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Speaker 1: Life Audio.

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Speaker 2: Did you know that Jesus Calling has its own YouTube channel.

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Speaker 2: It's full of great content that will enhance your spiritual life.

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Speaker 2: You'll find beautiful videos with short devotional moments to help

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Speaker 2: you through your day, as well as stories on video

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Speaker 2: from celebrities, authors, pastors, and everyday people who share what

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Speaker 2: their faith journey has meant to them. You'll also find

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Speaker 2: that Jesus Listens Stories of Prayer series hosted by Susie

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Speaker 2: McIntyre Eaton, featuring new guests monthly. Subscribe today for new

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Speaker 2: videos each week.

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Speaker 1: The heroes show up and none of them were tights,

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Speaker 1: and none of them were capes, and they just look

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Speaker 1: like ordinary friends who faithfully live out the message of

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Speaker 1: Jesus in life. If God can use those people, he

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Speaker 1: can use me. And that is a message I think

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Speaker 1: we need right now in this world.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to the Jesus Calling Podcast. This week, we're joined

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Speaker 2: by author and speaker John O'Leary. John shares the story

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Speaker 2: of a joyful Midwestern childhood that was forever changed at

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Speaker 2: age nine by a devastating house fire that doctor said

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Speaker 2: he would not survive. Through the unwavering love of his parents,

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Speaker 2: the kindness of unexpected heroes and a hard fought choice

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Speaker 2: to live. John's life became a testimony to hope rising

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Speaker 2: from an unimaginable pain. Later in the episode, we'll hear

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Speaker 2: from finance executive and advisor atanaz Kadita Chabaka known as At,

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Speaker 2: who was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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Speaker 2: At shares a journey shaped by poverty, displacement, and profound loss,

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Speaker 2: and the faith that sustained him through imprisonment and justice

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Speaker 2: and life threatening trials. Let's begin with John O'Leary's story.

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Speaker 1: I'm John O'Leary. I am a son to Susan and Denny,

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Speaker 1: brother to Jim, Katy Amy, Susan and Laura, to Beth

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Speaker 1: for now twenty two years, and I'm a father of

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Speaker 1: four teenagers. I'm also a speaker. I'm an author of

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Speaker 1: a couple books, and there was a film that recently

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Speaker 1: came out about our life called Soul on Fire. I

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Speaker 1: grew up in Missouri, just outside of Saint Louis. I

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Speaker 1: grew up to two awesome parents. We had dinner together

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Speaker 1: every single night as a family. We sat around with

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Speaker 1: six kids, a couple dogs, two parents, no elbows on

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Speaker 1: the table and it was just an awesome upbringing church

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Speaker 1: on Sundays, pancakes afterwards fried chicken Sunday Nights. My dream

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Speaker 1: as a kid was to be involved with baseball, and

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Speaker 1: specifically I was pretty darned sure as a child I

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Speaker 1: would play short stuff for the Saint Louis Cardinals. Lack

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Speaker 1: of athleticism eventually would derail that, but also a childhood

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Speaker 1: event would certainly eradicate any chance of that happened in

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Speaker 1: the first place. The gifts that my mom and I

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Speaker 1: gave me and the character they instilled in me, the

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Speaker 1: faith that they inspired in their children, is how we

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Speaker 1: keep showing up with this because of what they gave us.

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Speaker 1: So I've always found that it's very easy to be

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Speaker 1: faithful when life is going smashingly well. And for the

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Speaker 1: Olier family it sure did go well for a long time.

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Speaker 1: And then for me and for my siblings, and certainly

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Speaker 1: for my mom and dad that changed dramatically when I

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Speaker 1: was nine. So, at age nine, I was involved in

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Speaker 1: a gasoline explosion, burned in a house fire on one

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Speaker 1: hundred percent of my body. Eighty seven percent of those

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Speaker 1: burns were third degree, And to put all this in perspective,

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five, if a patient presents in an

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Speaker 1: ICU with burns like this, they take the percentage of

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Speaker 1: the body burned, they add age, and they've got mortality.

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Speaker 1: So in twenty twenty five, the same child would have

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Speaker 1: one hundred and nine percent likelihood of passing away. But

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Speaker 1: back in nineteen eighty seven, there's no chance. There's just

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Speaker 1: no chance. And so I don't know the math, I

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Speaker 1: don't know the science, but I know I'm in trouble here.

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Speaker 1: And I remember my mom and dad came into the

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Speaker 1: room separately, but my father first. The first thing he

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Speaker 1: said to me was John, I love you, and there's

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Speaker 1: nothing you can do about it. He said, I've never

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Speaker 1: been so proud of anyone in my entire life, and

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Speaker 1: I'm just grateful to be your dad. He said, I

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Speaker 1: love you, I love you, I love you, And right

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Speaker 1: behind my dad's incredible moment of grace and mercy comes

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Speaker 1: to my mom's. You know, they were both out of

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Speaker 1: the house when I was burned. I was playing with

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Speaker 1: gasoline in the garage. I caused this. I didn't mean to,

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Speaker 1: but I inflicted this damage on myself, on our home,

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Speaker 1: on our lives. And yet they're showing up to me

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Speaker 1: to be so sweet to me, so kind, so christ like.

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Speaker 1: My mom came into the room. She takes my right

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Speaker 1: hand in hers, she pats my bald head and she says,

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Speaker 1: I love you. And I remember looking up and I said, Mom,

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Speaker 1: I don't want to die, I want to live. Her

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Speaker 1: response is good, baby. Look you take the hand of God.

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Speaker 1: You walk the journey with him, and you fight like

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Speaker 1: you never fought before your daddy. And I will be

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Speaker 1: with you every step along the way. But do your

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Speaker 1: part and fight. And so on. That morning, this kid

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Speaker 1: who had grown up in the church and growing up

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Speaker 1: believing that Jesus can walk on water, and if you

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Speaker 1: believe it, you can too, I had to make a

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Speaker 1: decision to get out of the boat. I knew I

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Speaker 1: wasn't by myself. I knew my parents would be with me.

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Speaker 1: I knew I wasn't alone. I knew Christ would walk

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Speaker 1: with me. But it was the most important and difficult

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Speaker 1: decision I've ever made in my entire life. The wind

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Speaker 1: and the waves show up in every single breath and

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Speaker 1: hospital with a burn patient, every ensued me literally is

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Speaker 1: in pain chronically. It's impossible to imagine simply living is agony,

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Speaker 1: and yet in the midst of the storm, there was

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Speaker 1: always hope. There was always hope. There was hope of

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Speaker 1: a vision, a hope of getting out of the hospital.

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Speaker 1: There was hope that love would show back up in

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Speaker 1: my life. There was a friend of mine eventually named

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Speaker 1: Jack Bucky, was the broadcaster for the Saint Louis car Cardinals.

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Speaker 1: He heard about the child the night I was burned,

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Speaker 1: and rather than just hearing that a child in our

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Speaker 1: community was dying of burns, mister Buck left the party. Literally.

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Speaker 1: He goes to a burn center in Saint Louis called Mercy,

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Speaker 1: takes the elevator right up to the fourth floor, gets out,

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Speaker 1: walks in and speaking in light into my darkness because

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Speaker 1: my eyes back then were swollen shut. Mister Buck said

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Speaker 1: to me, kid, wake up, you are going to live.

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Speaker 1: Keep fighting. John O'Leary day at the ballpark will make

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Speaker 1: it all worthwhile, kidd, are you listening? Keep fighting?

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Speaker 3: Keep fighting?

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Speaker 1: And then he walks out. He's told that the little

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Speaker 1: guy is going to die. He cries about it, just

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Speaker 1: like Jesus would, but rather than giving up on it,

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Speaker 1: he goes home. He cries and prays more, and then

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Speaker 1: he asks the question what more can I do? And

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Speaker 1: Jack Buck, the radio announcer for the Saint Louis Cardinals,

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Speaker 1: a very busy guy, comes back to my room a

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Speaker 1: second time the following day and encourages me again, and

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Speaker 1: then does it again the following day and the following

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Speaker 1: and this goes on for the five and a half

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Speaker 1: months I'm in hospital. One of the wild things about

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Speaker 1: Jack Buck is he grew up in modest home environment.

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Speaker 1: He went off to fight World War two, picked up

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Speaker 1: a purple heart, came home changed. And I think when

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Speaker 1: we get burned in life, whatever that looks like for

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Speaker 1: all of us, we can become bitter about it and

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Speaker 1: wonder where God is in our mess. And that's one

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Speaker 1: way to go, and it's common. Or you can recognize

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Speaker 1: that God is all over this mess with you, and

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Speaker 1: that you can reveal that goodness and that grace in

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Speaker 1: them mercy to others through your life.

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Speaker 3: So Jack Buck.

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Speaker 1: Came out of the depression and then into the war,

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Speaker 1: picks up this wound, came home and felt like he

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Speaker 1: was the most blessed guy alive. He could not believe

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Speaker 1: the gift of his life. Then he ends up being

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Speaker 1: the broadcaster for a legendary organization called the Saint Louis

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Speaker 1: Cardinals for fifty years, and every single day he recognized, Gosh,

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Speaker 1: I get paid to do what I wanted to do

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Speaker 1: when I was a kid. How can I make a

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Speaker 1: difference in the lives of others who might be struggling,

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Speaker 1: who might listen to my voice in the summertime, but

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Speaker 1: might benefit from hearing my voice in their winter time.

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Speaker 1: And so I learned how generous he was only years

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Speaker 1: after he visited me in hospital. I never knew how

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Speaker 1: good he was, and to how many people he was good.

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Speaker 1: He was blessed in his life to such a degree

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Speaker 1: that he wanted to spend his life emptying himself out

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Speaker 1: into the life of others. Why he took such an

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Speaker 1: interest in me, though, I'll never know this oiude of eternity.

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Speaker 1: He brought me down to the ballgame like he promised.

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Speaker 1: He learned that night I could hold nothing in my hands.

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Speaker 1: My fingers had been amputated. So he started sending me baseballs.

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Speaker 1: Each ball from a Cardinal player came with a note

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Speaker 1: below at that said, kid, if you want a second baseball,

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Speaker 1: write a thank you letter to the man who signed

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Speaker 1: the first and I could not write as a nine

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Speaker 1: year old or ten year old, but desperately one in

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Speaker 1: another baseball. I figured it out with the help of

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Speaker 1: two occupational therapists. They pushed my hands together, we wrote

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Speaker 1: the note, we mailed it off, and then Jack would

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Speaker 1: send another baseball, and then another, and then another, and

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Speaker 1: then another, And that summer of nineteen eighty seven, mister

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Speaker 1: Buck sent a child who no one will probably hear

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Speaker 1: from ever.

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Speaker 3: Again.

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Speaker 1: I'm not a celebrity, I'm not a speaker, I'm not

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Speaker 1: academically inclined. I have no confidence. But he sends the

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Speaker 1: least among us sixty baseballs, teaching this child not only

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Speaker 1: how to write, but how to live, and never told

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Speaker 1: anybody he was doing this. And the final story on

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Speaker 1: Jack when I graduated university, which is not only the

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Speaker 1: apex of my academic career, but it's proof that the

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Speaker 1: work he did years earlier mattered like it wasn't wasted well.

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Speaker 1: He showed up the graduation with a package and a

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Speaker 1: note and the note, where had a kid? This means

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Speaker 1: a lot to me, I hope it means a lot

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Speaker 1: to you too. I opened up the gift and inside

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Speaker 1: was a crystal baseball I read more closely, and it

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Speaker 1: said Jack buck Baseball Hall of Fame. And I said,

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Speaker 1: mister Bucket, this is your baseball. I can't take this

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Speaker 1: at His response is, you're not taking it. I'm giving

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Speaker 1: it to you. It's a gift. It means a lot

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Speaker 1: to me. I hope it means a lot to you too,

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Speaker 1: and then he goes, try not to drop it. So

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Speaker 1: this was a man who never lost a sense of humor,

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Speaker 1: a man who collected many trophies along the journey of life,

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Speaker 1: and a man who tried to give them all away

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Speaker 1: by the end of it. I think when you go

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Speaker 1: through an event like this at any age, it's easy

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Speaker 1: to really quickly decide either I will be a victim

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Speaker 1: or a victor to this. When I was twenty eight,

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Speaker 1: I was in a church service and the pastors said,

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Speaker 1: for those of you who feel like you've got no talent,

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Speaker 1: and that's most certainly how I felt. He said, listen

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Speaker 1: to me, your life is a precious, priceless gift. You

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Speaker 1: got one job, say yes to be in use for good.

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Speaker 1: So I was just convicted by that message. Even if

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Speaker 1: you feel like you've got no ten your life is

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Speaker 1: a precious priceless gift, you got one job, say yes

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Speaker 1: to be in used for good. And the following day,

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Speaker 1: a little girl who read about the story and overwhelming odds,

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Speaker 1: makes a phone call to me. I'm working construction at

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Speaker 1: the time, and I answer the phone and she says,

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Speaker 1: mister John, can you speak at my school? And I

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Speaker 1: would have never answered that call. I would have never

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Speaker 1: said yes. But the day before our pastors said say yes.

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Speaker 1: So I did this awkward, introverted nobody said yes again

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Speaker 1: and again and over time, through God's hand, I've been

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Speaker 1: blessed to say yes twenty eight hundred times in fifty

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Speaker 1: different states, dozens of countries, because years and years earlier,

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Speaker 1: pastors said, hey, people, listen to me. Whether you think

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Speaker 1: you've got five, two or one talent, or some of

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Speaker 1: you somewhere in this church you think you've got none, listen.

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Speaker 1: Your life is a precious, priceless gift. You got one job.

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Speaker 3: Say yes. Man.

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Speaker 1: I just to me, that's so convicting. And I just

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Speaker 1: hope when you hearing the story that it convicts you too,

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Speaker 1: like your life, in spite of what you've been through

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Speaker 1: or done, can be used in mighty ways. If God

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Speaker 1: can't use those people he can use me, and that

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Speaker 1: is a message I think we need right now in

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Speaker 1: this world. I began reading Jesus Calling almost a decade ago,

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Speaker 1: and it was one of my first forays into intentional

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Speaker 1: reading outside of scripture.

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Speaker 3: Each day.

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Speaker 1: That was the type of thing I could get my hands,

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Speaker 1: heart and mind around and then take the next right

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Speaker 1: step leaving forward from that reading. So Jesus Calling and

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Speaker 1: had a mighty impact on my faith walk. Fire can

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Speaker 1: be so destructive. I am blessed because I survived, but

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Speaker 1: I know many children and many adults who get burned don't.

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Speaker 1: Fire can destroy homes, and it can destroy relationships and communities,

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Speaker 1: and it can be restorative. It can form character and

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Speaker 1: instill faithfulness, and it can draw us closer to Christ's

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Speaker 1: will for our lives. In my anyways, there was a

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Speaker 1: saint named Ignatius of Iola who used to sign off

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Speaker 1: his letters to his brothers and sisters, and he would

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Speaker 1: write off with the words that he would say this,

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Speaker 1: go forth and set the world on fire. It was

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Speaker 1: a way to bring light to those living in darkness,

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Speaker 1: to bring hope to those living in despair. Go forth

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Speaker 1: and set the world on fire. We are called to humbly,

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Speaker 1: faithfully go forth and set the world on fire for good.

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Speaker 1: To learn more about.

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Speaker 2: John O'Leary, visit John O'Leary inspires dot com and be

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Speaker 2: sure to check out the film Soul on Fire, now

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Speaker 2: available on streaming services. Stay tuned to Autuna's Kadita Chewbacca's

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Speaker 2: story after this message. These uncertain times bring anxiety and fear,

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Speaker 2: but Jesus Listens Prayers for Every Season gives you daily

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Speaker 2: prayers of comfort with seasonally inspired illustrations. This beautiful book

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Speaker 2: includes prayers that speak to your situation, whether it's a

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Speaker 2: time of stress or strength. Look for Jesus Listens Prayers

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Speaker 2: for Every Season wherever you buy books. Our next guest

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Speaker 2: is finance executive Achi Naz Kadita Chebacca, known as At,

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Speaker 2: who was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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Speaker 2: At reflects on growing up amid poverty and displacement, the

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Speaker 2: faith that carried him through seasons of danger and uncertainty,

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Speaker 2: and how God's grace shaped a life of purpose, service

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Speaker 2: and trust.

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Speaker 4: I was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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Speaker 4: This is the massive, a country right in the center

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Speaker 4: of Africa.

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Speaker 3: The town I was.

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Speaker 4: Born in was a diamond mining town called Chicapa. Growing up,

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Speaker 4: my first few years were spent in my Money. My

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Speaker 4: Money is a village about twenty miles outside of Chicapo.

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Speaker 4: And then my father passed away when I was three

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Speaker 4: years of the age. That was the beginning of what

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Speaker 4: I call my nomadic season because my mother struggling with

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Speaker 4: the five of us.

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Speaker 3: After my father passed away.

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Speaker 4: She would sometimes place me with my sister, or place

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Speaker 4: me with one of my older brothers or one of

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Speaker 4: her brothers. And then eventually in nineteen fifty nine. End

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Speaker 4: of nineteen fifty nine, Congo was then fighting for independence

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Speaker 4: and we had all kinds of problems and struggles. We

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Speaker 4: moved his refugees from one part of the Congo where

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Speaker 4: we were lazy, to the land of our ancestors. So

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Speaker 4: for quite a while we lived on United Nations for duration.

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Speaker 4: You know, growing up, if I told you that I

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Speaker 4: had dreams to become less, and the other thing I

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Speaker 4: would be lying to you. If I had dreams, it

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Speaker 4: was where is my next morsel of food going to

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Speaker 4: come from? I think about age five, I was staying

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Speaker 4: with my sister and she put me in a kindergarten

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Speaker 4: where I was supposed to be doing my schooling, but

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Speaker 4: I did not attend that school five days of the week.

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Speaker 4: I attend to only one day of the week. It

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Speaker 4: was Wednesdays, and you will ask who are you Wednesdays?

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Speaker 4: On Wednesdays, the school gave us milk and gave us

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Speaker 4: maybe one or two biscuits.

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Speaker 3: That was my motivation for going to.

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Speaker 4: School from a very very young age. A lot of

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Speaker 4: what shept me, other than God Almighty my mother. After

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Speaker 4: my father passed away, my mom had to work very

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Speaker 4: very hard to take care of us, and so therefore

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Speaker 4: the idea of you have to work very hard, even

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Speaker 4: though we were essentially living in poverty, so she had

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Speaker 4: to struggle.

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Speaker 3: She had to really work hard.

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Speaker 4: But even with her very bigger man, my mom also

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Speaker 4: showed me the value of hospitality and the value of generosity.

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Speaker 3: You know, there was.

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Speaker 4: Never an instant where some strangers came and she led

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Speaker 4: them just to go hungry or whatever.

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Speaker 3: Above it all God's grace.

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Speaker 4: As I came to accept passages that set my Lord

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Speaker 4: and Savior. A decision that I made in October nineteen

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Speaker 4: seventy five, reading the Bible daily and then having the

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Speaker 4: guidance of the Holy Spirit in many of the decisions

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Speaker 4: that I had to confront, whether in my career or

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Speaker 4: in my personal life. That became the difference maker in

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Speaker 4: form I really looked at myself as a solid Christian.

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Speaker 4: I was baptized, confirmed Catholic. I was baptized, confirmed Presbyterian.

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Speaker 4: I must be a sound, solid Christian. So for a

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Speaker 4: long time, even after my wife accepted the practice a

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Speaker 4: Lord and Savior and I saw changes in her life,

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Speaker 4: I pushed back every effort from her. But why don't

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Speaker 4: you come to death bybol study with view half at

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Speaker 4: this book. It's a good book. Now I am a Christian.

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Speaker 4: I just pushed back until nineteen seventy five. That's when

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Speaker 4: citing on a bench alone, reading a brochure back anthussed

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Speaker 4: for Christ. Every morning I would wake up nine am

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Speaker 4: with my Bible on my lap and I would read,

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Speaker 4: I would pray, then my day would start. And that's

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Speaker 4: when the Holy Spirit really came onto me and said

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Speaker 4: that was my day of decision. So when I decided

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Speaker 4: to accept Christ, there's Lord and tag. I had nobody

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Speaker 4: pushing me, I had nobody influencing me except that very

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Speaker 4: still voice, very gentle saying that was my day of decision,

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Speaker 4: and so I made my decision that day. For the

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Speaker 4: eight years that were were in the Congo, the challenges

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Speaker 4: and difficulties that my wife and I went through where

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Speaker 4: I was imprisoned. We were only married six months and

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Speaker 4: I ended up being put in prison.

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Speaker 3: Being in prisoned your.

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Speaker 4: Experience betrayal, Your experienced situations where people threaten to take

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Speaker 4: your life away because you would not make decisions that

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Speaker 4: they wanted, you know, you to make, and that sort

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Speaker 4: of thing, and very difficult years because the Congo was

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Speaker 4: run by a dictator and that dictator is the one

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Speaker 4: who put me in prison.

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Speaker 3: The second very.

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Speaker 4: You know, heavy, heavy experience was after we left Kenya

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Speaker 4: in nineteen eighty five, I was offered a position in

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Speaker 4: Brazil and going to Brazil and within one month of

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Speaker 4: being there being accused of malversation or something in the bank,

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Speaker 4: something that I did not do at all, somebody who

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Speaker 4: was jealous and did not want to see to be

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Speaker 4: happy with my success in the bank. And so having

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Speaker 4: to navigate that, realizing that everything that we had worked for,

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Speaker 4: everything was going to go out of the water, and

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Speaker 4: what do I do now with two children? We had

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Speaker 4: two little kids at the time, so that was also

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Speaker 4: very tough, very Unsteertay after they could atta in Liberia,

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Speaker 4: the government was taken over by what they call themselves

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Speaker 4: Revolutionary Council soldiers with high school degrees. They took over,

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Speaker 4: and then one of them coming to the bank wanting

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Speaker 4: me to compensate their cousin, saying that we had fired

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Speaker 4: a cousin wrongly. I did not fire somebody who was

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Speaker 4: there before me. And so you're fighting that. You're trying

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Speaker 4: to resist, and even though senior management of the bank

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Speaker 4: in New York says, go ahead, pay whatever they want,

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Speaker 4: your conscience is saying no, that's not the right decision.

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Speaker 4: So you try to do the right thing, but you

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Speaker 4: are running the risk of somebody coming doing damage to

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Speaker 4: you and to your family. So that was another very

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Speaker 4: difficult period time for us. But God saw us true

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Speaker 4: in terms of looking for a guidance, I can just

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Speaker 4: share an example. I did move from Kenya to Brazil,

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Speaker 4: but that decision was not a simple one of the

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Speaker 4: banks saying you've done whatever we wanted you to in

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Speaker 4: Kenya and I'll go to Brazil. The bank came and

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Speaker 4: said you can stay in Kenya or you can go

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Speaker 4: to the Philippines, you know, or you can go to

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Speaker 4: Brazil to oversee aspects of our business in South America.

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Speaker 4: And my wife and I did not want to go

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Speaker 4: to Brazil. So we said, let's pray. That's ask God

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Speaker 4: for guidance. And so we told God, We said, Lord,

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Speaker 4: it's between Kenya and the Philippines. Can you please tell us?

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Speaker 4: And we prayed and we prayed, and we had agreed

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Speaker 4: we would not tell each other whatever the Lord would

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Speaker 4: say that yeah, but we prayed two weeks nothing and

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Speaker 4: said maybe if we fast, God will hear our prayers.

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Speaker 4: And we fasted nothing. And then one day we realized

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Speaker 4: we are kind of restraining you know, the Lord. We're

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Speaker 4: telling him it's either Kenya or the Philippines. We're telling

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Speaker 4: him Brazil is out of the equation. So obviously God

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Speaker 4: wants us to put Brazil back on the table. So

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Speaker 4: it's okay, Lord, well that's all veryas word Kenya, Philippines

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Speaker 4: or Brazil. You know, you want to stay in Kenya,

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Speaker 4: and you know our second chance is Philip, can you

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Speaker 4: now guide us? And one day we had gone for

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Speaker 4: dinner at a friend's house. After dinner, my wife and

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Speaker 4: I get out We're walking in the friends garden holding

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Speaker 4: hands and we just turned to each other and we

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Speaker 4: almost instantaneously say it's Brazil, isn't it. And that was

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Speaker 4: how we ended up in Brazil, because you know, the

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Speaker 4: cad is so good. The Ambassador of Brazil dedicated one

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Speaker 4: of the staff members of the embassy told him make

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Speaker 4: sure that the transition of the Chibacca family from Kenya

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Speaker 4: to Brazil is small. He invited to his house to

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Speaker 4: give us some luncheon with Brazilian food and whatever and

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Speaker 4: put videos on to introduce us to Brazilan culture ambassador

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Speaker 4: all the country doing that.

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Speaker 3: But why God's end or favor?

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Speaker 4: My wife actually bought a number of the Jesus Calling books,

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Speaker 4: so we have one in our home that you know

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Speaker 4: she's been going through, and we have one in our

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Speaker 4: vacation home in ters Gecos Island for guests who stay there.

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Speaker 4: And she bought also twenty five books about a few

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Speaker 4: years ago that she distributed to her Bible study, the

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Speaker 4: Lady's Bible Study.

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Speaker 3: So we are familiar with Jesus Calling just being in

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Speaker 3: his world.

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Speaker 4: It's the daily devotions, it's Bible study, meetings with the

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Speaker 4: other followers of Christ, and sometimes there is a group

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Speaker 4: of friends that I have on my list. Sometimes we

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Speaker 4: kind of go through some devotionals together in the comments,

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Speaker 4: you know back, and so staying in the Bible and

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Speaker 4: staying attentive to whatever the Holy Spirit may be showing

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Speaker 4: me very important. And it doesn't say that I am

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Speaker 4: anywhere close to perfect or holly or anything like that,

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Speaker 4: because like most people, I am a cracked pot. I

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Speaker 4: am a leaking vessel, and I need to be refilled

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Speaker 4: by His Holy Spirit daily. And so reading the Bible

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Speaker 4: and being attentive to the promptings or the Holy Spirit,

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Speaker 4: and the meeting with others to study the Bible together

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Speaker 4: to pray, you know, in the various Bible study groups that.

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Speaker 3: Helps, you know, keep us growing.

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Speaker 4: I am going to be praying a prayer from Sarah

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Speaker 4: Young's prayer devotional Jesus listened, So let's pray, Dearest Jesus,

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Speaker 4: how wonderful it is to know that you are taking

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Speaker 4: care of me. When I am spending time with you,

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Speaker 4: enjoying the warmth and security of your loving presence, it's

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Speaker 4: easier to trust that every detail of my life is

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Speaker 4: under your control. The Bible affirms that everything fits into

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Speaker 4: a plan for good for those who love you and

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Speaker 4: are called according to your design and purpose.

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Speaker 3: Because the world is in such an abnormal.

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Speaker 4: Talent condition, it sometimes feels as if chances governing the

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Speaker 4: universe events seem to happen randomly with little or no

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Speaker 4: apparent meaning. But you've shown me that when I view

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Speaker 4: the world this way, I am overlooking a most import

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Speaker 4: with the fact the limitations of my understanding sub merge

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Speaker 4: beneath the surface of the visible world. There are mysteries

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Speaker 4: too profound for me to fathom. If I could actually

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Speaker 4: see how close you are to me and how constantly

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Speaker 4: you work on my behalf, I would never again doubt

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Speaker 4: your wonderful care for me. But your word instructs me

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Speaker 4: to live by faith, not by sight. Please help me

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Speaker 4: to trust in your mysterious, majestic presence, in your magnificent name.

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Speaker 4: Thank you, Jesus Amen.

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Speaker 2: Be sure to check out Eight's new book, Son of

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Speaker 2: a Congo, A journey of tragedy, triumph and transformation, available

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Speaker 2: at your favorite retailer in February. If you'd like to

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Speaker 2: know more stories about how our darkest days can bring

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Speaker 2: hope to others, check out our interview with Alice Murrae Johnson.

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Speaker 2: Next time on the Jesus Calling podcast, we'll hear from

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Speaker 2: Ed Newton, pastor of Community Bible Church in San Antonio, Texas.

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Speaker 2: Ed shares how years of empathy and leadership eventually gave

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Speaker 2: way to a breaking point and how honesty, grace, and

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Speaker 2: listening to God's voice reshaped his understanding of strength.

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Speaker 5: We're constantly hearing and listening and feeling, but when we

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Speaker 5: do not align our heart to what God says, who

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Speaker 5: is the ultimate voice, then it just conflicts really the directional,

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Speaker 5: navigational component of our life.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to the Jesus Calling Stories of Faith

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Speaker 2: podcast on the Live Audio Network. Every week we'll bring

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Speaker 2: you stories from people who share their journeys of faith

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Speaker 2: and how prayer and a relationship with God transformed their lives.

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Speaker 2: Be sure to follow us on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or

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Speaker 2: wherever you listen to podcasts, and leave us a review

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Speaker 2: so others can be inspired weekly by these stories of faith. Finally,

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Speaker 2: you can find encouragement resources and more on the Jesus

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Speaker 2: Calling website at Jesus Calling dot com