Lessons to Rise Above Any Storm

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It's time now to get the hell out of your life.
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A weekly broadcast with real people, sharing real struggles, and offering real hope.
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Today's show will encourage, inspire, and empower you to face life's challenges with a bold confidence and renewed hope.
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Now let's join our host, Ron Myers, the promoter.
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Hello, my friends, and welcome to Get the Hell Out of Your Life.
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I'm Ron Myers, and I need to ask you, have you had your conversations with Jesus this past week?
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You know, Jesus isn't waiting for the perfect time or the perfect prayer.
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Just talk to him.
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One conversation can change the direction of your day.
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Today I want to ask you a big question.
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What are you believing when everything around you looks destroyed in shambles, just chaos?
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You know, I had another show planned for today, but on Monday night I was watching the New Orleans Saints play the Atlanta Falcons for Dome Coming.
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It was a remembrance of when the Saints returned to the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina.
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And suddenly I wasn't watching history, I was reliving it.
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The images, the water, the destruction, the people, the helplessness.
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Twenty years disappeared just like that.
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And I heard that little voice inside, Ron, you need to tell this story.
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Because somewhere today, somebody listening to me is facing their own Katrina.
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Maybe you lost your job.
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Maybe the doctor gave you news you never expected.
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Maybe somebody you love walked out.
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Maybe your finances have collapsed.
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Maybe the dream you've worked on for years has fallen apart.
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And maybe you're sitting there wondering, Jesus, what in the world am I supposed to do now?
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Well, friends, I've been there, and life has taught me something very important.
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Don't write the ending while you're still in the middle of the storm.
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Because the storm doesn't get the final word.
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Jesus does.
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It was August of 2005.
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At the time I was the general manager of a Christian radio station on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
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I had only been the manager for about 16 months.
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On Saturday, August 27th, I was in Mobile, Alabama working with the media team at a Promise Keepers Rally.
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Then we started hearing the weather reports.
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There was a storm in the Gulf.
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Her name, Katrina.
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And the people from Louisiana and Mississippi were encouraged to leave and head home.
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So I was one of them.
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I called my wife and told her to take the kids and the pets and head north to Meridian to stay with her sister.
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Now, my plan was a little different.
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I had a hotel room there in Mobile, but I was going to go home and stay at the house.
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After all, I managed a radio station, and if the storm knocked us off the air, somebody needed to be there to get us back up.
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Now that made sense to me, but friends, that quiet little voice inside of me kept telling me, almost yelling at me, not to stay at my house and don't cancel the hotel room.
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So I didn't.
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I changed my plans and decided I would go home, get some supplies, and come back to the hotel room.
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Now looking back, that decision I believed saved my life.
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One of the lessons life has taught me is that sometimes God's protection doesn't look like protection when it's happening.
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Sometimes it looks like a changed plan, a closed door, a delay, an interruption.
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We get frustrated because things aren't going according to our plan, but we don't know what God knows.
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So don't judge God's faithfulness by what you can see today.
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You don't have enough information yet.
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After Katrina passed, I started trying to get back to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
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Law enforcement was telling people not to go in.
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Fortunately, I had media credentials.
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And what I saw when I finally got through, I'll never forget.
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It looked like a war zone.
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The Mississippi Gulf Coast I knew had been ripped apart.
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I had to park several blocks from my house, and as I walked, I noticed something lying among the debris.
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It was a photograph.
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A mother and a child having a picnic, just an ordinary family picture.
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A happy moment, a memory.
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I picked it up, and one thought went through my mind.
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Did they survive?
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I don't know who they were.
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I didn't know where that photograph came from.
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But standing there holding somebody else's memory made the devastation personal.
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Hurricanes don't just destroy buildings, they scatter pieces of people's lives.
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I continued toward my house, and my neighbor Kenny saw me and said, Hey Ron, it's terrible.
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Well I walked up my driveway to the front door, and for some crazy reason I tried my key.
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I don't know why there wasn't much left to unlock.
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I finally kicked the door down, and mud was everywhere.
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The refrigerator was upside down, the French doors were gone, and there was a water line about eight feet high inside our home.
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Eight feet.
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We had lost practically everything.
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And in that moment, friends, I cried.
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At that moment, I wasn't the radio guy.
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I wasn't the promoter.
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I wasn't the guy who was supposed to have an answer.
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I was just a man standing all alone in the wreckage of his home.
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But right in the middle of the destruction, I saw something I will never forget.
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On our kitchen table was a bowl of Cheerios.
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And somehow it was dry.
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The water had apparently lifted the table and put it back down.
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Now I'm not going to build a theology around a bowl of Cheerios, but I'll tell you what it did.
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It made me stop.
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In the middle of complete chaos, sometimes there are little things that make you wonder.
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So I gathered whatever clothes I could salvage.
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They were muddy and soaked.
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And I decided I had to go back to Mobile.
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I needed to find a laundromat and get a prepaid phone because there was no communication on the coast.
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I still hadn't talked to my wife in Meridian.
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It had been a few days.
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So I went back to Mobile.
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I bought a prepaid phone so I could finally call my wife.
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And what a conversation that was.
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Then I found a laundromat.
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And there I sat watching my muddy clothes go around and around in that washing machine.
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Everything in my life felt like it had been thrown into the same violent spin.
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But I knew three things.
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I was alive, my family was alive, and Jesus was still Jesus.
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Sometimes faith looks like sitting in a laundromat with what you've salvaged in a basket and saying, Jesus, I don't know what happens next, but I'm still here.
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There was another kind of loss that is even harder to explain.
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Have you ever thought about how many memories are attached to places?
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You know, weddings, graduations, birthdays, family reunions, restaurants where you celebrated, places where you laughed with friends, homes where children grew up.
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Driving along the beach after Katrina was very difficult for me.
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I'd look for a familiar place connected to some beautiful memory, and it wasn't there.
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Sometimes there was nothing but a foundation.
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The building was gone, the trees were gone, and sometimes the entire neighborhood was gone.
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But if Katrina taught me something, it taught me that losing the place that's special to you doesn't mean you lose the memory.
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A storm can take a building, it can't take the birthday you celebrated there.
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It can't take the wedding, it can't take the laughter, it can't take the love.
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Some things are stored somewhere no hurricane can reach.
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Well, eventually I made it back to the radio station.
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And here's something incredible.
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The building, a little White House built in the 50s, had survived.
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And after the most destructive hurricane to ever hit our area, we only lost one shingle.
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One.
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Engineers from Tupelo were already on site working to get us broadcasting on generator power.
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And suddenly that little Christian radio station became much more than a radio station.
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It became a gathering place.
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People slept on the floors.
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We cooked breakfast outside.
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Supplies came in, teams went out.
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People would tell us what they needed, and we would put that over the radio.
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And these wonderful Gulf Coast people responded.
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Our station's theme was the light of the Gulf Coast.
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After Katrina, those words meant something completely different.
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Because when everything around you was dark, light matters.
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Then a man came in to my office and said something that changed the way I looked at my past.
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He started talking about everything that I had done before becoming the manager of the radio station.
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Promotions, events, organizing people, public relations, solving problems, getting things done.
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And basically he said, Ron, God has been training you for this time in your life.
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Wow.
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I never thought about it that way.
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All those years of promoting, producing events, all the pressure, all the problems, all the times when something went wrong and I had to figure it out.
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What if that wasn't just my past?
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What if it was preparation?
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I call it God's boot camp.
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You may be looking at something in your past right now and thinking, what a waste.
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Maybe it wasn't.
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Maybe God will use something you learned 10 years ago for something you can't even see today.
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I have discovered that some lessons don't make sense while you are learning them.
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They make sense when you finally need them.
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What looks like punishment today may become preparation for tomorrow.
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So don't prejudge your circumstances.
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God can use all of it.
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One day after Katrina, I went to my home church, Trinity United Methodist Church in Gulfport for a hot meal.
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And friends, there was a line out the door.
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And in that line were bank presidents, lawyers, teachers, construction workers, even a Mississippi Supreme Court judge.
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People with money, people without money, people with impressive titles.
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Katrina didn't care.
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Everybody needed the same thing.
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A hot meal.
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Hurricane Katrina was the great equalizer.
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We spend an awful lot of our lives worrying about things that don't matter nearly as much as we think they do.
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Titles, status, possessions, who's important, who has more.
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Then life happens.
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And suddenly we remember we're all human.
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We all need grace.
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We all need each other.
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And every one of us needs Jesus.
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And then something beautiful started happening along the Gulf Coast and into New Orleans.
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People began arriving from all over America.
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Not an army carrying weapons, an army carrying food, water, tools, supplies, campers, and love.
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People told me.
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They were in their kitchen cooking or watching TV and they felt God nudging them.
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Go help my children.
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And they came and they came and they came.
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One ministry brought camper after camper to the Gulf Coast.
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More than 20 were eventually given to ministers and families who needed somewhere to live.
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A couple from Kentucky brought a camper from my family.
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They put it in our driveway and then they handed me the title.
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This is yours, Ron.
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Friends, I'll never forget that.
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The Bible tells us not to forget to show hospitality to strangers because some of us have entertained angels without knowing it.
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Well, I don't know who all those people were who came to the Mississippi Gulf Coast after Katrina, but I'll tell you what I do believe.
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I believe God sent us a host of angels.
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Some drove pickup trucks, some pulled campers, some carried cases of water, some cooked meals, some cleared debris, some prayed, some hugged people who had nothing left.
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They didn't have wings that I could see, but they showed up.
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It was Jesus with work gloves on, Jesus behind the wheel of a truck.
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Jesus handing somebody a bottle of water.
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Friends, God is so good that sometimes when you go through a storm, He sends people right into the middle of it with you.
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And don't get so focused looking for a miracle that you miss the person God just sent to your door.
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Here's something I want you to understand.
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While all of this was happening, I was hurting too.
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My home was destroyed, my family was displaced.
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I was rebuilding a radio station while trying to rebuild my own life.
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But every day I went on the air, I had to give people hope.
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I had to encourage them.
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I had to tell them we're going to get through this.
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And you know something, my friend?
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A lot of those days, I was actually talking to myself.
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I needed to hear it too.
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That's another lesson Katrina taught me.
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You can be hurting and still be useful.
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You don't have to have everything figured out before God can use you.
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You don't have to be completely healed before you can encourage somebody else.
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Helping somebody through their storm gives you the strength to keep walking through yours.
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Now, during the aftermath, I said something on the radio that shocks some people.
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I said, I think one day we may thank God for Katrina.
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Now listen carefully, I wasn't thanking God that people died or thanking God that homes were destroyed.
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And I wasn't thanking God for suffering.
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What I meant was that there may be a day that we can look back and recognize what surviving that storm produced in us resilience, compassion, courage, perspective, faith.
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We discovered we could lose almost everything and still get up tomorrow morning.
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We discovered possessions can disappear, but purpose doesn't have to.
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We discovered life can change overnight, but Jesus doesn't.
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Twenty years later, I have the evidence.
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Evidence that tells me, Ron, you have been through storms before.
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God was there then and he will be there again.
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That's why I asked you at the beginning of the show, what are you believing when everything around you looks destroyed or in shambles?
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Because circumstances will talk to you, fear will talk to you, your bank account will talk to you, the doctor's report will talk to you, the empty chair will talk to you, the termination letter will talk to you, but those things don't get to decide what you believe.
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Here's something from my signature series on belief that I want you to remember.
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I cannot see what God is doing is not the same thing as God is not doing anything.
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That's a biblical optimism.
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Biblical optimism doesn't pretend everything is wonderful.
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Realism says this is difficult.
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Belief says, okay, what's my next step?
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What can I learn?
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Who can I talk to?
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What haven't I tried?
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What is my next move?
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And most importantly, Jesus, what are you trying to show me?
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So, friends, don't let a temporary circumstance become a permanent belief.
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Don't let yesterday right tomorrow, and don't let fear make decisions that belong to faith.
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Now let me fast forward 20 years, because there's another part of this story I couldn't have possibly known in 2005.
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Remember that little White House, my little safety net, my light of the Gulf Coast job, the radio station that survived Katrina, the place where we broadcast hope, where supplies were coordinated, where so much ministry happened.
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Well, in July of 2025, American Family Radio practically gave me that little White House.
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Think about that.
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Twenty years later.
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Today, those are my offices.
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I record my podcast and radio show there.
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It's also where I work on my Christmas City gift show.
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Ministry, radio, podcasting, promotions, Christmas City, so many pieces of my life somehow came full circle right back to this beautiful little white house I'm in right now.
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If you had told me while I was sitting in that mobile laundromat with all my muddy clothes, I wouldn't have believed you.
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If you had told me while I was standing in eight feet of flood damage, I couldn't have imagined it.
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But that's the point.
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Only God knew.
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That's why I don't want you to make a permanent judgment about your life based on what it looks like today.
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You don't know what God knows.
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Sometimes you have to live long enough to look backward and finally understand what you could never see looking forward.
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So here's Ron's next step for this week.
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I want you to identify your Katrina.
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What's the storm you're facing right now?
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Name it.
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Don't pretend it doesn't exist.
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Then have a conversation with Jesus.
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No fancy prayer, just talk.
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Tell him you're angry, tell him you're scared, tell him you're confused.
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Tell him, Jesus, I don't know what to do.
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Then ask him one question.
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Jesus, what's my next step?
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Not how is this whole story going to end?
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Just what's my next step?
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And when you see it, take it.
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Because belief requires movement.
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Believe, move, learn, adjust, and believe again.
00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:38.240
My friends, I'm going to take a short break, and when I return, I want to talk directly to the person who's standing in the middle of a storm right now.
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Because when you're standing in the wreckage, the chaos, it's almost impossible to imagine that one day you may look back and see something you simply cannot see today.
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If that's you, don't go anywhere.
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I'll be right back.
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You're listening to Get the Hell Out of Your Life with your host, Ron Myers.
00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:01.839
Real stories, real struggles, and real hope.
00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:06.400
Here's a refreshing word just for you today.
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It comes from the book of Hebrews, chapter 13, verse 8.
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Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
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Be refreshed today.
00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:25.119
Hi, this is Candy Anderson Ferris, bringing you a message of hope.
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One of my favorite verses that speaks to God's forgiveness is found in Romans.
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Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
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Because through Jesus Christ, the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
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No matter what you've done, Jesus died for you.
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As his child, you and I are forgiven.
00:20:54.240 --> 00:21:05.119
There was a precious example, one of those battle preach moments that happened several years ago when my twin grandbabies were just little itsy bitsy things.
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Bodhi had hit his sister Tegan, and she just stood him up, put his face in her hands, and said, Look at me.
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What did you do to me?
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She said again, what did you do to me?
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And he said, I hit you.
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And she said, That's right.
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Now are you sorry?
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And he said, Yes.
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And at that very moment, she took him in her arms, wrapped him up, and said, I forgive you.
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While we were yet sinners, Christ Jesus died for us.
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His grace, his forgiveness, his mercy is unfailing.
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He knew we were sinners.
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He knew we were depraved people.
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But yet he died for us and he takes us in his arms and he wraps us up in his precious grace.
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If we confess our sins, he is faithful and he is just to forgive us of all our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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Remember today, you are forgiven.
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How do you get the hell out of your life?
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Get on your knees and cry out to the Lord.
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He hears you right where you are.
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How to get the hell out of your life?
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Well, yeah, replace it with Jesus.
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We gotta be born again, born of the Spirit, and that's by trusting Jesus Christ, turning from our sins and trusting Jesus.
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How do you get the hell out of your life?
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Oh gosh.
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Jesus.
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Jesus.
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Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
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Welcome back, my friends.
00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:05.119
And before we go, I want to talk to the person who feels like life has just knocked the wind out of you.
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Maybe your Katrina isn't a hurricane.
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Maybe it's a diagnosis, a divorce, a death, a termination, a financial disaster, a dream that didn't happen.
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And right now, you're looking at the wreckage thinking, how can anything good possibly come from this?
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Now I don't know how your story will unfold.
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I can't promise when the circumstances will change, but I can tell you what my experiences have taught me.
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Don't write the ending while you're still in the middle of the storm.
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Twenty years ago, I couldn't see today.
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I couldn't see that little white house becoming mine.
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I couldn't see myself sitting there years later recording a podcast and radio show that goes around the world.
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I couldn't see the full circle.
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But God could.
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So don't prejudge the middle of your story, my friend.
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Right now, all you may see is mud, but God sees farther than you do.
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And here's where I've landed after all these years.
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When you have Jesus, you have everything you ultimately need.
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You are accepted, you are forgiven, you are cleansed, you belong.
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He lives in you, he's with you twenty-four hours a day.
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He's not going to divorce you, he's not going to kick you out of the family, he's not going to wake up tomorrow and decide he's finished with you.
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No, Jesus is your anchor, he's your rock.
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And when the storm comes, grab onto that rock.
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Have those conversations with Jesus every day, especially when you wake up in the morning.
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And before the world gets your attention, give Jesus yours.
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And when you can't understand what he's doing, remind yourself, well, I can't see what God is doing.
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It's not the same thing though as God is not doing anything.
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My friend, storms pass, lives get rebuilt, scars become stories, stories become testimonies, and testimonies give somebody else the courage to believe.
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If God brought them through it, he can bring me through it too.
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That's why I tell my story.
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I will be back next week with another grace-filled episode of Get the Hell Out of Your Life available wherever you listen to podcasts.
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And remember this: you were created on purpose for a purpose by a God who loves you more than you can imagine.
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Now go live like you believe it.
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And one final thought from a guy who has lived through a lady named Katrina.
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The storm may change your life, but with Jesus, the storm doesn't get to write the ending.
00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:07.359
Today's show was produced by Ron Myers Ministries, a listener-supported ministry.
00:26:07.519 --> 00:26:12.799
For a copy of today's broadcast, please visit our website, thepromoter.org.
00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:20.480
And would you prayerfully consider making a tax-deductible donation so that we may continue to share stories of God's amazing grace with the world?
00:26:20.640 --> 00:26:25.279
And join us next week for another broadcast of Get the Hell Out of Your Life.
00:26:25.519 --> 00:26:29.920
Real people, sharing real struggles, and offering real hope.
00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:30.960
From Christ.
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