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Wayne Price: Stop Talking at God · Why I Believe

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome back to Why I Believe.
• 0:03
  I'm your host Michelle Von Ruden and today I have Wayne Price joining me.
• 0:07
  How are you doing today, Wayne?
• 0:09
  I'm good, Michelle, thank you.
• 0:12
  good.
• 0:12
  Thanks for being here.
• 0:14
  Can you tell the audience a little bit about yourself?
• 0:17
  Well, I'm eighty two, widowed.
• 0:20
  Uh my wife and I were very close.
• 0:24
  She passed in twenty twenty and I went through a couple of years of very difficult times trying to find the Lord, trying to find what I do as uh for a living.
• 0:39
  Uh and then I'm fine now
• 0:45
  And it's been a couple of years that I've been what I call altogether, uh finding my my my body, my spirit.
• 0:57
  So yeah, I'm ready.
• 1:04
  Awesome.
• 1:05
  Yeah, thanks for being here.
• 1:06
  So, you know, when we were talking, you mentioned that you spent years learning to recognize God's voice in ordinary life.
• 1:14
  Tell me more.
• 1:17
  my, what a story.
• 1:18
  It's a long one.
• 1:19
  I'll try to cut it down, Michelle.
• 1:22
  Uh I was home, Betty came to me and said, Well, I don't think this life suits me.
• 1:35
  And she said, I want to go to a Christian talk session and you don't come.
• 1:45
  So
• 1:46
  I'll see ya in a couple of hours.
• 1:49
  She walked out the door.
• 1:52
  When she came back, she had had a marvelous salvation experience.
• 1:57
  Uh she was definitely different.
• 2:01
  Her sound was different.
• 2:03
  Her attitude was different.
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  She was a different girl.
• 2:08
  So I said, Well, that is interesting.
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  I know God.
• 2:16
  But I haven't had that kind of experience.
• 2:19
  So let me dig in a little bit.
• 2:22
  Okay, how long had you guys been married at this point?
• 2:25
  Seventeen years.
• 2:27
  Seventeen years.
• 2:28
  Okay.
• 2:28
  We're just setting the stage and timeline a little bit.
• 2:30
  Yeah.
• 2:32
  Um so I decided I wanted to hear what God had to say.
• 2:40
  So I set up a a carpet, homemade cross, my Bible, a notepad, and I knelt in a sunlit room before God and I said, Okay, God, I believe you're real.
• 2:57
  And it says in the Bible,
• 3:01
  That I'm made in your image.
• 3:04
  Okay?
• 3:05
  That means I have ears, I have a mouth, you must also.
• 3:11
  So speak to me.
• 3:13
  I'd like to hear you.
• 3:15
  Of course, I was arrogant as a kid, and God doesn't respond to that.
• 3:21
  But I stayed on my knees for days and days.
• 3:27
  It went into months.
• 3:29
  Actually it went into a couple of years where I was just on my knees just saying, God will you speak.
• 3:39
  So he did and it was quite an experience.
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  he didn't speak to me precisely.
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  What he did is he gave me a vision.
• 3:56
  The vision was of a large vehicle.
• 4:00
  I was in it.
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  I was not driving.
• 4:04
  The vehicle went left over a curvy road, went out over a uh valley, and then the vision ended.
• 4:15
  So I said Okay, God, what was that all about?
• 4:20
  And I heard him for the first time.
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  He said
• 4:25
  What he said is not important, the fact is that he spoke.
• 4:29
  Uh it's a whole nother story what he spoke and the miracles and the proof that came after that.
• 4:39
  But he spoke, and I heard him.
• 4:42
  I heard him between my ears, I heard him slightly inside my head, I heard words.
• 4:51
  Now that doesn't mean everybody who goes after God hears words, not by any stretch.
• 4:59
  I've talked to people all the time that hear God in impressions, hear God through scripture, uh
• 5:08
  All kinds of ways.
• 5:10
  This is just the way that God spoke to me.
• 5:14
  And it has been a ride just like that ever since, Michelle.
• 5:20
  Wow.
• 5:22
  Yeah, I think, you know, you're right.
• 5:25
  People are always wondering is God gonna talk to me?
• 5:27
  And I think part of it is that we're just not listening.
• 5:29
  Mm-hmm.
• 5:32
  It is partly in my mind it is partly talking, not only listening.
• 5:40
  When we were kids we needed something, we cried or we yelled or we threw a fit or whatever.
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  And unfortunately many of us carry that same attitude when it comes to talking to God.
• 5:57
  We say God, I hurt, fix me.
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  Or God, why am I going through this?
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  Or whatever.
• 6:07
  But we're yelling, we're we're complaining, we're arguing with God, we're not talking.
• 6:15
  And the talking I'm speaking of is this is where I'm at, God.
• 6:23
  I love you.
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  I believe you.
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  I'm hurting.
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  And wait then.
• 6:31
  For him to respond.
• 6:34
  When we're in a conversation with anybody or especially with God, it's so easy to talk, not so easy to hear.
• 6:46
  And then after we hear him, it's equally hard to listen to what he's saying.
• 6:54
  So when I started talking with God, I was still talking at
• 7:00
  God.
• 7:00
  I was still talking to God.
• 7:03
  And I wasn't getting anywhere.
• 7:05
  It was like I was talking, but nothing was happening.
• 7:10
  I wasn't hearing anything.
• 7:12
  So I finally got serious and I got quiet before God, which is another key.
• 7:20
  I got quiet.
• 7:22
  I actually got I actually got silent.
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  I turned off everything in the house.
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  There was no road traffic, and I just simply stopped, not thinking, not doing anything, not fidgeting, just nothing.
• 7:46
  And then he spoke again.
• 7:50
  So yeah, hearing him, listening to what he's saying is very key to hearing God, obviously.
• 8:02
  But we miss it.
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  We miss it so often.
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  I did.
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  My goodness did I.
• 8:09
  I have an attitude problem.
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  Probably you noticed.
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  I just I I come at things flat out.
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  I come at things I want to fix them.
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  I want to get them, I want to understand.
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  And so I go at it very harshly and very very specifically.
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  And God doesn't work that way necessarily.
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  Sometimes He does, not Not always.
• 8:38
  In my case, for sure.
• 8:41
  Yeah.
• 8:42
  I like how you point out there was a distinction between you talking at God and talking with God.
• 8:49
  Right.
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  And I think that's something that we do a lot in society is we talk at people, and it really doesn't get us very far.
• 8:55
  It's really more about building that relationship and having a conversation with someone, right?
• 9:01
  And God's no different, right?
• 9:02
  We still have to have that conversation and relationship.
• 9:05
  And I love how you set up your own very little silent retreat in your own house.
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  I think it's great.
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  I mean, sometimes we go out and we go to places and we have that experience, but you just was like, Okay, here we go.
• 9:15
  This is what I need, this is what I'm gonna do and make it happen.
• 9:19
  Yep.
• 9:20
  Yep, it was it was a surprise.
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  I didn't know excuse me I didn't know I was gonna set up this place.
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  It was just the only place in the house I could go.
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  and I am or was at that time a very active bipolar victim, I say, uh which is
• 9:48
  either being highly elated or being totally depressed and it switches back and forth.
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  Uh unknowingly, you don't know when it's switching, and you think that you're just you, you think you're just normal.
• 10:04
  But the people on the outside, the people listening to you, recognize, my goodness, why is he talking this way?
• 10:11
  He was signed just five minutes ago.
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  So I was unable to work
• 10:18
  because of that.
• 10:20
  So my wife blessedly worked for the family and I stayed home.
• 10:28
  So that's the layout of why I was able to pull away and just talk to God, talk with God.
• 10:37
  Yeah.
• 10:38
  Yeah.
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  Talk with God.
• 10:41
  Oh man.
• 10:43
  So you said that you wr you stayed home for quite a while and just didn't go with work, but you're an author and you've wrote 13 plus books.
• 10:52
  Was that all part of the vision that God gave you that first time around?
• 10:57
  No, actually not.
• 10:59
  that has developed.
• 11:00
  I have always been a creative kind of person.
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  Uh and I thought I knew what I was doing.
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  I went into uh speaking, I went into creating things, making things, trying to sell them.
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  I did all of that kind of weird stuff.
• 11:23
  Before I finally stopped again and said to God, Okay, this is not working.
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  I don't know what to do.
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  Will you talk again?
• 11:36
  And he said, What do you want?
• 11:40
  I said, I'd like if you want to know what I want, I'd like to have another place to live, some place that's warmer, some place that's maybe at a beach.
• 11:54
  And his answer was Maybe you need a change of what you do, not a change of location.
• 12:05
  So I asked OK I am not happy with what I'm doing, it's not successful.
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  What do you suggest?
• 12:17
  And he said Well you're writing memoirs and you're writing notes to your wife and you're you're writing regularly.
• 12:29
  How about you write something different?
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  Like maybe travelogues.
• 12:36
  Or children's books nothing registered and then he said devotionals Boom that clicked in my brain and I said Ooh I like reading devotionals.
• 12:52
  Maybe I could write a devotional.
• 12:57
  That was the beginning of it right there.
• 13:00
  So I got up, left the cross, left the carpet.
• 13:06
  Called my wife and said, I think I've heard God and I think I'm changing what I do and who I am.
• 13:17
  She said, Well let me come home and we'll talk.
• 13:22
  That was the beginning of it, Michelle.
• 13:27
  The beginning would definitely not be end.
• 13:30
  No.
• 13:31
  No, not even close to the end.
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  I'm still writing today the
• 13:39
  the the four the five devotionals that are already published are available.
• 13:48
  The the sixth one is being written now, so I have one series and then the second series just starting.
• 13:59
  So yeah, it's an ongoing process with the Lord.
• 14:08
  Would you like to know how the Lord works with me to write these things?
• 14:15
  I again decided, you know, you have to get into my wheelhouse and understand that I decide things and then I go after them.
• 14:26
  Um, I decided I needed to hear God.
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  I wanted his input before I started writing devotionals.
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  So I said, okay, how do I know your will?
• 14:43
  He asked me very simply, what are you thinking about right now?
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  I answered him and he said call that a prompt.
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  Well I knew what a prompt was, so I pulled out my computer, sat down, and typed out what I was thinking.
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  Before long it wasn't that prompt.
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  Before long it was a whole different devotional.
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  That I had no idea I was writing.
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  When I finished, looked at it, reread it, I was amazed.
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  It was actually pretty good.
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  So that was the beginning of it.
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  Now I go to the Lord every day, not every day, the days that I want to write.
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  Ask for a prompt.
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  He responds, sometimes very clearly with words.
• 15:48
  Sometimes just impressions whatever, but that's where the devotionals start.
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  And they're and they're not just devotionals, Michelle.
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  They are a walk with me through my weird life, working, playing with God, talking, listening, and writing what happens, writing the individual daily events.
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  So they come out as day one, day fifteen, d day seventy, whatever.
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  And that's that's what I do.
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  That's my book.
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  Now that's not the total of them.
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  The thirteen of course involve other books.
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  But the devotional is what I'm most interested in and has gotten the most traction.
• 16:46
  Yeah.
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  Awesome.
• 16:51
  So when you're devotionals, you're talking about your life and you know, people can relate.
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  And that's why we tell stories, right?
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  We tell stories so people can relate and learn, right?
• 16:59
  This, you know, and I don't know if you know this, Wayne, but this whole podcast started because God spoke to me and he told me to lead people to him.
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  And I was like, I don't know what I'm doing.
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  And then, you know, one Christmas morning he said, start a podcast and call it why I believe and share people's testimony.
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  And so here we are, right?
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  We're doing just that.
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  We're listening and we're being obedient.
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  So I really appreciate your story and I
• 17:21
  I'm also the high achiever.
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  Um, so the day after Christmas, I started on the podcast.
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  And uh like I wasn't gonna start on Christmas Day, right?
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  but I think it's it's you know, really cool about how our stories are somewhat aligned in that sense that you know, when you hear, it's not only just about hearing and listening,
• 17:43
  but then being obedient.
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  Cause that's a hard part.
• 17:48
  Yeah.
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  right, Michelle.
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  Obedience, my goodness, my little speech, little uh log line of God is real, God listens, God talks, and God changes real life is the obedience.
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  When I realized he really wanted to talk, I realized that
• 18:14
  I had to agree to do what he said.
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  Obedience.
• 18:20
  Oh my.
• 18:21
  That's a whole different topic, Michelle.
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  Whole topic to its own.
• 18:27
  My goodness.
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  But it's it's the missing piece, right?
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  I mean, if you think about it from a mentor mentee situation, let's just go that direction.
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  If you're working with somebody and they're mentoring you and you don't take action and you're not doing what they've asked you to do or what where they've guided you to, they're
• 18:47
  not going to be working with you for very long.
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  They're still going to be there.
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  They're still going to maybe walk alongside you, but they're not going to pour into you.
• 18:56
  In ways that you're looking for if you're not being obedient and not following through.
• 19:01
  And I think it's the same way with God, right?
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  Like, there's a lot of people that are putting requests on him.
• 19:07
  We're not the only one, right?
• 19:10
  As much as we want to be the only one, um, we're not.
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  And because of that, when he does open up and he does share, we have to have that obedience and we have to respond, right?
• 19:23
  Because it's not our path that we're walking.
• 19:25
  Yeah.
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  When you make the commitment to really follow him, then life begins, then it really gets exciting.
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  I know there was a time where I had written a book, wasn't sure if I liked it, but it was time to hit the publish button.
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  It was actually the first book, the first real book.
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  And I hovered over that publish button.
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  For two days I just couldn't hit publish.
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  It was too intense, it was too emotional.
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  It meant I was going to be out there to the public, to be seen, to be criticized, and it was hard.
• 20:18
  But I did it, and now it's easy.
• 20:22
  But that first one was tough.
• 20:26
  yeah.
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  Nobody said it was easy.
• 20:31
  Nobody said any of this is gonna be easy, right?
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  It's just if it was hard, we'd all be doing it.
• 20:36
  Or if it was easy, we'd all be doing it, right?
• 20:38
  So it's hard.
• 20:40
  Yeah.
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  I mean, picking up that cross and carrying it isn't for the faint of heart.
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  So how are you how are you living in your faith today?
• 20:52
  Tell me about bring us to the present day.
• 20:54
  How are you walking in your faith?
• 20:56
  Okay, well I'm in a wheelchair.
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  Um, I'm essentially homebound.
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  I receive my food through a senior and handicapped service.
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  I don't cook.
• 21:14
  I have difficulty with everything I do, uh especially getting to bed.
• 21:21
  I have a special pole and a special uh platform to get up on.
• 21:30
  Uh so
• 21:33
  Getting to bed and getting up from bed is quite a chore.
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  And of course showering, my goodness, that takes an hour and a half to two hours just getting ready, getting into it safely, uh getting washed and then getting dried, my
• 21:53
  goodness.
• 21:53
  Uh it just takes a lot of balancing and a lot of angles and a lot of towels.
• 22:04
  just to get dry.
• 22:06
  So yeah, my day is pretty full, just living.
• 22:12
  Yeah.
• 22:15
  And I'm sure you're still talking to God every day, still having those conversations.
• 22:19
  And writing every day.
• 22:21
  Oh yeah.
• 22:23
  yeah.
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  That's my joy.
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  That's what gives me a sense of knowing I'm right where God wants me because he pushed me here.
• 22:33
  He didn't push me.
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  He led me here.
• 22:35
  So yeah, I want to be here.
• 22:39
  It is it's answered everything that I wanted when I was a youngster.
• 22:46
  when I was in my
• 22:48
  Early teens, I was outside, looked up into a dark sky, saw all the stars, and I said to God, if there's anything I can do, I want to be significant.
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  I want to matter.
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  Now, sixty years later, I'm doing it.
• 23:13
  Yeah, it's beautiful.
• 23:16
  Hmm.
• 23:20
  You mentioned earlier that you get sometimes you get the chance to go over and see the Pacific Ocean from the di um through one of the companies locally there.
• 23:29
  Do you still get to get out and do that every once in a while and see the enormity of it all?
• 23:34
  Yeah.
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  occasionally.
• 23:35
  Uh yeah, the enormity of it all is exactly why I go out.
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  The realization, my goodness, this thing is so much bigger than little me.
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  This is a real God.
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  This is a real happening.
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  This is real time.
• 23:57
  And seeing the ocean yeah, helps that tremendously.
• 24:01
  I can't get out to see the stars, basically because I live in the Pacific Northwest and it's cloudy almost all the time.
• 24:11
  There aren't stars up there, just clouds.
• 24:14
  Uh but the but the sun but the shoreline, yeah.
• 24:19
  Yeah.
• 24:20
  Beautiful.
• 24:23
  Well Wayne, what is your favorite favorite Bible verse?
• 24:25
  What are you walking through right now?
• 24:28
  Well, what I'm walking through right now is different than the one Bible voice Bible verse that has driven me, carried me, helped me through everything, and it is in John It is
• 24:48
  peace I leave with you.
• 24:52
  My peace I give to you, not as the world gives.
• 24:57
  do I give to you The personal touch the I'm giving you something.
• 25:10
  It touches me, carries me very far.
• 25:14
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 25:17
  Well, thank you so much for being here today.
• 25:19
  Uh, hope you have a fabulous day.
• 25:21
  Um, and I really appreciate your time.
• 25:24
  Yeah, it's been great, Michelle, thank you.
• 25:26
  Uh hope I didn't bore you with all my stories.
• 25:31
  you're perfect.
• 25:32
  Thank you so much.
• 25:33
  Okay.
• 25:35
  Mm, mm-hmm.
• 25:37
  Bye bye.