Latest / Andy Stanley Sermons / Andy Stanley - Life Love Legacy A Conversation with Dr Charles Stanley Part 1

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Andy Stanley - Life Love Legacy A Conversation with Dr Charles Stanley Part 1 · Andy Stanley Sermons

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Speaker 1: Hi, everybody, Welcome back.
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Speaker 2: If this is your first time joining us, you could
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not have picked a better time. Today I begin a
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two part interview with one of my favorite people on
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the planet, my dad. As you may know, my dad
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is a pastor, but you may not know that he
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just stepped down from his role as senior pastor of
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the First Baptist Church of Atlanta, where he served Are
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you ready for this for fifty years? And then a
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few weeks ago he celebrated his eighty eighth birthday and
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he decided it was probably time to step down, a
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decision he clearly did not rush into.
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Speaker 1: So today and next week we're going to visit.
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Speaker 2: With him at his studio at in Touch Ministries, the
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broadcast organization that he founded in nineteen seventy seven. But
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before we jump into the interview, I want to give
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you a little bit of context as it relates to
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our family, so that some of these stories we talk
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about will make a little bit more sense. I have
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a sister named Becky who's three years younger than me.
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Both of us have three kids, So my dad is
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the proud grandparent of six grandchildren, two granddaughters and four grandsons.
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After I graduated from graduate school. I actually worked for
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him for ten years and then I left there to
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launch north Point Community Church, and it was a rocky transition,
1:09
to say the least, but my dad and I were
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both committed to maintaining our relationship in spite of our differences,
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and we had many differences. Then, several years later, I
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wrote a book entitled Deep and Wide, which is essentially
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the blueprint for how we do ministry through the local church.
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And in chapter two of Deep and Wide, I actually
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tell the story in detail of how and why I
1:30
left my dad's employment and why it was such a
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difficult season for both of us. And anyone who's read
1:36
the story or knows our story knows how easy it
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would have been for our relationship to have deteriorated and
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for us to have gone our separate ways and never reconciled.
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But fortunately, and honestly, much to his credit, that was
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not the case, and just kind of a fun fact.
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Before I published the story, of course, I wanted him
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to read it and sign off on it. So I
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went over to his house and I sat down with
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him at his breakfast table, and I actually read out
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loud that particular chapter of the book, the book, the
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chapter that entailed our story, just to get his reaction,
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and honestly, it was so emotional just reliving some of
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those difficult moments.
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Speaker 1: We both cried and.
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Speaker 2: We were both so grateful that those difficult times did
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not signal the end of our relationship. In fact, I'll
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never forget. We were having chips and salsa at a
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tex Mex restaurant during this difficult season, and it was
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so difficult. Honestly, we would meet together because we knew
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we should, and we would just sit there. It was
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hard for us to even talk. And on one of
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those occasions, he said, Andy, he said, we have both
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been around long enough to know what happens to fathers
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and sons who go through something like this, and I
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don't want that to happen to us, and neither did I,
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and it didn't. So here we are, twenty five years later,
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reminiscing about.
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Speaker 1: Eighty eight years of a life well lived.
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Speaker 2: So here's part one of my two part conversation with
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my dad, doctor Charles Stanley. So I would like to
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begin our conversation talking about parenting, but before I talk
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about what a good dad you are and have been
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my whole life. I think it's important for people to
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know a little bit about your background because you grew
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up without your father, So can you catch people up
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on just your growing up years, And then I want
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to talk a little bit about what a great dad
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you were and how in the world did you ever
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figure that out?
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Speaker 1: So you grew you were born in Dryford.
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Speaker 3: Virginia, Fort Virginia. My father died when I was nine
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months of age, so my mother had to go to work,
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and so then I got shifted around from one person
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to the other keeping me while she worked, and that
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went on for a number of years. And then of
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course starting to school, I was very shy, and I think,
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how did I get through grammar school?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, because in some cases I remember these stories as
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a kid, you know, when I thought I had it hard.
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You would talk about getting yourself up in the morning,
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fixing your own breakfast because your mom had already gone
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to work at the mill.
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Speaker 3: Well, it was difficult, but you know, my mom taught
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me how to fry an egg or scramble an egg
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and toast, and then of course after a while I
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learned that well enough I could just fix me maybe
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some other things, but she told me to be able
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to do whatever I need to do and to trust
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God that he would help me. And that's the thing
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that I kept hearing her. Just trust the Lord, Just
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do what you know is write, and trust the Lord.
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So she drilled that into my head and that I
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could do whatever I needed to do if I would
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trust him.
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Speaker 1: Wow.
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Speaker 2: So one of the mysteries to me that as a
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kid growing up, I didn't appreciate, but now that I'm
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a dad, I've appreciated so much because so much of
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what I've done as a father I learned from you.
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But you didn't have a father to learn from. So,
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you know, how in the world did you figure this out?
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Because I'm going to tell some stories in a few
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minutes about the kinds of things you did. But I mean,
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you know, when I was born, when Becky was born,
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you didn't have a role model.
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Speaker 1: How did you figure this out?
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Speaker 3: Well, my mom taught me several things that just drilled
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them in my head. To obey the Lord, to read
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the scripture every day, even though I didn't understand it,
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to read the scripture every day, and to do what
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I knew was the right thing to do. So she
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didn't take the Bible and say, we'll memorize this verse
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of that verse. And the only time I remember her
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giving me a verse to remember is before I preached
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my first sermon. But I just saw her reading the Bible.
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I watched, I listened to her pray, and I watched
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how she related to people. So I had a great
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respect for my mom being a god live woman.
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Speaker 2: So then when you became a dad, where how did
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you figure out the dad part? I mean, you'd seen
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your mom be a good mom, but you were such
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a great dad. How did you How did you figure
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that out?
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Speaker 3: Well? I treated you all the way I wanted to
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be treated. I think that says it all to me,
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because not having a father and thinking what I would
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like for my father to have done. So when I'm
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thinking of all the places we went, and I never
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worried about spending money on you all just have a
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good time in the words, it just came natural for
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me because I knew that's what a good that's what
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a good dad would do.
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Speaker 2: Well, I want to talk about a few things that
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you've taught me.
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Speaker 1: I'm not even sure I've shared.
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Speaker 2: Some of these with you, but one of the most
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important things you taught me was how to make good decisions.
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And the way he taught me how to make good
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decisions was my dad refused to make decisions for me.
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In fact, there were so many incidents, and this began
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really young. I would say, Dad, what do you think
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I should do in this situation? And he would say, well,
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what would you do if I wasn't here to tell you?
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And I would say, but you are here to tell me,
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and I need you to tell me.
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Speaker 1: But that habit or that tendency.
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Speaker 2: You had, and again I don't know where you figured
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that out forced me to do two things. It forced
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me to learn how to make good decisions early on.
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And then the second thing was you did such a
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great job allowing Becky and I to face the consequences
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of our decisions. You never bailed us out, and I
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guess because growing up there wasn't anybody to bail you
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out when you made a bad decision. You had to
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face the consequences yourself, right right.
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Speaker 3: And I realized all of that would drive you to God,
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and I wanted you to point yourself to him. What
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would you got to have me to do when my
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dad's not here? What would you got to have me
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to do because my father died when I was nine
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months of age. I thought, you know, God could take
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me off the scene, but I want to be sure
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whenever he did.
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Speaker 1: You knew what to do well early on, maybe too early.
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Speaker 2: You just consistently said what would you do or how
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would you handle that? Or how would you fix that?
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If I wasn't here. I remember my first traffic ticket.
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I'd like to say it was my one and only
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traffic ticket, but I remember my first traffic to I
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had not had my driver's license very long. I got
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pulled over leaving school. I got home, and of course
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I was scared to death like any teenager. Oh no,
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what's my dad going to do? Is he going to
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take away the car? Is he going to take away
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my license? And you probably don't even remember this. So
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I came in and, you know, apologetically, Dad, I got
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pulled over by the police.
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Speaker 1: He gave me a traffic ticket, and you didn't get mad.
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Speaker 2: You said, well, you'll have to handle that, and I'm like,
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well what do I do? And you said, well, just
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turn the ticket over. It has all the instructions on
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the back. And then you just left the room and
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suddenly instead of punishing me, you basically said, if you're
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you know, if you're responsible enough to have a driver's license,
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you're responsible enough to figure out what to do with
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a traffic ticket. And you you didn't punish me, You
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let the law punish me. And then again you just
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put all the decision making.
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Speaker 1: Right back in my lap. I don't even know if
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you remember that.
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Speaker 3: Well, so you kept loving me instead of the policeman.
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Speaker 2: Well see, this is another really important principle because instead
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of inserting yourself into the equation, you took my position,
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or you took my side to say, you know what, Andy,
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I think you're smart enough to figure this out. I
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think you'll figure out how to pay for the traffic ticket.
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Speaker 1: It's right there on the back of the ticket. You know.
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Good luck.
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Speaker 2: And again here I am, all these years later, I
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can remember where we were standing in our house in
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Tucker so early on.
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Speaker 1: Just putting the decision.
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Speaker 2: Making pressure the appropriate pressure on us was extraordinary. And
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I do think it was an overflow of the fact
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that you knew you remember growing up. Hey, you had
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to learn those things early. And then one other thing,
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and you just alluded to it.
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Speaker 1: You did a great job intentionally.
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Speaker 2: Taking, you know, reminding my sister and I, Becky and
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I that ultimately we weren't accountable to you anyway, that
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ultimately we were accountable.
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Speaker 1: To God, and the way you taught us that.
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Speaker 2: Again, we would ask you a question or not advice,
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but a decision, you know, we had to make, and
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you would say, have you prayed about it?
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Speaker 1: Have you prayed about it?
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Speaker 2: And that was so frustrating because I'm like, I don't
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need to pray about it.
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Speaker 1: I just need you to help me make the decision.
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Speaker 2: But you consistently said, ask God, and you know, whatever
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you feel like the Lord wants.
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Speaker 1: You to do.
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Speaker 2: Do you remember one particular occasion when you told me
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to pray about it and God told me the opposite
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of what God had told you.
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Speaker 1: You know what incident I'm talking about. No, there were
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actually several.
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Speaker 2: But I was sixteen and my favorite recording artist that
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was coming to town was a concert. Back then, there
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weren't many concerts. You did not particularly love my choice
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of music at the time. That's right, Yeah, you remember
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that part. And so this band was coming to Atlanta
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and the concert was on Sunday night. Remember this, Yes,
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I did, and we had Sunday night church. And on
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Sunday night we went to church. And so I'm saying, Dad,
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I want to go to a concert. You didn't really
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want me to go to the concert anyway, but now
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I'm going to go on Sunday night. People will find out,
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you know, the preacher's kids, you know, went to the
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concert instead of going to church.
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Speaker 1: And you said, well, why don't you pray about it?
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Speaker 2: You remember that, dud And I remember Mom was like, no, no, no, no,
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don't let him pray about it. You just need we
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just need to tell him not to go. And you
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were so consistent. It was nope, if you think that's okay,
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you know, you pray about it. So I did sixteen
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years old, and I didn't hear a voice, so I
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figured it was okay. Remember that, and you you took
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a little bit of pressure at church, you know, you know,
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how can you let your son's being a bad example?
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And so I went to that concert, and do you
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remember what you and Mom prayed while I was at
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the concert. You told me later that you prayed that
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we would have a miserable time. Have you remember that
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you prayed that we'd have a miserable time, and we'd
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never want to go back. And God didn't answer that
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prayer either. I grew up wanting to, you know, be
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a rock star. So anyway, but the point being, even
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though you know when you put that much responsibility in
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a child's hands, you are wise enough to leave it there,
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you didn't take it back. You didn't say, well, God
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didn't answer your prayer the way I wanted him to.
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I'm going to withdraw that. So those those lessons were
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so instrumental. And it's just always curious to me, growing
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up without a father, that intuitively you figured some of
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those things out.
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Speaker 3: Well I would. I would usually say, Lord, now, in
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this given situation, what's the wisest thing to do? And
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I knew that if I made all the decisions and
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gave you all the answers, you'd never have to do
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it yourself. And at some point, and remember this, growing up,
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I had nobody to ask now as my mom, but
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a lot of situations she wouldn't have had to answer for.
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So I figured, if I trusted God to give you wisdom,
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then I believe that you would listen to him and
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do what he said do. And look at you now, Yeah,
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you are not a rock star. Are you much more
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important than.
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Speaker 1: A rock star?
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Speaker 2: Well, look at me now, But there was you know,
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it wasn't a straight line. In fact, I've heard you
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say before publicly that you I don't. These are my words,
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not yours, so you can correct me something like. I
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never went to bed worrying about you and Becky or
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what you and Becky were up to. You just placed
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us in the hands of our capable, heavenly father.
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Speaker 3: And well, I knew that I had taught you the
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right thing to do in every situation that I knew about,
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and that I would trust God to be them make
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you successful at that or make you so miserable you
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wouldn't want to do it again. And it worked.
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Speaker 2: It did ultimately work, And I've tried to do the
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same thing with my three kids.
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Speaker 1: So I appreciate that.
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Speaker 2: The other thing that you taught me that became again.
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You appreciate it when you're young, but you really appreciate
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it when you're older. You never prioritize work over family. Now,
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that is challenging for any one, but it seems to
14:20
be especially challenging for pastors. So many pastors love the
14:25
church and serve the church and We've seen this happen
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right with pastors, especially men who just for whatever reason
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neglect their kids.
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Speaker 1: And I never.
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Speaker 2: Felt like I was competing with work, or specifically, I
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never felt like I was competing.
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Speaker 1: With the church.
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Speaker 2: Again, how do you remember your thought process and all
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of that? Because we took long vacations. In fact, one time,
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I can't even imagine this. We had an eighteen foot
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travel trailer, eighteen foot trivel trailer.
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Speaker 1: We went out west for five weeks.
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Speaker 2: Okay, I love my children, I can I can't imagine
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a five week vacation in an eight to pull in
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an eighteen foot travel trailer. But that's the way you
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prioritize us. So what was your thinking and all of that.
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Speaker 3: Well, first of all, I wanted to go, and second
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that might have had something to do, Yeah, that did.
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And secondly, I wanted to share what I loved the
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outdoors and the woods and the forest and glaciers and everything.
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I want to share that with you all. And so
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as far as the church was concerned, it was more
15:29
important to me for us to be together, regardless of
15:34
what people thought. And so I enjoyed it. And what
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I tried to do is to give you all the
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experiences that I wish i'd had went by the head
15:45
of father and to go to all the places we went.
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And if you think of all the things that we did,
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and the one thing I loved about the travel trailer
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was we were all together.
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Speaker 1: We were very close together.
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Speaker 3: It was just but remember this, when we went to Naples,
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had the whole beach, that's before they got built up.
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Police would drive up and down the beach bet once
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a day. We had that whole beach to ourselves, travel traveler,
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we cook outside. We had a fantastic time. I loved
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every minute of it, and I figured, y'all will never
16:15
forget it. And we happened to be there at the
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season that the that the sand dollars came in and
16:22
we were picking up very smallments as large ones. And
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those are times in my life that I enjoyed them
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just as much as you all did it. And at
16:30
that point I didn't care what people thought. That mean, well,
16:34
you should have done this, you should have done that.
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You know what, you only have one life. These kids
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are only going to be yours at this age. We're
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going to live it up in order to enjoy one another.
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And you have not forgotten it.
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Speaker 1: No.
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Speaker 2: And again those kinds of things left an impression in
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terms of priorities and values. And obviously it wasn't a
16:53
dig at church or something to undermine our faith. It
16:56
just showed the priority that you gave. Oh, your priorities
16:59
were where they needed to be.
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Speaker 3: Well, I wanted you all to feel like you had me,
17:06
not me and the church. You had me for thirty
17:08
days or whatever it might be five weeks, and I
17:12
just wanted it to be unforgettable times so that one
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of these days you could look back as you are
17:19
and say, what awesome time we had not call them that.
17:25
For example, if they would call me from church, sometimes
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I would call them back. Sometimes I wouldn't know. We
17:30
didn't have cell phones then, so I could say, well
17:33
you call me. Yeah.
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Speaker 2: There was no way to get really when we would travel,
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when we would camp, we again, sometimes we went to
17:39
trailer parks, you know, but a lot of times we
17:42
would literally back. Then we would just find a spot
17:44
in the woods or on the beach, and we were
17:47
completely unplugged. One other incident, and you alluded to this principle,
17:54
when Louis Giglio and I Louis Giglio.
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Speaker 1: Many of you know, we grew up together.
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Speaker 2: He grew up at my dad's t w In fact,
18:00
his family was at first Baptist Atlanta before we got there.
18:04
And so Louie and I became close friends through middle
18:08
school and high school, and we used to skip church
18:14
quite frequently. We would go to Sunday School because that's
18:17
where the girls were, and then instead of going to church,
18:19
we would walk down the street and there was a
18:21
big restaurant, the Varsity if you've ever been to Atlanta,
18:24
and my dad was on live television on channel five,
18:27
I believe, and so we would literally stand up on
18:31
a chair, change the channel to find the sermon, and
18:35
then we would just talk and eat hot dogs and
18:37
listen to just enough of this sermon so that I
18:41
could get in the car after church and say, you know, Dad,
18:43
the story about the dog or the thing I you know,
18:45
so he would think I had been in church, very deceitful.
18:49
So on one occasion, I know you remember this, somebody
18:53
went to your we call them secretaries back then, to
18:56
your administrative assistant and said she had seen me and
19:01
Louie heading down to the Varsity to skip church.
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Speaker 1: Do you remember this? Incident.
19:06
Speaker 2: So here's how it happened. So I'm in the backseat,
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there's just the two of us. We're driving home after
19:11
church and m so I can't see his face, so
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I'm sitting right behind him.
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Speaker 1: I remember this.
19:17
Speaker 2: And you said, Andy, someone saw you and Louie leaving
19:22
the church property and looked like you were headed toward
19:24
the Varsity instead of coming to church. So of course
19:27
I'm thinking, oh no, you know, it's like the traffic
19:29
ticket thing.
19:30
Speaker 1: Oh no, I'm in big trouble. And you paused, and
19:33
here's what you said.
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Speaker 2: You said, and I told her, you raised your kids,
19:39
you let me raise mine, That's all you said.
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Speaker 1: And we drove home in silence. And I again and
19:46
I didn't get into trouble.
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Speaker 2: You didn't punish me, You didn't expect more of me
19:49
than other parents expected of their kids. But again, here
19:51
I am, all these years later, because it said to
19:54
me that I was a priority and that you, again,
19:58
you weren't. You didn't feel like your reputation as a
20:00
pastor hinged on my behavior or on Becky's behavior. And
20:04
that's a good thing, because there were some there were
20:06
some rough years for some of us anyway, So again,
20:08
just so grateful for the way that you were a
20:12
father even though you didn't have a father to learn from.
20:16
And that is a guiding principle for all the single
20:18
parents out there who wonder because you turned out great
20:21
by the way, So so for all the single parents,
20:24
it's it's challenging. And when Sandra and I talk to parents,
20:28
the first thing we say is, even though you know
20:31
we're going to talk about parenting from the standpoint of
20:34
a two parent home, neither my father nor Sandra's father
20:38
grew up with their biological father in the home, and
20:42
yet they turned out to be fabulous fathers. So in
20:46
that way, you're such a great example for even more
20:48
people than maybe you might have imagined.
20:50
Speaker 1: Now I want to change the subject.
20:52
Speaker 2: That's okay, you grew up poor, I think I think
20:57
that's a fair statement, but you you have always been generous.
21:02
I mean, some of the earliest lessons you taught us
21:05
had to do with money.
21:06
Speaker 1: So how in the world is someone who is raised
21:09
with very, very very little.
21:11
Speaker 2: In fact, some of my favorite stories that you told
21:13
me growing up about growing up were.
21:15
Speaker 1: Just how little you had.
21:17
Speaker 2: How you Christmas stories, I mean, birthday stories were it
21:21
was kind of heartbreaking, honestly, And yet your whole life
21:25
you've been generous. How did you learn to be generous
21:27
having grown up with so little? Because so many people
21:30
they go the opposite direction.
21:32
Speaker 3: I think I'd have to give my mother credit for that.
21:34
For example, every once in a while back in those days,
21:38
some little boy, a couple of little kids would come
21:41
up and ask a knock on the door and ask
21:44
do you all having the bread? My mom always gave
21:48
them something. And sometimes I'd look at I'd said, well,
21:51
we're not going to have any left. I don't think
21:53
she said, no, we're going to give them this. My
21:55
mom taught me to be generous, to be kind, and
21:59
I'm the she eight nine dollars and ten cents a
22:02
week for forty hours in the cotton mill. Wow. And
22:06
she was always generous. She didn't give much, but there
22:11
was something about her. She had to give something, and
22:14
so I think I saw that in her. So when
22:17
it came time to talk about tithe and the income,
22:19
I never had a problem with that. And I have
22:22
been blessed and blessed and blessed and blessed and blessed,
22:26
and I would have to say, watching her give a
22:30
little bit of what we didn't have much of said
22:36
something to me deep down inside, because I noticed that
22:39
afterwards we always seemed to have enough.
22:42
Speaker 2: And again this was her faith and action in terms
22:45
of just trusting God to provide for the two of you.
22:48
Speaker 3: Right.
22:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, So what's the connection between your generosity and the
22:53
local church, because that's always been a passion for you.
22:56
Speaker 3: Right. So I just realized that pretty early, I couldn't
23:01
outgive God no much how much I gave, what the
23:05
motivation was, I couldn't outgive him. He always blessed me
23:10
over and over and over again. So I wanted to
23:12
help other people, and I wanted to be I wanted
23:14
to be sure when I stood up and preached to
23:16
other people. But given that, I'm knew in my heart
23:20
I gave it the best God wanted me to give,
23:23
having how much it was, so you know, it's not
23:27
been hard for me to give it. Giving is just
23:30
part of being who I am. And I think about
23:32
how God's blessed me. He said, given it should be
23:35
given to you good measure, pressed, then shaken together. I
23:38
believe that, and I can look back about all these
23:41
years and realize He's blessed me far more than I deserve.
23:46
Speaker 2: That phrase that you just said. I grew up here
23:49
in my whole life. You can't outgive God. You can't
23:51
outgive God. You can't outgive God. I remember, I'm not
23:54
going to go into detail because it's so personal, but
23:56
I remember an incident. I was a freshman in college
23:59
when there was an incident and you.
24:04
Speaker 1: Basically had a choice.
24:05
Speaker 2: And this is this happened two or three times to
24:08
where you could give what you felt God had impressed
24:10
on your heart to give. But it was going to
24:12
it was going to be actual, a sacrificial gift. And
24:16
this is one of the great things about you as well.
24:18
You would talk about this with the family. You would
24:20
say this, I feel like God wants us to do
24:22
this for this organization or you know, something that's going
24:26
on at church, and if we if we give this
24:28
much money, here's what we're going to have to do
24:30
as a family.
24:31
Speaker 1: And you we would pray about those things.
24:33
Speaker 2: And you know, I can remember as a college freshman
24:36
thinking that's a lot of money. And you know what's
24:38
that Again, you led through your generosity and again you
24:42
can out give God.
24:43
Speaker 1: You can't out give God.
24:44
Speaker 2: And so you taught me to tithe and like you,
24:47
giving the first dime of every dollar I've ever made,
24:50
my whole life.
24:51
Speaker 1: Has been easy.
24:52
Speaker 2: And it has been easy for me to stand up
24:54
in front of our church and to teach percentage giving
24:57
because you taught me that as a child, and because
25:00
I again, it was a habit we formed so early.
25:03
Like you say, you never miss the money that you give,
25:06
and you never regret what you've done with the money
25:08
that you give. Growing up, you know you would lay
25:12
down with us at night, and we would always want
25:14
you to tell us stories about growing up. And so
25:18
I would like to ask you to share two specific stories,
25:22
and then I'm going to share share a story. So
25:26
let me think the first story I want you to
25:27
talk about this kind of relates to money. Talk a
25:29
little bit about your paper route, because people kid about, oh,
25:33
in the old days, you know, I had to walk
25:35
so many miles in the snow uphill both ways. But
25:38
you literally that was a literal story for you. So
25:42
your mom is having to work. She's making about ten
25:45
dollars a week, so you had to go to work early.
25:47
Speaker 1: So I think the story of.
25:49
Speaker 2: How you developed your paper route is fascinating and we
25:51
don't really have paper boys anymore like we used to.
25:54
Speaker 1: But that was a talk a little bit about that.
25:56
Speaker 2: Because that's part of what transitions you to the next
25:59
season your life.
26:00
Speaker 3: Well, we had two newspapers. One of them was just
26:04
on Monday morning, since we didn't have a regular paper
26:07
on Monday morning, and one of them was on Thursday.
26:10
And so I kept praying for God to show me
26:13
something to do, and so I make my money. Yeah,
26:17
So I found out I could possibly get a paper route.
26:21
I only made about four dollars or something like that,
26:26
but that was two days a week. It was a
26:28
long route, and I had a lot of papers. But
26:32
I said, okay, God, this is what I'll do. And
26:35
then I kept that for a year. And I watched
26:38
this fellow who had the large paper route morning and
26:45
evening every day except Sunday afternoon and Monday morning. You
26:48
were walking, right, Yeah, I'm walking. And it just so
26:51
happened that all the streets I had were all downhill.
26:57
But it was okay. So I saw this fellow who
27:03
had the paper route and made about twenty dollars a
27:05
week or after sixteen to twenty something a week a week,
27:10
and so I said well, if you ever give up
27:12
your paper route, I'd like to have it. So he said, well,
27:16
what do you want to give me for it? And
27:18
that was not proper. You didn't buy a paid sell
27:21
paper routes, right, So he said, well, I'll sell it
27:25
to you for one hundred and twenty five dollars. So
27:28
I figured that one hunting twenty five dollars, i'd make
27:30
it back for too long. But my stepfather went to
27:35
the bank with me, and I borrowed a hundred and
27:37
twenty five dollars one time I ever borrowed the money,
27:40
and so I bought the route. I started delivering newspapers.
27:46
I had one long street.
27:49
Speaker 2: I remember you driving me down the street when we
27:51
would go visit my grandmother, and you say it was downhill.
27:56
Speaker 1: There was nothing flat in Danville, Virginia.
27:59
Speaker 3: Everything was all but anyway anyway. And so the first
28:03
thing I did is make sure I tied how much
28:06
money I made, And so I took papers for about
28:13
well until I went to college. And I saw how
28:17
God had prospered me and helped me, and I could
28:22
buy some of my own clothes for a change, and
28:25
I had a extra money. So then of course I
28:30
came to the whole situation of how am I going
28:32
to go to college? Or making sixteen dollars a week
28:36
and wouldn't get you in college. But I watched God
28:40
always provide in ways that I couldn't figure out. In
28:43
other words, I could never have figured out how to
28:45
go to college making that kount of money.
28:49
Speaker 2: And this was the second story I wanted you to
28:51
tell about how you got to college, because the point
28:54
of this is your confidence in God and your faith
28:59
in God was not passive.
29:00
Speaker 1: And this is one of the things you taught me.
29:02
Speaker 2: You don't sit back and ask God to do something
29:04
and then just wait. You your work ethic has always
29:08
been extraordinary at the same time, carving out the right
29:11
amount of time for family. Somehow you figured all that
29:13
out on your own. So you have always modeled you
29:17
work as hard as you can possibly work, and then
29:20
you trust God to honor your hard work. And so
29:23
once again, this is what happened with the paper route.
29:24
And then that leads us to this next story, is
29:27
you're trying to figure out how in the world you're
29:29
going to go to college.
29:30
Speaker 3: So right, because I'd look at sixteen to twenty dollars
29:32
a week and I, thank God, I can't even get
29:36
to Richmond, Virginia, let alone go to college. And so
29:40
one night my friend and I were standing on the
29:42
street kind of just talking, and the past of the
29:47
Baptist church came by and I don't I don't live
29:50
been member of that church probably a year, and he
29:53
didn't know me very well, and so he was coming
29:56
down the street. My friend Julian said, mister Ham, come
30:00
over here just a moment. And so he tell them
30:03
what I was doing and when I go to school
30:05
and the Lord he called me to preach and I
30:06
didn't have any money, could you help me? And he
30:10
didn't know me. I've been going to church, but not
30:12
very long at that particular church. So he said, well,
30:15
come by to see me. So I went by to
30:17
see him and we talked for probably an hour or so.
30:21
To make a long story short, I got a four
30:25
year scholarship to the University of Richmond with no explanation.
30:30
I couldn't I know it. Well.
30:31
Speaker 2: He made a few calls and got you into college
30:36
right on that scholarship.
30:38
Speaker 1: But again there it is again. You do what you
30:40
know to do.
30:42
Speaker 2: God brings the right person along, I mean here and
30:43
when I hear you tell that story, I've heard it
30:45
so many times.
30:47
Speaker 1: Little did he know, Little did he.
30:49
Speaker 2: Know that he was the connector between you know, this kid,
30:55
you know who has a paper route, who just finished
30:57
high school, who didn't have any money. He was the
30:59
connector but between that unknown kid and if I can
31:03
just you know, brag a bit, doctor Charles S. Stanley,
31:05
who's preached the gospel all over the world, and at
31:08
some points years ago, you were through a shortwave radio,
31:11
radio and television. You were in every single major city
31:15
in the world, every single day of the week. And
31:18
when I think about what hung in the balance potentially
31:21
of his decision to look at this kid, and apparently
31:25
there was some sort of internal prompting. I mean, how
31:27
many kids in Danville, Virginia needed a scholarship to college
31:30
A lot, right, And yet for some reason he took
31:35
the time to give you the time and then after
31:38
that conversation leveraged his connections to give you that opportunity.
31:43
And what an extraordinary role he played in your life.
31:46
And he had no idea. And I have seen you
31:50
do that for so many people through the years. Again,
31:54
you can't do everything for everybody, But as I say,
31:57
you know, do for one what you wish you could.
31:58
Speaker 1: Do for everyone, And he did for one what I'm
32:01
sure he wished he could do for everyone. And you
32:03
have done that as well.
32:05
Speaker 2: And it always makes me stop and think when somebody
32:07
ask for something specific or something I don't really have
32:10
the time or the resources to do. I think we
32:13
have no idea who God brings into our lives, but
32:16
to be sensitive to that still small voice, and to
32:20
do for one what, of course we can't do for everyone.