Participants:
Series Code: CW
Program Code: CW000055S
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00:00 (soft music)
00:03 - Welcome everyone, we're excited to share 00:05 some Country Wisdom with you. 00:07 - King Solomon had a thing or two to say 00:09 about the path to wisdom. 00:11 In Proverbs four, he wrote, 00:13 "Let your eyes look directly forward and your gaze 00:16 be straight before you. 00:19 Keep straight the path of your feet and all your ways 00:22 Will be sure." 00:23 - Join us now for, "Country Wisdom." 00:26 (soft music) 00:30 (gentle music) 00:42 I wanted to read a scripture to you this morning 00:44 because I believe it typifies a little bit 00:47 of Tim Chaffey's experience 00:49 that he's going to share with us in just a moment. 00:51 It's found in Isaiah chapter 43, 00:53 "But now, thus says the Lord, 00:55 who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you O Israel. 00:58 Fear not for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name. 01:02 You are mine. 01:03 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, 01:05 when you pass through the rivers, 01:06 they shall not overwhelm you. 01:08 When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned 01:11 and the flame shall not consume you. 01:13 For I am the Lord Your God." 01:17 Tim, thanks for coming with us here today 01:19 and being with us and at the Ark Encounter. 01:21 And we'll probably have a little noise in the background 01:23 from the folks around, 01:26 but I'd like to hear a little about your personal testimony. 01:28 You know, how God has walked with you 01:30 and been with you in life. 01:31 - And how he led you here. - Okay. Yeah. 01:34 Well, it's not one of the most exciting testimonies 01:37 that you're ever gonna hear, you know, 01:38 you hear that from people sometimes where God, 01:41 as you were talking about, brought them out of the pit. 01:42 Well, I grew up in a Christian home 01:44 and I'm grateful for that. 01:46 You know, I'm not trying to say I wish I had 01:47 that other testimony. 01:49 I don't, I'm so thankful that I was raised by godly parents. 01:51 And from my earliest memories, 01:54 I've always believed the gospel. 01:56 So people say, "Hey, when were you saved?" 01:57 I don't know. 01:59 - I know. - because I don't know when... 02:00 - I can't either. - Yeah. 02:02 I know when I professed my faith in church 02:05 and when I went for and was baptized, 02:06 I know all of those things, but I've always believed. 02:09 And so I don't know when that was, 02:11 but I'm so grateful for that. 02:13 And God has always kind of kept me in check. 02:16 You know, when my friends in high school were doing things 02:18 that were, you know, they would do it 50 times. 02:19 They'd do all these things that they weren't supposed to do. 02:21 I would do it once and I'd get caught, 02:23 (everyone laughing) 02:25 I'm not gonna let you do all those things 02:26 because I'm gonna keep you in line. 02:27 And at the time it could be frustrating, 02:28 but I'm grateful for it because he really protected me from 02:31 doing a lot of stupid things 02:34 and or protected me in the midst of stupid things. 02:36 And I'm grateful for that. 02:38 But then I went off to Bible college afterwards 02:41 thinking that I was gonna be doing youth ministry. 02:43 Had no dream of writing or anything like that. 02:45 That was never on my radar. 02:48 - You did youth ministry for a while? 02:49 - I did do some youth ministry. 02:50 I was pastor for a while as well. 02:52 Taught at Christian schools for about six years 02:54 and loved doing that. 02:55 I loved teaching, I loved being in the classroom. 02:57 I didn't care for all the other stuff, you know, 03:00 but I love the teaching in the classroom. 03:02 And, you know, God has been so good to me 03:06 and so faithful throughout the years. 03:09 And I won't have it any other way. 03:10 But you know what was interesting is what I do, 03:13 we've talked about before, I'm the content manager. 03:15 So I do the writing for the signs that you read in the 03:17 Creation Museum, the Ark Encounter. 03:19 So I gotta do a lot of writing, 03:21 gotta write about scientific topics. 03:25 And my two least favorite classes by far in high school, 03:27 were English and science. 03:29 - Are you kidding? - I hated them 03:31 I hated them. (everyone laughing) 03:32 And, but God had a sense of humor. 03:33 You know, I see it every time I look in the mirror. 03:35 But he has a sense of humor where he's like, Yeah, 03:38 I know what you're gonna be doing. 03:40 - Using English and science. - Using English and science. 03:42 And I never dreamed I would be a writer. 03:45 But God had other plans. 03:47 And as I went out to Bible college, started writing papers, 03:50 and especially when I went to seminary 03:52 and started doing a lot of papers, 03:54 it just was kind of natural for me to write. 03:56 And actually it was, I don't know if I've told him this yet, 04:00 but Mark Loy, who was one of the co-founders 04:01 of this ministry, 04:03 one time he was introducing me, he said, 04:06 Tim has this really nice flowing writing style. 04:08 And I, I do? 04:10 You know, this is years ago before I'd ever written 04:11 any books or anything, I had just been doing a website, 04:14 you know, what would kind of be called a blog today 04:17 before blogs were really a thing. 04:19 And he had read some of the articles and I thought, well, 04:21 that was really nice to say. 04:24 And that kind of was that little nudge I needed to get going 04:26 and do more writing. 04:27 - Because I've read some of your stuff and I agree with him. 04:29 You do have a lovely style. 04:31 And you put a lot of research in, 04:33 which is what I loved. 04:35 Even reading your fiction, your Noah trilogy, 04:39 you weren't just, you know, dreaming stuff up. 04:42 I could tell. It's like, Oh man, he's really researched, 04:45 everything lines up. 04:47 - Yeah, that was the goal is to try to continually drive 04:49 people to look back at what scripture says with that series, 04:52 while also, you know, becoming a, 04:54 like an unofficial backstory for Noah and his family 04:57 at the Ark Encounter. 04:58 And we wanted to have one consistent story 05:00 through all of the exhibits. 05:02 And the Bible doesn't give us all the details we need about 05:04 Noah's family in order to portray them. 05:07 You know and for a couple of years we used to get complaints 05:09 like, why are you trying to add to the Bible 05:11 by naming Noah's wife? 05:12 And people would get really upset because they love the Ark, 05:15 but then they would get mad about that. 05:17 And I thought, that's not the only place 05:19 we use artistic license. 05:20 The look of the Ark, the look of the animals, 05:22 the look of the people, the clothes that they're wearing. 05:23 All of those things are artistic license. 05:26 - Because we have no idea what they really dress like. 05:28 - Exactly, exactly. - What they really wore. 05:30 - Right, what they really looked like or anything. 05:32 And so we did do research as best we could, 05:34 we look at some of the earliest relief that we find 05:37 and what type of clothing were they wearing. 05:38 And so that's what though, they're modeled after. 05:41 - Assyrian, is that about as far back as we can go? 05:43 - Yeah, I believe so. 05:44 And one of our designers looked into all of that and, 05:46 and figured out how could you get this wrap 05:48 to work around the body? 05:49 He made them full size and then practiced 05:51 how do you get this to work practically? 05:55 And so a lot of research went into all of those things. 05:56 So now we've introduced a series of signs 05:58 at the very beginning, 06:00 arktistic license where we talk about those five things. 06:01 I don't ever get those complaints anymore 06:03 because they know going in, okay, they've named the women, 06:06 here's why, because we're creating a themed attraction, 06:09 we want you to think of them as real people. 06:10 They were real people. 06:11 And people say, Well, why didn't you just call her Mrs. Noah 06:13 or Mrs. Ham, that wasn't their name. 06:16 They were real people with real names. 06:18 We don't know what they were, but we gave 'em names. 06:20 So anyway, got a little away from my testimony. 06:22 - No, no, no, no. I just, I was thinking though, you know, 06:26 there's what you said earlier, 06:26 and maybe it was even off camera, 06:29 that I don't have much of a testimony 06:30 'cause I've always known God. 06:32 There's a lot of people that feel like that. 06:34 But that's very special. 06:36 Because you didn't need to get pounded by all the garbage 06:39 and have to live through that and clean that up, 06:41 for a lot of your life. 06:43 - Yeah and I'm not trying to say I was perfect 06:44 and I never did. I'm as simple as the next person. 06:47 And I've done some things that I would be ashamed of. 06:50 And I've thought a lot of things that I'm ashamed of. 06:52 In fact, if you knew all the things I thought 06:53 you wouldn't wanna talk to me today. 06:55 (everyone laughing) 06:57 - Same here. You wouldn't, we wouldn't be interviewing you. 07:00 And sitting in your presence if you knew some of the things 07:03 that go through our heads. 07:05 - Right. We are all sinful and we all have that, 07:06 those tendencies and those desires 07:07 because we're descendants of Adam and he wrecked this world, 07:12 through his sin. 07:13 But God is gracious and he's loving and kind. 07:20 And through Christ we have forgiveness of sins. 07:21 - So those people shouldn't get discouraged 07:23 if they don't have a great testimony. 07:24 - No. In fact, be encouraged that, 07:26 that you've been walking with the Lord for so long 07:29 and you should be able to look back on your life 07:31 and see how he's been protecting you, guiding you, you know, 07:33 each step of the way. 07:36 - Putting the right friend, the right teacher 07:39 just where you needed it. 07:41 - Yeah and for me, a lot of times when it comes down 07:43 to my testimony, one of the things I talk about 07:44 is what happened 15 years ago. 07:46 I was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia 07:49 I had, I was a Christian school teacher at the time. 07:51 Summer had just started. 07:53 And you know, I like to go for walks, 07:54 three or four miles a day. 07:55 And suddenly they started getting harder 07:56 and harder and harder. 07:57 Well, they're supposed to get easier 07:58 as you're getting in better shape. 07:59 But I didn't know it but I was suffocating inside my, 08:03 my white blood cell count was at 58,000. 08:06 It was supposed to be around 3000. 08:07 - That means nothing to me. 08:08 - So it's basically filling up the entire blood system 08:10 so the red blood cells can't carry the oxygen 08:12 to the rest of the body and so I was suffocating 08:14 and my body was trying to fight off something 08:18 that it couldn't and ultimately what it was, 08:20 it was leukemia where it was, it was these, 08:24 the 15th and 17th chromosome, 08:26 the bottom half of them for some reason flip. 08:28 And so you get all these cells that are duplicating, 08:30 but they can't do anything. 08:31 And so they're just filling up the system. 08:33 And I was dying. 08:34 - I was gonna say, yeah, correct me if I'm wrong. 08:36 That was a death sentence. - Oh yeah. 08:37 - But you're sitting here with us today. 08:39 - Yeah. So if I would've waited a few more days 08:42 to go into the hospital, 08:43 I probably would be six feet under right now. 08:44 I waited long enough to where I could barely 08:47 go up the stairs without stopping and trying to breathe. 08:50 - That's so typical of a guy. (everyone laughing) 08:52 A woman would've gone to the doctor way before that. 08:54 She would've known something's wrong. 08:56 I can't get over this myself. 08:57 - Somebody else probably brow beat him already. 08:59 (everyone laughing) 09:00 - Yeah. Well I thought that maybe I was just dehydrated. 09:02 I didn't know what it was and finally I called the nurse 09:04 and said, here's what's going on. 09:06 And they said, well, come on in. 09:07 And they did some blood work and right away, you know, 09:08 the doctor looked at me and said, I'm very concerned, 09:10 here's your numbers, it's either some viral infection 09:12 or a blood cancer. 09:14 And I thought, I'm 32 at the time. 09:16 It's a viral infection, it can't be in leukemia. 09:18 - Give me an antibiotic, I'll be fine. 09:20 - Yeah, exactly. Well, it was leukemia. 09:22 And I spent the next month in the hospital going through 09:24 chemotherapy, ended up going through four rounds. 09:27 I lost all of my hair. 09:30 I joke in my case because I was already bald. 09:32 So, which, you know, 09:34 it's not always funny for other people because sometimes 09:36 it's very scary for the kids. 09:38 They see mom or dad who usually have a lot of hair. 09:40 Suddenly they don't. 09:41 Well, for me it really wasn't a big deal. 09:44 So it didn't really scare the kids that way. 09:46 - Getting a diagnosis like that, 09:48 did you have a moment where you thought, why me, Lord? 09:51 - You know, I never asked that question. 09:53 And I'm not trying to pat myself on the shoulder 09:55 or anything. 09:57 And the reason I didn't is because I knew what we teach here 09:59 at the Ark Encounter, 10:00 what we teach at the Creation Museum and what the ministry 10:02 behind both these places, 10:03 Answers In Genesis has always taught. 10:06 The reason bad things happen, it's not God's fault. 10:10 You know, the reason evil happens in this world, 10:12 or terrible things like cancer, 10:14 God created a perfect world, no sin, no death, no suffering. 10:18 The reason those things happen 10:19 is because of what we have done. 10:21 You know, Adam wrecked this world through his sin 10:23 and introduced death and suffering, diseases, 10:26 all of those things. 10:27 It's because of what we've done. 10:29 And so I could still trust that there is a God 10:31 who is loving and just, and merciful, 10:33 even though I'm about to go through something very tough. 10:35 And I don't know if I'm gonna make it through. 10:38 If I don't make it through, great. 10:40 I'm with him. Even better. 10:43 That was Paul's response. 10:44 If I do make it through my prayer was, 10:46 Lord, let me use it for you. 10:48 And since that time, I've got to come here 10:49 and do these things. 10:51 And I never would've dreamed that I would be doing that. 10:53 - So many people, when something bad happens, 10:57 they lose faith completely. 10:59 And if they've never been a Christian, 11:01 it just confirms that there's no God. 11:04 And you hear that so often, if there really was a God, 11:07 why did my son die? 11:09 You know, if there really was a God, why did I get cancer? 11:11 - Why death and suffering, 11:12 and that seems to be a very strong objection 11:15 against Christianity. 11:16 Except we have the solution. 11:19 In fact, we're the only ones who do. 11:21 I've written a book called, "God and Cancer." 11:23 where I share my testimony. 11:24 But the last three chapters are an unapologetic. 11:26 A Defense of God existence, using death and suffering. 11:29 You know, if you think of the other religions in the world, 11:32 why death and suffering? 11:34 Well, it's, if you think about Buddhism. 11:35 - You're being punished for something. 11:36 - Buddhism is all an illusion. 11:39 There is no suffering. 11:40 That's just an illusion. 11:41 Really? Tell that to the mom 11:43 who is watching her kid die of cancer. 11:44 It's just an illusion. 11:45 Tell that to my body that had these cells 11:47 that were destroying my body without me even knowing 11:49 about it, it wasn't an illusion. 11:51 You could observe it. 11:52 And so that's a horrible answer. 11:54 But other ones, you know, Islam, 11:56 it's because that is Allah's will, it's all deterministic. 11:59 - It is God's fault. - Yeah, exactly. 12:02 And even from a Christian point of view, 12:04 we were talking about in a previous episode about people 12:06 who try to add the millions of years to the Bible, 12:08 it's God's fault again. 12:10 Because then you have all of this death, 12:12 suffering and disease that's there, 12:13 and God calls it very good. 12:14 Really? That disease that's killing me or has killed 12:17 thousands of people, millions of people, 12:19 God likes it and says it's very good. 12:21 That's not consistent with what scripture teaches, 12:23 but what we teach here and what scripture teaches 12:26 is perfectly consistent. 12:28 Not only do we know why death and suffering are here, 12:30 we have the solution. 12:32 Someday God will put an end to it. 12:33 Some people say, Well, if he's all loving 12:35 and he's all powerful, 12:36 then he would want to put an end to it. 12:37 And he would be powerful. 12:38 - He does. - He does. And he will. 12:40 But why hasn't he yet? Because he's patient. 12:43 Think about it, if he would've sent his son to return 12:46 before 1973, before I was born, 12:49 I would never get to spend eternity with him. 12:51 And all the people who have been saved since that time 12:53 would never spend eternity with him. 12:55 He's patient so that more people will be with him. 12:59 - I have a little pamphlet here called, 13:01 "Hope in Troubled Times." 13:04 I don't know about you, but the times we're living in 13:06 seem pretty troubled to me. 13:09 If I didn't have the hope Jesus gives me, 13:12 I couldn't get out of bed some mornings. 13:15 "Hope in Troubled Times," is meant for that kind of morning. 13:20 Inside its pages, you'll find promises of hope 13:22 straight from the Bible. 13:24 Go to TalkingDonkeyInternational.org 13:27 and request offer number 129, "Hope in Troubled Times." 13:39 - Hey Janice, how you doing? 13:41 - Hey, you wrote another book. 13:43 - I did, had a burden on my heart 13:44 and God helped me get it done. 13:46 - So, "The Plan of Love," what's it about? 13:50 - Well, it's really about God and eternity 13:53 saw everything that was going to happen here. 13:56 And his amazing love, He says, 13:58 I'm gonna take care of the problems. 14:00 I'm gonna take care of the situation by giving my own life. 14:03 He did all that. 14:05 But we've been lied to so much. 14:06 We don't see what God has planned for us, 14:08 what God is doing for us. 14:11 Matter of fact, the angel came down to Mary and said, 14:14 You shall call his name Jesus, 14:15 for he shall save his people from their sins. 14:18 Notice it wasn't in, but from. 14:21 - Where can people get the book? 14:22 - Hey, I'm glad you asked. 14:24 Folks, if you'd like your own personal copy, 14:26 log on to TalkingDonkeyInternational.org 14:28 and please if you would send us a donation of $12. 14:31 - Or more. - Or more and we'll get you 14:34 the book and I'll be happy to sign it for you too. 14:36 Thank you so much. 14:40 I know that you probably at the bedside or wherever you were 14:43 sharing Christ with certain people, 14:45 you're on the brink of death. 14:48 How did these people respond to you saying, 14:51 what manner of faith do you have? 14:53 - I remember being, when I was being wheeled into the ICU, 14:56 my platelet count was so low, it was at 12, 14:58 meaning I was risk for internal bleeding, 15:00 just sitting there 15:01 and the type of leukemia I had, 15:03 the way that the people who pass away from it, 15:05 it's usually from brain hemorrhaging, 15:08 just not because their platelet count is so low 15:09 and they just start to bleed out. 15:11 And I was very close to that, 15:14 but I remember being wheeled into the ICU 15:16 before I went under, went my first round of chemotherapy, 15:18 and I was gonna spend five days there thinking, 15:21 I have told my students time and time again 15:23 that you praise God when things are good 15:25 and you praise and when things are rough. 15:27 It's my turn to walk the walk because I've been talking it 15:30 and I thought, Yeah, I'll do that. 15:33 Look at what Christ went through for me. 15:35 Yeah, Lord, whatever you got in store for me, 15:37 just let me use it for you. 15:39 And there was one night, particularly, 15:42 where it didn't look like I was gonna get through, 15:44 my numbers were so off and I was sleep deprived, you know, 15:50 barely getting any sleep, an hour or two a day 15:52 and already in such horrible shape. 15:53 And I remember my wife and my mom were there late at night 15:57 and I told 'em if I fall asleep, this is it. 16:00 I'm not gonna wake up. 16:03 I was wrong. I did fall asleep and I woke up, you know, 16:06 first time for everything. (everyone laughing) 16:09 I thought I was wrong once but I was mistaken. 16:11 (everyone laughing) 16:14 What I didn't know at the time is what I found out 16:16 one day and two days later, we, I, 16:18 there were people from Prayerless, you know, 16:20 and churches all over the country praying for me. 16:23 We got a letter from one woman in Texas, 16:25 one in California who both said, 16:27 I didn't know if there was any urgent need or anything, 16:29 but at this time God woke me up and all I could think about 16:32 doing was praying for Tim. 16:34 And they both named the time that I told my wife and my mom, 16:36 I wasn't gonna get through the night. 16:38 Now, God didn't miraculously cure me of leukemia. 16:41 I still went through the rounds of chemotherapy. 16:42 But it was at that moment God was saying, Tim, we're good. 16:46 Okay, I got this, I'm not done with you yet. 16:49 I look at it and like he's saying, 16:52 I don't want you up here yet. (everyone laughing) 16:56 So there's still a lot more to go 16:58 before I'm letting you up here. 17:00 And maybe that's part of it. 17:02 But no, he knew that he wanted me here doing this 17:04 and, you know, raising my family, my kids, 17:06 my daughter was eight at the time, my son was three. 17:08 Well now they're both adults. 17:12 - So you weren't working here yet? 17:14 - No, I wasn't here yet. 17:15 I was teaching at a Christian school and it happened 17:16 in the summertime and it was about, 17:19 that would've been four years before we moved over here. 17:23 - So what was this part of the journey like? 17:25 How did you listen to God's voice to know what to do? 17:31 - The part about the leukemia or the part about moving here? 17:33 - All of the above. 17:34 - You know what's interesting for me, 17:36 and I don't know that this happens for everybody, 17:37 but for me, since I graduated from Bible college, 17:41 I have never had to apply for a job. 17:44 Like I have applied at certain places, 17:46 but they never worked out. 17:47 It was always them contacting me saying, 17:48 Hey, would you be interested in this? 17:50 And sometimes that brought me outta my comfort zone. 17:51 I thought I was gonna be a youth pastor. 17:52 No, I ended up being the senior pastor. 17:54 I thought I was gonna be a youth pastor, again. 17:57 No, I ended up being a science teacher, 17:59 but I'm not a scientist. 18:00 (everyone laughing) 18:03 - So I had to study these things 18:04 and just try to stay ahead of the students. 18:06 And then the next year, thankfully I was able to become 18:08 the Bible teacher at that school for a couple of years 18:10 and do what I loved doing. 18:11 I liked science, but I love the Bible. 18:14 And so then when, then there was another church 18:18 that called me and said, 18:19 Hey, would you be interested in doing our youth ministry? 18:21 And I did that for a couple of years. 18:22 And then that's when, you know, for the first time 18:25 in our married lives, we were comfortable, you know, 18:27 financially we weren't struggling to get by. 18:30 You know, if you know Christian school teachers, 18:31 oftentimes they're not making a whole lot of money 18:34 and sometimes small town pastors, they're not either. 18:37 But for the first time we were financially stable. 18:40 We were living out in the country 18:40 where my wife wanted to be. 18:43 Down the street, we had a neighbor who had horses, 18:46 they'd go horseback riding and my wife loved it. 18:48 And we were finally, everything was going great. 18:50 The church I was at as an associate pastor, 18:52 the pastor and I had complimentary gifting. 18:54 So the things he was really good at, I wasn't, 18:56 and vice versa. 18:58 And there was no animosity, there was no envy. 19:00 Everything was perfect. 19:02 And then I get a call from Answers in Genesis saying, 19:04 we think it's time to come over here. 19:06 Something I had wanted to do for 10 years 19:08 and they had never called during all the difficult times. 19:11 - So was that kinda, honey you pray about this, 19:13 I'll go pack? (everyone laughing) 19:16 - No, I knew right away. 19:18 I mean, we did pray about it, but I knew this is where, 19:20 where God had been leading me and I don't regret it at all. 19:23 I've just, it's been such a blessing to be part 19:25 of this ministry. 19:26 - So you were here at the beginning of the planning. 19:28 - For the Ark Encounter, yes. 19:29 Not the Creation Museum. 19:30 I moved over here about three years after we opened 19:32 the Creation Museum in July of 2010, in December of 2010, 19:36 we announced the Ark Encounter. 19:38 And I remember a couple of years later, 19:41 I think it was in February of '13, 19:43 they announced that they would need a content manager 19:45 for the Ark Encounter. 19:46 And my first thought was, that would be really cool, 19:47 but there's no way I'll ever get that. 19:49 Eight days later it was offered to me. 19:51 (everyone laughing) 19:53 - Because they knew you were a good writer already. 19:55 - And God had been preparing me to do that. 19:57 Even though I didn't know it. He did. 19:59 And it's just, it's been an amazing ride. 20:02 I look back on those year, you know, 20:03 that time in the hospital and God was faithful 20:06 through all of that. 20:07 And yeah, I had the opportunity to witness 20:08 to some of the nurses and you know, 20:10 I'm not a great evangelist who can turn any conversation 20:13 at any time into the gospel presentation. 20:15 You put me up in front of a crowd, 20:17 it doesn't matter who it is and I'm willing to do it. 20:18 I mentioned to you when we opened the Ark Encounter 20:20 and the opening day, we had protestors at the Ark site 20:24 or right at the off ramp. 20:26 - I don't remember that. 20:28 - So there was a national base, the Atheist of America, 20:32 or American atheist or whichever group it is, 20:34 set their national conference to be in Cincinnati 20:36 on the weekend that we were gonna be opening the Ark 20:38 because they wanted to come down and protest. 20:40 And so there were maybe, I don't know the exact number, 20:42 80 to 90 of them who were at the protest site, 20:45 right at the off ramp. 20:46 And I had a, a buddy call me up and he said, 20:48 Hey Tim, I'm gonna have a protest, the protester's protest. 20:51 I'm gonna buy them food and drink and share the gospel 20:53 and you know, talk to them and since you wrote 20:55 all the signs, would you be willing to come down 20:57 and talk to 'em for a little bit? 20:59 Oh, by the way, you live by the restaurant 21:00 I'm buying the food from. 21:01 Can you pick that up and bring it down? 21:02 And I thought, yeah, it's my first day off 21:04 in like six months, that's a little bit of an exaggeration, 21:08 but we were working kind of around the clock 21:10 to get it ready. 21:11 And I thought, Yeah, I'll do that for an hour. 21:13 Well, three hours later, 21:14 after a bunch of really good conversations, 21:15 I was getting ready to leave and he said, 21:18 No, you can't leave yet. 21:19 We're gonna take 20 of these guys on a tour 21:20 through the Ark and we want you to lead it. 21:22 - I thought lead a tour of 20 atheists and agnostics 21:25 through the Ark, I would love to. 21:27 In fact, I've got a picture that I took of that whole group, 21:29 there ended up being 21 of 'em right here 21:31 on this deck looking at the Ark. 21:33 And then I got to go through the Ark and lead them on tour. 21:36 - And did they give you a bad time all the way through? 21:38 - You know, all but one of 'em were very respectful. 21:41 They didn't want to, you know, give, put themselves 21:45 in a negative light while they were here. 21:46 So most of 'em were very respectful. 21:48 Many of them were very impressed by the structure itself. 21:51 You know, they don't agree with the message, 21:53 but it was great because we knew what they were gonna ask, 21:56 we had prepared for that. 21:57 So they would say, 21:58 Oh, how could freshwater fish survive the flood? 21:59 You know, it's a great question. 22:00 Here's a sign right here dealing with it. 22:01 And so I could always do that. 22:03 And then we got to do a Q&A on the top deck 22:05 for a little while. 22:06 I got to share the gospel. 22:07 I loved opening Day of the Ark and I would do that every day 22:10 of my life if I could. 22:12 It just was fantastic. 22:14 I'm not saying that right then and there, you know, 22:16 they dropped to their knees and, and believed in Christ, 22:18 but who knows how God will use that down the road. 22:20 One thing that we saw in the follow up reports, 22:23 because a lot of them were bloggers or radio people, 22:25 personalities, you know, 22:27 they had their own network of people they reach. 22:32 One thing that came out of that is, 22:33 about me and about the other people is that these people 22:36 really believe this. 22:37 And they were sincere because a lot of times 22:39 they think that, Oh, you're just in ministry for the money. 22:42 I don't know if they know what most ministry is like, 22:44 you know, they see like television preachers 22:46 or something like that and they think, 22:48 oh, they, they're all in it for the money. 22:49 Well, that's a very small percentage of people 22:51 who I think are very wrongly focused, oftentimes. 22:54 Most people in ministry are not in it. 22:56 They're in the wrong business if they're doing it for money. 22:59 - If money is the most important to you, 23:00 most people would not be doing this. 23:02 - If you look at a, I mean, we always have enough. 23:07 You know, that's how I've looked at it. 23:08 Wherever God moves us, we always have enough 23:11 and he's faithful to provide for that. 23:13 And you know, I hope my focus will always be that, 23:17 that my reward is an eternal reward. 23:20 What I ultimately, what I wanna hear, 23:22 and this ever since I was a kid and I still have this song 23:26 from eighties Christian group in my head, 23:27 every time I think about it, I want to hear Christ say, 23:30 well done, good and faithful servant. 23:32 If I hear that everything's been worthwhile, 23:35 that's what I want to hear. 23:36 - We've only got a couple minutes or so left, 23:38 but there's, I'm guessing many people out there 23:41 watching that may be going through cancer, 23:43 some other major struggle in their life. 23:46 What would you share with them? 23:47 - It's tough, you know, when I was there, 23:50 I was looking at it as, Lord thank you that it's me 23:53 and not my wife or my kids. 23:55 Because I don't know how I would handle it if I walked in 23:57 and saw my three year old son at the time hooked up to all 23:59 these tubes and everything else. 24:01 But I know God gives you the grace to get through that 24:03 because he gave my wife the grace to get through it. 24:05 He gave my children the grace to get through it. 24:08 And he's given countless others 24:09 the grace to get through that. 24:11 So what I would do is rather than blame God 24:13 or rather than shake your fist at him, 24:16 he's not afraid of tough questions. 24:18 He's not afraid of people asking things 24:22 but cling to him during that time. 24:24 You know what I found to be true and it seems so cliche, 24:26 you know the footprints poem? 24:28 You know, you look back in your life and you see two sets 24:31 of footprints in the sand. 24:32 And yet during the most difficult times, 24:34 there's one set and the guy said, God, why'd you leave me? 24:36 No, no, no. That's when I carried you. 24:38 That's been true in my life. 24:39 And it's been true in countless other believers' lives. 24:42 And so I would say cling to him, 24:44 just like Job did. 24:46 Cling to him like you see so many other people in scripture, 24:48 when times get tough, it doesn't mean you're gonna 24:51 get the answer you want, but he is trustworthy 24:55 and we can count on him at all times. 24:58 - Amen. You know, folks, 25:01 God is real and God loves you so much. 25:04 He loves each one of us. 25:06 Various times, you've heard our testimonies 25:09 and God watches over us, He reaches down, 25:12 He grabs a hold of us and He wants to pull us tightly 25:16 to himself. 25:17 I mean, he stood over Jerusalem, said, 25:19 Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how I would've gathered you, 25:21 a mother hen gathers her chicks. 25:25 That's, you know, El Shaddai, the mighty breasted one. 25:27 You know, he wants to gather us in, 25:28 he wants to gather you in. 25:30 Maybe you're going through problems like Tim right now. 25:33 God wants to come close to you, call upon him and he will. 25:36 Get near to him, if you need to shout at him, shout at him. 25:40 It's okay with God. 25:41 He'll do whatever it takes to come close to you. 25:44 If you don't know God, give him an opportunity right now. 25:48 Want to know what he sounds like? 25:49 Read here, he'll talk with you in this Bible. 25:53 Incredible God, we got an incredible story today, 25:56 Tim, thank you for sharing and, and you know, 25:59 I know somebody out there is going to be touched 26:01 by your story. 26:02 - Thank you. Thank you for having me. 26:03 - I appreciate it. - I appreciate it too. 26:04 Thank you. 26:06 - Hey Janice, how are you doing? 26:08 - Hey, you wrote another book. 26:10 - I did, had a burden on my heart 26:12 and God helped me get it done. 26:14 - So, "The Plan of Love," what's it about? 26:18 - Well, it's really about God and eternity 26:20 saw everything that was going to happen here 26:23 and his amazing love. 26:25 He says, I'm going to take care of the problem. 26:27 I'm gonna take care of the situation by giving my own life. 26:31 He did all that. 26:32 But we've been lied to so much, we don't see 26:35 what God has planned for us, what God is doing for us. 26:38 Matter of fact, the angel came down to Mary and said, 26:41 You shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people 26:44 from their sins. 26:46 Notice it wasn't in, but from. 26:48 - Where can people get the book? 26:50 - Hey, I'm glad you asked. 26:51 Folks, if you'd like your own personal copy, 26:53 log on to TalkingDonkeyInternational.org. 26:55 You know, please, if you would send us a donation of $12 26:59 or more and we'll get you the book 27:02 and I'll be happy to sign it for you too. 27:04 Thank you so much. 27:08 - I have a little pamphlet here called, 27:10 "Hope in Troubled Times." 27:12 I don't know about you, but the times we're living in 27:15 seem pretty troubled to me. 27:18 If I didn't have the hope Jesus gives me, 27:21 I couldn't get out of bed some mornings. 27:24 "Hope in Troubled Times," is meant for that kind of morning. 27:28 Inside its pages, you'll find promises of hope 27:31 straight from the Bible. 27:33 Go to TalkingDonkeyInternational.org 27:36 and request offer number 129, "Hope in Troubled Times." 27:48 - Thank you for watching, 27:50 join us again for another exciting, Country Wisdom. 27:52 - See you next time. 27:53 (gentle music) |
Revised 2022-10-27