Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY210006A
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00:01 As you're well aware,
00:03 we're living in unprecedented times. 00:05 Join us now for today's special program. 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:18 Mending broken people 00:23 I want to spend my life 00:29 Removing pain 00:34 Lord, let my words 00:39 Heal a heart that hurts 00:44 I want to spend my life 00:50 Mending broken people 00:55 I want to spend my life 01:00 Mending broken people 01:15 Hello, and welcome to another 3ABN Today program. 01:17 We're so glad that you joined us today. 01:19 You know, we're glad that you're part of the 3ABN family. 01:21 Don't know where you're watching 01:23 or listening from, 01:24 but we're all part of God's big family, 01:26 but then you're a part of 3ABNs family. 01:28 And it's always a joy 01:29 to spend this little bit of time with you 01:32 each and every day. 01:33 And talking about family, 01:34 we're going to be talking with some of our 3ABN family 01:37 as well here on the set today, 01:39 but we just want to say thank you 01:41 for your prayers 01:42 and financial support for the ministry of 3ABN. 01:44 And I know I mention this a lot, 01:46 but we receive a lot of correspondence here at 3ABN. 01:49 Many of you that are watching and listening right now, 01:52 and thank you for sending them in 01:53 because they're so encouraging. 01:55 There was someone here recently 01:56 that was talking about the baking bread 01:58 and they're sending in the money 02:00 from baking the bread and selling it. 02:02 They're sending that to 3ABN was... 02:03 Got another letter here just recently opened it up 02:06 in about a lady that is finding truth via 3ABN. 02:08 She says, 02:10 "I'm not a baptized Seventh-day Adventist member, 02:11 but I hope to be soon." 02:13 And is so excited about the truth she is learning. 02:16 And that's thanks to you. 02:17 I mean, you're sending in your financial support, 02:19 but also your prayers mean so very much to us. 02:21 Absolutely. That's right. 02:23 Thank you for being part of the 3ABN family. 02:25 What a gift that is to us here. 02:27 And we're just so grateful that we're family. 02:28 Amen. 02:30 We have part of the family with us here today. 02:32 You know, sometimes when we do today programs, 02:34 we feature testimonies. 02:36 We feature ministries, we feature missionary stories, 02:39 but today's is part of the 3ABN family. 02:43 So, this is really sit down, I could call it, 02:45 meet the family. 02:47 And I'm speaking of Eric and Marilyn Durant. 02:49 They are an integral part of the ministry here. 02:52 We love them. 02:54 And we wanted you to get to know some more 02:55 of their story and their amazing testimony. 02:57 So we're just so glad to have both of you here. 03:00 Well, we wanted... We wanted to be here. 03:01 Yeah, we wanted to thank you guys 03:03 because we've been here seven years. 03:04 Wow. 03:06 And I remember a pastor told me a long time ago, he said, 03:08 "Eric, you don't have to be a fantastic evangelist. 03:10 All you have to do is tell your story." 03:12 That's right. 03:13 And so we've been looking forward to this 03:14 for a long time. 03:16 Thank you for inviting us. Amen. 03:17 You know, people cannot argue 03:18 against your personal testimony. 03:20 And that's the thing, you know, you just share 03:21 what God has done in your life. 03:23 And God has brought both of you here to 3ABN. 03:25 And we have... 03:26 Oh, when you include volunteers and full-time employees, 03:30 part-time employees, we have what about, is it 100... 03:32 Hundred and forty here. 03:33 Hundred and forty or so, 03:34 so there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes 03:36 here so at 3ABN. 03:38 So what we're hoping to do throughout the year, 03:40 and I don't know. 03:41 Yeah, time, even after that, 03:42 to just introduce you 03:44 to some of our family here at 3ABN, 03:45 'cause they're so integral in making it happen. 03:46 That's right. 03:48 So we neglected to tell you what they do at 3ABN. 03:49 That's right. 03:50 So, Eric, you are 3ABN broadcast engineer 03:52 and computer programmer. 03:54 So what does that mean? 03:55 I know you work in our engineering department, 03:57 but what does that mean? 03:58 Well, I like to think that we spend time, 04:00 not only mending broken people, 04:02 but we mend broken equipment. 04:05 Which is important to mending broken people. 04:07 Which is very, very important. It's part of the ministry. 04:11 I program on the side for Moses on the MYSDA TV. 04:15 Yes. 04:16 Also a lot of our automation systems 04:18 here are run by computers. 04:19 So I do a lot of programming on our monitoring systems here. 04:23 Moses, we just developed the Enlist System. 04:25 So I do programming for that also. 04:28 When things break, 04:29 they usually come to my office 04:30 and if they're fixable, we fix them. 04:32 If they're not, I come to you, Greg, 04:34 and we order new equipment. 04:36 That's right. Yeah. 04:38 Praise the Lord for what you do though. 04:39 Thank you so much because you have such a heart 04:40 for ministry, 04:42 and I'm not gonna ask you to get into full detail, 04:44 but do you have a full background 04:46 in broadcast engineering? 04:48 I have zero background in broadcast engineering 04:51 up until we came here. 04:52 I know. 04:53 And that's, what's just so incredible 04:55 because God just uses us if we're available. 04:56 So that's the key. 04:57 Marilyn? 04:59 And Marilyn is the manager of our 3ABN Call Center. 05:01 And both Eric and Marilyn do an amazing job. 05:04 They have a heart for God, 05:05 a heart for people and for this ministry. 05:07 And, Marilyn, tell us what some of your job entails. 05:11 It's a big job. It is a big job. 05:14 Basically it's we get all the orders going out 05:17 that viewers call in and place orders. 05:21 We ship out our mass mailing 05:26 that we recently did. 05:28 Like the COVID book. The COVID book. 05:29 Yes. 05:31 And the three angles' messages book. 05:32 Three angels' message. 05:34 And we have about 17 employees over there, 05:37 but we do a big job. 05:39 So we're very blessed to have who we have over there. 05:43 I enjoy it. Amen. 05:44 It's a great department. 05:46 I mean, all the departments here at 3ABN 05:47 are just a hub of activity, 05:49 but the call center has a special place 05:50 in my heart too, 05:52 because I got to spend a little bit of time 05:53 through my years here at 3ABN 05:54 and what a great group of people there. 05:56 And you're doing a great job 05:57 leading out there at the call center. 05:59 It's an integral part of this ministry. 06:00 It is. And I failed to mention. 06:02 We also do a lot of, some of our printing as well. 06:05 True. 06:06 That's right. It's good point. 06:08 So if you were to call 3ABN and you were to say, 06:10 okay, I want to order a DVD 06:11 or I want information about a program 06:13 or I need some help. 06:15 You would get the wonderful ladies and gentlemen 06:17 who work over there at the call center. 06:19 So we're excited about today's program 06:21 because we're going to hear Eric and Marilyn's story. 06:24 Amen. 06:25 How God brought them to Himself 06:26 and brought them together 06:28 and brought them to this ministry. 06:30 But first, should we go to some music? 06:32 Oh, yeah. We love music here at 3ABN. 06:35 And we know that you do as well. 06:37 And today we're going to be blessed 06:38 with a beautiful song entitled, "Amazing Grace." 06:40 It's going to be brought to us by Paulo Torres and ET Everett. 06:44 Let's go to that right now. 09:20 Amen. 09:22 Thank you so much, Paulo Torres and ET Everett. 09:24 What an incredible song, amazing grace, 09:25 and what great words to that piece as well. 09:27 God's amazing grace toward each one of us. 09:30 And we need to be grateful of that 09:32 every single day. 09:33 Absolutely. 09:34 If you're just joining us, we are interviewing, 09:36 hearing the story of Eric and Marilyn Durant. 09:39 They came, God brought them to 3ABN seven years ago 09:43 and we are so grateful. 09:45 They have many gifts, 09:46 but the thing I love the most about them 09:48 is their heart for God 09:50 and their heart for this ministry 09:51 and for people. 09:52 Eric, of course, works in our engineering department as... 09:55 I drew a blank, 09:57 broadcast engineer and computer... 09:59 Broadcast engineer and computer programmer. 10:01 Computer programmer. Okay. 10:02 And Marilyn is our call center manager. 10:04 So let's go back to the beginning, 10:07 I guess you could say as it were. 10:08 Eric, and tell us, 10:10 did you grow up in a Christian home 10:11 and what was life like growing up? 10:13 Well, let me start off by saying, 10:14 I love sharing my testimony. 10:16 People that know me, I'm always talking about, 10:18 things like that, 10:20 but it's also painful 10:21 because you have to relive things in the past 10:24 that you may not enjoy reliving. 10:26 But I think part of being a Christian 10:28 is sharing not only the successes, 10:30 but the failures, 10:32 so that you can see 10:34 what God's done for you in your life. 10:37 And I was raised in a half Christian home. 10:41 My mother was Christian. She was Baptist. 10:45 My father was, 10:47 they were both actually born Catholic, 10:49 but my mother practiced as a Baptist 10:50 and my father really wasn't practicing. 10:53 And so it was, it was sort of a divided home 10:56 and my father, he wasn't around a lot. 10:58 He came and went, 10:59 and that created a lot of issues, 11:02 a lot of anger issues, especially in me. 11:04 And... 11:06 Where did you grow up? What state? 11:07 New York City. Yeah. 11:09 New York City. Yeah. 11:12 And those anger issues, 11:13 they manifested themselves in all kinds of different ways. 11:16 Very, very rebellious, very, very, 11:19 it was me against the world. 11:21 And so I ended up 11:23 joining a gang in New York City. 11:27 How old were you? 11:28 I was 14, maybe 15. Yeah. 11:32 And I joined the gang. 11:34 One of the reasons why, is because 11:35 I don't know how it is now, but in New York City, 11:37 when you grow up as a young black man 11:40 or it could be any race really, 11:43 being on your own is dangerous. 11:45 Because there's a lot of things going on 11:47 and they kind of look for the single person to rob 11:50 or to do things with. 11:51 So you almost joined the gang out of, for protection. 11:56 So, I joined the gang. 11:58 Did your mother know you joined the gang 11:59 or you kind of... 12:01 I suspect that she did. Yeah. 12:03 But I would sneak out 12, 1 in the morning 12:07 and then I'd get back at four or five 12:10 to be ready for school that day. 12:13 And I would be in Queens and Brooklyn, 12:15 you know, with friends doing all kinds of stuff. 12:18 I was always... 12:20 My mother gave me this Bible. 12:21 Oh, wow. 12:23 Oh, wow. I still have it. 12:24 How old were you when she gave it to you? 12:26 I was probably 13 or 14 and she gave me this Bible. 12:30 So in the back of my head, I always had, 12:33 I was always convicted about things that I was doing. 12:37 And that kept me from doing a lot of things. 12:39 Never did drugs, never robbed people. 12:41 I never carried a weapon. 12:45 I never hurt people in the sense that 12:48 the only people I ever fought with were 12:50 when I was defending someone. 12:51 I always had a nobility thing. 12:53 I was defending my brothers, my friends, you know, anyone. 12:58 Were you the oldest? 13:00 In out of three kids, I was right in the middle. 13:02 Yeah, I have two sisters. 13:05 And I ended up being... 13:07 I was the scrapper in the gang. 13:09 I was the one that was always getting into fights, 13:11 always wanting to fight because I was young. 13:16 I was really strong for my age. 13:18 I was really fast and I was really angry. 13:20 Yeah. 13:22 And that's a strange combination. 13:24 I had a friend that was a golden glove boxer. 13:27 And they tried to get me to go to Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn. 13:32 And for those that aren't familiar, 13:34 Gleason's Gym is the gym that Mike Tyson trained in. 13:37 And at the time that I was there, 13:40 there was a world champion, Riddick Bowe, 13:42 he trained there. 13:43 And they wanted me to use my anger in a positive fashion 13:47 if you can call it that to use it in some direction. 13:51 And I didn't like it 13:52 because I just didn't want to make a career 13:53 out of getting hit in the face. 13:56 Sure. 13:57 I mean, I was smart enough to say that 13:59 boxers get damaged over the long-term 14:01 and I just didn't want that. 14:02 Yeah. 14:04 So quick question for in this case. 14:05 So you're in a gang, you're early teens 14:06 and you're hanging out. 14:08 It sounds like all throughout what the night 14:10 and you go to school in the morning. 14:11 So how were your grades? My grades were horrible. 14:13 That you were pulling A-pluses then. 14:15 They were horrible 14:16 right up until a little bit later in my testimony, 14:20 when I started reading this Bible 14:22 that my mother gave me. 14:23 She wanted years, she wanted me to read, 14:26 she was always bringing me, bringing me books. 14:28 My mother's name was Ruth 14:30 and she was the only one I trusted. 14:31 I didn't trust anyone else. 14:33 My grandparents passed away earlier 14:36 and so everyone else I looked at 14:38 as being my enemy. 14:40 You know, even my father, he was my enemy. 14:43 He'd say things that would discourage me, 14:45 you know, I would never amount to anything, 14:47 things like that. 14:48 And so we would just go at it. 14:51 And he wasn't the best to my mother either. 14:53 So as a result I was very, very angry 14:56 and I was also very, very protective over women. 15:00 As strange as that might seem, 15:01 because when women were in trouble, 15:03 no matter if I knew them or not, 15:04 I was always coming to somebody's aid 15:06 in the middle of fighting and things like that. 15:09 That was just who I was. 15:12 And, but my mother through all of it, 15:13 I think she sensed that I was in a gang 15:16 because they would come over during the daytime 15:18 and look for me, things like that. 15:20 I can never come out. 15:21 And she knew just by their dress 15:22 and what they were driving and stuff 15:24 that they were trouble. 15:25 So she was always trying to get me to read. 15:27 She was always bringing me books. 15:29 Did you ever hear your mother pray for you at all? 15:30 Did she ever pray for you that you knew of? 15:33 I didn't really know up until her funeral. 15:36 Oh, wow. 15:38 When everybody came up to me, I mean, almost a dozen people, 15:42 'cause it was huge funeral in two different. 15:46 One was in Virginia and one funeral was in New York 15:48 and they came to me and they were all saying, 15:49 Eric, you have no idea 15:50 how much your mother prayed for you. 15:52 And then things started to make sense, 15:53 things that happened in my past 15:55 that I should have gotten hurt 15:56 and you know, 15:57 almost magically nothing happened, 15:59 you know? 16:01 Wow. 16:02 But I was, she was sending me a lot of books 16:05 and I wouldn't read them 16:06 because I had better things to do. 16:08 You know, I was young, my friends were outside, 16:09 there were parties, things like that. 16:12 But one day she brought me a book. 16:14 It was called "God Is My Co-Pilot." 16:17 And it was a book about a World War II fighter pilot. 16:24 And I liked aviation 16:25 because my dad would take us to air shows 16:28 in MacArthur air force... 16:32 I don't remember the air force base, 16:33 but it's in New Jersey. 16:35 Okay. 16:36 And we'd see air shows there. 16:37 And I really impressed by the pilots and the uniforms 16:39 and got them to sign my pamphlet, 16:41 all their names were in the pamphlet. 16:42 Nice. Under their faces. 16:44 They were your heroes then? Yeah. 16:45 They were my heroes. So I liked aviation. 16:47 Yeah. 16:48 And I also liked fighting. 16:50 I guess you just, you like what you're good at? 16:52 And it was my way to vent. 16:53 So when I... 16:55 My mother gave me this book about this fighter pilot, 16:57 I said, "Wow, okay." 16:59 Were you in high school then still 17:00 when she gave you the book? 17:01 I was probably 16, 17. 17:06 Sixteen probably. 17:07 And I started reading that 17:09 and I was blown away 17:11 because when you read, 17:12 you go into this entirely different world. 17:14 Right. 17:15 And after that, I read like crazy hundreds of books. 17:19 My mother was buying me shelves for my room, 17:21 the little plastic snap together shelves. 17:22 Yeah. 17:24 Because I fill up one shelf full of books, 17:25 like hundreds of books and she'd buy another shelf. 17:27 She was motivating me to keep reading. 17:29 Oh, yeah. 17:30 Because when I was reading, 17:32 I wasn't hanging out on the street. 17:33 Of course. 17:34 And, you know, friends would come over and say 17:36 "Where's Eric, can he come out?" 17:37 She'd say, "No, he's not home. Go away." 17:39 Okay. 17:40 And I'd be up in my room, reading books. 17:41 Right. Yeah. 17:43 And so for two or three years, 17:44 all I did was read all kind of books and... 17:47 That would improve your grades. 17:49 Oh, my grades started getting a lot better. 17:50 Oh, yeah. Yeah, a lot. 17:53 I actually became like a B student at that point. 17:56 And then this book came up. 17:58 This Bible my mother gave me that I hadn't read. 18:02 And now I'm into reading mode 18:04 and I opened up this book 18:05 and there's this guy in the book, 18:08 His name was Jesus from a youthful mindset. 18:11 And He says, 18:13 "He's God, and He's come down to earth. 18:17 And He is abused. 18:18 He's spat upon, 18:20 He is eventually put on the cross, 18:23 but through it all, He was peaceful." 18:26 Peaceful. 18:28 And I said to myself, 18:29 "Wait a minute. 18:30 I'm angry at the whole world, the whole world's against me 18:33 because of what they'd done and everything else. 18:35 And here's God who is peaceful 18:39 when He has every right to be angry. 18:42 So my mindset was, 18:43 if He's really God and I'm doing something wrong, 18:46 my perspective is wrong. 18:47 Wow. 18:49 And I read things like the beatitudes. 18:52 The meek will inherit the earth and blessed are the meek. 18:55 And that just made no sense to me 18:57 because where I grew up, 18:58 you take what you want 19:00 or else someone else is gonna take it. 19:01 So you might as well take it. 19:03 And it was a lot different. 19:05 So that sort of started to humble me over time. 19:09 That's an incredible realization 19:10 as a young person 19:12 to actually come to that conclusion, 19:13 starting to read the Bible, 19:14 which for some people would open it up and say, 19:16 "Oh wow, this is too deep for me." 19:17 Were you going to church with your mother at all 19:18 during this time? 19:20 We used to go to Baptist Church in Valley Streams. 19:22 Sure. 19:23 But it would just go in one ear and out the other. 19:24 Okay. 19:26 It was, I was just there to be there. 19:27 So it was the first time you had encountered Jesus, 19:29 you could say? 19:30 Or met Jesus or experienced who He was 19:33 or principles of His kingdom? 19:34 Correct. 19:36 And it started to change me 19:37 in the sense that 19:38 a lot of the things that I used to do, 19:40 they no longer really appealed to me. 19:42 You know, the parties and things like that. 19:44 Where you still in the gang? 19:45 No, no, because I just fell away. 19:48 I didn't hang out with them anymore. 19:49 I was literally, 19:51 it was school and reading and sleeping and eating. 19:54 Wow. Yeah. 19:55 I didn't, I had very few friends 19:57 for that three-year period. 19:58 Wow. 19:59 My friends were my books. 20:01 Wow. Yeah. 20:02 So what happened next then? 20:04 So then you're restarting to read the Bible. 20:05 You're starting to realize who Jesus is. 20:07 And so tell us what the next, what happened to you next? 20:10 So I graduated from college. 20:11 I mean, I graduated from high school 20:14 and I ended up going to a college 20:17 out on Long Island. 20:18 It was an aviation college. 20:21 And it was about two hours from home. 20:23 And at the time I'm not thinking 20:25 I'm looking back now seeing 20:27 I'm following this aviation thing. 20:28 But back then, it just seemed, I liked aviation. 20:30 So I was going, I decided to go to this school 20:32 and I was the only... 20:36 It was mostly a white school and about 2000, 20:39 a little over 2000 students. 20:41 And I was one of three 20:43 African-Americans in the school. 20:45 Three? Yeah. 20:46 Wow. Out of 2000? 20:48 Yeah. Out of 2000. 20:49 So it was an interesting year. 20:51 So when my sophomore year came up, 20:53 my dad gave me money. 20:55 to go back to college 21:01 and I loaded up the car and I had stuff on the roof. 21:05 And, you know, I'm waving bye to mom. 21:07 Sounds like a college student experience. 21:08 Yeah. 21:09 And, but instead of heading to the college, 21:13 I remember I reached the Grand Central Parkway. 21:16 It runs the length of Long Island sort of, 21:19 and instead of turning east to go to the college, 21:21 I turned west. 21:22 I said, 21:24 "I'm never going back to that school again. 21:25 I'm just gonna learn how to fly and skip the school." 21:27 I was tired of what was going on there. 21:31 A lot of things happen 21:32 that would be a whole other discussion. 21:34 And so I ended up going out to Southern California 21:38 and a little small flight school. 21:41 I put the $14,000 on the table and I said, 21:44 "Teach me how to fly." 21:45 And it was from zero hours to commercial pilot's license. 21:49 Wow. 21:51 And after that, 21:52 I flew for three more years 21:53 for a 135 operation flying cargo 21:56 and people around the Southwest. 21:58 Okay. 22:00 The worst part was flying chickens and animals. 22:03 That's just not fun. 22:05 You know, feathers flying by in a cockpit 22:07 while you're trying to fly. 22:08 Never thought about that. Yeah. 22:10 It's not fun, 22:11 but we were, I was building hours 22:13 and I wanted to go into the air force 22:15 at that point. 22:16 I'm following my God is a co-pilot, 22:17 that book. 22:19 I'm not thinking about it at the time, 22:20 but I'm following this. 22:22 Can I ask, were you still struggling 22:23 with anger in your life? 22:25 Was that still an issue or were you, 22:27 after you encountered Jesus 22:29 when you were reading the Bible 22:30 and found out who He was, did that resolve? 22:33 Yes, not as much because when I was in college, 22:36 there was a lot of things that happened 22:38 that had they happened, pre-Jesus 22:42 things would have gone really bad. 22:44 My mentality was, I was pretty violent, 22:47 you know, it was fist first, discussion later sort of thing. 22:52 So college, I went through my first year there 22:55 with no problems because 22:57 the meek will inherit the earth. 22:58 God had gotten a hold of you. 23:00 God had gotten a hold of me. Yeah. 23:01 So I went into the air force 23:04 flight test and research and development. 23:08 And then I was challenged, 23:11 but I still wanted to go and fight. 23:13 So I ended up cross-training into another career field 23:18 that embedded me with the army. 23:21 We went off to the Middle East 23:23 and we got into some stuff over there 23:26 and that changed my mindset once again. 23:29 And I was... How did it change it? 23:32 I came out of it alive. 23:34 I saw what ugliness is. 23:36 I mean, real ugliness, beyond just fist fighting 23:39 and things like that. 23:42 I also came to appreciate love a lot more, 23:45 you know, love amongst friends, love amongst brotherhoods 23:48 and things like that. 23:49 But at the same time, 23:51 I was convicted that 23:53 because the meek will inherit the earth 23:56 in this book that what I was doing wasn't right. 23:58 So I really wanted to get out of the military at that point. 24:02 And I ended up coming back home. 24:04 I was injured. 24:05 I ended up coming back home, 24:07 and Lyle Albrecht was on television. 24:10 Oh-oh-oh. 24:12 I was in Bossier City, Louisiana. 24:13 Okay. 24:14 And the signal didn't come through very well. 24:17 It was all static. 24:18 You could see figures moving, 24:19 but I could hear what they were talking about. 24:21 And Lyle Albrecht has a unique voice. 24:22 Now was this on 3ABN? 24:24 This was on 3ABN. Okay. 24:25 Wow. 24:27 And this was probably 2000, 2000 maybe 2001, 24:31 somewhere around there. 24:33 And... 24:34 How did you find them? 24:35 Were you just flipping a channel or? 24:37 I was just flipping through the channel. 24:38 So, you just came across 3ABN? Yeah, I heard his voice. 24:40 I was like, "Wow. He sounds kind of interesting. 24:41 He just has a way of talking. He does. 24:43 And he started talking about the Sabbath. 24:44 You couldn't really see him because it was all static. 24:46 It was all static, but I heard the message. 24:48 Wow. 24:49 And the Sabbath was always a question 24:51 that I had, you know, 24:52 Jewish Sabbath, Christian Sabbath. 24:54 Why are there two Sabbaths? Doesn't make sense to me. 24:55 No one ever had a good answer for it. 24:57 So he started talking about this 24:59 and he had good answers. 25:00 So, that just appealed to me. 25:01 So I kept watching and then Kenneth Cox 25:03 and Doug Batchelor. 25:04 And that really drew me in, then 9/11 happened. 25:07 Yeah. 25:08 And I said, 25:10 "Okay, they're getting ready to ship us off again." 25:11 I had my orders, 25:12 we were going back to the Middle East. 25:14 And I went to my pastor, 25:17 Pastor Cedric Belcher in Shreveport. 25:21 And I said, 25:22 "I'm getting ready to go back to the Middle East. 25:24 I don't know if I'm coming back." 25:25 Were you going to Seventh-day Adventist Church at this time? 25:27 I was going to Seventh-day Adventist Church 25:28 for about a year. 25:30 Okay. So, you found the truth. 25:31 I found the truth simply because of Lyle Albrecht. 25:33 Yeah. Amen. Okay. 25:34 And I said, 25:35 "I'm going to the Middle East. Don't know if I'm coming back. 25:37 You need to baptize me." 25:39 So they had a special baptism the next Sabbath. 25:42 And by a miracle, 25:45 I ended up being released from the military 25:47 a couple of months later. 25:49 So I was out of the military and I moved to Colorado. 25:53 So you didn't have to go back to the Middle East? 25:54 I didn't have to go back to the Middle East. 25:56 So that was a blessing. Wow. 25:59 A honorable discharge. 26:01 And I didn't have to fight anymore. 26:02 And that was good. 26:04 So I went to Colorado Springs. 26:06 I moved to Colorado 'cause I got a job with Boeing 26:08 as an electrical engineer. 26:11 And I loved the mountains also. 26:13 Colorado is a great place to experience the mountains, 26:15 that's for sure. 26:16 So it just seemed like the right place to go. 26:19 And when I got there 26:20 I was a Christian now, I was baptized. 26:23 Yep, Seventh-day Adventist. 26:24 So, I couldn't go on the same dating scene 26:25 that I used to go on. 26:27 And so, I was running into people 26:29 that I found really strange 26:31 that I didn't find strange before. 26:33 And the one that really made my decision 26:35 to pursue Marilyn was, 26:42 I went out on a date with a young lady 26:44 and she brought a doll 26:46 and she said she was a Christian, 26:47 but she brought a doll and she put it on the table 26:50 and we're talking and I'm like, what's this doll. 26:53 I bring that out halfway through the night. 26:55 She said, "Oh, that's you." 26:57 What? Yeah. 26:59 She said, 27:01 "I use this to bond with my dates 27:03 before the date. 27:05 That's strange. 27:06 And it turned out that 27:08 she was mixed voodoo with Christianity, 27:11 really strange theology. 27:13 And I said, "Okay, I'm done with this scene." 27:15 And I went to a dating service and that's how I met Marilyn. 27:19 Into Marilyn. 27:21 Yeah. Wow. 27:22 That's an incredible, 27:24 I mean you think about your journey. 27:25 Yeah. 27:26 I'm not sure what your age at this point, 27:28 but I mean, God's taken you from a young man is very angry, 27:29 finding your way through life accomplishing what you wanted, 27:33 and that was to be a pilot. 27:35 And then how God basically led you 27:36 to truth through 3ABN, Lyle Albrecht. 27:38 The signal wasn't clear. That's right. 27:40 And you still found truth, got baptized, 27:42 moved to Colorado and Marilyn enters the picture. 27:44 So we want to find about your background, Marilyn. 27:47 So where were you born and raised? 27:49 I was born and raised in Pueblo, Colorado. 27:52 Okay. 27:53 And similar to Eric, 27:56 my parents, my mother was Christian, 27:59 but my dad was not. 28:02 He was in the picture, 28:03 but he wasn't going to church with us. 28:05 We went to a Baptist Church, and growing up, 28:10 I didn't have the anger issues. 28:12 I was very, I think, naive and sheltered 28:17 'cause I remember 28:18 when I got older 28:20 and I was graduating from high school, 28:22 my mother said, 28:24 "So what is your plans next?" 28:25 And I thought, 28:26 "What do you mean? I'm staying here with you." 28:29 That's crazy. 28:31 She's like, "Oh no, we're gonna put you in school." 28:34 And she ended up sending me to a university in Texas, 28:39 Abilene Christian, 28:40 and that was Church of Christ. 28:42 And at the time I didn't distinguish 28:45 the different denominations. 28:49 I just thought everybody's Christian 28:51 and we love one another, you know, 28:53 but going there, 28:56 me and my best friend went 28:58 and we encountered some things 29:00 that really hurt us spiritually. 29:04 And... 29:06 What were some of those things? 29:07 Well, I remember my friend, 29:09 her grandfather was a Baptist preacher 29:13 and he had passed away and they... 29:19 Some of our friends 29:20 that we were hanging around with, 29:22 they had told us that, 29:24 you know, your grandfather went to hell. 29:27 And we thought what? Yeah. 29:30 And it was because they said, 29:33 "Well, he wasn't part of the church." 29:36 And I'm not too sure 29:38 all of the beliefs that the Church of Christ believed, 29:40 but that hurt us. 29:41 And we had a lot of questions and concerns. 29:46 But, yeah, I, growing up, 29:48 I loved the Lord and I loved going to church, 29:52 and it could have been because a lot of my friends were going. 29:57 But me and my, one of my oldest sisters, 30:00 we always maintain that relationship. 30:02 And... 30:04 So your family was going to church a lot, 30:06 then you like went every Sunday then... 30:07 Yes. 30:09 Kind of consistent, 30:10 you joined an activity, church activity? 30:11 Yes. Very involved. 30:13 And it's been with me ever since. 30:16 What did you take in college? 30:18 Well I started out as an accounting major 30:22 and as soon as I got to cost accounting, 30:26 I thought this is not for me. 30:30 Yeah, I know. 30:31 And then I went into business management, 30:33 so, yeah. 30:35 I didn't finish at Abilene Christian, 30:38 I ended up going back home, 30:39 which I should have done in the first place, 30:41 but, you know, we learn our lessons and... 30:47 The funny thing was that Marilyn was the first one 30:51 that came up on the list 30:53 when I was looking for someone to date through this service, 30:56 and Marilyn told me that 30:58 I was the first one that came up on her list. 31:00 And her girlfriend bought her the membership, 31:03 you could tell them the story. 31:04 Yeah. 31:06 My girlfriend, she encouraged me. 31:07 Her husband was like, "This is what you should do." 31:10 And at the time I wasn't interested. 31:12 I was working and doing well 31:15 when it just seemed like dating was not on the radar. 31:19 And at the time my stepfather, my parents had got divorced. 31:24 And... 31:25 How old were you when that happened? 31:27 I was very young. 31:28 I vaguely remember it happening. 31:31 Me and my brother, we're the youngest of four. 31:34 Okay. 31:35 And it was very hurtful 31:38 because I remember me and him waiting for my dad 31:41 to come and get us. 31:43 He would say, "I'm gonna come pick you up." 31:45 And we'd sit there by the door and he would never show. 31:48 Oh. That is painful. 31:50 Yeah. 31:51 And, you know, now our relationship is better 31:53 with my dad, 31:54 but it took a long time. 31:56 So, yeah, but at the time my stepfather had passed away 32:00 and every weekend I was going to see my mom 32:03 and be with her because I thought she needed me. 32:06 Right. 32:07 But my girlfriend... Offer support. 32:08 Yeah. Yes. 32:10 They wanted me to get on this dating site 32:11 and I thought, 32:13 "I'm not doing that." 32:14 And I would say, 32:15 "I'm going home. I'm going home." 32:17 And then one weekend, I dropped the ball. 32:18 I said, "Oh, I'll be here." 32:20 "Good. Come on over. You're going to fill this out." 32:23 And I never paid for the service. 32:26 I thought I'm gonna satisfy their wishes or whatever 32:30 and I'll fill it out, but that's it. 32:33 So I show up for a date 32:34 and the first thing they make me do is 32:36 fix her sister's computer. 32:39 Yeah. We put him to work. 32:40 Yeah. They put me to work. 32:42 And they were so impressed 32:43 that I fixed her sister's computer 32:45 that they couldn't fix. 32:46 She said, "Okay, second date is in line." 32:49 So did your sister decide the second date was in line 32:51 or you decided the second date was in line? 32:52 No, I decided. Okay. 32:54 Yeah. 32:56 My family, I thought, 32:57 well, if I'm gonna go on a date with him, 32:59 I said, "Will you guys go with me?" 33:02 And they were like, "No, we're not going with you." 33:03 You know, you never know who you're gonna meet. 33:05 So I thought, okay. 33:08 How long did you start communicating online 33:11 before you physically met in person? 33:12 Yes. And it was a long time that we communicated. 33:15 Eric actually had to say, 33:17 "Can I finally meet you? You know, and so... 33:20 Did I send you poems? 33:22 Did I send poems or anything like that? 33:23 No. Okay. I should have sent poems. 33:25 It would have been a lot quicker. 33:27 Yeah. 33:28 So you're both in Colorado. How far apart were you? 33:31 We were about an hour away. Yeah. 33:32 I was in Colorado Springs and she was in Denver. 33:35 Denver. Yeah. 33:36 So you had found about 33:38 the Seventh-day Adventist truth, 33:39 what, by the time you moved to Colorado? 33:40 A couple of years, a year and a half, two years? 33:42 I got baptized in Louisiana. 33:44 So by the time I got to Colorado, 33:46 I was Adventist. 33:47 And that's what a time period of? 33:49 A year. A year maybe. 33:50 Yeah. Okay. 33:52 So, Marilyn, for you then. So you're raised... 33:54 Baptist and I'm still going to the Baptist Church. 33:56 Okay. Yeah, okay. 33:57 And when I met Eric, 33:59 he invited me to go to church with him 34:01 and you actually did buy me a gift. 34:04 It was a plaque and it had a scripture on it. 34:07 So he did, that was his first gift to me and so... 34:11 I think there was a poem in there somewhere. 34:13 So, then he says, go to church with me 34:15 and you're like, okay, sure. 34:16 That sounds good. Let's do it on Sunday. 34:17 And I, but I had no problem with going to church. 34:21 On Saturday. 34:22 No. Okay. 34:23 I always knew that I wanted to honor God's day 34:29 and I didn't realize that Sunday was not the day 34:33 until I started going to the Adventist Church. 34:36 And I just, we just kept going 34:41 and till he decided to take a job 34:44 in Washington State 34:46 and at the time we weren't married, 34:48 so he left and moved. 34:51 Oh, wow. Yeah. 34:52 Did you decide to continue relationship with distance? 34:55 We did. Okay. 34:57 But he was there only three months and he said, 35:00 "Okay, we've got to get married." 35:03 I missed her. Yeah. 35:05 Of course. I messed her. 35:07 Yeah, so I was with the company with Boeing 35:10 and I didn't realize it at the time, 35:12 but looking back, I realized 35:14 I read book, Joseph in the Bible. 35:17 Yeah. 35:18 It seems like everything he did, 35:19 God blessed. 35:21 And so like, he touched it and it turned to gold. 35:24 And I'm thinking all the while I'm doing well because of me, 35:28 you know, everything I did, 35:29 I kept moving up with the company. 35:31 Every job I applied for, I got. 35:34 I was moving up quick and we would move around 35:36 because of that. 35:38 Each job was a move. 35:39 And I'm thinking it's about me. 35:41 And it wasn't, it was about God. 35:44 And I think what God was doing was 35:45 He was restoring the insecurity that I had 35:51 because so many people had told me that 35:53 I would never amount to anything. 35:55 He's giving me a degree of success 35:57 to kind of balance that out 35:59 because he had plans for me in the future. 36:02 So we moved around, we moved from Washington State, 36:06 from Colorado to Washington State, 36:07 we moved to Washington DC. 36:09 Then we ended up moving back to Washington State, 36:12 and then things started happening 36:16 that really changed the path. 36:18 So you got married in 2002? Six. 36:20 2006, okay. All right. 36:22 And how was your spiritual journey then during this time? 36:24 You're moving. 36:25 We know Washington DC or to Washington DC, 36:27 then back to Washington, 36:29 how was your spiritual journey as a married couple? 36:30 We found a lot of new churches. 36:32 Each time we moved, we would find another church 36:34 and then we'd end up moving a year later 36:35 because I'd get another job offer. 36:38 And honestly I was more focused on career success 36:43 than on the Bible. 36:45 Okay. 36:46 So I was more than happy to uproot my church family 36:49 and say, we're out of here and to move on. 36:52 So we moved around quite a bit. 36:54 And, Marilyn, when did you join 36:56 the Seventh-day Adventist Church? 36:57 2008. 36:58 And we were attending a church in Washington State 37:02 in Lacey, Washington and Lyle Albrecht. 37:05 He... 37:07 We just talked about him. I know. 37:09 He was doing evangelistic series 37:12 in Washington. 37:13 And that's when I made the decision 37:16 that I wanted to be a part 37:18 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 37:20 And it was always, I never wanted to force. 37:24 So I never to this day, 37:25 I never say you have to do this. 37:28 You have to go to church. 37:29 I always leave it to the Holy Spirit. 37:31 So for years, 37:33 it wasn't that long but for a little while, 37:34 yeah, two years, I was praying, God, let her, 37:37 let her accept this message, let her accept this message. 37:39 So when she raised her hand 37:41 and to be baptized in Lacey, Washington, I was happy. 37:45 Oh yeah. Yeah. 37:46 That's so neat how God is. 37:48 You know, you think about that, 'cause Lyle Albrecht, 37:49 you couldn't see him, but you could hear his voice 37:50 when you first stumbled across 3ABN. 37:52 Heard Lyle Albrecht number of years later, 37:54 he's the one that baptized you, Marilyn, 37:55 in Washington State. 37:57 That's right. That's really neat. 37:58 I think that's God, you know, it's like confirmation. 38:00 That's right. We're on the right path. 38:01 That's right. 38:03 So tell us about your journey and how you came to 3ABN? 38:05 So everything was going great. 38:08 It was actually going too great. 38:10 And I'm not prideful about it anymore. 38:13 I'm kind of ashamed of it to be honest with you. 38:15 But we had a huge house. 38:18 We had four stories. We had cars. 38:20 Of course, there was three. 38:22 There was a garage level, 38:23 and then there was a living room level. 38:25 Okay. It had lots of levels. 38:27 It was a big house. This was big house. 38:29 We could see the water. 38:31 It was lots of cars, lots of things like that. 38:35 But I was empty. Okay. 38:37 Something was wrong. 38:39 You still going to church though? 38:40 We're still going to church. Yeah. 38:41 But it's empty. 38:43 Yeah, because it was, it was, it wasn't a commitment 38:47 the way it should have been. 38:48 It was because I was Adventist and I liked the message, 38:51 but I didn't devote myself to it 38:53 to that degree yet. 38:55 It's a distraction. 38:56 The career world is a distraction. 38:57 It really is. 38:59 And... 39:00 And money can be a distraction. 39:01 Yeah. And money was a distraction. 39:03 We made lots of money and there was a distraction. 39:06 And we were in Marysville 39:09 and Marilyn got the call 39:11 or she was trying to reach her mother all night. 39:13 And she's like something's wrong 39:15 because she could not reach her mother. 39:17 It turned out her mother passed away. 39:18 Oh, wow. 39:20 Yeah. Suddenly then. 39:21 It was sudden. 39:22 She fell asleep and did not wake up. 39:24 Did not wake up. 39:26 So, then we went out to Colorado 39:27 and we came back 39:29 and month and a half later, my mother died unexpectedly. 39:33 Your mother suddenly died. Yes. 39:34 Yeah. 39:36 And then a week later my father died. 39:38 A week. Yeah. 39:39 So, we're kind of rocking and rolling right now. 39:42 And I'm like "What is going on here?" 39:45 And the really strange thing is that 39:48 we also had a lot of spiritual events 39:50 that were going on that were really strange, 39:53 like windows were breaking. 39:56 We tried to go to church 39:57 and our GPS refused to let us go to church. 40:00 Yeah, it was routing us back home. 40:02 But the address to the church was in the GPS. 40:05 It was really crazy. 40:06 Spiritual attack. Spiritual attack. 40:09 And my sister Denise called from San Antonio. 40:11 She said, 40:13 "Eric, there is weird things going on in my house." 40:16 She just came out of surgery. She had problems in surgery. 40:18 She said the kids came running down, 40:20 they said, 40:21 "Grandma's in the room. Grandma's in the room." 40:23 And my mother passed away. 40:25 And a lot of other things were going on... 40:26 We know that grandma's sleeping in the grave. 40:28 Right. Right, yeah. 40:29 Wow. 40:31 So, there was a spiritual attack 40:32 here going on. 40:33 Absolutely. And I got sick. 40:35 I think I was sick for almost a week 40:36 and I was in bed for about four days 40:38 and that's, I never get sick like that. 40:40 You know, literally four days in bed, 40:42 fever, the whole thing. 40:45 So we were under really serious attack. 40:47 And... 40:48 What year was this? 40:51 That was 2014. 40:53 Yeah. 2013. 40:56 13? 2013. Yeah. 40:57 Yeah because we came here in '14. 41:01 And I'm praying 41:02 and I'm saying what's going on here? 41:04 You know, all of these events. 41:06 Obviously some, there's some spiritual battle going on. 41:09 And then I start hearing these voices. 41:11 Yeah. And it's... 41:13 What did it say? 41:14 It wasn't audible voice, 41:15 but it was kind of an impression. 41:18 And they kept saying it's time. 41:20 And I worked for Boeing at the time. 41:22 I'm in Everett, Washington 41:24 and I'm sitting in meetings and I just hear 41:27 "It's time." 41:28 And I'm like, this is 41:30 and it kept happening all over the place. 41:32 Supermarket, I'm hearing "It's time. It's time." 41:34 And after about a week of hearing this, 41:36 I get kind of mad with God. 41:37 And I'm like, it's time for what? 41:39 What do you... 41:40 This is kind of starting to aggravate me a little bit. 41:43 And you told Marilyn that 41:44 you were hearing this impression, 41:46 like, it's time. 41:47 So you don't know the struggle that's in his... 41:48 I didn't know what was going on. 41:50 Yeah. Wow. 41:51 So, being the type of person 41:52 I am, I'm taking the initiative. 41:54 I said, "Okay, babe, we're leaving. 41:55 God wants us to do something other than what I'm doing." 41:58 So we make plans to move to Texas. 42:02 Cinco Ranch, Texas. 42:04 We have the neighborhood planned out. 42:05 Everything planned up. 42:07 Did you have a job? No. 42:08 No. Okay. 42:09 We were just... 42:11 I knew God wanted us to do something. 42:12 And I said, "We just got to go." 42:14 It's just, doesn't feel right here anymore. 42:17 So we have the plans, 42:20 the garage was like 80% full of boxes 42:23 'cause we were packed and ready to go. 42:25 And I prayed to God. 42:27 I said, "God, if there's something 42:28 that You want us to do, 42:30 You better let us know because we're headed to Texas. 42:33 And the next morning I get an email from 3ABN. 42:36 Really? Yeah. Yeah. 42:38 Had you applied to 3ABN? I applied a long time ago. 42:41 A long time ago. Yeah. 42:43 And I got this call. 42:46 The other interesting thing is a week before that 42:48 the landlady Marilyn's talking to the landlady saying, 42:53 "We're gonna cancel our lease. 42:55 We're leaving town." 42:56 Here's why, she's telling her our testimony. 42:58 And there is a lot of things I left out, 43:00 it was just bizarre. 43:01 And the landlady said, 43:02 and I'm getting mail out of the box 43:05 next to the desk. 43:06 And the landlady says after listening to Marilyn, 43:09 "Oh, you guys are getting ready to do something for the Lord." 43:12 Wow. Oh, wow. 43:13 And I was like, "What?" 43:15 She said, 43:16 "Yeah, you guys, when I, 43:17 I've seen this happen before you come under attack, 43:19 you guys getting ready to do something for the Lord." 43:20 And I'm like, "Okay, well we're headed to Texas." 43:23 Well, a week later, what I just told you happened. 43:25 You get the email from 3ABN? 43:26 I get the email. 43:28 So I come out, we take a look. Who was it from? 43:30 It was from Moses. Oh, yeah. 43:31 Yeah. We take a look. 43:33 And we're like, "Okay, this is interesting." 43:36 Yeah. I know it. I know it. 43:38 There's a lot of corn. 43:40 And soybeans. And soybeans. 43:41 Were you familiar with 3ABN much, Marilyn. 43:43 Were you, 'cause I know Eric was. 43:44 I watched on television. Okay. 43:46 But you know, that's about it. Okay. 43:48 So, yeah, you'd never been out here visited? 43:50 No. Right. Never. 43:52 Okay. Yeah. 43:53 So we were, we came, we left here and we were like, 43:55 we're still headed for Texas. 43:56 Right. Okay. 43:57 And maybe a week or two passed 43:59 and it's not registering to me what God's trying to tell me. 44:02 And one of the things I said in my prayer, 44:03 I always remember it was, I said, 44:06 "Lord, I'm kind of thick-headed, 44:07 you know, I'm a little bit stubborn. 44:09 Whatever You want me to do, 44:10 You have to make it crystal clear, 44:12 so it gets through." 44:14 So, I pray the second prayer. 44:16 And within the hour, 3ABN, you guys called again. 44:19 Oh, the second time. 44:20 The second time right after prayer, right. 44:22 Was that Moses again? Yeah. It was Moses again. 44:25 And it's still not registering. We're still headed for Texas. 44:28 And I pray again a couple of weeks later, 44:32 "Lord, we're headed for Texas. 44:33 You better let me know what the plans are 44:35 'cause we're headed there." 44:37 I'm single-minded mindset kind of this mission oriented. 44:40 And God's saying, okay, let me think here. 44:41 See I've already told them. 44:42 God has sent an email, another phone call. 44:44 Right. Yeah. 44:46 And right after I prayed Moses called again. 44:49 Oh, wow. Third time. 44:50 Third time. Yeah. 44:51 And that's when it got through, I was like, 44:53 "Oh, He wants to go to 3ABN." Yeah. 44:56 And that's when we canceled our plans, 44:59 Cinco Ranch, Texas, 45:01 and we came here. 45:02 And it's been, we've been blessed ever since. 45:05 How'd you feel, Marilyn? 45:06 Were you on board with the decision 45:08 or did you feel like man, he thinks we should go, 45:09 but I'm not sure about it? 45:11 You know, how were you feeling? 45:13 I wasn't thrilled for Southern Illinois, 45:16 but you know, I knew that wherever he went, I was going. 45:21 And honestly, sometimes I think we came here for him, 45:25 but I think he came here for me. 45:29 Oh, wow. Oh, that's deep. 45:31 Why do you say that? 45:33 Because I've learned so much and I've grown so much. 45:36 My relationship with Christ is so much better. 45:40 And so, yeah, I think. 45:43 I've loved for the years that we were working, 45:47 that I was working. 45:49 Marilyn was at home 45:50 and she had a couple jobs here and there. 45:52 And I love seeing her as a manager 45:57 at the call center, 45:58 because it's given her a self-confidence 46:00 and the pride and the strength that I always look for. 46:04 And so in that sense, 46:06 working here was not only a blessing for me. 46:09 This is a blessing for Marilyn. Oh, yeah. 46:12 And so, I learnt the lesson through my stubborn side, 46:17 that if you step out in the faith 46:19 and you trust in God, 46:21 sometimes it's a scary thing. 46:23 But if you hold that faith, 46:25 He's gonna come through and He's gonna bless you. 46:26 And we're living that blessing right now. 46:28 We love it here. Amen. 46:30 So when you came in, 46:32 you didn't come in for the manager, 46:33 what did you come in as, and how did that happen? 46:34 No. I came in as the assistant. 46:36 At the time I wasn't even thinking about working 46:39 and Mollie called and said, "So what is your plans?" 46:43 I said, 46:44 "Well, nothing right now. 46:46 And I'm just waiting for Eric to come home." 46:49 And she said, 46:50 "Well, I have a position 46:52 that I think you would be great for 46:54 and come in and let's talk." 46:57 And as you know, 46:58 that's when Krista, 47:00 when you are changing positions. 47:01 I thought I was moving to production at that point. 47:03 Yeah, that's right. 47:05 And so that's how I came to 3ABN, 47:07 three months after Eric was hired. 47:09 So... 47:11 So you were the assistant call center manager? 47:12 I was the assistant. 47:13 Serving under Jonathan's manager then. 47:15 Yeah. 47:16 And then I'm trying to think how many years it was 47:18 before we made the transition. 47:19 And then you stepped in as manager. 47:22 It was four years, Jonathan served as the manager. 47:26 And then I stepped in and I tell him, 47:29 "You didn't tell me everything, Jonathan." 47:32 You're doing a great job there. Thank you. 47:34 But he's still here and we can ask him questions. 47:36 Yes. And he helps us out a lot. I appreciate him so much. 47:40 It's funny because during the journey, 47:43 when you're moving forward, 47:44 you don't see where you're going. 47:46 But when you look back, you see how God... 47:49 I use the word interfere in a wonderful way. 47:52 How He interferes over time to lead you 47:55 where you need to go 47:56 and keeps you from going in the direction 47:58 that you don't need to go. 47:59 That's the interference part. 48:01 And there's this, there's a number of times 48:03 where I should have died, being quite honest with you. 48:06 I have a lot of experiences with that 48:09 and I always wondered why I stayed alive. 48:13 Why did God? 48:15 Why didn't I die like other people die that I know? 48:18 And I realized, 'cause I had a praying mother. 48:21 At the funeral, they said, 48:22 "Your mother prayed for you, Eric, you have no idea." 48:25 And I said, "Okay. So that's why that happened. 48:27 And that's why that happened. 48:28 And that's why I got out of this experience 48:30 without a scratch, you know?" 48:32 And the only time I got hurt was 48:33 when it was to lead me away 48:35 from the military towards something better, 48:40 which is mission work. 48:42 There we go. 48:43 Just a few minutes before we go to a break. 48:44 I want to ask this to both of you. 48:46 So, as far as if you, if someone at home right now 48:49 is like in that valley of decision, 48:50 trying to figure it out, 48:52 I don't know what God has in store for me. 48:53 What would you say to them, Eric? 48:55 And we'll go to your Marilyn, what would you say to them? 48:56 Someone right now is trying to figure out what to do. 48:59 Faith 49:01 is an incredible thing 49:06 because it not only teaches you, 49:10 it gifts you 49:12 in the sense that 49:15 the more faith you have, 49:16 the longer, the greater your faith gets. 49:18 Because when He save you through this instance 49:20 and that instance, in another instance, 49:22 you're not worried about the other thing coming up 49:23 because you're like, 49:25 God's got my back. I love that. 49:26 Yep. 49:28 At the same time, it blesses you 49:29 because it puts you in the position 49:31 where you can bless others. 49:32 You can tell people about your faith 49:34 and what it did for you. 49:35 So I would tell anyone, have faith. 49:38 Amen. 49:39 Step out, trust the Lord. 49:41 It may not happen in your timeframe, 49:44 but it's gonna happen 49:45 if you have faith and you step out. 49:47 And if you're honest with the Lord, 49:48 He's going to bless you. 49:50 And you're gonna look back on it and say, 49:51 thank God I did that. 49:53 Amen. 49:55 What about you, Marilyn? 49:56 What would you say to that person? 49:57 I would say trust in the Lord, 49:59 you know, any major decision 50:01 that you're making in your life, 50:06 consult with God first 50:08 and not go on your own decision-makings. 50:12 Because sometimes it's not what he wants 50:15 and just have faith in where He's leading you. 50:19 Yeah. He will never steer you wrong. 50:21 Amen. Amen. 50:24 One more question. 50:25 I know we're almost out of time. 50:26 This is putting you on the spot, 50:28 but what would be some of the lessons 50:29 or a lesson that you've learned while being here at 3ABN? 50:33 Does anything pop into your mind 50:34 that you've learned? 50:36 One lesson that I've definitely learned is that 50:40 coming here, you know, it is a ministry 50:43 and you give up a lot of things, 50:48 but God has always taken care of us. 50:50 Even more so now than when we had so much money 50:56 and the material things, 50:58 you know, God has protected us 51:00 and taken care of us. 51:01 So like I said, trust in God, He's gonna take care of you. 51:04 Amen. Wow. 51:06 Amen. Yeah. 51:07 And you're not successful if you don't have Jesus 51:09 and it doesn't matter what you've done. 51:13 If you're not taking the Lord with you, 51:15 you're gonna fail in the end. 51:16 And I know a lot of people who aren't happy, 51:20 they have the material stuff, 51:22 but when I see their lifestyle, they're not happy. 51:24 So trust in the Lord, love the Lord. 51:27 Be faithful and cling to Him. 51:29 Don't cling to stuff. 51:30 Right. Yeah. 51:32 Amen. Wow. 51:33 I've been encouraged today. 51:35 There was a powerful testimony. 51:36 Thank you for being willing to share with us. 51:38 I know for us, 51:39 when we hear how God has led in someone else's life, 51:41 doesn't that encourage you? 51:42 Amen. 51:43 It encourages me because you know, 51:45 God is not just interested in them, 51:46 but He's interested in you too. 51:48 You know what you're going on in your life 51:49 and about stepping out in faith. 51:50 I love that, you know, 'cause we walk by faith, not by sight. 51:52 That's right. That's right. 51:53 Thank you both so much. 51:54 We're gonna have, we're gonna go to a news break. 51:56 And when we come back, we'll have a few moments 51:57 for our closing thought, 51:59 but my heart has been blessed and encouraged. 52:01 We know and love Marilyn, but, and Eric, 52:04 but I've learned things that I never even knew before 52:07 about your testimony and journey and walk with God. 52:10 Thank you for being willing to be authentic 52:12 and transparent 52:14 and share what God has done, 52:16 where He's brought you from 52:17 and how He's working in your life. 52:20 That's an amazing testimony. 52:21 And God wants to do that in your life, 52:23 in my heart and our lives as well. 52:26 So what a gift. 52:27 If we open ourselves up to the Lord Jesus and say, 52:30 "I'm yours, please use me." 52:32 He will do that. 52:33 We're gonna go to a news break. We'll be right back. |
Revised 2021-03-12