Participants: C. A. Murray (Host), Gordon Chapman
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY015045A
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00:02 I want to spend my life
00:08 Mending broken people 00:13 I want spend my life 00:19 Removing pain 00:24 Lord, let my words 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:35 I want to spend my life 00:41 Mending broken people 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:52 Mending broken people 01:08 Hello and welcome to 3ABN Today. 01:10 My name is C.A. Murray 01:12 and allow me to thank you once again 01:13 for sharing just a little of your day with us. 01:16 To thank you also for your prayers, your support, 01:18 the love that you show to this ministry, 01:20 as we together try to lift up the mighty 01:23 and matchless name of Jesus and seek to take 01:26 the good news of the Gospel around the world. 01:30 Thank you for supporting us and joining hands with us 01:33 in the greatest work that I think has ever been 01:35 entrusted to the frail and feeble hands 01:37 of men and women and that is sharing 01:38 the good news of the love of Christ. 01:40 Got a good story today. 01:42 Sometimes we have, Today programs, 01:45 they are not theological, they are not someone 01:50 trying to talk about their new book or their new CD. 01:54 It's not a point of controversy, 01:56 Theological or otherwise it's just a good old story 02:00 that lets you know, 02:03 that lets us know that God is still 02:04 in the saving business, 02:06 God is still in the blessing business. 02:08 We call them personal testimonies, 02:10 though we don't get enough of those I think sometimes. 02:12 But they make your heart glad, they make your heart warm. 02:15 And we've got that kind of story today. 02:17 This is something you really want to hear 02:18 because this is an incredible saga 02:22 of the saving grace of God and the goodness of the Lord 02:25 and all that rolls together to bring someone to Christ, 02:28 to save a life here on this earth 02:30 and to prepare the life for him. 02:31 My guest is Gordon Chapman. 02:33 Gordon, good to have you here. 02:34 Glad to be here. 02:35 Gordon is, we can say, an old salt. 02:40 Amen. 02:41 Praise the Lord. 02:43 And this story has to do with water and boats and sailing 02:47 and as we sort of went over his story. 02:50 Just a really great story of the goodness of the Lord. 02:54 So you want to give ear to this one, 02:55 because this will encourage you. 02:56 This will give you hope. 02:58 This will make you feel good all over and glad all over 03:00 because it has a happy ending. 03:02 The happy ending of course is that he is here. 03:05 Amen, that's right. Praise the Lord. 03:06 If it didn't have a happy ending, 03:08 we wouldn't be having this conversation. 03:10 So we praise the Lord. 03:12 We got a happy ending, so now we need to get you 03:14 from there to here 03:16 and that's what we are going to do. 03:17 Before we sort of unpackage Gordon story, 03:20 our music is coming to us from the founder 03:23 of this ministry and that is Danny Shelton. 03:25 Stopped by a little while ago and recorded some music 03:28 and one of the many songs that he recorded 03:30 is one that is called, "The First Moment of Eternity". 03:33 I believe this is the song that he wrote himself. 03:37 It could be correct or not but I believe that is true. 03:39 But just now, Danny Shelton, "The First Moment of Eternity." 04:04 Well, sometimes I wonder is it worth it all 04:14 When the road seems rough 04:17 And so long 04:23 Then I look towards heaven 04:27 And think on that day 04:32 When Jesus will call me away 04:41 The first moment of eternity 04:50 Will be worth all the trials down here 05:00 When I hear the King of all ages 05:08 Say come home, child 05:12 Come home to stay 05:20 For every rough road traveled 05:24 In this world below 05:29 My reward will be a million years 05:36 For every pain and sorrow 05:43 That ever got me down 05:47 I received a road and the ground 05:56 The first moment of eternity 06:05 Will be worth all the trials 06:10 Down here 06:15 When I hear the King of all ages 06:23 Say come home, child 06:27 Come home to stay 06:34 When I hear the King of all ages 06:42 Say come home, child 06:46 Come home to stay 07:10 Amen and well done, Danny Shelton. 07:12 "The First Moment of Eternity." 07:14 My guest is Gordon Chapman. 07:17 Gordon, good to have you here as we said before. 07:18 Good to be here. 07:19 And it is good to be here. 07:21 Could be anywhere. 07:23 After what you have been through. 07:25 Let's go back to the very beginning 07:26 because you are an East Coast guy. 07:28 Connecticut I am told. 07:29 Yeah, I'm from Connecticut and I was born 07:31 and raised in a little town of Connecticut called Lyme. 07:35 Lyme, well, that is kind of a famous town. 07:40 Yeah, it had become that way. 07:42 Yeah, we've heard of Lyme disease, 07:44 Christian home... growing up? 07:46 Not really, my parents went to Church 07:49 but they weren't real Christians. 07:51 It was just... and they-- 07:55 of course they took me up 07:57 until I was old enough to make my choice. 08:00 So I went to Church with them but I wasn't really, 08:05 you know, following Lord or it really interested at all. 08:09 And actually in my earlier life, growing up 08:16 I kind of had some issues with God. 08:19 At the time, when I was a teenager 08:23 all you hear about was the-- 08:25 I think it was the greens and oranges 08:28 in Ireland killing each other for God. 08:31 It just didn't seem right. 08:33 Yeah. 08:34 Yeah, as well, you know, I just couldn't really 08:37 get into religion, it was-- 08:40 It seemed like there if that's what Christians do, 08:43 you know, I don't wanted to go through somewhat. 08:44 Yeah, sadly, God gets a bad rap sometimes 08:46 because of people who represent Him. 08:48 Brothers and sisters? 08:50 Two sisters. One younger and one older. 08:52 Oh, so you are in the middle. 08:53 Right, yeah. Middle child. 08:55 There is a lot of literature written about middle child. 08:58 Right, yeah, one little story 09:02 I'll comment on I don't remember 09:06 just how old I was, 09:07 but I was still in a grade school. 09:11 My sisters were, they had two opinions or whatever 09:15 and like I was in the middle. 09:17 And it's like each one is going to punch me out. 09:19 Yeah. 09:20 If I side with the other one. So my mom told me about this. 09:25 She overheard this and anyway 09:29 when it come down to the final, saying I am on God's side. 09:34 That ended the argument right then. 09:37 That was the end of that fight. 09:38 That's an excellent little point. 09:40 Now, when we think of Connecticut as a state, 09:43 a number of things come to mind 09:45 but ship building, boat building is in the wharf 09:49 of Connecticut, you've got Mystic, 09:50 you've got Groton where the submarines come from. 09:52 Right. 09:54 So you got into... into ship or boat building. 09:57 Talk to me a little bit about that? 09:59 Well, as a kid I'd always been around boats, 10:01 you know, with the family and friends and stuff 10:03 and I just loved wooden boats. 10:06 So I started tinkering around with them 10:08 and trying to build them and whatever and... 10:12 then over the domestic seaport museum, 10:16 they had a recreational boat building course over there. 10:20 So I took that and then I ended up 10:24 getting a job for Seth Pearson in Saybrook, Connecticut, 10:28 and he was a fairly noted builder in his time. 10:31 Now he built wooden boats. 10:33 Right. Just wooden boats. 10:35 Now wooden boats, Gordon, is a bit of a... 10:37 I don't want to say dying art 10:39 but they aren't certainly as many wooden boats, 10:41 because the maintenance is kind of high. 10:42 And it's really a highly skilled craft, isn't it? 10:46 It is, yeah. 10:47 Yeah, there's very few wooden boats build anymore 10:50 because of the cost. 10:51 Yeah. 10:52 Yeah, they can pump out a fiberglass boat 10:54 in no time for a fraction of the cost. 10:56 Yes, yes. 10:58 You know, labor and material save them some. 11:00 But fortunately I was working for a builder down 11:04 in Welaka, Florida. 11:06 And he's building wooden boats. 11:09 He specializes in repairs and building new boats. 11:15 We are working on a 40 footer now. 11:17 Okay. 11:18 So there still are, 11:20 people who customize or build wooden boats. 11:23 Yeah, but it's few. 11:25 It is not a lot anymore. 11:27 How many years in Connecticut 11:28 were you involved in boat building? 11:29 Oh, I'll say probably maybe ten. 11:37 Yeah, between working for myself and yards. 11:41 I worked in boat yards a lot as a carpenter. 11:45 A boat carpenter. 11:46 So you were just around boats all the time. 11:47 That's kind of your thing. Yeah, yeah. 11:49 Right, yeah, it's like me you too, like, 11:51 I got a boat on every yard. 11:54 And obviously you liked it. 11:55 Yeah, I did, it was just, you know, what I enjoyed. 12:00 I enjoyed doing it. 12:03 And one thing, 12:04 even if I didn't know God at the time, 12:07 when I was out offshore by myself it was-- 12:12 I felt a real closeness to nature and God. 12:17 Like I said I didn't know Him 12:18 but it was just so peaceful out there. 12:21 Yeah. 12:22 Yeah, no worldly cares, nothing. 12:24 Yeah. Yeah. 12:26 The heavens do declare the glory of God 12:27 and earth shows forth His handy work. 12:29 If you can get out in nature and get away, 12:31 I've always lived near large bodies of water. 12:35 When I was pastoring in New York City, 12:36 lived on Long Island and for a while lived 12:38 right on Great South Bay. 12:41 And right at the end of my block was the ocean 12:43 and there is something very grand and very-- 12:47 I wrote a couple of books just sitting on the ocean 12:50 with my typewriter and just or on my computer 12:52 and just writing. 12:53 So there is something very, very serene and pristine 12:57 and just very godly about being out in nature. 13:00 Particularly for me and for you also on the water. 13:03 Right. Yeah. 13:04 Yeah, it could be, you know, for some people 13:06 it's up in the mountains, some people's whatever on lake 13:08 or me it just happened to be out on the ocean. 13:11 Yeah. 13:13 'Cause I never went out in wooden boat. 13:16 But that's... 13:18 You know, there is something about that. 13:20 So you spend a lot of time at Connecticut. 13:22 Eventually you got your own boat. 13:24 Yeah, finally I sold my place 13:26 where I was living in Connecticut, 13:28 I wanted to buy a boat and so I did. 13:32 I bought an old schooner 13:34 out of up in Gloucester, Massachusetts. 13:37 Now, let's give the folk, 13:39 let me stop, let me stop you a second. 13:40 Let's give the folk a boat lesson, 13:41 because there is a ketch, a yawl, a schooner 13:43 and they have to do with a mast, a number of masts, 13:45 and the sizes of the mast. 13:48 You have a schooner, that's a two masted boat? 13:50 Yeah. 13:52 That's a good, a decent sized boat. 13:55 Yeah, schooner rig does normally work 13:57 to well below about 30 foot, but this one was 36 foot. 14:03 And our schooner, the after mast is taller. 14:06 It's taller. 14:07 And on a ketch rig its-- the after mast is shorter 14:12 and yawl the after mast is shorter. 14:16 But on the yawl, it is after the rudder post. 14:19 That makes it yawl. 14:20 Yeah, now you said a lot for you non boat people. 14:25 You got two masts, you got two sticks. 14:27 On a schooner the back stick is... 14:30 The large one. 14:31 Is the taller of the two. 14:33 So it goes tall, tall to taller. 14:35 On a ketch it's tall down. Yeah. 14:39 Okay, so on your boat 14:40 the first one is a little shorter 14:42 and the second one is taller. 14:43 What is the advantage of having 14:45 that kind of configuration? 14:47 It's kind of hard to say. 14:52 You can get a lot of different sail configurations with it. 14:56 Now on the schooner. That's not the one I lost. 15:01 I bought that and I was working on it 15:03 doing restoration on it, 15:06 in a boat yard where I was working. 15:08 And I had an accident in the boat yard 15:11 I fell out of the loft and it got torn up pretty good 15:15 so I was kind of out of commission 15:17 but just having the salt in my blood. 15:21 I just wanted to get back on the water. 15:24 So I was with a friend of mine. 15:27 One day he had to go and look at a job up 15:30 the river a little ways. 15:32 So he said you can take a ride with me, 15:33 so I went up there and he had this little 15:37 Dickerson Ketch in the shed. 15:39 And, I was right next to the boat 15:41 we were looking at, so I checked on that 15:45 and found out that I could buy it, 15:46 So I bought out that, that little Dickerson Ketch 15:50 and we took that down to Saybrook, 15:53 where I was working and I moved on board 15:55 and while I was living on boat, 15:57 I started fixing that one up. 15:58 So there was enough cabin space, 16:00 enough for you to actually live in 16:02 and work on that boat. 16:04 Yeah. Yeah. 16:06 It was all cramped but you get used to it. 16:10 You get used to it. 16:11 Now, under the bottom of the boat is the keel 16:13 because we're talking about sailboats. 16:15 Right. 16:16 On that boat how long was the keel under the boat? 16:19 She is about 5 foot draft. 16:20 Okay. Okay. 16:22 And it wasn't... 16:23 Some boats have like a full length keel. 16:26 This one had what they call like a fin keel. 16:29 It just kind of stuck down 16:30 and it would balance on the bottom. 16:34 But on the schooner I had, that was full length keel 16:37 that come right down from the stem, 16:38 right down the whole thing. 16:40 Okay, yeah, all right. 16:42 So. But, yeah, it was... 16:47 And the rudder was actually connected 16:50 connected to the back end of the fin. 16:52 The fin where it was angled... and the rudder was angled. 16:54 Yeah, yeah. 16:56 They met down at the bottom under water. 16:57 Now this new boat, the second boat 16:59 you bought is, was how long, how big? 17:01 32 foot. 17:02 Okay, just look slightly smaller. 17:04 Okay, now this one is a ketch. 17:06 Yeah. So it's tall, taller. 17:09 Now, how tall are the masts? Tall shorter. 17:11 Tall shorter. Okay, yeah. 17:13 On a ketch. Yeah, the mast. 17:16 She was Marconi rig which is like a triangular sail 17:19 not a gaff so her mast was-- 17:23 She is probably about 30 foot above the deck. 17:26 Okay. 17:28 I am sort of picking you on this 17:30 because if anybody goes into my office, 17:32 you know, I am a sailboat guy. 17:33 I got sailboats lined up on my-- 17:35 I'm just fascinated always by sailboats 17:38 which is why I'm glad I was assigned this interview 17:40 because anything with boats. 17:42 I'm not-- don't swim, it's a shame 17:43 'cause I love being on water and don't swim. 17:45 But I do love sailboats. Good. 17:47 And have never owned one, have never even been 17:51 on one out on the water. 17:53 Had been on powerboats but not sailboats. 17:55 Well, sailboats always fascinate me. 17:57 So now you got this slightly smaller boat 18:00 but a 32 footer is not a tiny boat. 18:01 No, not really. 18:03 It's a boat you can use 18:05 more than one person to manage that, 18:08 but you can do it with one person. 18:09 Right. Yeah. 18:11 It was small enough that I could single-hand it. 18:13 And you have no problems. 18:15 The sails, being a ketch. 18:17 Yeah, the sails weren't that big. 18:18 Say like had one humongous sail it had, 18:20 you know, they have broken down. 18:22 Yeah, you might sail and your mizzen and your jib, 18:25 and you had sails and stuff. 18:27 Yeah, they're broken down into smaller pieces. 18:30 We are throwing out a lot of terms 18:31 which you may not know verbally. 18:32 He is talking about sails. 18:34 So, don't worry about it, 18:35 It's not important to the story. 18:36 At least not yet. It's coming. 18:40 So you were living on this boat and working on this boat. 18:42 And you're anchored to move it where? 18:45 In Saybrook and mostly in Connecticut River. 18:48 Little marina down there. 18:50 Oh, yeah. Yeah. 18:51 And... 18:53 So I was starting to heal from the accident by then, 18:57 and it's like, well, I need to do some sailing. 19:00 So I moved my boat over to Mystic for the summer. 19:04 I had always loved Mystic, 19:06 It's a real quaint little town. 19:07 It is. 19:08 It's a beautiful little town. Yeah. 19:10 So, I just liked that as well. 19:12 I went over there and got to sleep through summer 19:15 and then I decided, well, I can go south, I got a boat. 19:18 I am living, I am free. 19:20 I can go. Yeah. 19:22 So I loaded up my stuff and figured to takeoff. 19:28 Yeah, now here is the thing. 19:29 When you say go south, you are not talking about 19:30 let's go South of New York City or South of Carolina. 19:32 You are talking about 19:34 going all over south to the Caribbean. 19:35 Right. To the Caribbean. 19:36 Yeah. 19:38 To any Island in particular? 19:40 Probably at that time 19:42 it probably would have been Jamaica. 19:44 'Cause I was really heavy in reggae at that time. 19:47 And in Jamaica, I knew, I knew a lot of Jamaicans 19:50 from when I was in the hospital up in Hartford. 19:53 And I just took a liking to them, 19:56 They're really good people, they're into the music 19:58 and so I probably would have ended up there 20:01 eventually, you know, to make a boat. 20:03 And can you make a living in Jamaica? 20:04 Are there enough wooden boats there that 20:06 you could earn some money while you were down there. 20:08 Probably, probably not in Jamaica 20:10 but in the neighboring islands there are. 20:12 Okay. 20:13 'Cause a lot of people take their yachts 20:16 to the Caribbean for the winter. 20:17 True, yeah. 20:18 So if you're shipwright, there is work. 20:21 So you knew enough about boats that 20:23 you could work on other boats, 20:26 besides wooden boats if you had to. 20:27 Right. So you can make a living. 20:29 Yeah. Yeah. 20:30 Yeah. Yeah. 20:31 So I loaded my boat up with tools 20:33 and everything and that was a... 20:38 A fateful trip. 20:40 Yeah. Now let me ask you this. 20:41 From Mystic, Connecticut 20:43 all the way down the Atlantic to Jamaica. 20:46 We are talking a journey of how long? 20:47 To Jamaica probably two-and-a half, three weeks. 20:52 Yeah, you are not talking couple of days. 20:53 That's a long time out on the water. 20:55 Yeah. It's a long trip. 20:56 Yeah, yeah, since you are going to be 20:57 on the water that length of time 20:59 and you can see where I am heading here. 21:02 Would you not check to see what the conditions would be 21:06 that two to three weeks you gonna be out there 21:08 to see what you are facing. 21:11 Just kind of plan your trip 21:12 so nothing kind of sneaks up on you. 21:14 Yeah. 21:15 Well yeah... 21:16 Basically before you go on any extended trip like that 21:20 you check the weather the best you can, 21:22 'cause back then we didn't have the technology we have today. 21:25 But I set out, one, I was running late 21:30 in the season 'cause we had a late hurricane 21:33 and I think it was around in mid, 21:36 October and so I waited that out. 21:40 I stayed in a marina until that was over. 21:43 And so it was getting late in October 21:46 when I finally left but I checked the weather 21:49 forecast everything I could get, 21:51 you know, know weather in local and everything. 21:54 And everything seemed to be good. 21:56 Yeah, now, this is, 21:58 you should be in post hurricane season. 22:00 The summer hurricane season should be gone 22:02 so we ought to be able to make our trip 22:03 from Mystic, Connecticut to Kingston, Jamaica 22:06 or wherever you're going to Sabbath tomorrow or wherever 22:11 or Montego Bay, in relative peace. 22:15 Right, apparent. One would think. 22:18 Right. Yeah. 22:19 So you take off, when do you leave? 22:21 I left couple days before the end of the month. 22:24 Yeah. 22:26 It would have been, I think 29th I guess. 22:28 I left Mystic, Connecticut 22:31 and I sailed over to Block Island 22:34 and I laid over there for the night 22:35 and restored everything 22:37 and trying to get ready for sea. 22:38 And I left Block Island and from there 22:41 it's almost to south 600 and some miles to Bermuda, 22:46 which would have been my first stop. 22:48 Okay, so you are not hugging the coastline, 22:50 you are out in the Atlantic. 22:51 Right. Yeah. 22:52 If you are far enough to be to go to Bermuda 22:55 you are 2-300 miles out into the Atlantic. 22:57 So it's just you, your boat and the Lord basically. 23:00 That's it, that's it. 23:03 Yeah. That's about it. 23:04 So on the way to Bermuda what happened? 23:08 Well, I got out, the first day was good, 23:11 great sailing, just perfect weather. 23:14 And so that night my autopilot quit on me. 23:20 So I kind of sailed pretty much 23:23 by the seat of my pants for the night. 23:26 Yeah, I wake up 23:28 and check the compass course and everything. 23:30 So now you said wake up, 23:31 so your boat is sailing and you are sleeping. 23:34 Right. Yeah. 23:36 There are no telephone poles. Nothing out there. 23:41 You got to trust the Lord 'cause there is no highway. 23:44 You are sleeping and the boat is kind of... 23:46 How do you know where you are going. 23:48 Well, by your compass. 23:50 Yeah, you see just your compass course. 23:52 Okay. And... 23:53 Do you lock the rudder 23:55 so that you are going in the same direction or? 23:57 Yeah, you can trim your sails and that will pretty much 24:02 unless you get a wind shift, 24:04 you can set your sails and you are going 24:06 in the same course for ever and ever. 24:08 But if you do get a wind shift that's why you want to check. 24:12 Yeah, so you wake up every couple hours 24:15 check the compass course 24:16 and make sure you are not off course 24:19 and stand at horizon for any shipping or whatever. 24:23 And it's kind of... 24:26 It can be kind of, you know, iffy in some areas 24:29 but when you're that far offshore. 24:31 There is not, not a lot of traffic out there. 24:35 You do a lot in that boat man. That's pretty much it. 24:39 So you are out several days, 24:41 walk me through the next little bit 24:43 because this where it gets kind of interesting. 24:44 Yeah. 24:46 Well, yeah, the first day was great. 24:48 It was just perfect out there, 24:51 so then like I said the auto-pilot didn't work 24:56 so I was up, part of the night. 24:59 You know, Several times a night tracking 25:02 and the next day we got be calmed. 25:05 And there was something, a phenomena that happens, 25:10 I don't know how often 25:11 but very, very few sailors have actually seen it 25:15 and that's, they call a lull before the storm. 25:18 The sea was just like a sheet of glass, 25:21 like a piece of slate, an oily slate. 25:26 As far as you could see 25:27 which from my eye height on a boat 25:29 was about 15 mile radius. 25:31 Wow. 25:32 So that's like 30 mile circle, nothing. 25:36 The horizon, nothing moved. 25:38 Nothing, just perfectly fine... 25:40 A totally calm sea. 25:42 Yeah. Totally flat. 25:43 No wind? No wind, nothing. 25:44 Yeah. Nothing at all. 25:46 Now, did that say to you 25:48 'cause you are not a novice out there? 25:50 Did that say something is up, something is coming? 25:53 Yeah, but... the big but. 25:56 You are over 300 miles from land. 25:59 Right. 26:00 So that like you can turn into it 26:01 and still at hold you're out there. 26:03 Yeah. 26:04 No warning, nothing in the weather charts. 26:07 Nothing in the weather reports. 26:08 This kind of snuck upon you 26:09 and it seems like everybody else. 26:11 Yeah, it did. 26:12 It caught the weather service off guard. 26:15 There was a Nor'easter heading down, 26:17 coming from up from northeast coast. 26:20 And there was an unnamed hurricane heading north. 26:24 Wow. 26:26 And they collided just north of where I was 26:28 and but during the day of the calm. 26:32 I listened NOAA weather 26:34 and they're again perfect sailing conditions. 26:36 Yeah. 26:37 Yeah, no forecast of storm or anything 26:40 but I knew something was up from the sea. 26:42 Yeah, yeah. 26:44 It doesn't get calm like that, you know, for no reason at all. 26:47 But, of course you had no idea of knowing 26:49 how ferocious, how strong, how big? 26:52 You just know something is coming. 26:53 Yeah, I knew something was out there 26:55 but it was kind of in God's doing. 27:02 Because the dolphins, normally they will sail along 27:06 or swim along in your boat wave. 27:08 They like people and they love people 27:11 and they just kind of-- they swim along. 27:13 To them it's a sport 27:14 but because there was no boat wave, nothing, 27:17 would just sitting there and be calm. 27:19 And what they were doing is they were coming up, 27:22 straight up side it, just missing the boat up, 27:26 I don't know 6-10 foot in the air 27:27 and just doing a belly flap right next to the boat. 27:30 Wow. 27:31 And splashing me with water and everything. 27:33 But they are actually smarter than we are in some ways. 27:39 They knew that storm was out there 27:41 and they were trying to warn me. 27:43 Now is that a characteristic behavior 27:44 of dolphins in that situation 27:46 where they know something is coming? 27:47 Just breaching the water 27:49 and then kind of belly flapping back down. 27:50 Yeah, it's like the way they-- their form of warning people. 27:55 Yeah, they have been doing that for, 27:57 you know, since recorded history. 27:59 Incredible. 28:00 So you're-- basically it has been calm, 28:02 there is no wind so you are just sitting there. 28:03 Right, just sitting. 28:04 Did you have a back up engine 28:06 on the boat just for emergencies? 28:08 Yeah. I did have. 28:09 So, you had some power, that you needed it. 28:11 Yeah. Yeah. 28:12 I had small diesel and... 28:15 But it was so nice out there at the time 28:18 that I didn't really have anywhere to go. 28:21 So I had plenty of food, plenty of water, 28:23 everything and so on. 28:24 Yeah, you had your provisions so you were stocked. 28:26 Yeah, I was ready. 28:27 At this point, you weren't distressed particularly. 28:28 No. 28:30 But the dolphins were telling you 28:31 something is coming. 28:32 Yeah, I kind of knew it 28:34 but, when you are that far from shore, 28:37 there is nothing you can do except, 28:38 you know, going down and wait for it. 28:40 Now let me ask you this 28:42 because you still had your radio. 28:43 Were you getting any reports 28:45 of storm coming, anything at all? 28:46 Nothing? Not yet. 28:47 Nothing. Nothing. 28:49 Nothing. Wow. 28:50 But then about mid afternoon, the wind started picking up 28:52 and the sea started picking up real hard 28:54 and it wasn't just like a general breeze coming up. 28:57 It was like all the sudden you know, you got a storm. 29:00 I mean you're going from flat calm 29:01 to almost storm condition till like in an hour. 29:05 Oh wow. 29:06 I mean that was just real fast. 29:07 Did the skies blackened and you lost sun? 29:09 Yeah, and it just got really bad. 29:12 At first I thought, 29:14 well, I'm getting close to the Gulf Stream 29:15 which is noted for being rough anyway, 29:18 and but when the wind kept getting 29:22 bigger and bigger way too bigger and bigger. 29:25 And I just noticed, 29:27 there is a little more to Gulf Stream. 29:29 And especially from the calm before, 29:32 so I was trying to restore stuff 29:38 and I took in boats, took in sails 29:41 and tied down everything I could. 29:43 Tried to secure everything 29:45 and it just kept blowing and blowing 29:47 so I spent most of the night restoring stuff. 29:51 Because now with the two systems 29:53 the waves are like square top. 29:55 You got two systems so the waves can't just roll. 29:58 You got like-- you got the brakes on. 30:01 Yeah, they're kind of slamming it. 30:02 They're slamming into each other. 30:04 Into each other. 30:05 Yeah, they make like square top waves 30:07 and when you're down in a trough, 30:08 when you come up on a wave, 30:10 the boat rolls almost on a side. 30:12 I mean it's still in the water 30:14 but on the wave it's almost like the Empire State building. 30:17 Wow. 30:19 Yeah, you're just like riding up the side 30:20 of the Empire State building. 30:21 That must be incredibly frightening. 30:23 And I guess the only thing that's keeping you 30:24 from flipping over is the keel. 30:25 In the fact you got something in the water. 30:27 From the top to the crest to the valley, 30:30 how far are we talking up to down? 30:32 Some of them were 50 footers. 30:34 Wow. Yeah, 50 foot. 30:36 And the wind, the wind-- by mid-morning, 30:40 the wind was blowing so hard, 30:41 they couldn't get any bigger, 30:43 it was blowing the top side off the waves. 30:45 It looked like a sea of grey cotton candy out there 30:49 just that spume. 30:50 Yeah, just tumbling everywhere on the tops of the waves. 30:54 And of course when you are in trough, 30:56 you couldn't see anything. 30:57 You are protected from the wind. 30:59 Yeah, then you got to go back up 31:01 and you got to come back down. 31:03 I got to ask you, Gordon, 31:04 because, okay, you said you are not a Christian guy. 31:06 You got this little issue with God. 31:09 You're out there 50 foot waves. 31:11 The boat is sideways sometimes 31:13 and then coming back down and then sideways again. 31:15 What's going through your head at this point? 31:18 Are you just in survival mode? 31:19 Are you thinking let me pray? 31:21 Or if there is a God out there, let me talk to him, 31:22 what, you know, how you cross that things. 31:24 Not yet, because at this time we weren't taken on any water. 31:29 Okay. 31:31 Everything, I mean the boat was going to trash out, 31:33 you know, from stuff flying around, 31:35 but now I didn't feel I was in any danger 31:38 which I wasn't at that time. 31:40 Yeah. 31:41 At that time. 31:43 So you know any way, because of the storm, 31:46 by the time the coast guard realized that 31:48 there is a hurricane out there and the Nor'easter 31:54 and the storm conditions, 31:56 you know 'cause they got buoys and I'd think offshore it, 31:58 you know, I'll record all that. 32:00 Right. 32:01 So they were doing routine patrols already. 32:04 You know, and so they come by just about after dark 32:09 and because of the conditions 32:11 they wanted to take me off at the boat 32:13 and at that time still I wasn't you know in any danger. 32:18 So I said no, no get out of here. 32:20 Go on, no I am not leaving perfectly good boat 32:24 to jump in the water 32:25 and have you pick me up in a basket. 32:27 I don't think so. So anyways. 32:30 So you were thinking I can ride this out 32:32 from what you are dealing. 32:34 Have you been in a storm even close to that before? 32:36 No, not like that. Okay. 32:38 That was like a hundred year storm. 32:40 Oh, okay. Yeah. 32:43 Once it's pretty much, once a century 32:45 they can have a storm like that. 32:48 But, so they... 32:49 finally they left when I said 32:51 I wasn't you know, getting on their chopper. 32:53 You know, so they left and I was already tired 32:57 'cause I had been up pretty much 32:59 the night before re-stall and so. 33:02 I went up in the forepeak 33:04 and wade some sails bags and stuff in 33:05 and I was probably like I will talk a nap. 33:08 So I just about dozed off 33:11 and I don't know how long I was asleep, 33:13 not very long. 33:14 But, I woke up and the whole ocean 33:17 was like trembling and vibrating 33:20 and I heard this awful roar coming 33:23 and all I remember when I woke up 33:26 I heard that and felt the ocean. 33:29 I was like this is it. This is it. 33:30 I knew there is a roar coming 33:33 and so there was nothing I can do and about more 33:38 and a few seconds later it hit the boat 33:40 and it was like being inside a football 33:42 when somebody kicked it. 33:43 Yeah. 33:45 I just went over and stayed upside down 33:48 for I don't know. 33:50 It seemed like a lifetime. 33:51 Now, is your boat lying on its side 33:52 or was it flipped up mast in the water? 33:55 Yeah. Totally upside down. 33:56 Totally upside down. 33:58 Yeah. Wow. 33:59 And then short while later it ride it itself 34:03 because what happens when a roll goes through, 34:05 it's like a bulldozer, it ploughs all the waves off, 34:08 everything in the way so it took a little time 34:10 for another wave to hit the boat 34:13 and when it did it tripped enough 34:14 and then it straightened up. 34:16 And straightened back up. 34:17 But I was... 34:19 Now, where are you physically? 34:21 I am still up in the forepeak, 34:23 which is up in the front of the boat. 34:25 Right. 34:26 And little cabin up there, little berths in there. 34:29 But when it was upside down, 34:31 I come out of the berth and ended up. 34:33 When the boat ride it itself, 34:34 I ended up in the squatting position down 34:36 between the in the V berth between them and I was trapped. 34:41 Now, is there an air pocket in there 34:42 so that you are getting air or you are holding your breath 34:45 and just waiting, you know? 34:46 There's still air. Okay. 34:49 'Cause it filled about half way up with water. 34:52 All right. 34:53 So by the time it rolled over right side up again 34:55 it was about half filled with water. 34:57 But I was still trapped and it was pitch black 35:02 but I can feel water creeping up on my chest. 35:05 It got up to my mouth 35:08 and it got up just about to my nose 35:10 and I am trying to get loose 35:11 and finally, it is just, I am up. 35:14 You know, I had my neck stretched and I just-- 35:16 I got loose and got out of the forepeak. 35:20 And of course of the rest of the boat was in shamble too. 35:22 So no light or anything but I grabbed a rubber made 35:27 waste basket and I started bail in. 35:29 Nothing else was working. 35:32 when it flipped over I guess most of your provisions made 35:35 their way to the bottom of the ocean. 35:36 No, the stuff on the deck did. 35:39 Yeah, your life raft, --, spare jerry jugs, 35:44 fuel and water and everything, 35:46 yeah that was on deck. 35:47 But you still have some, 35:49 have something of a pillow that was... 35:50 Yeah, I still had all the food and everything. 35:52 Yeah, food and water below and so they didn't get out 35:57 but they were just thrown all over the boat. 36:00 I'm sure. It was a disaster area. 36:04 So I bailed, yeah that happened 36:06 probably I am guessing maybe 8-8:30 at night. 36:10 So I bailed all night and in the morning 36:14 when I got light, we were not on deck 36:17 and there was basically nothing left out there. 36:20 So I went back down and bailed some more 36:24 and I knew by afternoon I was just totally fatigued 36:31 and I knew I could not make it through another night. 36:35 I was already... 36:36 I was having trouble staying awake bailing. 36:38 Right. 36:39 Yeah, you were physically doing things 36:40 as you can't keep awake, 36:42 because from the time the storm hit, 36:43 you have been up all evening, all night, 36:46 you're into the next morning heading towards noon 36:48 and you haven't gotten any sleep 36:49 and you have been exerting yourself. 36:51 I would rather imagine having a lot of time to eat-- 36:53 No, no I didn't. 36:55 As I was bailing a can of soda come up. 37:01 Yeah, that was it you know. 37:04 That was about it. So I bailed and bailed. 37:10 And like I said there was nothing I could do. 37:13 It was-- when it rolled over 37:15 it loosened the guard or the keel, 37:17 it did something below the waterline 37:19 so it was leaking. 37:22 So I had to keep bailing or it would have sunk. 37:24 It would have sunk, yeah. 37:25 But I bailed through up through 37:28 I don't know maybe two or three something in the afternoon. 37:31 And at that point I knew I couldn't do, 37:35 I couldn't get through tonight. 37:37 If I didn't bail it would sink and if I didn't bail... 37:41 Yeah. Yeah. 37:42 If I did bail, you know. 37:44 You were flat running out of gas, 37:46 I mean you're just... 37:49 At this point, are you starting to think 37:51 about your own mortality. 37:54 Has it entered your mind that 37:55 you may not make it through this? 37:56 Yeah. 37:58 Yeah, that's when things got real for me. 38:00 Yeah. 38:01 I bailed, I bailed and bailed and got it down fairly low 38:05 and so I just got down on my knees 38:08 and like I said, I didn't know Lord. 38:10 I didn't know him or about him 38:12 or anything about salvation. 38:15 I just knew that there was physically 38:17 there was nothing I could do. 38:18 Yeah. In my flesh I was dead. 38:21 Yeah, right. 38:22 So I got down, I said Lord, if you get my out of this one. 38:25 I will serve you. 38:27 And so I got back up and started bailing some water. 38:31 Now, let me ask this, Gordon. 38:33 From the time the storm hit to this first prayer 38:35 what are we talking, 18-20 hours. 38:37 Yeah, 20 or more maybe. 38:40 Of constant physical activity and stress. 38:44 And being sort of knocked around like a ping pong ball. 38:47 The storm lasted how many days? 38:49 While I was in it, like two, two and a half. 38:54 Okay. I was about to wear out. 38:56 Yes, so you're praying and bailing 38:58 and running out of steam. 39:01 What happens then? 39:03 Well I kept on bailing and the only thing 39:07 I had left on the boat, an electric that worked, 39:10 I had a VHF marine radio, 39:12 that I had a seal and a couple of plug backs. 39:15 Yeah because you lost gear and everything 39:17 when it flipped up, yeah. 39:18 Yeah, when it rolled over, it was, 39:19 you know, half filled with water 39:21 and then when I ride it 'cause they are all electronics 39:24 everything just went up in smoke. 39:26 It's gone right there. 39:27 Yeah, so I had this one little handheld VHF 39:31 and that's actually what saved my life. 39:35 But they-- when you transmit 39:37 they use an awful lot of juice. 39:38 Yeah. 39:39 So you don't just send out a Mayday 39:41 and hope that somebody's out there. 39:43 Right. 39:44 So, what I did is, I bailed for a little bit 39:48 and I would get up, were on a top of a wave, 39:50 I'd get up and look out the stern, you know. 39:54 And I did that and then the starboard, 39:57 the port and the bow and after about an hour 40:00 after dark I finally thought I saw a light. 40:04 It was just still storming, 40:05 the waves were still like 35-40 foot 40:07 and it's raining and it's quelling off and on. 40:10 The wind is blowing still but I thought I spotted light. 40:14 So I looked again, yeah, that's a light. 40:18 So I went down below and got the radio out 40:21 and send a Mayday and there was a ship out there, 40:27 they ended up being about five or six miles away. 40:30 But the guy in the bridge didn't speak English to well. 40:37 So as soon as he received the Mayday, 40:40 he went and got the captain, 40:41 who spoke good English and he was Yugoslavian. 40:46 Anyways I talked to him for a little bit 40:48 and he wanted to know how many people on 40:51 because he was thinking I'm in a ship 40:53 and would I crush his ship or injure him. 40:57 So we finally got it, now I'm on 11 meters long, 41:01 one guy and so... 41:04 What kind of a ship that you were encountered with. 41:05 It was about juice carrier. 41:07 They carried orange juice, 41:09 they carried from Brazil up to New York 41:12 and then they went back on the ballast 41:14 which they were heading back this time, 41:16 just on ballast with no cargo. 41:17 No cargo, yeah. 41:19 Then they take on cargo in Brazil again 41:21 and then they go over to Amsterdam 41:24 and then the same from Amsterdam, 41:25 they go back to Brazil on their ballast. 41:29 But the storm was so severe that 41:32 they had altered course 60 miles 41:35 which put them right next to me. 41:38 Yeah. Praise the Lord. 41:39 Yeah, yeah. Amen. 41:42 So 'cause I didn't have any lights or anything onboard, 41:47 I took the mast, I took the mast 41:48 and everything off the boat so he wanted to know, 41:52 you get a fix on this, 41:54 so I fired off a flare and so they took a fix 41:58 and changed course and had informed me. 42:00 And praise the Lord, you still had some flares 42:02 so that you could signal them. 42:03 Yeah, so I am dead in the water. 42:06 No rudder, no nothing. 42:08 You know, everything was flooded. 42:10 No mast, no sails 42:11 and so I couldn't maneuver at all. 42:14 But pretty soon I see this big, 42:17 you know, look like 42:18 the Empire State building from the outlook. 42:21 So he has got to come to you. 42:23 Yeah, You can't do anything... 42:25 Right. 42:27 So anyway he got pretty close and I am looking up, 42:31 I see this big old bow through the waves 42:34 and a froth from the wind and everything 42:37 and so I lit a one of those chemical light sticks. 42:42 So I held that up 42:43 and so then they flashed the light 42:46 so I knew they saw me, 42:48 so he tried to come along side of me 42:51 but he had too much weight on. 42:54 So when he got to the side of me 42:55 and he was heading into the wind, 42:57 so it blew me right down to the side of the ship. 43:00 And they fired a line gun and to me on my boat 43:06 but I couldn't with the wind and the seas 43:10 I couldn't get the lines, 43:12 You know, so I ended up getting by him. 43:16 And so he sent people back on the fan tail 43:19 with big search lights 43:21 and he said to, just don't lose him. 43:25 Whatever you do don't lose sight of him. 43:27 So he tried to back the ship up. 43:31 I mean, first he tried to turn around. 43:33 To turn around, yeah. 43:35 And took it back getting me, 43:36 but he almost rolled the ship over. 43:38 I'm thinking a storm that big, trying to turn a ship around 43:40 is not like just turning a bus on a city street. 43:43 Right. 43:44 Yeah, he just couldn't do it. 43:46 Right. 43:47 Yeah, he maxed out there, they metered it, 43:49 you know, for their roll, their inclinometer or whatever. 43:53 It maxed out right out. 43:55 And he didn't rescue the ship-- 43:57 You know, the whole ship and his crew for one guy 44:01 so he got it straight and back up. 44:03 He backed up to me. 44:05 Yeah. Which I think is amazing. 44:06 He backed and sit up. He backed off... 44:08 It's kind of like tailor pocket. 44:11 Yeah. In that ship they had a-- 44:14 I think it was a Honda diesel 44:16 but it's what they got direct reversible, 44:18 you don't have a gear shift to put in reverse. 44:21 What you do is you shut the engine off to reverse it. 44:25 They switch to camshafts and give shot at air 44:27 and it starts the engine in the other direction. 44:29 Oh. 44:30 You know, it's direct. 44:32 The prop shaft is connected right to the engine often. 44:33 Yeah, so it's a major deal to do that. 44:36 Yeah. Yeah. 44:37 So he is backing up to me and there I am, like 44:39 I said I can't move and I can't do anything. 44:42 And I see that big stern of the ship. 44:45 In one minute it's up, I could see the prop... 44:49 Going around and next thing 44:51 I am almost looking at the deck. 44:53 So with the waves, you're up so high 44:55 looking at his deck, the next moment 44:56 you're down looking at the prop. 44:58 Yeah, yeah. 45:00 So I got up and I thought I was going 45:02 to get eaten for sure you know, but just as I got there, 45:08 I mean there had to be an angel. 45:10 Pushed my boat out to the side 45:12 and as the back of the stern came down 45:16 and his you know I went up in my boat 45:18 and actually caught under the fantail on the ship. 45:21 Oh wow. 45:23 Because he is riding up and down 45:24 and you are riding up and down the waves, 45:26 so you got, that's dangerous stuff. 45:28 Yeah, so I got-- finally I got done, 45:31 got around and got on the side 45:34 and so that the crew had a rope ladder 45:37 and they hung that over the side 45:38 and so I tried to grab the ladder 45:40 when I was up on the wave. 45:42 And I had lost my grip so I ended up falling, 45:47 I don't know how far it was. 45:48 But I fell down between the side of the ship 45:51 and in the water. 45:52 I was well below the water, you know surface. 45:57 And I heard my boat crunching 45:59 to the side of the ship 46:01 and so then as the wave went away, 46:05 the boat kind of-- my boat kind of slid off 46:08 you know, the back side of the wave. 46:10 And then here comes Gordon, huffing and puffing. 46:15 And, so the crew had me... when they saw the boat 46:18 you know hit the ship they thought I was history. 46:20 I am sure. 46:21 They didn't realize how deep I went. 46:23 But I was down below 'cause I can hear it 46:26 and so I come back up to the surface 46:28 and so they went down and got the ladder right away. 46:31 This time I got an arm and a leg in it, 46:34 and I am just hanging on. 46:36 And they said "hang on, so we'll pull you up". 46:38 Yeah, you must have been so spent 46:40 'cause we were talking of the better part of two... 46:42 A full day and maybe a little more, 46:45 fighting this thing and now you're trying 46:47 to save your life to get up on this boat... 46:49 On this ship which was amazing deal in itself. 46:51 So the crew pulled the ladder up and they were... 46:55 It was kind of ironic they were all, 46:58 mostly the crew was Filipinos, 47:00 you know, real small stature and they were-- 47:03 I mean some of them were down below sleeping 47:05 and anyway they were a real model. 47:08 Anyway they got me up to the rail. 47:11 And then they were trying to figure 47:13 how to get me over the rail. 47:15 Yeah. 47:16 and so by then the captain was there. 47:18 He was there in front of the bridge, 47:21 and he was big, he was, 47:22 I don't know probably 6'6''- 6'7'', 300 pounds... 47:25 Oh, big man, yeah. 47:27 So, I still had... 47:29 My arm was still sore from when I broke it up 47:32 in the boat yard. 47:33 You know, so of course he didn't know, 47:35 but he grabbed my arm itself and I... 47:38 screamed at him, he finally gripped my arm. 47:41 So next thing I know he grabbed me 47:43 by the Cedar pants and the scruff of the neck 47:45 and I was on the deck. 47:47 I was there. Well, Amen. 47:49 Now I got to move you alone 'cause we still got another 47:51 whole part of this story to deal with. 47:53 One, you did as many do in this kind of circumstances, 47:57 you make a lot of promises to God. 47:59 Lord, get me through this, I will be an angel. 48:01 I will be Gabriel. Just get me through. 48:03 Did you follow through, 48:05 because you lost your boat but you saved your life? 48:08 Yeah. Or the Lord saved your life. 48:09 Yeah. 48:11 So over the next little bit, what is your life like 48:14 and how are you doing with that promise? 48:16 I ended up in Brazil, so I flew back to Brazil, 48:20 back to Connecticut and built a little camp around 48:22 the back of a pickup truck and went to Florida. 48:25 And I was trying to do it my way still. 48:27 Like I said I still didn't know 48:29 except that one time I talked to the Lord. 48:31 I didn't know him. 48:33 So, you know I got a job in a boat yard, 48:35 I was working in a boat yard 48:37 and boat builders down there and doing fine. 48:40 But as the storm was in '91, 48:45 and so I got down in Florida in early '92, 48:51 and the Lord didn't get me my heart 48:55 until the spring of '98. 49:02 I was still trying to do it my way 49:04 but he kept working on me 49:07 and I kept hearing this still small voice, 49:10 remember what you promised me. 49:11 And it was starting to eat on me. 49:15 So, then I started going to church. 49:18 And I didn't know anything about the Sabbath. 49:20 I started going to the church and reading the Bible. 49:22 And so... 49:25 So just that flat, you mean you hear his voice, 49:27 let me respond, going to church 49:29 and start reading my Bible. 49:30 And you are in Florida now? 49:32 Yeah, I am living in Florida and so anyway, 49:39 he brought me to a point where I had... 49:44 I guess he wasn't saying, anyway I had a wicked temper. 49:49 Bad, and I thought I was crack 49:51 and I started reading books on depression 49:53 and I thought I was going mad. 49:55 And finally I just couldn't take it anymore 49:58 and finally I just got down in my cab 50:01 and asked him to save me. 50:04 And it was like a led weight had been 50:07 lifted off my shoulders. 50:10 And so after that I did, 50:12 I started serving him and right after that 50:15 'cause I had been involved in the patriotic movement, 50:17 so I was in the short way and right after that 50:21 on the station it should have been patriotic stuff 50:24 I heard as preacher. 50:26 And so he was the Sabbath keeper 50:30 but they didn't like... 'cause he was worldly on radio 50:34 so they kept him from six to six 50:36 instead of sunset to sunset. 50:38 Okay so that was your first connection 50:40 with Sabbath per se. 50:41 So I started keeping the Sabbath 50:44 instead of going to the Sunday Churches 50:45 I started keeping the Sabbath 50:47 'cause he was on short wave radio. 50:48 So you were just convicted 50:50 just from that short wave broadcast. 50:51 Yeah. 50:53 So I listened to him, 50:54 they had service on Friday night 50:55 and then again Sabbath morning so I will just stay home 50:59 and then listen to service and you know hang out with Lord 51:02 and read the Bible and so on. 51:04 But these were not sent to Adventist, 51:06 just Sabbath keepers. 51:07 Right, so anyway I ended up moving up there 51:12 and it turned out to be a call 51:14 but anyway that's another story. 51:17 So I ended up... 51:19 I wanted to get out in the country 51:20 and come home instead so through some friends 51:22 I found some property up in Tennessee, 51:25 so I got up to Tennessee, I took a little camper up there 51:28 and I got up there and I've taken the shaft back 51:32 but I didn't have the hose. 51:34 So I went to a flea market and there was a booth. 51:40 They had-- there's nobody in it 51:41 but they had some big toile pants 51:43 and there was a hose in there. 51:45 So I didn't just want to take it 51:47 so I checked with a woman couple of booths down 51:52 and she said haven't seen him today 51:55 She says, but she said if I see him 51:57 I will ask him about the hose. 51:59 So I said, okay, and this was on Friday. 52:02 So I was like I won't be here tomorrow, 52:05 you know so she replied I won't be either 52:09 so I kind of found out she was Seven-day Adventist. 52:11 Uh-huh. There is the connection. 52:13 You know we made our connection 52:14 so I kind of found out that she was in a home church 52:19 and she wasn't in a regular affiliated church at the time. 52:23 And so... 52:24 I mean she is a Seventh-day Adventist 52:26 but so I started you know, going 52:28 to the home church everything and.. 52:30 All right, so we got you in the church now. 52:33 We know your connection. 52:34 What church are you a member of currently. 52:37 The Middlesboro Kentucky church up in Middlesboro, Kentucky, 52:42 which is a very loving caring church. 52:43 Praise the Lord. 52:45 And there are really great people 52:46 and I really miss them. 52:48 Yeah. 52:49 And but Lord just moved me down in Florida 52:52 so I have got another good church down there. 52:54 Praise the Lord. 52:55 And Plato Seventh-day Adventist church. 52:57 Okay. 52:59 So, in looking back, Gordon, 53:00 at this whole thing, what you went through, 53:03 where you are, now you're still in the boat business. 53:06 But you are in the Seventh-day Adventist boat business. 53:08 Amen. 53:11 What impresses you about this road 53:13 that the Lord had brought you on? 53:16 There is the truth. 53:19 As soon as I learnt about the Seventh-day Adventist, 53:23 I got right into all the Spirit of Prophecy books 53:27 and Ellen White and I started studying 53:30 and then reading and which brings out the Bible 53:35 and but I just thank the Lord for saving me 53:41 because the Lord knows the end from the beginning. 53:44 Indeed. And He knows all things. 53:47 So, when I was out there. 53:49 When I asked him to save my skin, 53:51 He knew, if He didn't save my skin, 53:54 I couldn't be saved and will make Him a liar. 53:56 Yeah. So He had to save my skin. 53:58 Praise the Lord. Then work on my heart. 54:00 Indeed, that's an interesting take on this. 54:02 We are going to go to our newsbreak and come back 54:04 and sort of put a little bow on this 54:05 and wrap this up. 54:07 We will be back in just two minutes. |
Revised 2015-08-06