Participants: Rick Kuntz, Kathy Matthews, Rachel Matthews
Series Code: TAH
Program Code: TAH000145
|
00:32 What do we do when we're sinned against,
00:35 and how do we deal with rejection and bitterness. 00:40 I'm Kathy Matthews and this is Thinking About Home. 00:43 Today we have Pastor Evangelist Rick Kuntz 00:46 with us and he is going to be sharing 00:48 some of the grace of God and how 00:52 it ministered to his family in dealing with 00:54 some of these problems, I'm sure that 00:56 you will be able to relate to some of the pain 00:58 that he's gone through and before it's over 01:01 I think that he can share with you 01:03 from the word of God and from his own 01:05 experience the hope that we have in God's grace. 01:10 Rick, thank you for being with us today. 01:12 Great to be with you, I'm really grateful for 01:15 the opportunity of sharing with you and those 01:17 who are watching some of the precious 01:21 experiences that God has given to me. 01:23 You've had a lot of experiences with your 01:26 family, haven't you? And that's what we're 01:27 gonna talk about, is some of those, 01:30 you had an adoption, right? Yeah. 01:32 Couple of boys, yeah. And some experiences that 01:35 you had with your daughter and all of that. 01:37 So how did God's grace really minister to you 01:40 in this, just start from the beginning, 01:42 give us a little background. 01:43 Sure, just as I began to share some of these 01:46 experiences, probably one of our greatest 01:50 discouragements in life is when we live in 01:52 an imperfect environment especially in our homes, 01:56 if we've received Christ into our heart and 01:59 we begin to walk with him because 02:02 we begin to sense his love for us. 02:04 We want everything to be good in our home. Right. 02:07 You know we want there to be joy and peace 02:09 all the time and when there are struggles and 02:13 failures and difficulties, it's so easy to get 02:16 discouraged, because Satan is the accuser of 02:18 the brethren, he works very hard to beat us 02:21 down to discouragement so we'll give up. 02:24 And I just thank God that he is the God 02:28 who restores in imperfect environments. 02:33 And I think that's a message that he wants us 02:35 to understand so much in our homes that 02:39 he's working with us through the process of 02:41 restoring and redeeming all of us in our 02:45 fallen condition and it's a process, 02:47 it doesn't happen overnight. Right. 02:49 Well my wife and I, we're married in 1983 and 02:54 we just had a desire as we were looking 02:57 forward to having a family of adoption, 03:00 we had wanted to help children 03:03 who are already in the world. 03:04 And so we began to look. Were you not able to 03:08 have children on your own or is it just, 03:09 you just wanted to add to it by having adoption? 03:12 That's a good question. We were able 03:14 but we had more of a burden to help 03:16 children who are already here. 03:18 And so what happened we were in a process of 03:20 adoption and then my wife got pregnant and 03:23 we had our first little son, 03:25 his name was Elisha. And we had a tragedy 03:29 right in the beginning of our, 03:31 beginning of our family because he died 03:32 at eight days old crib death, crib death. 03:35 One morning we woke up and he was gone, 03:39 and it was the hardest time in our whole life. 03:43 But again God is one who is there for us in our 03:46 greatest heartaches. What was your age then? 03:50 We were in our early 30s. 03:52 Were you strong in the Lord yet? 03:54 Well we were stronger than we had 03:56 been in our beginning, neither my wife nor I 03:58 were born into a Christian home. Oh I see. 04:00 And we received Christ and you know 04:03 as we got older in our early 20's I thank God 04:08 for my mother who began to study the Bible 04:09 when I was just 7 years old, 04:11 I was in a troubled home. 04:13 My father was an alcoholic, 04:15 but my mom planted seeds, but I wasn't very opened, 04:19 but God was still planting those 04:20 seeds in my heart, right. 04:21 So we were new Christians but we weren't brand 04:25 new Christians and so we knew God as best as 04:28 we were able at that time we were really 04:30 in our early 30's both my wife and I were born 04:33 again when we were in our early 20's. 04:35 So we went through a process of months of 04:39 pain and heartache over the loss of our firstborn. 04:42 And so we started the process of adoption again 04:45 and as we were nearing a time we had the 04:51 privilege of having another birth child, 04:53 her name is Hannah. And she is 13 now. 04:55 All these Bible names. Yeah, amen. 04:57 She is a real precious girl. 04:59 She is 13 now, 13 now. 05:02 But when she was 2 and half years old we were able to 05:05 adopt a couple of boys. And our oldest son was 05:09 10 years old at the time Carlos and our 05:12 youngest son, they were four brothers, 05:14 our youngest son was Rocky, he was 05:16 6 years old at the time. When you got him? 05:18 When we got them, when you got them, yeah. 05:20 And we were about as unprepared for the 05:24 reality of what we were entering into as we can 05:28 imagine and yet God saw that we were prepared 05:31 for this new adventure. And where did you say 05:33 you got them from? They were from Guatemala, okay. 05:35 They were in an orphanage down there. 05:38 And the only thing we knew about them 05:40 they told us that Carlos liked Bible stories 05:44 and Rocky was all mischievous. 05:46 And so we thought well this will be pretty 05:48 exciting they all really be happy to have a 05:50 home and things are just go over really 05:53 good and we had quite an awakening 05:56 in our experience. I bet you've learned 05:58 since then that if you're gonna help somebody 05:59 with explanations about something that you go 06:01 into a little more detail then that. 06:03 Little more detail. So anyway I could realize 06:08 after about a few hours I went down to, 06:10 flew down to Guatemala to get, 06:12 pick the boys up I realized with in a few 06:14 hours that we were in for some great 06:17 and awesome experiences. 06:20 And within two weeks I was scheming in my 06:22 mind how to get rid of these boys. 06:25 It was that intense, it was, they were like 06:28 vicious animals. I'll tell you just a few of 06:32 the experiences that we went through in 06:34 those first months, our youngest son Rocky 06:36 and we didn't know it at that the time, 06:37 we learned years later by experience and 06:40 studying that he had like autism, 06:43 that's actually called Aspergers disease. 06:46 And you're gonna explain to us what that is? 06:49 Yeah. Okay I don't understand then that. 06:51 Most people know what autism is, 06:52 it's where you're not able to reason very well, 06:54 you have a tremendous memory often 06:57 but you are very introverted. 06:58 Well Aspergers is more of a high functioning 07:01 autistic experience. Is it more of a fantasy world? 07:04 Yeah, exactly. Okay. And our son Rocky who was 6 07:10 years old and all he could was basically 07:14 curse at us in Spanish, he would take, 07:18 when he was angry, he was angry most of the time, 07:20 our boys, both of them, 07:21 because they've been abused. Rocky had been 07:25 sexually abused, they both been physically 07:27 abused and they were really bitter and angry. 07:32 We tried to peace together their past, 07:34 their mother died when Rocky was just 07:38 an infant of cancer, and they had a sister 07:41 between them in age and she disappeared 07:43 shortly after that, probably into slavery, 07:45 there's a lot of that goes on 07:47 in these other countries. Oh yeah. 07:49 Actually I think there is a lot in this country 07:51 as well, more then we may know, 07:53 probably more and more. Yes. 07:54 And so they were hurting and their father was an 07:56 alcoholic and so going through the traumas 08:00 that they went through and there was a time of 08:02 basically living from hand to mouth, 08:06 living on the streets maybe we don't know 08:07 all the details but through the pain and the 08:11 heartache of rejection, abuse, 08:14 emotional trauma of losing their family at 08:17 young ages these boys were in a lot of pain. 08:22 And we didn't understand what that was gonna 08:26 be like to help them work through. 08:29 So you know in the beginning and it was like 08:32 Rocky would just, he would take his feces 08:34 and smear it all over the wall, 08:35 when he was angry with us, 08:36 or urinate all over his floor just because 08:39 he was so angry at us. 'Cause he didn't know 08:42 any better, it was like just kind of a survival 08:44 mechanism on how to, to live in. 08:46 Carlos, our older son began to do everything in 08:49 his power through speaking to destroy my wife. 08:54 He just constantly, was just condemning her and 08:57 putting her down and tearing her apart. 08:59 So what's going through your mind and 09:01 her mind during these incidents? 09:04 Well we were just struggling 09:07 terribly after the first, questioning God? 09:11 Not so much questioning God I think it was more, 09:14 my wife struggle was questioning whether it 09:16 was God's will, maybe that's questioning God. 09:18 I never struggled with that. My struggle was 09:21 whether I was going to be 09:23 to be willing to accept God's will. 09:25 I remember after two, the first two weeks, 09:28 it was a Friday night and we were up in our 09:31 room, after two weeks? Yeah, after two weeks. 09:34 And I was scheming already how to get rid of 09:36 you know these boys and it wasn't their fault. 09:39 Were you verbalizing it, did you tell your 09:41 wife that you were thinking it? Probably not. 09:46 I've come a long way in being able to 09:48 express my feelings. Yes. And probably not 09:51 as much as I've learn to do now. 09:54 But I was verbalizing it to God. That's one of 09:57 the gifts that God gave me as even 09:58 as a new Christian. I used to tell God 10:00 how I felt and God's big enough to listen, 10:03 to handle that. To what we feel, 10:05 and when we were angry with God, 10:06 its very health healing for us 10:08 to express that to him, 10:10 'cause he can take anything, 10:11 his love is unconditional. 10:13 But that night after two weeks God lead 10:16 me to this promise in Psalm 61 and verse 1-3 10:20 and I like to share that, leave it to the rock, 10:22 yeah, it says, Hear my cry, O God; 10:24 Attend unto my prayer. 10:26 From the end of the earth will I cry unto you, 10:28 and I was at the end of my earth that night. 10:31 And then, when my heart is overwhelmed lead me 10:35 to the rock that is higher than I, for you 10:37 have been a shelter for me. God had been 10:39 a shelter for me year after year, experience 10:42 after experience, I mean he had done so 10:44 much major heart work in me. 10:47 So he was reminding you. Yeah, you know 10:49 bringing me back again to that point of 10:51 surrender and so was that night, it was a 10:53 Friday night and I just had the joy, I didn't 10:56 feel like joy but the joy in my heart, 10:58 was totally releasing and accepting God's 11:01 presence in that difficult circumstance 11:05 and that night was another watershed, 11:07 I've had thousands of them in my experience. 11:10 There was another watershed in my life and 11:11 I just praised God that he just brought me 11:15 again to Jesus over and over again. 11:17 You know that's what he does to all of us 11:19 if we're willing, he brings us back to himself. 11:21 His loving self, he is there to help us. 11:23 This was my mission I didn't give up. Amen. 11:26 That's right. And so we continue to go on. 11:28 My wife after a couple of months lost about 11:30 20 pounds I mean she was near a nervous 11:32 breakdown because you know 11:34 this thing didn't led up. 11:36 Probably for the first three years it was like 11:39 a torrent of rain and hurricane 11:43 just for three years. 11:44 I mean the abuse didn't stop; 11:47 it just kept coming because again these 11:49 boys were hurting. And our little girl 11:51 was only 2 and half years of age at the time 11:54 when we adopted them. Okay. 11:57 I was gonna ask you how was it affecting 11:58 your daughter. Well she was so excited when 12:00 they came you know she was just, you know 12:02 she share about how she wanted to. 12:05 You know, have these little brothers, these 12:07 new brothers and it wasn't like having a 12:08 little baby brother. And these two boys 12:11 came in like a raging storm, and she is only 12:14 2 and half years of age and they rejected 12:16 her in many ways, in many times. 12:19 So her heart was wounded and you know 12:23 through God's grace over and over again. 12:25 Hardly a one time event. That's right. 12:27 She was willing, she didn't understand 12:30 God's grace but she was willing to allow 12:32 God's grace to forgive them and to try again 12:36 and to offer, you know again, they can be 12:39 resilient, can't they? Try and try again. 12:42 Yeah it's amazing. So you know we went 12:44 through and then the few months after that 12:47 my wife said to me, she says, see Rick, 12:51 I just I don't know, you know, I don't know I Just, 12:55 I'm really struggling, can I go on and she says 12:58 I just don't know if I can love these boys. 13:00 This was just a few months into it now. Yeah. 13:03 Okay. And, you know God had been teaching me 13:07 for years before the concept that he can create 13:12 in us his love and his patience and his 13:15 forgiveness, we can't originate any thing 13:17 that's good ourselves. It does not come naturally, 13:20 does it? It does, no and we don't have any of 13:22 it within us of ourselves. It's all gonna be some 13:24 connecting with God through faith. 13:26 And so I shared with him and I said you know God 13:30 can create his love in our hearts for these 13:33 boys and I said these boys may never change. 13:36 And here you know at this time I was working 13:39 as a pastor. And you know. A well ordered family. 13:43 Yeah. And the expectations of people in 13:46 the religious community is that the pastor 13:48 and his family are perfect or pretty close to it. 13:51 It should be. You know there are, first time 13:54 I remember, the first time we took our boys 13:55 to church and they just, they couldn't sit still. 14:00 They were like vicious wild animals. 14:03 And it was an amazing experience 14:05 but a little by little God helped us to train 14:07 them, our son Rocky he liked to do puzzles, 14:10 'cause he's autistic. And so we would 14:12 bring a puzzle to church and let him do it 14:14 on the floor on the aisle, while we were 14:16 doing and so he was quiet during the service. 14:20 He was able to be quiet, that's right, 14:21 doing a puzzle. That's right. And you know 14:23 all these things that kind of the expectations 14:28 that we put into each other you know. 14:30 Because in the Christian community we have 14:33 this tendency, well if you're really a Christian 14:36 then your kids will, you know they'll do good or 14:40 if you're really a Christian parent, 14:41 so you'll train your children so they're good. 14:46 And I was struggling with a lot of guilt 14:48 during this time. Well you were knowing that, 14:50 before you ever get to Church. Yeah. 14:52 Knowing that these expectations are going 14:54 to be there and they're not unusual expectations, 14:58 people are looking to the Pastor for guidance 15:00 and things of like that but didn't the local 15:02 community understand that you had gotten 15:05 them from the background that they came from. 15:07 Some did and some chose not to. I see, 15:10 and you know for me it was such a blessing 15:13 because it showed me how my head 15:15 had been in clouds. You know because as a 15:18 new Christian I kind of thought well God 15:20 changed me and I didn't realize it was 15:22 the beginning of change. 15:23 I've a lot you know, he was still working on me. 15:26 You know but it's like, I had this idea if you 15:29 got in trouble you know, we got trouble 15:31 if your kids will read this book or you know 15:34 follow these Bible principles and that'll 15:35 straighten out the kids. And so I was struggling 15:38 with guilt and I think in the Christian community 15:42 God is trying to help us understand what the 15:44 grace works in a process with each one of us. 15:47 And having good behavior that people can see 15:52 is not really the issue here. The real issue was 15:55 letting God work on the hearts of our children. 15:57 For transformation. That's right, because until 15:59 the heart is softened and the heart is moved 16:02 and the heart is drawn out towards God. 16:06 You know looking to have good behavior 16:08 is gonna almost work against that if the heart 16:11 is not open. Right. We need a God word 16:13 orientation from inside out. Amen. 16:16 And that's where God began to help me 16:18 as far as working with children and how to 16:21 understand you know how to work things 16:23 that other parents go through too. Right. 16:25 With the difficulty on trying to instill in the 16:28 boys and your daughter the desire to know God. 16:31 Yeah. How did you get that desire in them? 16:35 Well that's what God began to challenge me with 16:38 trying to figure out, 'cause I didn't know. 16:40 You know. I didn't have any answers anymore. 16:43 All the Bible promises weren't working. 16:45 You know, I mean all the grace of God wasn't 16:48 working and that's where when you're 16:51 that close in a family you can either run 16:54 away or you can force submission which is 16:58 only gonna harden the hearts more. 17:00 Or you can give up and give up on God. 17:05 You know but none of those were an option to me. 17:08 Right. Because I recognize that for 17:09 submission was of no value. You know 17:12 because their hearts were hurting, it was a 17:14 heart issue. Well but you said that the 17:16 God's grace wasn't working, all his promises 17:17 weren't working, that's what it looked like. 17:19 'Cause they working in a process. That's right. 17:20 It didn't work that way. They weren't working 17:21 in the moment. That's right. And I began to see 17:25 that and so God began to open my eyes 17:29 and the eyes of my wife to understand this thing 17:32 in a bigger picture that in our homes 17:36 when we're dealing with difficult circumstances 17:39 because let's face it, most homes today 17:42 are less in ideal. You know most homes 17:45 today are you know single parent families 17:50 or there is a mixture of children from one 17:54 you know from a step family situation that's 17:58 mixed together and most homes have a lot of pain. 18:02 The parents have pain, and a lot of the children 18:06 are growing up with the pain of rejection 18:08 and so it was like God put me in a learning 18:13 environment so I could begin to understand 18:15 how he works in situations that seem hopeless. 18:19 Right. And we in a Christian community 18:22 have a tendency to write off people and 18:27 families that don't change quickly and 18:30 we tend to think well they're not really 18:32 Christians or they're not really trying hard 18:34 enough or they don't really have faith and 18:37 through all this experience God was 18:39 opening me up and helping me to 18:41 understand just the reality of life, you know 18:46 as God working with his grace. And so as we were 18:50 going through this process God began to more 18:54 and more help me to understand what love 18:57 really is, that's right. Because God, 19:00 I experienced God mercy to accept me as a 19:03 rebellious messed up young person, I mean 19:07 I was out of control, you know. 19:10 And I experienced his mercy in such an 19:13 awesome way that I tended to focus on 19:15 love being all mercy. Yes. And now God 19:18 was showing me that love still has mercy 19:21 but also has justice, yes, and I began to 19:23 understand that working with my 19:26 children I had to have discipline, yes. 19:29 But God was showing me that I had to be given 19:32 tenderness and kindness and, and lengthy, 19:35 yeah overtime, long suffering. 19:38 And I begin to see that I didn't have 19:41 that kind of love. That kind of patience 19:43 for parents. I didn't have it. I didn't have it. 19:46 And I failed at times, you know I am not gonna 19:48 tell anybody that, you know I sailed through 19:50 this, it was a learning experience and I failed, 19:52 I was impatient the times with my children. 19:54 So God was teaching, 19:55 polishing you and your wife. I tell you what; 19:58 I believe that was one of the most important 20:01 reasons that God led us to adopt these boys. 20:04 To change my understanding, to show me what God 20:07 really is and how we works in impossible situations. 20:11 Right. Just an awesome, awesome, 20:14 you know experience that we were having and so 20:17 experiencing God's love for people 20:20 through his grace, through his creative 20:22 power, he creates that love in us and patience. 20:24 In the midst of circumstances 20:27 that seem hopeless. It's such a powerful tool 20:30 in God's hands to change people who 20:32 are in rebellion, who may seem hopeless, 20:35 who may seen totally closed. God is able to 20:40 work as we allow him to work through us. 20:42 So often we want God to change our circumstances 20:45 so we can be Christians, more comfortable. 20:47 Yeah, that's right. And God is working 20:50 to change our hearts so we can be 20:52 something to bless others in their bad 20:55 circumstances that we find ourselves in. 20:57 You know Rick we went through a serious 20:59 thing about five years ago, and I won't go into 21:01 any details because this is your story but 21:03 there was a scripture that came back to us 21:05 over and over after that and I think it was in 21:07 Second Corinthians and it had to do with 21:11 comforting others, amen, as God has comforted us. 21:15 Amen. And that scripture popped up in 21:18 the most mysterious ways to me so I can see 21:21 that happening in your life. Amen. 21:23 Learning that God has comforted you Rick, 21:26 amen, now you have to learn through your 21:29 experience as to do this to others, amen. 21:32 And that's such a rich experience you know 21:34 I believe the greatest gift that God can 21:37 ever give to us is to be able to experience his 21:40 love for those who are hardened, for those 21:44 that are harsh, for those that are knurled 21:47 and twisted and damaged in their situation 21:52 that's a, to me that's the greatest gift 21:53 that God can give to us. 21:54 We tend to give up too easy. 21:57 Now I have to remind myself and our family 22:01 we have to remind each other that expand 22:03 your comfort zone, amen. 22:06 And we all like to do that. And don't give up. 22:08 Amen. Don't give up. Amen. And now you had 22:10 something to say about ease. 22:12 I would like for you to expand 22:13 on that just a little bit. Yeah. Well one of the 22:17 idols, you know we all struggle the second 22:19 commandment, first of ten commandments 22:21 says Thou Shalt Not Have Any other Gods 22:23 before you and then it says you are not make 22:24 any graving images. And one of the most 22:27 common idols in the Christian community 22:31 is the idol of ease. Many, many people 22:34 want an experience with God without 22:37 being willing to be out there in the trenches 22:40 in the world's need, out there where people 22:44 hurting and struggling and they feel hopeless 22:47 many people in Christian community, 22:49 it's our fallen humans that wants us to distance 22:53 ourselves from jumping in and getting involved 22:57 because it's painful, yes it is. And we take 23:00 a lot of rejection and a lot of abuse, 23:02 that's inconvenient, that's right. 23:03 It's nerve-racking, that's right. And our human 23:06 nature doesn't naturally, it's not naturally 23:09 inclined to be involved. But if we hold ourselves 23:13 back from being willing to be out there to let 23:18 God's healing love flows through us, 23:20 to touch the damaged people around us then 23:24 we really aren't Christians. 23:25 You know that's a strong statement but that's 23:27 the reality of God's love, as it moved him to 23:30 do something. That's right. And go ahead, 23:32 you want to, I want you to continue here but I 23:35 want to invite our audience to do 23:37 something first. While I'm doing that think of 23:40 an experience that may be that you can share 23:43 in the last few minutes that really was 23:46 nerve-racking for you possibly you were 23:48 going into that earlier, yeah, and I stopped 23:50 you but I think of that while I'm doing this, sure. 23:53 And I want to invite our audience that if 23:55 in the future and you want to hear about some 23:59 topic that might be we haven't covered on 24:01 Thinking About Home to write or call 24:03 3ABN and that's 3ABN, P.O Box 220, 24:07 West Frankfort, Illinois 62896 and let me give 24:12 you that 800 number it's 1-800-752-3226, 24:17 that's 1-800-752-3226 and call or write 24:21 3ABN and mention Thinking About Home 24:24 for some future topic that you may would like 24:27 to hear us try to cover, I can't guarantee that 24:29 we'll cover all but we will try and I hope 24:33 that we can hear from you soon. 24:35 Now Rick have you thought of anything. 24:37 Yeah I would like to share a little experience 24:38 that just came through my mind. Our son Rocky 24:41 was 6 when we adopted the boys and 24:44 neither of boys can speak English and we 24:47 didn't know any Spanish so that was 24:48 interesting in and of itself. But we began 24:51 to learn few Spanish words and 24:52 communicate a little bit. Well we didn't know 24:55 that he had Aspergers disease and for whole year 24:58 he basically lived in a fantasy world. 25:01 He didn't talk about anything real, 25:03 but we didn't understand we thought it might 25:05 have been the trauma we weren't going, 25:06 we didn't have any counseling at the time, 25:08 we're living in West Virginia and 25:09 we're very poor at the time. So we're just trying 25:13 to survive really and emotionally, 25:15 you know the whole thing. So one day I came 25:19 down from upstairs and some friends of 25:21 ours we're taking care of their fish and Rocky 25:23 had gotten over to the aquarium and he taken 25:26 some of the fish out and of course they died. 25:29 And you know I felt upset about that and again 25:33 I didn't know, I didn't understand you know, 25:36 he didn't know any better. 25:38 But God is trying to help us as we work with 25:43 each other to not be so sure that we know 25:47 where the other person's at. 25:49 And so you know we had a little time together 25:52 there and Rocky and I and the Holy Spirit 25:55 just impressed me, to just put Rocky on my 25:58 shoulders and go for a walk with him. 26:01 And so I put him on my shoulders and we, 26:03 you know went for a walk together and it was 26:05 like the power of God just came upon him 26:10 and it was like a little break, it was like 26:13 somehow he felt some love, having on my 26:18 shoulder and he started talking, and he knew 26:19 a little bit of English by this time 26:21 this is probably after about a year or so, 26:22 I don't remember exactly. And he said, 26:25 and he called me Papi, that's the 26:28 Spanish word for Daddy. And he go 26:30 Papi, Papi and then he, you know say a 26:33 few words in English and it was kind of like 26:35 a magical moment, because. One of those windows. 26:39 Yeah one of those windows into his heart by God 26:42 and I think it was the bonding process of love 26:45 because Carlos, his older brother told us that 26:48 because they didn't know down in Guatemala 26:50 they didn't know that he has this handicap. 26:53 I see. And so he was a type of person that 26:56 I mean he was just the most irritating, 26:59 he do everything he could to smash things, 27:02 he would destroy things and I mean incredible 27:06 things that he do. And yet down there in 27:09 Guatemala, Carlos said that he would just take 27:11 his head and smash, he didn't, but they would 27:15 smashed his head against the cement wall down 27:17 there, 'cause they were so angry. 27:19 And so that little bit of love him on my shoulder 27:22 you know God was beginning a little by 27:25 little to heal his wounded heart. 27:26 And he polished you, didn't he, 27:28 during all of this. And now I tell people I'm not 27:31 very smooth now but boy you should have seen 27:33 me before I was a rough stone. 27:35 And Rick we're going to have to finish now 27:36 and will you have prayer for us, sure. 27:40 Father in heaven, we thank you so much 27:42 that you're a God who delights in mercy and 27:46 that you're a God that comes near to your 27:49 children even when we're in rebellion 27:52 against you, you come near to us, seeking to 27:55 draw our hearts that we may see how 27:57 much you love us and Father, 27:58 we thank you that you're healing. |
Revised 2014-12-17