Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Aaron Chancy
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000099S
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00:00 Stay tune to meet the man
00:02 who himself is truly on a new journey. 00:04 My name is Yvonne Lewis 00:06 and you're watching Urban Report. 00:30 Hello and welcome to Urban Report. 00:33 My guest today is Aaron Chancy, host of Dare to Dream's program 00:37 of hope for ex-offenders, the New Journey. 00:41 I had the privilege of interviewing 00:42 Aaron on the New Journey set. 00:44 Take a look at what he said. 00:49 I am blessed to be here on the set of the New Journey 00:53 with the host of the New Journey Aaron Chancy. 00:56 Amen. So good to see you. 00:58 Yes ma'am. Thank you. 00:59 You know Aaron, you have such an interesting story. 01:03 I interviewed you quite sometime ago on Urban Report. 01:06 Yes, you did. 01:07 And you told your story, but that I think was before 01:11 you were hosting or maybe in the beginning of your hosting. 01:15 And I hadn't had a chance to talk back with you 01:18 to find out what you're doing, what God is doing in your life. 01:21 Yeah definitely. 01:23 So, for those viewers who don't really know you 01:26 and may not have seen the New Journey yet, 01:28 which I have to tell you viewers, 01:30 you've got to check out the New Journey, 01:32 powerful testimonies. 01:34 You got to check it out. Definitely, yes. 01:36 But those who haven't seen it, 01:37 give us a little bit of your background. 01:40 Okay, little bit of my background prior to coming 01:43 back into the Seventh Day Adventist Church. 01:45 I grew up in a Seventh-day Adventist church, 01:48 mother and father in a home, have one brother, 01:50 older brother, two years older than me. 01:53 And at a young age, you know, great home really, 01:57 you know, grew up on Spirit of Prophecy in a home, 01:59 Bible in a home, going to church, going to pathfinders, 02:01 going to prayer meeting, pretty much every time 02:03 the church was open we were there. 02:06 Regular family worship going on in home things like that. 02:09 So from the outside looking in, you know, 02:11 we were pretty good, pretty good family. 02:13 Later on in life probably around 13 years old, 02:17 number one, I never really had a connection myself with God. 02:21 So that was one thing but then also we-- 02:24 my parents, they eventually went to the military, 02:25 and we moved around a lot. 02:27 So that caused almost kind of like 02:28 an identity crisis within me, 02:30 not being able to identify with anybody, 02:33 just kind of pulling a little bit 02:34 from each different type of person I was around, 02:37 different cultures and becoming somebody else. 02:40 So kind of loss of identity. 02:43 Then around 13, I was pretty much done with, 02:45 you know, Christianity, didn't want anything to do with God. 02:49 It didn't really have much of a interest to me anymore. 02:52 I started to look a religion is like a bunch 02:54 that I can't you can't do this, you can't do that. 02:56 So you look at restrictions. 02:58 Yeah, it just seemed like a big thing of restrictions, 03:01 why can't you go to a dance on Friday night because it is, 03:03 you know, it's just like a whole bunch of cannot 03:05 and not really understanding it 03:06 and how to explaining it from a love with Jesus, 03:09 I didn't have that at the time. 03:11 So because I was still living at home, I still had to, 03:14 you know, go to church but probably around 15 years old, 03:18 you pretty much can tell me any thing 03:19 at that time church, not going to church. 03:22 Don't want anything to do with God, peer your point blank. 03:25 So I started to look around at various friends 03:29 what they were doing, started to-- 03:31 I've got real heavy into like BET, 03:33 the music videos and music over all hip hop music 03:37 and I started to listen to these things 03:39 and internalize them 03:41 and I started to become what I was listening to 03:43 because the Bible is very true. 03:44 When it says, "by beholding you become changed." 03:46 That's right. That is a fact. That's a known fact. 03:48 And I started to become like it, 03:50 like walk like it, talk like it, act like it. 03:53 Because you were doing it all the time. Yeah, definitely. 03:57 Right, so, it was becoming a part of who you are. 04:00 You talked about that identity thing 04:02 where you weren't sure who you were. 04:04 Definitely. This was giving you an identity. 04:07 It just wasn't the right kind. 04:09 It wasn't the right identity, definitely. Right. Right. 04:11 So, you know, I started to look around at my friends 04:13 who were, you know, same ages only 15, 16 years old 04:17 and though I came from probably lower middle class family, 04:20 I never really had a silver spoon in my mouth 04:22 to where I can just get what I want. 04:24 It was pretty much either you work for, 04:26 you get a job whatever, you know. 04:27 Oh, thank the Lord for that. 04:28 Yeah, that's a great thing. That is a great thing. 04:30 That's a good thing. That's a great thing. 04:31 I just wasn't feeling that at the time. 04:33 Right, right, right, right. 04:35 I want it because when I learnt from my friends 04:37 how they were getting their money, 04:38 it's almost like they are not doing anything, 04:41 just selling a few drugs here, breaking in on some thing, 04:43 robbing something and it's like in a short matter of minutes, 04:47 you can get hundreds and thousands of dollars, 04:49 so that just intrigued me like wow, you can do that. 04:53 And I kind of jump head first into it 04:55 and I got my first charge when I was 16 years old 04:57 as a juvenile for burglar inhabitation. 05:00 You know, stealing, stealing and I think it was like 500 05:03 and some thing dollars and now it was like to have 500 05:06 and some dollars was a lot to me. 05:08 You know, as a young teenager that was a lot. 05:09 Now I can go buy what I want to buy. 05:11 Didn't have to work for, it only took me 05:12 10 minutes to get it, so that was amazing. 05:16 And the music was feeding that I want this, I want it now. 05:22 Yeah. And I'm gonna have it because I want it. 05:24 Definitely, you know, the world kind of presents it-- 05:26 presents itself that way. 05:28 It's kind of like you know, with Burger King 05:30 where it says have it your way now. 05:31 You know, and it's pretty much like 05:32 I want things my way now and that's what I got. 05:35 It was, you know, immediate gratification. 05:39 So I got put on probation from that charge for a year 05:42 and I didn't complete that, I ended up catching 05:44 another charge at 17 years old of which I was charged 05:48 as an adult at this time, first adult felony. 05:50 Now what were your parents doing 05:53 when you were getting these charges 05:55 and how was it affecting your family? 05:57 Well, my parents were very heartbroken 05:59 and this is one thing that we have to take into consideration 06:02 as people that, you know, when we get in trouble, 06:05 when I get in trouble, it's not just me. 06:06 When I get incarcerated, it's not just me. 06:08 It's not just me that's affected. 06:10 It's my whole family that's affected. 06:12 It's everybody around me that's affected. 06:14 So, you know, we often think so selfishly that well, 06:18 I need this or I want to do that, 06:20 when in fact we're not thinking about how, 06:22 what would it do to my mother, what would it do to my father, 06:25 what would it do to my brother. 06:26 I didn't think about any of those things. 06:28 All I thought about was me, myself and I. 06:30 Those were my best friends, me, myself and I 06:32 and me, myself and I had to please ourselves, 06:34 you know that. 06:36 It's all about me. 06:38 It was all about me and I mean it was evident 06:40 in the things that I was doing. 06:41 So, you know, I remember times where I would get locked up, 06:43 my parents will come visit me and you know 06:46 before I got to prison at 19, we didn't have-- 06:50 we couldn't have contact visits. 06:52 So I was sitting on this side of the glass, 06:54 they were sitting on this side of the glass, 06:55 you can't touch one another. 06:57 And it's like I'm in the hands of the state now. 06:59 You know, I no longer belong to my parents anymore. 07:02 I mean I do biologically, but now I'm in the hands 07:04 of the state and the state can do whatever they want with me, 07:07 send me wherever they want and it is out of my parents' hands 07:09 because I broke the law, you know. 07:10 So I saw how it just devastated them, 07:14 but you know one thing I have to be thankful for 07:17 is the power of prayer, because you hear 07:19 some people say, you know, I had a praying grandmother, 07:22 I had a praying mother. 07:23 You know, I had a praying mother and a father, 07:25 but nothing like my father where, 07:26 you know later on in life I realized 07:28 where he would get down on his knees every night 07:30 seven days a week at 3 o'clock in the morning and pray for me. 07:33 You know and-- there were times 07:35 when he wanted to give up but the Holy Spirit will be like, 07:38 no, keep praying, keep praying and that's the testimony 07:40 because sometimes we pray and we wanted like right now, 07:44 we want what we are praying for right now. 07:46 But, you know, God is saying in time, in time you'll get it. 07:49 You know, some times he gives it to you now, 07:50 but sometimes he says later on 07:52 and it was a long process of over 10 years 07:55 before I came to the point where mother, 07:58 father's prayer was actually answered. 08:00 You know, sometimes we forget 08:01 that we're really on God's clock. 08:04 You know, it's like we want it now and as a parent 08:08 you see your kids going down the wrong path, 08:10 and it rips your heart out yeah, definitely. 08:12 And you keep praying, you keep praying but sometime, 08:15 sometimes I don't know with me I left the church 08:18 when I was in my 20's or after my mother died I think, 08:23 I kind of started straying. Okay. 08:25 And, you know, you sometimes their prayers follow them, 08:30 so they might not even see you. 08:31 Yeah. Yeah, definitely. 08:32 When you come back. Definitely. 08:33 But you can't give up as a parent, 08:36 as a parent you can't give up, 08:38 you have to keep pressing through, 08:40 keep praying because God is hearing your prayers 08:43 and even if you go to sleep before that child comes back. 08:47 You can still find that, you know, in the kingdom 08:49 that child will be there 08:51 because you prayed that child through. 08:53 So your parents were praying and your dad specifically. 08:57 And that's a very important thing too, 08:59 the role of fathers in the home. 09:02 True indeed. True indeed. 09:03 So what happened after that? 09:05 Well, after I got incarcerated when I was 17 09:08 charged first time as an adult. 09:10 I was locked up for total about 9 months between 09:12 prison boot camp, jail, halfway house, house arrest. 09:16 I got in trouble one time and it put me in jail 09:19 for a weekend while I had that thing on my ankle 09:21 because I violated, but he let me back out. 09:24 I was on 3 years of probation 09:27 and if I would have completed that 3 years, 09:29 I would have been off, would have been done 09:31 with the system pretty much but it's like when you get 09:34 into their lifestyle, it's almost like 09:35 you are trapped in the circle chasing your tail. 09:37 And it's very hard to get out because what ends up happening 09:40 and this is important 09:41 because a lot of young people don't think 09:43 about this how to fix their future, 09:44 but you know, it's hard to get a good job. 09:47 So, it's like, okay, now you have this addiction for money, 09:50 but now you have these crimes on you, in your record 09:53 where it prevents you from getting certain jobs. 09:55 I remember back when I used to live in Dallas, Texas 09:59 and there was a job at home depot 10:01 and was paying like $10 hour. 10:02 I was 18 at the time. 10:04 $10 hour sounded good to me and I wanted it. 10:07 And I remember I got the interview 10:09 because normally I'd put on my application, 10:11 have you been convicted of felony. 10:12 I'll put, will explain in the interview, 10:14 just you know, I'll explain it better 10:16 because they're going to do background check 10:17 on certain jobs anyhow. 10:19 So I try to be little honest bob, 10:20 you know in certain situation. 10:22 Sometimes I would just lie on that but, 10:25 anyhow I got the interview and he asked me 10:28 what was the crime I told him what it was, 10:30 it was home invasion, burglary, you know it involves stealing. 10:33 And he told me straight up. 10:34 He say, if you would had a drug charge, I'd have hired you. 10:37 But because you have stealing charges 10:39 things like that, I can't hire you. 10:41 So it's like, okay, 10:42 now I've limited myself of what I could get 10:44 because I have the stealing charges 10:46 and robbery charges and things. 10:48 I've limited myself, so now it's like 10:50 I'm stuck in this circle and I can't get out, 10:52 so what I'd revert back to crime. 10:55 Which is what you know. Yeah. Which is what I knew. 10:57 One of the things that-- Oh, man, and this is-- 11:02 it got me like all worked up because it's one of my burdens. 11:06 Okay. 11:07 You see that our guys particularly 11:10 African-American and Latino guys are locked out. 11:13 Once you get that felony, you go for job interview, 11:18 you can't vote, you can't live certain places, 11:21 you aren't eligible, it messes you up. 11:24 And it's based on some decisions 11:27 you made that weren't smart. 11:29 Yeah, that's right. 11:31 You make bad decisions and then your life is wrecked 11:35 as a result of it, unless you find Jesus. 11:38 So go ahead. Tell us some more about it. 11:40 So I didn't complete that probation, a 3 year probation. 11:43 I ended up catching another charge in Texas, 11:45 I'm 19 years old, I had broken into a bank 11:48 as well as rob the subway and because I had the priors, 11:53 I got incarcerated and the judge was trying 11:56 to give me 10 years, or the DA, 11:57 the District Attorney was trying to give me 10 years. 12:00 One thing about what my parents will do, 12:02 they, they would never bond me out of jail. 12:04 Because, you know, they always figured 12:06 if I am in jail at least I know where he is at. 12:09 That's true. 12:10 Yeah, they knew where I was because I mean, 12:11 there was no telling where I'd be for days at the time 12:14 and at least they knew, okay, I know he is here or whatever. 12:17 So they knew that, make a right move, 12:19 different things like that and then come visit. 12:21 So the DA was trying to give me 10 years in prison 12:24 and I had a court appointed lawyer 12:25 and he got it down to five and he came to me 12:28 and asked me, would you take five. 12:30 So I counted on my fingers 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 12:33 if I did the whole five, I would be out by the time 12:35 I'm 24, I'm like cool, I can do it to 5 years, 12:38 I'd be out still be young, have a lot of life ahead of me. 12:41 So I ended up going to prison on a five year Sinton, Texas. 12:44 The first place I went to was in Huntsville, Texas 12:47 which if anybody knows anything 12:49 about the prison system in Huntsville, in Texas. 12:52 Huntsville is like the prison capital. 12:54 In a small little town you have like 6 day prison, 12:57 that's where you had a death row and everything like that. 12:59 So it's like the capital of prisons in Texas. 13:03 So I go to one of the prisons there in Huntsville 13:06 and I mean it's like rows and rows of raised wire, 13:09 you get there, they transport you on, 13:11 this big blue bird bus and you are all shackled up together 13:15 and you get there and it was probably about 50 of us 13:18 that got transported on this bus, 13:20 so we get in the intake unit. 13:22 We're totally stripped 13:23 and at that point you don't know 13:25 the guy next to you and front of you, 13:26 behind you, don't know who is checking you out 13:29 to try to rape you or some later on, 13:31 you just have no clue what's gonna go on. 13:33 So I got there. Where you afraid? 13:35 Well, you know, one thing I learned 13:37 because this wasn't my first rodeo doing time. 13:39 So I knew how to kind of handle myself 13:41 but you always have that fear in the back of your mind 13:43 because you-- it's like a fear of the unknown. 13:45 You don't know what can, what's gonna happen? 13:47 You know, what could possibly happen, 13:49 but you don't know what's gonna happen. 13:52 So being that this wasn't my first time, 13:54 I knew how to carry myself. 13:55 I've seen people where, you know, get locked up 13:58 and get sometime and shed some tears 14:01 and you know we all cry at times 14:03 but it's like in there you can't show fear. 14:05 You can't show a sensitive side of you 14:07 because there's somebody who is going to pray on that, 14:10 and they'll know, okay, that's their person's weak spot 14:12 and they are gonna take advantage of their weak spot. 14:14 So I knew I couldn't do that, so I was there for a week 14:18 at the intake unit in Huntsville and then I ended up 14:20 getting transferred to Beaumont, Texas, 14:22 one of the prisons in there, I was there for few months 14:25 and from there that unit was about to close down, 14:28 I went to east Texas, it wasn't too far from Houston 14:31 and I went there, I did about seven and half months there, 14:34 I did a total of little over a year about 13 months 14:37 and when I came up for parole, my first parole 14:39 I was able to get it, because I haven't been in any trouble. 14:42 Praise the Lord, you know. 14:43 Weren't looking for trouble, didn't get in any trouble. 14:46 I remember, you know, early when I used to get locked up, 14:48 an old school guy, an older guy he had told me 14:51 that when you get locked up, 14:52 sign up for every thing that you can, 14:54 not that you are necessarily trying to rehabilitate, 14:56 but in the eyes of the people that don't know you, 14:59 in eyes of the system, they see here somebody 15:01 that's trying to do something. 15:02 So when I got in the prison oh, I signed of everything 15:05 that the last prison I was at they had some call home habitat 15:07 where you learn how to build home, signed up for that. 15:09 I already had my GD, I signed for GD class. 15:12 I mean I just signed of everything 15:14 just so I can look good before parole board. 15:16 So I am-- I made my first parole and I made a mistake. 15:20 You never tell a person in prison 15:22 that you're about to get out. 15:23 Don't tell them that. 15:25 I literally saw people turned on me 15:27 because the thing is gonna meet the next person upset 15:30 where I am getting out and the next person still has 15:33 how remaining years to do 15:35 and is just like jealousy almost. 15:36 So instead of being happy for you. 15:38 Oh, no. The hate now you. 15:40 No, they gonna hate quick. 15:41 There was only maybe one maybe two 15:43 I have some I had a few "good friends" in there 15:47 and one of them he was real cool about me getting out, 15:50 he was cool with it but the majority others 15:53 oh, man, they want to talk to me anymore, they turned me. 15:55 I mean always trying to pick some with me 15:57 but I had a stay clearer 15:58 because here I'm about to get out. 16:00 You know within the next three months 16:02 I'm gonna get out so I tried to still stay away from 16:04 you know getting any altercations or anything. 16:06 So I was able to get out and while I was in prison 16:10 before I went to prison I just used to smoke weed, 16:13 drink alcohol, smoke black and mild cigarettes 16:16 but I had never actually saw drugs like really big time. 16:19 Just a little weed here and just small 16:22 but never really learned a drug game like that. 16:24 So I got incarcerated and that's were I learned 16:27 drug game because I'm really like PhD is in a drug game. 16:29 That's what I was gonna say I mean, 16:31 this is like a university for you know for crime. 16:35 And that's exactly how being incarnated is like 16:37 I went from juvenile to jail to prison. 16:40 Its just like you go from elementary school, juvenile, 16:43 you go middle school or high school which was-- 16:46 oh you got middle school which was like jail 16:48 and then you go to high school which was like prison. 16:50 So its like-- it's like this progression 16:52 were most I didn't graduate from high school I got a GD. 16:54 Where most people went to the education system 16:56 I went through the jail system. 16:59 Right. Right. And so I experienced all of that. 17:02 And so I get in there and I linked up 17:04 with a guy that was from Miami. 17:06 We were very cool. 17:07 He used to give kilos of cocaine 17:09 from straight off the boat with Colombians. 17:12 And you know that whole area is big on cocaine 17:15 different things like that with Columbians and all. 17:17 So he started to school me on a whole on drug game 17:20 how to take a kilo coca which you can be 17:23 about this big and have to compress it down. 17:25 He used you some kind of things were we compress 17:28 the drugs down to make it the like this small 17:31 and he had something that would take off 17:33 like the rim of a soda can and they would transport drugs. 17:36 They would put the cocaine, weed inside of the soda can 17:39 with the soda still in there 17:40 and they will put the lid back on. 17:42 Whatever kind of mechanism they have. 17:44 So he told me all of these and taught me the whole game, 17:48 grams, ounces, pounds how to move stuff. 17:50 So when I got out 17:51 I went to know of Carolina are transfered 17:54 from my parole from Texas to North Carolina. 17:57 My parents have moved there. 17:58 They were like come there, you know, 17:59 how you get back on your feet and things like that. 18:01 So I went but my mind state was I'm going out there 18:05 I am finding drug places out and I must start transporting 18:07 from Texas to North Carolina. 18:09 So I went there with the idea of 18:12 finding out the prices of cocaine 18:15 and I found those out but I was always scared 18:18 to actually mess with cocaine 18:19 so I just used it a little bit in several and large quantities 18:23 I was scared because of the amount of time. 18:25 And if I am scared of it 18:26 then you know I am just not gonna do it. 18:28 So what I did is I linked up 18:30 with a friend from Dallas, Texas 18:31 and we started moving pounds of marijuana 18:34 through the mail system from Dallas to North Carolina. 18:37 Through the mail? Through the mail system. 18:38 We would-- we move it today we move it over night 18:43 and like today I would get a pound of weed, 18:46 tomorrow I would have the weed and I would hit the block 18:48 and I would sell literally 18:49 a pound of weed in like two hours 18:51 and its a easy thousand dollars right there. 18:52 So I mean fast money it just counts. 18:55 And you know when you caught up in that you caught up in it. 18:59 So you don't see pass that. How did Jesus get hold of you? 19:03 Well, you know amazingly it wasn't while I was in prison, 19:08 it wasn't while I was in jail. 19:09 I had tried to change my life times before 19:12 but it never really stuck. 19:14 I had been fed up with that lifestyle enough. 19:17 My head hit rock bottom hard enough. 19:19 So in 2007 I moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 19:23 Move from North Carolina move to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 19:26 And I was running from the Lord hard at that time. 19:28 I knew the different between right and wrong. 19:31 And it was a difference when you are dealing with people 19:33 that don't necessarily know biblically right and wrong, 19:36 I knew the difference biblically, morally, legally. 19:38 I knew that I was doing wrong and I was purposely doing it. 19:42 And so I move there and at and at that point 19:44 I was dealing with cocaine using these drugs, 19:46 cocaine, little heroine, ecstasy, prescription pills, 19:50 popping those, alcohol, marijuana, 19:53 smoke a pack of cigarettes a day 19:55 and at times I would do all of that at one time 19:57 just you know there was no getting higher. 20:00 And actually my goal like I thought this was 20:02 the grandest idea in life where I would take some many drugs 20:05 that I would just overdose and I will go to sleep 20:07 and just not wake up. 20:08 But praise the Lord I am here today that didn't happen. 20:10 But at that point I was like wow, 20:12 that's like the greatest things. 20:14 So I tried that and it never worked. 20:16 I could easily took the messy way out, 20:18 shot myself in head or somewhere, 20:19 I had a gun at that time but I didn't, 20:21 I didn't want to do it that way. 20:22 Is it something that you got as high as you possibly could get 20:27 and you are miserable that you could possibly take? 20:30 Oh yeah, beyond miserable because that's not the way 20:33 God created us in a very beginning of time 20:35 in the Book of Genesis when He created humanity 20:38 its like He placed us locking key method within the heart, 20:40 that the only thing that can satisfy is Jesus. 20:43 You know, we can use everything like a little Band-Aid 20:46 or something like that to cover up. 20:47 But it doesn't bring that eternal joy, 20:49 that eternal happiness that you need. 20:52 It's what you have aside from Jesus is circumstantial. 20:55 It's like a if been type thing. 20:57 If I get this then I am happy, 20:58 but with Jesus no matter what you are in, 21:00 no matter what the situation you have that joy. 21:03 And it's not until now that I realized 21:05 that I want to change my life. 21:07 So, while I was living in Baton Rouge, 21:09 I-- it was one particular night I was high 21:11 on ecstasy, cocaine, marijuana 21:14 and I was drunken a 24 ounces of Bud Light. 21:17 And I have walked in a house 21:18 that night it was like 11:30 at night. 21:20 I came in a room when I walked in the room 21:22 there was like this fear came upon me like never before 21:25 like there something in this room that doesn't belong here. 21:27 You see, I don't belong here 21:29 or there's something in here that doesn't belong. 21:30 It was a presence? 21:31 It was a presence and I could feel it. 21:32 I could literally-- it wasn't like a cocaine spook 21:34 where I think somebody is out to give me 21:36 it was something here and I could feel it. 21:38 So I got in there I closed the blinds at 11:30 at night 21:40 I lay down on my mattress on the floor 21:43 and when I laid on the mattress on the floor 21:44 I looked up at the ceiling and as I looked up 21:46 I could literally see demons moving about on a ceiling 21:49 and it was like the spirit world 21:51 was starting to reveal itself to me. 21:52 And at that moment I heard the Holy Spirit speak to me. 21:55 I got scared, I covered up my head with a cover 21:58 like you know like that's gonna protect me 22:00 but I cover my head off just like a little kid 22:03 and I heard the Holy Spirit speak my name that night 22:05 and he said Aaron, either you get 22:07 your life together right now or I say. 22:09 I knew what that mean because I knew the truth, 22:11 I knew the difference between truth and error 22:14 what I was doing and I knew that I was on the brink 22:16 of possibly committing them unpardonable sin. 22:18 At 25 years old when you running, you running, 22:21 you run and run from God for so long 22:23 that He says let him alone ye from his jointures 22:26 and its all out of love because if you don't want 22:28 anything to do of God you know 22:30 God is not gonna force himself upon you. 22:31 That's right. And I appreciate that about God. 22:33 Satan doesn't do that, he is just gonna 22:35 force himself well no matter how. 22:36 By any means that's there. By any mean's that's there. 22:38 So that night I knew that-- 22:40 I knew that I was on a brink of destruction 22:42 so I grabbed my cell phone 22:43 and I was just sitting on like a lifeline 22:45 just hoping somebody grabs this. 22:46 Didn't want to call a friend 22:47 because a friend is gonna tell me smoke some, drink some 22:49 and call me in the morning like that's a doctors prescription. 22:52 So I grab my cell phone and I send a text message to my dad. 22:55 Only thing I could think of and I said I feel lost 22:58 and friendless and I am pushed send doing it 23:00 didn't know if he will be awake. 23:01 He is hour time zone different from me, figured he asleep. 23:04 He got the message five minutes later my phone lit up 23:07 and it wasn't till years ago 23:09 you also repeat yourself celebrating life 23:11 and recovery that I heard his side. 23:13 When he got the phone he saw it he went to the back room 23:16 he got on his knees and he asked Lord, 23:18 what do I say to this boy. 23:19 So he text me back and he text these words 23:22 what a friend we have in Jesus. 23:24 And when I got down my world lit up 23:26 and I called him on a phone, we talked on a phone 23:29 and we prayed and then when he got off the phone 23:31 I pray for myself and I got on my knees 23:34 and is nothing like praying for yourself 23:35 for real not begging the Lord for something. 23:37 And I pray for myself and as I did that 23:40 I literally felt Satan rising off of my back and Jesus name. 23:44 It was like he was just pulling him off of my back. 23:47 And from that point I made a decision in 2008 23:49 I am gonna serve the Lord. 23:50 And as I continue to come to cross I saw this habit stopping 23:53 this habit stopping, this habit stop. 23:55 Now it's been over six years 23:56 since I have done any of that stuff. 23:57 Praise God. What are you doing now? 23:59 Well, what I am doing now is I am actually 24:01 a theology major at Oakwood University. 24:03 I have two years left until I graduate. 24:05 Praise the Lord what He get it done. 24:06 And you are doing, I am gonna brag about you a little bit. 24:10 You are doing so academically-- what's your GPA? 24:14 My GPA right now is around a 3.7, 3.8 24:17 and you know the beautiful thing 24:19 is how God restores the mind. 24:20 you know, you got to get glorious of God. 24:22 Because you know in the college career 24:24 now been in for two year 24:25 I haven't had anything less than a "B" and its amazing 24:27 because here somebody they didn't do anything in school. 24:30 I have went to school and I use so many drugs 24:32 that just eat away your brain and your brain cells. 24:35 But here is the God I serve the God 24:36 they is into restoration business. 24:37 Come on, come on. 24:38 And He restored me to the fact where now 24:40 I may would have give Him glory even in my school work. 24:43 You know it just like amazing guy getting happy. 24:45 Come on, come on I mean, that's attractive to me. 24:47 That's right. 24:48 It is amazing how you know God can restore your brain 24:51 to where now I have nothing less than a "B" 24:54 haven't had anything less than a "B" 24:55 when I got accepted to Oakwood 24:56 they gave me an academic scholarship, 24:58 didn't turned around after my first year, 25:00 they gave me a mostly wanted 25:01 theology scholarship for my GPA as well. 25:03 So it's just the blessing what God can do. 25:05 Praise God. Oh, that's-- 25:07 you know what I was thinking 25:08 when you were talking you went Huntsville for prison. 25:12 And you went to Huntsville. Amen. 25:14 Alabama. For school. 25:15 For school. To be set free. Wow. 25:18 Isn't that amazing? That's amazing correlation. 25:20 Huntsville, God is so good and God's got a plan for you 25:25 and we always talk about on Dare to Dream in Urban Report, 25:28 God's got a plan for you. 25:30 Look at what God did in your life. Amen. 25:33 Quickly tell us what do we have 25:34 to look forward to on the New Journey. 25:37 Well the New journey, it's a great program 25:39 because you know I interview people 25:41 who have various testimonies like me. 25:43 Who have been incarcerated, who have sold drugs, 25:45 use drugs, who have straight away from the-- 25:49 the name implies itself the New Journey. 25:51 Meaning that you on a old journey 25:52 going the opposite direction 25:54 God got a hold to you turn to around 25:56 and now you are on a completely new journey. 25:58 So it's a great program where we see people's testimonies. 26:01 And the Bible says there are two ways to overcome Satan 26:03 is by the blood of the lamb, by the blood of Jesus 26:05 and by the word of their testimony. 26:07 So this is the program that you definitely want to tune in 26:09 to as well as other programs on 3ABN 26:11 because you see strong testimonies of people 26:14 who was serving Satan but are now serving Jesus Christ 26:17 in the ministry in some type of way. 26:18 Amen. 26:19 Thank you so much for being with us 26:22 and for the job that you're doing 26:23 and for letting God use you. 26:25 Amen, thank you. Thank you. May God bless you? 26:27 Yes ma'am, thank you. Take care. 26:28 All right. 26:38 Oh, doesn't Aaron have a powerful testimony. 26:42 You know when I talked to him 26:44 I get this feeling of excitement 26:49 because I know that our God can change your life. 26:52 I know that our God can take someone who is 26:56 on that downwards spiral and lift them up 26:59 and give them the abandoned life 27:01 and God wants to do that for you as well. 27:04 So know that wherever you are in your circumstances, 27:07 in your life's journey wherever you are there is hope for you. 27:12 God can take your life if you just not doing the things 27:16 that you wanted do, if you feel like 27:18 you just keep following and you just can't really 27:21 get up know that God's got a plan for you 27:23 and He is going to put you on solid ground 27:27 and give you the abandoned life. 27:29 Just accept Jesus Christ as your Savior 27:31 and know that He is got a plan for you. 27:35 I just want you also to know that if you have a testimony 27:40 or a story that you'd like to share on Dare to Dream 27:43 please contact us here at 3ABN, P.O. Box 220, 27:49 West Frankfort, Illinois 62896. 27:52 Well, that's the end of our program for today, 27:55 we hope and pray that you'd been blessed 27:58 that you will continue to support us with your prayers 28:01 and your financial support 28:03 and tell your friends about Dare to Dream. 28:05 Tell everybody you know about Dare to Dream 28:07 so that we can share this good news 28:10 of Jesus Christ with the world. 28:12 Thanks for tuning in join us next time 28:14 it just wouldn't be the same without you. |
Revised 2023-10-17