Latest / Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News / Reaching out during the holidays with poet Dr. Warren Jean Rouse

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Reaching out during the holidays with poet Dr. Warren Jean Rouse · Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News

• 0:04
  Welcome to After Dark for the America Outlaw Talk Radio Network.
• 0:08
  I am your host, Rob Harper.
• 0:10
  I am glad you could join me tonight.
• 0:12
  As I always say, I know that there are other podcasts or radio stations that you could be listening to, but you decided to carve out an hour of your time to be here with me.
• 0:23
  And I am most grateful.
• 0:25
  Tonight our show is going to take a kind of a different turn.
• 0:29
  Usually when we're on, we're talking about current events and politics.
• 0:33
  But because we're in the holiday season, I found it to be more beneficial to talk about the season.
• 0:39
  And while we're thankful after just celebrating Thanksgiving, and now we're moving toward Christmas, the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the new year.
• 0:49
  We know that these are all joyous days, events, occasions, seasons.
• 0:54
  We get together with our loved ones and our friends, but there are many others when we're at this time of the year, a sort of gloom comes over them.
• 1:04
  Not just because it's the season and they're not with anyone, but the weather has changed.
• 1:10
  It's now it gets dark a lot quicker, and it's gloomy outside.
• 1:14
  So we don't have that spring and people vibrant.
• 1:17
  It seems to be really dark and cold.
• 1:20
  Added on to, as I mentioned, the holiday season, when most of us are able to get out and travel and be with our loved ones.
• 1:27
  There are others that can't do it.
• 1:29
  And those who you can do it, they're unable to, or there is a there is some type of schism between the families.
• 1:38
  So they can't get together.
• 1:39
  The ones that they used to love, their parents, their children.
• 1:42
  So they would rather stay separate, which is really unfortunate.
• 1:47
  And then there are those who have probably lost a loved one.
• 1:51
  And we know how that can make you feel being alone, being with the person all your life, and that person is no longer there, be it a child or a spouse or an aunt or even a friend.
• 2:01
  Well, tonight, we're gonna talk about that.
• 2:03
  And I have on tonight as my guest, Dr.
• 2:06
  Warren Jean Rouse.
• 2:08
  She is the author of the book, Reach Out and Touch.
• 2:12
  And I would encourage you all to go to Amazon and get your copy for yourself or for a friend or loved one.
• 2:19
  When this broadcast is posted up on the podcast on the America Outlaw.news network, there will be a link to purchase her book.
• 2:28
  And after you hear her speak tonight, you'll see why I'm encouraging you all to go and get a copy of this book.
• 2:35
  No, just a little bit about Dr.
• 2:37
  Ross.
• 2:37
  Warren Jean Rose has worked with children, youth, and families for over 50 years in academics, social skills, personal needs, and emotional trauma as an educator, school counselor, and volunteer.
• 2:50
  She has worked in the schools, church, and community organizations.
• 2:53
  Dr.
• 2:54
  Rouse's experience and provoking and providing workshops and training locally and out of state for educators, counselors, and parents.
• 3:02
  She has served on the community boards that are designed to help others and has written programs and grants and support of at-risk kids.
• 3:12
  This is a reason why she's on tonight to share with you her thoughts about the holiday seasons and what you can do if you're feeling alone and gloomy.
• 3:25
  Dr.
• 3:25
  Ross, how are you tonight?
• 3:28
  I'm doing fine.
• 3:29
  How are you?
• 3:30
  I forgot I was muted.
• 3:32
  That's okay.
• 3:32
  I do that.
• 3:33
  I do that sometimes myself.
• 3:35
  After I've muted my guests, I forget to mute myself.
• 3:37
  Dr.
• 3:38
  Ross, we're glad I'm glad that you're doing fine.
• 3:39
  And I'm glad that you could be on tonight.
• 3:41
  And one of the things that I failed to mention when I was given the introduction is that you have been a member of the Mount Calvary Church, I think in Little Rock, Arkansas for 55 years.
• 3:51
  So it seems to me that that's 55 plus years, that that's one of the guiding forces in your strength.
• 3:59
  Is that safe to say?
• 4:00
  Yes, that is definitely safe to say.
• 4:02
  Um, I was born 1944, but I was born again.
• 4:06
  And when I was born again, that became my foundation of who I am, what I do, and what I say.
• 4:15
  So do you use that to propel you forward in your life?
• 4:20
  I mean, having known you, I was just to share with our audience full disclosure that I have known Dr.
• 4:25
  Ralse for quite some time.
• 4:27
  She's actually my sister's mother-in-law.
• 4:30
  So she has been a part of our family for like 30 plus years.
• 4:34
  So, and I know that you have suffered grief in your life almost a year ago.
• 4:39
  You lost your husband, I think of 60 plus years.
• 4:43
  Is that true?
• 4:44
  That's absolutely correct.
• 4:45
  We had been together 65 years.
• 4:47
  We were high school sweethearts, and it's like all of my adult life and his adult life.
• 4:53
  We grew up together and we were married and and stayed there until just last year when he passed.
• 4:59
  And it has been, it has been a heartbreak.
• 5:03
  And uh, but I know that the Lord is able to put the pieces back together again, and he's able to say the ones whose hearts have been crushed because I've experienced that for the last year.
• 5:13
  It's even it's fresh, it's like it just happened a couple of days ago, a few weeks ago.
• 5:18
  So it's still fresh even after a year when you've been with someone 65 years, and even if you've been going with six years or six, it it's it's still kind of painful and hurting.
• 5:30
  Right.
• 5:30
  So, Dr.
• 5:31
  Rouse, how are you able to move forward?
• 5:33
  That's one of the things that I want to talk about, as I mentioned in my opening during the holiday season and with the weather changing, people started getting kind of gloomy, depressed.
• 5:42
  As you mentioned, it's still fresh.
• 5:44
  So, how are you able to move forward having been with the person for that long a time and you're in the holiday season and they're not with you this year?
• 5:55
  Well, number one is my faith.
• 5:58
  Um I immerse myself in prayer, uh, meditation, consecration with the Lord.
• 6:05
  And when I find those moments of weeping, and they still come.
• 6:09
  Matter of fact, I had a weeping moment, but my weeping moments are changing, not because of sadness, so much the pain is still there, but it's it's when I can reflect back on the joys.
• 6:21
  And I have a family that's that's the six kids.
• 6:23
  We have six kids, and I have uh 11 grandkids and five great grands, one that's just new here, and all of that together has been a support system for me to help me to get through the times when it's very painful.
• 6:39
  So leaning on family, but as I mentioned in my opening, there are others who have distanced themselves, a chishm of sorts have been created, unfortunately, with family.
• 6:50
  What is your recommendation for them?
• 6:52
  What do you suggest that they do to bridge that gap to feel that loneliness when there is a chism within the family?
• 7:03
  Well, you can you you're you're never alone, I'll put it that way.
• 7:06
  You can be lonely sometimes, but you're never alone.
• 7:09
  You have to remember that God said he would never leave you nor forsake you.
• 7:12
  So his presence is there, and whether you want to believe it or not, the presence of your loved one is there, and I say that because of another poem that I've written called uh the agape love.
• 7:23
  That that love is just a as eternal as those of us who have accepted the Lord in our lives.
• 7:29
  That's one thing that does not go away.
• 7:32
  The agape love remains inside your spirit, inside of your heart.
• 7:37
  It's just it's eternal.
• 7:39
  And so you go in and you find those loving moments.
• 7:44
  Sometimes I look on the phone pictures we've taken, and I see those moments, and I I laugh because I remember what was going on at that particular time.
• 7:54
  And even though I laugh sometimes, I still cry sometimes at the same time.
• 7:57
  And I guess that's what they used to call tears of joy before I truly understood what tears of joy meant.
• 8:02
  Uh, and that that really helps me.
• 8:04
  I have a space, find you a space in your house that's going to be a place that you feel peace.
• 8:12
  Mine is sitting at the coffee at the table where I drink my coffee in the morning and I open up the curtains, open up and let the light in.
• 8:19
  Jesus is light, God is light.
• 8:21
  Uh, open up the curtains, let that light in.
• 8:23
  That's the first thing I do.
• 8:24
  I walk to that window and I say, Oh, what a beautiful morning.
• 8:28
  Oh, what a beautiful day.
• 8:29
  I know it's going to be a great day today.
• 8:31
  And I look out and see what it looks like.
• 8:33
  And whether it's sun shining or whether it's cloudy, I look and say, Lord, this is beautiful.
• 8:39
  Your creation, I focus my mind on his goodness and his creation.
• 8:44
  And I say, even though these trees now just go, go, go, and they're beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
• 8:50
  I know in a few months they're gonna look different.
• 8:52
  And I began to talk to what I see outside my window, the creation, those things that are live, those things that touch us, the beauty of the eye and the creativity that went into creating such a wonderful world.
• 9:06
  And that helps you to focus off of you and what you're going through, and it brings joys and peace to your to your soul and to your mind, and you get calm before you know it, you're talking and you're thinking.
• 9:19
  And that's one thing that I do every day.
• 9:22
  I sit here in this chair and I said, Well, Lord, Jesus, you woke me up this morning.
• 9:26
  So this is your child sitting right here, and I start talking and looking at the birds, all the birds.
• 9:30
  I never was a bird watching before now.
• 9:34
  So finding that inner going within yourself, making simple things in life, accentuating the positive and making it glow.
• 9:42
  But as I mentioned, because there are so many people, it's it's difficult for them to get to that point in their life.
• 9:48
  As I said, families that are separated.
• 9:50
  What do you what is your advice to those families that they seem?
• 9:56
  They just can't collect.
• 9:57
  Go ahead.
• 9:57
  I'm sorry.
• 9:58
  Uh, someone has to do the reconnect.
• 10:00
  And then sometimes we sit and we wait on others to connect with us.
• 10:05
  But we have to somehow figure out how we can connect with them.
• 10:09
  Another thing that I do, I've learned how to use this phone even in my old age, how to get the little images, the emojis, and I'll find one that's real confident.
• 10:19
  And I send one out maybe to the kids or someone that I know that's going through, and the little we may have scriptures on it.
• 10:27
  They might be vibrating ones.
• 10:28
  It's just beautiful.
• 10:30
  And uh I'll send that out because it makes me connect with someone else.
• 10:34
  And uh call the family memos, and they'll come over here sometimes, and we'll talk about their father and grandfather and just have fun remembering those times, even the times when it got a real heart, which was the last two years where he got to where he couldn't talk and he couldn't walk.
• 10:53
  But what I learned and connecting with family, we all sharing the same things.
• 10:59
  That's a support when you share with each other and talk about it and laugh about things that happen.
• 11:06
  So sometimes we have to reach out, they're busy.
• 11:09
  I'm not working anymore, so sometimes we have to reach out to them if they're not reaching out to us.
• 11:14
  And that's the title of your book, Reach Out.
• 11:16
  Reach out in touch, yes.
• 11:17
  Like you said, because we you know, we let time go by, not wanting to reach out, but someone has got to make that first and you don't know what's gonna happen, but someone has to do it.
• 11:29
  As you said, you then do reminisce about the past, you think about the fun times, and then you go from there.
• 11:36
  And I think a lot of people who are probably listening to this, are wondering, okay, but what do I do?
• 11:42
  What if I I don't want to make the first step, but someone has to make the first step.
• 11:47
  Because it's better to make the first step now from hearing correctly as opposed to waiting, and then something happens, and then you can't go back and reconnect.
• 11:56
  So I was looking at your book, and before we came on air, we were just speaking.
• 12:00
  And again, we're up on the holiday season, and you mention a poem, memories of Christmas past.
• 12:08
  Would you share to share some passages from that poem with our listeners tonight?
• 12:13
  Dr.
• 12:14
  Rouse.
• 12:15
  Yes, I will.
• 12:16
  And this one, this poem was written about 20 years ago, and I had not experienced then what I have experienced now.
• 12:21
  But when I go back and look at it, it's like wow, this was meant to me 20 years later, even though I was writing it for someone else.
• 12:28
  Uh, the first star saw uh says Christmas this year might bring you a tear.
• 12:33
  There's something deep within that you can always hold dear.
• 12:37
  They have precious memories of Christmas past that can never leave you, but will always last.
• 12:45
  Or deep down in the depths of your heart, find loving memories that should never depart.
• 12:51
  The anguish and the despair, it can bring you great pain, like clouds of hurt that comes down like the rain.
• 13:00
  The mind that's illuminated by God's great light, can for this Christmas shine a little bright.
• 13:08
  Now, for those members of Christmas Pass, they can flash in your mind ever so fast.
• 13:14
  Now, what's in your heart and mind?
• 13:16
  You carry it each day.
• 13:18
  You have a God who can show you the way.
• 13:31
  Memories of Christmas past, if only for a moment fleeting, like a new heart with a restored steady beating.
• 13:41
  As Christmas come closer to you this year.
• 13:45
  Remember, remember that your loved one is ever so near, as close as the breathing of a day's fresh air.
• 13:56
  You can't see it, but you know that it's there in your heart and in your renewed mind, memories of Christmas past, you will find.
• 14:06
  Find a picture or symbol and put it on the tree as you pass by, fall down on your knee.
• 14:14
  Give God the praise for what he has given you.
• 14:18
  Immemorial say now, Lord, what can I also do too?
• 14:22
  With heartfelt memories from Christmas past, peaceful, peaceful life anew.
• 14:31
  We become present at last.
• 14:33
  Wow, that is powerful.
• 14:35
  That's beautiful.
• 14:36
  That is a great poem.
• 14:37
  Again, folks, as I mentioned during the opening, you want to go and get your copy of Reach Out in Touch by Dr.
• 14:43
  Warren Jean Rouse when the podcast comes up.
• 14:47
  Go look at the link, click on it.
• 14:49
  You can go to Amazon and get your copy.
• 14:51
  No, Dr.
• 14:52
  Ross, you were mentioning to me during the uh before we were coming on during the pre-work.
• 14:57
  You had said that you take these poems every year of this particular poem, and you send them out to different individuals.
• 15:04
  Could you share with my listeners that story?
• 15:08
  Yes, like I said, started 20 years ago, and I can't even remember who passed during that time because no one close to me had passed.
• 15:14
  My parents, it's been wow, it's 40 years at least and more.
• 15:20
  So uh I wasn't in a sad anguished state at the time, but something just spoke to my spirit and said, There are people who are hurting real bad during this time of the year who have lost loved ones.
• 15:31
  And so I sat down and got my pen of inspiration and I started writing.
• 15:36
  And I looked back over that year to see who I knew that had lost loved ones, and I would mail it to them.
• 15:43
  I've done that this year, and I've counted about 21 people that have lost loved ones just this year.
• 15:49
  So I would get an envelope, I'll put this poem in it, and I will mail it to them.
• 15:55
  Um I've always been sensitive and very empathetic toward hurting people, even when I was a child growing up.
• 16:04
  And what you do for others, you also do for yourself.
• 16:08
  It not only helps me when I send this out, especially now that I've gone through this kind of loss, it helps me as well as it helped them.
• 16:16
  So sometimes to get over your grief and your hurt and your pain, if you reach out and touch someone else who maybe is going through the same thing, or maybe something different.
• 16:26
  It could be a loss of something else, it could be a loss of a husband, a loss of a puppy you had.
• 16:32
  It could be any kind of loss, because any kind of loss that bring has love in your heart, uh is gonna bring the same similar kind of pain.
• 16:39
  So uh I would suggest find somebody, it could be a friend or neighbor, uh, anybody, and just send them something saying, have a wonderful Christmas.
• 16:50
  I love you, and God does too.
• 16:52
  Just some, it doesn't have to be anything that's big.
• 16:54
  You don't have to be a poet to express their gabi love.
• 16:59
  It's so simple things in life that people don't look at.
• 17:03
  They just, as they say, don't pass by without smelling the roses.
• 17:09
  You always want to stop and admire God's creation.
• 17:11
  Folks, this is after dark on the America Outlaw Talk Radio Network.
• 17:15
  My guest tonight is Dr.
• 17:16
  Warren Jean Rouse will be back to continue the discussion about her book, Reach Out and Touch after this brief commercial break.
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• 19:57
  And we're back to continue.
• 20:00
  Our discussion with Dr.
• 20:01
  Warren Jean Ross and her book Reach Out in Touch.
• 20:03
  And when we went to break, you know, I was chatted up with the uh guests, and we were talking about the weather and how the weather was in Arkansas.
• 20:11
  She's actually from Arkansas.
• 20:12
  You guys have heard me talk about Arkansas.
• 20:13
  Usually around this time of the year, I would go home.
• 20:16
  Whenever I'm telling you that I'm going home to Arkansas for Thanksgiving, I go home and I spend Thanksgiving with Dr.
• 20:23
  Ross's family.
• 20:24
  And they had this entire, I mean, it's like a three-day celebration of Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving family and friends.
• 20:31
  They don't turn anyone away.
• 20:33
  You go in, you're eating good food, you're singing, you're dancing, you're into the merriment, and you're just really having a good time.
• 20:42
  And the end of it is like we welcome in Christmas.
• 20:47
  This year, unfortunately, I wasn't able to get there.
• 20:51
  And I hate it because I know they had a great time, but I was watching them on Facebook with all the family and friends.
• 20:58
  I mean, and just I mean, just really worshiping and fellowshipping with each other.
• 21:05
  Dr.
• 21:05
  Ross, how long has the family been doing this?
• 21:08
  Wow, it's been I know 20 at least 20 years, more maybe more than 20 years.
• 21:15
  And how did you all get it started?
• 21:17
  What was the the genesis behind it?
• 21:19
  Who decided to get this together with all the different sisters, brothers, and cousins, and like I said, and friends.
• 21:26
  Who initiated this?
• 21:28
  Well, they were younger at age 20.
• 21:31
  And my husband and I, he's a big family person, and he just loved people and he loved being around people.
• 21:38
  So we would gather here in my house, and uh I would do all the cooking, and they would all come over here.
• 21:46
  I'd take my den, which is not nearly as big as where we are now, run a table all the way from one end of the wall to the other one, and we would sit and enjoy each other.
• 21:55
  Um we were kind of the what you would call the people in the neighborhood that put the barbecue grill out, anybody passed by, he hollered come on over here.
• 22:04
  I'm I'm barbecuing.
• 22:05
  And on Sundays after church, uh, we're gonna come over to your house, Mother House.
• 22:11
  I know you baked the cake, and they would come over and make a cake.
• 22:14
  That's kind of the way we started out with our children, and so that that seed that was planted just kept growing and growing and being watered and being watered, and so now it's gotten bigger, and the reason why is because one year my birthday fell on Thanksgiving Day.
• 22:30
  This year, my birthday fell on Thanksgiving Day, and so when it fell on sick on Thanksgiving Day, uh several years back, I said, Well, you all know what I can't be doing all the cooking and preparation and fixing on my birthday, and they figured out what we're gonna do.
• 22:48
  So they decided to potluck, and at my son's house, and so we have been potlucking at his house, and I am so glad because that they uh they won't leave me to wash the dishes and clean up.
• 23:01
  I just get my clothes and stuff and leave and leave that all to them.
• 23:05
  And I'm told unfortunately, my birthday was Thanksgiving Day again this year.
• 23:09
  This year, I I I tell you, my listeners, you guys know that I every year around this time, Thanksgiving, I tell you that I'm going to Arkansas.
• 23:17
  I say I'm going to visit with family and friends.
• 23:20
  But I never, you know, really went into details as to the fun and the merriment that we have.
• 23:25
  And I'm telling you, I'm I'm truly blessed to be in an extended family of believers.
• 23:32
  And I gotta also share with you different political persuasions, and we don't come in and attack each other, we laugh about it, and we keep going.
• 23:41
  And unfortunately, it seems as though things have become so polarized that people have decided, well, I'm not gonna talk to you because you're a Democrat, you're an independent, or you're Republican, and we can't do that.
• 23:52
  We have to learn to respect each other because it's all about family.
• 23:57
  You're gonna have differences.
• 23:58
  You're you won't always agree on the same thing.
• 24:00
  But I'm telling you, when I go home, I don't feel like an oddball.
• 24:05
  I go in, we're celebrating.
• 24:07
  I mean, I want to go home.
• 24:09
  I want to be there in fellowship.
• 24:12
  And as Dr.
• 24:13
  Ross pointed out, it's the seed that was planted, and we've got to get back to that with our children, planting that seed of being together and making the next step.
• 24:24
  If you don't agree with something, you say, okay, we don't agree, but we're gonna keep moving forward.
• 24:29
  And as I look at the book, reach out and touch, that's one of the things that it's saying, you gotta reach out, and you've got to touch people.
• 24:36
  You don't want life to pass you by.
• 24:39
  I think it's time for another uh poem to be read.
• 24:41
  Life's journey has a beginning and an end.
• 24:45
  Dr.
• 24:46
  Ross, you have the floor.
• 24:48
  Life's journey has a beginning and an end.
• 24:52
  Life's journey may be short or it may be long.
• 24:57
  It's like a vapor.
• 24:59
  We hear and then we're gone.
• 25:02
  Sometimes life stops us right in our track and reminds us to dust.
• 25:09
  We must go back.
• 25:11
  Sometimes we break and we may bend life's journey, has a beginning and an end.
• 25:20
  But there's one sure thing about the life we know.
• 25:24
  What really lasts forever is the love we show.
• 25:30
  During life's journey, we're giving out love.
• 25:33
  That's something we know that comes from above.
• 25:38
  Love helps our broken hearts to men.
• 25:41
  Life's journey has a beginning and an end.
• 25:45
  So keep the good memories forever in your mind and stir, stir the love seeds that were left behind.
• 25:53
  So we cry and mourn if you must, but for joy and strength and God, you can trust.
• 26:02
  After sadness, change will come to your face with a grin.
• 26:08
  Because life's journey has a beginning and an end.
• 26:13
  Be strong in the Lord in the spirit of his might.
• 26:17
  Tears may come in the darkness in the darkness of the night, but in the morn, in the morning, the sun was surely shine, and now you smile and you begin to feel fine.
• 26:33
  God's joy, God's joy, He gives, and He doesn't lend life's journey, has a beginning and an end.
• 26:44
  Wow, that's powerful.
• 26:46
  What makes you decide to write this?
• 26:49
  Life's journey has a beginning and an end.
• 26:53
  Was there something behind it?
• 26:56
  Like I say, I'm very sensitive to and empathetic.
• 26:59
  And when I look back over these poems, they were not my pain now that I look at them.
• 27:06
  They were somebody else's pain.
• 27:08
  I think when I wrote this, uh my brother had uh lost a daughter, and I think I was feeling and empathizing with this pain.
• 27:20
  And I wrote this uh to read as eulogy when uh, you know, when you open up with resolutions and acknowledgments and all that, and I wrote this poem.
• 27:31
  Uh and it kind of when I looked at it, it it reminded me that this is something that everybody needs to know how important it is to show love.
• 27:41
  You know, that's that's all that's all we're here for is to show love for each other.
• 27:45
  You've got something to give to show love that's different from what I've got, maybe to show love mine is poetry, yours is a different kind.
• 27:54
  We're all a body with so many different parts on us.
• 27:57
  My fingers don't do what my nose do, my ears don't do what my eyes do, but every part of this body that God has placed here is unique and special, and when we share with each other as a team, it's like a body moving at a pace that it should move at, and that love is just emerged in just oneness, love bring oneness, and to go back to the agape love and and thinking about that agape love.
• 28:26
  Um there was a moment when I was ministering to my husband and taking care of him, and I started crying, and I said, Lord, don't ever let me say I'm gonna be a burden on someone.
• 28:42
  And the reason I spoke that because it was spoken my spirit is that when you're doing something out of love, it is not a burden, it's an opportunity.
• 28:52
  And I began to thank and praise God, thank you, Lord, for giving me an opportunity to show and demonstrate a goblin love through my husband.
• 29:04
  And as a result of that proclamation to him, I grew.
• 29:08
  I you know, we all have agape love if we're children of God's inners, but he can grow.
• 29:12
  And during the time that I was taking care of my husband, when I really saw that, I began to grow in more and more and more in agape love.
• 29:21
  Wow, that's powerful.
• 29:22
  And that love, like you said, you're able to show you're taking care of one of God's creatures.
• 29:27
  We say that we love them.
• 29:29
  Yes.
• 29:29
  Now you're able to prove it.
• 29:31
  Yes, you're able to prove it and to show it because many people have walked away.
• 29:36
  Now you mention your husband again of 65 plus years.
• 29:41
  Uh, and when you when you say it, when you mention, I can hear that a like love that's coming through of uh for for that individual, and now he's no longer there.
• 29:53
  So two are listeners, and they've lost a spouse, as you have, as you mentioned during the first block of the show.
• 30:00
  It's still fresh.
• 30:00
  It's still new.
• 30:01
  And you have those moments that you cry.
• 30:04
  And a lot of people will say, Oh, you're going to get over it.
• 30:06
  I don't think so.
• 30:07
  I think you learned to live with the Dr.
• 30:09
  Ross because you don't get over that person.
• 30:11
  So, what is your word of ministry to them who are listening and they have that hurt in their heart and thinking, I can't go on.
• 30:20
  What do you say to them?
• 30:22
  You know, I often look at someone who has a wound.
• 30:25
  Maybe they fail and cut their arm on a piece of piercing rock or something and it bled.
• 30:32
  And it was bleeding and was really, really hurting.
• 30:36
  And you washed the blood go out.
• 30:38
  But you went in and you did something.
• 30:40
  You rinsed it off.
• 30:42
  You got some antiseptic, put it on there, rubbed it on there.
• 30:46
  Then you went and you got a band-aid and it was hurting really bad.
• 30:50
  First couple of days, you could still feel the pain.
• 30:53
  A little while past, you can steal, and then you took the band-aid off and it didn't hurt quite as bad.
• 31:00
  Eventually you begin to do what was necessary, the scab.
• 31:02
  You didn't have to do a whole lot because the scab kind of came on its own.
• 31:07
  And once the scab came on, some people peel it off, and some of them just let it take a bath and wash it off.
• 31:14
  But there is something under that scale.
• 31:18
  It's a scratch or scar to let you know and bring back to your memory that once I fail, and this blade had hurt real bad, and the scar is just there as a reminder to let me know that I got through it.
• 31:32
  Wow.
• 31:33
  That's powerful to let you know that you got through it.
• 31:35
  And I just want to share with our listeners something else because we mentioned the uh agape love.
• 31:40
  What is the meaning of agape agape?
• 31:45
  Some of you are probably uh thinking to yourself because we keep mentioning it.
• 31:48
  And while Dr.
• 31:49
  Ross was talking about it, I'm like, well, let me just go and just get the definition.
• 31:53
  It is a Greek term for the highest form of selflishness, unconditional, sacrificial love, often described as God's love for humanity and humanity's reciprocal love for God.
• 32:07
  That in itself speaks for itself because we know that God is love.
• 32:14
  And if you love God, you love yourself, you will love everything that he has created.
• 32:21
  Dr.
• 32:21
  Ross, do you have that poem before you gape the greatest love we know?
• 32:26
  Uh, let me see what pages on is in the book here.
• 32:29
  Hold on.
• 32:31
  Because I think that our listeners would benefit from hearing from that poem also.
• 32:37
  And it is once once you find love.
• 32:41
  Oh, it is so precious.
• 32:42
  Like I say, people think something is wrong when I say, I uh thank God for the opportunity.
• 32:50
  I saw it as an opportunity to really show love.
• 32:54
  Okay, let me see what page is on right here.
• 32:57
  And we know that in our world today, that's what the they say what the world needs now is love.
• 33:02
  Yes, we do need a lot of love, especially during this time of the year, and and just when you look at what was happening in the world as a whole, you know, showing more love and understanding and being there for one another because we are our brothers' keepers as opposed to living on an island unto ourselves and unable to identify or empathize, as you mentioned, with other individuals.
• 33:29
  And you know it's and so important for us to remember that with that kind of love.
• 33:35
  It's not always your friend.
• 33:38
  Not always your relative.
• 33:40
  It could be someone that don't even like you and let you know it.
• 33:43
  Now that's the highest level of demonstrating that agape love.
• 33:47
  You get that opportunity.
• 33:49
  It is definitely a sacrifice of time and prayer meditation consecration.
• 33:54
  And and but God doesn't tell us to do anything we can't do.
• 33:57
  He gives us the strength to be able to do it.
• 34:00
  Okay, here is a poem here.
• 34:02
  Agape, the greatest love we know.
• 34:04
  To lo to show love, we don't ever need a reason, but we remember more doing special times and seasons.
• 34:13
  Any time is a great time to show that you love when you're connected with the radiant shine from above.
• 34:21
  Brighter than the shining midday sun a glow.
• 34:24
  That's agape love, the greatest love we know.
• 34:28
  It shouldn't matter what we do or what we say.
• 34:31
  We all make many mistakes each moment and every day.
• 34:35
  Sometimes we feel like we may be all along when we are by when we're by ourselves and everyone else is gone.
• 34:42
  Love's presence, stronger than the highest gust of wind to blow.
• 34:47
  That's agape, the greatest love we know.
• 34:50
  Now, true love is unconditionally given.
• 34:53
  It's from deep within the heart, and it's powerfully driven.
• 34:57
  Sometimes we can't always express how we sincerely feel.
• 35:00
  Time goes by, and our open hearts start to reveal.
• 35:05
  Compassion seed reigns on the thirsty soul where we sow.
• 35:11
  That's agape love, the greatest love we know.
• 35:15
  Love grows and grows with each passing day, even when it's gloomy and clouds appear dark and great.
• 35:23
  We may not know, nor may we see the love that God has placed between you and me.
• 35:31
  It's intensified, like the waves of the ocean's float.
• 35:35
  That's agape love, the greatest love we know.
• 35:39
  Now it's kind of funny how we can even get mad.
• 35:43
  Then we have to remember what God's word said.
• 35:47
  Whatever upsets you with a heart feel fret, forgive, forget to prevent the love flow blockage and painfully regret.
• 35:58
  Flaws with them as you magnify the kind words and the deeds that they show.
• 36:04
  That's agape love, the greatest love we know.
• 36:08
  So when you see the fall in that person, just magnify kind words and look for the good deeds.
• 36:16
  There's one good thing that everybody does that.
• 36:18
  You can find it.
• 36:19
  You sometimes might have to magnify your eyes and look, but you can find it and pounce on that one.
• 36:25
  I know in working with children, you know, especially the ones that kind of behavior, it's not like it should be.
• 36:32
  If you can study that child and find just one good thing about him, and every day you mentioned, I like the way you open that door for Miss the um Miss Smith, they came through.
• 36:44
  And then the next day you look, they open the door again.
• 36:47
  Oh, you're such a gentleman.
• 36:49
  You open that door for Miss Smith, and you just keep that one little thing.
• 36:54
  Well, and you start watching the behavior that you would notice and sit down, act right, be still.
• 37:01
  You're not magnifying that anymore, you magnifying the good that you see, and it grows like the seed that you're planning while you're doing that.
• 37:09
  And that's so true.
• 37:10
  And as we mentioned, you know, when you said like reach out and touch when you have those distances between family members, someone is not lucky the other.
• 37:16
  Don't look at that.
• 37:17
  Find something that's there that's good about that person and let that magnify because no one is perfect.
• 37:25
  But during this holiday season, you know you want to show the love, and not just in the holiday season, because sometimes people only want to practice it, Dr.
• 37:31
  Ross during the holiday, and after the holiday, it's like back to the normal course.
• 37:37
  So we're up for a commercial break, but when we come back, I want to talk about that also.
• 37:41
  The people who are only the seasonal lovers, the season they come around only during the season, and then after the season, out of sight, out of mind.
• 37:48
  You listen to After Dark and America Out Loud Talk Radio Network.
• 37:51
  And my guest tonight is Dr.
• 37:52
  Warren Jean Ross, the author of the book, Reach Out in Touch.
• 37:56
  We'll be back for the last half of the show after this commercial break.
• 37:59
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• 40:10
  And we're back with the last half of the show.
• 40:12
  And I'm back with my guest, Dr.
• 40:13
  Warren Jean Rouse, the author of the book.
• 40:15
  Reach out in touch.
• 40:16
  And we have been having a jolly good time talking about her book, talking about life, and just the season to be merry during the holiday season.
• 40:26
  And when we went to break, we're just meant, I had mentioned I thrown out there that a lot of times people will show love and they'll get together during the holiday season, but then afterwards, out of sight, out of mind, you don't see them anymore.
• 40:39
  They go back to their little corners, living their lives, wasting time that they could have been with their loved ones.
• 40:46
  And then when it's too late, then they want to come out, they want to cry the crocodile tears.
• 40:50
  They go, Oh, I wish I could have, should have done it, but you didn't do it.
• 40:53
  So I guess my message to you tonight is you know, don't just wait for the holiday season to be with your family and your loved ones.
• 41:01
  You know, be with them always, constantly.
• 41:04
  And as Dr.
• 41:05
  Ross mentioned during the first block of the show, you know, we all have cell phones now.
• 41:09
  You can very easily send someone a message and let them know I'm thinking about you.
• 41:13
  Yeah, and my prayers, as opposed to waiting, and then it becomes like uncomfortable for you to reach out to them.
• 41:20
  Reach out and touch them.
• 41:21
  Let them know, hey, I'm thinking about you because it goes so far in our lives.
• 41:26
  We're so busy, we're doing so much.
• 41:29
  And I think one of the things that has just like made people come so cold, Dr.
• 41:33
  Rouse, is we're always on our the internet or social media, and we don't have that human contact, like you said, with your family, you guys have those celebrations to connect together to fellowship.
• 41:45
  The Bible says, Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.
• 41:50
  You got that human connection.
• 41:52
  Now things are so cold that we're unable to do it, but we gotta be able to reach out and touch.
• 41:59
  What are your thoughts on that, Dr.
• 42:00
  Rouse?
• 42:02
  You know, everything starts with what you say and what you do.
• 42:07
  Uh, you whatever you're doing that's special during this holiday season.
• 42:11
  You can say this is helping someone, but it's also helping me.
• 42:16
  And I'm going to continue doing this.
• 42:18
  So you've spoken a word of what's going to happen.
• 42:22
  And so you start doing it, and you start doing it, and you keep on doing it.
• 42:26
  I can remember about 30 years ago.
• 42:29
  We were singing at the nursing home.
• 42:32
  Um, we didn't really have homeless as it is, such as it is today.
• 42:36
  But uh, we would give our baskets of food and toys.
• 42:40
  And one I looked at the group that I was with, I said, you know what?
• 42:44
  We are Christians.
• 42:46
  I say, Christmas is not one day for us.
• 42:48
  Christmas is all year for us.
• 42:51
  So we should continue doing what we're doing all year long.
• 42:56
  Because it's not a one-day affair.
• 42:59
  Showing love is not a one-day affair.
• 43:01
  Being kind is not a one-day affair.
• 43:03
  So we started doing it, and guess what?
• 43:05
  30 years later, we're still going to the homeless shelter.
• 43:09
  When we started out, it was maybe 10 people now, or there's uh a whole lot of people in the shelter.
• 43:16
  We're still doing that.
• 43:17
  We had a little kitchen with a little food pantry.
• 43:18
  We would donate our candles.
• 43:20
  We're still giving out food now.
• 43:22
  They have big facilities now where you can pay a little and get a whole lot to pass out.
• 43:27
  Uh, we uh still go into the prison.
• 43:31
  We were going to the prison doing services, but now after COVID, we have not gotten back to going, but we make sure we send love gifts.
• 43:38
  We might put something small in there, look cookies look candy, but we always put a word from God and what who we represent, and you have an opportunity to receive and accept him if you want to know more about it.
• 43:48
  Those same things that we did that Christmas 30 years ago, we said we were going to keep doing it, and 30 years later, we're still doing it.
• 43:56
  So once you speak it and you say it and you should not do it, it's like any habit, a habit repeated over and over and over again.
• 44:03
  It's something you've been doing over and over again.
• 44:05
  Soon that habit you keep doing it over and over again, it becomes a part of your character, it becomes a part of who you are.
• 44:12
  And so make the word, speak the word and start doing the word over and over.
• 44:18
  And then before you know it, be just a part of you, it'll come just like you're breathing and your breath automatically.
• 44:25
  It becomes natural, as you said.
• 44:27
  We're Christians, we just don't do it just one time of the year.
• 44:30
  And I look here in New York City, you see a lot of homeless people, and it seems as if though that's the only time people want to give to them is during Christmas.
• 44:38
  I'm like, but what about the other days of the year when they don't have anything and you're gonna give to them then and people don't walk right by the long, you're in my way, get out of my way.
• 44:47
  But during Christmas, that's when it's like your heart, you're like, Oh, I want to help everyone, but it doesn't count.
• 44:52
  It's like you need to be helping them all the time.
• 44:54
  Yes.
• 44:55
  And as you said, once you start doing it, it becomes a part of who you are.
• 45:00
  Right.
• 45:01
  And you never lose.
• 45:02
  Whatever seeds you sow, if you sow tomatoes, they're gonna pop up.
• 45:06
  They won't be instant.
• 45:07
  You're not gonna see the tomatoes tomorrow, but they will pop up and may pop up just when you're hungry and you need it, and that's the biggest possibility.
• 45:15
  So it's a lot of people think, well, I'm not gonna do this.
• 45:18
  They can get out and get a job like I did.
• 45:20
  I work every day, and and uh, but we never know anybody's circumstances, so we don't critique, try to critique why this person is like they are because we don't know.
• 45:33
  We just do the kind deed in love, and it's gonna come back to you.
• 45:39
  And you never know, you might have touched an angel unaware.
• 45:43
  Ah, you might have touch an angel on the way unaware.
• 45:46
  And you know, Dr.
• 45:47
  Ross, speaking about the love and love and action.
• 45:50
  I know we had spoken during the between the commercial breaks that we want.
• 45:53
  I wanted you to read a particular poem, but I think that the poem Love and Action, thank you on page 27 of your book.
• 46:00
  If you have that, I think that that might be an appropriate poem for you to share with our listeners right now, if you don't mind.
• 46:07
  That'd be fine, okay.
• 46:09
  Love and action, thank you.
• 46:11
  No one had to beg, cry, petition, or plead by taking the love route, you begin to lead.
• 46:21
  You couldn't pass by and say, There's nothing I can do, because the love of God was inside of you.
• 46:29
  Though the need might be sickness, death, or emotional pain, the heart of the compassion flow from Christ through your vein with your love and action.
• 46:42
  We can honestly say, thank you, thank you for your love this day.
• 46:47
  Now, the language of love is not just what you say, it's what you do without looking for pay.
• 46:55
  You have not just loved in word and in speech, souls of suffering, you would not be able to reach, but you moved, you moved according to God's word of deed and truth for those that you saw in despair, sick or destitute.
• 47:14
  The voice of your heart spoke, and you moved without delay with love and in action, thank you from within my heart.
• 47:23
  I prayed.
• 47:24
  Now you listen carefully from within, and you look carefully and start to look.
• 47:32
  You thought of works, God has shown to you in his most influential book, searching and seeking for your resources, your talent, and your gift to be used to give God's hurting child a kind and encourage and lift.
• 47:53
  God has given each one of us something special for you and for me.
• 47:58
  It may be cooking, cleaning, exhorting, or singing a melody with love and action.
• 48:05
  You've always been there.
• 48:07
  Thank you for your cards, your calls, your business, and showing, showing that you care.
• 48:16
  That's powerful.
• 48:17
  And it just goes back to what we're saying.
• 48:19
  Just don't do it during the holiday season.
• 48:21
  Do it all the time.
• 48:23
  So that it becomes a part of you to let someone know that they are special and that you're thinking about them because it goes so far.
• 48:33
  Many a times, the only time we'll get together is during the holiday season.
• 48:37
  And that's just not, you know, it's it's not good enough to help someone else.
• 48:42
  If you do it consistently, letting someone know that you're on my mind, you're on my thought, a friend, a family member, whoever, you know, it goes so far.
• 48:51
  That's love, like you said, love and action.
• 48:55
  So in looking at your book, Dr.
• 48:58
  Ralph, I see that it's divided up into different sections.
• 49:02
  Again, folks, you don't want to go without getting your copy of this book and just looking at it, the different sections, biblical encouragers.
• 49:10
  There's a section for that.
• 49:11
  You want to talk to us about that.
• 49:12
  What does that section do for those who are reading this book?
• 49:15
  It lets you know it's like a blueprint.
• 49:18
  Everything we've talked about, there's a way that you can get there.
• 49:24
  And when you talk about the biblical encouragers, I believe in going to the Bible, because it covers everything we need.
• 49:33
  It covers when we mourn, it covers when we need peace.
• 49:38
  It covers shows us how to be meek.
• 49:41
  It shows us how to give mercy as we receive mercy.
• 49:45
  So as you go through and find a time, uh, if you're not a constant Bible reader, even if you just find one scripture to read in the morning, it's like eating food, breakfast, lunch, and dinners, and snacks in between.
• 49:58
  Just read the scripture before you go to work.
• 50:00
  Re-wind at lunch before you go to bed.
• 50:03
  And you know how we like to snack in between.
• 50:05
  You get to where you want to snack.
• 50:07
  You want to snack in between because you're getting something that's helping you throughout the day and encouraging you.
• 50:13
  And you be surprised.
• 50:14
  It might be the very verse that's going to get you through that day.
• 50:17
  You might be starting off.
• 50:19
  Oh, this is not going to be a good day for me.
• 50:21
  I'm already running late.
• 50:22
  The clock didn't the alarm didn't sound.
• 50:26
  And instead of speaking those words, the Bible will show you what to say.
• 50:30
  And you can change that bad day around to a very great and good day.
• 50:36
  True in itself.
• 50:37
  I'm looking at another one, emotional encouragers, section two.
• 50:41
  There's a section on motivational encouragers, Christian education, praise and worship, events and tributes, birthday celebration, someone who's graduating, a retirement, a star is born.
• 50:54
  That is the last section in the book.
• 50:57
  Can you tell us about that section, Dr.
• 50:59
  Ralph?
• 51:01
  You know, all of us, when we look up in the sky, we see a lot of stars.
• 51:08
  But you are a star.
• 51:10
  And the scripture says that we praise him because we are fearfully and we are wonderfully made.
• 51:17
  His works are wonderful.
• 51:19
  And we know him full well.
• 51:21
  That's in Psalm 139.
• 51:22
  And when you begin to think of yourself as somebody that because he created you, he made you so special and so unique.
• 51:32
  You don't have to look at someone else and call them a star.
• 51:36
  You look at yourself.
• 51:38
  You are there is nobody in the world just like you.
• 51:42
  DNA is proving it, being a princess, proving it, stranding your hair is proving it.
• 51:47
  Everything proves that God made each one of us a star, just like all of those we look up at night and see in the sky.
• 51:54
  So never think of yourself as less than, but think of yourself as fearfully and wonderfully made by the creator himself, God.
• 52:07
  Like you said, we're all individually made, uniquely.
• 52:11
  Yes.
• 52:11
  Uniquely made.
• 52:12
  So we are so, and he looked at us as being that precious diamond that he has created, and it is up to us to take it to the next level.
• 52:22
  Praise and worship.
• 52:24
  What was the intent for that section in the book?
• 52:26
  Well, I'm a high praise and high worship.
• 52:29
  I believe that I believe that everything I am, everything I know.
• 52:36
  God made me, and I have it because of him.
• 52:40
  And just because of who he is, and he created a little something like me, then I think I'm worthy to give him a praise and say, Hallelujah.
• 52:50
  Hallelujah.
• 52:51
  With the highest phrase, I have a soft voice, but when I get to saying hallelujah and thinking about all he has done for me, when I look back over what I thought was a trial or uh disaster, and I look back at it now and saw that made me even better person, kind of person, greater person.
• 53:11
  Then I just worship and lift up my hands and and and praise him.
• 53:15
  So for all we are and all we have and all we do, we need to take moments and say, Hallelujah.
• 53:22
  Thank you, Jesus.
• 53:23
  I praise you, and victory is mine because of not who I am, because of who you are and you are in me.
• 53:32
  Especially again, going speaking about these things during the holiday season as the year comes to an end, comes to a close, and we're looking back that God has been with us from January down throughout the years, from the winter, the spring, the summer, and then winter again.
• 53:50
  And I'm sure that many of you have gone through a lot of trials and tribulations, and some of you probably had a lot of good things that have happened in your life, marriages, graduations, but we're at the end of the year, and the fact that we're able to see it, that we will embrace that from what we've gone through from January up until now, being thankful.
• 54:12
  And it's so unique when you think about it all year, and then toward the end of the year, we celebrate Thanksgiving.
• 54:17
  I know a lot of people look at it that oh, we're celebrating that the pilgrims come, but it's also looking at that.
• 54:22
  I made it to the 11th month of the year by the grace of God, and if that continues, I'll make it to January.
• 54:32
  I meant to December, and then January, a new year, going back to the poem that you read earlier, new beginnings, new year, new beginnings that I'm able to start afresh, and new, but at the same time remembering all of those beside me and those who don't have anyone.
• 54:50
  I want to reach out and touch them to let them know that I'm thinking about them.
• 54:56
  And as you said, Dr.
• 54:58
  Ralph, when you do that, you never know who's gonna reach out and touch you.
• 55:02
  That seed that's being planted, because I think a lot of people forget about that.
• 55:06
  They think, well, I'm just doing this, but someone is looking at what they're doing, Dr.
• 55:11
  Ross.
• 55:11
  Right, and then it plants another seed that starts to grow as you did with your family and the celebrations, and hopefully that tradition will continue to grow.
• 55:22
  So, in our last couple of minutes, Dr.
• 55:24
  Ralse, what words of encouragement do you want our listeners to take with them tonight and onward to the end of the year?
• 55:34
  I would like to say uh love is giving, and the more you give, the more it helps you to heal.
• 55:44
  Sometimes emotional things going on in us that we're not even aware of, and you say, Oh, I'm feeling so much better.
• 55:51
  I at night before I go to bed, I tried to examine myself.
• 55:55
  Who did I make smile today?
• 55:57
  Who did I call today?
• 55:59
  Who did I send an encouraging emoji today?
• 56:02
  Who did it when I was in the store that I say uh uh a compliment to?
• 56:07
  Oh uh, just examine the end of your day.
• 56:10
  One time I had gone to bed and I got in the bed and I tried to think, who did I do something good for today?
• 56:15
  And I couldn't think of anything, and it was it was after it was just about uh it was after 10 o'clock.
• 56:21
  So I have a motto, I don't call people after 10 o'clock.
• 56:24
  I say, I say, thank God for the phone.
• 56:26
  I can send this contact, and this day won't be over.
• 56:29
  They I said it today, even though they when they wake up tomorrow and they may see the con.
• 56:33
  See, so I had to get up out of the bed and go and send that, send that so that I could rest knowing that I had touched somebody, and just small, it wasn't a big thing, but we remember little bitty things, yeah, very small things, even a hug, a touch on the back can help because virtue came out of the hem of the garment of our father because someone was reaching out, knowing that healing was gonna come.
• 57:01
  So reach out and touch the hymn, and virtue will enter into you, and you'll hear more and more each year.
• 57:08
  But remember, the scab is off, but the scar will be there to remind you that your loved one was here, but you have those wonderful memories left in your spirit in your heart.
• 57:20
  Such a powerful message.
• 57:21
  Thank you, Dr.
• 57:22
  Ralph, for coming on.
• 57:24
  And again, folks, go out and get your copy of Reach Out and Touch.
• 57:29
  You've been listening to After Dark on the America Outlaw Talk Radio Network.
• 57:32
  Hope you'll join us again tomorrow night.
• 57:34
  And as a conclusion, as we always say, God bless America, God bless the world.
• 57:39
  Good night, and be safe.