Raw, Real, & Redemptive with guests Rob Diaz and Paul Lin

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Welcome to A Word in Season with Doug Stringer and friends.

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We share good news and godly wisdom to empower you to be salt in light in every season of life.

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God wants to redeem us. He does not forget us or His promises to us.

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Despite being exposed to the Church at a young age, both Rob Diaz and Paul Lynn chose to live different lifestyles.

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God intervened in their lives as they began to search for something real.

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Listen in as they share how God redeemed them and fulfilled His promises for them.

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After the episode, consider leaving a review and follow us on your favorite streaming service.

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If you've leaned anything from this podcast, consider paying it forward with a gift at somebodycares.org.

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Now let's join our host, Doug Stringer.

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God doesn't forget who we are. He doesn't forget His promises to us.

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Every one of us has a promise the Lord has provided for us.

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If we would trust Him to be the Lord of our lives.

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Many of you listening today have heard my story over the years.

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How God's had me on a journey of vocational ministry and being the founder of Somebody Cares International.

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About 41 years ago, starting on the streets of Houston, working with homeless people, runaways, drug addicts, at-risk youth, gang members.

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To now ministering all over the world through prayer initiatives and disaster relief.

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As well as leadership training and intensives, as well as a compassion coalition of ministries that are a network.

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We call it the Net That Works. It's mending the net of many, many ministries working together around the world.

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And somewhere along the way, I got a chance to meet Rob and to meet Paul.

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In fact, I think Paul, you came up to me one time. We were at New Life Church in Houston at a gathering.

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And you came up and asked if we could do a selfie. I said, sure. And then you told me a little about the story.

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Yeah, I went to New Life, I think, because at the time I was going to Mission 24 and there was a campus church at U of H.

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I got invited to the, I think it was an I Pray event. So we were praying for schools and colleges.

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And I didn't know you were going to be there. I had actually seen some of your videos about leadership and about fatherhood and in the prison.

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Like when I was in prison, one of the volunteers brought in like a video series from you and then there you are, you know.

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And so I walked up to you and asked if I could take a selfie with you because I was definitely very impacted by your teachings from the video series and some of your books.

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And so I just thought it was really cool that, you know, out here in the free world, I just ran into you in Houston. I didn't even know you were in Houston.

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So, you know, most people would probably look at the three of us and, you know, they've seen me doing ministry for over four decades now and have no clue of what my past used to be like, you know.

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And in a previous podcast, I was sharing that I'd done psychedelic drugs. I did marijuana. I did LSD. I did so many other things.

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Speed. I did PCP. I mean, you name it. I mean, my past was not something that I was proud of.

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You all are married. You have family. You have people that love you. You're involved in church. They look at me and think there's no way.

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But yet somewhere where the enemy had distracted us and we'd been detoured from our calling, but yet God redeemed even those moments in our lives.

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And Paul, to hear that you had been in prison, that just blows me away. So tell a little bit about your journey.

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How did you end up in prison and how did you end up finding a journey into the Lord?

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I grew up in a pretty good family, you know, your normal kind of middle class Asian Chinese parents.

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They raised me, you know, according to Asian culture. It was all about schoolwork.

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For the most part, you know, I had a pretty normal upbringing. Went to public school here in Houston or in Sugarland.

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When I was starting to go into second grade, we moved to Taiwan.

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And when we were in Taiwan, my parents put me and my brother in a Christian missionary academy.

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And that was the first time that I had heard anything about Jesus or the Bible or anything.

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It was foreign to me because my parents weren't Christians, but they put us there because they spoke English and we didn't speak Chinese.

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So there's no way that we could make it in the public school system over there.

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While I was there, I just kind of adapted to the environment.

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You know, I started reading the Bible, memorizing scriptures, going to chapel services, going to retreats and all that.

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Well, we ended up moving back to Sugarland in 97.

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I felt like I kept getting uprooted from my environment and having to make new friends.

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And just looking back, I didn't have an identity.

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I didn't know who I was and I didn't know, like, who I belonged to.

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When we moved back, you know, I was taken out of that Christian environment.

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I didn't go to church when we moved back. I didn't have any Christian friends.

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And all my neighbors and the people that I hung out with, you know, didn't work Christians.

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And so I found acceptance in the wrong crowd.

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I just started getting in trouble, you know, starting in eighth grade.

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I started doing drugs. I think my first drug was ecstasy, hanging around with kids that were robbing people.

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They didn't even need to. Like, you know, we were in, like, you know, the suburbs of Sugarland.

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Bad influences and they're, you know, they're robbing people at gunpoint and dealing drugs.

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You know, and this is at like 13, you know, just out of a need to be accepted and to feel like belonging and respect and all that.

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You know, I just started doing what my friends are doing, you know, and still from like eighth grade all the way to freshman in college.

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You know, I was just it's kind of like a party lifestyle, just drinking every day drugs.

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I've done everything probably except for heroin. I was doing cocaine a lot at the time.

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I was, you know, on bars all the time and drinking every day.

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And one night in 2005, we went to a club, a mutual friend of ours was throwing a party.

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So we went to go support it. You know, I was on bars drinking beer.

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And so when you mix those two, it's a bad result. Like, you know, you just you don't remember nothing.

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You fall asleep and then the next morning, like whatever you did the night before, you don't remember.

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And you just start doing stupid things because you lose like all inhibition.

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And that was the norm for us when we were leaving the club. They were closing.

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It was two a.m. One of the friends that I went with, he was coming out of the club and he got jumped by a group of guys

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that he had beefed on like two weeks prior.

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So I didn't know these people and none of us knew what was going on.

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We just saw that, you know, our friend was getting jumped.

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I found out later that he had kind of started something with them two weeks prior.

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I had a pistol with me and I got on my car and went to try to help my friend and a couple of dudes that were attacking him started,

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you know, they're beating on me.

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And then so I had the gun and I fired and I shot the person that was attacking me and ended up killing him.

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That's what I did to land prison time.

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And I got convicted in 2006 and was convicted of first degree murder and given a 15 year sentence.

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Went into county jail. And that's where I gave my life to the Lord.

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During this whole time, like between moving back from Taiwan and going to prison, like I had become an atheist, like a self avowed.

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I remember the moment when I think I was in my backyard and I said out loud like, man, God cannot be real,

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because if he was, he would have saved me already.

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Like he would have not allowed me to get this far, you know.

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And so I didn't believe in God. And I told myself that.

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And I started like getting into psychology and like all this kind of philosophy stuff and new age type of deal.

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When I took the life of that person, something in me kind of just reawakened.

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I believed in the afterlife. I started praying religiously every night in Jesus name, you know,

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I wasn't praying, you know, according to the word or anything, but I was just praying.

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And I felt like that's what I needed to do. And when I got to county jail,

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one of the other inmates gave me a devotional from Kenneth Copeland called From Faith to Faith.

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I read through that thing like in a day cover to cover.

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And at the end of it, I just like, man, God was he revealed to me that there's so much more to like

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to be in a Christian than just praying in Jesus name.

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And I ended up giving my life to the Lord in Harris County Jail.

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And I just my prayer was, you know, God, I want to live for you.

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I want to live my life according to your word.

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I don't know your word like you're going to have to teach me, but I know this is what I want to do.

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You know, no matter what, no matter what the next 15 years looks like,

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like I want to serve you in, you know, while I do my time.

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And just from that place, like God started showing up in my life immediately in county jail.

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And I ended up doing nine years in TDCJ.

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And that was pretty amazing experience, actually.

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Some people try to say, well, it's a jailhouse religion or conversion.

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But knowing you for the last few years, it wasn't just a jailhouse conversion.

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It really has become real and authentic.

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And I know you're passionate about God's presence for revival.

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God's blessed you with a wonderful wife and great spiritual family.

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I know Rob has been a great friend to you as well.

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Something you said earlier is so true about even Asian culture, the pressure.

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I felt that whatever I did academically was not good enough.

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That was a part of the pressure.

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So, Rob, tell us about your journey in the Lord and how you ended up being in the world.

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And then finally that place where God gave you a revelation of himself and you came to him.

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One of the things that Paul said was like, you know, at a young age, he was exposed to Christianity.

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Right. And so it was the same with me.

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I had a lot of ministers in my family, pastors.

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And, you know, we attended church regularly.

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I was around. I was in church.

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But, you know, I didn't have a relationship with Christ.

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I remember looking around and seeing people that were like some people were like rich and some people were poor.

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Some people were healthy. Some people were sick.

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And I was like, you know, I just felt like it was a luck of the draw thing.

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Like, you know, maybe if God loved you a lot or you were good, you'd be blessed and maybe not.

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And we weren't poor or anything like that.

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Honestly, like my dad used to be a drug dealer.

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So we were like very wealthy and then he stopped selling drugs.

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And then we went like middle class, like super low middle class.

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And, you know, we always had food and, you know, everything was good.

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But it was like we were kind of stuck.

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I just saw my life where I was, the neighborhood I came from.

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Nobody was really making it.

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And I didn't think that attending the church, you know, you look around and you're like, man, not even the people in the church are making it.

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It wasn't appealing to me as a young person.

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And I remember seeing just things that church that kind of like turned me off to Jesus, you know,

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and that's one of the reasons that I am who I am today, not because of people letting me down.

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But I understand that as a person in ministry, as a person that says, hey, I'm a believer, I live for Jesus,

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that your testimony, good or bad, can affect how someone walks for the rest of their lives.

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I know that from firsthand experience, because some of those people that I met growing up that were in leadership,

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that were, you know, on staff or whatever the case was, they let me down big time.

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I chose to say, hey, look, that's who God is because that's how they live, you know, good, bad or indifferent.

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At a young age, man, I remember just saying, like, I don't want to have anything to do with this.

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I don't want to have anything to do with church.

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Like one of the first times I went to jail, I was two weeks away from graduating high school and I got I got arrested for,

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you know, I used to sell dope in high school and I had just helped one of our children's pastors at the time move into a new home.

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He had just become a police officer, purchased a new home.

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So things were looking up for him and his family.

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His kids were some of my some of my good friends in the church.

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And lo and behold, he's the one that comes to do the arresting at the school.

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Like he pulls me to the side and he's like, I don't want you hanging out with my son anymore.

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You're a bad influence. Just kind of going off on me. Right.

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You know, I end up going to jail. I get out on on like a bond.

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You know, I'm driving around working and coming home from work and I stop at the gas station with some friends and the same cop,

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ex pastor, whatever that arrested me that I just helped move, pulled into the gas station, searched us, like cuss me out, man.

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Like just all kind of crazy stuff and was telling me like, you're no good.

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You know, I knew you were no good.

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And I was like, man, you didn't you were the guy that prayed for me.

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You were the guy that told me like God had great plans for me and, you know, just all kind of stuff.

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And then immediately, like I had a my mom showed up, another pastor at the church showed up.

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And then he was like, yeah, you know, he automatically just like switched and was like, yeah, I was just telling, you know, Rob, that, you know,

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he needs to straighten out his life and God has a plan for him.

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And I was like, no, why don't you cuss me out like you just did five seconds ago.

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Don't be fake. And I think, you know, in this in this world, you hear that all the time that people need to be real or they want to be real.

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And for me, that was like a slap in the face.

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It was like, how can you tell me to live one way when, you know, you're showing me to live another way?

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And I was, you know, it turned me off.

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And so I really just went into the streets, you know, selling drugs and, you know, running away from home and, you know,

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had an apartment when I was like 16 years old and, you know, just all kind of different things.

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You know, my parents divorced, like they were separated for a while, but actually divorced around the time I was 18.

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So I basically had a house to myself and we would party every single day.

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You talk about doing drugs. I would have 50 to 100 people show up at my house almost every single day.

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As soon as the sun went down, like everybody just showed up out of nowhere, beer and liquor and drugs.

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And you name it, you know, girls, guys, everybody, I mean, they would stay there, live there.

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I had one friend that came to a party at my house and just never left.

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He moved in for like six years living with me.

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I mean, we did ridiculous things.

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And when you look back, you talk about like looking back and how people see you and they say, oh, you never went through anything.

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I honestly experienced a lot of what the world calls the best they have to offer.

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You know, I was going into clubs and, you know, underage and buying all kind of liquor and VIP this and whatever.

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And it was never enough. I knew there was more.

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And so for me, you know, like I said, I got arrested, I caught a felony early.

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I was I was just I think about 17, maybe 18 years old when I caught my first felony, you know, came back out.

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And then it was hard. You know, I wasn't gifted and talented programs from elementary school.

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So I was among the brightest and the best.

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And then just along the way, they would kick me out of the school because I went to like five different high schools.

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They would kick me out because of my behavior, attendance or, you know, attitude.

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I was digging the hole deeper, you know, and the drugs were there and I felt invincible.

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Like Paul said, you know, for a while I was like, you know, I remember telling my mom, if God has a plan for me, then it doesn't matter what I do,

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because whatever I do, if he's real and his plan is what's going to happen, then it's going to happen.

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In that it was kind of like a weird, twisted like I felt like invincible, man.

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I would run into gunfights. I would drive reckless and drunk and, you know, shootouts and, you know, whatever the case was, fights.

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We would fight all the time, pushing the limit because I was empty inside.

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Like, I mean, you don't know that at the time. You just you just feel like, man, it's you know, this is life.

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And, you know, that's kind of what it was for us.

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I remember, you know, having kids, you know, getting married young, you know, I ended up going to jail.

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00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:49,520
I didn't go to jail right away. I had like probation. I violated my probation.

195
00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:53,280
They arrested me coming from a gas station, you know, on my way home.

196
00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:58,680
And I ended up going to jail. You know, at that time, I tried, you know, I remember like, you know,

197
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that's why it's so important to teach your kids when they're young.

198
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The word says to train them up, train up a child when they're young and when they're old, they want to part.

199
00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:10,480
And so I remember like, like Paul said, you know, feeling that guilt on the inside, like, you know,

200
00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:16,160
it's something we did every day all the time, like fighting, shooting, you know, drinking, smoking drugs,

201
00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:20,000
whatever was something we did all the time. But I remember like feeling like regret.

202
00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:24,280
And, you know, this isn't right. But for me, it was life. Right.

203
00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:26,480
It was how we live. It was what we grew up doing.

204
00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:34,640
So I didn't know another way. And when I got arrested, I went in and I saw some people that were like doing Bible studies.

205
00:16:34,640 --> 00:16:39,320
And I watched them for the first couple of days, you know, I mean, because not only is it church people that approach you,

206
00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:42,080
it's gangs that approach you and, you know, different things.

207
00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:45,920
And I remember like, no, I'm all right. I don't want to be in a gang.

208
00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:52,320
You know, that wasn't me. You know, I saw these church guys and they were having Bible study and they were they did it like right in front of my,

209
00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:57,800
you know, we have a dorm where there's like 100 people and they just happen to have the table right in front of my bed.

210
00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:01,480
And they would have Bible study and I would sit there and listen to them. I would enjoy the table.

211
00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:07,080
I would sit there and listen to them. And I remember the main guy, he was there was an attraction about him.

212
00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:11,760
Right. I finally decided, hey, man, I'm going to go I'm going to go to this Bible study. Right.

213
00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:17,400
And I went for like two days. Right. And I was I was kind of just feeling like, man, this is good.

214
00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:23,160
This is right. On that third day, man, the guy, you know, he would minister to us and tell us, man, I don't drink.

215
00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:26,000
You know, I don't I don't go play basketball. I'd rather read my Bible.

216
00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:28,000
You know, there's something about being with God.

217
00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:32,720
And then all of a sudden on that third day, he went outside to play basketball, you know, and we were already out there.

218
00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:35,560
I wasn't saying inside to read my Bible. I wasn't there yet.

219
00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:39,120
But he went out there and all of a sudden, instead of like praying for people and talking to people,

220
00:17:39,120 --> 00:17:42,920
he started cussing people out on the basketball court at nighttime.

221
00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:47,240
Instead of having Bible study, he was like, man, I'm about to get out, you know, in a couple of days.

222
00:17:47,240 --> 00:17:50,640
When I get out, I'm going to have these girls and I want to do these drugs and I'm going to do it.

223
00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:56,560
And I was like, talk about being let down by church people, you know, in the ministry and church and just even in jail.

224
00:17:56,560 --> 00:18:01,240
Like this guy is that I thought was, you know, a light shining in the darkness.

225
00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:03,200
You know, who cares why he was there?

226
00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:04,920
He just automatically switched.

227
00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:13,120
And the reason he used Christianity to me as a defense mechanism, so he wouldn't get picked on or so that he could get picked on and say, hey, I'm going to pray for you.

228
00:18:13,120 --> 00:18:15,080
I don't want to fight. I wasn't raised like that.

229
00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:17,720
I was raised like, you know, there's a problem you handle it.

230
00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:20,880
And so with this lifestyle, this mentality just clashed.

231
00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:23,200
And it goes back to just being real.

232
00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:32,080
I was wanting something that was real and what this guy was showing me, he was the representative, the best at this dorm room, these hundred men in there.

233
00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:35,080
He was the best believer, you know, that was in there.

234
00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:37,920
And it was a facade I chose for that time.

235
00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:43,560
I was only in there nine months at that time to say, you know what, I'm not ever attending a Bible study in here.

236
00:18:43,560 --> 00:18:47,600
I'm not ever going to use God as a shield to me.

237
00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:49,840
That was weak. Ended up not doing it.

238
00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:56,200
That guy actually came when I got out of jail, he showed up at my house with my cousin to buy drugs from me.

239
00:18:56,200 --> 00:18:58,880
And I almost got in a fight with him. I wanted to whoop this guy.

240
00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:01,960
I told my cousin, never I have zero respect for this guy.

241
00:19:01,960 --> 00:19:04,240
Never bring him to my house again. Fast forward.

242
00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:06,480
I thought like, man, I need to change my life.

243
00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:08,560
You know, I'm not going to sell drugs. You know, I had a family.

244
00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:14,640
I had kids. My daughter was actually my wife was pregnant three months in with my daughter when I went to jail.

245
00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:17,400
So I got out nine months later. So my daughter was like three months old.

246
00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:19,680
And it just kind of changed me. You know what I mean?

247
00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:22,040
I was like, you know, I got to I got to do something different.

248
00:19:22,360 --> 00:19:26,920
So I started working two jobs, stopped selling drugs and just partied.

249
00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:28,720
Right. Like normal lifestyle.

250
00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:33,440
And but everybody I hung out with was drug dealers and everybody I hung out with did crazy stuff.

251
00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:38,400
Even though I tried to eliminate myself from the equation, I was right smack dab in the middle of it.

252
00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:41,160
I remember, you know, my license was suspended.

253
00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:45,080
I had a felony. So that was very, you know, I was working at a gas station.

254
00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:48,000
So I would drink on the job like there was beer right there.

255
00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:50,960
So I would just go and drink while I was working and all that.

256
00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:55,680
So I remember being drunk that night, driving home, getting chased by the cops,

257
00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:59,480
getting away from the cops, parking my car, jumping fences, running,

258
00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:01,520
trying to get into my house.

259
00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:04,840
And me and my wife had been fighting and I had left for the weekend.

260
00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:06,880
And so when I came back, this is what I come back to.

261
00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:09,280
Like I'm running from the cops trying to get in the house.

262
00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:12,440
She's not home. Right. She left out with a friend.

263
00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:14,480
My cousin was there watching the kids.

264
00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:16,880
He lets me in and he's like, oh, yeah, she left.

265
00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:19,400
So I called her and I was like, hey, wherever you're at, don't come home.

266
00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:20,840
You know, it doesn't matter.

267
00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:23,280
And so she comes home with her friend.

268
00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:27,040
They're trying to like hang out on her, her friend and some guy that her friend is with.

269
00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:29,520
And I was like, man, you're not staying at my house.

270
00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:31,760
And so they're trying to come in.

271
00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:34,200
I'm telling them, no, this guy gets out of the car.

272
00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:35,840
He tells me, get out of my face.

273
00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:38,880
And he sticks his finger in my face, just pushes me back.

274
00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:41,080
And so I had a knife in my back pocket.

275
00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:45,120
I pulled out the knife, stuck it in his neck, twisted, broke the knife in his neck.

276
00:20:45,120 --> 00:20:48,240
And this guy was so coked up that he didn't even feel it.

277
00:20:48,360 --> 00:20:50,080
Big guy, you know, I'm six foot.

278
00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:53,720
He was like six, three, six, two, six, three, about 300 pounds.

279
00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:56,120
Doesn't feel me break a knife inside of his neck.

280
00:20:56,120 --> 00:20:59,520
And we're just fighting like and blood's going everywhere.

281
00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:01,920
And this guy is just not moving.

282
00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:04,440
He's taking every hit I throw at him.

283
00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:06,600
My wife starts screaming. She sees blood.

284
00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:07,960
You know, he leaves.

285
00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:11,600
The girl leaves. My wife comes in leaving.

286
00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:14,440
I guess his girlfriend had called the cops.

287
00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:17,760
So while they were leaving, the cops stop them leaving my neighborhood.

288
00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:21,280
I don't know if they light flighted him or like just took him to the hospital

289
00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:24,600
or something, but they left his car there and they took him.

290
00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:29,800
The cops came, kicked in my door, chased me, found me, arrested me, arrested my wife.

291
00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:33,280
My neighbor had my kids, so they were they probably would have took my kids.

292
00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:35,600
I mean, you know, we're right there at the end of it.

293
00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:37,400
Me and my wife are going to be together.

294
00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:39,200
Like it was done over.

295
00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:43,160
And I just remember calling a buddy of mine and I was like, hey, man, I'm going to jail.

296
00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:45,560
Watch, look out for my kids, you know, take care of them.

297
00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:47,000
I'll probably be in there a while.

298
00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:48,680
And he's like, look, don't do anything stupid.

299
00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:49,880
This is not a believer.

300
00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:52,760
You know, just a guy that I part of. Don't do anything stupid, Rob.

301
00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:55,240
Just calm down. We'll figure something out.

302
00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:58,600
OK, cool. I'm thinking, hey, this guy was at my house, you know, like Paul.

303
00:21:58,600 --> 00:21:59,880
Hey, I'm defending myself.

304
00:21:59,880 --> 00:22:01,440
You know, it shouldn't be long.

305
00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:04,960
But they looked at my record, you know, in and out of jail, felony, all this.

306
00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:08,880
And they said, hey, right off the jump, we're looking at 25 years to start with.

307
00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:10,920
That's that's our starting piece.

308
00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:14,400
And I was not even 25 at the time when they came to me with that.

309
00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:15,760
It just changed my perspective.

310
00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:18,640
And I looked around and I was I looked at everybody in there.

311
00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:23,280
It was the Lord, but it wasn't like I was at church and something happened.

312
00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:26,520
It was just I was there and he spoke to me and I looked around and I saw the people

313
00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:31,320
and they looked and acted and talked and did everything the same way that I did.

314
00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:32,080
You know what I mean?

315
00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:37,240
They were from the same neighborhood, same color skin, same background, same stories,

316
00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:38,720
same police records.

317
00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:41,320
It's like like I heard a voice say, you don't belong here.

318
00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:43,680
This is not how your story is supposed to end.

319
00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:45,480
It just kind of stuck with me.

320
00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:49,560
A couple of days went by and my wife called me and we kind of just talked on the phone

321
00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:53,080
and, you know, in that talk, we reconciled and she's like, look, let's get you out.

322
00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:55,160
She knew it wasn't right. I knew it wasn't right.

323
00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:57,120
And so we just started working on it, man.

324
00:22:57,120 --> 00:23:02,200
And then in that, the Lord just kind of made a way like all of a sudden they told me, hey,

325
00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:06,480
look, you know, they went from 25 years to, hey, we're going to let you out with time

326
00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:08,800
served. You know, I bonded out after a month.

327
00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:10,280
I was in jail for a month at the time.

328
00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:12,600
And then it took me about a month to get the money to bond out.

329
00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:15,480
They told me they said, hey, we're going to let you out.

330
00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:17,200
You can fight this court case.

331
00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:20,360
I get out and all of a sudden they tell me, hey, look, instead of 25 years, we're going

332
00:23:20,360 --> 00:23:24,000
to drop the charges, you know, and in this time we started going to church.

333
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:26,200
And I said, look, I'm going to go all in.

334
00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:33,760
I've never gone all in on religion or church or Jesus, but I'm going to go all in because

335
00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:39,400
it's either that or like run away to Mexico and like get out of the States and run.

336
00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:40,640
I stopped drinking.

337
00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:43,040
I was a person that drank every day.

338
00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:47,080
Like I would wake up for breakfast, have beer, you know what I mean?

339
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:48,080
Dinner have beer.

340
00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:52,040
That was my diet consisted of alcohol and drugs.

341
00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:53,600
So I stopped doing drugs.

342
00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:54,840
I stopped cussing.

343
00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:57,640
I would cuss every other word was a cuss word.

344
00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:01,080
And so I remember my wife telling me, I didn't even know who this guy was.

345
00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:02,420
He was just like a different person.

346
00:24:02,420 --> 00:24:04,880
And it wasn't anything, nobody prayed for me.

347
00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:10,160
I didn't do anything different other than I made a decision in my heart to say, I'm

348
00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:11,160
going to change it.

349
00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:13,600
I'm going to do this the right way.

350
00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:14,720
I'm going to go all in.

351
00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:19,080
We started going to church and I just started hearing the word and they told me, they said,

352
00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:23,440
Hey, look, I got around people like, like, you know, with testimonies like mine and Paul,

353
00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:26,240
they said, Hey, you know, we beat this stuff.

354
00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:27,720
And it gave me hope.

355
00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:31,800
It gave me hope that said, Hey, if they did it, they're still here and they're serving

356
00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:33,800
God and like their life has changed.

357
00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:35,320
It can happen for me too.

358
00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:37,440
And then they told me, they said, just pray about it.

359
00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:38,440
Talk to the Lord.

360
00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:39,440
And I was like, you don't understand.

361
00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:40,440
I'm guilty.

362
00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:41,440
I did it.

363
00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:42,680
I know I did it.

364
00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:43,720
I was wrong.

365
00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:44,960
I don't think God can help me.

366
00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:48,560
And they assured me that he was bigger than my situation.

367
00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:51,440
And that was something that I never really had heard before I go in.

368
00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,880
And one day I'm in court and they tell me, Hey, we're going to drop the charges.

369
00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:57,880
All you got to do is pay the medical bills and the court costs.

370
00:24:57,880 --> 00:24:58,880
You'll be free to go.

371
00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:03,160
I'm going to drop it from another misdemeanor because they said I almost killed the guy.

372
00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:06,440
Like if it would have been two centimeters here, he would have died, you know, so on

373
00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:07,440
and so forth.

374
00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:08,680
So that was a testimony in itself.

375
00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:14,160
I remember like being so thrilled that like they were going to drop the charges and I

376
00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:16,640
was going to be able to walk free.

377
00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:20,280
And then they hit me with the thing at the end that said the medical bills, doctor bills,

378
00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:23,440
all that stuff you're going to have to pay is about $30,000.

379
00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:25,600
And I was like, my mouth dropped.

380
00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:26,600
You know what I mean?

381
00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:29,080
I was like, where am I going to get that kind of I don't sell drugs anymore.

382
00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:30,800
Like I'm not a drug dealer guys.

383
00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:32,280
Like I don't have that money.

384
00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:33,280
Like my family's not rich.

385
00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:35,560
They say, well, that's what we have for you.

386
00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:37,560
So I mean, you take it right.

387
00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:42,160
And I go home and I call Teresa and I tell her Teresa's my wife, by the way, I tell her

388
00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:46,080
all the good news and then the not so good news.

389
00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:47,680
And I go to church and you know, I'm testifying.

390
00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:49,400
I'm saying, Hey, the Lord help me.

391
00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:55,040
But you know, I don't know, you know, there's this there's this big but at the end of this

392
00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:58,040
testimony, but I got to pay $30,000.

393
00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:00,120
They're going to charge me.

394
00:26:00,120 --> 00:26:03,880
And you know, some of the same people tell me, you know, God can pay for that.

395
00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:04,880
Right.

396
00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:06,400
No, it's like, but I did it.

397
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:07,560
Like I'm the one that did it.

398
00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:09,640
I'm the one that pulled the knife.

399
00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:11,240
I'm the one that all of this stuff.

400
00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:12,240
I did it.

401
00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:13,240
I said, that's a lot of money.

402
00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:16,400
And they were like, you know, that's a lot of we got a lot of God.

403
00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:17,400
You know what I mean?

404
00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:18,400
Like he's a big God.

405
00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:19,400
He can take care of this.

406
00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:24,960
Honestly, by the I think it was by the end of, you know, I was in jail all of that January.

407
00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:27,560
I got out and I was going back and forth to court.

408
00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:33,640
And then I think by by March, man, $30,000 like supernaturally was paid off.

409
00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:34,760
Like I don't know where it came from.

410
00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:35,760
I don't know how it happened.

411
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:38,160
We didn't get any we didn't hit the lottery.

412
00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:40,080
Just we just believe God, man.

413
00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:44,480
I remember just praying to him and just they told me that it can happen.

414
00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:46,280
And I was like, I just believed it.

415
00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:47,720
That's where I came from.

416
00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:54,920
And we went from having nothing and being just in the hole and dead young with kids

417
00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:57,880
and felony record, you know, all this kind of stuff.

418
00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:00,520
Facing 25 years.

419
00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:05,880
Facing divorce, facing losing my family, losing two jobs, losing our house, losing our car

420
00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:07,880
to like God restoring us, man.

421
00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:12,520
And so I tell people all the time, I was like, for me, regardless of all the past that I

422
00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:17,480
experienced, the negative letdowns, like all it took was God to show up for me that one

423
00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:18,480
time.

424
00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:20,080
Like you can't take that away from me.

425
00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:21,380
You can't tell me it didn't happen.

426
00:27:21,380 --> 00:27:23,400
You can't tell me it was an accident.

427
00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:26,240
You can't tell me it was because I deserved it because I did it.

428
00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:27,720
I know I did it.

429
00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:30,600
It's because of the goodness of God and because he loved me.

430
00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:33,720
That's the shorter condensed version of my story.

431
00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:39,880
I want to touch on that because both of you had some pretty extreme journey to get where

432
00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:41,920
you are today.

433
00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:47,300
But thank God for the redemption of God, that God's redemption does restore.

434
00:27:47,300 --> 00:27:53,400
When I interviewed my friend, Luke Niforados on the societal impact of the recreational

435
00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:59,940
use of drugs and legalizing drugs, it's one thing to have a medicinal use.

436
00:27:59,940 --> 00:28:05,240
In today's world, I have friends that told me that, yeah, they say it was medicinal,

437
00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:08,320
but they go, we'll get a prescription for medicinal drugs, but they didn't really need

438
00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:09,320
it for anything.

439
00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:10,320
They were using it.

440
00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:14,760
And then of course the crime that increases and we see that what's happening in different

441
00:28:14,760 --> 00:28:20,160
cities that is really legalizing psychedelics now and as well as marijuana and other things.

442
00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:25,320
I know for me, my answer is yes, it was a segue for me to other things and even doing

443
00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:29,740
some crazy things I would probably not have done if I had my mind right.

444
00:28:29,740 --> 00:28:35,640
But the drinking, the partying, the drugs, the cocaine, the LSD, the psychedelic psilocybin

445
00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:40,880
mushrooms, whatever I was doing, all those things had a factor in my lack of cognitive

446
00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:45,840
processing and thinking because the real experts are people like us who've done these things.

447
00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:49,480
And then all these so-called experts that come up with all these political terminology,

448
00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:51,480
they're not the experts.

449
00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:55,200
Follow the science, well, they're not doing good science, they're not asking those of

450
00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:57,120
us that were impacted.

451
00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:02,720
Do you feel like that was a segue into some of the other bad behavior that you were involved

452
00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:03,720
in?

453
00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:04,720
Well, definitely.

454
00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:08,400
I tell people all the time, they ask you, hey, what do you think about drinking?

455
00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:10,840
Because the Bible says you can drink but don't get drunk.

456
00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:14,200
I said, well, legally, if you drink one beer, you're drunk.

457
00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:16,760
Legally, if you get behind the wheel, they'll pull you over.

458
00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:18,480
It goes into abuse.

459
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:19,480
People feel different about it.

460
00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:20,480
That's just me.

461
00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:24,960
I tell them, look, if you're going by the law and you're going by what the word says,

462
00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:28,200
for me, it either gets you closer to God or it gets you further from.

463
00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:29,440
And that's how I settled that.

464
00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:32,000
I think drugs, they take you to places.

465
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:33,640
Look at those shows like Intervention.

466
00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:37,960
That's a huge show because people abuse it and it gets into a place.

467
00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:43,640
They start out one way and then they get to a place where they're sometimes unrecognizable

468
00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:48,480
as a person because of the abuse that their body has taken because of drugs, because of

469
00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:51,120
needing drugs or what they do to get drugs.

470
00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:56,000
I'm definitely against legalizing that because you're basically opening the door for people

471
00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:58,520
to kill themselves slowly.

472
00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:03,840
Like you said, sometimes we use it to cope with the pain.

473
00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:09,760
And honestly, like we talked about earlier, that was just normal to us.

474
00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:11,920
I know you guys have the Asian heritage.

475
00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:18,040
I thought Mexican people cut the grass, drank beer and barbecued because that's what we

476
00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:19,040
did.

477
00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:23,920
I thought that's all you were supposed to do on the weekend is drink beer and barbecue.

478
00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:29,520
And I remember never touching cocaine in my life because I saw some of my uncles, family

479
00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:35,160
friends using cocaine on a regular basis and being broke because of it.

480
00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:36,400
Their house falling apart.

481
00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:38,280
They're never having their lights on.

482
00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:40,960
And I thought if I did that, I'd be like them.

483
00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:43,320
And so I stayed away because of it.

484
00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:48,080
But I'm like so against anything that's going to take your mind off of focus.

485
00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:49,080
You know what I mean?

486
00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:52,400
Like that's the word said, you know, you got to be sober, be vigilant because there's an

487
00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:54,440
enemy coming to take you guys out.

488
00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:55,440
That's something we got to watch for.

489
00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:56,440
What do you think, Paul?

490
00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:57,440
I agree 100%.

491
00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:01,920
Man, if I didn't do drugs, man, I know for sure I wouldn't have went to prison.

492
00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:04,000
I wouldn't have done the things that I did.

493
00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:06,240
You know, drugs are, it's a gateway.

494
00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:09,160
It doesn't matter really what kind of drug it is.

495
00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:14,120
Marijuana, I never really liked marijuana, but you know, when I smoked marijuana, like

496
00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:19,440
I would get in a daze, you know, and I mean, as you're getting high and I get behind the

497
00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:24,640
wheel and there was this one time where I must have smoked something other than marijuana.

498
00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:29,520
I thought it was marijuana, but felt like I was like just floating, but I was driving.

499
00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:35,320
I was gripped with fear because I was like, how in the heck am I going to get to my destination?

500
00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:41,200
Like I can't, everything is just like shifting, but some way, some, I know it was God.

501
00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:46,280
I ended up making it to the parking lot and I put it in park and I was like, man, I'm

502
00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:48,360
never smoking again.

503
00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:53,000
They just don't realize that, you know, drugs, their purpose is to alter, right?

504
00:31:53,000 --> 00:32:00,120
Like your chemical balances and levels in your body, it'll affect your ability to work,

505
00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:05,440
you know, and carry out like a job and just how you interact with people.

506
00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:11,480
Like for me, like the cocaine, it got me wired up, but I would be up for days, you know,

507
00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:14,680
and I'd go to work, you know, high on cocaine.

508
00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:19,040
And at the time I was going to U of H and I would go into class, you know, on cocaine

509
00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:24,880
or, or, you know, on Xanax and I just say stupid things in the class, you know, I'd

510
00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:30,240
be that stupid, stupid kid that was like drunk and on bars in class and just making a, a

511
00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:34,360
scene, you know, I agree, man, drugs, drugs are not a good thing.

512
00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:39,880
Well, you know, when you look at the word for witchcraft in scripture, it actually comes

513
00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:43,440
from the root word that we use for pharmacayia drugs.

514
00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:44,440
You're right.

515
00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:52,000
I've mentioned this a few times when anything alters our capacity to have cognitive thinking

516
00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:54,000
or processing, especially with the Lord.

517
00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:56,640
I think Rob, you brought this up too.

518
00:32:56,640 --> 00:32:57,880
I don't judge anybody else.

519
00:32:57,880 --> 00:32:59,760
If they're a sipping saint, that's their deal.

520
00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:03,840
But for me, I want to be part of the prophetic generation.

521
00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:07,320
I've seen what drugs and alcohol does to people.

522
00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:11,520
And John the Baptist, Jesus out of his own mouth said, John the Baptist was the greatest

523
00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:17,600
a prophet born of woman, and yet no drink or strong drink touched his lips.

524
00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:22,960
I guess it's because you want to be sensitive to the leading of the Lord and not be influenced

525
00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:26,720
by anything else, any other factor, but the presence of God.

526
00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:27,920
So again, I don't judge others.

527
00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:33,080
In fact, you know, my books I've written about that, that my reason for not doing alcohol

528
00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:37,960
for me is not legalistic thing is because I want to be in that place with the Lord that

529
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:43,440
is so sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit and the primary reason I have a lot

530
00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:47,280
of friends that have come out of drugs and alcohol.

531
00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:52,600
And it would be a stumbling block for them to see me as a minister, justifying being

532
00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:53,600
a sipping saint.

533
00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:58,960
And then now you've got people because they've legalized pot in some cities, you got some

534
00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:03,880
preachers or so-called preachers saying, let's have a Bible study and pot party.

535
00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:06,560
I'm thinking, what have we come to?

536
00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:07,560
Right.

537
00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:10,160
We've got plants and all the vegetation belongs to God.

538
00:34:10,160 --> 00:34:11,160
Well, that's true.

539
00:34:11,160 --> 00:34:12,960
You know, come on, man.

540
00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:18,600
For me, it's really about caring about loving God, wanting to know him, but also being sensitive

541
00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:20,720
to people that look to us.

542
00:34:20,720 --> 00:34:25,200
I mean, Rob, you told a couple of great stories of people you were admiring and looking up

543
00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:27,080
to that were hypocrites.

544
00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:33,600
In fact, the word hypocrite comes from the ancient Greek word meaning play actor, stage

545
00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:34,600
actor.

546
00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:39,640
A person who was acting on stage, a person who was doing drama, they called them a hypocrite.

547
00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:41,560
They were play acting.

548
00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:47,280
Today we have a whole bunch of play actors and hypocrites from Hollywood to music to

549
00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:50,120
even in the church, people that are play acting.

550
00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:54,960
They don't really representing the authenticity of God or anything else.

551
00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:57,160
They are playing in this facade.

552
00:34:57,160 --> 00:34:59,480
As you guys have talked about, there's a compensatory facade.

553
00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:05,160
They're compensating through their hypocrisy or their acting for the lack of the real truth

554
00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:06,160
on the inside.

555
00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:11,200
And that's where I think both of you came to a revelation of the reality of Christ,

556
00:35:11,200 --> 00:35:16,440
that it became a relationship with the living God that nobody can take from you because

557
00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:22,760
that was a personal, like it was for me, it was a personal encounter with God himself.

558
00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:24,480
And no one can take that from us, right?

559
00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:25,480
That's right.

560
00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:27,280
Let's fast forward the redemption of God.

561
00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:30,440
We've heard your testimony in the past, but bring us to the present.

562
00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:34,040
I know Rob that you own a business, you're doing quite a bit of things.

563
00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:35,280
You're happily married.

564
00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:37,000
You went through the journey, but you're together.

565
00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:41,640
You have a family, you love each other and you're successful as a business leader.

566
00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:45,680
But tell us a little bit about the redemption of God and what you're doing now.

567
00:35:45,680 --> 00:35:49,920
And then, Paul, then I want you to tell me, obviously you got married, you and hope.

568
00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:53,640
Tell us about the redemption side of God and the things you're doing now.

569
00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:57,560
So it kind of gives perspective that there's hope for anyone listening.

570
00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:01,200
Yeah, we actually just got back from a birthday trip to Hawaii.

571
00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:06,080
We went through a lot of stuff, but I remember, and I'm getting ready to go this Sunday to

572
00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:11,040
the Southwest Believers Convention with Brother Copeland and a lot of the generals of faith

573
00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:12,040
over there.

574
00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:13,040
Paul talked about that faith to faith.

575
00:36:13,040 --> 00:36:16,120
I still read that every day, you know what I mean?

576
00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:17,280
Devotional every single day.

577
00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:20,880
I've given a bunch of them out, you know, and minister's life to me.

578
00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:26,600
And so I remember going to our first Believers Convention and we shared a hotel room with

579
00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:27,600
people.

580
00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:30,480
We were eating sandwiches and carpooling and all that stuff.

581
00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:31,920
And I heard all this word.

582
00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:37,880
And, you know, I'm just coming out of, you know, this testimony side, getting into like,

583
00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:41,680
I'm free, but I'm still behind the eight ball, so to speak.

584
00:36:41,680 --> 00:36:43,880
And I just heard the good plans that God had for me.

585
00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:45,840
And I said, it's easy.

586
00:36:45,840 --> 00:36:47,920
All we have to do is like what he said.

587
00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:48,920
Like that's it.

588
00:36:48,920 --> 00:36:52,240
I was like, why do people make it so hard?

589
00:36:52,240 --> 00:36:57,880
And I remember just learning and walking and growing into things of God, not missing church,

590
00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:00,960
coming no matter what, whenever the doors were open.

591
00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:02,760
I didn't get my license overnight.

592
00:37:02,760 --> 00:37:06,480
You know, I went years without a license because it was like a $5,000 fine.

593
00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:08,160
And believe in God for that money.

594
00:37:08,160 --> 00:37:12,920
And I was believing, you know, I had a time where I lost my job for a little while because

595
00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:15,040
I didn't have a barber's license.

596
00:37:15,040 --> 00:37:16,040
You know what I mean?

597
00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:17,040
I had a star all over.

598
00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:21,080
And, you know, I thought it was a curse, but it was actually a blessing in disguise.

599
00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:24,920
Because like I said, now we've been voted three years in a row, the best barbershop

600
00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:25,920
in Houston.

601
00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:26,920
I do that.

602
00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:27,920
We travel.

603
00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:34,440
My wife, you know, has gotten, you know, just advancement and promotion in her job, favor

604
00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:35,840
on my kids' lives.

605
00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:38,880
And they're doing business and different things like that.

606
00:37:38,880 --> 00:37:45,440
And so I just seen us come from a place where we got out, you know, barely making it, but

607
00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:47,960
trusting God and believe in him.

608
00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:53,560
For me and my family of four, living on an air mattress in my mom's house to owning our

609
00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:58,320
own home, owning our own vehicles, having our own business, successful business at that,

610
00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:02,480
you know, having employees that we can, you know, provide for, help provide for their

611
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:05,760
families, show them the blessing of God that's on our life, the favor.

612
00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:09,480
We've been in ministry for several years.

613
00:38:09,480 --> 00:38:13,240
I mean, I didn't know, like when they asked me about being a youth pastor the first time,

614
00:38:13,240 --> 00:38:16,320
I was like, no way, bro, like I'm not letting people down.

615
00:38:16,320 --> 00:38:20,640
Like the way these guys let me down, like, no, I'm not doing it.

616
00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:25,260
But again, the Lord spoke to me and he said, you know, you don't have to be like them.

617
00:38:25,260 --> 00:38:26,420
You know what I mean?

618
00:38:26,420 --> 00:38:30,440
You can define what a Christian looks like because I remember them saying like, oh, you're

619
00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:31,440
a Christian.

620
00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:35,920
And I looked at the definition and it was like square, you know, was one of the names

621
00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:36,920
for a Christian.

622
00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:40,520
You know, every Christian movie has that or every movie has that Christian friend that

623
00:38:40,520 --> 00:38:41,520
everybody picks on.

624
00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:43,400
I was like, nobody's picking on me.

625
00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:44,400
I'm not lame.

626
00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:45,560
You know what I mean?

627
00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:49,000
And so I wanted to be, he said, you can be that example for people.

628
00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:50,000
We did that.

629
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:53,880
We've done ministry for years in the schools and the public schools all over Houston, all

630
00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:58,680
over spring Klein district, going out and ministering to kids because teaching them

631
00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:04,000
that they don't have to have the lifestyle that we did starting out to get to where we

632
00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:05,000
are now.

633
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:06,000
You know what I mean?

634
00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:08,400
Because that's the thing, you know, one of the prayers that we pray as a family all the

635
00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:13,360
time is that God will put us on display for the world to see so that they can see that,

636
00:39:13,360 --> 00:39:18,120
hey, there's hope, not about bragging on me or what I can do or how good I am or anything

637
00:39:18,120 --> 00:39:19,120
like that.

638
00:39:19,120 --> 00:39:23,400
It's like, hey, no, I trust God and he gives this to me.

639
00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:24,400
You know what I mean?

640
00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:29,920
And I do with it what he tells me and it increases and it shows it gives fruit to other people

641
00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:34,680
and it gives hope to other people and it gives, you know, inspiration to other people.

642
00:39:34,680 --> 00:39:38,680
And that's what we want to see because I remember as a kid, like, you know, one of the things

643
00:39:38,680 --> 00:39:42,720
that youth camps, different things like that, they will come tell you is like, when people

644
00:39:42,720 --> 00:39:46,320
see you, they're going to know you've been with God or, you know, they used to always

645
00:39:46,320 --> 00:39:49,480
come up to me and prophesied Paul, they would be like, you're going to be set apart and

646
00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:50,480
do great things for God.

647
00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:54,760
And I was like, I thought they just told everybody the same thing because every time I'll go

648
00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:56,720
up for prayer, that's what they would tell me.

649
00:39:56,720 --> 00:40:01,720
And I was like, you know, you got to get some new material guys, like, like it can't, you

650
00:40:01,720 --> 00:40:03,000
know, be that.

651
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:04,000
Like I said, it's easy.

652
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:07,120
All you got to do is say yes to him and let him lead you.

653
00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:12,920
And if your story might not end up in the same exact way we are, you know, you might

654
00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:18,080
not own a barbershop, you might not, you know, have a wife and two kids and things like that.

655
00:40:18,080 --> 00:40:23,120
But what you will have, you know, is a story that's blessed because God has a story that's

656
00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:29,000
written just for each and every one of you guys listening, whether it's now in the future,

657
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:32,680
you know, just like he told me, this is not how my story ends.

658
00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:38,000
Even if you had a past that isn't the best or you're not proud of, or, you know, you

659
00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:40,760
say, well, I don't know where God was in this.

660
00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:46,680
Your story that he has written for you, regardless of what the past looks like is amazing.

661
00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:51,000
And if you'll trust him and that's all you got to say is God, I'll trust you.

662
00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:53,520
And I want the story that you have for me.

663
00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:59,720
If you'll say that with your heart and just mean it, allow him to unfold those, that story

664
00:40:59,720 --> 00:41:04,920
and just I see it like in the spirit where it's just turning pages and you can just start

665
00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:09,040
start reading it and lining your life up with what he has.

666
00:41:09,040 --> 00:41:10,040
It'll be beautiful.

667
00:41:10,040 --> 00:41:11,040
It'll be amazing.

668
00:41:11,040 --> 00:41:13,240
We can't change our past.

669
00:41:13,240 --> 00:41:16,960
The decisions we make every day, do they determine our future?

670
00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:18,840
We can't live in regret for the past.

671
00:41:18,840 --> 00:41:20,960
We can't even live in the past.

672
00:41:20,960 --> 00:41:24,960
The look of those things is kind of part of our life message, but it's really who we are

673
00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:28,360
today in Christ and the future he has for us.

674
00:41:28,360 --> 00:41:33,920
But I've watched you, I've seen you and your wife come out and we were out and let us worship

675
00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:39,400
it was at 30 degrees and drizzly and freezing and you're still out there worshiping God

676
00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:40,400
anyway, right?

677
00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:44,600
And I've seen the way you've interacted with the guys at your next level barber shop that

678
00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:49,840
you own and the way you're discipling them even there in the marketplace and providing

679
00:41:49,840 --> 00:41:55,120
that I see the respect they have for you and those at church that have such a respect for

680
00:41:55,120 --> 00:41:56,120
you as well.

681
00:41:56,120 --> 00:41:58,760
So that tells me the authenticity of Christ.

682
00:41:58,760 --> 00:42:00,280
And we all still have our issues.

683
00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:01,280
We still have our problems.

684
00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:02,280
We still have our challenges.

685
00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:03,280
Nobody's perfect.

686
00:42:03,280 --> 00:42:06,640
But God is a perfect God doing a work of perfection.

687
00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:13,080
So Paul, I know that you've gone through a lot in your life in those years you were in

688
00:42:13,080 --> 00:42:14,080
TDC.

689
00:42:14,080 --> 00:42:17,840
Tell us a little about the redemption of God and where you are now and what God's allowing

690
00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:20,600
you to do and your plans for the future.

691
00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:27,920
In all honesty, like God's redemption started as soon as I said yes to him in the county

692
00:42:27,920 --> 00:42:32,320
jail and I'm still blown away that you said that must be a long time ago.

693
00:42:32,320 --> 00:42:34,640
It was videotapes or was it CDs?

694
00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:35,640
What was it?

695
00:42:35,640 --> 00:42:38,880
Because I'm still blown away that you saw a series of videos that I did and they got

696
00:42:38,880 --> 00:42:39,880
into TDC.

697
00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:42,600
I think it was DVDs.

698
00:42:42,600 --> 00:42:45,600
And when I saw your videos, it was probably like 2012, 2011.

699
00:42:45,600 --> 00:42:53,320
When I said yes to him, he literally came into my life and took away all those old desires.

700
00:42:53,320 --> 00:42:58,480
My deliverance or freedom from like drugs and alcohol, for me, it was immediate because

701
00:42:58,480 --> 00:43:02,700
in county jail, you still have access to all those things.

702
00:43:02,700 --> 00:43:08,640
Some of the guys in my pod at the time were giving me the stuff and I was a brand new

703
00:43:08,640 --> 00:43:11,360
Christian, but I was like, all right, let me try it.

704
00:43:11,360 --> 00:43:16,040
So I tried the wine that they made and it was disgusting.

705
00:43:16,040 --> 00:43:17,560
So man, this is so stupid, man.

706
00:43:17,560 --> 00:43:19,360
I'm never drinking again.

707
00:43:19,360 --> 00:43:24,960
They give me the pills and I took it and I didn't get high and I was like, man, this

708
00:43:24,960 --> 00:43:25,960
is dumb.

709
00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:27,960
I'm never going to take pills again.

710
00:43:27,960 --> 00:43:35,760
And so it's like God totally uprooted and set me free from those desires and where I

711
00:43:35,760 --> 00:43:38,320
was saying, we were all a bunch of kids, teenagers.

712
00:43:38,320 --> 00:43:41,600
I was the oldest one in the pod at 20.

713
00:43:41,600 --> 00:43:47,720
Everybody else in my pod was like 19, 17, like capital murder, life sentences.

714
00:43:47,720 --> 00:43:54,480
And so I was like, some of those kids, we were just hungry for something different and

715
00:43:54,480 --> 00:43:58,600
we were trying to read the Bible and do Bible studies, but I would sit in front of the TV

716
00:43:58,600 --> 00:44:01,880
and just be like, man, I wish I could go to church.

717
00:44:01,880 --> 00:44:03,520
I don't even want to watch TV.

718
00:44:03,520 --> 00:44:04,720
This is dumb.

719
00:44:04,720 --> 00:44:08,520
Or they're trying to play cards and I'm like, man, this isn't even fun.

720
00:44:08,520 --> 00:44:10,360
I had no desire for these things.

721
00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:12,040
God restored my family.

722
00:44:12,040 --> 00:44:17,400
When I went into prison, I was actually very surprised by the support that I got from my

723
00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:21,200
parents because at the time they were divorced.

724
00:44:21,200 --> 00:44:24,440
I was living with my mom and my brother was living with my dad.

725
00:44:24,440 --> 00:44:27,080
Didn't really have a relationship at all with my dad.

726
00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:28,720
He had kicked me out multiple times.

727
00:44:28,720 --> 00:44:31,800
So I'm living with my mom, didn't really have a relationship with my mom.

728
00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:35,440
She just didn't care anymore, but she was my mom, she loved me.

729
00:44:35,440 --> 00:44:36,640
She didn't want me on the streets.

730
00:44:36,640 --> 00:44:38,720
So she allowed me to stay with her.

731
00:44:38,720 --> 00:44:41,840
I wouldn't even see her because our schedules were so opposite.

732
00:44:41,840 --> 00:44:47,640
I'd be up all night, go to sleep at like four or five in the morning and then she'd go to

733
00:44:47,640 --> 00:44:52,120
work and then I'd wake up at like four or five in the afternoon.

734
00:44:52,120 --> 00:44:53,800
So we just miss each other.

735
00:44:53,800 --> 00:44:55,880
We were in the same house, wouldn't talk.

736
00:44:55,880 --> 00:44:57,200
So I ended up going to prison.

737
00:44:57,200 --> 00:45:02,920
It must have been like two or three years into my time, my parents end up getting remarried.

738
00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:05,840
Me going to prison actually brought my family together.

739
00:45:05,840 --> 00:45:10,560
My mom ended up selling her house and moving back in with my dad and my brother was there.

740
00:45:10,560 --> 00:45:12,880
And so they became a family.

741
00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:18,720
I actually saw my parents more when I was in prison because they would come visit me

742
00:45:18,720 --> 00:45:21,720
every weekend more than I did when I was in the free world.

743
00:45:21,720 --> 00:45:26,800
And we would at visitation, we would actually talk for two hours because that's all you

744
00:45:26,800 --> 00:45:28,000
can do.

745
00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:31,640
So they would come every weekend and we would sit and we would talk.

746
00:45:31,640 --> 00:45:34,480
And so he restored my family while I was in prison.

747
00:45:34,480 --> 00:45:35,840
You know, I ended up getting out.

748
00:45:35,840 --> 00:45:41,240
I was going to U of H. I was majoring in accounting and I was going to get a double major and

749
00:45:41,240 --> 00:45:43,080
get a major in finance as well.

750
00:45:43,080 --> 00:45:48,040
I ended up getting locked up during a summer session and this is all God like when I got

751
00:45:48,040 --> 00:45:54,280
out, I got out in the summer and it was like, I must have got out like two or three days

752
00:45:54,280 --> 00:45:57,360
before the deadline to register for summer classes.

753
00:45:57,360 --> 00:46:02,320
While I was locked up, my mom ends up like becoming friends with the assistant dean of

754
00:46:02,320 --> 00:46:06,160
the business school at U of H. She tells him my story and he's like, oh, when Paul gets

755
00:46:06,160 --> 00:46:11,360
out, send him over here and I'm going to make sure he, you know, he gets in all the classes

756
00:46:11,360 --> 00:46:13,440
he needs to and we're going to take care of him.

757
00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:17,920
So I get out, meet with the assistant dean and he puts me, you know, registers me in

758
00:46:17,920 --> 00:46:21,600
all the classes I need and I didn't lose any credits.

759
00:46:21,600 --> 00:46:22,840
You know, I was gone for 90 years.

760
00:46:22,840 --> 00:46:24,040
I didn't lose any credits.

761
00:46:24,040 --> 00:46:30,120
I didn't have to retake any classes and I ended up graduating that fall.

762
00:46:30,120 --> 00:46:34,440
So I took the summer session, took the fall session and graduated with my double major.

763
00:46:34,440 --> 00:46:40,440
So I literally came out back into the free world, like in the same position as when I

764
00:46:40,440 --> 00:46:42,120
went into prison, right?

765
00:46:42,120 --> 00:46:46,280
When I went into prison, I was in a summer session and I had a fall semester left and

766
00:46:46,280 --> 00:46:47,720
I would have graduated.

767
00:46:47,720 --> 00:46:52,960
So I got out, did that summer fall, graduated with my double major, had some difficulty

768
00:46:52,960 --> 00:46:57,640
getting a job at first, you know, with the felony, you know, but I wanted to be in the

769
00:46:57,640 --> 00:47:05,800
financial accounting field and through a relationship that God set up, I met this guy in California,

770
00:47:05,800 --> 00:47:10,680
you know, of all places, I was in California for a conference, met this VP of a staffing

771
00:47:10,680 --> 00:47:12,740
agency here in Houston.

772
00:47:12,740 --> 00:47:17,760
And so while I was applying for jobs and I got rejected, I was just like, I asked Holy

773
00:47:17,760 --> 00:47:20,040
Spirit, like, God, you know, like, what do you have for me?

774
00:47:20,040 --> 00:47:21,600
You know, you're my provider.

775
00:47:21,600 --> 00:47:22,600
You're my father.

776
00:47:22,600 --> 00:47:23,800
You take care of me.

777
00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:25,200
So you have something for me.

778
00:47:25,200 --> 00:47:26,600
Just what is it?

779
00:47:26,600 --> 00:47:29,560
And you know, he brought that guy to my remembrance.

780
00:47:29,560 --> 00:47:33,440
I wrote him an email and he hooked me up with a job, an accounting job.

781
00:47:33,440 --> 00:47:35,560
And so that was my entrance into accounting.

782
00:47:35,560 --> 00:47:39,440
And I'm still right now, I'm a finance director for a local nonprofit.

783
00:47:39,440 --> 00:47:41,560
And so he was restored.

784
00:47:41,560 --> 00:47:47,760
I mean, everything like before, before I gave my life to Christ, like, like Rob said, man,

785
00:47:47,760 --> 00:47:48,760
I was just empty.

786
00:47:48,760 --> 00:47:55,640
You know, my life was literally wake up, drink, get high, do drugs, go to sleep and wake up

787
00:47:55,640 --> 00:47:57,000
again and do the same thing.

788
00:47:57,000 --> 00:48:01,640
I remember, like, I felt like I never, I never won at life.

789
00:48:01,640 --> 00:48:05,280
I never had anything to brag about, nothing to boast about.

790
00:48:05,280 --> 00:48:06,640
I never succeeded.

791
00:48:06,640 --> 00:48:07,640
No accomplishments.

792
00:48:07,640 --> 00:48:12,800
I felt like I lost, you know, every, every opportunity I would always lose.

793
00:48:12,800 --> 00:48:16,920
But when I gave my life to Christ, it's not that like he makes me win at things.

794
00:48:16,920 --> 00:48:20,520
It's just like, now I have purpose and fulfillment.

795
00:48:20,520 --> 00:48:24,280
It all just comes from, you know, being in a relationship with him and all these things,

796
00:48:24,280 --> 00:48:27,920
you know, that he gives us in life, you know, they're great.

797
00:48:27,920 --> 00:48:32,720
You know, I got married to an amazing wife and I'm just so grateful because now like

798
00:48:32,720 --> 00:48:38,280
I'm actually alive, you know, like he restored my life before, like, you know, Robbie in

799
00:48:38,280 --> 00:48:42,880
our previous life and same with you, Doug, like we weren't actually living, like we were

800
00:48:42,880 --> 00:48:44,640
the walking dead, you know what I'm saying?

801
00:48:44,640 --> 00:48:45,640
We weren't living.

802
00:48:45,640 --> 00:48:52,680
So he restored, like I am alive now and man, I just got purpose, you know, and I go back

803
00:48:52,680 --> 00:48:58,760
into the prisons, you know, and I bring, you know, the same, the same message, the same

804
00:48:58,760 --> 00:49:03,800
hope that I received, you know, and, and I go in every week and I'm seeing, you know,

805
00:49:03,800 --> 00:49:04,800
breakthrough.

806
00:49:04,800 --> 00:49:11,080
And so it's like, before I was a drain on society, you know, I was destructive to society,

807
00:49:11,080 --> 00:49:12,080
to myself.

808
00:49:12,080 --> 00:49:15,560
Now, like I can contribute, you know, I can give.

809
00:49:15,560 --> 00:49:22,840
I can give away Jesus and the kingdom and like the goodness of God to people and I can

810
00:49:22,840 --> 00:49:26,800
actually impact my environment in a good way.

811
00:49:26,800 --> 00:49:31,080
So and there's so much more, but just, you know, just to testify, like he restores all

812
00:49:31,080 --> 00:49:32,080
things.

813
00:49:32,080 --> 00:49:34,200
We definitely have to have you guys on again sometime.

814
00:49:34,200 --> 00:49:39,120
There's so much more to talk about, but I am so blessed by your lives.

815
00:49:39,120 --> 00:49:43,280
I know that God had his hand on you all along and sometimes we don't even see that even

816
00:49:43,280 --> 00:49:47,640
when we're going through the things we went through, his hand was still on us.

817
00:49:47,640 --> 00:49:54,080
I was thinking about an article I wrote years ago because I had been praying like Leonard

818
00:49:54,080 --> 00:49:55,800
Rabiniel prayed for my generation.

819
00:49:55,800 --> 00:50:01,400
I've been praying for your generation and the next generation that God would raise up

820
00:50:01,400 --> 00:50:03,240
those with a prophetic mantle.

821
00:50:03,240 --> 00:50:07,200
He would raise up for this new generation of leadership.

822
00:50:07,200 --> 00:50:12,520
And you guys exemplify that watching the way you interact with your families, watching

823
00:50:12,520 --> 00:50:16,840
the way you interact with people around you, even though life isn't always easy, watching

824
00:50:16,840 --> 00:50:21,840
how your temperament and how people could look to you and they're watching Christ in

825
00:50:21,840 --> 00:50:26,480
you and you guys really do exemplify that in some incredible ways, probably better than

826
00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:28,320
I would have many years ago.

827
00:50:28,320 --> 00:50:30,320
So I just thank God for you.

828
00:50:30,320 --> 00:50:34,280
I'm blessed by your lives, honored to journey with you.

829
00:50:34,280 --> 00:50:39,120
And for my generation, I pray that we will continue to be a blessing to your generation

830
00:50:39,120 --> 00:50:43,440
so that just like it said in the book of Psalm that we would raise up a generation who would

831
00:50:43,440 --> 00:50:48,240
tell the next generation about God and about the goodness of God and their hope in God.

832
00:50:48,240 --> 00:50:50,400
And you guys are doing that well.

833
00:50:50,400 --> 00:50:54,240
I pray that my generation will continue to be a blessing to you and that you would walk

834
00:50:54,240 --> 00:51:00,120
in the fulfillment of the destiny of the prophetic generation God has brought forth because I

835
00:51:00,120 --> 00:51:06,360
believe just like in Joel 2 and Acts 2 that there is a prophetic generation that's emerging

836
00:51:06,360 --> 00:51:15,400
that will see visions, prophesy and be a literal, tangible, prophetic, corporate anointed generation

837
00:51:15,400 --> 00:51:19,520
preparing the way for revival and for the coming of the Lord.

838
00:51:19,520 --> 00:51:21,240
And so you guys are part of that.

839
00:51:21,240 --> 00:51:22,240
You guys really are.

840
00:51:22,240 --> 00:51:23,240
You exemplify that.

841
00:51:23,240 --> 00:51:26,720
And I thank God for that and appreciate you guys so much.

842
00:51:26,720 --> 00:51:28,040
Thank you so much for having us on.

843
00:51:28,040 --> 00:51:33,080
And you know, one of the things that Paul said was like his parents got back together

844
00:51:33,080 --> 00:51:34,280
while he was in jail.

845
00:51:34,280 --> 00:51:38,840
You know, that's like amazing what the enemy meant for bad.

846
00:51:38,840 --> 00:51:40,240
The Lord will turn it around for good.

847
00:51:40,240 --> 00:51:44,560
So no matter what, if you're listening to this, no matter what your background, where

848
00:51:44,560 --> 00:51:49,520
you're coming from, what you started with, it doesn't dictate how you're going to end

849
00:51:49,520 --> 00:51:54,640
up because let me tell you something Paul, I got excited on what you said because my

850
00:51:54,640 --> 00:52:00,320
parents, like I said, they got divorced when I was about 18 years old, maybe a little sooner.

851
00:52:00,320 --> 00:52:02,160
But my kids have never known.

852
00:52:02,160 --> 00:52:03,160
My son's 24.

853
00:52:03,160 --> 00:52:04,160
My daughter's 21.

854
00:52:04,160 --> 00:52:06,840
My kids have never seen my parents together.

855
00:52:06,840 --> 00:52:10,200
I had a chance to marry them this year.

856
00:52:10,200 --> 00:52:13,240
Like they got back together, man.

857
00:52:13,240 --> 00:52:16,880
And so the only reason I say that is you baptize them too, didn't you?

858
00:52:16,880 --> 00:52:21,760
Yeah, my dad got baptized and then came to the barber shop to get a haircut and told

859
00:52:21,760 --> 00:52:23,240
me, oh yeah, I'm going to get married Sunday.

860
00:52:23,240 --> 00:52:26,160
Me and your mom want to have a ceremony.

861
00:52:26,160 --> 00:52:29,080
Like I said, it's a testament of what we do.

862
00:52:29,080 --> 00:52:32,960
And whoever is listening to this, that might be something you're believing God for.

863
00:52:32,960 --> 00:52:38,520
And you're hearing stories of a complete turnaround, of a complete family restoration, of complete

864
00:52:38,520 --> 00:52:40,280
financial restoration.

865
00:52:40,280 --> 00:52:42,400
And God wants you to have these things too, man.

866
00:52:42,400 --> 00:52:46,320
Father, I thank you so much for moments like this.

867
00:52:46,320 --> 00:52:50,520
Lord, thank you for Rob and for Paul and their families.

868
00:52:50,520 --> 00:52:57,840
Thank you Lord for a whole generation that's bringing hope and bringing life into my generation

869
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to see that our dreams will be accomplished through this visionary prophetic generation.

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God I pray for all those that are listening or even watching that they will find a depth

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of purpose greater than they have ever known before.

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As Paul said earlier, that it wasn't really living before, but we're living now.

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Lord, I pray that those who are listening, who maybe have been disappointed or discouraged

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or distracted, or maybe have gone through personal condemnation or feeling regret of

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the past.

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Lord, help them to know, even as Rob said earlier, Lord, that it's not about the past.

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It's about where we are right now and what you're doing with our lives.

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Thank you for the redemption of the cross.

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Thank you for the redemption and the salvation and the health and the healing and the freedom

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and the liberation and the deliverance that comes in the name of Jesus.

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Amen and amen.

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We hope you enjoyed this episode of A Word in Season with Doug Stringer and friends and

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ask you to prayerfully consider supporting the ministry at somebodycares.org or by texting

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your donation amount to 805-422-7348.

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Please join us again for A Word in Season with Doug Stringer and friends.