Participants:
Series Code: CW
Program Code: CW000023S
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00:00 (calm music)
00:13 - Hey, welcome everybody to Talking Donkey International 00:16 and our new television series, Country Wisdom. 00:18 - Lets' set the tone for this new series of ours. 00:22 It's found in Proverbs four. 00:24 Let your eyes look directly forward 00:27 and your gaze be straight before you. 00:30 Ponder the path of your feet 00:33 and then all your ways will be sure. 00:36 - Join us now for Country Wisdom. 00:43 - I love people's stories. 00:44 I think it was why I was an English major, 00:46 so I could read stories and Taylor's is 00:50 one of the most interesting ones that I've heard. 00:53 I love the way that God was with him every step, 00:57 even though he didn't see God, 00:59 he didn't even think he wanted God for a while. 01:02 This second part of his interview, you're not going 01:05 to want to miss. 01:08 - It is amazing, when you look step by step 01:10 at the things he did. 01:11 It's like he's running so far from God, 01:14 but God continually pursues him, 01:16 continually works, speaks to him 01:18 in ways that we would never think of. 01:21 - And it's right there, the moment Taylor turns. 01:23 - Yeah, exactly, so folks, join us right now 01:26 for the second half, the second part 01:28 of another exciting testimony of Taylor Cantrell. 01:39 - I went sophomore year, having done that 01:43 and got a couple more friends that I would smoke with 01:47 or that I would have a beer with, 01:48 or they were getting drunk on weekends 01:51 and I would be around and happen to get drunk too. 01:53 Then junior year was when 01:58 it became much more available 02:02 to do anything and I mean literally anything. 02:06 We lived in the central valley of California 02:09 Bay area is an hour away. 02:13 You can take an hour drive and go see 02:16 the worst drug dealer imaginable 02:19 and get anything you imagine. 02:21 But, what we were doing in our junior year, 02:26 was a ton of smoking weed. 02:29 A ton, I mean every day before school, 02:32 skip a class to smoke and then after school 02:36 until we've decided we didn't want to hang out 02:38 with each other any more. 02:40 And looking back at that, it's like I cannot imagine 02:47 quantifying the number of hours I wasted 02:49 on people that I can't even either 02:51 remember their names anymore or wouldn't care to. 02:55 - I used to, after I got away from drugs, 02:57 I used to call grass the do nothing drug, 03:00 because you don't care to do anything in life, 03:02 just chill. 03:03 - Right, absolutely right. 03:05 So, there is usually one moment 03:11 that is going to be the flip of the switch 03:13 for somebody that's either going to send them way further 03:14 into the drugs or be the catalyst to, 03:17 okay, I need to stop. 03:19 And thankfully, I decided to stop when we had a moment 03:24 of we had gone to San Francisco for just a trip 03:27 with five, six friends and it happened to be 03:32 on April 20th. 03:33 If those of you who don't know, 03:35 four-20 is the date and everybody goes 03:38 and smokes as much weed as they possibly can on this day, 03:42 just because. 03:43 And we decided to celebrate said holiday in San Francisco, 03:48 so we drove out to San Francisco, 03:51 smoking while we're driving the whole way out. 03:54 We get there, we smoke some more. 03:56 We go to the place where everybody's going 03:58 to meet up and smoke and it's called Hippy Hill. 04:02 There's thousands of people that meet on this hill 04:06 to all smoke at the same time, four-20. 04:09 We went out for this trip and 04:15 as I've explained it, it's pretty intense. 04:18 But we decided that it wasn't quite enough, 04:21 so we should try to find som psychedelic mushrooms. 04:25 My friend and I, we went and decided it's San Francisco. 04:28 How hard could it be to find psychedelic mushrooms? 04:32 And honestly, not. 04:34 Not very hard at all. 04:35 - You just stop passers by? 04:39 On Haight and Ashbury, yeah. 04:41 - That's where all the big commuters used to be, 04:44 all the big dealers. 04:45 - I've heard of Haight Ashbury. 04:47 - Yeah, so we were literally on Haight Street 04:49 when this happened. 04:51 We were walking past, just walking by bunches of people 04:53 and my friend taps me and he points at this person, 04:56 who's probably homeless, sitting on his cardboard thing 04:59 with a sign. 05:01 He's got neon green dreads, mixed in 05:05 with neon orange dreads and he just looked 05:09 like a road reflector sitting there. 05:11 And it it couldn't have been more obvious to us 05:14 that it's like, that's our guy. 05:15 And we asked him and he was our guy 05:19 and so he said, "Yeah, sure, 05:20 "just come along, come down with me over here." 05:23 And there's a group of five or six of us, 05:25 following this one guy. 05:26 So fine, let's go and where he leads us, 05:30 is down to the end of Haight Street. 05:32 Those who might watch this, may actually know 05:35 what I'm talking about, but at the end of Haight Street, 05:38 there's a McDonald's. 05:39 You cross the street and go into the park. 05:41 Buena Vista Park I think, is what it's called. 05:44 But, when you first walk through that entrance to the park, 05:48 he says, "Oh, okay, now step into my office," 05:50 which was, let's go off into the woods over here 05:53 for like a little bit. 05:54 And so all of us walked over there 05:56 and he said, okay, now wait here. 06:01 And we can still see the gate. 06:02 We can still see people at the McDonald's and every thing. 06:05 - And the other buddies that 06:06 are gonna show up with the guns. 06:07 - Right that's what we were kind of worried about. 06:09 But what turned out, is this guy that we had asked, 06:13 knew who to ask. 06:15 So he just took us to a place that was fine enough 06:18 to wait around for five, ten minutes. 06:21 And we see him walk off to this spot 06:24 where there's a bunch of tents in the woods. 06:26 And there's kind of questionable characters walking around, 06:33 including a guy that's wearing football pads 06:36 with nine inch nails sticking through them, 06:40 all the way out, like it's a suit of armor. 06:44 - Okay. 06:45 - And this guy is very much not here with us 06:50 at the time. 06:51 He's walking around with a big knife, 06:54 chucking it into this stump, pulling it out. 06:58 Chucking it into this stump and pulling it out 07:00 and he's repeatedly screaming, "Why don't people 07:02 "believe in magic anymore?" 07:06 This guy is not here. 07:10 Our guy goes and talks to him 07:13 and they have a conversation. 07:15 (cross talking) 07:19 So, we get what we came to get from him 07:23 and we go to the hill and we go and do our thing. 07:28 When I took the magic mushrooms, 07:33 it was about 20 minutes before anything happened, 07:35 but we're on top of the hill. 07:37 - You saw what they had done for the guy 07:39 with the knife and the nine inch nails 07:41 and you still wanted to try it? 07:44 - Because our rationale is that's what happens 07:48 when you do it too much. 07:52 - Does the phrase young and dumb come to mind? 07:57 - Yeah, so we go and take part in the Hippy Hill celebration 08:03 and I would say there's at least 2000 people on the hill. 08:08 And this is 2009. 08:12 This would be 2009 when it happened and we celebrate. 08:18 I eat the magic mushrooms. 08:20 20 minutes go by and I start to kind of feel 08:23 the physical effects of them 08:25 and the night just devolved from there, 08:31 where I don't remember everything that happened. 08:33 There's still the story of what happened 08:36 among everybody and the story remains the same, 08:38 so I believe the accounts of four other people 08:41 that were there with me. 08:43 But what I was told had happened was, 08:48 we started to feel them and then we left the hill 08:51 and we were going up to- 08:53 Oh no, so it wasn't Buena Vista Park where Hippy Hill is, 08:56 we were going up to Buena Vista Park after this. 08:59 And when you go up to Buena Vista Park, 09:03 it's a good uphill section and when you get to the top, 09:04 there's a nice view of the whole city. 09:06 We had stopped at the bottom of the hill, 09:08 going up to the staircase and just sat down. 09:11 And when you turn around and you're sitting 09:13 on the bench of this staircase, you can see San Francisco. 09:16 And what I was experiencing, was a complete 09:21 melt of my reality. 09:23 I wasn't experiencing things in three dimensions. 09:26 I was experiencing them in two dimensions. 09:30 So everything literally looked like it was just a drawing 09:35 and I could just basically reach out 09:38 and pick things out of the world if I wanted to. 09:41 So I was not there. 09:44 That's one thing that I remember. 09:47 And then the next thing that I remember, 09:49 is sprinting as fast as I can, 09:53 and I must have been doing it for a while, 09:55 because I feel, like I'm tired. 09:57 And I looked around and I don't have my friends 09:59 anywhere near me. 10:00 So I must be running from someone or something 10:04 and I'm still not entirely there. 10:08 I'm still coming in and out of completely aware 10:13 and back in mushrooms and completely aware 10:15 and back in mushrooms, because it's, 10:17 the trip is not over. 10:19 And I don't fully have them out of my system. 10:22 But I'm sprinting and sprinting and sprinting 10:25 and all I can think is, I need to hide 10:27 because I can't run anymore. 10:29 And I jump into the bushes 10:31 and I'm underneath the bushes. 10:33 I mean like all the way in. 10:37 30 seconds later, three officers ran past. 10:42 - So they were what was chasing you? 10:45 - Yeah. 10:48 - So this is- 10:49 we probably don't have time to really 10:51 continue the saga too far, 10:52 but was this kind of one of your last times in life 10:55 to do this kinda stuff? 10:56 - Oh of course. 10:57 What had happened, was officers had pulled up 11:01 and seen us all hanging out and smoking 11:04 and they tried to stop us. 11:05 And I'm out of it and I took off running. 11:09 And so they're obviously like, 11:10 we need to chase him, but I made it out 11:17 of that situation when I probably shouldn't have. 11:19 And that was a little bit of like, 11:22 you got lucky this time. 11:25 And that was enough of a kicker 11:27 where my brain says, "You've had your fun. 11:32 "Knock it off." 11:33 - Don't do that again. 11:35 - Just out of curiosity, do you think 11:36 it was your brain or God? 11:37 - Absolutely God. 11:39 It was absolutely God. 11:40 Because, honestly when I had that moment of 11:44 "You've had your fun, knock it off." 11:46 It felt like something my seventh grade teacher 11:48 would have settled. 11:50 (everybody laughs) 11:52 - You know, and I absolutely could see in that moment 11:56 where I was headed, what I was doing 11:59 and thinking it is absolutely possible 12:04 for me to decide in my own head, 12:06 there's nothing wrong with this 12:08 and just keep going. 12:10 Because I absolutely felt that in my heart 12:14 where I was like, 12:16 I felt the devil telling me, if you enjoy it, 12:20 what's wrong with it? 12:23 And that enough, because of how I was raised 12:27 and the people that have kind of said, 12:29 it's not always gonna be "Hi, I'm the devil." 12:34 You know. 12:36 Because I heard that red flag go off in my head, 12:39 I was immediately able to about face 12:42 and it was like a knee jerk reaction, 12:44 where I was like, no, that's the devil. 12:46 No, absolutely not. 12:51 - My grandmother was number 11 in a family of 13 girls 12:57 and she sometimes felt lost in the crowd. 12:59 Do you ever feel that way? 13:01 With nearly eight billion people in the world, 13:04 it's easy to wonder if anyone even notices you're alive. 13:08 But there is someone who notices. 13:12 The Bible says God calls us by name. 13:15 He knows you, knows your name. 13:19 You're his child. 13:21 If you'd like proof, go to TalkingDonkeyInternational.org 13:25 and request offer number 130 for this free pamphlet. 13:31 There's not another you. 13:34 - Now, you're definitely a chip off the old block. 13:37 Film and media, everything are in your blood. 13:40 You've become a successful drone pilot 13:42 and hopefully more so. 13:44 We don't have time to go into a lot of that today, 13:46 but you were helping your dad film 13:49 a world-wide television, I think live production. 13:53 And kinda what happened there? 13:55 I understand something happened. 13:57 - What we were filming, was a thirty day conference, 14:03 where a pastor, Shawn Boonstra, came to talk about 14:07 the book of Revelation. 14:09 At length, in depth month long of meetings. 14:13 - Where were you filming? 14:14 - In Minneapolis at the Minneapolis Convention Center. 14:16 His event is called Revelation speaks peace, 14:19 and we set up to have 3000 people show up 14:26 and most of the time, that building was full. 14:29 We had hundreds and hundreds and hundreds 14:32 of people that were coming night upon night, 14:34 saying that I want to hear this story. 14:36 And my job was to run a camera. 14:38 And it's something that I've done 14:39 since I was seven years old. 14:41 Live broadcast video. 14:42 I've run a camera. 14:44 It's second nature to me now. 14:46 So, running a camera for Shawn is great, 14:50 because he's very active. 14:51 He'll walk back and forth. 14:52 It gives you something to do. 14:53 You're not just sitting there, 14:55 you know, falling asleep. 14:57 But the cool part is, being engaged 15:00 while running camera for him, 15:02 was also keeping me listening because - 15:04 - [Janice] You had to pay attention to him. 15:06 - Yeah, I could hear when he was about 15:08 to change what he would say or he would start to move 15:10 somewhere else. 15:11 But I was paying attention to the points too 15:12 and I was hearing so many things that had never- 15:16 I'd heard the cursory terms, 15:19 like the woman and the dragon 15:21 and the multiple headed beast and the horns 15:25 and everything like that 15:27 and then we talked for a full night 15:30 on just what the horns meant. 15:32 And then the next night, was we're gonna talk about 15:34 just what the dragon is. 15:36 So it was, let's actually break this down 15:41 other that it just being a story that sounds like it 15:43 might as well have come out of Greek Mythology, you know. 15:47 And having him break down this story 15:50 that has always been so unattainable, 15:55 because it's so not in our language. 15:57 - A lot of people think you can't understand Revelation. 16:00 Why bother? 16:02 - Right. And that's exactly what prompted 16:05 that series, is why bother? 16:07 Because it's the last book of the Bible. 16:10 It's there for a reason. 16:11 And going through these meetings, 16:14 I mean, I've been raised Seventh Day Adventists. 16:16 I don't remember what year this happened, 16:19 I think it was 2014. 16:21 So this is three, four years after I graduated high school. 16:27 And I had done pretty much every drug imaginable 16:31 that didn't involve a needle 16:33 up until that point. 16:36 And so, being invited to come run camera 16:39 for a month long meetings, 16:42 it being church meetings, 16:44 that was not the draw. 16:45 It was hey, there's a month straight of work for you. 16:48 Would you like to come out? 16:50 Yes, yes I would. 16:52 And so I came out just looking to kind of 16:54 get myself financially stable again. 16:56 Just to have this chunk of money to put away 16:58 and be able to have a little to live off. 17:01 - And it looks good on your resume. 17:02 - Right, and so I ended up coming out. 17:05 It's another video job with dad. 17:08 It's just, you know, back to the normal. 17:09 I know how to do this, but weeks go on into the meetings. 17:14 Two weeks plus, and then it's like every night 17:20 when you run camera for a sermon, 17:24 you're not running on up to the thing to run the camera, 17:28 because most of the time it's pretty drawl. 17:31 If I'm honest, but there were times 17:35 that I felt myself like, okay, is it time to go yet? 17:39 - You were wanting him to get started on another... 17:41 - Yeah, because I remembered the previous night, 17:44 having left off with, "Okay. And?" 17:50 And so I- 17:51 - So you really were interested. 17:53 - Yeah, and the fact that he took Revelation seriously 17:58 and made it digestible, was so meaningful 18:05 when there's been so many people 18:07 that probably could have done the exact same thing he did, 18:11 but didn't take the time to 18:13 or didn't invest that knowledge 18:17 that they had into me or into other people. 18:21 Because it's like I'm 23 years old 18:25 before I hear what Revelation really means. 18:30 And I was raised in the church. 18:33 That feels wrong. 18:35 And so, finally getting that substance 18:41 that I was looking for and I wasn't even in church. 18:45 It was like, okay, God I kind of get 18:50 what you're trying to tell me here 18:53 because I've spent so much of my life in church buildings 18:57 thinking that this is the only place 18:59 where you can sing the songs and feel the feelings. 19:02 No, not at all, because most of the time, 19:06 people have been my church 19:13 and way more so than any building ever has. 19:17 It's, you know, there's probably a handful of people 19:21 that I can name, that it's like I could never once 19:25 have ever entered a church building 19:27 and have those five people in my life 19:29 and I would still be the same belief that I am today. 19:33 Because seeing what belief does to somebody 19:39 when they are true about it and intentional about it, 19:41 is incredibly powerful. 19:45 It's not the, you know, 19:46 have you heard about our Lord and Savior, you know 19:49 - It's what you see in their lives 19:52 and seeing how much they care about you 19:54 and about other people. 19:56 - And so they'll- 19:57 It's not, "Have you heard about our Lord and Savior?" 20:01 It's them coming directly into my life, 20:04 looking into my eyes and saying, "Have you heard 20:05 "about my Lord and Savior?" 20:10 Because, 20:15 feeling the personal touch, made it real. 20:22 It's not just, come sit in the pew 20:25 and read page 47 of the hymnal 20:27 and then Jesus is gonna love you. 20:31 It's right now, where you are, 20:36 Jesus loves you. 20:39 And I spent so much of my life never experiencing that 20:46 and Shawn's meetings, the Revelation speaks peace, 20:53 taking something that where, if I asked the questions 20:57 that he was answering to other people, 21:00 would have been like, leave me alone. 21:01 I don't have time to talk about that right now. 21:04 Somebody intentionally taking that time 21:07 and laying it all out like it's a buffet menu, 21:11 it was like thank you for allowing me into 21:18 the depth of faith that you have. 21:21 Because how am I suppose to ever get where you are 21:24 if I don't understand what you understand. 21:28 - So at that moment, at those meetings, 21:30 God became very real to you. 21:33 - Absolutely. 21:35 - Tonight, before I get into my topic, 21:37 I've got something pretty special planned. 21:41 Tonight, before I speak, 21:44 we've got somebody in the waters of baptism. 21:46 There it is. 21:49 This is Taylor. 21:50 You might recognize Taylor, because Taylor is usually 21:53 operating one of the TV cameras. 21:57 Now he's been on the other end of the camera every night 22:00 and he and I have been studying and praying together 22:04 and he has been away for a while and he's coming home 22:08 to Jesus Christ. 22:10 We love you, Taylor. 22:10 Welcome home. 22:12 Because you love Jesus, it's our privileged now 22:15 to baptize you in the name of the Father, 22:18 and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. 22:23 (applause) 22:25 Buried with Jesus and rising to new life in Him. 22:29 (applause) 22:34 Welcome home, man. 22:36 Welcome home. 22:42 - Has He stayed real since then? 22:46 - I've felt God moving in my life 22:49 so many times since then, 22:53 where, you know, I'm working for Tesla 22:59 and I'm a forklift driver and I'm making $18 and hour 23:01 and I work 70 hours a week, 23:03 but I still can't afford to live in the town that I live in. 23:06 And we scramble and we do everything we can 23:09 and it just doesn't work 23:11 ad we finally say God, where do you want us to go? 23:14 What do you want me to do? 23:19 Hey, there's a job offer in Eugene. 23:23 Hey, your wife got a job offer in Eugene. 23:26 We go up there, we get the jobs 23:30 and as we're leaving, I get a call 23:32 and get offered a better job. 23:36 We move up there, our daughter is born there. 23:42 Like, there's been so many little moments 23:46 where I feel the, you can go one of two ways 23:53 and this is God saying, "This is the fork in the path 23:55 "and you are the one that's deciding 23:57 "where you're gonna walk." 23:59 And thankfully, for the past few years, 24:03 I've felt myself intentionally saying, 24:06 "This is that moment. 24:07 "What are you gonna do?" 24:09 And trying my hardest to make the best decision. 24:14 - Taylor, we've only got a second or two left, 24:16 but I wanted to bring out, because God has been leading you 24:19 to start your own drone company 24:21 and you're an incredible pilot, 24:24 because like I say on first hand, 24:25 you've flown for us on various film projects 24:28 and I've never seen anybody as good. 24:31 What's the name of your company 24:32 and how can people get in touch with you? 24:36 - My drone company is called Archer Aero 24:38 because my son's name is Archer. 24:42 I came into his life when he was a year and a half old 24:44 and he showed me what it means to be a dad 24:48 and he opened up my life in a whole new way, 24:50 which is kind of what I want to do with drone video. 24:54 So I want to open up people's eyes to something 24:56 entirely new that you will never ever ever 24:59 have the chance to see unless I give it to you. 25:03 And that's how I feel about my son, 25:05 I would never ever, ever, ever have had the chance to see 25:09 what kind of life is possible without 25:11 that part of my life. 25:13 So Archer Arrow, and it's almost like a triple entendre 25:17 because it's my son's name, it's the archer's arrow, 25:22 as like, we are gonna shoot our shot. 25:26 We are going to be intentional about what 25:29 we want to hit and we're gonna hit it. 25:31 And then the aero is spelled A-E-R-O, 25:35 so Archer Aeronautics, 25:37 so that's the triple entendre. 25:40 It's my son, it's the archer's arrow 25:42 and it's aeronautical. 25:43 - We're gonna put your contact info 25:44 at the end of this video, 25:46 because I believe people, if they want anything 25:47 done with drones, they need to contact you. 25:50 They'll be happy with it. 25:54 - My grandmother was number 11 in a family of 13 girls 26:00 and she sometimes felt lost in the crowd. 26:02 Do you ever feel that way? 26:05 With nearly eight billion people in the world, 26:07 it's easy to wonder if anyone even notices you're alive. 26:12 But there is someone who notices. 26:15 The Bible says God calls us by name. 26:18 He knows you, knows your name. 26:22 You're his child. 26:24 If you'd like proof, go to TalkingDonkeyInternational.org 26:29 and request offer number 130 for this free pamphlet. 26:34 There's not another you. 26:38 - What an exciting testimony. 26:40 - Oh, I could have stayed up there for hours longer, 26:42 just listening to him. 26:43 I'm suer he's got more stories. 26:44 - Oh, I know he does. 26:46 You know, it is exciting, 26:47 everything that God did to bring him to himself. 26:52 - You know, what was that phrase, that saying 26:54 you told me earlier about no matter how far 26:57 you've gone away form God. 26:58 - Oh yeah, no matter how far you've gone from God, 27:00 it's only one step to get back to God. 27:03 - That was it, because I remember thinking, 27:05 I've never thought of myself as ever 27:07 getting that far off the path, 27:09 but I had to make that same decision at some point, to turn. 27:14 - Yeah, folks, I urge you today to turn. 27:16 Take that one single step back to God. 27:19 It's just that simple and He's that close. 27:21 I urge you right now choose Him. 27:24 Whatever's going on in your life. 27:26 You might feel like Janice, oh I'm pretty good. 27:30 Or like Taylor, it doesn't matter. 27:32 You're just one single step from God. 27:34 Get on your knees right now and say 27:35 God, help me. 27:37 I want to serve you today an guess what, 27:40 God will make that move to you 27:42 and save you and change your life. 27:45 Please, do it right now. 27:47 (calm music) 27:54 Thanks for joining us for Country Wisdom. 27:56 - See you next time. 27:58 (calm music) |
Revised 2021-06-11