Good News in Bad Times

This is Andy Thomas from the Masculine Journey Podcast where we discover what it means to be a wholehearted man. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds.

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Elite Plus is an eight-year annuity with a 3.75 APY one-year guarantee and minimum guarantee of 2% to lower your taxable income while increasing your retirement. PRCUA.org. That's PRCUA.org. Welcome to If Not For God, stories of hopelessness that turn to hope. Here is your host, Mike Zwick. Today on If Not For God, life isn't always, you know, great news, and sometimes you have bad news. And, you know, this week's episode, Mike has lost his father.

It was Wednesday, February the 10th, yeah. And, yeah, I mean, speaking of which, you look at the book of Psalm 34 18, and it says, the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. And we know, you know, some people are doing really well, and some of the people who are listening are going through a tough time. And we want to speak to, we really try to speak to everybody during the show. And I feel like if you're going through a tough time, then we definitely want to encourage you with some good news. And if things are great, then just keep this in mind if, you know, when something happens. So, but, yeah, there was a story I wanted to tell about my dad.

The day my dad passed away on February 10th, I had just about everybody that I could think of praying for my dad. And to get that in context for everybody, Mike, he had COVID. He had COVID. And he came down with it when?

He had a light heart attack, and he had the light heart attack. He went to the VA in Durham. And when he went to the VA, they let him out.

And when he got out of the VA, he went to rehab. And while he was in isolation at rehab, he got COVID. He had already had the first shot for COVID.

And I don't know if he had just gotten the second shot or not, but he had already gotten the first shot. You know, they were basically keeping him in quarantine two weeks. And at the end of the two weeks, he actually got COVID. And then a few days later, he passed away. So he slowly deteriorated.

And that was that. But the day that he passed away, on February the 10th, we had all sorts of people praying for him. Robbie, I think you were praying for him, right?

Oh, absolutely. I'd been praying for a couple weeks for him, because you would, you know, when he had the heart attack, you know, we were in on that. And then he got COVID. And he told us that. And then he started to get really bad Wednesday, when they took him. And then shortly thereafter, you texted me and said, Man, my dad's taking a return for the worst be praying.

Yeah, yeah. And so we had people praying for his recovery. And then we also had people praying for his eternal recovery.

Because at the time, he wasn't a believer. But I got it at the time before. And but let's get a little backstory on that. You've been talking to your dad, I know, since I've known you, right, a little bit trying to pique his interest, share the gospel, that kind of thing. Yeah.

And it's funny. It's like, sometimes so many times, he said, I'm not interested, not interested, but not interested, but sometimes he would, he was almost like his interest was piqued. I remember when that whole, are you a football fan at all?

Or no, I am. Yeah, the whole Tim Tebow thing was going on back in 2011, where he was winning all these games. And it was miraculous. And I remember my dad kind of, you know, made him think about that. And he said, man, this is something else, how this could happen.

And then just a few other times, but yeah, I mean, nothing. I mean, as far as, you know, he said, I don't believe, I don't believe. And at one point, he said, I don't want to hear it anymore.

And so I respected his wishes. And to go back a little bit further than that, actually, for everybody to get the whole sense, you and your dad, you know, it wasn't the easiest relationship. It wasn't the easiest.

I mean, we had our really good times. There were disagreements that we had, of course, and, but your parents were divorced, they were divorced, and I was very young. And the last four years of my dad's life, he, he became very unhappy.

And I think he took it out on some other people. But he he was just unhappy. And, and I always would ask him, I would say, Dad, how are you doing? He goes, Oh, not good. This happened that it was like, you know, nothing could happen. But he's something that happened.

It was always bad, bad, bad. So probably maybe a month or two ago, I stopped saying, Dad, how are you doing? I said, Hey, Dad, there's a Duke game on tonight, or whatever.

But the very last time that I talked to him on Monday, February the eighth, he called left a message. And I said, Hey, Dad, how are you doing? He says pretty good.

Oh, wow. And I hadn't heard that in a long time. And he said, Yeah, they said, I've got COVID. And he said that they say I'm gonna get better. He says, but Michael, he says, I'm ready to go.

I've been miserable. So yeah, and so I said, Okay. And I said, Dad, I said, Would you like a Bible or anything?

spiritual reading or any? He said, No, no. He said, But thank you for asking. You know, he was really nice about it. And so anyways, on the day that he passed away. Well, I, you know, for me, I know the story. So I knew, you know, the story.

Yeah, yeah, listeners would enjoy a little backstory to know, you know, this is, this is tough stuff. And we had people praying for him for a long time. But the day that he passed away, everybody was praying for you were stew was Justin Harden. He said him and his church were a friend down in South Carolina at a church.

He was having his church. I mean, everybody that we knew my mom was having her church pray for everybody. And my mom told me afterwards, she said, Mike, she said, I had a friend from my church. And she said, I would always she said, I'm praying for more.

I'm praying for more. But the end of the day, after my dad had passed away, or whatever, I saw Marcia said, I was praying for your dad at 7.10pm. I told her he passed away. She said, Well, what time did he pass away? I said, Well, doctor call me and told me the time of death was 7.15. And she said, Well, at 7.10, because I know that she said, I looked at clock, I looked at the clock, and I prayed that God would show him a glimpse of hell, so that he would have one last chance to cry out to the Lord for salvation.

And she said, when I asked him that I felt the Lord give me peace and say, I'll do that for you. And so I thought it was pretty interesting that it was five minutes later that he passed away. Well, the other night, I was talking to my sister, Cindy, up in New York, and, and I texted her and I said, Yes, it isn't that amazing that five minutes before he passed away, that this lady prayed this prayer. And Cindy texted me, she said, No, Mike, he didn't die at 7.15. He died at 7.11.

The minute after she prayed that prayer, and probably if not for God. You know, and, and again, we've had a lot of folks, you know, praying is that, you know, this is always a really, really difficult thing. I mean, you got somebody that you love, that and, and you, you know, I can't even imagine a life without Jesus, a life without love, a life without joy, peace, patience, kindness, you know, you wouldn't, you wouldn't wish that on any buddy. And so but then you're faced with this. And, you know, I was kind of shocked today that you came in to record actually, because I mean, these these events, this was a week ago today.

Yeah. And, but like me, you know, my dad died the day before my boot camp, you know, as I was usually, my dad died on a Tuesday. And I usually leave for boot camp Wednesday morning, and I talked to my wife, and she's and I was like, Honey, I want to go.

She said go. And I've thought about it was the best thing I ever did. Yeah, because it, it put me somewhere in a peace of mind. And I knew I had to prepare for the funeral because I was speaking and all but, you know, and I was speaking at the boot camp several times, but actually, that really helps me because for some people that may be work for me, it's time with God, and he was helping me process in my dad's relationship with me, and what that meant for me. And, and as I got a chance to share at his funeral, I, you know, those were precious times. And, you know, one of the most precious times for me, Mike was when I was preparing to give, you know, my father's eulogy, the entire masculine journey team, and they were all there. They pulled me in rooms to pray with me. So it was Bob Young, my Christian junkyard guide, Jerry was there. All these people laid hands on me. And all these people were there to support me. I'll never ever, like, that was God's hand, right? Coming down and saying, Robbie, you know, I'm there for you. Yeah, and he is. He says, I'll never leave you nor forsake you.

And, you know, when things are kind of coasting along and things are going well, you know, you always know that. You know that God is there, but it's interesting that, that Psalm 34 16, that Lord, the Lord is close to the brokenhearted. Where that, I mean, you think about it.

Who was, who was brokenhearted? I mean, look at Jesus. Look at God's only son. I mean, he came to earth. I mean, he was rejected by man. I mean, he, you know, I mean, people didn't really like him. They weren't celebrating him. I mean, he, he had some followers and then he gained a following.

I get that. But for the most part, I mean, they wanted to throw him off a cliff at one point and they crucified him. I mean, so I can see why it says that he's close to the brokenhearted.

I mean, his own son, he was, was treated that way. But, but yeah, I mean, you, but he'll bring you through it too. He'll bring you through it. So when I look at your situation, I can't help but observe that what, and I knew this from shortly thereafter, you had texted me and told me there was a story. And I said, well, I got to hear the story. And as when I look back in my own life prior to knowing Christ, I didn't have a friend in this world. I really didn't. I mean, I knew people, but I didn't have anybody that I would call a friend, somebody that would text and say, my dad just died.

You know what I'm saying? I wouldn't have people that would know things in my life like that, because there was nobody that was that close to me. But in your own case, right? When you listen to the story, when I listened to the stories, what meant the most was those friends that were praying and that gave you information about your situation that to give you some hope. And so if you're listening right now, and you evaluate your life and you, and you think, gee, you know, who do I text when things go wrong in my life? You know, it's an interesting thing in order to have friends, you know, you've got to be able to share what's really going on in your life, the hard stuff. Right. And so, you know, it's amazing to me, Mike, it really is.

But disciples are like this. I met you, I don't know, a year ago in January or, you know, something like that, maybe. So I hadn't known you long.

Right. And I bet I hadn't known him three weeks and I started getting texts regularly. Like, I think, you know, I've had this dream or I, I, I, you know, I'm really, you know, he would be just straight honest with me on what he was experiencing.

And I always thought, you know, how cool is it that you could meet somebody and this quickly, they'd be that vulnerable with you. But Christians can be that way because, you know, Jesus is like your chiropractor. He has your back. Yeah. The NIV version actually says one who has unreliable friends soon, soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Psalm or Proverbs 18, 24. And I, and I know that because I have a brother, 64 years old, but my brother hadn't spoken to my dad in 40 years and I've never met my brother. And so are you serious? Yeah.

This is a part of the story I'd never heard. So you have a brother. I have a half brother.

Yeah. Him for my first, my dad's first marriage. And for whatever reason, he quit talking to him 40 years ago.

And yeah, so, and it was funny. I talked to my half sister who I've spoken to probably a handful of times in my life, maybe 10. I mean, not, not much. But she said, Mike, she said my, she said my brother, Hal, by the way, his name is, that she said he's been really, he's been real comforting and he's been able to, you know, talk to me.

And he didn't have a relationship with dad, but I don't know. I, I, I heard, I think people have regrets. My, you know, my sister's husband, we talked, and my sister's husband, we talked, and my sister husband, we talked, and he said that, you know, Cindy feels bad that she never came down to North Carolina. And I don't know, you know what, it's, it's almost like the whole sin thing. It's like, it'd be worse if she didn't feel bad, you know what I mean?

Or if she didn't say, you know, it's, feeling bad about sin is, is probably the first step, right? Yeah, absolutely. And so you might have heard the proverb, it's, it's better to be in a house of mourning than a house of feasting. And I think it's always wondered about that, by the way, because life gets real here. I mean, you know, everything ain't fine, you know, it's, it's real.

And so you can hear some real feeling and real emotion. And recently I've been studying that whole concept that, like, when Moses asked God what his name was, the great common Jewish commentator wrote it this way, that underneath that question, he was asking God, where have you been for the last 400 years? Yeah. Like, what he was saying is, who should I tell them is calling because, you know, you hadn't answered the phone from his perspective. Right, right.

For 400 years. And Rashi went on to quote this, it's absolutely beautiful. He said, Moses, I am, in other words, I existed, I'm in every one of those babies cries that was thrown into the Nile. I am with every bit of the blood that was shed, every whip that was struck, every cry of every thing. He said, I am the realest thing that you in this universe you have ever experienced. Well, the interesting thing, when you think about this, mine is the realest thing in the universe you can't see. You can just see that he is.

You know what I'm saying? You can see that clearly you had dear friends and a dear mother to help you in this time that had to be just beyond difficult. And my wife has been great too.

She really helped it out at all. Yeah. So, and yeah, you know, that's a huge thing is your family because here it comes. And so in the house of mourning, who's there first and foremost is your family, right? I've been talking to my sister quite a bit that we haven't really talked or had a relationship with.

And she actually reached out to me and she said, Mike, maybe we can heal together. You know, but Philippians 4, 8, it says, finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are a good report. If there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. And so what I'm reminded of that is that there's good and bad in everybody's life.

I mean, mine, everybody. I mean, you know, what I try to focus on now is the good times, you know, and to look back at what was good. I mean, I mean, I don't know why people would want to focus on the bad.

I mean, that's just depressing. I'm not saying that we close our eyes and stick our head under the sand, but there is a lot of beauty in this world. God created it. And so when I look at that, I mean, I look at the, God didn't have to give my dad a last chance at 710, or they call it the 23rd hour. I mean, whatever, you know, whatever you want to call it, but he didn't have to do that. I mean, but he's a good God.

Absolutely. And then you had a story that you wanted to share from which one? Jeff Hoover.

Jeff Hoover, yeah. He had a story about how there was a, it was a time in Russia under communism, and during this time they were killing Christians, and what they would do is they would throw the Christians in the ice lakes, the ice water. And so what they said is that if the Christians would come up and reject Christ, then they would try to warm them up. They would have this device that would warm the Christians up, and then they would try to save their lives. But if they didn't, then they would just die. And one of the guards, it was an armed guard who had a gun up there, and what he said was he saw some of the Christians who were being killed, and from the sky he saw these crowns come down over each one of the ice holes where the Christians were thrown into.

And when the armed guard saw this, he put his gun down and went over and he says, I'll get in there too. Really? Wouldn't you? Yeah.

You hope so, right? I mean, and he said, but there was one Christian who was thrown down there, and he said he actually came up and denied Christ, and he ended up dying anyways. You know, so it kind of reminds me, you know, whosoever wants to save their life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake will find it. And anything that's going on in this world, any trouble that you may be having, it's a whole lot easier when you have the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords versus trying to go through it by yourself. And Jesus said, many of you will be persecuted, even to death. And if that happens, then we just have to be prepared for it. Yeah, it's an amazing thing that we don't understand so much of what's going on, but God has a lot bigger story than we see, because, you know, clearly none of us get out of this alive unless Jesus comes back, right? Right. And so every minute, actually, that you spend outside of Christ, from my perspective, is like, man, you're missing out because there is so much love that's available for you.

That's right. Not, obviously, clearly from God, but God reflects his love through so many people that he will bring into your life, because again, I'm shocked and beyond amazed. And when I look at my life today versus what it was before I became a Christian, I had no real friends. I had all sorts of doubts. I had all sorts of fears. I was terrified of the dark. You know, I had sin problems I couldn't get under control.

There were so many differences. I can't even begin to tell you, you know, what it is like, but this is the point where your faith gets real. Yeah. Wait, because, you know, I remember my parents both died within the last, you know, five years. Yeah. And it's like, now it matters. It matters whether or not there's any, it didn't matter, you know, when I was six, seven, eight, 10 years old.

That's right. But in my life, you know, my parents died, you know, when I'm in my sixties. And now all of a sudden, my faith really, really matters because I want to know that I get to go back with them. I mean, I'm, you know, I'm gonna see them in heaven.

More than that, I want to know now. I want to see Jesus. But if you're sitting out there and you don't know these things, and you're still struggling with these things, this is a great opportunity. And I wouldn't waste another second, Mike. All you got to do is just, right?

Yeah. I mean, just cry out to the Lord. It says, all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. And you all, you repent, you turn from your sins. I mean, and you look to the cross, you look to Jesus. As a matter of fact, the first thing you do is you look to Jesus. And then, I mean, He'll help you with the other stuff.

Oh, exactly. You know, I mean, I've heard people say before that you, you know, people want to, in churches, they, they would want to clean you up first and then get you saved. They say, no, you get saved first, and then God will clean you up.

So, yeah. And, and that's all it is, is really just admit that, wow, I've turned my back on you, God, and then believe, right? Believe that Jesus is, in fact, the Son of God.

He really, really, really is the Son of God. And so then, you know, then you confess that you've sinned against Him, right? Right. And then you ask Him to come into your heart, which is real.

Yeah. And, and, and you can do that in prayer, with a simple prayer, a simple prayer. Just pray with me right now.

Jesus, thank you that I will listen to this show right this minute. And you made yourself real to me. And then I understand you are, in fact, the Son of God. And I ask you to come in my heart and save me my sin. I declare that you are Lord of my life, right? That I'm going to take my direction from you, that I am going to enter into a relationship with you, that I could spend eternity in heaven with Robbie and with Mike, and with, with all those who turn from their sin and, and joining you. And I ask this in Jesus' name. Now, I'm praying you pray that with us.

I really, really am. But let me also say that if you did pray that, there is nothing like, like you just now have, you've been given the, the, the key to the Bible. Okay.

Right. The Bible may not have made sense to you before, right? But now that you have Christ in your heart and he comes with the Holy Spirit, it's part of the deal. And the Holy Spirit will help you read that Bible like you never had before. And so here's the greatest, if I could give anybody the advice, the best advice I ever got in my life was before you read the Bible, pray, ask the Holy Spirit to help you interpret it. Okay. So here's your opportunity.

Get up an hour early tomorrow morning. Get out your Bible, ask the Holy Spirit and wait for the adventure that's coming. Cause all of a sudden in your mind, as you begin to read these passages, it made no sense to you before.

Oh my goodness. All of a sudden it will come alive for you and God will begin to interpret it in your heart. And you're going to have questions because every disciple I ever met has all kinds of questions. Just comes with a package.

Oh, that's beautiful. Cause just like little kids have all kinds of questions. Well, so do little Christian. I mean, it's not, you know, people that just came to Christ have all kinds of questions.

So hopefully you got somebody in your life, a church or somebody that you know, that you know is in fact a Christian. That's right. And you go to that person and you start asking those questions or Mike would be like beyond thrilled to help you with those questions.

Right. That's why you've got this website. That's why he has this radio show, his podcast, any way that you can reach out to Mike, he wants to hear from you. And so do I, of course, Robbie Delmore is all over the place, but you know, that we could help you with any questions that you would have to help you further in your journey with God.

It's going to be an amazing trip. Sure. Yeah. We have our Facebook page. If not for God with Mike Zwick, you know, send us a message. If you want to give it, give it a like, give it a like. And, and you can follow pretty much every week.

What, what, what we have going on there. I'm almost to my 5,000 friend limit, but if you catch me before we get 5,000, send me a friend request and send me a message saying, Hey, I listened to your show. Um, uh, that's fine. Um, you know, check out the podcast. We have the, if not for God with Mike Zwick podcast. I know Robbie, you have a kingdom pursuits podcast, which is really good.

Um, you've got, uh, the Christian car guy radio show. Um, and you know, it's, but it's interesting that we've, you've been doing this for so long. And, and I feel like I've been doing this for a year now and I just, every Wednesday, it's like, no matter what's going on, even if I've got 15 shows in the can that I've, I'm ready to, ready to, I just, I enjoy this. I mean, it's, it's something that you look forward to. And if, if you're afraid to really give yourself fully to Jesus, um, I think what, what I've heard people, you know, that they've problems that they've had, well, I'd have to give up this.

I have to give up that. And it's like, man, you get a whole lot more, you get a whole lot more. And then some, and your life is filled with joy says the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Well, we can't do that, but he, him living through us gives us that. You know, I was married before I came to Christ. And I wondered how in the world, you know, that worked out because, oh my goodness, what God has done since I came to Christ to give me the relationship of marriage, what I really thought that could be. So if you're married and you're entering into this as a Christian, wow, what a gift that is to actually have the marriage you'd hope for, to have relationships that you'd hope for. Now I know it doesn't always work out that way for a lot of folks, but oh my goodness, God will be there in a way for you through that relationship that will continue to, you know, pursue you.

He will. He is the, he is the great pursuer. It's, I think people look at this at God where he, we have to really try to find him and search him out. And it does say in the verse in the Bible that you will, you will find me when you search for me with all of your heart. But it also says in the new Testament that no one seeks after God. So if you find yourself wanting to get closer to God, it's because he is, he's drawing you closer to him. No, that's beautiful. If not for God, really. If not for God. This is the Truth Network.