Latest / Mental Health and the Mission of the Church / It’s Personal: Chip’s Health and Questions We All Deal With

Transcript

It’s Personal: Chip’s Health and Questions We All Deal With · Mental Health and the Mission of the Church

0:00
SPEAKER_02: To the best of my knowledge, I've searched my heart.
0:03
SPEAKER_02: I'm not afraid to die.
0:05
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what happened to me like, and I'm not a person who spends a lot of time thinking about it.
0:09
SPEAKER_02: All I know is it's gonna be pretty cool.
0:11
SPEAKER_02: I I I don't have a clue.
0:13
SPEAKER_02: But I feel like I got more to do.
0:18
SPEAKER_02: So I have two paths full.
0:21
SPEAKER_02: One is to be healed.
0:22
SPEAKER_02: Supernatural.
0:23
SPEAKER_02: And I believe that's well within the descriptive realities of scripture.
0:28
SPEAKER_02: Two alone transplant.
0:29
SPEAKER_02: The third one is that life ends in the not too distant future.
0:32
SPEAKER_02: And I say no thank you to our friend.
0:50
SPEAKER_02: And that is that for me to get a lung transplant, another family has to lose a lung plant.
0:55
SPEAKER_02: And pray for that family.
1:05
SPEAKER_02: So obviously we were decimated destroyed.
1:08
SPEAKER_02: We couldn't get in to see the lung spectrus for six weeks.
1:12
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god.
1:13
SPEAKER_02: So imagine for six weeks, we walked around telling a very small group of friends that we were just told that we have a I have a lung disease and that I'm dying.
1:28
SPEAKER_02: We told our children.
1:30
SPEAKER_02: We told our children six horrible through that.
1:34
SPEAKER_02: It was horrible.
1:38
SPEAKER_02: I would have to say it this way.
1:40
SPEAKER_02: I've had pretty much effortless piece through this whole thing.
1:46
SPEAKER_02: Now, occasionally we get a bad report and it'll throw me for a day or so.
1:51
SPEAKER_02: But I've actually wondered if there's something wrong with me.
1:56
SPEAKER_02: Because I've I'd be like praying about the healing or whatever in this situation.
2:02
SPEAKER_02: And I'd think to myself, God, why are they more worked up?
2:06
SPEAKER_02: Like, why am I so peaceful?
2:12
SPEAKER_02: Hello, I'm Chip Judd.
2:14
SPEAKER_02: I've been a pastor and counselor for over 40 years.
2:18
SPEAKER_02: I've preached about 4,000 sermons, and I've met with individuals, marriages, church leaders, all kinds of people for over 12,000 hours of face-to-face meetings.
2:30
SPEAKER_02: As a consultant and coach, I've worked with many different kinds of churches.
2:34
SPEAKER_02: I've seen them from what I call behind the curtain, from a perspective the public doesn't see.
2:40
SPEAKER_02: I've seen really healthy, thriving congregations, and I've seen profoundly unhealthy, struggling congregations.
2:48
SPEAKER_02: I've never seen a perfect one.
2:50
SPEAKER_02: I'm committed and excited about the church learning to use all the tools that are available to us in helping people experience the real freedom and lasting change that Christianity promises.
3:04
SPEAKER_02: Some of those tools have been discovered and developed in the mental health community based on psychology and other sciences.
3:12
SPEAKER_02: Let's stop pretending we have to have all the answers.
3:15
SPEAKER_02: Let's lead the way in building partnerships and learning communities that bring the mental health community and the church together.
3:24
SPEAKER_02: That's what we're going to be working toward on this podcast and YouTube.
3:28
SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the mental health and the mission of the church community.
3:39
SPEAKER_01: All right, in episode one of the podcast, we talked about how you, sir, ended up where you're at in this.
3:45
SPEAKER_01: Hey, check this word out insatiable desire to see the church and mental health medical community come together.
3:52
SPEAKER_01: It's insatiable.
3:54
SPEAKER_01: You can't stop Chip.
3:55
SPEAKER_01: I'm pretty sure that was your word, not mine.
3:58
SPEAKER_01: Next episode will likely dive into how you think, Pastor Chip, the church scared off the mental health community.
4:07
SPEAKER_01: Is that fair enough to say?
4:08
SPEAKER_01: Can I say it that way?
4:09
SPEAKER_01: How and why both of them have a hard time talking to each other.
4:12
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
4:13
SPEAKER_02: And how I think we got here a little bit historically, but also even fairly recently.
4:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
4:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
4:21
SPEAKER_01: It's not often when you make a statement sound a little nicer and softer.
4:26
SPEAKER_01: Good job.
4:28
SPEAKER_01: All right.
4:29
SPEAKER_01: But right now we've got something very personal to share.
4:33
SPEAKER_01: And please correct me if I'm wrong.
4:36
SPEAKER_01: I'm pretty sure the general public at Seacoast, at least the staff, found out somewhat recently, but your inner circle has known for a pretty long time that you've been behind the scenes struggling with some pretty significant physical challenges.
4:53
SPEAKER_01: Now, these are my words.
4:55
SPEAKER_01: I want to ask, is it fair to say very serious physical challenges?
4:58
SPEAKER_01: Yes, it is.
4:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
5:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
5:00
SPEAKER_01: So it's before we get into exactly what listeners, I have seen my friend, someone I look up to struggle physically, and I don't like it at all.
5:12
SPEAKER_01: And so, Chip, I'll just, here's where I want to start, and then we'll get into the details of your journey.
5:19
SPEAKER_01: But in your relationship with God, or just in general, do you find yourself asking why?
5:25
SPEAKER_01: Like, why?
5:26
SPEAKER_01: Man, I'm so mo I'm so motivated to bring the church and the mental health community together.
5:32
SPEAKER_01: There's so much I want to do.
5:33
SPEAKER_01: And then I got this thing that I'm dealing with.
5:35
SPEAKER_01: Like, why?
5:35
SPEAKER_01: Like in the I would even say the prime of my life.
5:38
SPEAKER_01: I've got grandkids.
5:39
SPEAKER_01: This is feels unfair.
5:41
SPEAKER_01: Do you ask why?
5:43
SPEAKER_02: You just mixed another word in there.
5:45
SPEAKER_02: When you said it feels unfair, to me, those are two different questions.
5:48
SPEAKER_02: Why and fair.
5:50
SPEAKER_02: Let's start with fair.
5:51
SPEAKER_02: I don't deserve how good my life has been.
5:55
SPEAKER_02: So it's not fair to say I don't deserve the bad.
5:58
SPEAKER_02: I don't connect the good things that happened to my somehow deserving them or having earned them.
6:05
SPEAKER_02: And therefore, I don't connect uh the bad things to my deserving them or having earned them.
6:13
SPEAKER_02: Now that leads to the other question, which is do I find myself asking why?
6:18
SPEAKER_02: I would say yes, but I want to qualify it.
6:21
SPEAKER_02: I don't know that I mean it the way most people mean it.
6:24
SPEAKER_02: Not why, like God, why me?
6:27
SPEAKER_02: No, I don't, no, I don't think that way.
6:30
SPEAKER_02: I I've asked why from a kingdom strategic standpoint, it seems like I'm a contributing member of the team, you might say.
6:40
SPEAKER_02: And if I was the coach, I'm like, I'd probably want to keep this guy in the game.
6:47
SPEAKER_02: And and I say that because several years ago, dear friend of mine named Jack Frost, God was using him tremendously, and yes, that's his real name, Jack Frost.
6:57
SPEAKER_02: God was using him tremendously in helping people, and he got a very aggressive, radical kind of cancer.
7:07
SPEAKER_02: And in fact, I think what he I remember him telling me is it's the second worst cancer there is.
7:13
SPEAKER_02: And illustratively speaking, figuratively speaking, half the world was praying for him.
7:20
SPEAKER_02: And a year later we buried him.
7:23
SPEAKER_02: And from a strategic warfare perspective, I was like, God, I can't make sense of this.
7:32
SPEAKER_02: And no, my deal is I have what I call file 13.
7:36
SPEAKER_02: And file 13 is where I put questions that I want to take up with God when He sees fit, whether it's on this side of the grave or the next, the other side.
7:49
SPEAKER_02: So I do the same thing with my situation that we'll go into detail about here in a minute.
7:54
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I say why in the sense of strategy, but not like why me.
7:59
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
8:00
SPEAKER_01: I don't do that.
8:02
SPEAKER_01: I uh like I are you saying that you don't feel sorry for yourself, like you don't go there?
8:07
SPEAKER_01: No.
8:08
SPEAKER_01: In in moments of weakness, or is that just not something that you struggle with?
8:14
SPEAKER_02: No.
8:15
SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to choose my words carefully.
8:18
SPEAKER_02: Do I have moments where I wish this weren't happening?
8:23
SPEAKER_02: Or I wish he would just heal me, which I'm believing him to do.
8:28
SPEAKER_02: I'm believing for him to do, and still expecting I'm still expecting a good outcome from this.
8:34
SPEAKER_02: And we'll talk later about what the the two options are.
8:37
SPEAKER_02: Um but I don't no, I don't like why me or uh God, I thought you loved me.
8:46
SPEAKER_02: No.
8:47
SPEAKER_02: I I know he loves me.
8:49
SPEAKER_02: And I just he's in charge, man.
8:52
SPEAKER_02: He bought me, he owns me, he can do with me as he pleases, and he's treated me pretty well.
9:00
SPEAKER_02: If I was a car that he owned, he's taken pretty good care of me.
9:04
SPEAKER_02: And you're a classic.
9:06
SPEAKER_02: You're a classic.
9:07
SPEAKER_02: I'm a classic, yeah.
9:09
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, by the way.
9:11
SPEAKER_02: And again, I'm not saying it's wrong to ask those questions because in pain, I am in discomfort, and we'll talk about that.
9:19
SPEAKER_02: But I I I'm a pastor, I've walked with people through horrible stuff.
9:24
SPEAKER_02: And I just I start and don't ever start anywhere else.
9:27
SPEAKER_02: I don't, then the start of God loves me, period.
9:31
SPEAKER_02: Not well, God, if you love me.
9:34
SPEAKER_02: No, you love me.
9:36
SPEAKER_02: So can we have a little chat here on what's what's going on here?
9:41
SPEAKER_02: And what's my assignment during this challenge?
9:45
SPEAKER_02: And and I do rest in this that he's a bit smarter than us.
9:50
SPEAKER_02: He's got a different vantage point perspective uh than we do of everything that's happening.
9:57
SPEAKER_02: And I I trust him.
9:59
SPEAKER_02: And it's hard to watch the effect it has on my wife, kids, people like yourself that love and tolerate me.
10:08
SPEAKER_02: So there's not I I don't want anybody to think that, oh, it's just a walk in the park.
10:14
SPEAKER_02: It's not a walk in the park, but it it's not an issue between me and God.
10:19
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
10:19
SPEAKER_02: And I'm not saying I can't envision situations where it would be, and I can surely understand why it people can ask those kinds of questions.
10:29
SPEAKER_02: I just I do it like I said, from a okay, God, I I generally like to understand what's going on.
10:36
SPEAKER_02: And this one's got me thrown a little bit.
10:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
10:39
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
10:40
SPEAKER_01: What's been going on and how long has it been going on?
10:43
SPEAKER_01: I guess just I I guess take us back to day one where you first started to pick up on the fact was your body telling you something?
10:50
SPEAKER_01: Did the doctor tell you before your body told you?
10:52
SPEAKER_01: Like how did this unfold?
10:54
SPEAKER_01: Take us back to day one where all this began and catch us up to speed up.
10:58
SPEAKER_02: Right, about eight years ago.
11:00
SPEAKER_02: Let that sink in.
11:01
SPEAKER_02: Eight years.
11:02
SPEAKER_01: Um Trump just became president.
11:08
SPEAKER_01: That's a long time ago.
11:10
SPEAKER_01: Whoa.
11:11
SPEAKER_02: I didn't think about it.
11:12
SPEAKER_02: I didn't think about it that way.
11:13
SPEAKER_02: My wife and I have always been people who exercise and we'd run and whatever, and we were at a point where we'd run, uh probably honestly, at times run walk, but two miles.
11:24
SPEAKER_02: And I hit a point where I would come back or whatever, and we'd regroup.
11:30
SPEAKER_02: Number one, she was way ahead of me, and that didn't used to be the case.
11:35
SPEAKER_02: And so we'd get back from the run, and I'd say, baby, I don't know what it is, but man, I must be in worse shape than I thought.
11:42
SPEAKER_02: And that would go on for a couple weeks.
11:44
SPEAKER_02: And then I'd be like, something something's weird, because we're running pretty consistently, and I don't feel like my my my wind is getting any better.
11:58
SPEAKER_02: But I still didn't really think of it as being a problem or something wrong.
12:04
SPEAKER_02: So I ended up I contracted a cold or something, turned into pneumonia.
12:11
SPEAKER_02: In other words, I got pretty sick and ended up going to the doc in the box and they tested me and said, I think you might have pneumonia, and they took an x-ray, and he came back to the doctor when it was ready and said, You you definitely have pneumonia.
12:27
SPEAKER_02: And I could tell there was something else going on.
12:29
SPEAKER_02: And he said, But he said, I think there's something else also.
12:33
SPEAKER_02: And honestly, all things considered, he probably told me more than he should have, based on one x-ray.
12:42
SPEAKER_02: Uh but he told me the name of what he thought I had.
12:47
SPEAKER_02: Turned out he was right, but um probably wasn't smart to do it the way he did it.
12:53
SPEAKER_02: And a tech came in and did a breathing test, and he did the test wrong.
12:59
SPEAKER_02: So it made my results look really bad.
13:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
13:02
SPEAKER_02: So the doctor told me I had a lung disease and I was going to die.
13:11
SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, and that's what I told you.
13:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
13:14
SPEAKER_01: Did you guys have any relationship?
13:16
SPEAKER_01: Or are you all or you were a new patient, I'm assuming?
14:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, pretty much.
14:03
SPEAKER_00: Gosh.
14:03
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
14:04
SPEAKER_02: He said, don't look it up on the internet because it's ugly.
14:07
SPEAKER_02: You need to go see a lung specialist.
14:10
SPEAKER_02: So obviously we were decimated, destroyed.
14:14
SPEAKER_02: We couldn't get in to see a duck uh lung specialist for six weeks.
14:17
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
14:19
SPEAKER_02: So imagine for six weeks we walked around telling a very small group of friends that we were just told that we have a I have a lung disease and that I'm dying.
14:34
SPEAKER_02: We told our children.
14:36
SPEAKER_02: We told our children.
14:38
SPEAKER_02: It was horrible.
14:40
SPEAKER_02: It was horrible.
14:42
SPEAKER_02: So we finally get to the lung specialist, and uh I hear him in the hallway, and he says, How tall is this guy?
14:50
SPEAKER_02: Because what most people don't realize is your lung capacity has nothing to do with your weight or your even if you're in good shape or bad shape, your lung capacity has to do with your height.
15:01
SPEAKER_02: Your height determines your lung capacity.
15:04
SPEAKER_02: I don't care if you're in tip top shape or horrible shape, the capacity of your lungs is the same.
15:11
SPEAKER_02: So he's looking at a test and saying, Wow, this guy's really sick.
15:17
SPEAKER_02: But he must have seen me in the hallway.
15:20
SPEAKER_02: And he I hear him talking to the nurse coming in saying, How tall is this guy?
15:24
SPEAKER_02: But what happened is remember, lung capacity has to do with height.
15:28
SPEAKER_02: When the tech did the test, he put my height down as six foot nine.
15:35
SPEAKER_02: And in case you haven't noticed, I'm not six foot nine.
15:39
SPEAKER_02: At the time, I was five nine.
15:42
SPEAKER_02: As I get older, I'm now five eight.
15:44
SPEAKER_02: But the bottom line is I wasn't as sick as the initial doctor said, but I was sick, and I had, I'll go ahead and say the name.
15:55
SPEAKER_02: Some of you are gonna want to know that.
15:57
SPEAKER_02: It's called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
16:02
SPEAKER_02: And it's basically the lungs are dying.
16:06
SPEAKER_02: There's scarring is a word for it.
16:09
SPEAKER_02: And they're you're you the usable capacity of your lungs is shrinking.
16:14
SPEAKER_02: And now remember, this is eight years ago.
16:16
SPEAKER_02: Somebody told me, he said, hey, yes, you have a disease that there is no cure for, and there's just not much we can do other than use what you have to the best of your ability, which means continue to exercise.
16:33
SPEAKER_02: We left there with a little bit of good news, but whatever.
16:37
SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, revisited our kids and uh put things in a different time frame.
16:45
SPEAKER_02: And uh but we still had to deal with the fact that I had been diagnosed with a lung disease that was not gonna have a good ending in the natural.
16:58
SPEAKER_02: And again, we're believers.
17:00
SPEAKER_02: And I happen to come from the side of the church or neighborhood of the church that believes Jesus still heals.
17:07
SPEAKER_02: And and I also believe that you can communicate with God.
17:11
SPEAKER_02: We journal and we feel like we have a conversational relationship with God.
17:17
SPEAKER_02: And Joey, if you don't mind, I was gonna wait till I'd gotten there, but I'm gonna go ahead and put this on.
17:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because it'll it'll help me.
17:23
SPEAKER_02: Uh so I hope it doesn't freak anybody out.
17:26
SPEAKER_02: But I'll get to that in just a second.
17:28
SPEAKER_02: But the bottom line is we trumped along like that.
17:30
SPEAKER_02: Did nothing changed.
17:32
SPEAKER_02: Nothing changed in my my my work with COS, my travel, my counseling, coaching, consulting.
17:40
SPEAKER_02: It didn't really affect our lives in any dramatic way.
17:45
SPEAKER_02: No, I couldn't exercise to the degree that I once could, but it was off a shade, not whatever.
17:53
SPEAKER_02: So we were put on a medication.
17:55
SPEAKER_02: There's only two out there, and we were put on one of the two that's supposed to slow it down.
18:00
SPEAKER_02: It did, I guess, I don't know.
18:03
SPEAKER_02: But but also had some unpleasant side effects.
18:06
SPEAKER_02: But we trucked along with that, and we had about a uh I don't really remember, but we had about a small percentage decline in lung quality by year.
18:23
SPEAKER_02: In other words, it it was doing what it does.
18:26
SPEAKER_02: And then if I'd get a cold, it would really affect me.
18:30
SPEAKER_02: Then COVID came along and you really had to take that seriously.
18:33
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and COVID came along and we had to hide.
18:36
SPEAKER_02: And and again, don't think for a second I wasn't trusting God through the whole thing.
18:40
SPEAKER_02: But I believe you can be smart and take proper precautions and still trust God and still believe in God for healing, and still journaling and listening and had awesome encounters with God where He would assure us that you're gonna come out the other side of this.
18:56
SPEAKER_01: Hey, let me ask you this.
18:57
SPEAKER_01: Would old Chip, and what I mean by that is 30 years ago, Chip, or whatever the math is, when you were real into you're still into the belief of healing and everything, but you just saw it differently.
19:11
SPEAKER_01: Would the old version of Chip want to beat the new version of Chip up by saying, How dare you not go to church during COVID?
19:20
SPEAKER_01: Do you not believe God's gonna take care of you like with old chip discipline?
19:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he would have had some he would have had some issues.
19:29
SPEAKER_02: He would have felt like I was compromising or wasn't operating in faith.
19:36
SPEAKER_02: And again, I don't mean to be harsh with anybody, but here's my statement to you if you have any much of that.
19:42
SPEAKER_02: Of all the people you've prayed for healing, how many of them have gotten healed?
19:48
SPEAKER_02: And all to say is yes, I believe it's the will of God to heal.
19:55
SPEAKER_02: But for some reason, we're not, we don't see it happening to the degree we should.
20:01
SPEAKER_02: And everybody's got their two or three favorite stories.
20:03
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I saw so and so, and we saw some really cool healings.
20:06
SPEAKER_02: I could tell you, I've been healed, but in this particular situation, it hasn't happened yet.
20:11
SPEAKER_02: So my deal is I'm committed to dealing with God in truth.
20:18
SPEAKER_02: And so I look at scripture, do I believe it's the will of God to heal?
20:21
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
20:22
SPEAKER_02: Do I believe it's part of the atonement?
20:24
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
20:25
SPEAKER_02: Do I believe it's happening to the degree that belief system would say that it should be?
20:33
SPEAKER_02: And my answer is no.
20:35
SPEAKER_02: No, it's not.
20:36
SPEAKER_02: So I'm okay with backing up half a step.
20:40
SPEAKER_02: And if you ask me at the beginning, do I ever say ask why?
20:43
SPEAKER_02: Back up half a step, and I would call it functionally, technically, say God, why isn't it happening?
20:51
SPEAKER_02: And expectantly wait for an answer.
20:55
SPEAKER_02: I don't mean it like a petulant, spoiled child.
20:57
SPEAKER_02: Why isn't it happening?
20:59
SPEAKER_01: God, I really want to know because I it's almost like it's almost like the difference between asking a question and being questioning, it seems like.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: Like you're you're legit, you're just asking a question.
21:10
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I'd like to know why, but you're not saying, God, why?
21:14
SPEAKER_01: Which again, we both say if you do, God is gracious and loving and he wants us to come to him as we are.
21:21
SPEAKER_01: So we're not crashing on people who come to God in desperation, but you're just asking a question, God, why?
21:26
SPEAKER_01: I'd really like to know.
21:28
SPEAKER_01: But but why is this your best plan?
21:31
SPEAKER_02: But I also want to go beyond that, Joey.
21:33
SPEAKER_02: I don't I don't want to, at this stage of our conversation, when I said why, I don't mean just my situation.
21:39
SPEAKER_02: Why are we not globally, why are we not seeing what we think and believe we see in scripture?
21:49
SPEAKER_02: Why are we not seeing it?
21:51
SPEAKER_02: And I don't mean that to imply I don't believe it, and I don't mean it to imply God's opting out on his bargain.
21:58
SPEAKER_02: It is a genuine functional question.
22:03
SPEAKER_02: In other words, I mean it like there's some piece of this puzzle we're missing.
22:08
SPEAKER_02: I you know, I still believe it's God's will to heal, I still believe it's God's will to set people free, but I also have to admit I've seen lots of people that didn't walk in the fullness of what scripture seems to promise us.
22:23
SPEAKER_02: And my deal is this the problem's not on God's end.
22:26
SPEAKER_02: Now I don't mean by that, you're at fault.
22:29
SPEAKER_02: Please don't hear it that way.
22:30
SPEAKER_02: I'd say we are missing something.
22:33
SPEAKER_02: We collectively.
22:34
SPEAKER_02: And so for me, it's a matter of backing up and saying, okay, God, I'm listening to the best of my ability.
22:40
SPEAKER_02: I want to know why we're not seeing the manifestation of your power the way it seems like scripture would make available to us.
22:51
SPEAKER_01: And I do think it's interesting and insightful for listeners, or or at least me.
22:56
SPEAKER_01: So I get to ask questions like Joey, let's make it clear to the audience.
23:01
SPEAKER_02: You're below average on the poker.
23:04
SPEAKER_02: I gotta go talk to the therapist.
23:05
SPEAKER_02: I gotta go talk to my therapist now.
23:07
SPEAKER_02: In case you don't, in case you don't know us, we've known each other for gosh, how long now?
23:12
SPEAKER_01: And I I I love him.
23:14
SPEAKER_01: You're talking about taking precaution, asking questions, really thinking through this.
23:21
SPEAKER_01: Would I be correct to say that the the chip of 25 years ago would would you try to just go about life as if you didn't even get this and just claim, no, I don't have this.
23:35
SPEAKER_01: I've been around Christians who take that approach and I can understand.
23:39
SPEAKER_01: They basically say, No, I will not accept this diagnosis.
23:42
SPEAKER_01: I don't claim it.
23:43
SPEAKER_01: They can go to hell in Jesus' name, sort of thing, and then just go about their life.
23:48
SPEAKER_01: And you and I have both seen that go awry, and I'm sure maybe we I don't know if I've seen a situation like that turn out successfully, but is that kind of how you would have approached it a long time ago?
23:58
SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't have been out there quite to that extent, but I'd have been out that way.
24:02
SPEAKER_02: I would have been very emphatic about like the scripture says, hold fast your confession.
24:09
SPEAKER_02: I'd be very emphatic about I I believe I'm healed.
24:12
SPEAKER_02: And uh and my verbiage, my phraseology.
24:16
SPEAKER_02: To be honest, I don't know for sure, but I would say there would even be a possibility that I would hide because I didn't want people.
24:24
SPEAKER_02: It's possible that I would get caught in the trap of people thinking I didn't have enough faith.
24:31
SPEAKER_02: Dang.
24:32
SPEAKER_02: It's possible.
24:33
SPEAKER_02: Now I'm not positive on that one.
24:36
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
24:36
SPEAKER_02: Because that's the atmosphere.
24:38
SPEAKER_02: If you didn't get healed, you didn't have faith.
24:41
SPEAKER_02: Because it's God's will to heal.
24:43
SPEAKER_02: The only time he didn't heal was when he didn't see the because of their unbelief.
24:47
SPEAKER_02: So if you're not getting healed, it's because of your unbelief.
24:50
SPEAKER_02: And we did carry it about that simply.
24:53
SPEAKER_02: And and quite honestly, Joey, I've like I said, I've buried people I didn't think we'd have to bury.
24:58
SPEAKER_02: We've won, won and lost, lost some battles, and I just thought, God, as far as I know, we are doing our part.
25:06
SPEAKER_02: And so I don't think God's whimsical.
25:09
SPEAKER_02: So I believe there's a method to the madness.
25:13
SPEAKER_02: I'm an old science teacher, so I believe there's laws and principles that explain the the interactions between our realm and his realm.
25:22
SPEAKER_02: And so I just think, okay, God, there's something we don't understand yet.
25:28
SPEAKER_02: And I'm okay with that.
25:31
SPEAKER_02: I I'm I'm comfortable that, and I've asked God many times through this.
25:36
SPEAKER_02: God, I don't know how else to express my faith.
25:40
SPEAKER_02: And whenever I ask God, am I not praying hard enough?
25:44
SPEAKER_02: Am I not this?
25:44
SPEAKER_02: Am I not that?
25:46
SPEAKER_02: Almost, I'd say virtually every time, I have some kind of a sweet encounter with God where he just says, chill, dude.
25:54
SPEAKER_02: Just chill.
25:55
SPEAKER_02: I love that.
25:56
SPEAKER_01: Um I love that.
25:58
SPEAKER_01: I so I came from a similar family background.
26:02
SPEAKER_01: And back in 2009, I think it was, my family was standing in faith that my first cousin, who was very close to, that her husband wouldn't pass away, of a lung disorder that was due to working conditions.
26:20
SPEAKER_01: And once it happened, they told them, they said, This is going to take your life and it's going to be pretty swiftly.
26:25
SPEAKER_01: And it was bad.
26:26
SPEAKER_01: My family came, yeah, I would say how you described yourself a long time ago, that's where they were.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: And I wasn't, and I was also trying to stand with them in faith, and I respect their approach and I respect the you know, you know, how they carry their faith.
26:43
SPEAKER_01: But I remember showing this scripture to my aunt and asking her, I was like, Well, in in light of how we're believing for Shane to be healed, what what's your take on this passage?
26:56
SPEAKER_01: And and it's one of my favorite passages, and I'm curious if this resonates with your current situation.
27:01
SPEAKER_01: But it says, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to him, King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.
27:10
SPEAKER_01: If we are thrown into a blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from your majesty's hand.
27:19
SPEAKER_01: And then this is just like all of my family, I think, and I'm I'm speaking for them and very carefully, I would say that they would probably say, So you believe and you don't question it and you don't back off.
27:31
SPEAKER_01: There's none of this.
27:33
SPEAKER_01: If it's your will, we know it's God's will.
27:35
SPEAKER_01: Right here it says, but even if he does not, he just they just said God will deliver us, but if he doesn't, we want you to know, your majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of the world you set up.
27:49
SPEAKER_01: That seems like that's our position, that we can claim faith and say God is gonna do this as children of faith, but then also acknowledge we're not God.
27:59
SPEAKER_01: So we ultimately aren't in charge.
28:02
SPEAKER_01: And just principalities or even this physical condition that you find yourself in, we're not gonna bow down to any of it because we'll serve God regardless of the outcome.
28:11
SPEAKER_01: I would make a couple of qualifiers.
28:14
SPEAKER_02: Qualify away.
28:15
SPEAKER_02: Number one, you and I aren't in the Bible.
28:18
SPEAKER_02: So it's dangerous, it's dangerous to draw parallels to people who are literally in the Bible narrative.
28:27
SPEAKER_02: Hebrews 11 talks about that those or 10 talks about those things that happened to them happen for our example.
28:34
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, our lives are an example to each other, but not at the level of being in the book.
28:39
SPEAKER_02: And then the other thing I would say is I'm very vehemently against the mentality of if it's God's will, it'll just happen.
28:51
SPEAKER_02: In other words, here's a weird little phrase.
28:54
SPEAKER_02: So if I need to repeat it, tell me.
28:55
SPEAKER_02: I believe most Christians, most being 51% or more, are taught so aggressively that God's in control that they're paralyzed by passivity, parading as piety.
29:12
SPEAKER_02: Man, repeat it, you just need to repeat it to get it out there again.
29:18
SPEAKER_02: Paralyzed by passivity, parading as piety.
29:23
SPEAKER_02: In other words, like in my situation, oh God, you haven't healed me, must not be your will to heal me.
29:31
SPEAKER_02: So the best thing I can do is just honor you in the way that I handle this.
29:36
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, heck no.
29:38
SPEAKER_02: Why did Jesus tell a parable about prayer?
29:41
SPEAKER_02: Where he said, he was saying specifically about prayer, let me tell you a little story.
29:48
SPEAKER_02: Now that's important.
29:50
SPEAKER_02: And he says, a man goes to his neighbor, has company that shows up, doesn't have enough bread, goes to his neighbor and says, Hey, you got some bread, I got some unexpected company.
30:01
SPEAKER_02: The neighbor says, Hey, dude, we're all in bed, the house is closed up, go pound sand.
30:06
SPEAKER_02: I ain't getting out of bed to get you bread.
30:08
SPEAKER_02: No, if you were paralyzed by passivity, parading his piety, what you would do at that moment is, I guess God doesn't want me to have bread.
30:19
SPEAKER_02: No, dude.
30:20
SPEAKER_02: In the parable Jesus told, the guy says, boom, get your butt out of bed and get me some bread.
30:27
SPEAKER_02: No, that's my mentality.
30:30
SPEAKER_02: My mentality is I will surrender to God anyway, any point, for anything, over anything, any issue.
30:39
SPEAKER_02: He can do whatever he wants with me.
30:41
SPEAKER_02: But I will not surrender to something that doesn't appear to be God's best for me.
30:50
SPEAKER_02: And someone might say, Well, you got the lung disease, it must be God's will.
30:53
SPEAKER_02: I I don't agree with that.
30:55
SPEAKER_01: I don't agree with that.
30:57
SPEAKER_01: Do you think there would ever be a point in time, and this is, for lack of better words, an icky thought, but I'm sure you've it oh, I don't know.
31:08
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you've thought of this sort of thing.
31:10
SPEAKER_01: Could it get so bad where you could see yourself making peace with it and saying, Okay, God, I I accept this, or as long as you have breath and on this side of heaven, you would never get to that place.
31:27
SPEAKER_01: And maybe it would be a Holy Spirit thing if you were.
31:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the only thing that would get me to stop believing I am to fight the disease is if prior to my last breath, is if God himself said, Chipper, stop all this silliness.
31:45
SPEAKER_02: This is how I want you to die.
31:47
SPEAKER_02: And until he shows up and says that.
31:51
SPEAKER_02: No.
31:52
SPEAKER_02: And I know that probably doesn't make sense to some people, then why didn't he just heal you?
31:56
SPEAKER_02: You know what?
31:57
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
31:58
SPEAKER_02: And I'm okay with I'm okay with that answer.
32:02
SPEAKER_02: Because I don't know what chess game he's playing.
32:07
SPEAKER_02: We're down here playing checkers.
32:09
SPEAKER_02: We think if I make this move and that's the end of the then that's the end of the game, or that's that determines the outcome.
32:16
SPEAKER_02: My deal is God, I don't know if you're a Star Trek fan, but they had these three-dimensional chess boards, and I'm like, God's juggling so many balls above my pay grade.
32:27
SPEAKER_02: I don't have a problem saying, I don't know.
32:30
SPEAKER_02: I don't know why God's doing what he's doing the way he's doing it.
32:33
SPEAKER_02: But all I have is authoritatively to lean on is his word, his scriptures.
32:40
SPEAKER_02: And here's my bottom line, Joey.
32:42
SPEAKER_02: And I've never had anybody who has been able to successfully shake me from this thought, this point of view.
32:49
SPEAKER_02: Is that a little trash talk?
32:51
SPEAKER_02: That's cool, man.
32:52
SPEAKER_02: Come on, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the four gospels, all that present Jesus from slightly different angles and perspectives.
33:00
SPEAKER_02: Not one time, not one, did anyone come to Jesus, ask for healing, and not get healed.
33:11
SPEAKER_02: Now, did he mess with some of their heads?
33:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:15
SPEAKER_02: Oh, this is for the children of Israel.
33:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but yeah, but Jesus, even the dogs eat the crumbs from the table, and the lady walks away healed.
33:25
SPEAKER_02: I know of no place recorded in Scripture.
33:28
SPEAKER_02: Now, might there have been some?
33:29
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
33:31
SPEAKER_02: But neither Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John saw fit to record them.
33:35
SPEAKER_02: No one ever came to Jesus, requ requested healing, and left without it.
33:43
SPEAKER_02: And and have at it, anybody that's gonna listen to this, you have at it.
33:47
SPEAKER_02: If you find a place, you let me know, because I can't find one.
33:52
SPEAKER_02: I can't find one where someone came to Jesus and said, Sir, would you please heal me?
33:57
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus said, Nah, don't feel like it today.
34:01
SPEAKER_02: No, there was a time he didn't do any miracles.
34:07
SPEAKER_02: And that's the booger bear for some of us.
34:10
SPEAKER_02: Why?
34:11
SPEAKER_02: Because of their unbelief.
34:13
SPEAKER_02: Now, for those of you who believe in sovereignty and predestined I believe in sovereignty, by the way, but not the way some people out there do.
34:21
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't say he didn't do any miracles there because it wasn't his will.
34:28
SPEAKER_02: It says he didn't do any miracles there because of their unbelief.
34:31
SPEAKER_02: Now, unless you get into so if I stay sick, it's because I don't have faith.
34:35
SPEAKER_02: I believe he was talking to a community of people.
34:40
SPEAKER_02: I believe the answer that's down underneath all of this is a community answer.
34:47
SPEAKER_02: Like I believe the church as a whole has got to come to the table in agreement about that let's bind the strong man and steal his goods.
35:00
SPEAKER_02: And one of his goods is sickness.
35:04
SPEAKER_02: So do I think your health and prosperity depend on me to some degree?
35:09
SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm okay with that thought.
35:12
SPEAKER_01: So you would be I think we would all agree better off, yes, but you would have would you agree that you would have a higher chance of experiencing a miraculous healing on this earth if tons of people just started praying today?
35:31
SPEAKER_01: If 5,000 more people prayed for you today than yesterday or 5,000 more than anybody has ever prayed for you in a day?
35:42
SPEAKER_01: Chances go up?
35:43
SPEAKER_01: No.
35:43
SPEAKER_01: Do you see it that way?
35:44
SPEAKER_01: No.
35:45
unknown: No.
35:45
SPEAKER_01: Why'd you laugh?
35:46
SPEAKER_01: I think that's a sensible question.
35:48
SPEAKER_02: Moving on.
35:49
SPEAKER_02: Hey, you remember y'all that are listening?
35:52
SPEAKER_02: Remember what I said about Joey a few minutes ago?
35:54
SPEAKER_02: That's an example of what a talk is.
35:57
SPEAKER_01: Hey, let me ask you this though.
35:59
SPEAKER_01: What how what does a good friend look like to you during this time?
36:05
SPEAKER_01: I know you don't want people feeling sorry for yourself for you, and I also know that you don't want people to be apathetic and be like, Chip Schmidt, well, who cares what he's going through?
36:16
SPEAKER_01: What is a good balance for your good friends who love you?
36:21
SPEAKER_02: Be authentic.
36:23
SPEAKER_02: If you think, say you listen to this and you think some of what I've said is stupid.
36:28
SPEAKER_02: No, not when I'm in a down moment, but come and tell me, hey, dude, I can't wrap my head around what you said.
36:33
SPEAKER_02: I it it's just blh.
36:36
SPEAKER_02: Let's talk.
36:37
SPEAKER_02: I I enjoy that.
36:39
SPEAKER_02: What I just be authentic, man.
36:42
SPEAKER_02: If you care, express it in the right context.
36:45
SPEAKER_02: If I'm an afterthought to you, then don't pretend.
36:49
SPEAKER_02: Don't I listen, you got your own stuff.
36:53
SPEAKER_02: I have friends that I'm confident are praying that love me.
36:59
SPEAKER_02: I have people enjoy, I'm sure you're one of them.
37:02
SPEAKER_02: I could call in the middle of the night and ask for whatever I needed.
37:08
SPEAKER_02: Wealthy and French in friends.
37:12
SPEAKER_02: And I don't need people walking on tiptoes around me.
37:15
SPEAKER_02: I prefer directness, I prefer authenticity.
37:18
SPEAKER_02: I've had somebody tell me lately that you used to be a man of faith and you're not anymore.
37:23
SPEAKER_02: Recently, and it's someone that I know loves me dearly, and they meant it to help me.
37:29
SPEAKER_02: Um now, obviously I don't agree, but they're sincere and authentic in their love for me, and they believe they heard from God, and I honor that.
37:40
SPEAKER_02: I cherish that, and I honor the courage it took to say that to me.
37:46
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, hey, if you're right, God show me.
37:52
SPEAKER_02: I just I think we like simple black or white answers.
38:00
SPEAKER_02: I used to be okay with them and still am to a certain degree.
38:03
SPEAKER_02: I think scriptures are pretty clear on some stuff.
38:06
SPEAKER_02: And is it a set?
38:08
SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry.
38:08
SPEAKER_02: Well, I've also seen too many situations that it looked like, and forgive me for saying it this way, we met the conditions and did not get the result that we wanted.
38:19
SPEAKER_02: And it doesn't make me throw the book out or the promises.
38:23
SPEAKER_02: It just makes me say, okay, God, we're there's something about this that we don't understand.
38:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
38:31
SPEAKER_02: And I'm okay with that.
38:33
SPEAKER_01: We'll wrap this up in a second.
38:34
SPEAKER_01: I've got a couple of questions, and obviously feel free if we haven't gone in some directions that you wanted to go in.
38:42
SPEAKER_01: But this is because you've been processing everything for such a long time, I'd imagine maybe this one is is a tougher question than the the rest of the conversation.
38:52
SPEAKER_01: But is it a sucker punch to your pride to have to wear oxygen?
38:57
SPEAKER_01: That's gotta be tough, man.
38:59
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think I waited too long.
39:02
SPEAKER_02: I I made the choice eight years ago that I was not gonna make this public anytime soon.
39:10
SPEAKER_02: And the reason is I'm a public figure to some degree.
39:15
SPEAKER_02: I travel, I go into churches, I speak, I counsel, and I'm on staff at a large church.
39:22
SPEAKER_02: I stand in the foyer and literally thousands of people walk by me.
39:27
SPEAKER_02: And here's two reasons.
39:29
SPEAKER_02: One, I didn't want random strangers asking me how I'm doing all the time.
39:33
SPEAKER_02: I didn't want to walk in the foyer to speak at a church where I've never been before, and people are like, Oh, how you doing, man?
39:41
SPEAKER_02: How you feeling?
39:42
SPEAKER_02: I just like, dude, you don't even know me.
39:45
SPEAKER_02: It's none of your business how I'm doing at that point.
39:49
SPEAKER_02: And then secondly, that friend of mine I mentioned earlier, Jack Frost, we both came from and lived, and I do still to some degree dip into the side of the church charismatic that believes in the prophetic and the gifts and all that.
40:03
SPEAKER_02: When Jack was fighting the cancer, he'd get people sending him or whatever prophecies.
40:10
SPEAKER_02: I see you on the other side healed and speaking to millions, and God's going to use this to springboard your ministry.
40:18
SPEAKER_02: And I thought, why haven't any of you written and apologized?
40:23
SPEAKER_02: Why haven't any of you reached out and said, I spoke out of turn.
40:28
SPEAKER_02: That must have been me, not God.
40:30
SPEAKER_02: Because my Bible says that if God says it, it happens.
40:34
SPEAKER_02: And no, all I mean is I get that gifts need to be practiced.
40:42
SPEAKER_02: But you don't practice with somebody's life.
40:46
SPEAKER_02: Practice on you're gonna get the parking spot.
40:49
SPEAKER_02: Practice with and you're gonna get the job.
40:53
SPEAKER_02: Don't practice telling somebody life or death things.
40:58
SPEAKER_02: And so for me, I didn't want I didn't want a bunch of internet prophecies coming from people that don't have that place in my life.
41:07
SPEAKER_02: There's a very small group of people that have a place in my life that they can say, I believe God asked me to share this with you.
41:16
SPEAKER_02: And so that's why I chose to keep it private for so long.
41:20
SPEAKER_02: And knowing that once this happened, the oxygen ain't gonna be private anymore.
41:25
SPEAKER_02: And that's why we're doing this.
41:27
SPEAKER_02: Just stay there for a minute, Joey.
41:29
SPEAKER_02: What happened time-wise is I I made it till this year, still traveling, basically doing everything I've been doing.
41:40
SPEAKER_02: Now, it it got a little bit harder, and traveling, you pick up colds and sore throats here, there, and it just got harder.
41:49
SPEAKER_02: And they it would take me longer to get over them.
41:52
SPEAKER_02: I know if I had more faith, it wouldn't.
41:55
SPEAKER_02: Sorry for being sarcastic.
41:57
SPEAKER_02: But what happened this year is, and I don't I I have theories on the whatevers, but the bottom line is that's the trajectory of this particular disease.
42:05
SPEAKER_02: And what happened this year is I have had two fairly abrupt drops in my oxygen capacity.
42:15
SPEAKER_02: And and they warned me that might happen, and it hadn't.
42:19
SPEAKER_02: And what I mean is just things, everyday things that I could do without any strain, I couldn't anymore.
42:28
SPEAKER_02: And so my wife and I decided that I probably need to go on.
42:32
SPEAKER_02: And to be honest with you, my doctor had been telling me for six months to a year that you really need to consider going on oxygen.
42:39
SPEAKER_02: And I would just tell him, let me, let's wait till next time, which is going to be a three-month appointment.
42:43
SPEAKER_02: And I'd say, let's I I think I'm okay.
42:46
SPEAKER_02: And I just was pushing putting it off.
42:48
SPEAKER_02: And I probably should have gone on sooner.
42:52
SPEAKER_02: Because it does add strain to your heart and your other organs when your body's fighting for air.
42:58
SPEAKER_02: And so we went on oxygen about two months ago, and immediately better.
43:06
SPEAKER_02: No, better's relative.
43:08
SPEAKER_02: I've had to cancel all my traveling for now.
43:12
SPEAKER_02: I put this in.
43:13
SPEAKER_02: If you've been here for the whole podcast, I didn't have it in as we talked, and then I could tell I was starting to cough and struggle.
43:20
SPEAKER_02: So even having a conversation, I've gotten to where it helps me to have some extra oxygen.
43:28
SPEAKER_02: And again, just to ramble and say some things I want to make sure I say, Joey.
43:32
SPEAKER_02: To the best of my knowledge, I've searched my heart.
43:37
SPEAKER_02: I'm not afraid to die.
43:39
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what happens to me like it.
43:41
SPEAKER_02: I'm not a person who spends a lot of time thinking about it.
43:43
SPEAKER_02: All I know is it's gonna be pretty cool.
43:46
SPEAKER_02: I I don't have a clue.
43:48
SPEAKER_02: I I I don't think we're gonna sit on clouts playing harps or be in a choir singing worship songs forever.
43:56
SPEAKER_02: If that's the case, I'd really like a ticket somewhere else.
44:00
SPEAKER_02: Because I don't really want to do that.
44:02
SPEAKER_02: Um and I think God's just got more, there's more to God than that.
44:07
SPEAKER_02: If and when I die, if I die, I know I'm gonna die.
44:10
SPEAKER_02: But when I die, my life gets better, not worse.
44:14
SPEAKER_02: My concern is obviously my wife, if you're gonna pray for her and give me the leftovers, way harder on her than it is me.
44:25
SPEAKER_02: Because I'm blessed with a wife that just loves me, thinks I'm amazing.
44:31
SPEAKER_02: And on occasion I am.
44:33
SPEAKER_02: Doesn't last long, but my kids, my grandkids, some of you people, all of you to some degree, because I don't feel That's the other thing.
44:42
SPEAKER_02: I don't feel finished.
44:43
SPEAKER_02: I feel like God in His kindness has invested in me and given me the stewardship of some really cool revelations and understandings.
44:54
SPEAKER_02: And I don't feel finished.
44:56
SPEAKER_02: I don't feel I don't feel like I've I don't feel like I've done all that I could do.
45:01
SPEAKER_02: Now, God's made it very clear to me I was in a really bad spot one time.
45:05
SPEAKER_02: And part of it was connected to that I I didn't want to not do what he wanted me to do, and I didn't want to be a disappointment.
45:15
SPEAKER_02: And the way he got me out of it was he just simply lovingly came, his presence came to me, and he very simply, almost like he put his hand on my shoulder and he said, Chipper, I can do this without you.
45:27
SPEAKER_02: And believe it or not, what he was saying was, I love and and appreciate the partnership we've had, me being clearly the junior partner.
45:39
SPEAKER_02: But he said, I don't want you carrying it around like my will is dependent on you.
45:46
SPEAKER_02: I want you to have fun with what we're doing.
45:50
SPEAKER_02: And that just helped me.
45:52
SPEAKER_02: But I feel like I got more to do.
45:55
SPEAKER_02: So that's my that's where I have two paths forward.
45:59
SPEAKER_02: One is to be healed supernaturally, and I believe that's well within the descriptive realities of scripture, that Jesus could, in my sleep, awake in a moment of prayer, asking a believer to pray for me.
46:15
SPEAKER_02: So two paths.
46:17
SPEAKER_02: One, supernatural healing, two, uh, a lung transplant.
46:22
SPEAKER_02: And those are the only paths.
46:25
SPEAKER_02: The third one is that life ends in the not too distant future.
46:30
SPEAKER_02: I take door number one, and if that one doesn't work out, I'll take door number two, and I say no thank you to door number three.
46:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and door number and and and you are pursuing door number two, and the verdict is still out as far as how that process is going to shake out.
46:50
SPEAKER_01: Like right now, it's a really big deal to get a lung transplant.
46:53
SPEAKER_01: It's an abrasive, especially at especially at my age.
46:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
46:58
SPEAKER_01: So it's still a question as to whether or not that's even an option.
47:02
SPEAKER_01: Is that accurate?
47:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
47:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
47:05
SPEAKER_02: I finished 95% of the tests, and trust me, there were a bunch of them.
47:11
SPEAKER_02: My wife and I had a two-week period where I had 30 appointments.
47:16
SPEAKER_02: Like 30.
47:17
SPEAKER_02: I'm not exaggerating.
47:20
SPEAKER_02: And now what happened?
47:22
SPEAKER_02: That was just ended last week.
47:24
SPEAKER_02: And now what happens is they all get together and throw the different cases on the table, and they decide who they feel like is in the best place for being approved.
47:37
SPEAKER_02: And then it's a matter of, I mean, I hate to say this way, but my getting bad enough for them to put me on the list to actually go find lungs that match me.
47:51
SPEAKER_02: And and my wife in prayer the other morning prayed something tearfully, and God forgive me that I never thought of it.
48:00
SPEAKER_02: And that is that for me to get a lung transplant, another family has to lose a loved one.
48:09
SPEAKER_02: And pray for that family.
48:13
SPEAKER_02: Cause I like I said, I didn't even think about it that way.
48:19
SPEAKER_02: And again, God, uh your thoughts are not our thoughts, your ways aren't our ways.
48:26
SPEAKER_02: And I don't that's above my math skill to figure all that out.
48:31
SPEAKER_02: And yeah, so as you as if you're gonna pray for me, which I would love for you to do, pray for healing, look up scriptures, and maybe when when this airs, maybe we'll post some.
48:45
SPEAKER_02: Pray for if I do go the surgery route, pray for the team, pray for uh the family of the donor, pray for my body to not reject the loans, because that's the the real challenge.
48:58
SPEAKER_02: Pray for recovery and uh and pray that I do what God desires me to do with the years that he gives me.
49:04
SPEAKER_01: And how about peace?
49:06
SPEAKER_01: Is that a good prayer for you right now?
49:08
SPEAKER_01: Is to that you would continually have peace, or you got that on lockdown, and I don't mean that in a joke.
49:13
SPEAKER_02: No, I feel awkward saying this, Joey, but I found myself saying this to a couple of close friends.
49:19
SPEAKER_02: I may have said it to you, I don't know.
49:21
SPEAKER_02: You're not that close.
49:23
SPEAKER_02: Uh listen, in case anybody doesn't know me, sarcasm is my prayer uh my love language.
49:31
SPEAKER_02: If I don't pick on you, I probably don't like you or I don't know you well enough.
49:35
SPEAKER_02: And and I'm not saying that's good, because I probably am sarcastic at times I shouldn't be, but I love this boy and I wouldn't tease him like that if I didn't.
49:44
SPEAKER_02: I was telling a friend the other day that I would have to say it this way.
49:50
SPEAKER_02: I've had pretty much effortless peace through this whole thing.
49:56
SPEAKER_02: Now, occasionally we get a bad report and it'll throw me for a day or so.
50:02
SPEAKER_02: But I've actually wondered if there's something wrong with me.
50:06
SPEAKER_02: Because I've I'd be like praying about the healing or whatever in the situation, and I'd think to myself, God, why aren't I why aren't I more worked up?
50:19
SPEAKER_02: Like, why am I so peaceful?
50:23
SPEAKER_02: And I don't I don't know that I have an explanation other than I just God has spoken to my wife in some very clear ways.
50:34
SPEAKER_02: He's spoken to me in some really cool ways.
50:37
SPEAKER_02: And I feel like I'm gonna I'm gonna get to the other side of this and I'm gonna breathe deeply again.
50:44
SPEAKER_02: And quite honestly, that's what I'm looking forward to.
50:46
SPEAKER_01: Looking forward to taking a breath and because I haven't in a long time.
50:53
SPEAKER_01: Would you say this the peace that passes out all understanding that Paul's talking about?
50:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
50:59
SPEAKER_02: And again, I don't claim any superhero fake for that, although I do think it's would be an indication of faith.
51:08
SPEAKER_02: I I just why are we doing this?
51:11
SPEAKER_02: Why'd we decide to finally do this?
51:13
SPEAKER_02: Number one, I've probably ghosted some people, some churches and people, and they're probably like, dude, he disappeared, where'd he go?
51:22
SPEAKER_02: I'm not traveling, I'm not seeking speaking engagements.
51:27
SPEAKER_02: And then secondly, I if there's some way my journey can be helpful, because I do want I do wrestle and think differently than is common.
51:41
SPEAKER_02: And I want people to know there's different ways to look at this stuff.
51:45
SPEAKER_02: And we'll get into some of that as we go into our podcast down the road.
51:49
SPEAKER_02: I want you to know you have permission to look at things that some people preach like it's unquestionable.
51:55
SPEAKER_02: You can look at it and say, no, wait, time out.
51:57
SPEAKER_02: I don't agree with that.
51:59
SPEAKER_02: No, you got to stay with scripture, in my opinion.
52:02
SPEAKER_02: And I think what I believe, to my satisfaction, I could support with scripture.
52:10
SPEAKER_02: And I just want people to know what's going on.
52:13
SPEAKER_02: And here's the deal, guys.
52:14
SPEAKER_02: If you see me, you can say something to me, man.
52:18
SPEAKER_02: You can ask me questions, just be all I would ask is be conscious of context.
52:24
SPEAKER_02: Ask a question that I can appropriately answer in the context we're in.
52:30
SPEAKER_02: That's all I'd ask.
52:31
SPEAKER_02: But listen, you're you can disagree with me, I like it.
52:35
SPEAKER_01: Uh believe me, he likes when you disagree, and don't expect him not to answer.
52:41
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
52:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
52:42
SPEAKER_01: Hey, listeners, uh being a friend of Chips and uh partnering with him and helping him get content out.
52:51
SPEAKER_01: We we've talked about this, and the this podcast feed will serve somewhat of a dual purpose.
52:58
SPEAKER_01: We want to have we want to continually have conversations about mental health and the church and those two complementing one another's efforts and what it's gonna take to get there, all of that sort of thing.
53:11
SPEAKER_01: But we also want to use this podcast feed to keep you abreast on chip's situation and and basically just keep you in the know.
53:19
SPEAKER_01: So uh we certainly appreciate you guys listening and chip, we're proud of you and we love you.
53:26
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, okay.
53:26
SPEAKER_02: Also, Joe, let me throw in that if you have friends that know of me or know of my ministry and you think this would be good for them to know, send a link to this.
53:36
SPEAKER_02: Sweet.