Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Aaron Chancy
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000002
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00:21 Hello, and welcome to Urban Report. Today, we have
00:25 a two-part interview with Aaron Chancy, the host of 00:28 "The New Journey" Dare to Dream's program for 00:31 ex-offenders. I first saw Aaron about a year ago on 00:34 Cheri Peters' program "Celebrating life in Recovery" 00:38 and while watching him, I just felt impressed that Aaron would 00:41 make a great host for "The New Journey" so listen up 00:45 as Aaron shares HIS journey. 00:49 Today, our guest is Aaron Chancy and we are on the set of 00:54 Aaron Chancy's program, "The New Journey. " Hi Aaron, 00:58 I am so excited about "The New Journey" because it 01:02 really gives us an opportunity to see how God transforms a life 01:07 He can take you through all these different phases and 01:11 stages, and then once you are ready to come back, He just 01:15 brings you to Him. Yes. That's right... 01:17 Tell me about your life.. tell me about your early childhood. 01:20 Okay. My early childhood, Dr. Lewis, was pretty 01:24 interesting. You know... It's not the typical childhood, 01:26 I guess you would say.. for most young people that gravitate 01:29 to the crime lifestyle that I gravitated to. I had a mother 01:32 and a father in the home. When I was younger, my mother and 01:36 father realized that, you know, we were poor and we needed a 01:39 way to make the finances. So both my mother and father went 01:43 into the military. My father as enlisted and my mother as 01:46 an officer and that gave us another... the whole new lease 01:50 on life where, you know-with the military, they take you around 01:53 the world, and show you all these nice things... different 01:56 countries and things like that. So when I was young, I had the 01:59 opportunity to live in Germany for 3 years, I lived in Hawaii 02:02 for 3 years. Now was your Dad a 02:04 disciplinarian because a lot of times, guys in the military 02:08 are very disciplined and organized, was he like that? 02:11 Well no, he wasn't necessarily so much of a disciplinarian 02:15 but, he was, I would say stricter than my mother was. 02:18 My mother, she wasn't as strict, for instance, when... 02:21 I have a brother, my brother is Adam Chancy... when me and my 02:24 brother would want something we knew not to go to Dad 02:27 because Dad would say "no" or "you need to work for it" or 02:30 something like that. But my mother... she was the sensitive 02:32 one... so we knew we could get it from my mother. So we would 02:35 go ask mother for a few dollars or something like that. She 02:37 would say, "Okay, here you go. " Moms, you need to listen to 02:40 this. Aaron: Yes, indeed, yes, indeed, but father he would 02:43 always say, "You need to go work for it" or put us to 02:46 some kind of work to make the money, things like that 02:49 trying to instill the values in us while we were young 02:52 and you know, so we had opportunities as young people 02:54 to live in different countries, we lived in Germany, 02:57 like I said, I lived in Hawaii for 3 years and to most people, 03:03 this is enjoyable-moving around, you see, one thing 03:05 about the military is... you know... they will have you 03:08 somewhere for a couple of years, and then somebody in the 03:11 family gets a change of duty somewhere else and then you 03:13 are uprooted and you are taken to a whole 'nother place 03:17 across planet earth... somewhere else. You know, for me, 03:20 it wasn't as fun as it may seem like for my brother, it was kind 03:23 kind of like a fairy-tale life.. military life is always so 03:26 much of fun... you get to go see all these places, but for me 03:30 it became an issue of losing my identity... Who am I? 03:34 Who do I associate with? Because in the military you meet 03:38 people from so many different backgrounds and it's kind of 03:41 like you are in a place for maybe a couple of years... 03:44 and make real good friends, you know, get real close to 03:46 people, and then, automatically, 3 years later or whatever it 03:50 may be, you are uprooted, taken somewhere else, and these 03:54 friendships that you established when you were younger, you no 03:57 longer see them anymore, you no longer hear from them, things 04:01 like that, so you end up going somewhere else, you have to 04:04 adjust to a whole new different country, different state, 04:07 whatever it may be, yeah, and make whole brand new friends, 04:09 so I can name friends probably from several different places 04:14 all over the world, because for me, I never really stayed 04:18 in one place long enough, like most people that are raised 04:22 in one place, they stay there for 20 years, 30 years, 04:24 pretty much their whole life. But for me it was more so... 04:27 here 3 years... here 3 years, here 2 years, here's 1 year, 04:30 so it's kind of bouncing around, and in that 04:32 because you meet so many different nationalities, 04:34 you kind of lose your own identity. Like, who am I? 04:36 Who can I best associate with? You know, it becomes like that.. 04:42 So when you got into your adolescent years, where was 04:46 your head during the adolescence?... 04:48 Okay, well, my adolescent years you know, first of all, I grew 04:50 up in the church, grew up in the Seventh-day Adventist Church 04:53 my mother and father tried to instill in us-read the Bible, 04:56 go to Sabbath School, go to Wednesday night prayer meeting, 04:59 involved in the Pathfinders... I think, just about every 05:01 Adventist young person growing up was involved in Pathfinders.. 05:04 So, we were involved in all these things... the Church 05:07 activities, trying to give the foundation with the Lord... 05:09 but as I started reaching about 13 years old, I kind of started 05:14 getting tired of the Church. I hadn't really developed my own 05:18 personal relationship with God and you can spend years and 05:21 years in church, but you know, just because you are in church 05:24 doesn't mean you are going to be saved because there are many 05:27 people that are in church that have no one-on-one personal 05:30 relationship with God.. Even adults, that are going to 05:33 church are just kind of going through the motions.. they don't 05:36 have that relationship... Yeah, that's exactly what it was 05:39 for me and then at 13 years old, you know, you are starting to 05:42 get a little older, and starting to look around at different 05:46 things, you see different friends doing this and doing 05:48 that... they make the life outside of church look 05:51 so glorious... so much of fun... and then coming up in the 05:54 church I went to a mixture of Church Schools and 05:56 Public Schools... can't go to any of the Friday night dances, 05:59 can't play any of the sports games, because they are always 06:02 on Friday nights or Sabbaths.. things like that... 06:04 So it's kind of like what you want to do, your passion, 06:07 what you want to do, like my passion was sports... 06:08 basketball and football but I never really had the push to it 06:12 nobody in the family was pushing it because most of my dad's side 06:14 of the family are... Seventh-day Adventist. 06:16 No push for it,... I wouldn't go, I guess, to the right 06:19 schools for it and things like that because I would be in 06:22 Church School and when I was in Public School, I just 06:24 couldn't play in any of the games, couldn't do anything 06:26 like that. So I started to drift away from the church... 06:29 Did you resent the church? did you resent the rules? 06:33 You know, so often for us, especially as young people 06:36 when we don't understand God, when we don't understand the 06:38 Word of God... a lot of times, it does become like that... 06:42 I resented, why is it that my friends that are Baptists and 06:45 Methodists and all these other denominations, they can have fun 06:48 and still go to church on Sunday or whatever it may be, but here 06:51 we are, with a bunch of strict rules that seem like... and it 06:54 just becomes like a big old rule book... the whole Bible... 06:57 all 66 books become like a rule book with a bunch of 07:00 YOU CANNOT DOs. Especially, when you don't have 07:02 a relationship because rules without relationship are so 07:05 cumbersome. You know, when you have a relationship, 07:08 you kind of understand the rules and if you don't... 07:12 That's what John 14:15 says, If you love me, keep my 07:15 commandments... If you love me.. because the whole basis of 07:18 serving God is love... You see, as a young person, a lot of 07:22 times, we don't develop our own love relationship with God... 07:25 we just want along with it because mommy or daddy or 07:27 whoever it may be said.. we need to go to church, you can't do 07:30 this, you can't do that.. and it becomes that... it becomes 07:32 a set of rules instead a love foundation for God... as it is 07:35 with many young people... even today. So, you know, about 07:39 13 years old, I started mentally basically to kind of explore 07:43 other things, look at other things, TV, stuff like that... 07:47 Ah... about 15 years old, physically, I was kind of just 07:51 through with the church... just completely through with it. 07:53 Had you begun to to experiment with drugs and alcohol? 07:56 Well, actually, I was 15 when I experimented with drugs... 07:59 actually, me and my brother, we had snuck out of our house 08:02 one night while my mother and father were asleep and went to a 08:04 house party around the corner... from us and, you know, 08:07 I was just itching to try... to try some of these narcotics 08:10 I hear it, I see it on the music videos... and things like that. 08:12 So this was like prime opportunity to get involved 08:15 with it and you know, that was my first time, when I was 08:18 15 years old... got involved with the drinking, got involved 08:21 with the smoking, one of my cousins found out the next day.. 08:24 and he was a big marijuana smoker... he smoked some weed 08:26 with me and after that... it was pretty much... just straight 08:29 downhill. Yvonne: This is so important, because so many of 08:32 our young people are caught up in marijuana! and marijuana.. 08:35 is to me... it is just such a gateway to everything else... 08:39 talk about the effects of marijuana on the body and 08:42 on the spirit... Okay, well, you know, some 08:46 things about marijuana... you know, one main thing about 08:48 it is, for a lot of people, you may smoke it and get this 08:51 paranoid feeling within, for some, it leads to... 08:56 leads to.. for instance... my brother... he tried some of 08:58 these different drugs... but it never had that pull... 09:00 it never had that effect to him like that. But for others... 09:03 Yvonne: it doesn't effect everybody in the same way... 09:05 Because some may try the drinking, the smoking, these 09:07 things like that... but it just doesn't... the body kind rejects 09:10 it... it doesn't really like it. Because there is a foreign 09:13 substance entering the human body... It's not supposed to be 09:17 there... but for me, it was.. I took it... I was drinking the 09:21 first night, I had a hangover from the alcohol... but I knew 09:24 immediately, even though I had the hangover, even though 09:27 you know, I had the high... and the high wore off a couple 09:30 of hours later. Even after all of that, I knew, that this is 09:32 the life that I want... this is what I want to be involved in. 09:35 I liked the feeling of smoking, and it's kind of like 09:40 you get this whole careless attitude... like you 09:42 really don't care about a lot of things. Ah, you wake up any time 09:45 of day, and any time of the night you do whatever, basically 09:48 and that type of lifestyle... you know, I just kind of started 09:50 gravitating to... and those gateways were the smoking, 09:55 the drinking, smoking the marijuana, drinking the alcohol, 09:58 smoking cigarettes which just led to, you know, other things. 10:01 When... and I want to kind of stay a little bit on the 10:05 marijuana, just for a minute because this is such an 10:08 important thing... I found so many of the young people 10:11 that listened to hip hop, and I want to talk a little bit 10:14 about hip hop too... that listened to hip hop.. are into 10:17 marijuana too... it's kind of like it all goes together. 10:20 So, you know, you are looking at a situation where the enemy- 10:24 the devil is giving kids, feeding them this music 10:29 feeding them these drugs... and they are just getting off 10:33 the beaten path... How did marijuana and hip hop impact.. 10:38 how did they work together to impact you? 10:40 Well, these things kind of pretty much go hand in hand. 10:42 You know... you do have some people that can listen to the 10:45 music and they say... well they are not really affected by it. 10:48 But if you noticed people that listened to the hip hop... 10:53 The Bible says, "By beholding, we become changed. " Bottom line 10:55 So if we are constantly listening to rap music, if we 10:59 are constantly looking at different things... we are going 11:01 to become like that... and see, music has the power to enter 11:04 into your sub-conscious without you even knowing it. So what 11:07 happens is, you begin... your style of dress begins to change 11:10 and you don't even realize it... you start talking in a different 11:12 way... using a lot of profanity you don't even realize it... 11:15 you start smoking, drinking, it all kind of just goes 11:18 hand in hand with this lifestyle. The music... because 11:21 you look at the music videos of a lot of the hip hop artists, 11:23 and you know... the pants are sagging, the hair is in any old 11:26 type of way... the shirt is just way too big and you know... 11:28 there's always something hanging out of the mouth or they are 11:30 holding some kind of bottle in their hand, something like that. 11:33 So it is almost like all these things go together in the life 11:36 and tattoos... is another thing.. you know... I meet so 11:40 many young people today that are, you know, so interested in 11:43 getting tattoos on them because their favorite music artist has 11:46 gotten these tattoos and you know, we see what we see on TV 11:49 and we are so drawn into it because of what they are doing, 11:52 they are glorifying it... making it look good... you know... I 11:55 remember one music video where they just had money... like 11:58 raining down from the sky.. it was money just falling... and a 12:02 young person, looking at this is saying... wow I want that... I 12:05 want that money I want that car, I want that alcohol, I want 12:07 that... because it is like a carefree lifestyle where you are 12:10 just doing whatever... It is, again, a deception... 12:13 because it all looks so good it's an illusion, it's a 12:17 delusion and an illusion. Because, you know, you see 12:21 all of this bling.. look at all the values that are put forth in 12:27 hip hop... you've got the bling, you've got sex, you know 12:30 you've got violence, and these are some of the main issues 12:33 that are confronting people in the inner cities... 12:36 So Satan is using hip hop which has, you know, rhythm and rhyme 12:40 to get into the sub-conscious mind... just as God, when you 12:44 listen to some beautiful music, you know, music from the Lord.. 12:48 it gets into your spirit-so does music that is from the enemy. 12:53 So, you know, he uses it as a tool, obviously, you got into 12:59 that and it kind of propelled you deeper and deeper into that. 13:03 Yeah, it's like a tumbleweed effect. You get involved in 13:07 one thing and then the enemy unbeknownst to you almost is 13:10 introducing something else, and introducing something else 13:12 and things that you said you weren't going to do, now you 13:14 find yourself doing. It's like a tumbleweed effect... you can't 13:17 play with the devil, bottom line. We know from the Bible, 13:21 from Genesis chapter 1, I am sorry, Genesis chapter 3, that 13:24 when Satan went into that serpent and tricked Eve, it was 13:27 through the senses. Bottom line. Through the senses. You see, 13:29 Satan works upon the senses, the emotions, the feelings, 13:33 things like that and he did it in the beginning and he's 13:35 still doing it now. Deception. And the next thing you know, 13:39 you are involved in all types of things that you had no clue 13:42 you were actually going to get involved in. You hear so many 13:44 people that say, "Well, when I am going out there, I am not 13:48 going to do this, I am not going to do that, but you know, 13:49 if you are going to play on the Devil's playground, 13:51 the Devil is going to make sure that you do and try a whole 13:53 lot of things that you said you were planning on not doing. 13:56 Things that you thought you'd never do. But you end up just 14:01 sliding down. It's incredible. Okay, so we just have about 14:05 a minute or so left. Just give us a basic synopsis of when you 14:10 hit rock bottom. We're going to tease our folks now. 14:13 When did you hit rock bottom. Well, when I hit rock bottom was 14:16 in 2008. It was actually April the 9th, 2008. 14:19 For a while, I was just running from the Lord... He was trying 14:22 to get me, and you know, this particular night, it was a 14:25 Wednesday, April the 9th, 2008, and you know, I was involved in 14:29 several drugs throughout these last couple of days... 14:32 from Sunday to Wednesday, I was on several different types 14:34 of narcotics... Cocaine, Marijuana, Ecstasy, drinking 14:38 alcohol... several different things were in my system, 14:41 at that time, and what happened was that night, I came into my 14:44 room and at about 11:30 that night, and as I walked in 14:48 the room, I opened up the door- a fear came upon me, like never 14:51 before, like something is in this room that does not belong 14:54 in this room... either I don't belong there or something is 14:57 in there that does not belong there... 15:00 Ooooh, spooky, something was in the room. Okay, so, you know 15:07 I am not going to leave you hanging. Here's part 2 15:09 of my interview with Aaron Chancy... 15:12 Where I left off at is at- I had actually moved to 15:15 Louisiana, a few months prior to me changing my life... 15:18 about 6 months prior to that, this was... around the time when 15:21 I started changing was April of 2008 and, you know, for about 15:25 the last 6 months, well, for years, I had been running from 15:30 the Lord, and for about the last 6 months, I was on a... 15:34 just an extreme run from the Lord, really trying to fry the 15:38 Holy Spirit out of my mind... you know... 15:39 Were you incarcerated at this time at all?... 15:42 Well, yeah, at this point, I wasn't incarcerated at this 15:45 time but I had spent time incarcerated before, ah, my 15:48 first time being incarcerated was when I was 16 years old 15:51 as a juvenile, I spent a week incarcerated in a facility, 15:54 I was taken out-this was at East Texas, I was released from 15:58 there, I was sent to see a psychiatrist. They were trying 16:02 to figure out... why did the transition go to me being a 16:05 coming from a good family, and things like that into why 16:08 am I getting involved in criminal activities. So I had 16:12 to go see this psychologist, they, you know, finally said 16:14 "Nothing's wrong with him," I kept trying to tell them 16:17 that nothing was wrong with me, they kept trying not to 16:20 believe me... anyhow, I went through that. I was placed on 16:22 one year's probation... and, you know, the thing about it is, 16:26 you know, being incarcerated can make a person come to their 16:29 senses. You know, you read about the prodigal son in 16:31 Luke chapter 15 and verse 13 says: and when he came to his 16:34 senses, he went back home. Well, I wasn't at the point of 16:37 coming to my senses. You know, when I was released... I still 16:40 had that passion for fast money, I still wanted to try to get it 16:43 and it and it was years from then, when I would change my 16:46 life and a year later or so, I found myself back incarcerated. 16:51 Ah... back in jail, ended up being sentenced to 3 months 16:54 prison boot camp, I was 17 years old, from there I went 16:58 to a halfway house for 30 days, and from there, I did 3 months 17:01 on house arrest-which house arrest can seem worse than jail- 17:05 because you are so close to freedom but you are stuck 17:07 in the house with a little thing on your ankle. 17:10 Yvonne: I would have thought that house arrest wouldn't 17:12 have been that bad because you are in your home 17:13 environment... Aaron: No, it's worse... 17:14 Yvonne surprised: Is it?... Aaron: it's worse... 17:15 and actually, you find out really even more so who your 17:18 real friends are... because what happens and.. 17:20 I didn't even see that at that time, because what 17:22 happens is you are so much closer to being free, because 17:25 you are back at home, but even still, because you are stuck 17:27 in the house and you can't hang out with your friends. 17:30 You know, a lot of them stay away... things like that... 17:32 because you are confined to the house pretty much 24 hours 17:34 a day... Yvonne: because you can't do at 17:36 home, what you would have done.. Aaron: Yeah, up can't do it... 17:39 so, I did have a few of them come over periodically and 17:41 play dominoes with me, and things like that... 17:43 But, you know, for the most part, at 3 months, it's pretty 17:46 much me by myself, you know, it could be worse than doing time. 17:50 Ah... so I was released from all of that, and went back to Texas 17:53 I was at Michigan at this time, I went back to Texas, 17:56 and it would be a few years later, a couple of years later, 17:59 actually, at 19 years old when I ended up catching another 18:01 charge, you see, I still wasn't done with the criminal lifestyle 18:04 and this time, I caught a charge, which you know, 18:07 I already had an adult felony, I had a juvenile felony, 18:10 this is my second adult felony, at 19 years old, and they sent 18:14 me to prison... sentenced me to prison, actually I was going 18:18 to be sentenced for 10 years, and my lawyer said, well, 18:21 we got it down to 5 years... so I said, "OK, I can do 5 years 18:23 I'll take 5 years, so I sat there and started calculating 18:26 So I am 19 OK, 20, 21, 23, 24 OK I'll be out when I am 24... 18:29 that's fine... you know, if I have to max out on the whole 18:32 sentence... Yvonne: You weren't afraid? 18:33 Aaron: Yeah, I was afraid, I was afraid, you know, 18:36 but one thing about being incarcerated is, you can't show 18:40 any emotion, any feeling, you know, the sadness, the hurt, 18:43 and the pain, you really can't show these types of emotions, 18:45 because you got so many people that have done time for 18:48 years and years and are almost like predators, and if 18:51 you show fear, you become like prey. So it's kind of like, 18:55 you have to Quote, unquote "man up" and just take it, 18:57 if you are going to cry, you'd best do it when nobody is 19:00 looking things like that... I remember, one time a gentleman 19:02 came back after being sentenced, and he got sentenced to 99 years 19:05 he didn't cry, but I went into my little bunk area and shed a 19:08 tear for him.. oh wow! 99 years! that's a lot of time... 19:11 So I was sentenced to 5 years, and I was taken to prison in 19:15 Texas... I was taken to Huntsville, Huntsville in Texas, 19:18 you have about 6 to 7 prisons there... I went to a 19:21 Diagnostics Unit there. There they do different tests 19:24 on you to see where you are at. Your IQ, things like that-before 19:26 they send you to your permanent prison. So I was there for 19:29 about a week-got processed, sent out to Beaumont, Texas, 19:32 I was there for a few months, it was a prison of State inmates 19:35 and Fed inmates combined together... 19:37 Yvonne: Texas doesn't play... Aaron: Yeah, that's why as you 19:39 drive down the highway, there are signs, 19:40 Don't mess with Texas... They are not playing... 19:42 They are serious, they are serious.. Don't mess with Texas. 19:45 So, you know from there, the State side of the prison was 19:48 closing down and they were just keeping the Feds, so I got 19:50 shipped out to another prison in East Texas. So I finished up.. 19:53 I didn't do my whole 5 years of the sentence. The Lord blessed. 19:57 I did a year and one month... I did a total of 13 months on 20:00 that five-year sentence. Made my first parole for good 20:03 behavior.. things like that and when I went into prison, I went 20:07 in mainly for stealing things, jacking things and stuff like 20:11 that... but you are in there with so many people, so many 20:13 different crimes, and you know, I went in there, not really 20:17 knowing the drug game much. I didn't use drugs, but I didn't 20:20 know how to sell, the weights of it and things like that... 20:23 But when I came out, learned all that stuff, and I know 20:26 Texas is very strict on parolees so I said, well, my mother and 20:29 father had moved to North Carolina, and you know, 20:32 I had made some connections with people, I said well I am going 20:34 back to North Carolina also, one because Texas is very strict 20:37 on parolees, and I wasn't done living that kind of life style.. 20:40 And you know, I saw a prime opportunity, I know in 20:43 North Carolina, the prices on drugs were a lot higher than 20:46 in Texas... Yvonne: So you went in, 20:48 not knowing really about drugs.. and you went to the university.. 20:52 Aaron: Yeah, basically, it's like a university... Juvenile is 20:55 like elementary school, then you hit Jail... that's like 20:57 Middle School and... Prison is like college. 20:59 You know, that's how it kind of progresses... High School, 21:02 College, whatever you want to call it. It's just like a 21:04 progressing step... and see I had been through the system.. 21:07 I had been in the system already since I was 15, 16 years old... 21:10 so I kind of already knew what the system was like... 21:13 been on probation a couple of times, been on house arrest, 21:17 been in jail, been, you know, I kind of already knew how the 21:20 system went... so I got out, went to North Carolina, 21:24 a few months after I got there I started transporting drugs, 21:27 pounds of marijuana from Texas to North Carolina. 21:30 You know, still running from the Lord... I had an incident 21:33 where I was robbed for 71/2 ounces of marijuana 21:36 and even at that point, I still didn't wake up, you know, 21:39 I still didn't get my attention, first thought in my head was 21:42 go retaliate, then, I talked to some people later on that night 21:45 and, you know, they said look I talked to not some street 21:49 folks, I had to talk to like my brother, he's not really in the 21:52 streets, he gave me some good advice. I also talked to one 21:54 of my friends that's on death row, and he told me, 21:58 you know, you don't want to be where I am at. Either two things 22:00 are going to happen. Either he is going to kill you, 22:01 or you are going to kill him. My brother was like, this isn't 22:05 a movie, this is real life here, that what happens, if you get 22:08 killed down here, you don't have a starring role in the next 22:11 movie, that's it. So I took that advice, and you know, within the 22:15 next couple of days, I moved off the block, I left, and an 22:18 interesting thing about it was the supposed to be "friends" 22:21 on the block, you know, they weren't telling me, you need to 22:24 stay away... don't do it, they were coming knocking on my door 22:26 saying, "Look I got an AK-47, I got a bullet proof vest, I got 22:29 I got this, I know where he hangs out, you know, 22:30 go get him," and things like that... you know... all this 22:32 bad advice is just hitting you.. and you are trying to keep a 22:35 reputation... Yvonne: I was going to say... 22:37 It's all about the manhood and respect and all about that 22:40 Aaron: Yeah, you are trying to keep that reputation, but at the 22:42 same time, you know, you are trying to think and say... 22:45 "You know, I am really not a murderer, I am not a killer," 22:47 but you have many people I hear who would say 22:49 when I go out in the world, I am not going to do this, this, 22:52 and this, so many situations present themselves, where you 22:55 almost have to make split second decisions, and before you know 22:57 it, you are doing something you said to yourself, 10 years ago, 22:59 I wasn't going to do it, so it very well can happen... 23:02 Yes, and don't you find that the street value.. the whole idea of 23:05 respect, if somebody steps on your foot, you have to shoot 23:10 somebody... Aaron: Yeah, you have to do 23:11 something about it... Yvonne: It's so bizarre... 23:15 Aaron: Yeah... Yvonne: and I think its just 23:17 that people get so sidetracked with the street values, 23:20 that's why the Bible, and the value set forth by the Bible 23:24 and the Word, are just so much richer, because you find 23:28 yourself being forced into this situation, where you could lose 23:32 your life over foolishness... Aaron: Over foolishness... 23:35 Over foolishness. You know, one interesting thing, 23:37 is that I had got robbed one night... that night before, 23:40 and I was actually set up for 71/2 ounces of marijuana, 23:44 and not even a month later, a young person gets killed 23:47 in the same project area I was hustling over 5 dollars 23:50 of marijuana. So I sat there and scratched my head 23:52 for a while... and I said, "How is it Lord that you let me 23:55 live and this other gentleman... his mother was Seventh-day 23:58 Adventist, how is it that he didn't make it?" you know... 24:02 and you sit there and that boggles your mind almost, 24:05 and even after all that, I still didn't change... 24:08 I still didn't my life... all I did was just revamp things 24:10 you know, I tried to do it a different way... 24:12 You know, I can stay here with for hours, your story is so 24:15 important and it is so interesting. Let's kind of fast 24:18 forward now to what happened in Louisiana and when you hit rock 24:22 bottom and you found the Lord. Okay, all right so, you know 24:25 I was in Louisiana running from the Lord, once again, 24:28 staying with one of my good friends and this particular 24:31 night, it was April the 9th,2008 I was involved in several 24:35 different types of drugs and this particular night, 24:37 I had walked into my room high on several drugs already, 24:41 I walked into the room and it was like a fear came upon me, 24:45 that had never come upon me before... now I was used to 24:48 snorting cocaine, so you get these cocaine spooks, 24:50 but this was not like a cocaine spook, this was like something 24:54 is in this room that doesn't belong in this room... 24:56 Yvonne: a presence... Aaron: A presence is in here, 24:58 something is in here... Either I don't belong here or 24:59 it doesn't belong here... So I go in the room, I close the 25:02 blinds, 11:30 at night and I lay down on my mattress on the 25:05 floor... and when I lay down I look up towards the ceiling 25:08 and as I look up on the ceiling I see demons literally just 25:12 floating around, like things are just floating around on the 25:14 ceiling, it's kind of like something off a movie where you 25:16 you just see things moving about... and they were moving 25:19 on the ceiling... so me I got scared, didn't know what else to 25:22 to do, so I took the cover you know, cover my head, 25:24 I am thinking, this cover is going to protect me from 25:26 whatever presence is in here, and at that point, I heard the 25:29 Holy Spirit tell me something at that very moment, I heard the 25:33 Holy spirit say my name clear as day. Now He had been calling me 25:36 for a while, but I was trying to fry Him out of my mind... 25:39 At this point, I head Him say something very clear and very 25:42 distinct... He said, "Aaron, either you get your life 25:44 together now or that's it... either you get your life 25:47 together now, or that's it... I knew that I was on the brink 25:50 of making a big, big mistake in my life, a very big mistake.. 25:54 in my life, so I, at that point, grabbed my cell phone and I was 25:57 looking at it and I needed to throw out a lifeline to somebody 26:00 somebody... somebody needs to hear this, that you know, 26:03 I am sinking here, I am falling throwing out a lifeline, 26:06 the only person I could think of was my dad... interesting thing, 26:08 mother and father had always been there even when I was doing 26:10 time, they would come and visit me, so many times, we bumped 26:13 heads, got into it, I sent him out a lifeline, 12:30 where he 26:16 was, 11:30 where I was and the only thing I could think of in 26:19 this message was, I feel lost and friendless, I am lost and 26:22 friendless, the only thing I could send out, press send on it 26:25 the interesting thing about it is my father normally does not 26:27 have text messaging on his phone, this particular time, 26:30 he happened to have text messaging on his phone, 26:34 so that's a blessing in itself, so I send out this message, 26:36 just throwing out a lifeline, hoping that somebody grabs 26:38 this thing, I know my dad is asleep, he doesn't stay up late 26:41 like that, so anyhow, I throw it out and his side of the story 26:44 to tell you is, he saw the phone light up, got up, went to 26:47 the bathroom got on his knees and prayed, and said, 26:49 "Lord, what do I say to him, what do I say to him?" 26:51 see the interesting about it is many mothers and fathers would 26:54 call immediately when they see that text and say, 26:56 "Boy, where are you at? Boy, what are you doing? 26:58 Boy, why this, boy, why that.. " now, if my father wouldn't have 27:00 had that connection with the Lord, he probably would have 27:03 did something like that too... and at that point, I probably 27:05 would have said, "You know what, forget it," and just hung up the 27:08 phone.. But he got on his knees, he prayed, he had that 27:10 connection with God, he is singing back there these very 27:13 words, "What a friend we have in Jesus!" after the song 27:15 "What a friend we have in Jesus" my world just lit up at that 27:18 point... lit up at that point... and I called him on the phone, 27:21 we talked and I was just pouring out my heart to him for about 27:24 15 minutes, we prayed, but I tell you, Dr. Lewis, 27:26 it's nothing like praying for yourself... you see, I had to 27:29 get on my knees, I had to pray for myself. I got on my knees, 27:32 I prayed for myself, and as I was praying for myself, 27:35 I could feel like the weight of world just rising off of my back 27:37 it was like, Satan was like- in the name of Jesus- 27:40 you are getting up off my back and that's what was happening.. 27:43 and you know, at that point, I made a decision, to start 27:45 changing my life, now it wasn't easy, but I tell you the thing 27:48 about it is, as I began to come to the cross, I saw the 27:51 cocaine stop, the ecstasy stop, the marijuana stop 27:54 everything just started stopping as I came to Jesus, 27:57 as I came to the cross... Come to the cross... 27:58 Come to the cross, Come to the cross, 28:00 Yvonne: Amen, Amen, That is beautiful... 28:02 So now, here we are, on this set of "The New Journey" 28:06 which is the program that you are hosting for "Dare to Dream" 28:09 Aaron: Yes indeed Yvonne: and we have a quick 28:11 roll-in for you.. behind-the- scenes.. This is really a behind 28:18 the-scenes roll-in of, no.. some footage on what we did to make 28:24 the opening... and it is so funny, because we used some 28:27 folks that true don't have any criminal background 28:31 don't have any school back yet it's so interesting... watch it. 28:37 There's Ben coming in with the gun, and Bo that came in... 28:44 When they said, "Shut down," when they said, "Get down, 28:49 Get down, get down... Bo couldn't think of what to say 28:54 He had the gun, he said, "Stay in school... " 28:57 Aaron: For the youth out there, stay in school.. stay in school. 29:01 Yvonne: That's right, that's right... so what do you 29:02 say to parents, as we close what would you say to parents, 29:05 that have a son or daughter incarcerated?... 29:08 Look into the camera and just give them a few seconds of 29:12 encouragement... Aaron: Real quick, I would say 29:14 to the mothers and the fathers out there... I would say, 29:16 "As long as there is breath, there is hope. " People used to 29:17 tell my parents that... "As long as there is breath, 29:19 there is hope. You see, the son, the daughter may be going 29:23 through so many things but make it very important in the 29:26 child's life to give them that foundation. Just like the 29:28 prodigal son... and see, that prodigal son, when he came 29:31 to his senses, where did he go? he came back home... 29:34 because he had that foundation in his life. So it is very key, 29:37 parents, to have that foundation Young people, stay away from 29:39 the streets... Yvonne: Wow, Aaron Chancy's 29:44 story is so profound to me because, it just shows the 29:48 transforming power of the Holy Spirit... 29:50 that God can take a life that is headed down one road, and put us 29:56 on a different path, and that's what is so amazing 29:59 about God that He can take our lives when we are headed in the 30:04 on a path of self-destruction and take us to a whole new life 30:09 an abundant life... I guess you can see from that 30:11 interview, why the Lord had me to invite Aaron to be the host 30:16 of "The New Journey. " Well, two things really 30:21 impacted me about what Aaron said, one was that you have to 30:27 make a decision, you have to choose the cross... 30:30 and that's one of the things that we need to know... 30:34 that we can decide to make Jesus Christ our savior... 30:38 We can decide that we want a better life, we don't have to be 30:42 in the same position that we have been in. You know, the 30:47 Bible says,... "Today, when you hear His voice, 30:49 harden not your heart. Don't turn away... 30:52 If you feel that you want a new life, if you feel that you know, 30:57 you just can't continue to go on the way you've been going, 31:01 then make a decision, make a choice, Aaron Chancy did it, 31:05 believers who know and love the Lord made a choice and made a 31:10 decision for the abundant life.. you can have a better life and 31:14 your current circumstances do not have to dictate your future 31:18 "The New Journey" hosted by Aaron Chancy can be seen 31:21 regularly on "Dare to Dream. " Check our website 31:25 d2dnetwork. TV for your local listing. Well that's all for 31:29 this episode of "Urban Report. " Join us next time. |
Revised 2014-12-17