22 me up with the Holy Spirit and 55:23 teach me not to make those judgments. 55:26 Teach me what it means to accept and love someone, and the 55:29 first gift of the Spirit is love, the first fruit. 55:32 He says I will not only teach you, but I will love through 55:35 you until you get it. 55:37 For me, I think it is like the rest of my life and 55:40 I'm saying go ahead God, because I don't want to lean on 55:43 my own understanding anymore. 55:44 I don't want to figure this out anymore, I want You to do 55:47 it through me and stay tuned we will be right back. 55:55 Cheri Peters uses the book, 'Coming Of The Comforter' 55:58 as a guide for the second season of Celebrating Life In 56:02 Recovery, written by Lee Roy E. Froom is a 320 page book 56:05 that offers every sinner the knowledge that the 56:07 Holy Spirit is available to all. 56:09 3ABN now offers this book to you for a suggested donation 56:13 of only $13 postpaid within the US. 56:16 Call 3ABN at 618-627-4651 or go online to 3ABN.org. 56:39 The Bible talks about the gift of the Holy Spirit and 56:41 I think that is the only thing that gets us in to recovery. 56:44 It is the only thing that educates us on how to be 56:46 Christians, especially with cultural stuff at all the 56:49 different things we deal with. 56:50 God says, I want to give you the Holy Spirit more than a 56:54 good parent wants to give good gifts to their children. 56:57 It is just a huge thing, Christ, the last thing He said 57:00 when He left is that He wanted to give us the Holy Spirit. 57:03 Then I read Peter the disciple is filled with the Holy 57:07 Spirit and he walks by somebody and his shadow falls on 57:10 them and they are well, they are healed. 57:12 I'm thinking, oh, shut up, I want to do that. 57:14 I want to actually have my shadow fall on somebody and 57:17 have them be well and then I thought, wait a minute. 57:20 That Spirit that they are talking about in Peter that 57:22 causes that kind of reaction of one a shadow falls on 57:25 them is in you, to make you well first. 57:27 So the first person that gets the benefit of the 57:30 Holy Spirit is the person that asks for it. 57:33 So if you have any issues, if you even think that maybe 57:36 you need to learn something about cultural diversity, 57:39 about accepting of young people, old people, pierced 57:42 people, tattooed people, black people, White people, 57:45 Italian-Japanese people. 57:48 If you have any of that just ask God, fill me with the 57:52 Holy Spirit and so heal me that my desires and become 57:57 Your desires, my eyes become Your eyes, my mouth as 58:00 I speak to someone, I speak life into them because 58:03 I am speaking from the throne room of God. 58:06 I'm speaking in my healing not in my damage. 58:08 If we do that as a church, man, could you imagine that 58:13 we would just draw the world to us. 58:15 And right now the world is not coming because we are 58:17 not learning to love each other, but let's do it. 58:20 Love each other and until next week, I am crazy about 58:23 you, God is crazy about you, see a next time. |
Revised 2014-12-17