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Equipped with Chris Brooks - How to Trust God after Tragedy and Disappointment · Disciple Radio

0:05
S1: Hey there friends. Welcome to another exciting edition of equip
0:08
S1: with Chris Brooks. I am so thrilled that you've joined
0:11
S1: me today. Do me a favor. Strap on your seat belt.
0:14
S1: We're going to navigate through the contours of culture, as always,
0:18
S1: with the lens of the biblical worldview on. But before
0:20
S1: we do that, let me remind you, this is the
0:24
S1: day that the Lord has made. He is giving it
0:26
S1: as a gift so that you and I can rejoice
0:29
S1: and be glad in it. So let's do just that.
0:31
S1: Let's follow the words of the Apostle Paul. Let's rejoice
0:34
S1: in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice. Well,
0:39
S1: I hope you're doing well today. It's going to be
0:42
S1: an interactive edition of equip around a very sensitive subject
0:47
S1: that I hope you will help not only me navigate,
0:51
S1: but no doubt this is a topic that's going to
0:55
S1: touch many family and friends that you have. Here's the
0:59
S1: question of the day that I would love for us
1:01
S1: to interact around. What advice would you give to someone?
1:06
S1: Let's just say a friend who is struggling to trust
1:09
S1: God after tragedy has touched their life. What advice would
1:14
S1: you give to someone who is struggling to trust God
1:18
S1: after tragedy has touched their life? Consider that for a moment,
1:23
S1: and I bring this up in light of a recent
1:25
S1: interview that comedian slash actor Billy Crystal gave on October
1:33
S1: 11th on CBS Sunday Morning program. I want to dive
1:37
S1: into that interview, but I want to give the number
1:39
S1: because I'm sure many will call. And I want you
1:41
S1: to get through because I'd love to hear your thoughts
1:43
S1: on this. Eight, seven, seven five, six, seven, five is
1:47
S1: the number 87754836, 75. We've already posted the question on
1:53
S1: social media. Um, there's been several comments Already. I trust
1:59
S1: that many more will interact with us across our social
2:01
S1: media platforms. Um, this is more than just a theoretical discussion.
2:07
S1: I really take this question seriously. As someone no doubt
2:11
S1: like you who has had tragedy, touched my life, and
2:16
S1: I have wrestled with the question of how do I
2:21
S1: continue to trust God after serious tragedy? And as a pastor,
2:27
S1: certainly I'm confronted with this question again and again and again.
2:31
S1: Every time I sit across from a spouse who's been betrayed.
2:35
S1: Every time I sit across from a grieving parent who's
2:39
S1: just lost their child. Every time I sit across from
2:42
S1: somebody who is overwhelmed by the war, the injustice, the
2:48
S1: brokenness of our world. I am confronted with the question,
2:53
S1: how do you advise someone On trusting God. Uh, when
2:59
S1: they're struggling to do so, how do you advise someone
3:02
S1: to maintain their trust in, uh, in, in the goodness
3:07
S1: of God? The faithfulness of God when tragedy has touched
3:12
S1: their life, their life. I want to hear from you
3:14
S1: because some of you has have walked this road personally.
3:19
S1: Here's my question to you is how have you navigated that? Uh,
3:24
S1: I brought some of my thoughts to this conversation, as
3:28
S1: you would expect, but I want to hear from you.
3:30
S1: How have you navigated maintaining trust in God? Um, after
3:37
S1: tragedy has touched your life and, and I just want
3:40
S1: to make sure that I'm clear in a distinction that
3:43
S1: I'm making between trusting in God and believing God, because
3:48
S1: I think that one of the mistakes we can easily
3:50
S1: make is to think that this is a matter of
3:53
S1: a question of just proving the existence of God. And
3:56
S1: I would posit, I would argue that there's a ton
3:59
S1: of people out there who believe God exists that stop
4:03
S1: trusting him a long time ago. Who are thoroughly convinced
4:07
S1: that God is real. Uh, but stop praying. Which is
4:11
S1: a sign, by the way, that, um, I no longer
4:14
S1: trust in God. Stop worshiping. Um, stop taking their concerns
4:21
S1: to him because they've just lost trust in God. So
4:25
S1: how have you processed through that question? And then as always,
4:29
S1: I would love to be your prayer partner. If there
4:32
S1: is someone that you love that is struggling with this
4:35
S1: question and you say, Chris, I don't necessarily know the answers,
4:40
S1: but I certainly know my grandchild is struggling with this.
4:43
S1: I certainly know my son or daughter is. I certainly
4:46
S1: know my spouse is, and I care for them or
4:49
S1: my neighbor or my coworker. You fill in the blank.
4:52
S1: I care for them. Can you pray with me on
4:55
S1: how I should respond to this? Uh, let me set
4:59
S1: the context for this conversation. It was on October 11th
5:03
S1: when the interview with Billy Crystal aired, uh, during the
5:08
S1: CBS Sunday Morning program. Um, he was being interviewed and
5:13
S1: was asked the following question, uh, by the reporter who
5:19
S1: was interviewing him about his, uh, his trust in God. Um,
5:24
S1: the question was, do you still talk to God? Um,
5:29
S1: do you still have discussions with God? Um, and, uh,
5:34
S1: Billy Crystal's response was, no, because I don't trust him.
5:40
S1: Too many bad things have happened. The earth is in
5:44
S1: bad shape. This is a weird, scary time. So no,
5:48
S1: not any more. The reporter asked him if he still
5:53
S1: talked to God based off of his 2041 man show,
6:00
S1: 700 Sundays. Some of you may remember it was in
6:04
S1: this stand up show that he, um, used as a
6:08
S1: set to, uh, talk about the passing of his dad, uh,
6:14
S1: using comedy. Um, but how much time he spent with dad.
6:19
S1: He talked his dad. He talked about his faith, by
6:23
S1: the way. He's he's Jewish, and he talks about his
6:27
S1: relationship with his father and how they had many conversations
6:32
S1: with God. Um, so more than two decades later, uh,
6:38
S1: he was asked, do you still talk to God? Do
6:40
S1: you still have conversations with God? Uh, he cites two
6:45
S1: things that caused him to stop trusting God. One was the,
6:52
S1: Pacific Palisades Fire that burned tens of thousands of acres
6:57
S1: in Los Angeles. You'll remember that from 2020, for his
7:01
S1: home of 46 years was destroyed in that, um, as
7:06
S1: we all know, when you have a fire, a house fire,
7:09
S1: anybody who's ever been through that, either in whole or
7:14
S1: part of your home, has been damaged by smoke and fire.
7:18
S1: It's more than the material things you lose. It is
7:22
S1: even more than just the displacement that you suffer for
7:26
S1: a season of time. It is the sentimental value. Uh.
7:30
S1: Currently my family is going through a remodeling of our basement,
7:36
S1: and my wife and I, even last night was going
7:39
S1: through boxes that we have kept in a storage area.
7:43
S1: And here we are way later than what we should
7:46
S1: have been up, uh, because we are uncovering photos. Uh,
7:52
S1: the kid's drawings from when they were in elementary school
7:57
S1: where reminiscing about times and activities and places and events
8:03
S1: that took place in our life. I came across a
8:05
S1: photo of me and my grandmother who's no longer here.
8:08
S1: She's with the Lord. And man, did that bring back memories? Uh,
8:12
S1: we came across obviously the baby photos of our kids
8:16
S1: and yes, for us, we came across photos of our
8:20
S1: son Chris, who, as many of you know, uh, died
8:24
S1: in 2019. Uh, he was our oldest son. And all
8:28
S1: of these brought back a wave of emotions. Now, what
8:31
S1: dollar amount value you put on that, uh, is probably
8:35
S1: pretty low. Uh, if I'm filling out an insurance claim, uh,
8:39
S1: I'm sure the Polaroid photos or pictures that I came
8:44
S1: across or the kid's hand drawn pictures are not going
8:49
S1: to be something that has material value, but we all
8:52
S1: know that's the most valuable stuff. So when I hear
8:56
S1: him say that his house, uh, being, uh, burned down
8:59
S1: after 46 years, uh, it is, uh, pretty significant. The
9:05
S1: other thing that he cites is what took place December 14th, 2025. Again,
9:09
S1: this was newsworthy. Uh, Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle
9:15
S1: were friends. Uh, Rob, uh, actually was the director of
9:20
S1: the movie when Harry met Sally that Billy Crystal starred in. And, uh,
9:25
S1: he was, uh, he and his wife was found murdered,
9:29
S1: stabbed to death in their Brentwood, California, home. Uh, their
9:33
S1: son Nick, was charged with murdering them. And so Crystal says,
9:38
S1: after these two tragedies, I no longer trust God. And
9:45
S1: I would say that I think there is a response
9:49
S1: and I want to get into the response. And by
9:51
S1: the way, the article that really provoked me to want
9:55
S1: to talk about this is that evangelist Franklin Graham, uh, X, uh,
10:01
S1: the um, uh, Twitter platform, um, responded, chose to respond to,
10:08
S1: to Crystal's statement. He no longer trusts in God. Um,
10:13
S1: and so it caused me to say, how would I
10:15
S1: have responded? What would I say if Billy Crystal and
10:19
S1: I were friends? What have I said to those who
10:22
S1: have said across me, has it been helpful or harmful?
10:26
S1: How have I navigated this myself? All of these are
10:29
S1: questions that I want you and I to dissect, but
10:31
S1: I want to be clear on what I'm not trying
10:33
S1: to do. What I'm not trying to do is to
10:36
S1: use Billy Crystal as an object of debate on whether
10:40
S1: or not he's right or wrong to struggle with this emotion. Um,
10:47
S1: I think what we need to do is affirm how
10:50
S1: hard it is to maintain trust and the goodness of
10:54
S1: God when the activities of our lives seem to betray that.
10:59
S1: I think a starting point is just being honest about
11:02
S1: what he's saying, what he's not saying, what he's not
11:04
S1: saying is he no longer believes that God exists. What
11:08
S1: he's not saying is that God is not good. And obviously,
11:12
S1: there's no way for us to know all the layers
11:14
S1: of emotions and thoughts and beliefs that he has about God.
11:18
S1: So I won't attempt to do that. But what it
11:20
S1: does seem like he's acknowledging is that this is really
11:24
S1: hard for me to reconcile the goodness of God, which
11:28
S1: I lived under that assumption. According to Billy Crystal, he
11:33
S1: lived up under that assumption at least 20 years prior
11:37
S1: when he did the one man stage show about his
11:39
S1: dad's passing to what he is experiencing right now after tragedy.
11:45
S1: After tragedy. Now he's struggling with how do I reconcile this?
11:50
S1: If you, like me, have ever journeyed through that struggle?
11:55
S1: And for me, the loss of our son, man, it's
11:59
S1: been about a 7 or 8 year struggle. And there
12:02
S1: are certain things that I can affirm today that in
12:07
S1: the immediate aftermath, it was hard to affirm about the
12:11
S1: goodness of God, the sovereignty of God, the wisdom of God,
12:14
S1: his providence, all those things I never. What was interesting
12:18
S1: is that I never changed my theology. Never did I
12:23
S1: change the tenets of my belief. I still believed in, in.
12:28
S1: In the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the virgin birth, his resurrection,
12:32
S1: all of it still believed it. But yet there was
12:35
S1: the struggle around. But can I trust him? So I
12:40
S1: do identify what Billy Crystal said, I do believe there
12:44
S1: is a pastoral, biblical response to what Billy Crystal said,
12:49
S1: and I would love to hear from you, because some
12:51
S1: of you have journeyed through this well and come out
12:54
S1: on the other side of it with your faith intact.
12:57
S1: Being able to affirm, as I am today, with a
13:01
S1: full throated affirmation, God is good and he can be trusted.
13:07
S1: I want to hear from you at eight, seven, seven, 5675.
13:11
S1: How would you advise or what advice would you give
13:15
S1: to someone? Let's just say a friend who's struggling to
13:19
S1: trust God after tragedy touch their life. I want to
13:22
S1: hear from you on that question. I also want your
13:25
S1: prayer requests so that we can pray together. Maybe it's
13:28
S1: you who needs prayer for your own heart. Maybe there's
13:31
S1: someone in your life that you love and appreciate and
13:34
S1: you want prayer for them. You give us a call
13:37
S1: 8775483675 before it's all said and done, I hope that
13:43
S1: we'll be able to move a little bit further in
13:46
S1: our journey with Jesus. Take that next step in our
13:50
S1: journey with Jesus. That's my hope. That's my prayer. And
13:54
S1: I want you to be a part of it. Check
13:56
S1: us out on social media. Equip radio. That's equip radio.
13:59
S1: Don't change that dial. Much more to come up next
14:01
S1: on equip right after this. Has your spiritual fire fizzle?
14:09
S1: You're not alone. Life's ups and downs can leave even
14:13
S1: faithful believers feeling like their passion for God is cooled.
14:17
S1: That's why I want to sing you a book called
14:19
S1: The Rekindled Heart by doctor Mark Yarbrough, president of Dallas
14:23
S1: Theological Seminary. It offers six essentials to help you fang
14:27
S1: your faith back into flame. We'll send you this valuable
14:31
S1: tool with your donation of any amount. To equip, call
14:35
S1: 8886444144 or visit equip radio.org. Welcome back to equip with
14:52
S1: Chris Brooks on the CBS Sunday Morning interview with correspondents, uh,
15:02
S1: Tracy Smith. Billy Crystal said he no longer talked to
15:08
S1: God because I don't trust him to. Too many bad
15:12
S1: things have happened. The earth is in bad shape. This
15:15
S1: is a weird and scary time. So no, I don't
15:19
S1: speak to him anymore. How would you respond? What advice
15:24
S1: would you give to a friend who is struggling to
15:28
S1: trust God after tragedy has touched their life? Taking your calls,
15:33
S1: also your prayer requests for your own heart or for
15:35
S1: someone you love who maybe is living through this reality
15:40
S1: just like Billy Crystal is, and we should be praying
15:44
S1: for him. I think it's easy to dehumanize actors, athletes, uh,
15:50
S1: these individuals and to think of them only based off
15:53
S1: of the goods and services that they produce for us,
15:56
S1: a consumable content that they make for our enjoyment and to,
16:00
S1: and to detach ourselves from the fact that this is
16:03
S1: a real man who has experienced a real death of
16:06
S1: his close friend and the burning down of his of
16:10
S1: his home. And maybe you don't like his movies, that's fine.
16:15
S1: But hopefully we can sympathize with his struggle because it's
16:19
S1: something that you live long enough. All of us are
16:21
S1: going to have to be confronted with. So what advice
16:24
S1: would you give to someone who's struggling, uh, to trust
16:28
S1: God in the aftermath of tragedy touching their life? Let's
16:31
S1: go to Boca Raton, Florida. Rebecca is listening to us there. Hey, Rebecca,
16:36
S1: thank you so much for calling in. What's your comment?
16:40
S2: Hello, this is Rebecca Rigney. I'm calling from Boca Raton, Florida.
16:45
S1: Yeah. What's your comment?
16:47
S2: Yes. I just wanted to comment. I have a I
16:49
S2: have struggled, I have struggled in the past with just
16:52
S2: having anxiety, just having anxiety for no reason, basically, uh,
16:57
S2: and struggling to trust the Lord. And I got over that. Basically,
17:02
S2: God just told me, you need to trust me, I
17:05
S2: am trustworthy. He personally told me that himself. Just keep
17:08
S2: trusting me. It's okay. He said that he told me
17:11
S2: it was okay to have anxiety, but I am trustworthy.
17:15
S2: God has personally told me I am trustworthy. You can
17:18
S2: trust me no matter what happens, no matter who says
17:22
S2: what or what happens, just keep trusting me. So. And
17:27
S2: if somebody. That's the only thing I. Regarding encouragement, don't
17:30
S2: stop trusting God. Don't stop trusting the Lord. Give everything
17:34
S2: to the Lord and whatever personal quiet time anybody has,
17:39
S2: because people are very busy. Do what you can. If
17:42
S2: you're in your car by yourself, keep your eyes of
17:45
S2: course open and keep. Keep driving safely and keep talking
17:48
S2: to the Lord and telling him what is on your
17:50
S2: mind all the time about your children, whoever it is.
17:55
S1: I want to first off, say thank you for calling
17:59
S1: and sharing your heart. Um. I am rejoicing with you
18:03
S1: and your testimony of being able to, uh, man, navigate
18:08
S1: through anxiety. Uh, for those who live with significant anxiety,
18:13
S1: you know how real that struggle is that Rebecca refers to.
18:17
S1: So I don't take that lightly. I appreciate your transparency
18:20
S1: and your honesty, your honesty as well. Uh, Rebecca. Rebecca
18:26
S1: had an experience, and there's no way for us to
18:28
S1: be able to, uh, critique or dissect her experience, but
18:33
S1: she had an experience in which the Lord, in a
18:36
S1: very personal and intimate way, um, answered her questions and,
18:41
S1: and sometimes that's that's what it takes. But as I
18:45
S1: look at church history, as I look at the scriptures,
18:49
S1: not everybody has the same type of personal encounter that
18:52
S1: Rebecca just said. Uh, nowhere is that promise that we
18:56
S1: would all have that. But what we all do have
19:00
S1: is the Word of God. And just as Rebecca has said,
19:04
S1: the Lord told her to trust in him. Well, I
19:06
S1: think we can all say that, uh, that the, the
19:09
S1: the Lord has told us to do that because the Bible,
19:12
S1: his word, instructs us to do that over and over again.
19:15
S1: One of my favorite verses of scripture that I often
19:19
S1: will talk to my, my church about and my family
19:22
S1: about is, is Proverbs three and five. Trust in the
19:26
S1: Lord with all your heart. Do not lean to your
19:29
S1: own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he
19:33
S1: will make straight your paths. Man. That is. That's the
19:36
S1: crux of it. So what Rebecca is saying is that
19:41
S1: she has chosen to trust in him because he has
19:44
S1: commanded us to do so. Um, one of the ways
19:48
S1: that I would say this, I wrote down four reasons
19:50
S1: why I still trust in God. And one of the
19:53
S1: reasons that I wrote down on why I still trust
19:57
S1: in God is because I know so little and he
20:02
S1: knows so much. I know so little, and he knows so,
20:06
S1: so much. So part of what I've had to come
20:10
S1: to grips with in my own heart and how I would, um, yeah,
20:16
S1: how I would, uh, advise Billy Crystal if I had
20:20
S1: the privilege of sitting across from him is to first off,
20:22
S1: sympathize with the struggle to be able to say, man, I, I, I.
20:27
S1: First off, commend you for being honest and I don't
20:31
S1: condemn any man from being transparent or woman of where
20:35
S1: they are in their relationship with God. But then I
20:39
S1: would say, and this is what has helped me as
20:42
S1: I've been in a similar place. And one thing that's
20:46
S1: helped me is to recognize his ways are not our ways.
20:49
S1: His ways are higher than our ways. As far as
20:53
S1: the heavens are above the earth, are God's ways or
20:57
S1: God's thoughts above ours. And so I think about my
21:02
S1: relationship with my children, right? How many times am I
21:08
S1: saying to them, you don't understand why I'm doing what
21:12
S1: I'm doing, but I'm asking for you to trust me.
21:15
S1: I'm asking for you to trust me. Which is another
21:18
S1: point that I put down on my list of why
21:20
S1: I trust God. It's because I have to remind myself
21:24
S1: that I'm constantly asking people in my church and my family,
21:28
S1: or my job to trust me. Who don't understand the
21:34
S1: reasons why I'm doing what I'm doing either. How many
21:38
S1: times have my kids come to me and said, can
21:42
S1: we go to the movies? Can we go out to eat?
21:44
S1: Can we go on vacation? And, and I'll say to them, no, no,
21:49
S1: we can't. We can't afford to do that. And the
21:52
S1: response is, oh, but but why not? Why can't we
21:55
S1: do that right now? And I understand their world does
21:59
S1: not exist with mortgages and utilities and tuition payments. They
22:05
S1: don't live in that world. So they don't understand that, hey,
22:09
S1: if you like the experience of flipping that switch and
22:13
S1: lights actually coming on, if you enjoy the phenomenon of
22:17
S1: opening a refrigerator and there's food actually there, if you
22:21
S1: like having heat in the winter, uh, an AC in
22:26
S1: the summer, then, uh, we're not going to the movies
22:29
S1: today like that is a part of the whole parenting journey.
22:33
S1: But again and again and again. And I make light,
22:35
S1: but I just, on a serious note, want to say
22:39
S1: that God knows so much more than I do. And
22:43
S1: I think in part, that's what our dear sister is
22:46
S1: saying in her comments. So I appreciate Rebecca giving us
22:49
S1: a call. Let's go to Yvonne in Ohio. Let's go
22:54
S1: to Yvonne in Ohio. Yvonne, thank you so much for listening.
22:57
S1: What's your comment?
22:59
S3: Hello. Hello. Yes, hi.
23:04
S1: I think our connection is bad. Yvonne, if you could
23:07
S1: call back. I'd love to get a chance to hear
23:09
S1: your thoughts. Let's go to Tracy in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Tracy,
23:15
S1: thank you for giving us a call. What's your comment?
23:18
S3: Good afternoon. Um, as I was sharing with the young
23:21
S3: lady I spoke with, I heard the end of the
23:23
S3: part of the situation with Billy Crystal. Yes. And my
23:26
S3: advice to him is to present to the things of God,
23:30
S3: much like yourself. Um. I had a son that was
23:33
S3: an athlete from South Florida. Very well known. Yes. And, um,
23:37
S3: transitioned literally overnight.
23:39
S1: Mhm.
23:40
S3: Um, at 24 years old, healthy.
23:41
S1: Women.
23:42
S3: Going on Thursday.
23:43
S1: Yeah.
23:44
S3: And I'm telling you the God honest truth, Chris. I
23:47
S3: was angry with God.
23:49
S1: Yes.
23:50
S3: Angry. But how I got past it was I immersed
23:54
S3: myself in the word. Mhm. Constant prayer. Even though sometimes
23:59
S3: going into prayer was a fight because the enemy kept
24:03
S3: telling me. And this is a God that you trust,
24:05
S3: and this is a God that you love. And this
24:08
S3: is a God that you say saved and set free
24:09
S3: and delivers.
24:11
S1: But yeah.
24:12
S3: The more I pushed, the easier the push got to be. Now,
24:15
S3: that first year, that push was tough.
24:17
S1: Yes, yes.
24:19
S3: And I, I like I was telling her I work
24:20
S3: in my car. So I kept the word around me.
24:23
S1: I kept listening.
24:24
S3: To positive pastors. I kept putting the word in me.
24:26
S3: And I still have my days now. Yes, but they
24:29
S3: are much fewer and much further in between. And what
24:33
S3: it did was make my love for God that much stronger.
24:37
S1: Tracy, you bless me. I appreciate you sharing. First off,
24:41
S1: my condolences. I don't care how long ago that happened.
24:45
S1: It is still fresh. And as a mom who carries her, um,
24:51
S1: her child in her heart. I just want you to
24:53
S1: know that I'm praying that God will continue to pour
24:58
S1: out his comfort and love. And clearly, he has sustained you.
25:01
S1: And I'm grateful for that. But I love, love, love
25:04
S1: what you just said, Tracy. And that is we have
25:08
S1: to go to God in relationship. If you had a
25:11
S1: grievance with anyone, a disagreement, a misunderstanding with anyone, man,
25:18
S1: it would be so much wiser for you to go
25:20
S1: to that person as opposed to talking to everyone else
25:25
S1: about your disappointment with that person. What I hear Tracy
25:28
S1: saying is that if your issue or struggle is with God,
25:33
S1: take it to him and he's big enough to handle
25:37
S1: our honest challenges and questions. So press into that relationship
25:42
S1: and watch God do for you what he did for Tracy.
25:44
S1: He's no respecter of persons, friend. Stick and stay. We're
25:47
S1: going to go further in this conversation on the other
25:50
S1: side of this break. So much more to come. Next
25:52
S1: up on equipped with Chris Brooks. Welcome back to equipped
26:02
S1: with Chris Brooks. Today we're dealing with a very sensitive topic. Um,
26:06
S1: but one that I think is important, one that I
26:08
S1: think we can all relate to. The question of the
26:12
S1: day is what advice would you give to a friend
26:15
S1: who's struggling to trust God after tragedy touched their life? Uh,
26:21
S1: this is provoked by a conversation that, Billy Crystal. An
26:25
S1: interview that actor comedian Billy Crystal did on CBS Sunday mornings, uh, with, um,
26:33
S1: a reporter in which he was asked, do you still
26:37
S1: talk to God? In reference to the 2004 one man
26:42
S1: stage show that he did in which he entitled 700 Sundays,
26:47
S1: in which he shared that during the death of his father,
26:51
S1: he was actively in conversations with God. So the question
26:55
S1: 20 years later is, do you still talk to God?
26:59
S1: To which Billy Crystal, uh, quickly and firmly responded, no,
27:05
S1: because I don't trust him. Too many bad things have happened.
27:09
S1: The earth is in bad shape. This is a weird
27:11
S1: and scary time. So no. Not anymore. Now it's easy
27:16
S1: for us to judge that type of statement. But I
27:19
S1: think as we peer deeper, uh, we can identify with
27:23
S1: the struggle of trusting that God is good. When life
27:28
S1: or the situations we are enduring don't feel good. And yes,
27:33
S1: I'm here to say God is good. But it's not
27:36
S1: flippantly and it certainly has has has come as a
27:40
S1: result of processing through much tragedy. I even recently in
27:46
S1: my own life. And so we're taking your calls to
27:50
S1: ask you the question. Have you processed this with family
27:54
S1: and friends, as you have had the privilege of someone
27:59
S1: trusting you enough to be honest with you? Like Billy
28:01
S1: Crystal was with that reporter. How have you processed it
28:05
S1: in your own life? We're also taking your calls at eight,
28:08
S1: seven seven, five, 675. I'd love to hear from you.
28:12
S1: I'd love equally as much to pray with you who say, Kris,
28:17
S1: I need prayer for my own heart. I need prayer
28:20
S1: for someone I love, and I. And I have a
28:24
S1: unique sensitivity to how hard this is. If you're in
28:27
S1: Christian leadership, if you're in Christian leadership, you may be
28:31
S1: feeling what Billy Crystal is is expressing here, but you
28:36
S1: are not allowed to say that. You're never allowed to
28:38
S1: admit that. And so there's a lot of pastors, leaders
28:42
S1: that I'm that are listening to this conversation right now
28:45
S1: who say, Chris, um, add it to my struggle to
28:48
S1: trust God's goodness is the prison. I feel like I'm
28:52
S1: in to even talk about these things. And one of
28:55
S1: the things that I see as a reoccurring statement for
28:59
S1: many of you who have gone to Facebook, many of
29:01
S1: you that are calling in is the encouragement to Billy
29:05
S1: Crystal and others to talk about it, that you have
29:07
S1: to talk about it. And so as tough as it
29:10
S1: may be, I'm going to encourage you. Find your people,
29:14
S1: find your person, your safe place, your person of peace.
29:18
S1: Find someone you can talk to and process through this
29:21
S1: with a counselor, a pastor, a neighbor, a spouse, a friend,
29:25
S1: because we don't do well alone. Uh, let's give some
29:30
S1: thank yous really quickly. I want to say thank you
29:33
S1: for the amazing, prayerful and financial support that has been
29:37
S1: given to this program. It's an act of trust when
29:41
S1: you are generous to equip, but you also enable us
29:44
S1: to fulfill our mission of equipping Christians to more effectively live, share,
29:49
S1: and defend their faith. So thank you to Heather. Thank
29:51
S1: you to Joyce, to George, to Stacey, to Lana, to Cecilia,
29:56
S1: to Loretta, to Martha for your amazing support for equip. Uh,
30:02
S1: couldn't appreciate you more. And just know on the other
30:04
S1: side of your generosity, lives are being changed forever and
30:08
S1: for eternity. Let's go to the phone lines. Let's go
30:12
S1: back to Florida Palm Beach this time and let's take Susan. Susan,
30:17
S1: thank you so much for calling. What's your comment?
30:20
S4: Hi. Thank you for taking my call. Um, I just
30:23
S4: wanted to say, and this is going to be hard,
30:25
S4: but I lost my daughter. I didn't lose her, but
30:28
S4: she went to the Lord last December.
30:30
S1: Okay.
30:30
S4: At the end of December, after having a severe asthma attack.
30:33
S4: And then she was in a, um, a vegetative state
30:37
S4: for 11 months, which was very, very hard. And we prayed,
30:42
S4: thank you. And, you know, it wasn't to be. And,
30:45
S4: you know, God took her after 11 months. And, um,
30:48
S4: she has a 17 year old daughter and, um, your granddaughter. Yeah. Okay.
30:54
S4: And so I came to visit her once, but, you know,
30:56
S4: I had drifted away from the Lord. And, um, I've
30:59
S4: always been close with him, but, uh, my seven year
31:03
S4: old granddaughter, she started asking me, grandma, will you take
31:07
S4: me to church? And she asked me for a couple
31:09
S4: of months. And finally I took her to church and
31:14
S4: it just opened up a whole new world for me. Yeah.
31:17
S4: You know, all the verses in the Bible about, you know,
31:20
S4: let the little ones come to me. You know, don't
31:23
S4: the little ones. I mean.
31:24
S1: Jesus.
31:25
S4: Is seven year old child to bring me back.
31:28
S1: That's right.
31:29
S4: You know, and I wasn't mad at him with my
31:31
S4: daughter because. Yeah. Things we don't understand. Yeah. You know,
31:34
S4: and I know I'm still processing things, but, you know,
31:37
S4: versus you mentioned they just they really hit home with me.
31:42
S4: You know, and for me, I, I, I ran back
31:45
S4: to him and I threw everything at his feet and
31:48
S4: I said, I don't know what to do. You know.
31:50
S1: Well, first off, Susan, I just want to say thank
31:53
S1: you for giving the call. Hey, I agree with you.
31:55
S1: I do think, and I jokingly say this, even in
31:58
S1: our own family, whenever I want to get through to
32:01
S1: my parents or if I want to get something done
32:05
S1: with one of, uh, with one of the grandparents, I
32:09
S1: jokingly say to my wife, hey, just, just get the
32:12
S1: grandchildren on them because the grandkids are like Kryptonite, man.
32:16
S1: They come and say, grandma, Papa, can you come to
32:20
S1: church with me? Man, that's going to be hard to
32:22
S1: say no to. So praise God that he used your
32:26
S1: sweet granddaughter. Uh, certainly. My condolences. And my heart aches
32:30
S1: just hearing you share the story of that journey. And
32:33
S1: I recognize again, it's fresh and you're still walking it out.
32:36
S1: But I'm so grateful that you have run to Jesus
32:40
S1: instead of run away from him. One thing that you
32:44
S1: mentioned that I want to mention, and I think this
32:47
S1: is one of the biggest reasons why I still trust God.
32:52
S1: One of the biggest reasons why I still trust God
32:55
S1: is that when Susan went to church, she was reminded
32:58
S1: of all the verses and all of the promises of Scripture.
33:03
S1: In other words, she was reminded of the gospel. And
33:05
S1: at the heart of the gospel is the cross. And
33:10
S1: what is it reminds me of is that God not
33:15
S1: only knows my suffering, but he has entered into my suffering,
33:20
S1: and I cannot tell you how much this has helped me.
33:25
S1: It is the thought that I have come back to.
33:28
S1: I want to say a million times. That's a little
33:30
S1: bit of an exaggeration, but only a little bit. I
33:34
S1: can't tell you how many times I've thought about the
33:36
S1: death of my son, and I have been comforted by
33:39
S1: the fact. But God, you know what it's like to
33:41
S1: lose a son. You know what it's like to see.
33:45
S1: You saw the death of your son. And so you
33:48
S1: know what that is like. And so the fact that
33:53
S1: God enters into our suffering, the fact that the son
33:58
S1: lays down his life, that the father uses that death
34:02
S1: for our vindication and atonement, it tells me two things.
34:06
S1: It tells me one, that we don't have a high
34:08
S1: priest who cannot sympathize with our sufferings. This is what
34:11
S1: Hebrews five teaches me. But the second thing it tells
34:15
S1: me is that God can bring beauty from ashes. He
34:18
S1: can bring good from what seems to be horrible. If
34:23
S1: we were standing there, we call the the day that
34:26
S1: Jesus died, Good Friday. We call it Good Friday because
34:30
S1: we're on the other side of it. But if we
34:33
S1: were there that day, it would have felt like, um,
34:38
S1: everything the opposite of good darkness covered the face of
34:42
S1: the earth. The veil was ripped in two. There was
34:45
S1: an earthquake. There was devastation, weeping, tears, all of it. Right?
34:50
S1: Little that the world know that God was using that
34:54
S1: moment to bring about redemption. We call it Good Friday
34:59
S1: because we understand the good that God has brought out
35:02
S1: of it. And somehow, someway, I am convinced that God
35:06
S1: will bring good out of the tragedies that I suffer
35:10
S1: and somehow, some way, I would love to convince Billy
35:13
S1: Crystal of that as well. And somehow, some way, I
35:16
S1: would love to convince you of that as well. That
35:19
S1: God can bring beauty from ashes, that God can bring
35:25
S1: goodness out of loss and suffering. I want to go
35:28
S1: to Indianapolis. Let's go to Karen. Quickly, before we go
35:32
S1: to a break. Karen, I wanted to get you in
35:34
S1: before our break. What is your comment? Karen.
35:38
S5: Thanks, Chris. I am I'm no stranger to to losses.
35:43
S5: I empathize greatly with people with Billy Crystal or anyone
35:47
S5: on the walk of this earth that has suffered a loss.
35:50
S5: You as well. I was praying for you during your
35:53
S5: loss and I'm a. I'm a supporter of Moody Radio.
35:56
S5: I've been on here like 3 or 4 times because
35:59
S5: I testify of Moody. I praise God for the truth.
36:02
S5: And as far as the pain in the loss, I
36:04
S5: had breast cancer twice. I went through. I can't tell
36:08
S5: you how many years of tests and trials and. But
36:11
S5: God taught me that the joy of the Lord was
36:15
S5: my strength. I was a nanny. I never missed a
36:18
S5: day of work until I had the two. I had
36:20
S5: the two tumors removed and I. They said they'd never
36:25
S5: seen anyone so full of joy. It was like the
36:27
S5: family was just amazed. And I said, it's just God.
36:30
S5: It's his grace. It's his goodness. I lost my dad
36:34
S5: at ten years old and I can't even tell you
36:37
S5: the pain. Even now I weep thinking of. I loved him,
36:41
S5: he was my everything. But guess what? God is my
36:45
S5: Heavenly father and he'll never leave me. That's right. So
36:50
S5: whoever listens to this. Be encouraged. My daughter almost lost
36:54
S5: her to meth and heroin, and she was over 20
36:58
S5: years in addictions. I cried, I wept. I had people
37:02
S5: all over the globe praying for her. And I'm telling you,
37:05
S5: she is transformed. She is totally born again.
37:09
S1: She's serving.
37:10
S5: Jesus.
37:10
S1: Chris. She's.
37:12
S5: Yeah, she's taking classes for. She's got her associates in
37:16
S5: human services. And now she's going to go on to
37:19
S5: Christian ministry.
37:20
S1: Praise God.
37:21
S5: She wants to help others that are suffering. Yeah.
37:25
S1: Praise God. What? What a testimony. Karen. You have no idea.
37:28
S1: You blessed my soul today. Father, I pray for Karen's
37:32
S1: sweet daughter. Lord, you see her. You know exactly where
37:35
S1: she's at and you know exactly how you want to
37:38
S1: use her. May you use her testimony to bring many
37:41
S1: to salvation, many sons and daughters to glory. May you
37:45
S1: pour out your grace to her and through her, and
37:49
S1: continue to bless Karen and use her testimony to minister
37:54
S1: your love, your hope, your salvation to all who will hear.
37:59
S1: In Jesus name, Amen and Amen. I love that we
38:03
S1: get to do this together, to have these critical conversations Together,
38:08
S1: and although we get an hour of radio time, the
38:11
S1: conversation doesn't have to stop because social media is available
38:15
S1: to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
38:19
S1: And so you can join us now to keep the
38:22
S1: conversation going. At Equip radio, that's equipped radio. Go there
38:27
S1: on social media. Also our website equip radio.org. You can
38:32
S1: see the article that we're referring to today. Question of
38:35
S1: the day and so much more. Whatever you do, don't
38:38
S1: go anywhere. There's so much more to come on the
38:41
S1: other side of this break. Next up on equip with
38:44
S1: Chris Ross. Here at equip, we want to help you
39:00
S1: to shine the light of Jesus in a world that
39:02
S1: often feels dark and divided. Every conversation we share is
39:06
S1: aimed at helping believers live out their faith with courage
39:11
S1: and compassion. And when you become an equipper, your monthly
39:14
S1: support helps us bring biblical truth and hope to listeners
39:18
S1: just like you all across the country. Become an Equipper today.
39:22
S1: Call 8886444144 or visit equip radio.org. Welcome back to equip
39:36
S1: with Chris Brooks. The question of the day, what advice
39:39
S1: would you give to a friend who's struggling to trust
39:43
S1: God after tragedy touched their life? I'm going to give
39:46
S1: you my number one reason that I continue to trust
39:49
S1: God after tragedy touched my life, or has touched my
39:54
S1: life in just a moment. But before I do that,
39:56
S1: let's go to Joseph, who's in Florida. Joseph, thank you
40:00
S1: so much for listening. What's your comment or prayer request,
40:04
S1: my friend?
40:05
S6: Oh. Hi, Chris. I've been listening to your radio show
40:09
S6: and I thought about the question. Oh, God bless that
40:12
S6: woman in Indianapolis. If the cancer. Oh, God bless her.
40:16
S6: God bless her. Well, getting my trust back in God.
40:21
S6: Like I said, I recently, three weeks ago, I lost
40:24
S6: my mom.
40:25
S4: Mhm.
40:26
S6: Yeah. Yeah. And, well, she has three grandchildren. Through my
40:31
S6: sisters and the middle grandchild. Joshua. Mhm. My nephew. Put
40:39
S6: himself in isolation. His relationship with my mom was so
40:43
S6: strong that he wouldn't talk to his parents. He wouldn't
40:46
S6: talk to his brother. He wouldn't talk to anybody. I
40:49
S6: got to new Jersey. I went into his bedroom. I said, Joshua,
40:53
S6: this is Uncle Joe. Do you need to talk about anything?
40:57
S6: We'll sit down and talk about it. But the answer
40:59
S6: to the question, getting your trust back in God, I
41:03
S6: would say, you know, pray, have your faith strong. And
41:09
S6: if your faith is strong and you pray and you're
41:13
S6: trusting God will be strong, you know? So tragic tragedy
41:17
S6: will happen. Tragedy. It's happened to me. Tragedy will happen.
41:22
S1: 100% of us. And the reality is, Joseph, and thank
41:26
S1: you for your call and your comment. My condolences again
41:30
S1: on your loss. But I agree with you that the
41:34
S1: reality is 100% of us are going to face what
41:37
S1: Billy Crystal has faced in that tragedy will touch our lives.
41:41
S1: Maybe his tragedy is different than yours, but none of
41:44
S1: us are going to get through this world unscathed. And
41:47
S1: the Bible tells us even why that's true. The reason
41:49
S1: why that is true is not because God is not good,
41:52
S1: but because sin is entered the world. And when sin
41:55
S1: enters the world, so does death and brokenness. We multiply
41:58
S1: that by the way, through our Are disobedient. So for
42:02
S1: those of us who do want to reduce the amount
42:05
S1: of evil that's in the world, we can have a
42:08
S1: dramatic impact on the amount of evil that's in the
42:11
S1: world by simply dealing with the evil in our own heart.
42:14
S1: This is why me turning to Christ and surrendering my
42:17
S1: heart to him actually helps to bring healing to the world,
42:21
S1: because I'm reducing the amount of evil at work in
42:25
S1: my own heart and through me towards others. But I
42:29
S1: do want to pray for this sweet grandson, Joshua, who
42:32
S1: is struggling after the loss of his grandparents, who keep
42:38
S1: on in relationship. Father, I lift up Joshua. You know
42:42
S1: exactly where Joshua is at, what he's going through. And Lord,
42:46
S1: his Uncle Joe is called in to just simply say
42:50
S1: that he loves him and he wants him to know
42:52
S1: your love. And so, father, can you please pour out
42:55
S1: your love in such a unique way that Joshua would
42:59
S1: know that you are real, that you love him, and
43:03
S1: that you care deeply for him. I pray that you
43:07
S1: would answer questions that only you can, and that you
43:10
S1: would prevent the work and lies of the enemy. May
43:14
S1: your voice be the loudest voice in Joshua's heart. In
43:18
S1: Jesus name, Amen and amen. Um, the number one reason
43:23
S1: why I continue to trust in God in spite of
43:27
S1: tragedy or in light of tragedy is because I don't
43:31
S1: want to compound my problems. I don't want to compound
43:36
S1: my problems. Now, that may seem like so unspiritual, but
43:40
S1: let me explain what I mean by that. I see
43:43
S1: no benefit in no longer trusting God. I don't see
43:47
S1: the the value that it brings to my life. No longer,
43:52
S1: trusting God only multiplies my bitterness only isolates me further
43:56
S1: from the only one who can actually bring healing. It
44:00
S1: only leads to deeper isolation and it puts my soul
44:05
S1: in danger. So when I think about the prospects of
44:10
S1: trusting God versus not trusting God, I'm just not convinced
44:15
S1: that there is benefit to trust, to not trust in God.
44:19
S1: By the way, this this avoidance of compounding the problems
44:24
S1: and pains in my life is the same reason I'm
44:27
S1: against abortion or transgender surgeries or returning evil for evil.
44:33
S1: It's because they falsely tell us that if we do
44:37
S1: these things, that somehow it's going to relieve the anxiety,
44:42
S1: the depression, the hurt, the grief. But me not trusting
44:47
S1: God won't bring my son back. Me not trusting God
44:51
S1: won't relieve the grief or the heartache or the pain.
44:54
S1: And it won't do that for you either. Neither will abortion,
45:00
S1: neither will transgender surgery. Neither will returning hate for hate.
45:05
S1: All of those things, all of those things only take
45:08
S1: a problem, a grievance, an issue, a challenge, and further
45:13
S1: compounds the problem. So I say with all confidence that
45:19
S1: God is trustworthy. Why? Because he's entered into our suffering.
45:24
S1: That God is trustworthy. Why? Because he knows so much
45:27
S1: more than what we know. And his ways are higher
45:31
S1: than our ways. God is trustworthy. Why? Because he has
45:34
S1: a proven track record of faithfulness. He has never failed us.
45:38
S1: God is trustworthy because he promises he will make all
45:41
S1: things new. God is trustworthy because he redeems and brings
45:46
S1: beauty from ashes. God is trustworthy because he's proven his
45:52
S1: love on the cross of Calvary. So I encourage you,
45:56
S1: trust in the Lord today? Don't lean to your own understanding.
46:01
S1: In all your ways. Acknowledge him, and he will make
46:04
S1: straight your paths, and he will heal your broken heart. Father,
46:09
S1: I pray for every caller we couldn't get to. I
46:12
S1: pray for every person who's listening, whose heart is aching,
46:15
S1: and who's struggling to trust you. Oh, for grace to
46:19
S1: trust you more. That's our prayer. And it's in Jesus mighty,
46:24
S1: matchless and magnificent name we pray. Amen and Amen. Friends,
46:30
S1: if today you want to give your heart to Jesus,
46:32
S1: I want to give you a number to call. 888
46:35
S1: need him eight, eight, eight need him. And until we're
46:39
S1: together again next time. As always, remember equipped with Chris
46:42
S1: Brooks is a production of Moody Radio, a Ministry of
46:45
S1: Moody Bible Institute.