Latest / Finding God at Work / 17: Coming to the End of Yourself (Attorney Kevin Drendel)

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17: Coming to the End of Yourself (Attorney Kevin Drendel) · Finding God at Work

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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This is Finding God at Work.
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Just a reminder that Finding God at Work
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isn't just a podcast.
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It's also an online course.
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Check it out at findinggodatwork.org.
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Our current series is Meaningful Work, Calling, Formation,
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Service, and Love.
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And today we have a guest with us,
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Kevin Drendel, welcome.
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Thank you, I'm glad to be here.
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Kevin is an attorney.
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He has a law practice in Batavia here
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in the Fox Valley.
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He's also on the board of a ministry
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called Administer Justice, which we'll get to share
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a little bit about.
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And he's also an advisor on the board
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of the Fox Valley Music Foundation and a
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lifelong music lover.
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So just a few things that you're up
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to, but I'm so glad you could be
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here.
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I often start with this question.
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What's something that helps you find God at
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work on a normal day at work for
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you?
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Sometimes that's a challenge, but I get up
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every day.
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Before I even get out of bed, I
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sit on the edge of the bed and
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I do my daily scripture reading.
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And that starts my day out with some
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intentionality.
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And usually I'm still pondering what I've read
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or I've listened to a podcast in between
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on my way to work.
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So I start my day off intentionally like
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that and it helps.
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As somebody who makes a podcast that I
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hope sometimes people listen to on a commute,
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that's great to hear.
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It's gratifying to know people can find that
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useful part of their morning routine.
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Absolutely.
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So you and I have gotten to talk
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a little bit before about your journey as
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an attorney and kind of how that's changed
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over time.
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So could you just give us a thumbnail
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sketch of how you got into law and
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what that was like for you with your
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faith at the beginning of your career?
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Sure.
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My father is an attorney, but I never
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really set out to go into law.
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I was a English literature major in college.
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I became a Christian in college through a
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combination of things, which is a long story,
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so I won't tell it now.
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And I was not very career-minded in
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college.
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I just wanted to serve God.
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I didn't know what that meant.
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And I ended up in a church and
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doing lots of odd jobs for a number
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of years.
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Got married, had a child, had another child,
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and realized I need to figure out what
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I was going to do for the rest
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of my life.
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And it was going to take me two
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and a half years to get a teaching
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certificate.
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The only other thing I could think of
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was taking the LSAT, so I did that.
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And God really met me in that.
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I wanted to be a minister, but I'm
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not sure God wanted me to be a
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minister and to go into ministry per se.
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God really showed me as I opened that
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door, as I went and took the LSAT,
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that that was what God had put into
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me.
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That it was something that just resonated with
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me.
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And I remember driving to Dartmouth College where
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I took the LSAT about an hour and
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30 minutes away, however far it was.
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And just feeling light as a feather.
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I literally prayed and worshiped on my way
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to take the LSAT, feeling God with me.
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Wow.
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I'm sure that many people going into that
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exam do not have that experience.
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I can't imagine anyone.
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Yeah, yeah.
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And the test, it wasn't a burden.
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The time went by quickly.
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I didn't study for it.
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I'd been out of college for six years.
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And I felt light as a feather driving
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back home and prayed and worshiped on the
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way home.
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So that's how I kind of launched down
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this road.
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I scored high and so I figured that's
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what I'm doing.
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Yeah, yeah.
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So that's how you got into law school
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and then into your practice.
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Yeah.
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As you began practicing as an attorney, how
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did you see your faith connect with your
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daily work or not?
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What was that like?
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I wish I could say it was as
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easy as it was to take the LSAT,
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but it wasn't.
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Law school was a challenge.
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We had a third child when I was
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in law school.
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We moved back here to Illinois to be
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near my family who could help.
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And northern Illinois was a less expensive option
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than the eastern schools.
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And it was very tough.
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If I'd have known how difficult it was
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going to be, I can tell you that
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I don't think I would have done it.
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Wow, yeah.
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Going back wasn't an option.
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Failure wasn't an option.
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So going forward was the only choice.
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And I found it more difficult than I
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thought it would be.
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And it was more difficult as I got
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into the practice to incorporate my Christian faith
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into the practice.
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I tried, but it was difficult being out
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of the church environment I had been in,
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coming into a new area, not having a
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home church.
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I found that we had to go into
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debt for me to go to law school.
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And digging out the pressure of that, anxiety
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and worry, really took a toll on me.
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And I have to say that I probably
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spent almost 20 years, 15 at least, kind
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of wandering in the wilderness in the beginning
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of my career, not really living out my
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faith well in what I was doing.
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Yeah, yeah.
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I think a lot of people have had
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that kind of wilderness experience at some point
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of being further away, or feeling further away
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at least.
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And it sounds like that was a really
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difficult season for you, and an extended one.
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It was, yeah.
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It was a dark, pretty dark time.
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Not that God wasn't at work in me.
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Right, right.
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I was not a real faithful follower of
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Jesus during those days.
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But God was working in me, and he
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was stripping some things away from me in
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that time.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Often that's what we need most, is the
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things we're giving up and letting go of.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, yeah.
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So fast forwarding a little bit, eventually you
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got connected with this ministry called Administer Justice.
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So tell us a little bit about the
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idea of the ministry, and what it was
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like for you as you got involved.
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So Bruce Strom, who's an attorney in Elgin,
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I think he started practicing about the time
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I started.
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I knew he was there, he knew I
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was in Aurora, but Elgin and Aurora are
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different ends of the county, they might as
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well be different ends of the earth.
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I actually reached out to him, we were
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both Christian Legal Society members, but we never
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got together back then.
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He, long story short, he gave up a
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lucrative practice, a fast-growing practice, through a
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combination of his wife's prayer and God working
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in his heart.
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She had given him 365 verses on justice
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for his birthday one year, one for every
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day of the year of course.
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Yeah, yeah.
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And he founded Administer Justice after he left
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his law practice.
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I was aware of Administer Justice, I had
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taken a case or two along the way.
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And just for listeners who may not be
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familiar, what the ministry does is it provides
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low-cost legal aid for people in the
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community that need access to it, right?
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Yes, so it's a faith-based legal aid
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ministry.
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Bruce started working out of his home, or
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out of his office, and then he moved
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into an office, and then it grew to
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maybe five local clinics, there was one in
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Aurora.
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And I started volunteering at the clinic in
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Aurora in about 2012 or 13-ish.
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And almost immediately after I started, the two
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attorneys who had been there a while, both
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left.
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Oh, wow.
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Leaving me kind of, you know, I didn't...
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Holding the bag, basically.
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A little bit.
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Yeah.
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I mean, they were really operated out of
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the Elgin office, but then I continued to
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volunteer.
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I would go once a month, and then
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I'd be done and go on my way
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and not think about it until the next
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month.
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But that was when God really had kind
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of relit the pilot light of faith in
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my heart.
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And I had gotten to a point where
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I really came to the end of myself
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and said, there is nothing else for me
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other than you, God, and if you'll take
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me, I'm here and I'm going to follow,
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even though I wasn't following very well up
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to that point.
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And God just kind of brought me along,
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and he kind of led me along into
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the path of being on the national board,
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which I am now and have been for
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a number of years.
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But that experience of using my legal skills
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in a ministry kind of reawakened the idea
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of ministry in my own life and brought
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that back into what I do.
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And so now I truly do view what
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I do more as a ministry than I
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did before.
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And it's really made a big difference.
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Yeah, yeah.
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It's almost like God had you take your
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work into a ministry so that you could
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take ministry into your work.
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Yeah.
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And it's more integrated now.
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Yeah, yeah.
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That's beautiful.
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When we were chatting earlier, you shared a
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little bit about an experience at a minister
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justice clinic of prayer that was really significant
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for you.
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Could you share about that story?
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Yeah.
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I remember I was meeting with a woman
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who I couldn't help.
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There was nothing I could do for her.
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She had knee surgery.
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Her knee surgery had become infected.
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She effectively couldn't walk anymore because the infection
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had been long-term and it was deep.
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And there might have been some medical malpractice
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there, but it was beyond the statute of
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limitations.
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There was literally nothing I could do for
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her legally.
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The only thing I could do was pray
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for her.
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And I hadn't ever prayed with a client
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up to that point, either in my practice
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or even at minister justice.
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I'd put that lawyer hat on and it
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was just straight ahead.
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And I stopped and I knew I should
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pray for her.
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And so timidly, I asked if I could
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pray for her and she said yes.
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And when I did, it was like the
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heavens opened up.
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She wept and I wept.
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And it was really impactful.
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And I had never thought to do that
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as a lawyer before.
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And so that has stuck with me.
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I really look forward to praying with clients
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at the clinic.
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I don't always have that opportunity when I'm
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meeting with someone at the office.
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That's not what they're coming in for.
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But I've done that a few times, a
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number of times.
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I don't know how many.
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And I'm a little bit more aware of
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God's presence in what I'm doing than I
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was before.
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Yeah, yeah.
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I love that your two moments of a
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spiritual breakthrough you've shared about today are on
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the way to take the LSATs, right?
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And then praying with a client, right?
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And right in the nitty-gritty of the
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legal practice.
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Praise the Lord.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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And I wonder all the time when I'm
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self-reflective, which I'm not all the time,
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why I don't let God break into my
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day more often.
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And why I, you know, when there are
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promptings, sometimes I miss them.
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And I recognize it after the fact instead
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of in the moment.
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Yeah, same for me.
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I feel like when you get into a
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rhythm in life, it's easy to feel like,
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I've got this.
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But it's when we have that sense of,
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hey, what is God doing, that we're more
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ready.
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And staying in that posture of kind of
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having our spiritual antenna up takes practice.
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Until this moment as we were talking, it
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literally dawned on me now that the reason
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I prayed for her is that there was
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nothing I could do.
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And it took getting to the end of
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myself, again, I guess that's a theme, to
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think that I need to pray for you.
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And frankly, I probably should come to that
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conclusion more quickly.
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A little sooner for all of us.
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That's right.
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That's right.
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Coming to the end of ourselves.
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So we think to minister in a power
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greater than ourselves.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Well, praise the Lord.
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I wish we could keep talking, but we
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should probably wrap up here.
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I didn't alert you ahead of time, but
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often I have the guest end in prayer,
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if that's okay.
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Should we just pray for our listeners for
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all the things that we've shared about that
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might be resonating with them?
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Yeah, absolutely.
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Father God, you are faithful every day, all
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the time.
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And you are with us every day, all
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the time, in every moment.
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I pray for myself.
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I pray for anyone listening that you would,
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you have permission to interrupt our day and
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interrupt the moment.
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And to remind us that you are there
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and that we are on this earth for
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a reason, to honor you.
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And that you would help us to lean
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into those times when you prompt us to
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say something or do something that we might
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not otherwise do.
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But which is from your Holy Spirit, in
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Jesus' name.
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Thanks for listening.
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