In this episode, Victor and I get real about those tough, cloudy moments we all face. From intense travel to unexpected challenges, I found myself needing a reminder that even in the storm, God’s light is there for us 🌤️. On a recent flight, as we broke through some dark clouds into the sun, it was a powerful reminder of how Jesus meets us right where we are, even in the hardest times. 🌄

Join us as we share stories from our lives, moments from scripture, and why it’s so important to keep your eyes on the truth of God’s promises. We talk about the lives of Peter and Paul, how they faced their own storms, and what we can learn from their faith and resilience. Whether it’s dealing with grief, challenges at work, or just feeling lost, this episode is here to encourage you to keep pushing through, with Jesus leading the way.

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Support the Mission 💪:

This ministry is growing, reaching more cities, and impacting more men, but we need your help to continue. With Giving Tuesday on December 3rd (and early giving beginning on November 18th), we’re praying to raise over $50,000 to bring on an additional evangelist and expand our reach. If this episode speaks to you, consider subscribing, sharing, or becoming a monthly partner with us by visiting our #iGiveCatholic profile!

  Welcome back to the pew everybody. I’m your host, John Edwards. And here across the table from me as always is my co host and cohort, Victor Adams, John. Good to be here. What are we talking about? What are we talking about? We’re talking about everything, man. We, you know, I’m glad you’re back in here this week.

We had, uh, the 300th episode and then I was at the crazy travel time and Dallas trip. Yeah, it was a good, well, that was this past weekend, but I had to get the. The jp2 thing in and all of that, you know the retreat there and then we had them a touchy trip So when I got back it was you know, it was just such a uh, right discombobulated like busy time with all the travel that we I did a solo episode last week and a lot of people reached out and said they were helped by that So thank you for those that reached out and and mentioned that it’s always nice to know that you know the things that we We’re doing or helping and honestly with that episode, I was tired.

I was worn out. Uh, I’d been day after day traveling and I don’t know if I made a lick of sense. So thank you for Reaching out sharing that but make sure it was a joy to do the 300 episode We had a lot of comments on that too and we’re able to spend some time going back through a lot of memories and I had a lot of a lot of people reaching out and congratulating us on all that work, too So it was a joy, but uh, yeah, I just got back from dallas and I want to give a shout out there to the Catholic Brothers for Christ.

I’ve known those guys for a number of years, but it hasn’t worked out for us to get on the same schedule together until here recently. So I went down Friday and Saturday for their Ex Spiritus retreat. They have a retreat they do in the fall and a big conference in the spring. Uh, hopefully I’ll get a chance to go back and be a part of their large conference, but We were there, um, to do two things.

One to share our conversion story and to call men into more. And then two, uh, to be able to give some training and help men launch groups. And we’ve already had guys reach out from the event just in the last day saying, we want to bring you back. We want to get on a call. We want you to help. And so, uh, we’re working along some of the Knights of Columbus there to help them install core and the stuff they’re doing, because it’s very similar to what we’re, we’re, we’re starting in parishes, but then also some groups need revitalizing and some new ones wanted to be launched.

So. That’s what we’re doing. Thank you to Rick and Danny and Bob and John and all the guys the Catholic Brothers for Christ We’re now partner alongside of them So they’re using us as a resource to start groups and we’re gonna put those groups back into contact with their organization So they could continue to be a blessing to them and you know Just a guiding light because they’ve been doing mystery men for a long time So folks we’ve been doing that everywhere.

And in fact, I got off a call on Monday with a diocese Uh, still working the details out. So don’t want to name it yet, but they’ve got close to 129 parishes and they are very adamant about wanting us to work alongside them to start building ministry to men, their parishes, tons of their parishes don’t have ministry.

Can you give them a hint? Like what region it is? Yeah, it’s in the United States. So just stay tuned guys. I don’t want to say that until after, after everything’s ironed out, but, 129 parishes and they’re, there’s like, this is what we need and we want to get this implemented. And. So we’re building a plan and they’re going to get the final okays and all that stuff and we’ll mention the next couple weeks But that’s 129 parishes victor Like I I can’t get to all those by myself And i’ve been asking for months on here and talking to people about supporting us But we have a special opportunity to do that coming up giving tuesday is upon us, right?

And so it’s going to be on december the 3rd this year. I give catholic It’s the day that diocese catholic apostles all those things Have a day that’s designated for people to give to the causes that they want to give to that are helping the church grow in whatever way it is to a parish diocese or through an apostolate like this.

And so early giving starts on November the 18th. And our goal this year, folks is to raise over 50, 000. That’s our goal is 50 grand. So I can bring on people to help me. As you certainly say, we’ve got 129 diet parishes in one diocese. They’re going to be looking for help. We’re already working and partnering alongside three other diocese.

We are doing deanery leadership summits with my touching over the next three or four years to a year with them. We have over 30 parishes on the wait list right now, asking for us to come and work with them. I can’t get to them all myself. It’s at the point now where we have to bring on people because this was never supposed to be about me victor Like just to get on the pew was not just to get on the pew john edwards It was a call to all of us And so I don’t want this ministry to die with me if I get hit by a bus tomorrow or or i’m stricken down with something That i’m not here tomorrow Hopefully that doesn’t happen But like I don’t want this ministry to die with me The lord is doing amazing things through it and we could teach other people to do it You know, that’s what we’re doing through the ministry already.

So I want to bring on evangelists to be able to help us do that. But that you got to be able to support somebody’s family, you know, Victor, when, when they come to work for you, they can’t do it for free, right? They’re going to support their family. So we want to raise it 50, 000 to bring on some of these other evangelists like Paul George and some other people that have talked to us.

We’re also building an online platform. We’re calling the rest or a restoration discipleship Academy. I did at least that’s a. a name on the drawing board right now, but it’s going to be a place where we can be very surgical on the ways that we’re trying to help people with addiction or through their marriage or becoming a better disciple.

And we’re going to put that out there, but it costs money to do all those things, to train people, to pay people, to come on staff, uh, and then to launch things like that academy. So. Folks, I’m asking you, this Giving Tuesday, if you’re looking for something to give to, please consider giving to us, especially if you’re one of these folks that’s coming up to me at events and saying, man, my life was changed to the podcast, or man, this men’s group that we started has been life changing for me.

So many people tell us that all the time, and I realize inflation and elections and all those things, giving is tough right now. But folks, if you decide you want to give, please give to us because we are helping people. I see it each and every day. People are emailing in saying these, these episodes are changing my life.

These men’s groups are helping me become the man I want to be. And this is, people wouldn’t be reaching out to us. Diocese wouldn’t be reaching out to us if it wasn’t working and word wasn’t getting around that it’s making a difference in our church. So folks, help make a difference in our ministry. And become a monthly partner in the pew or decide to support us on this giving Tuesday.

It starts early on November the 18th. So next week or the next two weeks, you’ll be able to give. But if you want to do it right now, you can also give on pew, just to get on the pew. com to our ministry. You can give monthly and support us there. So folks, either way, please keep us in your giving. Uh, season, help us meet our goals so we can bring on people to help other men.

So thank you for that folks. You can find the link to do all of that in the show notes on any of the podcast platform you’re listening to there on the show notes, or you can go to just a guy and if you. com to give there. So Vic, man, it’s exciting to be back in here with you. I wanted to get all that out of the way.

Giving Tuesday’s a huge deal for us, man. And so I really hope people heed the call and really support us because we were on the cusp of doing some amazing things. Well, and that’s the thing I want to add to is like, if you can’t, that’s fine. But if you know, someone is looking for something that’s never heard of us.

You know, promote us, let other people know, like share the show with people. Um, that’s just as good as anything else. That’s what we ask. It’s a way to evangelize. I tell people that all the time. Well, people are struggling, but I don’t know how to help them. We’ll give them a link to the show. Cause they have 300 topics they can go through.

There’s going to help them come out of things or become a better disciple. And that’s what we’re going to be talking about today. You know, we mentioned the Dallas trip and you know, it had been a month since it rained in Memphis, right? You know, like, okay, what does that have to do with Dallas? Well, stick with me.

But. It hadn’t rained and then all of a sudden Halloween hits. And of course it rains on Halloween where every kid’s going, man, you know, just today of all days. So the storm blew in, we lost power like 10 in the morning, the storm. So start 10 45 power went out 40 hour mile an hour winds, you know, pretty good rains for a while and I had to fly to Dallas the next morning.

So the next morning there was cloud cover. It was dreary. It was dark. You know, we were approaching what happened last night, daylight savings time, so falling back. So now you’ve got you know, it’s gonna be four dark at 4 30 in the afternoon and how many people hate that? I’ve been wishing they’d get away with do away with daily saving some for years Because it just gets to be a depressing time gets gloomy and dark and you’re not even home from work yet It’s already dark.

You can’t do anything in the yard or anything outside really So it gets to be that time of year. And of course the holidays are coming and that’s a tough time for people that are isolated alone or might’ve had, you know, uh, their, their loved one pass or children out of the house, all those things. So it gets to be as difficult time of year.

Well, I get to the airport and I’m thinking, man, please don’t let there be any trouble with the travel. You know, I mean, anytime, sometimes it’s even cloudy, you can get delays and stuff, and that’s happened a lot to me lately, but for whatever reason, with all the drizzle and, and the darkness and everything, they were like, Oh, we’re leaving on time.

So i’m sitting on the plane and i’m doing the liturgy hours the office, uh of readings and I’m listening to the uh, regnum christi reflection on the gospel for the day And I have we start taking off and and I look out the window and it’s just dark man It’s gloomy and then we start getting in that cloud cover and it starts getting turbulent shaken And like even the stewardess sat down the pilots like everybody please have your seatbelts on and all that stuff Which they should since we’re taking off anyway But he told everybody, he said, Alan, the plane was really, you know, getting after it here and the bolts barely keep it.

Yeah. Yeah. And it’s shaking. And I just happened to look over and I see all this darkness and all you could see is clouds and gray swirling around the windows. And I was like, man, this is kind of nuts. This is kind of gnarly. And then all of a sudden we broke through. Right. And then there was this guy and there was the sun and there was just this beauty and this calmness, like immediately the storm and the shaking stopped and we broke through to the wake.

To this and it made me think I was like man I need to do a podcast this weekend and right there as I looked out the window I’m like, why did I look out the window at that time? And it was like to see this why to see this as I’m focusing on on the lord already in the liturgy the hours and And the gospel reflection and just praying for the men at the event.

I was going for Going to we break through into this and i’m like, that’s a podcast, right? It’s the way I’m going to go like really what what did you see in that? And what it called me to was just remembering the truth Right? We can be in these, in these times of our life and these storms and these difficult parts and like we get caught up in the moment and it causes us to look down and we start to spiral downwards.

We get to caught up in the fear and the anxiety and the, and the depression and the, the isolation and all those things of the darker moments of our life when we come to these storms that are inevitable in our life, Victor. But then like if we can hold on long enough and we can remember the truth is that it’s just a period in our life.

The rain is going to go away. The clouds are going to go away. And in fact, You know, when I flew in the next day, there were no clouds, right? It was an easy landing. It was great. The sun was out. It was there, it was temporary. It was just a moment in time. But so often for us, we can get caught up in those moments, in those difficult times, and it feels like it’s gonna last, like for an eternity.

We feel like there’s no way out, and we start to spiral downward and we start to lose hope. But we have to remember the truth that there is, there is the light that’s gonna break through. There is the comb, there is the peace that there is a weight outta that storm. And it’s because we have a savior. Who always is waiting for us.

And that’s what I saw. Like when I saw that sign, it’s like the sun was there the whole time. I might not have been able to see it for a few moments. And there was turbulence and, and nervousness and anxiety and, and just getting tossed around a little bit. Like the disciples in the storm, when Jesus is in the boat.

But jesus is always there and he’s always waiting and he’s always seeing us and even though I couldn’t see those rays of the Sun they were still pouring through those clouds and hitting that plane in the place I was and so I want to talk about that a little bit today, man it’s just remembering the truth in these hard situations that are coming and as I said we’re getting this time of year where it gets dark and it gets automatically a little bit more depressing and You’ve got holidays and things like that.

There’s supposed to be times of joy, but the devil can twist those and Make them very sad and lonely for a lot of people too. So as we enter this, this time of year and into the storms that we face every day in our life, I just want to bring some. So a point back to always remembering the truth in our life, right?

Well, you’re talking about in the storms or situations in our lives. I mean not that we’re like we don’t believe God It’s just like we there’s like a veil that’s placed over us that we almost can’t see or remind ourselves of promises God gives us or the promises of Christ gives us the beatitude, you know, like sometimes to be meek there’s pain Sometimes we patient There’s anguish, you know, so there’s things that always going to have to be present for us called suffering.

Um that allows us to be drawn closer to Christ whenever I am suffering I am the closest to Christ. I usually am sure when i’m not suffering and that’s just me being honest, you know But of course when i’m not suffering I am I am celebrating the blessedness of the grace But I also know that when suffering comes, you know, I have to be very careful about how I view the world, or how I view myself, or how I view others, because I’m transcribing or projecting upon them as it’s something they’ve done, or whatever.

Sometimes it’s something I’ve done, where I neglected my prayer life, or I neglected to speak the truths of who I am. No, I am a son of God. Um, but also there’s just things where sickness comes, uh, death comes, you know, to, to loved ones, uh, job loss, um, you know, just tragic stories, a storm where people lose their home, you know, the floods in North Carolina and.

In Georgia, parts of Tennessee that hit a lot of people we know, um, just a lot of tragic things happen and there’s no rhyme or reason for it. And that’s where storms in our minds can, can grow to where we become despondent and distance from not only God, but from, from people that are close to us. Yeah.

And that’s the thing, like, I just, you can feel so distant from Christ in the middle of those things, right? You can just kind of sometimes even say, God, where are you? And all this stuff. And you know, when I saw that image out the plane, I literally had, had had some conflict that morning before I even went to the airport.

Uh, I don’t want to really get into it, but it was just with some stuff that I’m like, man, I was told something and it didn’t happen. And like, how many times am I going to be fooled like that? And, and I just was really getting in this place of like, man, I just, I All I want to do is help. And, and, and it’s just, there’s just a difficult place I was in.

And so I was letting myself kind of just that storm kind of rolled into my vision and into my mind and into, you know, as I was about to go to this event and that’s not uncommon, the devil likes to. To do whatever he can to set you off course when you’re doing going to do something good for the lord and for other people but I just remember sitting there going like man i’m in this fog and then Just this image that god gave me, you know, and that’s the thing is he’s always there And that’s why we always have to pay attention to the things that’s going on around us Because we can get so like blinders on with a horse right like a racehorse They put blinders on so they’re only looking at what’s in front of them and if we’re looking down and we’re looking at the negativity in our life and the things aren’t going our way and The the just the way that we feel that’s that’s that’s depressed or whatever and we’re just we just continue to look down a hole That we continue to walk down behind because you’re following your gaze right, but in the moment I looked up even in prayer and looked over at the window and just saw the moment that like We came out of that darkness and you could see just that blue skyline as you started to come up and then the rays of the sun pour in and and it’s like man God is always there right in the midst of all of our battles in the midst of all of our struggles and And we see that in in the scriptures again and again, like, uh, that’s why I love the word of god so much I mean not only it doesn’t give us our teaching and everything we need to know alongside the catechism in the church, but But like it’s a place where you can go and you can find It People that experience the same things you’re, you’re experiencing.

Like you look at Noah, for instance, you know, you want to talk about darkness and all those things, you know, the world was horrible and the Lord wanted to start over and Noah was a faithful person. And so what did he do? He’s like, you gather your, your family and build an arc and how many people must thought he was nuts and crazy and like, what is this guy doing?

And, you know, if we saw somebody doing that today, I mean, in the movie, Evan Almighty has made a, a parody of that, right. It was Steve Carell, but like, we’d be going like this person’s nuts. But Noah, like, the storms start to come and darkness for days and days and days happen and the world starts to get flooded and everything’s destroyed.

And, you know, he had to be thinking, like, as they kept sending out the dove again and again and it’s coming back empty, like, God, where are you? Like, we’ve done everything you’ve asked us to do and we’ve been out here for days and we got all these stinking animals on here. And, like, what is going to happen?

Are we going to be on this boat for the rest of our lives? And he keeps sending out this dove and coming back empty and sometimes we can feel like that in our prayer life and in our spiritual life when Like we’re asking to like lord get me out of the situation or lord When is this going to end or why did you put me here or why did you allow this and we can really struggle?

But eventually that dove comes back right and it brings that olive branch And then all of a sudden they realize that there’s land and they they find it And then the sun starts to pour out and then the rainbow is shown and is this promise that god is always going to be There and he’s never going to break his covenant.

The rainbow is getting used for a lot of stuff That’s very contrary to what it was ever supposed to be in the world today But like this this sign to noah was like i’m always here and i’m never going to leave you Uh, and and that’s the way he is in our own lives. I mean Jesus says to the disciples when they’re in the storm in the boat, like, why are you afraid?

Like you owe you a little faith like i’m right here and at any time I can make this thing go away So it’s always this point to remember that in these times of darkness in these times of loneliness in these times of depression And the difficulties we’re going to face in life that like even though it may be turbulent You’re being tossed around like the waves are in a plane like shaking and everything, you know You’re in a plane You’ll be going up all of a sudden drop very quickly or something like that with the wind and it’s very Quickly Can be very scary.

I mean i’m on planes all the time and I feel that often but but like god is always there And he never leaves us and this may seem rudimentary to people but after 300 episodes This is something still people need to know They need to be reassured of is that god is there and he knows your problems He knows the storms you’re facing.

He knows the darkness that you’re you’re in That you may be in the midst of right now, but he’s right there all the time waiting for you to break through the other side. He doesn’t leave you. And so our prayers shouldn’t be like, just Lord, get me out of this thing immediately. Lord, stay with me in this.

Lord, help me to keep my eyes on you. So that I know that in a short amount of time, or maybe in time that Maybe a little bit longer than I want, but someday I’m going to become, I’m going to break out of this and that you’re always going to be over on the other side, you’re in it with me, but you’re going to be also waiting for me on the other side there, just like he was with Noah.

Right. And, you know, going back to storms is that if. Uh, stormy, you think of rain and wind, but like, if we’re not careful, we can create our own storms in a sense of being envious or, uh, show hatred or, or anything that’s negative towards other people. And next thing we know we create our own tornado and then, and as we know, tornadoes are destructive, uh, to, you know, when we talk about symbolism is relationships, why, um, and so, like you said, you know, we have to be very careful how much darkness we let in, you know, in the sense of like, uh, Uh, how it controls our behavior, how it controls our thoughts, how it controls our spiritual life.

Um, and what you said is like God, you know, be with me in this moment because that you obviously I’m here to you need to teach me something. Sure. Help me learn this and and one of my greatest I guess truths that I’ve learned from from my spiritual journey is is realizing my prayers like God let me Learn to love the way that your son loved others.

Yeah. Um, because I’ve been, you know, growing up, you know, teenager and all stuff. And I realized I was pretty selfish a lot. And in my, many of my choose choices in life, many way I explored my life and sense of viewing others and stuff. Uh, and I regret a lot of. Things that I’ve thought about or things I’ve said or, or discussions I’ve had with people and dismissing their side of the story as if they’re, they don’t know what they’re talking about.

Um, but the thing is, I learned by, by loving as God loves is that, you know, just. Just loving everybody as best that I can, you know, and, and not be so quick to like not hear their story because, you know, me, you know, like I was a chaplain, you know, St. Jude and, and, and so I saw children pass away and I saw children healed, and I was also a chaplain at the VA hospital.

I saw, uh, men who were um, two vets and Vietnam vets, you know, come for check ins and those that didn’t leave because they passed away. Some had a family, some didn’t because they had a destructive life because they couldn’t deal with the PTSD. Um, and so it was mostly me there in the ICU when they were passing, praying with them and telling as tears rolling down their eyes, well, God forgive me, God forgive me, you know, and being there with them because there’s a lot of tormented souls.

That still have these storms in their, their, their life and they don’t know how to get out of it. And, and so they’ve just been, they figured if I tell him when to get the heck away from me, then I can’t hurt anybody. But yet they’re still in this turmoil and they’ve never felt the sense of peace. And, and one thing we don’t want to do is run from God because we run from God, where we do more harm than good.

Not only to ourselves, but to people around us. So for those that are, that are having a storm in their life right now, Where they’re thinking of self harm. Yeah. Where they’re thinking that no one loves me. Or they’re thinking that no one understands what I’m going through. Um, God does. Yeah. Like you said, Jesus hears everything.

He’s with you the whole time. Invite Him in right now in your struggle and your storm. Yeah, cause I mean, He’s experienced all those things. Rejection, abandonment. Um, he has been, you know, the, just the terrible, most terrible things that anyone could do to anybody, Jesus experience. He understands, uh, better than anyone what we’re going through.

And he, he hurts alongside of us and he, and he’s there to comfort us. I mean, that’s the thing. I mean, Jesus is divine healer. That’s what he wants to do is come in and, and to help us through these things in our life. And he can’t do that if we’re, if we’re walking away from him, if we’re turning away from him.

That’s the thing it’s like the devil allows these storms in this just like in that plane like that cloudiness We’re like, where did everything go? I don’t see lights. I don’t see buildings. I don’t see trees. I don’t see ground All I see is this darkness that surrounds me and that’s what the devil wants to do is to blow that fog into your life so that You lose sight of the things that matter most like your loved ones most importantly god and In christ and and you just got to think like what what do I do about that?

And you can look at other people. I mean even jesus himself He’s going through his passion through his storms and and god never abandoned him, right? he never abandoned him and what happened like dude, jesus had to go through that darkness and you know all that happened when he when he when he died on the cross and The the earthquake and the ground splitting and all that stuff But then god waited for him and there was the resurrection, right?

There was the retrospection the resurrection the light and and and jesus coming back to life and being the light of the world for all Of us so like this is the same thing that’s we we live like new christ and god didn’t abandon him He’s not going to abandon us. He’s always there and christ is this this high priest, right?

That that has gone through these things for us I mean I saw that in the readings for for sunday the second reading You Today when I was at mass, um, you know, and it’s in Hebrews 7, 24 through 25. And it says, but Jesus, because he remains forever has a priesthood that does not pass away. Therefore he is always able to save those who approach good God through him.

Since he lives forever to make intercession for them. This is what we’re talking about. Like Jesus is like, he’s not a priest that passed away. He lives forever. He’s there for us always. And therefore he’s always able to save us. From these storms from these darknesses because he’s able to approach god for us and intercede for us That’s what it says in 24 through 25 And that’s what he does you look at other places in the in the in the gospels and in the bible peter, right?

He denies christ three times and he’s in this place. I mean you couldn’t imagine the storm He was probably in the the self hate and the loathing and the just the shame and the disgrace he felt for himself I I have I I sat there and denied my lord three times You And so in that in that storm in that confusion he goes back to doing what he knows to do Which is to fist to fish but then in?

In the, in, in the boat, he looks out at the shore and there’s Jesus, right? In this white robe, this light shining before calling him to him so he could forgive him and he could be there for him. He could pull him out of that darkness and set him on the path to, to, to dying on his own cross, you know, for, for Christ and for the church and becoming the Pope that he was called to be the, this first Pope of the church and the rock, you see it in, in, in Paul, right?

Paul, he’s, he’s murdering Christians and he has this conversion moment. He’s blinded. So literally his entire life is thrown into darkness. And all he hears is this voice and Christ doesn’t abandon him either. And Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Get up and go, go forward to Damascus and wait for me there.

You know, wait for a man called Ananias to be there and to open your eyes and So Paul’s going, what? And the Lord is guiding him through that darkness. And he’s sitting there waiting, like, am I going to be able to see again? Is this punishment for what I’ve done? You can only imagine what he was thinking.

And the storms he was facing. But then Christ shows up to him again through another person, through first Ananias and then Barnabas, right? Who shows up and takes him by the hand and leads him. Everyone has to go through these moments of darkness in their life Everybody goes through these storms and for many of us it’s going to be multiple times in our life But the point is you’re going to break through the darkness You have to remember the truth and the truth is jesus christ and the truth is that he remains there always He never leaves us.

It’s like that That poem that’s on a lot of crosses in people’s houses or on plaques it’s talking about walking along and there was two sets of footprints and then Then all of a sudden there was one and realizing that’s when you were carrying me, right? That’s that’s why there went to be one set of footprints in front of instead of two Is because you were carrying me in that time and this is something that can be easy to remember in our head right intellectually But we have to know it in our hearts because that’s that’s the that is the place of belief in our life is in Our hearts and so when we start to believe with our hearts that god never abandons us Then we can break out of those clouds like I saw in that plane and see that the heavens are still there and that glory is still there and that the sun is still shining and that the light is still there.

And that’s what Christ always is in our life and what he wants to be, especially for those who are in a place of darkness right now and are having trouble finding their way out. Well, you know, going back to the footsteps, um, That, that is a, like you said, a poem that I would say majority of people know about and can’t identify with.

And I, I think that’s the thing is that we, if we all know that we all have storms, because you gave us like examples of Saul and Peter, but there’s also Moses. Trying to find out who he was, you know, um, any major, every major prophet being called to serve God. Uh, even every disciple trying to figure out who they’re going to, are they going to serve Christ or not?

Are they going to stay with him or walk away? You know, that decision. Um, so therefore, if they’ve had storms in their lives, we know that when a storm comes on, we go, what? You should look at it and say, bring it on. I’m prepared. I’m ready for this. I’m going to put boards on my window of my heart in a sense of like protection from this assault like we do in hurricanes when I was in Florida.

You know, you prepare your property, you prepare your heart when the storm is at the most high and you just dwell in the love of God knowing that it will pass. And eventually that light will come back. That sun will shine on your face again of grace. And that is when you learn to love God. That no matter what is thrown at you, you will not sway your faith, right?

You are you are stuck you are centered in the in the heart of christ And and then once that happens the devil’s and the enemy goes well, there’s no point in attacking this person more You know, he’s exhausting me. So i’m gonna go somewhere else Well, that’s the thing To remember that everything in life is a gift the the good stuff the bad stuff the times of joy and the times of suffering Right you’re being right now if you’re in a place, it’s really dark and hard You And you’re saying it’s easy for you to say, then look at yourself as being in the forge.

Right. We put metals in the forest to strengthen them. So they come out stronger than ever would have been. You get rid of the imperfections, right? They become more solid than they would have ever been. If somebody tried to make them into something without purifying them. And that’s what these things do.

They’re gifts that the Lord allows us to go through. They may not feel like a gift, but looking back, they are. Because every single time when we face adversity and we face it well and the ways that we’re called to and staying tied to our faith and to Jesus, we come out better than we were on the other side of them.

And that’s what it is. Just, just realize you’re in the forge right now and that the flames are, are sitting there and purifying you, uh, to become more like Christ and become the person that we want to be. We all want to be saints and, and to be able to be that on earth, we have to go through these trials, right?

And hopefully we all get that way. Like I know we’re coming to the end here and and you know I I just want to say like I took some notes As I looked out the window because I was like man This is just I want to have some things to say on this podcast and you know I’ve been winging it. We weren’t looking at really anything other than the verse I had written down, but this was something Um that I wrote down, you know, that that’s the thing I fly a couple times a month Often it’s raining or storming dark and dreary and depressing But then as we continue to rise you break through the darkness you break through the clouds and you see that above it all nothing Has changed like the truth is what it is.

The situation is still the same. Jesus is still on the throne He still loves you. He still watches for you. He still intercedes for you. He is good He’s there with you every inch of the way And this is the rest of what I wrote the reality is that there are still blue skies There’s still a sun giving light to everything in its path.

The truth still exists It’s a call to remember To punch through the darkness and to keep straight the past to return to the truth of the situation That there’s always hope There’s always clear skies on the other side of the darkness. You just have to have the faith and the fortitude to keep looking up for them instead of staring off into the darkness and down into your own problems.

Jesus always waits for us to remind us of the truth of any situation. He seeks to lead us back above the clouds to where clear paths and blue skies of truth await for all of us. It’s the way to the heavens and it’s the way to heaven. And so, folks, as we close out here today, if you find yourself in that darkness, Continue to pray, you know, you’ve got to persevere through it continue to look for christ Look for his guidance the way that noah did the way that peter did the way that saul did the way that I do in My life the way that all of us have to if we want to come out of these places you may be Surrounded by fog we’re headed into this time of year where darkness kind of falls on the earth But that’s why it’s even more important to remember that there is a truth and that truth has got a name It’s jesus christ.

He loves you. He walks with you each and every day He wants to walk you out of these things. He will not abandon you like others might have in your life He’s always there. You have to trust in that you have to reach out your hand and grab his and stay close to him each and every day. And I promise you, there will be a light that breaks through that darkness.

So Victor, let’s take it to prayer in the name of the father and the son and the Holy spirit. Amen. Heavenly father. We thank you for another opportunity to remember who you are and especially to remember who your son is in Jesus Christ. Lord, we’re all going to face storms. We’re all going to be surrounded in darkness and parts of our lives.

And sometimes we’re going to have losses of jobs, loss of life. We’re going to have situations where people have done things to us, or we’ve been hurt or injured in ways that we don’t understand, and we can’t comprehend why we were allowed to go through it. But Lord, it is a forge and you let all of us go through it to purify us, to bring us into the people that you call us to be, and to make us more like you.

Lord, you had to suffer and die and your, and your journey here is a, is fully man and fully God, and we’re going to have to do the same in ours. So, Lord, help us to remember to keep our eyes on you. Help us to remember that in through every cloud and through every storm, we’re going to break through. And on the other side are blue skies and the light of the sun and the truth of who you are, a God who loves us and never abandons us.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.