Latest / Karl and Crew / Every Reason to Leave a marriage with Vikki Rose & The Church and Foster Care with Dr. Sharen Ford

Transcript

Every Reason to Leave a marriage with Vikki Rose & The Church and Foster Care with Dr. Sharen Ford · Karl and Crew

• 0:00
  S1: Broadcasting from Chicago, across North America and beyond. It's Carl
• 0:05
  S1: and crew.
• 0:06
  S2: Come as you are an experienced guide, overcome what seems
• 0:11
  S2: impossible and live as you never imagined.
• 0:14
  S1: Start your morning with a laugh.
• 0:16
  S2: Cold spaghetti's. Great. Okay.
• 0:19
  S3: Okay, I disagree. I guess not. No, I guess certainly
• 0:22
  S3: it is not. No. Okay, well, man, I'm going back.
• 0:26
  S2: To my bachelor days. I guess I thought cold spaghetti
• 0:29
  S2: was universally loved.
• 0:31
  S4: I've never been known for, like, high levels of coordination.
• 0:34
  S4: That's just. It feels like.
• 0:37
  S2: I've never been known for high levels of coordination.
• 0:42
  S1: Delivering the truth daily.
• 0:44
  S4: If it were possible to have every worldly gain available
• 0:48
  S4: and you're forfeiting your soul. There's no amount of gain
• 0:52
  S4: that would make it worth it.
• 0:53
  S5: Our own way never ever works. Because it's apart from
• 0:56
  S5: the life source, which is God.
• 0:59
  S6: For me, growing up, love was always conditional and can
• 1:02
  S6: be taken from you. Christ's love can't. And he went
• 1:06
  S6: to the cross with my mind and my heart that night.
• 1:10
  S1: Now from the call of Hope Studios, this is Carl
• 1:15
  S1: and crew.
• 1:16
  S2: Sometimes you're gone so long you wonder if maybe you
• 1:19
  S2: appear to have aged.
• 1:22
  S3: Yeah.
• 1:23
  S2: Do I, do I appear to have aged?
• 1:26
  S3: No.
• 1:26
  S2: You'd be good to me. You guys.
• 1:28
  S3: Like you.
• 1:29
  S2: You'd be good to me. Alli's hesitating.
• 1:31
  S4: I had to do a double.
• 1:32
  S3: Take and make sure.
• 1:33
  S4: That I could still recognize you. But not because of age. Just. Just.
• 1:37
  S4: I forgot what you looked like.
• 1:38
  S2: I don't have a beard. I just kept shaving that off. Oh, boy.
• 1:42
  S2: It's good to be back in the saddle again. Yeah,
• 1:47
  S2: it's good to be back, man. And, uh. Oh, boy.
• 1:50
  S2: Blaze is crazier than ever, and.
• 1:53
  S3: Oh, boy, you.
• 1:54
  S6: I'm sure.
• 1:54
  S2: Yeah, he's a funny guy. He's a funny guy. So
• 1:58
  S2: here we are. Ali.
• 2:00
  S4: Welcome back.
• 2:01
  S2: It's good to be back.
• 2:01
  S4: You've been missed.
• 2:03
  S2: I missed you guys, I really did. It's, uh. Sometimes
• 2:07
  S2: you get back from a break and you're going. I
• 2:09
  S2: need a break. This time I'm like, no, I've had
• 2:12
  S2: a good break. I went away to a place that
• 2:15
  S2: is going to remain undisclosed, doing some little bit of fun,
• 2:20
  S2: but a whole lot of ministry. And boy, things are
• 2:25
  S2: very difficult for saints around the globe. That's all I
• 2:28
  S2: can say. Ali.
• 2:30
  S4: Yeah. And you know, we get we have enough conversations
• 2:32
  S4: here on Carl and crew to get, I think, a
• 2:35
  S4: good picture of that to keep that hopefully at the
• 2:39
  S4: forefront because it's easy to just it's not like that.
• 2:41
  S4: It gets often reported mainstream media in the West. It
• 2:45
  S4: just doesn't. Every once in a while a headline will
• 2:48
  S4: pop up here and there. But the reality of the
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  S4: day to day life in so many different places.
• 2:54
  S2: Yeah, man. I mean, it's so real. It's it's so
• 2:57
  S2: good to get off the soil of this continent and
• 3:00
  S2: to go meet some saints in places where I mean
• 3:06
  S2: to take a stand for Christ and be bold. It's man.
• 3:10
  S2: It's risky. It is risky. And if it's not risky,
• 3:14
  S2: it's costly. Uh, you know where I was. And again,
• 3:19
  S2: I can't share where I was that would put some
• 3:22
  S2: people that we were partnered up with in harm's way
• 3:25
  S2: really would. Um, but where my bride and I went
• 3:29
  S2: for some time, week and a half, actually. It is
• 3:34
  S2: costly to follow Jesus. It just is costly. And it's
• 3:38
  S2: growing in risk. And without giving away too much, it's
• 3:45
  S2: just there's, there's a growing across the globe. There are
• 3:52
  S2: certain places that have been high risk for gospel witness
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  S2: for centuries. 2000 years.
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  S3: Sure.
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  S2: But then there's other places that are growing in that. And,
• 4:03
  S2: and it's tough. And we were in one of those places.
• 4:06
  S2: So it's good to be back. I love those 15
• 4:09
  S2: hour plane rides. Don't you love those Ali.
• 4:12
  S4: Wow, those are tough.
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  S2: 15 well.
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  S4: 1445 1450 I think the longest flight I've ever been
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  S4: on was 12.
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  S2: That's a.
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  S3: Long one.
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  S4: It's a long one. And then sometimes you got to
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  S4: get off and then pop back on for two hours
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  S4: or something. And I found that like that second like
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  S4: two hour flight can sometimes be the one that gets
• 4:32
  S4: you because you're like, I just did 12 hours. Like,
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  S4: I can't, I can't do another minute on this bird.
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  S2: Yeah. I had a little four hour flight leading up
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  S2: to the, to the big one.
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  S4: Yeah. Those are, those can be, um, two.
• 4:48
  S2: It's just back to back and it's something else, man.
• 4:51
  S2: But it was, it was a great trip and.
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  S3: Oh.
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  S2: My goodness. It's so inspirational to watch people who are
• 4:59
  S2: really walking it out for the Lord and it's humbling.
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  S2: You know what I mean?
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  S3: Sure.
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  S2: Really humbling. You know, I'm sitting there sharing with a
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  S2: group of 120 pastors and wives for several days, just
• 5:13
  S2: pouring out our heart. And I just open with the
• 5:17
  S2: fact that I've got more to learn from you than
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  S2: you do from me. That is a fact. And it's true.
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  S2: I mean, these people are rich in faith, man. Simple,
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  S2: honest to God faith. And it's one of the coolest
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  S2: things to behold. Well, any crazy stuff happened while I
• 5:35
  S2: was gone here.
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  S6: Oh, man.
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  S2: Oh, thunder. Okay. I walk in, he's gone.
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  S6: He needed.
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  S3: A rest. Ali.
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  S2: What was she up to? You want to go ahead?
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  S6: She was just telling you.
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  S3: Just. It was.
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  S4: Crazy.
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  S6: It was tough.
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  S4: Pure craziness. You know me.
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  S3: Yeah.
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  S2: That's why I'm.
• 5:51
  S3: Asking. Yeah.
• 5:52
  S2: No, I. Tongue in cheek.
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  S3: My goodness.
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  S6: Good.
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  S3: Yeah.
• 5:55
  S2: Ali. Ali's an even keeled kid, right?
• 5:59
  S6: She is. And she's amazing. So. No. Oh, that did it.
• 6:02
  S6: She did excellent in holding the fort, but very glad
• 6:05
  S6: to have you back. Oh, excellent job holding the fort.
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  S6: She really.
• 6:08
  S3: Did.
• 6:09
  S2: Yeah, I knew she would. Well, guys, we got a
• 6:11
  S2: lot going on. And speaking of in harm's way, we
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  S2: want to talk with someone. I got to get an
• 6:17
  S2: update and see what's shakin here. Oh, we got a.
• 6:21
  S2: I mean, what's happening in Iran? All I'm. All I
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  S2: can tell you is this. And it's probably no surprise.
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  S2: I flew through some airspace that I was looking out
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  S2: my window because I was on the right side, knowing
• 6:35
  S2: that there had been some drones that had been lobbed
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  S2: into some countries for which we had to fly in
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  S2: and out of. And I'm like, man, we are in airspace.
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  S2: That's within reach of drones. But then you go, there's
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  S2: some people on the ground where those things are coming
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  S2: from and the price they're paying to follow Jesus is enormous.
• 6:59
  S2: It just gives you a great perspective, really good perspective.
• 7:03
  S2: But that's what we want to get Doctor Sherry. It's
• 7:06
  S2: going to be coming up here in a little bit guys.
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  S2: Let's get an update. What's happening with our Iranian brothers
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  S2: and sisters. And is regime change coming.
• 7:16
  S1: She was trying to earn her way to God. But
• 7:19
  S1: God showed her she didn't have to. Ali is in
• 7:22
  S1: the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
• 7:26
  S2: Hey, Hormoz. I am really curious. Um, do you have
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  S2: any more Intel on what's going on with Iran? I mean,
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  S2: we've we know we've got a kind of a double
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  S2: blockade in the her most strait. We know that there's
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  S2: even Intel reports that the Iranian regime has gotten some
• 7:43
  S2: of their silos up and going again, which is tough
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  S2: to hear. But what's what's happening here? Is there hope
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  S2: for regime change still? What do you hold? What are
• 7:54
  S2: you hearing?
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  S7: People want the regime change. That's what they're hoping. And
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  S7: they have paid a big price and they don't mind
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  S7: to pay more price. That's why the Iranians, for the
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  S7: most part, except the people with the government, which is
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  S7: about 1 or 2 million out of 90 some million
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  S7: who are with the government. And they have unfortunately, they
• 8:15
  S7: are the ones who have the guns. So people of Iran,
• 8:18
  S7: they really want a regime change at any cost. That's why, surprisingly,
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  S7: they welcomed the war. They love Trump. They love Netanyahu,
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  S7: and they welcome the war, even though they know that
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  S7: they are paying a big price. It's very hard. In Iran,
• 8:36
  S7: groceries are scarce. I'm in touch with our leaders in Iran,
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  S7: as you may know. We have an underground church network
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  S7: in Iran. We have many leaders in Iran, and we
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  S7: are we are in touch with them. So our life
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  S7: is miserable. But they're saying, let's let's finish. Hey, Trump,
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  S7: finish what you started. Don't negotiate. When they hear about
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  S7: the negotiation or ceasefire, they become depressed and hopeless. Yeah.
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  S7: They want this war to continue and say, we are
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  S7: we are ready to pay a price. We already have
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  S7: paid price. If this government stays, we're paying price with
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  S7: our lives. So let's finish the job, continue until the
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  S7: the regime is down. That's what they're asking Trump, which
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  S7: they call Uncle Trump, and they call Netanyahu, Bibi, Bibi,
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  S7: my beloved Bibi.
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  S3: They call it.
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  S7: They have made a love song for Bibi. They sing and.
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  S7: And now that there was a cease fire in Iran,
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  S7: I know that there are some fires back and forth
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  S7: in the in the Strait of Hormuz, but people are
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  S7: very discouraged and depressed right now. The people of Iran,
• 9:40
  S7: because they're thinking Trump is coming to an agreement with
• 9:45
  S7: them and it's not going to. The government is still here.
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  S7: And then the Trump will go and this government will
• 9:52
  S7: take care of her. By the way, if this government stays,
• 9:56
  S7: there will be a great massacre of people. This government
• 10:00
  S7: will kill many, and they have said it already. They've
• 10:03
  S7: said they're going to kill if you have to kill 100,000,
• 10:05
  S7: if you have to kill 1 million, we will do that.
• 10:08
  S7: And persecution. A new wave of persecution will be here.
• 10:13
  S7: If this government stays, many Christians will be killed. So
• 10:17
  S7: you need to pray about it. Pray for the downfall
• 10:20
  S7: of this government.
• 10:21
  S4: Doctor Shariat with us. He's the founder and president of
• 10:24
  S4: Iran Alive Ministries, which uses satellite broadcasting and the internet
• 10:27
  S4: to reach Iranians with the gospel. Now I'm pulling some
• 10:30
  S4: some stats from your own website. Hormoz population of about
• 10:34
  S4: 84 million people, about 2 million identify as Christians. The
• 10:38
  S4: church in Iran, one of the most persecuted in the world.
• 10:42
  S4: No church gatherings are permitted. Bibles are prohibited and difficult
• 10:46
  S4: to find. hopelessness and despair have caused suicide rates and
• 10:50
  S4: drug addictions to skyrocket. Now this was this has been
• 10:53
  S4: true even before the most recent conflict. How much worse now?
• 10:59
  S7: Well, I'm in touch with our leaders, and that's a
• 11:02
  S7: good picture. When I talk to our leaders in Iran,
• 11:05
  S7: they say two things. They say a life is so hard. And, um, because, uh,
• 11:13
  S7: there is no grocery. And what what is it? There's
• 11:15
  S7: very expensive. So they cannot afford even buying eggs. They
• 11:19
  S7: don't know where their next meal is, uh, comes from.
• 11:23
  S7: And that's why we have a campaign to help the
• 11:25
  S7: Christians in Iran, starting with leaders. We have already started
• 11:29
  S7: in three cities, about 20 families, every city that's our
• 11:32
  S7: current campaign and people who want to help their brothers
• 11:36
  S7: and sisters in Iran, especially those who are serving, they're
• 11:39
  S7: putting their lives on the line. So that's one thing.
• 11:41
  S7: That miserable life. Uh, the government is hoarding the limited resources.
• 11:46
  S7: The common people don't even have food right now. They
• 11:50
  S7: don't have jobs. Like I talked to one of our leaders,
• 11:53
  S7: she said. They're kicking me out of my apartment. I
• 11:57
  S7: cannot pay because I have limited resources. Things have become
• 12:02
  S7: expensive and either I have to just eat, you know,
• 12:06
  S7: survive with basics of eating or pay rent, and I
• 12:10
  S7: cannot pay rent. They're kicking me out and even my
• 12:13
  S7: meal is is not there for sure. At the same time,
• 12:18
  S7: you know, she was not the first one, but at
• 12:21
  S7: the same time, our leaders in Iran, they say life
• 12:23
  S7: is very miserable. But at the same time, the heaven
• 12:26
  S7: is open. The people are coming to Christ. This lady
• 12:29
  S7: who said, they're kicking me out of my apartment, I
• 12:32
  S7: was depressed, was discouraged. But even with the voice of depression, discouragement,
• 12:38
  S7: she just adds at the end, by the way, I'm
• 12:41
  S7: sharing the gospel with friends and family members and strangers,
• 12:44
  S7: and I'm leading so many people to.
• 12:45
  S3: Christ, man.
• 12:46
  S2: So this is such good. Good news in the in
• 12:50
  S2: the midst of absolute tragedy and the risk of losing life.
• 12:54
  S2: It's it's rough. Doctor Herman shared our guest here. We're
• 12:57
  S2: going to get more stories about what's going on. And
• 13:01
  S2: I want to get one point of clarity because I
• 13:03
  S2: did hear on a network station that, uh, they're hearing
• 13:07
  S2: that people don't want this war to start again. I
• 13:09
  S2: want some clarity on that one because I think we
• 13:11
  S2: sometimes get some news that's a little bit tweaked, guys.
• 13:15
  S2: It's rough in Iran. Stories of hope, though, coming up.
• 13:19
  S1: You're listening to Colonel and Crew on Moody Radio.
• 13:23
  S2: Christianity Today calls him the most influential Iranian American. And
• 13:28
  S2: he's also been labeled the Billy Graham of Iran. Doctor,
• 13:30
  S2: share it with us really quickly here. I heard a
• 13:34
  S2: report and I look there's so many different motivations for
• 13:38
  S2: cherry picking things, but their report on a network was
• 13:41
  S2: that the Iranian people are terrified of this war starting again.
• 13:45
  S2: What say you, Hermas?
• 13:48
  S7: Well, let me clarify that, because one of our interviews
• 13:51
  S7: with major networks, they asked me the same thing. So
• 13:54
  S7: we read, we go to social media and people of
• 13:57
  S7: Iran are against this war. I said, you are, uh,
• 14:02
  S7: you must be more alert than you are. You're a reporter.
• 14:06
  S7: Just tell me who is on internet right now. They
• 14:09
  S7: have cut off internet for three months. When you go
• 14:13
  S7: to social media, who is posting it? It's a it's
• 14:16
  S7: a government cyber army that's posting. They have they're the
• 14:20
  S7: only ones access to internet. So don't believe that the
• 14:23
  S7: people of Iran want freedom. They feel they're hostages. They're
• 14:27
  S7: they're feeling they feel they're being captives in the hands
• 14:30
  S7: of their enemies. That's why they welcome Trump and Netanyahu.
• 14:34
  S7: They see them not as invaders and foreign foreign armies
• 14:38
  S7: invading their countries. They see these people, Us and Netanyahu
• 14:43
  S7: and Israel. They see them as Liberation Army and they
• 14:46
  S7: welcome them. So on this war. But they wanted to
• 14:49
  S7: resolve not just war and suffering. And then nothing happens.
• 14:53
  S7: But they want resolve them, especially Christians, if they will
• 14:57
  S7: be in trouble if this government stays. Let me share
• 15:01
  S7: a couple of things. Like I was talking to one
• 15:03
  S7: of our leaders. Uh, you know, I was training and
• 15:06
  S7: those leaders from Iran cannot be there because of internet.
• 15:09
  S7: Sometimes they're there. And I saw, uh, just last Monday,
• 15:13
  S7: I was teaching them, encouraging them on a Zoom call.
• 15:16
  S7: And I saw in the corner of my eyes, one
• 15:18
  S7: of our leaders was just crying, just crying. I stopped
• 15:22
  S7: and said, what are you doing? What's happening? Why are
• 15:24
  S7: you crying? She said, I'm I'm an online pastor. I
• 15:27
  S7: have 80 people in my online. Of course, most of
• 15:30
  S7: them cannot come because of the internet. But she said,
• 15:34
  S7: I just heard out of 85 people were killed or
• 15:40
  S7: Were killed on the streets. So she was she was
• 15:44
  S7: crying at the same time. Another story, another time. One
• 15:47
  S7: of our leaders, I talked to him and he said,
• 15:50
  S7: you know, pastor, what happened? He said, I was I
• 15:53
  S7: became a Christian and my family were devout Muslims. They
• 15:56
  S7: started persecuting me. They disowned me. They just communicate with me.
• 16:00
  S7: And they haven't been talking to me for months. And
• 16:03
  S7: the worst of them, he said, was my uncle said,
• 16:06
  S7: my uncle was so devout. Six months ago he told me,
• 16:09
  S7: I will turn you in. I will give you your
• 16:11
  S7: name and the government will arrest you. And when they
• 16:14
  S7: are hanging you, they're killing you. I was standing there.
• 16:17
  S7: I will be enjoying the you're killing your execution. And
• 16:22
  S7: he said, you know what happened? No communication for the
• 16:24
  S7: last six months. He said, but I got a phone
• 16:27
  S7: call from my uncle last night. So do you know
• 16:30
  S7: what he said? No, what I what did he say?
• 16:33
  S7: He said my uncle, who wanted to turn me, turn
• 16:36
  S7: me in. After six months of no communication, he calls
• 16:39
  S7: me last night and he tells me, please tell me
• 16:42
  S7: about Jesus.
• 16:43
  S3: Wow. Wow. Wow.
• 16:45
  S7: The government's cruelty. Many Muslims are saying if this is Islam.
• 16:49
  S7: 40,000 young people were killed in January, brutal on the streets.
• 16:55
  S7: And they're executing these young people every day, a few
• 16:57
  S7: every day. So many Muslims, devout Muslims, saying, if this
• 17:01
  S7: is Islam, we don't want it. What else is out there?
• 17:04
  S7: That's right. Tell me about Jesus.
• 17:07
  S2: Yeah. And, you know, we don't have much time here,
• 17:10
  S2: but I got to tell you, I did a deep
• 17:11
  S2: dive last night knowing you were going to be in
• 17:13
  S2: here today. And it Iran is absolutely, unequivocally the fastest
• 17:21
  S2: growing church in the world. Isn't that something, Ali?
• 17:25
  S4: That's wild.
• 17:26
  S3: I mean, wild.
• 17:27
  S2: It's it's on fire. One more quick story before we
• 17:31
  S2: cut you loose, Hermosa.
• 17:33
  S7: Well, I had the you know, we have a daily
• 17:35
  S7: program to serve the people of Iran. And just last
• 17:38
  S7: week I had this mother who a 16 year old daughter.
• 17:42
  S7: They were on the streets protesting and their government shut.
• 17:46
  S7: And her daughter died in her arms. And she had
• 17:52
  S7: she just had come to Christ a few weeks before that.
• 17:55
  S7: And I had her on my show interviewing her, and
• 17:59
  S7: she was crying on camera. And she was saying at
• 18:03
  S7: the same time, but Jesus, she says, I'm crying. I
• 18:06
  S7: lost my my daughter in my arms. She died. But
• 18:10
  S7: at the same time, I have joy. I have peace
• 18:14
  S7: in my heart. And you know, this few weeks old
• 18:17
  S7: have new Christian started sharing the gospel on my show,
• 18:23
  S7: bravely asking everybody, Jesus is the way he. If you
• 18:27
  S7: want peace in the midst of misery, Jesus is the one.
• 18:30
  S7: Come to Jesus. She became an evangelist, a new believer,
• 18:33
  S7: just lost. Lost her daughter, but she loved Jesus. She
• 18:38
  S7: loved people and shared the gospel. And that's another story.
• 18:41
  S7: People in Iran, Muslim background, people who come to Christ,
• 18:45
  S7: they become witnesses. They cannot stop not talking about Jesus.
• 18:50
  S7: They tell people. That's why Iran has the fastest growing
• 18:54
  S7: evangelical population. Yes, media, yes, but people are witnessing to
• 18:58
  S7: each other.
• 18:59
  S4: Oh, Doctor Sherry, thank you so much for this update
• 19:02
  S4: this morning. Text alive. If you want more on this
• 19:05
  S4: great ministry including how to pray, just text alive to
• 19:09
  S4: 805 557898 805 557898. Just text alive.
• 19:20
  S2: Carl and crew and yep, I got back and everything's
• 19:23
  S2: in place. And Ali says, I haven't aged a lot.
• 19:26
  S3: A lot.
• 19:28
  S4: That's not what I was saying.
• 19:29
  S6: That yeah.
• 19:30
  S2: Not too much. I asked if I had appeared to
• 19:32
  S2: have aged and she did a double take. So I'm like, well,
• 19:35
  S2: hold on.
• 19:36
  S3: Here a second.
• 19:36
  S4: I said I hadn't seen you in so long. I
• 19:39
  S4: barely remembered what you looked like.
• 19:43
  S2: Oh, goodness. Okay. Uh, Ellie, you had a sit down
• 19:47
  S2: with somebody?
• 19:48
  S4: Yeah. This is. Oh, boy. This is kind of a
• 19:50
  S4: Freedom Friday on a Thursday kind of interview. Coming up,
• 19:53
  S4: we have a special guest. She's a new, new to
• 19:56
  S4: our program. But, boy, she had a life that many
• 20:00
  S4: would envy from the outside looking in. But when you
• 20:04
  S4: started to peel back the layers, there was so much pain,
• 20:07
  S4: so much heartache hiding under that fur coat in that
• 20:11
  S4: nice vehicle.
• 20:12
  S3: Oh, man.
• 20:13
  S4: But boy, oh boy. Her testimony of how God has
• 20:16
  S4: restored her and her marriage. Coming up here on Carl
• 20:20
  S4: and crew.
• 20:20
  S1: Tune in whenever you like. Check out the Carl and
• 20:23
  S1: Crew podcast wherever you like to stream.
• 20:27
  S4: Well, we've established in life experience will often confirm that
• 20:31
  S4: what you see is not always what you get that
• 20:35
  S4: you can't judge a book by its cover, and then
• 20:37
  S4: cue up every other cliché that drives home the same
• 20:40
  S4: message that you got to dig a little deeper to
• 20:43
  S4: sometimes see what's really going on. My guest this morning,
• 20:46
  S4: that was absolutely her story from the outside looking in.
• 20:50
  S4: There was so much that was even enviable about her lifestyle.
• 20:55
  S4: She married the co-owner of the New York Yankees. She
• 21:00
  S4: lived a great lifestyle, a great job, had so many
• 21:06
  S4: things going on. But Vicki Rose joining us right now
• 21:10
  S4: behind the scenes was a different story. Let's let's start
• 21:14
  S4: with the outside. Tell me a little bit about the
• 21:18
  S4: life that you were living that others would have looked
• 21:20
  S4: to and went, ah, I want a little bit of that.
• 21:23
  S8: And I thought that's what it was all about. What
• 21:25
  S8: I wore like I had a white fur coat husband
• 21:28
  S8: on my arm and a beautiful heart diamond pendant he'd
• 21:32
  S8: given me for our first Christmas. And I thought, these
• 21:35
  S8: are the things that we're going to make me happy.
• 21:37
  S8: And I think part of that happiness would be back then.
• 21:40
  S8: This was a long time ago. Sure. That people would
• 21:43
  S8: see me and think, well, she's got it made because
• 21:45
  S8: that is so much of our culture.
• 21:47
  S4: How important was that to you? Was that something that mattered?
• 21:51
  S4: Did you pursue the kind of lifestyle that would make
• 21:54
  S4: others go, oh, wow, she's got it going on?
• 21:56
  S8: Well, it's not so much that I pursued it for
• 21:58
  S8: others to admire as much as I pursued it, because
• 22:01
  S8: I thought that's what happiness was. I thought that is
• 22:04
  S8: what would make me happy. I just graduated from college.
• 22:07
  S8: When I met my husband and I had dated in college,
• 22:10
  S8: a poor, starving artist. We couldn't, you know, we couldn't
• 22:13
  S8: really go much on dates, you know, walk around campus
• 22:16
  S8: and sit in the coffee shop. And so I met
• 22:18
  S8: my husband and he took me to a fancy restaurant
• 22:21
  S8: in New York Rangers hockey game. And I thought, okay,
• 22:23
  S8: this is it. This is going to be happiness. Long
• 22:27
  S8: stemmed red roses arrived after our second or third date. So,
• 22:31
  S8: you know, I thought, oh, this is good, this is happiness.
• 22:34
  S4: How soon did you start to see that boy? This
• 22:39
  S4: isn't what I thought it was going to be.
• 22:41
  S8: At some level, it happened even before we got married.
• 22:44
  S8: We we got engaged. We went on a trip to
• 22:47
  S8: Italy with his parents for two weeks, and I came
• 22:51
  S8: back from that thinking, oh boy, I don't know if
• 22:53
  S8: I can do this. And I even told my, my
• 22:55
  S8: best friend at the time, I was like, I don't
• 22:57
  S8: know if this is really going to work, but if
• 22:59
  S8: it doesn't, I can always get a divorce.
• 23:01
  S4: Wow. So you went into it with even that kind
• 23:03
  S4: of in the back of your mind.
• 23:05
  S8: I did, and pushing me from inside was if I
• 23:09
  S8: get married, everything will just work out. That's where happiness
• 23:12
  S8: will be. And you know, as I said, my my
• 23:15
  S8: mom had just died at the end of high school,
• 23:17
  S8: my 12th grade year. My dad had remarried. I felt
• 23:21
  S8: a little like I didn't it wasn't home anymore because
• 23:24
  S8: it wasn't my mom and dad. And I thought, if
• 23:26
  S8: I just get married, this will fill the void that
• 23:29
  S8: I didn't even realize was a a void. This will
• 23:31
  S8: fill the void and I will be happy.
• 23:33
  S4: Vicki Rose, our guest. She's a strong Bible teacher with
• 23:37
  S4: a relevant, life changing message of hope. Her book is
• 23:40
  S4: called Every Reason to Leave and Why We Chose to
• 23:44
  S4: Stay Together. Okay, so let's talk a little bit about
• 23:47
  S4: what seem like the demise of your marriage.
• 23:52
  S8: So we married in 1977, which, if you do the math,
• 23:55
  S8: points to the fact that we're about to celebrate our
• 23:57
  S8: 50th wedding anniversary. But the demise of the marriage. My
• 24:01
  S8: husband started dabbling with cocaine and some of his college friends,
• 24:06
  S8: and it grew into a terrible addiction. We had two children.
• 24:10
  S8: After five years of marriage. We had first our son
• 24:13
  S8: and our daughter, and he opened a sports bar where
• 24:16
  S8: he spent all of his time and doing lines of
• 24:19
  S8: cocaine and all sorts of other things that were not
• 24:22
  S8: good and definitely not good for our marriage. Sure. And I,
• 24:26
  S8: I came to the place where I could not do
• 24:29
  S8: that anymore. I was basically a single mom, but he'd
• 24:32
  S8: come home from the restaurant at like three, 4 or
• 24:35
  S8: 5 in the morning, which was about the time I
• 24:37
  S8: was about to get up with two, a baby and
• 24:39
  S8: a toddler. And it was really painful and it was sad.
• 24:43
  S8: I thought something was wrong with me. I had no idea.
• 24:45
  S8: I didn't know anything about addiction. And we finally asked
• 24:49
  S8: him to leave and we separated after about nine years,
• 24:52
  S8: almost ten years of marriage.
• 24:54
  S4: And by your own admission, you know, you had things
• 24:57
  S4: going on in your personal life, uh, as well that
• 25:01
  S4: were not great for the marriage. Right?
• 25:03
  S8: Right. I gave up everything about myself. Like I just
• 25:07
  S8: latched on to him and rode his thing. We didn't
• 25:11
  S8: see my friends, really. I stopped going to ice skating,
• 25:14
  S8: which I loved. I just sort of stopped, you know,
• 25:18
  S8: being who I was. And and that worked for a
• 25:20
  S8: short time, but not in the long term at all.
• 25:23
  S4: Yeah. Vicky rose with us. The book, Every Reason to
• 25:26
  S4: Leave and Why we Chose to stay together. Coming up.
• 25:30
  S4: Five year separation. On the verge of divorce. But God intervened.
• 25:36
  S4: First in their own life. Before their marriage, he did
• 25:41
  S4: a work in them. Coming up.
• 25:44
  S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
• 25:49
  S4: Got a special guest. As we are talking about sticking
• 25:51
  S4: with it, the title of our guest book, Vicky Rose.
• 25:54
  S4: The book is called Every Reason to Leave and Why
• 25:56
  S4: We Chose to Stay Together. You were separated from your
• 26:00
  S4: husband who was co-owner of the New York Yankees. There
• 26:03
  S4: was a. You were living a great lifestyle on the outside,
• 26:07
  S4: but the marriage was crumbling through addiction, through infidelity, through betrayal.
• 26:13
  S4: At what point did you realize this isn't working? And
• 26:16
  S4: the marriage you had already decided wasn't working? But when
• 26:19
  S4: did it become less about the marriage and more about
• 26:21
  S4: what was going on in your own heart?
• 26:23
  S8: So the day after we separated, I went to a
• 26:26
  S8: 12 step meeting and started to learn about addiction and
• 26:29
  S8: that I had my own issues. Like it was really
• 26:31
  S8: easy to focus on everything my husband was doing wrong.
• 26:33
  S8: And believe me, I did. And I told anyone who
• 26:35
  S8: would listen everything that was wrong with him. And then
• 26:38
  S8: when I started going to a 12 step program, learned
• 26:41
  S8: about a higher power and all the things I started
• 26:44
  S8: to have to reckon with myself, like, who am I?
• 26:47
  S8: Where you know, what's really important. And I kept going
• 26:51
  S8: to meetings, but they kept talking about this higher power.
• 26:53
  S8: And it wasn't until November of 1987 where I was
• 26:58
  S8: invited to a dinner party, a black tie dinner party
• 27:01
  S8: by Mrs. Arthur S DeMoss at the Waldorf Astoria black
• 27:05
  S8: tie to meet and hear Donald Hodel, Secretary of the interior,
• 27:09
  S8: talk about Christianity in the world today. Wow. And honestly,
• 27:13
  S8: it was a black tie. I thought, ooh, opportunity to
• 27:15
  S8: go out and get dressed up, which is a single
• 27:18
  S8: mom now. A year and a half in, I didn't
• 27:20
  S8: really have opportunity to do so. I really responded to
• 27:23
  S8: that invitation. But at that night, I heard the Gospel
• 27:27
  S8: of Jesus Christ for the first time, even though I had,
• 27:30
  S8: at the age of ten, grown up in church. I
• 27:32
  S8: had never heard that God loved me and had a
• 27:34
  S8: plan for my life, that I was separated from God
• 27:37
  S8: by what the Bible calls sin, and that God gave
• 27:40
  S8: his only son, Jesus, to pay the penalty for my
• 27:43
  S8: sin by his death on the cross, and that if
• 27:46
  S8: I believed in him, my sins would be completely forgiven
• 27:50
  S8: and I would be given the gift of eternal life.
• 27:52
  S8: And that night, at that dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
• 27:55
  S8: in New York City, with 900 people having accepted the invitation,
• 27:59
  S8: I prayed to receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
• 28:02
  S8: At that very moment, my sins were gone in God's sight,
• 28:07
  S8: and I was filled with the Holy Spirit. And Jesus
• 28:10
  S8: started to lead my life. And the speaker at that
• 28:13
  S8: dinner invited anybody who wanted to, to attend a Bible study.
• 28:17
  S8: And I could not get there fast enough to go
• 28:20
  S8: to Bible study. A week after the dinner and I
• 28:23
  S8: started to learn about who the Lord is and his
• 28:26
  S8: love for me, and that my identity was not in
• 28:29
  S8: my fur coat or diamond heart pendant, but in Jesus,
• 28:32
  S8: and that there was no condemnation for me anymore in
• 28:35
  S8: my life and that I was God's daughter. He'd called me.
• 28:39
  S8: He'd summoned me by name. Wow. And it was like this.
• 28:44
  S8: This weight lifted, and I had joy for the first time.
• 28:47
  S8: And I started to be grateful. Like in the past,
• 28:50
  S8: before I knew the Lord, nothing was good enough. I
• 28:53
  S8: always wanted more. And nothing filled that place, that hole
• 28:56
  S8: deep inside me that I now had learned could only
• 29:00
  S8: be filled by God himself.
• 29:01
  S4: Wow. Oh so beautifully put, you know. How soon did
• 29:06
  S4: you start to pray for your husband? What? How did
• 29:10
  S4: your heart feel toward him after you now have a
• 29:13
  S4: brand new heart?
• 29:14
  S8: Right. So, um, the woman who had invited me to
• 29:18
  S8: this dinner gave me a book called Leading Little Ones
• 29:21
  S8: to God, and I started reading it to our two
• 29:23
  S8: children at breakfast just to, like, calm down because I
• 29:26
  S8: had to get them to preschool and me to work.
• 29:28
  S8: I had gone back to work when we separated. So
• 29:32
  S8: one morning, Doug, at that point, he was six years old.
• 29:35
  S8: He said as I was reading this devotional book to him,
• 29:39
  S8: he said, mom, we need to pray for daddy to
• 29:40
  S8: know Jesus. And Courtney quickly agreed. And so in my mind,
• 29:45
  S8: I thought, pray for him. I'd rather kill him. But
• 29:48
  S8: I thought I didn't want to say that out loud
• 29:51
  S8: to the children and I, which I didn't. Thank you Lord.
• 29:54
  S8: And I said, um, yeah, you're right. We need to
• 29:57
  S8: pray for daddy to know Jesus. And so we started
• 29:59
  S8: that morning, every morning at breakfast and every night as
• 30:02
  S8: I tucked them into bed, we prayed for their dad
• 30:04
  S8: to come to know Jesus. And three years later, I
• 30:09
  S8: stopped my full time job in retail and I went
• 30:11
  S8: to work at the ministry, started inviting my husband, and
• 30:15
  S8: three years after we had started praying for him, he
• 30:18
  S8: also prayed to receive Christ.
• 30:20
  S4: Wow.
• 30:21
  S8: I should add that we are both Jewish, and we
• 30:24
  S8: had both turned to know that our true Messiah is
• 30:27
  S8: Jesus Christ the Lord.
• 30:29
  S4: Unbelievable.
• 30:31
  S8: So it is somewhat. Yes, but I'm here to tell
• 30:34
  S8: you it's true.
• 30:35
  S4: It's absolutely true. This actually happened.
• 30:38
  S3: Every.
• 30:38
  S8: Every minute of it. This happened. And there was a
• 30:40
  S8: lot of pain and a lot of joy. So Billy,
• 30:43
  S8: after he prayed to receive Christ in December of 1990,
• 30:47
  S8: he went into rehab a few weeks later for drugs,
• 30:51
  S8: and we started counseling together. And God just did miraculous things.
• 30:56
  S8: Like we heard someone preach at my church where Billy had.
• 31:00
  S8: Now he was going on weekends. On Sundays we'd go
• 31:03
  S8: to church together as a family, and this is before
• 31:05
  S8: we had moved back home and we. There was a
• 31:08
  S8: guest preacher and I turned to Billy. During the sermon.
• 31:11
  S8: I said, I know that I've been introduced to him
• 31:13
  S8: and I know he would counsel us. And it turned
• 31:17
  S8: out it just so turned out that that man was
• 31:21
  S8: the chaplain for the New York Yankees, of which my
• 31:23
  S8: husband was a limited partner, not a co-owner, but a
• 31:26
  S8: limited partner of the Yankees. And so, I mean, there
• 31:30
  S8: was someone my husband was quickly willing and excited to
• 31:33
  S8: talk to because the guy was involved in baseball. And
• 31:36
  S8: so there we were. We had someone to counsel us.
• 31:39
  S8: We spent a year in counseling, and then Billy came
• 31:42
  S8: home at the end of 1991 after five and a
• 31:46
  S8: half years of being separated.
• 31:47
  S4: Wow. You know, the title of your book, Every Reason
• 31:51
  S4: to Leave and Why We Chose to Stay Together. You know,
• 31:54
  S4: it's amazing how during that separation, like when you came
• 31:58
  S4: back together, you were each getting a new spouse in
• 32:01
  S4: a lot of ways. I mean, yes. I mean, you
• 32:05
  S4: were different people.
• 32:06
  S8: There was a lot of the old, too. Sure. We
• 32:08
  S8: needed we needed a lot of help. And thankfully, we.
• 32:12
  S8: So promote counseling, biblically based counseling. We needed a lot
• 32:16
  S8: of help. And we got a lot of help. And
• 32:19
  S8: here we are. You know, I just when I think
• 32:21
  S8: about all of it. I'm reminded that the family unit
• 32:25
  S8: was God's plan. You know, he said, fill the earth
• 32:27
  S8: and multiply. And his word is what's so important and
• 32:32
  S8: is what kept me waiting for my husband and eventually
• 32:36
  S8: brought my husband. He started watching the evangelist on TV,
• 32:40
  S8: and that's what led him to accept my invitation to
• 32:43
  S8: a dinner at the ministry where he prayed to receive Christ. Wow.
• 32:45
  S8: And so, God, you know, when you seek first his
• 32:49
  S8: kingdom and his righteousness, when each of us does that,
• 32:53
  S8: that builds our marriage more than anything else. And the scriptures,
• 32:57
  S8: the Word of God gave each of us the reason
• 33:00
  S8: to return to our marriage and to work at it.
• 33:03
  S8: It hasn't all been easy or pretty honestly. There have
• 33:06
  S8: been some very hard, challenging times, but I think that's
• 33:10
  S8: life and marriage itself. As we're about to celebrate our
• 33:13
  S8: 50th anniversary next February, we're rejoicing. We've been able to
• 33:17
  S8: stand as one whole family at both our children's high
• 33:20
  S8: school graduations, college graduations, god honoring weddings, and the birth
• 33:25
  S8: of six grandchildren. And both our children and their spouses
• 33:29
  S8: are walking with the Lord, and all our grandchildren are
• 33:32
  S8: being raised to know Jesus. And both our children live
• 33:35
  S8: in the same city. And now we have a home here.
• 33:39
  S8: Last night, 11 of the 12 of us were sitting
• 33:41
  S8: watching the two youngest boys, age nine, playing Little League
• 33:44
  S8: baseball in the same team.
• 33:47
  S4: I mean.
• 33:48
  S8: And Billy and I are so grateful that we stuck
• 33:53
  S8: it out through it all because we're in our 70s now.
• 33:56
  S8: We have each other. As we look back over all
• 34:00
  S8: we've walked through, that gives us a depth in our
• 34:02
  S8: marriage and a and a security, knowing that we're both perseveres,
• 34:07
  S8: who are willing to work through whatever we face. That's
• 34:10
  S8: a good.
• 34:10
  S4: Thing. Vicky Rose thing. Awesome. That's a God thing. You're right.
• 34:14
  S4: Vicky rose. Uh, so thank you. So grateful to you
• 34:17
  S4: for joining us this morning. The book is called Every
• 34:19
  S4: Reason to Leave and Why We Chose to Stay Together.
• 34:22
  S4: Just text reason to (800) 555-7898. Text reason to (800) 555-7898.
• 34:32
  S1: Walking closer to Jesus every day. You're listening to cast
• 34:36
  S1: and crew.
• 34:38
  S2: Well, we're sticking with it in here. Yes siree Bob.
• 34:42
  S4: Sticking with it. How many times did you, when you
• 34:46
  S4: were running the Iditarod 1100 mile dog race? From where
• 34:49
  S4: did it start?
• 34:50
  S2: Anchorage.
• 34:50
  S4: Anchorage to Nome.
• 34:52
  S3: Yeah.
• 34:52
  S4: Did you how many times did you contemplate giving up?
• 34:56
  S2: That's a good question. So two things. Number one, I
• 35:00
  S2: never thought I wouldn't make it okay. But did I
• 35:04
  S2: think about giving up? Yeah. So both can co-exist.
• 35:08
  S3: I know it sounds.
• 35:09
  S2: Kind of weird, but they did. Oh. Yeah. I mean,
• 35:16
  S2: I got into a couple of spots. I haven't shared
• 35:19
  S2: this one I got into. Oh, where was I? And
• 35:22
  S2: Vic was in and Vic was in Anvik village on
• 35:26
  S2: the Yukon River. Yeah, it was Anvik. So I got,
• 35:28
  S2: I came into Anvik. I was so totally depleted. I
• 35:34
  S2: mean toast. Yeah, I was absolute toast. And here's the
• 35:38
  S2: problem with those endurance adventure kind of excursions. I don't
• 35:42
  S2: care what it is. Like ultramarathon I saw, I saw
• 35:45
  S2: a clip of a guy that was sitting in his car.
• 35:48
  S2: He's got all his water bottles strapped on him, and
• 35:51
  S2: he's got a bunch of sunscreen just gooped all over
• 35:55
  S2: his face. And I'm like, what is going on? This
• 35:57
  S2: guy says, I'm just sitting here in about two minutes,
• 36:00
  S2: I'm gonna get out of my car and I'm going
• 36:02
  S2: to go start a 250 mile ultramarathon.
• 36:05
  S4: Oh, my.
• 36:05
  S2: And I'm like, yeah, that's what I thought. Ali. I'm like,
• 36:09
  S2: come on, marathon. Nah, not for me. My wife's done
• 36:14
  S2: two Chicagos, but I'm like, I was glad to cheer
• 36:16
  S2: her on, but an ultra 250 miles.
• 36:20
  S4: That's insane.
• 36:22
  S2: No. That's insane. So here's the problem with ultra races
• 36:27
  S2: like that. No matter how physically fit an 18 year
• 36:31
  S2: old is because of circadian rhythms and the body's ability
• 36:35
  S2: to you're still growing at 18, and so your body
• 36:40
  S2: needs more sleep. And I'm trying to keep up with
• 36:43
  S2: these old timers, you know. I mean, they were like
• 36:45
  S2: 30 years old.
• 36:46
  S4: Old timers.
• 36:47
  S2: I'm trying to keep up with these old guys. Now,
• 36:50
  S2: what's wild is they're all dying. All those guys that
• 36:53
  S2: are in the Iditarod with I mean, they're dropping dead
• 36:55
  S2: left and right because they, you know, they're 70, 80,
• 36:59
  S2: 90 years old. I mean, they're getting up there. But
• 37:01
  S2: when I was running the race, they were 30, 40
• 37:04
  S2: and 50. Isn't that.
• 37:05
  S3: Wild?
• 37:05
  S4: Yeah. That is wild.
• 37:06
  S2: It's just crazy. But no, I mean, I came into
• 37:09
  S2: an alley talking about sticking with it. I was so
• 37:13
  S2: exhausted and I. To keep pace with the guys I
• 37:16
  S2: wanted to stay with. I really needed to just sleep
• 37:19
  S2: like three hours and I'm just like, forget it. I
• 37:25
  S2: can't do it. I slept ten and when I got up,
• 37:30
  S2: my team was so ready to go. They're like, dude,
• 37:32
  S2: what's going on? You okay? I'm like, no, I'm not okay.
• 37:36
  S2: Thank you very.
• 37:37
  S4: Much. You just you just kind of hunker down and sleep.
• 37:41
  S2: I slept by a wood wood stove on that one.
• 37:44
  S2: I fed my team, got them all bedded down on
• 37:46
  S2: some straw, and I told them, guys, I got a crash.
• 37:49
  S2: I mean, I'd gone like four days at this point
• 37:51
  S2: with like, a couple hours of sleep. So yeah, I
• 37:55
  S2: was I thinking about quitting? Yeah, but I wasn't. It's
• 38:01
  S2: a weird thing. It's like, this is stupid. What am
• 38:04
  S2: I doing to my body? But ten hours of sleep,
• 38:07
  S2: I was ready to rumble.
• 38:09
  S4: It's amazing how sometimes a little bit of sleep and
• 38:12
  S4: a little bit of food. It's biblical. That's what you need.
• 38:17
  S2: Can take you a long way. Uh, it's good to
• 38:19
  S2: be back in the saddle here with you guys. And
• 38:21
  S2: I've been teasing Ali Astro when I walked in. Hey,
• 38:24
  S2: have I aged? And the sad part is, she did
• 38:28
  S2: a double take, which, like.
• 38:29
  S4: Who is that? Oh, it's Carl. I forgot what he
• 38:33
  S4: looked like. He's been gone so long.
• 38:35
  S2: Yeah. And where I went, did we have some fun
• 38:38
  S2: and see a couple of sights. Yeah. But we this
• 38:41
  S2: was a ministry effort and we went to a place
• 38:45
  S2: that I can't disclose where I went. I, I mean,
• 38:49
  S2: there's a few people around us that know where we went,
• 38:52
  S2: but we just can't go public with it. It would
• 38:54
  S2: put people forget us. That's not the issue. It's the
• 38:58
  S2: people that we were visiting that would be in harms way.
• 39:02
  S2: And this world's small. They track a lot of stuff
• 39:05
  S2: these days, man.
• 39:06
  S4: Very much so.
• 39:07
  S2: I mean, they they got their antennas up. So speaking
• 39:12
  S2: of sticking with it, more than. Sleep deprivation is the
• 39:16
  S2: amount of people who we met with and tried to encourage.
• 39:21
  S2: And we did. God's spirit just moved. Man. Oh, I
• 39:26
  S2: can't see even what language it was in, but we
• 39:28
  S2: learned a song that's one of the most beautiful worship songs.
• 39:32
  S2: It's in another language. So I, I'm sitting there, I've got,
• 39:37
  S2: I've got AI with me. So I boom, take a
• 39:40
  S2: picture of the slide, take a picture of the next slide, boom,
• 39:43
  S2: take a picture of the third slide, boom, and, uh,
• 39:46
  S2: translate the words. And I'm like, wow, this thing's rock solid.
• 39:49
  S2: I got to learn the language. So I learned the
• 39:51
  S2: language to get the song in over a few days time.
• 39:53
  S2: We sang that thing probably 20 times, and it was
• 39:58
  S2: that powerhouse man. And to hear these people erupting in
• 40:02
  S2: praise and I'm like, guys, tone it down. This is
• 40:06
  S2: like a massive, like magnet for people that don't want
• 40:11
  S2: us talking Jesus in this country, but they they're like,
• 40:15
  S2: we're going to let it rip. I mean, it, it
• 40:17
  S2: almost ripped the pick and concrete roof off that place.
• 40:21
  S2: It was epic. I mean, you hear sometimes sound systems
• 40:25
  S2: that are so loud, they're like, somebody turn it down.
• 40:28
  S2: This was people.
• 40:29
  S4: Wow.
• 40:31
  S2: Just Bellerin and I turned around at one point because
• 40:34
  S2: sometimes I like to look and I'm sitting in the
• 40:37
  S2: front row. And sometimes I like to look at what's
• 40:39
  S2: going on guys. I turn around, there's tears streaming down faces,
• 40:44
  S2: there's hands straight up in the air. And there were
• 40:47
  S2: they knew the song by heart. So eyes are closed.
• 40:50
  S2: And I'm like, man, there was a group of like
• 40:54
  S2: six young dudes that are church planters that sat right
• 40:57
  S2: behind me. These guys, I had such a time with them.
• 41:01
  S2: These dudes are fire breathers. They're like 19, 20, 25,
• 41:06
  S2: 26 years old. I mean, on fire. And they left religion, family,
• 41:14
  S2: friends to follow Jesus and it puts you in harm's way.
• 41:18
  S2: So speaking of sticking with it, anything worth sticking with
• 41:21
  S2: here stateside just kind of fades into the background compared
• 41:25
  S2: to these brothers, man.
• 41:27
  S4: You know, those those trips are so eye opening. Oh.
• 41:32
  S2: I mean, you went you you still can't say where
• 41:34
  S2: you went, right?
• 41:35
  S4: Right.
• 41:36
  S2: Uh, where you went. It's an eye opener there.
• 41:41
  S4: Any place where you see the cost, you see what?
• 41:47
  S4: The sacrifice. And sometimes, you know, the, the, the blessing
• 41:52
  S4: of living in a place where there's not. I mean,
• 41:56
  S4: praise God, we don't face persecution. So we certainly are
• 42:00
  S4: not like wanting that to come our way.
• 42:03
  S2: Not like, you know, when you get a taste of persecution.
• 42:08
  S2: And then you hear persecution stateside here, you're like, hey,
• 42:11
  S2: slow down here a minute. I mean, I don't doubt
• 42:13
  S2: there are people being persecuted.
• 42:15
  S4: There's opposition. Yeah, there's always opposition. But the freedom that
• 42:19
  S4: we have to worship to gather.
• 42:21
  S2: To take it for granted.
• 42:23
  S4: Yeah.
• 42:24
  S2: Yeah. I mean, it's, it's epic and it's humbling, man.
• 42:31
  S2: It's humbling to see these people lifting up their voices.
• 42:34
  S2: And I'm telling you, I had the I had one
• 42:37
  S2: of the most amazing things happen. So we were kind
• 42:41
  S2: of coached up, not to lie, but to how to
• 42:44
  S2: frame this trip. Right. Yeah. And we come to customs
• 42:49
  S2: and I'm walking up and I, I don't get scared,
• 42:52
  S2: but I got a little bit nervous and I'm like,
• 42:56
  S2: oh boy. And there's two guys standing there and there's
• 42:58
  S2: no one in line. So I'm like, oh, great. We
• 43:00
  S2: got their full attention, which is bad news. I want
• 43:04
  S2: there to be a crowd. And it's like just me
• 43:05
  S2: and Jubes walking up to immigration to go into this country.
• 43:10
  S2: And all of a sudden as I'm walking up to him,
• 43:14
  S2: I'm realizing these guys are laughing their heads off and
• 43:17
  S2: they're just hucking it up about something and they ask
• 43:22
  S2: for passports. And I plopped them down. And then two
• 43:26
  S2: other dudes showed up in this cube with these guys,
• 43:30
  S2: and pretty quick, they're all for hucking it up. I mean,
• 43:33
  S2: laughing their heads off about who knows what because they're
• 43:36
  S2: speaking a language. I don't have a clue. All I'm
• 43:38
  S2: glad is they aren't laughing at me. So everything's good.
• 43:40
  S2: They're laughing about something. Who knows what it was? Yeah.
• 43:44
  S2: Might have had a crush on a girl. Something happened at.
• 43:47
  S4: Work. Funny. YouTube.
• 43:48
  S2: Yeah. Who knows what it was. But they were laughing
• 43:51
  S2: their heads off so much so the guy didn't say
• 43:54
  S2: two words to me. Didn't ask me one question. Where
• 43:59
  S2: are you going? What are you doing? I got the
• 44:01
  S2: itinerary there that's got, you know, a few sites that
• 44:05
  S2: we're going to go see and all that stuff. I
• 44:07
  S2: got it all laid out. My bride's standing right next
• 44:10
  S2: to me and we're like, all right, not one question. Boom,
• 44:15
  S2: stamps that sucker, get them, boom, stamps hers. And we
• 44:19
  S2: had to do the little camera job, you know, stand
• 44:21
  S2: here and I'm like, oh boy, here we go. Not
• 44:24
  S2: one question. And I asked the guy we were traveling
• 44:27
  S2: with who had already been in country for a few days.
• 44:31
  S2: I didn't ask him. He asked me. He goes, how'd
• 44:33
  S2: it go? I go, we didn't get a question. He goes, no,
• 44:38
  S2: I said, not one question. I said, these guys are
• 44:41
  S2: hooking it up. There were two and then two joined them.
• 44:43
  S2: They just belly laughing over something going on and they
• 44:47
  S2: didn't ask me one question. They didn't even look at me.
• 44:50
  S2: They're like, boom, boom, just stamp that sucker. And he's like,
• 44:54
  S2: that doesn't happen. So that's from God.
• 44:57
  S4: Wow.
• 44:58
  S2: That's from God. I gotta believe it. Maybe God saw
• 45:02
  S2: what was going to happen. And he's like, Carl's going
• 45:04
  S2: to blow it. So let's just get a YouTube clip.
• 45:06
  S2: Them laughing about a YouTube clip. Carl's going to blow it.
• 45:10
  S2: He's gonna be back on a plane next flight out
• 45:13
  S2: of there.
• 45:15
  S6: Protect my son here. Get him through.
• 45:18
  S2: Yeah, here's here's what we're going to do. This. Get
• 45:21
  S2: the guy on the right. Remembering something super funny he
• 45:24
  S2: saw on a YouTube short. Isn't it? Oh, when we
• 45:29
  S2: get to glory, won't it be fun to look back
• 45:32
  S2: and go. That's how that went down.
• 45:34
  S4: Yeah, yeah, that'll be so cool. If we get that
• 45:38
  S4: kind of perspective and the ability to see what was
• 45:41
  S4: really going on.
• 45:42
  S2: Yeah, it was so cool. Okay, coming up here, we
• 45:46
  S2: got a lot going on here today, but man, there's
• 45:51
  S2: a certain kind of theme for this month, right?
• 45:53
  S4: Yeah. There's so many things happening in the month of May.
• 45:55
  S4: We've been pointing out there are proms, there are graduations,
• 45:58
  S4: there are so many celebrations, but there's also awareness needed.
• 46:03
  S4: Foster Care Awareness Month is in the month of May.
• 46:06
  S4: We want to bring you some updates and some opportunities
• 46:09
  S4: that we as a church can step in.
• 46:11
  S1: Want to hear that again? Just download the Carl and
• 46:14
  S1: Crew podcast wherever you like to stream.
• 46:17
  S4: I remember growing up and when my mom got a
• 46:20
  S4: job after being a stay at home mom for many years,
• 46:24
  S4: she got a job working in the child welfare system.
• 46:27
  S4: And the beauty of it is that you get to
• 46:30
  S4: really help children connect them to families who can provide
• 46:34
  S4: a supportive, loving home, sometimes for short seasons, sometimes for longer.
• 46:38
  S4: But the heartbreaking side is that you hear stories that
• 46:42
  S4: absolutely rip your heart out of the things that so
• 46:45
  S4: many children endure. Um, abuse, trauma, neglect, oftentimes some combination there.
• 46:52
  S4: Doctor Sharon, for joining us this morning. It is National
• 46:55
  S4: Foster Care Awareness month. What about foster care is often
• 47:00
  S4: most often misunderstood. We'll start there.
• 47:04
  S9: I think that what is most misunderstood about foster care
• 47:09
  S9: is that the children who come into care are bad kids. Mhm.
• 47:14
  S9: That they are. They've done something wrong and that they
• 47:18
  S9: need to come into care so that government can get
• 47:20
  S9: a hold of them and and straighten them out. That
• 47:23
  S9: is so far from the truth about kids who are
• 47:26
  S9: in the child welfare system and the everyday foster care home.
• 47:30
  S9: I think the second misunderstanding is that there are plenty
• 47:35
  S9: and abundance of families who are saying, oh, use me,
• 47:38
  S9: use me, use my family to care for this child
• 47:42
  S9: who's been harmed and abused. That's also not true. Every
• 47:46
  S9: day all across the country, there are kids who are
• 47:49
  S9: coming into care. There are workers who are scrambling to
• 47:53
  S9: find an appropriate foster home for that child, so that
• 47:58
  S9: that child can be first protected, second nurtured, and given
• 48:03
  S9: an opportunity to heal from what they've experienced in life.
• 48:08
  S4: Doctor Sharon Ford with us this morning, nationally recognized child
• 48:11
  S4: welfare consultant, a retired manager for permanency services for the
• 48:15
  S4: Colorado Department of Human Services. She currently serves as director
• 48:19
  S4: for foster care and adoption at focus on the Family.
• 48:22
  S4: Give me your own story and kind of your big
• 48:25
  S4: why for your commitment to this issue.
• 48:28
  S9: My big story is that family means everything. I was
• 48:32
  S9: raised in a family. Um, my dad was serving in
• 48:35
  S9: the military, in the Army. And boy, every three years
• 48:38
  S9: we moved to a new base. But going back to
• 48:41
  S9: see my grandparents, both maternal and paternal, was everything to us.
• 48:45
  S9: And my dad made sure that we were connected, that
• 48:48
  S9: we knew our grandparents, we knew our aunts and uncles,
• 48:51
  S9: that we were connected in the community where we lived.
• 48:55
  S9: My dad was also very active in the community. And
• 48:58
  S9: so there were people who knew us, came to our home.
• 49:02
  S9: We went to their homes for dinner. We played with
• 49:04
  S9: their kids. And so we weren't forgotten, even though we
• 49:08
  S9: were moving every three years. And so I appreciate that
• 49:12
  S9: and know that that the kids who are in foster care,
• 49:16
  S9: that's what they need. They need family, they need connectedness.
• 49:20
  S9: They need a place where they can feel safe and wanted.
• 49:23
  S4: You mentioned the misconception about the children. You know, the
• 49:28
  S4: system in, in general and just kind of speaking with
• 49:32
  S4: like system with a capital S, not any particular state,
• 49:35
  S4: but the foster care system overall can feel like a
• 49:39
  S4: broken system. It can feel like there are there are
• 49:43
  S4: gaps there. There are horror stories that make the news
• 49:47
  S4: where nobody is being served well, sometimes is what is thought.
• 49:52
  S4: And so the response from many people is to kind
• 49:54
  S4: of opt out altogether. The combination of what people believe
• 49:58
  S4: about the children and what people believe about the system
• 50:01
  S4: has likely contributed to the shortage of families that you mentioned.
• 50:06
  S4: AM I is that an accurate take? Please correct me
• 50:08
  S4: if you believe differently.
• 50:10
  S9: You just got an A plus on that summary because
• 50:13
  S9: that that is so, so true. People are intimidated by
• 50:17
  S9: what they don't know. But what I can tell you
• 50:20
  S9: is that even a broken system needs help. And one family,
• 50:26
  S9: the next family, the next family coming forward to say,
• 50:30
  S9: I want to step into the messiness of child welfare
• 50:35
  S9: so that I can make a difference. I can be
• 50:37
  S9: there for that child. And being there for that child
• 50:41
  S9: is going to make all the difference in the world.
• 50:44
  S9: Even when the system is broken, even when there's not
• 50:47
  S9: enough caseworkers, even when there's not enough mental health services
• 50:51
  S9: to be able to be provided for that child who's
• 50:54
  S9: been experiencing trauma in their home. Even though that the
• 50:58
  S9: school system is frayed and thinking, well, how can I
• 51:02
  S9: serve this child when the child has been missing from
• 51:05
  S9: school half the year because they've been at home and
• 51:09
  S9: not been being educated? And so we can't continue to
• 51:13
  S9: fail this child or these children. We have the opportunity
• 51:18
  S9: to step up and to step in, to make a
• 51:21
  S9: difference in the life of a child, one child at
• 51:24
  S9: a time.
• 51:25
  S4: How can the church step in and help? And I
• 51:28
  S4: know many churches have and do so, but but generally speaking,
• 51:33
  S4: what can the church do here?
• 51:36
  S9: Honestly, I believe the church is the answer. And let
• 51:39
  S9: me tell you why the church is the answer. Because
• 51:42
  S9: the church is God's hospitality station, God's first aid station
• 51:48
  S9: to minister to the children who are coming into care,
• 51:52
  S9: but to also love on that family who is caring
• 51:56
  S9: for the children while they're in care, and who would
• 52:00
  S9: also welcome that birth family who are wanting to be healed,
• 52:06
  S9: needing supportive services, want to repent from the harm that
• 52:10
  S9: they've done. We serve a God who is a redeemer.
• 52:14
  S9: He redeemed us. And so the Church of Hospitality, the
• 52:18
  S9: church's first aid, the church is knowing and understanding that
• 52:22
  S9: we've all fallen short of the glory of God. And
• 52:25
  S9: here's an opportunity for him to for us to be
• 52:27
  S9: his hands and feet. We can not only love on
• 52:30
  S9: that family who's harmed the child and not judge because
• 52:34
  S9: he says, don't judge. But we can also love on
• 52:37
  S9: that child to a place of healing and wholeness, so
• 52:41
  S9: that we can for the future, that child can grow
• 52:45
  S9: and learn and and be seen and understood and loved.
• 52:51
  S9: We all want love.
• 52:53
  S4: And some people have maybe mistakenly believed that love is enough.
• 53:00
  S4: And in God we love. His love is sufficient. His
• 53:04
  S4: grace is sufficient. But when it comes to the practical
• 53:07
  S4: challenges of parenting, a child and no child comes into
• 53:11
  S4: the foster care system without a level of trauma, because
• 53:14
  S4: the separation in and of itself is a trauma. And
• 53:17
  S4: so there's the intimidation factor. Speak to that. I mean,
• 53:20
  S4: so many parents feel like, well, I can love, but
• 53:23
  S4: I don't know if I could manage maybe the behavioral
• 53:27
  S4: needs or challenges or sometimes the medical needs and challenges.
• 53:31
  S4: And I certainly don't want to do more harm than good.
• 53:35
  S9: What I say to that is if God called you
• 53:38
  S9: to it, he will provide for you and see you
• 53:41
  S9: through it. I firmly believe that with all my heart, mind, body,
• 53:45
  S9: and soul. And so if you ask God, God, how
• 53:48
  S9: would you like to use my family to make a
• 53:51
  S9: difference in the life of a child. Listen to God's
• 53:54
  S9: voice and he will show you what role. Everybody's not
• 53:57
  S9: to be a foster parent ally, because that's not where
• 54:01
  S9: their strengths are. But everybody can do something. What is
• 54:04
  S9: that something you can do? Maybe you're supposed to be
• 54:07
  S9: the family that supports the family. Who is fostering caring
• 54:11
  S9: for the child. Maybe you're supposed to help with the homework.
• 54:14
  S9: Maybe you're supposed to help them learn how to ride
• 54:16
  S9: a bike. Maybe you're supposed to help them with their
• 54:20
  S9: reading because some of our children are behind educationally, and
• 54:24
  S9: they need help getting caught up. Maybe you're just supposed
• 54:27
  S9: to be that friend. They can make a difference.
• 54:31
  S4: Doctor Sharon Ford with us this morning. We are talking
• 54:34
  S4: about National Foster Care Month. Happy to bring awareness to
• 54:37
  S4: this important, important topic. If you want more details, more
• 54:41
  S4: information to learn more, just text foster to 805 557898,
• 54:47
  S4: text foster to 805 557898.