Hello, I'm J.D. Quinn. We have a wonderful time today 00:00:31.71\00:00:34.89 in store for you. This is 00:00:34.93\00:00:36.81 Issues and Answers and I've got 00:00:36.85\00:00:38.94 such a precious gentleman here. 00:00:38.98\00:00:40.76 We're going to share something 00:00:40.79\00:00:42.51 that normally is normal but then on the other side it could be 00:00:42.54\00:00:46.54 detrimental. But first I want to go to Ephesians 4:26, and this 00:00:46.70\00:00:50.70 is dealing with anger. When angry do not sin. Very simple, 00:00:52.54\00:00:56.54 but what an important message. I want to introduce to you 00:00:58.54\00:01:02.08 Ron Lee. Ron, how are you doing today? 00:01:02.12\00:01:05.76 I'm doing great. You have just gone over a 00:01:05.80\00:01:09.37 little bit of your story and it's absolutely fantastic and I 00:01:09.40\00:01:13.14 just know that whenever we present this to our viewing 00:01:13.18\00:01:17.32 audience out there that they are going to be touched because 00:01:17.35\00:01:20.28 some people are going to be able to identify with what you're 00:01:20.32\00:01:23.18 talking about. First of all tell me a little bit about where you 00:01:23.22\00:01:26.04 came from, where do you live and we'll just start there. 00:01:26.08\00:01:29.81 Well, we currently live in 00:01:29.85\00:01:31.74 Nebraska, up in the northwest 00:01:31.78\00:01:33.64 panhandle, Shatteren. We've been 00:01:33.70\00:01:35.65 out there for 18 years. We came 00:01:35.68\00:01:37.56 from the west coast and God blessed by taking us there. 00:01:37.59\00:01:41.73 We love it. I was kind of shocked at first thinking I 00:01:41.77\00:01:45.33 don't want to go there. But God knew better and he worked 00:01:45.37\00:01:49.04 through the wife to softly invite me and we got to move. 00:01:49.07\00:01:52.67 We got to go to a different area and so we're thankful that we 00:01:52.71\00:01:56.83 did. Well I can imagine it was a 00:01:56.86\00:01:58.35 little bit different coming from the west coast into the mid-west 00:01:58.39\00:02:00.85 but anyway. It's a definite culture shock. 00:02:00.89\00:02:02.52 Tell me, where does your story start? Because like I say we're 00:02:02.56\00:02:07.36 dealing with anger and whenever I'm just sitting here visiting 00:02:07.39\00:02:12.16 with you, you just look like you've got it all together. 00:02:12.20\00:02:15.07 You love the Lord so I know that we've got another side here. 00:02:15.10\00:02:19.95 So let's go back and start wherever this started, whenever 00:02:19.98\00:02:24.79 you started suppressing this anger. 00:02:24.83\00:02:27.38 I think my story started at home in an "Adventist" environment. 00:02:27.42\00:02:33.35 My dad was a very angry person and we were physically abused 00:02:33.39\00:02:39.29 by both mom and dad, dad specifically in a very violent 00:02:39.32\00:02:44.96 way. That created an anger which led to rebellion. 00:02:44.99\00:02:48.90 This was in an Adventist home where I heard the word love but 00:02:48.94\00:02:55.46 I didn't feel love. I got this feeling inside me if this is 00:02:55.50\00:03:00.72 what love is all about and if this is what Jesus is all about, 00:03:00.75\00:03:05.02 because I kept hearing that name then I didn't want anything to 00:03:05.05\00:03:09.29 do with it. So I needed acceptance, I needed love and I 00:03:09.32\00:03:14.20 found acceptance through criminals basically and just 00:03:14.24\00:03:19.05 the street life and that led to a very abrupt stop in my normal 00:03:19.09\00:03:25.19 functioning. At 17 years old, soon to turn 18, I was arrested 00:03:25.22\00:03:30.90 for involuntary manslaughter. That was quite a shocker at 00:03:30.93\00:03:36.00 home. When I was awakened at 1:30 in the morning by my 00:03:36.03\00:03:41.02 dad who when he went to bed everybody went to bed and there 00:03:41.06\00:03:44.33 was no noise. He was pretty upset. He said, get downstairs, 00:03:44.37\00:03:47.12 somebody wants to talk to you and I came down the long stairs, 00:03:47.15\00:03:49.99 turned the corner and the sheriff knocked me on the ground 00:03:50.03\00:03:52.80 and said, you're under arrest. Mom started screaming, where did 00:03:52.84\00:03:56.02 we go wrong. I jumped up and said I could give you an answer 00:03:56.05\00:03:59.45 for that. In my damaged way, I didn't know exactly what that 00:03:59.48\00:04:04.59 meant but I know that something was amiss in this story called 00:04:04.62\00:04:09.69 Christianity. So that was the beginning of a spiral. 00:04:09.73\00:04:13.75 So I guess that your feelings started being suppressed so 00:04:13.79\00:04:22.05 rather than out professing Christianity, loving your 00:04:22.08\00:04:24.43 brother and sister, because you were seeing hypocrisy in the 00:04:24.47\00:04:28.27 home. So you decided that I will join up with these friends over 00:04:28.30\00:04:32.06 here because at least black is black and white is white. 00:04:32.10\00:04:35.82 What happened next? Okay, so you went in for manslaughter? 00:04:35.85\00:04:40.70 Well I was looking at quite a long time and those of you who 00:04:40.74\00:04:45.55 have been in there know that those places are not fun. 00:04:45.59\00:04:49.21 Fortunate for me, and there are times in my life when I've 00:04:49.24\00:04:53.22 wondered was I fortunate? But I was brought down to the 00:04:53.25\00:04:57.15 interrogating room and offered a choice of stop pleading not 00:04:57.19\00:05:00.96 guilty and basically they laid it in my lap. You know you're 00:05:01.00\00:05:05.54 guilty and we know you're guilty. If you'll stop pleading 00:05:05.57\00:05:09.33 not guilty and sign on the dotted line here we'll put you 00:05:09.36\00:05:12.90 in the military. Right about that time my father was standing 00:05:12.94\00:05:16.42 behind me and buried a boot in my backside and I didn't even 00:05:16.45\00:05:19.34 see it coming and then that created more anger and then I 00:05:19.38\00:05:22.20 did decide to go in the military and that, long and short of it, 00:05:22.24\00:05:27.84 led me to Viet Nam. Now you're going to teach me how to kill 00:05:27.87\00:05:31.91 right, if there is a right way, and we know there is not. 00:05:31.94\00:05:36.06 The Bible says thou shalt not kill, but in that mode and that 00:05:36.09\00:05:40.68 feeling I was sent over there and that led to major drugs. 00:05:40.72\00:05:45.71 It led to more anger and without being political about 00:05:45.74\00:05:50.66 it there were things there that I just didn't see why we were 00:05:50.70\00:05:56.16 doing what we were doing. Of course, then you get in the 00:05:56.19\00:05:59.30 groove of complying with what you've been told to do and that 00:05:59.34\00:06:05.97 led to years and years of anger and irrational behavior, major 00:06:06.00\00:06:11.92 hatred for the particular kind of people we were at war with, 00:06:11.95\00:06:17.53 so to speak. That created problems when I got out and came 00:06:17.57\00:06:23.11 back to live in America. 00:06:23.15\00:06:24.42 So when you came back you went back to California? 00:06:24.46\00:06:27.75 I went back to California and got back with the girlfriend 00:06:27.78\00:06:33.44 that I had and eventually we got married and had two children. 00:06:33.48\00:06:38.69 She came from parents who had been missionaries in Thailand 00:06:38.72\00:06:44.05 and that created trouble with me because I had the hatred for 00:06:44.08\00:06:50.44 those people and she loved them and it was not good. It created 00:06:50.48\00:06:56.10 lots of dysfunction and anger which led to more drugs and more 00:06:56.14\00:07:01.73 drugs and we all know through study that drugs and other 00:07:01.76\00:07:06.21 particular habits that are out there are nothing more than 00:07:06.24\00:07:09.59 medication to not deal with what you should be dealing with. 00:07:09.63\00:07:12.94 So that led deeper and deeper and pretty soon I was an 00:07:12.97\00:07:18.96 intravenous drug user. 00:07:18.99\00:07:23.28 So the feelings that you did have, they were just buried? 00:07:23.32\00:07:26.58 Well, some of them were buried about particular things. Others 00:07:26.62\00:07:31.46 I had no problem telling anybody I encountered what I 00:07:31.50\00:07:35.63 thought about them or about any situation. Of course, for me it 00:07:35.66\00:07:42.38 led to eight more times back to county jail for different 00:07:42.42\00:07:48.56 altercations. I had no problem going up to an oriental and 00:07:48.59\00:07:54.71 being physical. Even on a date with my wife going out to eat 00:07:54.74\00:07:59.34 dinner one would walk in or one would be sitting at a table and 00:07:59.37\00:08:03.36 I'd walk right over with a fork and proceed to tell him what I 00:08:03.40\00:08:07.15 thought about the situation. First of all that is unchristian 00:08:07.18\00:08:10.89 like and I recognize that now. 00:08:10.93\00:08:13.94 Well let's talk about where there was a turn in the road. 00:08:13.98\00:08:17.02 That's where you were emotionally then. Now when did 00:08:17.06\00:08:24.12 Jesus start coming into your life or was this something that 00:08:24.15\00:08:27.70 just slowly developed or was this a Damascus road experience 00:08:27.73\00:08:31.24 that happened immediately? 00:08:31.28\00:08:32.84 You know, I have to interlude here with something. Jesus was 00:08:32.87\00:08:40.18 always there but I didn't recognize, I didn't want him. 00:08:40.22\00:08:44.00 He was reaching down to me but I wasn't reaching back to him. 00:08:44.03\00:08:47.23 This may seem humorous, it may be shocking, but there was a 00:08:47.27\00:08:50.74 time in my life when I was still doing drugs that I started 00:08:50.77\00:08:53.82 paying my tithe because I was convicted that that was God's 00:08:53.85\00:08:57.53 money. If you don't think that's confusion inside you to have 00:08:57.56\00:09:01.50 $50 for the man on the corner, $50 for the church or whatever. 00:09:01.53\00:09:06.91 But the anger continued. I came back to the church and the anger 00:09:06.94\00:09:13.76 was still there. I had been on a roller coaster and doing this 00:09:13.80\00:09:19.28 I thing with the things that I did overcome. I went through 00:09:19.32\00:09:24.76 a phase where I went, well I quit smoking cigarettes 00:09:24.80\00:09:27.85 without Schick or the 5-day plan I quit drugs eventually without 00:09:27.89\00:09:33.19 rehab. I quit drinking without AA and I know now that it was 00:09:33.22\00:09:37.72 Jesus, it was God there. But I thought that. Then I came up 00:09:37.75\00:09:41.67 against the anger and I did not know what to do with it. 00:09:41.71\00:09:45.56 When you asked about the turning in the road, one of the major 00:09:45.60\00:09:49.35 ones came probably three years ago when my wife put me in a 00:09:49.39\00:09:53.07 crisis and, God bless her, I am so fortunate to have a wife that 00:09:53.10\00:09:58.17 is as intelligent and loving and good looking and all the things 00:09:58.20\00:10:03.23 that that lady is. She loved me enough and I started to see 00:10:03.27\00:10:08.03 what love was through my wife. At home I didn't know what love 00:10:08.07\00:10:12.46 was. When I started to read in my Bible, I still was angry. 00:10:12.49\00:10:16.85 I used to make a quote sometimes. John 3:16 to me said 00:10:16.88\00:10:21.23 for God so beat the doctrines into me, because that's what 00:10:21.27\00:10:25.55 happened at home. You're going to this other place, Ron, if you 00:10:25.58\00:10:29.49 don't study your Sabbath School lesson. I was told I wasn't 00:10:29.52\00:10:32.32 going to make it because I wasn't a doctor's kid. I was 00:10:32.35\00:10:35.08 told that I wouldn't make it because I didn't go to college. 00:10:35.11\00:10:37.90 What's interesting is some of those people that have that 00:10:37.94\00:10:40.53 have that feeling now have borrowed money from me and 00:10:40.57\00:10:43.09 that's okay; I love to give. God has blessed. But the turning 00:10:43.13\00:10:47.50 point came when she put me in that crisis and said, Ron, you 00:10:47.53\00:10:51.83 are all these good things but... I always did work hard, I always 00:10:51.86\00:10:56.99 provided for my family. I would keep good schedules and she said 00:10:57.03\00:11:02.13 you're the best father and husband and all these things, 00:11:02.16\00:11:05.76 but if you don't get a handle on your anger, I've got to go. 00:11:05.80\00:11:09.36 Then she hit me right between the eyes one day with a 00:11:09.40\00:11:12.72 statement. She said, if it takes you 20 years, I'll wait for you. 00:11:12.76\00:11:17.84 And I cried and went okay, okay, what do you want to do and she 00:11:17.88\00:11:22.93 said we've got to go to Boise, Idaho. This was a Wednesday 00:11:22.97\00:11:26.19 afternoon and I said I just signed a contract on a job for 00:11:26.23\00:11:29.28 Monday morning, I got to be there. She said, I'll drive all 00:11:29.32\00:11:33.02 all Sunday for you but we've got to go. If you don't go, I'm 00:11:33.06\00:11:36.65 gone. Then you look at that and if I lose my wife, there's my 00:11:36.68\00:11:39.97 place, then I might as well go back and shoot cocaine because 00:11:40.01\00:11:43.97 I enjoyed that I thought. You know, that's just the mental 00:11:44.01\00:11:48.27 state that you're in when you're doing that. So we went and we 00:11:48.30\00:11:52.46 were introduced to a wonderful lady who introduced us to a 00:11:52.49\00:11:57.16 program called Binding the Wounds that is put on by Nancy 00:11:57.20\00:12:01.53 and Ron Rockey. It saved our life. It saved our marriage. 00:12:01.57\00:12:05.84 We now have had the opportunity to facilitate that program for 00:12:05.87\00:12:10.81 other people. What a joy to give back. I no longer wonder why I 00:12:10.84\00:12:15.75 went through some of those valleys. I know why. 00:12:15.78\00:12:17.76 It's God wanted me to have those trials to help other people who 00:12:17.80\00:12:25.19 are in the anger. We now help Viet Nam vets, we help people 00:12:25.22\00:12:29.38 with drug problems, people who have had abuse. It's shocking 00:12:29.41\00:12:33.53 how much of that is in our church. Some people will go 00:12:33.57\00:12:39.53 Shhh. And well you know what reality here. So God is good. 00:12:39.57\00:12:45.67 So I know a few of the things that you brought up was that... 00:12:45.71\00:12:50.37 You've been married for how long now? This happened three years 00:12:50.41\00:12:54.94 ago when your wife, Celeste, gave you an ultimatum basically. 00:12:54.98\00:12:59.48 Now, you've been married for how long to Celeste? 00:12:59.52\00:13:03.19 Um, our next anniversary will be 30 years. 00:13:03.23\00:13:05.49 Thirty years. Was she brought up an Adventist also? 00:13:05.52\00:13:11.61 Yes she was. Okay. So I guess in her mind 00:13:11.65\00:13:14.81 she was taking it as far as she could because she was going to 00:13:14.85\00:13:18.23 be married forever and boy she 00:13:18.27\00:13:20.09 kept giving and kept giving and 00:13:20.12\00:13:22.12 kept giving and without you 00:13:22.15\00:13:24.08 really knowing it you were taking 00:13:24.12\00:13:25.34 because this disease called rage had a hold of you. I think that 00:13:25.38\00:13:29.58 you were saying that Jennifer is your daughter. Okay and some 00:13:29.61\00:13:33.08 of the things that you would do at home. I'd like for you to 00:13:33.12\00:13:36.57 just share that because there are people out here that may not 00:13:36.61\00:13:40.03 know that they could be identified as having rage. 00:13:40.06\00:13:43.58 But let's just say some of the simplistic things that you would 00:13:43.61\00:13:46.48 do at home. Maybe just in the eating habits or maybe, you 00:13:46.51\00:13:50.14 know... Tell us what rage is. 00:13:50.18\00:13:55.04 Rage is being totally out of control at any particular moment 00:13:55.08\00:13:59.18 for any small or big reason. 00:13:59.22\00:14:01.68 I would not like what was cooked 00:14:01.72\00:14:03.63 for dinner, so it would end up 00:14:03.67\00:14:06.87 on the wall. I was sitting at 00:14:06.91\00:14:10.04 one time and my daughter was trying to do peas on her fork 00:14:10.08\00:14:13.07 and they were falling off. And all of a sudden she says these 00:14:13.10\00:14:16.63 bleep peas, she said a bad word. I went Jennifer and my wife goes 00:14:16.67\00:14:20.30 Ron, and I went what. She goes where do you think she learned 00:14:20.34\00:14:23.93 it? Well I dropped my head and went back to my peas. 00:14:23.97\00:14:26.60 Sometimes after it's too late we realize the things that we have 00:14:26.64\00:14:32.40 done have been very detrimental. I have an old '57 Chevy that 00:14:32.43\00:14:38.15 I've restored and when it wouldn't start just right, I'd 00:14:38.19\00:14:43.12 smash the fender, go crazy on it and then I'd have to take that 00:14:43.16\00:14:47.34 off and go look for another one. One time I broke the wind shield 00:14:47.37\00:14:51.52 because I didn't do something. Another time when I was in it 00:14:51.55\00:14:55.89 with my new wife, meaning she was new to me at the time, 00:14:55.93\00:15:00.19 it didn't run just how I wanted so I dumped the clutch and blew 00:15:00.23\00:15:04.69 a gear out of the transmission. Now I had to go get a gear and 00:15:04.73\00:15:08.78 rebuild your tranny. It's just the impulse. Another time, and 00:15:08.81\00:15:12.95 this one's a little bit potent, but my wife had wanted me to 00:15:12.99\00:15:17.47 come home right now; you see she's grown too, she's given me 00:15:17.51\00:15:22.15 room. She wanted me to take care of a couple of large dogs that 00:15:22.18\00:15:25.62 did not want to have anymore and I had other dogs that we were 00:15:25.65\00:15:28.55 going to keep. Well I didn't want to come home right then. 00:15:28.59\00:15:31.42 I was on the way from one job to the next job. She pushed it to 00:15:31.45\00:15:34.87 the point where I said okay I'll come home. And I came home and 00:15:34.91\00:15:39.77 killed those dogs right in front of the family and got quite loud 00:15:39.81\00:15:44.64 about it. My mother-in-law was staying there at the time and 00:15:44.67\00:15:49.72 she saw the rage and quietly went into her area of living and 00:15:49.75\00:15:55.91 closed the door. Then I went down to the barn and went into 00:15:55.94\00:16:02.53 a major situation where I just had experienced Viet Nam again 00:16:02.56\00:16:07.73 right there in my own yard and I'd done it and I had to come up 00:16:07.76\00:16:12.89 there and try to make amends. Of course, the wife said, I 00:16:12.93\00:16:16.12 don't want to talk to you, get out of here. I accept full 00:16:16.15\00:16:19.28 responsibility for the way I was although I want to lay some of 00:16:19.31\00:16:24.30 that on Satan. He knows your weakness, he knows what he can 00:16:24.33\00:16:29.17 do to you. He doesn't care how he takes us down and he knows 00:16:29.20\00:16:33.47 what would happen. There have been times when I have been 00:16:33.50\00:16:37.69 arrested for assault on my own employees because they wouldn't 00:16:37.73\00:16:43.20 do just what I wanted them to do. Guaranteed, you can be 00:16:43.23\00:16:47.21 assertive in a polite way and I had not learned that. I didn't 00:16:47.25\00:16:54.12 mind taking the situation at hand and doing what I had 00:16:54.15\00:16:59.06 learned was the way to fix something and that was to beat 00:16:59.09\00:17:02.40 it or other ways. That's not God's way. God's way is tender 00:17:02.44\00:17:09.01 and the mercy that he has shown me, wooing me to him for years 00:17:09.05\00:17:15.59 has shown me what real love is. 00:17:15.62\00:17:19.27 Now that our audience can see what rage is and what rage can 00:17:19.31\00:17:24.86 do to a person, you have to be miserable when those people are 00:17:24.90\00:17:29.70 around you have to be even more miserable. Now three years ago 00:17:29.73\00:17:34.50 you turned the corner. You went to this crisis center and 00:17:34.53\00:17:39.06 healing started taking place. Now what does that mean? 00:17:39.09\00:17:45.15 Well it means that you want to have a different reaction. 00:17:45.18\00:17:51.17 The devil is still out there; he still is throwing those things 00:17:51.21\00:17:55.13 at you, but you can have a new high and that would be a term 00:17:55.17\00:17:59.06 used with people from my background. Your new high is 00:17:59.09\00:18:03.86 acting right and it is so rewarding to look back at a 00:18:03.90\00:18:08.60 situation after the fact and say I did what God would have 00:18:08.64\00:18:12.67 wanted me to do in that situation. Yes as an employer 00:18:12.70\00:18:15.59 you have a right to have the program go in the way it's been 00:18:15.63\00:18:19.35 set up, but there's a Christian way to go about bringing that 00:18:19.39\00:18:24.37 around. I now enjoy, it's actually a good feeling for me, 00:18:24.41\00:18:29.74 I can get joy out of reacting properly. I have a situation 00:18:29.78\00:18:34.94 here I can share real quick. I called from 3-1/2 hours away 00:18:34.98\00:18:39.26 driving time wise about a particular product that I needed 00:18:39.29\00:18:43.57 right that day. I had already called the next client saying 00:18:43.61\00:18:47.86 we'll be there at your place tomorrow. So I drove to get that 00:18:47.89\00:18:52.09 particular material as I left my crew back there to continue 00:18:52.12\00:18:55.85 working. The guy had just told me on the phone, yes it's here 00:18:55.88\00:18:59.92 right next to me. I drive 3-1/2 hours to get there and he says, 00:18:59.95\00:19:05.02 oh I guess it isn't here. One of my beloved brothers-in-law was 00:19:05.05\00:19:10.09 sitting there and he just watched the reaction. In my old 00:19:10.12\00:19:14.86 lifestyle I would have climbed over the counter. God was 00:19:14.90\00:19:19.00 working at that moment and I looked at the man and I just 00:19:19.03\00:19:25.14 said oh okay, so when will it be here? He was flabbergasted 00:19:25.17\00:19:31.25 because he expected Ron, because he knew the history, 00:19:31.28\00:19:34.71 to act irrational. It was one of those things that was the 00:19:34.75\00:19:39.77 beginning of learning how to react properly and to let God 00:19:39.81\00:19:43.92 do your answering for you sometimes. What would Jesus do? 00:19:43.96\00:19:48.32 I have another little quick incident. I was working for a 00:19:48.33\00:19:51.35 Christian lady and I had noticed that one of my guys was 00:19:51.36\00:19:55.11 purposely throwing stucco on her new brick which stains it and 00:19:55.15\00:19:57.90 when you find it too late you've got to get it off there and it 00:19:57.94\00:20:00.99 scars the brick. So I watched him as I was working away and 00:20:01.03\00:20:04.76 he was doing some more of that over in the corner. I uncorked 00:20:04.79\00:20:08.23 and the window slid up and it was this dear Christian lady 00:20:08.27\00:20:11.64 saying Ron, what would Jesus do? And I snapped at her, well he'd 00:20:11.68\00:20:15.56 take a whip and clean this temple. She said I think as soon 00:20:15.59\00:20:19.89 as you are done working you need to come on inside. So I sent the 00:20:19.93\00:20:23.44 crew home. I came on inside and she gave me her little sermon 00:20:23.48\00:20:26.79 and I said, Yeah, Yeah, okay. About six months later I was 00:20:26.83\00:20:31.46 in Wal-Mart and I saw her and I zipped down my jacket. I was 00:20:31.50\00:20:35.68 wearing a T-shirt and I opened it up and I said, Myrna, look. 00:20:35.72\00:20:39.90 And I had a WWJD shirt on and she said I think maybe you're 00:20:39.93\00:20:44.44 getting a handle on it. There are just many ways that you 00:20:44.48\00:20:48.96 start to see the light. 00:20:48.99\00:20:52.72 So you were obviously seeing a healing taking place and now I 00:20:52.76\00:20:58.82 also saw that without knowledge my people perish. So now you're 00:20:58.86\00:21:04.89 beginning to turn that corner 00:21:04.92\00:21:06.31 because you have the knowledge. 00:21:06.34\00:21:07.55 You see that there's another 00:21:07.58\00:21:09.14 side there and it's even making 00:21:09.18\00:21:10.67 you feel good because now you're putting that old life behind you 00:21:10.71\00:21:14.17 This new creation, this new man that God is creating, you know, 00:21:14.21\00:21:17.64 is taking precedents. Now let's talk about God's word. 00:21:17.67\00:21:22.84 You're in his word. I now understand that you and Celeste 00:21:22.87\00:21:28.51 have a ministry called Abundant Life Ministry. So tell us a 00:21:28.55\00:21:33.54 little bit about that. How did that start. I mean, my goodness, 00:21:33.58\00:21:38.50 this is a large step between then and now, because whenever 00:21:38.53\00:21:42.96 I look at you I see a precious man. I can see it in your eyes. 00:21:42.99\00:21:48.18 Also I can tell that you're a very sensitive man. So man, it's 00:21:48.21\00:21:53.37 just who was this other person? So you have a wonderful 00:21:53.40\00:21:56.54 opportunity here to witness. Now we've got Abundant Life Ministry 00:21:56.58\00:22:00.49 Tell us about it. Well we needed a platform to go 00:22:00.52\00:22:06.57 out and touch people in the right me because we definitely, 00:22:06.61\00:22:09.70 especially me, did it in the 00:22:09.73\00:22:11.33 wrong way, so we started this 00:22:11.36\00:22:12.80 Ministry. The little logo on 00:22:12.84\00:22:14.60 our cards is two hands holding 00:22:14.64\00:22:16.33 a heart. It's all about your heart healing. The Bible has 00:22:16.37\00:22:20.04 things to say about the mind but it also says, let not your 00:22:20.08\00:22:23.68 heart be troubled. I forget the exact quote about how many times 00:22:23.72\00:22:28.20 the Bible talks about the heart. So we started this ministry to 00:22:28.24\00:22:32.97 go out... I'm now working with a Viet Nam vet that when I first 00:22:33.01\00:22:37.71 met this man his face just reeked with pain. He cannot get 00:22:37.74\00:22:43.36 past the atrocities that he got involved in. We also go out 00:22:43.39\00:22:48.38 and we try to help people with drug problems. I also go to the 00:22:48.42\00:22:52.48 prison. We've started a little small prison ministry in our own 00:22:52.52\00:22:56.55 little way. I have had an invitation at one of the ASI 00:22:56.58\00:22:59.70 meetings to go down to the Kentucky state pen and talk 00:22:59.74\00:23:02.72 to the guys. I said to the gentleman that invited me, why 00:23:02.75\00:23:05.66 me? He said, why not you? You know the system. These guys need 00:23:05.70\00:23:11.73 help. So that's a joy that I have doing now. We also go out 00:23:11.76\00:23:16.89 on a speaking tour when we're invited and we tell our story 00:23:16.93\00:23:21.04 and that's real rewarding to watch as you're progressing 00:23:21.08\00:23:25.27 through it. I talk for maybe half an hour to 40 minutes. 00:23:25.30\00:23:29.42 Celeste talks for 20 minutes to a half hour then she says, now 00:23:29.46\00:23:32.85 Ron's going to close. When I'm closing down at the very end 00:23:32.88\00:23:36.79 and using titles of hymns like has he been your shelter in the 00:23:36.82\00:23:40.70 time of storm? Burdens really are lifted at Calvary. 00:23:40.73\00:23:43.89 The people are weeping coming up and it's humbling us because I 00:23:43.93\00:23:51.53 used to lift myself up. One of my favorite hymns now is 00:23:51.56\00:23:55.71 Lift Him Up. James 2, I believe, 18 talks about when you raise 00:23:55.75\00:24:01.50 Jesus up he will lift you up. There's Jeremiah, I think it's 00:24:01.54\00:24:07.24 1:18 there's a text that talks about going out and sharing what 00:24:07.28\00:24:12.95 God has done for you. So this Abundant Life has created a 00:24:12.98\00:24:18.30 platform for us to do that. Sometimes we're doing the talks; 00:24:18.33\00:24:22.70 sometimes we're just helping someone that we know is hurting. 00:24:22.74\00:24:26.59 You know, to give that loaf of bread to someone who is hungry. 00:24:26.62\00:24:30.80 I'm the song leader at our church now and that shocks many 00:24:30.84\00:24:35.32 people that say, You're the what? Well I got rebaptized 00:24:35.36\00:24:39.50 probably four years ago and it was because I wanted to this 00:24:39.53\00:24:42.94 time; not because mom said I should do it and you're 12 and 00:24:42.98\00:24:46.16 you're supposed to do it. Well my pastor that we had at the 00:24:46.19\00:24:49.72 time, he's a quite large man, and he started crying after he 00:24:49.76\00:24:52.59 brought me out of the water and I said, what are you crying for? 00:24:52.63\00:24:55.68 I'm the one going through the emotions. He said, Ronnie, hang 00:24:55.72\00:24:58.43 on. He said, the devil's mad at the decisions you've made. 00:24:58.46\00:25:01.10 And there's been a lot of stuff there that if you allowed it to 00:25:01.14\00:25:05.09 get in the way, but you realize there's another mountain that I 00:25:05.12\00:25:09.04 climb over. So this Abundant Life Ministry thing has been 00:25:09.07\00:25:13.58 an awesome opportunity. It gives us a platform, like I've said, 00:25:13.62\00:25:17.91 and so we go out when we have the opportunity. We still both 00:25:17.95\00:25:23.70 run businesses and then we have fun with our grandkids. People 00:25:23.74\00:25:28.45 have to listen for clues and for ques. I walked into the lumber 00:25:28.48\00:25:32.58 yard one day and it was very busy, other contractors in 00:25:32.61\00:25:36.68 there, lots of customers, several employees there and it 00:25:36.71\00:25:40.19 was buzzing. It was just a loud noise and some guy at the 00:25:40.23\00:25:43.76 counter said, Hey Ron, what's happening? And I said, Jesus! 00:25:43.77\00:25:51.24 And the place went deathly quiet Now I realize I'm on stage and 00:25:51.27\00:25:53.03 I keep going this aisle and this aisle and I get what I 00:25:53.06\00:25:54.68 want to do and I go back up to the counter and he says, what 00:25:54.72\00:25:57.89 did you say? I said, what did you ask me? He said, well I 00:25:57.92\00:26:01.02 asked what was happening, but... I said, no but. You asked me a 00:26:01.06\00:26:04.33 straight question and I gave you a straight answer. As I'm going 00:26:04.37\00:26:08.13 out the door, he saying, yeah but... I said, Jesus is what's 00:26:08.16\00:26:11.89 happening. His family is Christian from a different 00:26:11.92\00:26:16.26 denomination. He knows I was telling the truth. It was not 00:26:16.30\00:26:21.17 what he expected to hear from Ron and that's what makes a 00:26:21.20\00:26:26.00 difference. You know if Jesus can save me, he can save anybody 00:26:26.04\00:26:31.25 I'd say that's right. And that's the way I feel about 00:26:31.28\00:26:35.08 it. So now I think I have an obligation but also it's a 00:26:35.11\00:26:38.84 desire to make a difference out there with the people I'm coming 00:26:38.88\00:26:42.19 in contact with. It's all about how am I going to react. 00:26:42.22\00:26:45.50 Our good friends, Ron and Nancy Rockey, really have a platform 00:26:45.54\00:26:50.64 that had set us in motion to heal and it's all about healing. 00:26:50.67\00:26:55.09 People talk in the church all the time about sanctification 00:26:55.13\00:26:58.88 and then when we share our recovery sometimes there are 00:26:58.92\00:27:02.55 walls up there. Well, isn't sanctification getting your 00:27:02.59\00:27:06.19 issues in line and getting your character in line. 00:27:06.22\00:27:09.86 This is absolutely a fascinating topic, anger. You know from 00:27:09.90\00:27:13.74 the one side it's a natural emotion and on the other side 00:27:13.78\00:27:18.16 you know it goes into rage. I just thank Jesus for being in 00:27:18.20\00:27:21.90 change of everything and that transforming power that he has 00:27:21.94\00:27:25.60 created in you. You've gone from having your feelings buried 00:27:25.64\00:27:28.77 and dead to where you're out there now ministering to others. 00:27:28.80\00:27:31.90 So I thank you for being here today Ron. 00:27:31.93\00:27:33.63 You're welcome and I give Jesus Christ all the credit. 00:27:33.67\00:27:37.59 Amen. I want to close with this scripture found in 00:27:37.62\00:27:41.47 Colossians 3:8. But now put away and rid yourself completely 00:27:41.51\00:27:45.83 of all these things: Anger, rage, bad feelings toward others 00:27:45.86\00:27:49.86 curses and slander, and foul- mouthed abuse and shameful 00:27:49.90\00:27:53.87 utterances from your lips. 00:27:53.90\00:27:57.77