When Herb Desjardins stepped into the light of his calling, he set out on a path that would not only redefine his own life but also inspire countless others. Our latest episode features this deeply passionate evangelist, who shares his journey from the depths of despair to the peaks of spiritual leadership. Herb's tale is not just one of personal triumph; it's a masterclass in the transformative power of faith. He opens up about his pivotal experience at a business fellowship breakfast and how it propelled him from a strict Catholic upbringing to a life dedicated to ministry.
This episode takes an intimate look at the intersection of faith and everyday life, extending beyond Herb's personal narrative. We explore the intriguing story of a heat treating plant purchase that blossomed into a business grounded in biblical principles, highlighting the challenges and victories that come with holding steadfast to integrity and ethical standards in the commercial world. The journey of the plant's previous owner, from battling cancer to embracing our faith-driven ethos, underscores the profound impact that a spiritual approach to business can have on individuals and communities alike. The decision to transition from commercial success to a burgeoning ministry is a testament to the deep connections we forge when we align our work with our spiritual beliefs.
Thanks for listening! Connect with us, for more products or our availability on Facebook, Linkedin and ihimtv.com
When Herb Desjardins stepped into the light of his calling, he set out on a path that would not only redefine his own life but also inspire countless others. Our latest episode features this deeply passionate evangelist, who shares his journey from the depths of despair to the peaks of spiritual leadership. Herb's tale is not just one of personal triumph; it's a masterclass in the transformative power of faith. He opens up about his pivotal experience at a business fellowship breakfast and how it propelled him from a strict Catholic upbringing to a life dedicated to ministry.
This episode takes an intimate look at the intersection of faith and everyday life, extending beyond Herb's personal narrative. We explore the intriguing story of a heat treating plant purchase that blossomed into a business grounded in biblical principles, highlighting the challenges and victories that come with holding steadfast to integrity and ethical standards in the commercial world. The journey of the plant's previous owner, from battling cancer to embracing our faith-driven ethos, underscores the profound impact that a spiritual approach to business can have on individuals and communities alike. The decision to transition from commercial success to a burgeoning ministry is a testament to the deep connections we forge when we align our work with our spiritual beliefs.
Thanks for listening! Connect with us, for more products or our availability on Facebook, Linkedin and ihimtv.com
Welcome to 5.0, 5 Foldin' Beyond. With Matt and Amy. In the 5.0 podcast, we're going to peel back the layers of the Ephesians 4 model revealing a thriving church ministry or organization. This will help leaders to identify, work together, implement or raise up the believers who want to move in their calling.
amy:We also offer seminars, conferences and strategic advising to pastors and leaders. We'll sit down with you and help you to learn how to have a 5 Fold influenced church or organization. I'm also going to show you how to identify and integrate people with 5 Fold giftings into your teams and organization. So connect with us at ihemtvcom.
mastt:So get ready to engage, as these podcasts will open an understanding, remove confusion of the 5 Fold and open your eyes and heart to what you and those around you carry. Hello everybody, how are you doing? This is Matt, and someone else is off camera today.
amy:Hi, it's Amy.
mastt:And everybody can hear her, I'm sure. Obviously, we have a guest that we're going to be interviewing today and it's going to be fun, it's going to be awesome and we want to introduce him to you. He's got an amazing story and also just testimony. This is evangelist Herb Desjardins did a lot of things and we're going to talk about some of that today. Good morning, share off camera, you're okay.
amy:So we want to start. Well, if you're just listening to the audio, you will have no idea that I'm actually off camera.
mastt:Off camera for those yeah.
amy:However, we've got our special guest, evangelist Herb, here today and he has a great story to tell, and, unlike maybe a lot of minister stories, it didn't start right out of high school, and so tell us maybe a little bit about the beginning of your journey, when you found Jesus.
herb:Let's start there. Yeah, amen. Well, it was a rough road. When I started. You know, at 29 years old, I get hit with depression and fear and it crippled me. I mean it was amazing. You know, at 39 years old, my sister, which was a born and Christian, tried to get me to come to, you know, witness to me, whatever, but she was a pain, she was you know, sisters often are, of course.
herb:I was a very strict Catholic and there's no way that I wanted her in my house. Anyways, finally she kind of found her way to really cause me to say yes to something. There was a full gospel business and fellowship internationally, hartford, connecticut, and she called me on the Friday night. We used to gamble on the weekend and anyway she says Percy, and I want to bring you for breakfast and we're buying your breakfast, and so that kind of hit me.
amy:You can't refuse a free breakfast.
herb:I couldn't refuse that. So finally I said he asked my wife, we'll pick you up at seven o'clock. Wow, and after playing cards all night, I had to go to bed about two or three o'clock, and so at seven o'clock they came at the door and my wife didn't want to go. She wasn't dressed, she wasn't, she was upset, said my sister's kind of pushy, and so anyways. So finally Betty got on her case, my sister got on her case and she went and got dressed and we went A little late.
herb:We got there in Hartford, from Bristol to Hartford, about half hour late and the place was full. There was about 250 people there. It's a valley steakhouse, big restaurant, anyways. They put up another table and now I'm feeling very nervous. I look at these people and I said these better be Catholics. I mean, it was like I was very religious, and so we sit down and have breakfast and all the ones they start praising God, they start worshiping, and I'm feeling very uncomfortable and I thought to myself these people, they're better be Catholics here. Then people started raising their hand, praising God, and now I really get nervous.
mastt:How did I?
herb:get into. What did my sister do? And so, anyways, now they have, of course, a guest speaker comes out. Luke Sanford was a donut man in Avon and he was the guest speaker. He came up, gave his testimony and that was pretty good. I don't remember much of the testimony, but at the end they had an altar call, which the table, the head table, is full of full gospel business and people.
herb:I remember those days they would call us up people that wanted to come up for prayer except Christ, and so there's no way I was going up. There's quite a few people that up and went up. No way was I going up there. And so I'm nervous, I'm sweating, my palms are sore. My sister comes up, I'll go with you. Come, you know I'll go, but you need a little bit of help. You need Jesse, whatever, come on up. No, I'm not going. And so she got very pushy. She's so percy. Her husband said leave him alone, because he was, I was on the verge of leaving, and so finally she let me alone at all.
herb:At once, this one man in the front of that table, full gospel man, kept staring at me. He was, it was quite a ways out, and so he gets up and he's coming towards me. I don't know how. I know that he was coming. He's come to me. And so he was interrupted here and there and came up and gave me his hand. He said my name's Frank Silly. I said how are you? My name's Herb Dischardens, my wife Jesse I'mbuzzer. No, she's gone Confession confessing.
herb:And I was used to confession. Every two weeks I would go to confession. So that hit me. Then he quoted the scripture I'll never forget. He says in Romans 10, nine and 10,. It says if thou should confess with your mouth to Lord Jesus Christ and believe in your heart that God had raised him from the dead, thou shall be saved. When, with the heart, men believe into righteousness and with the mouth confessing is made unto salvation. And he went on and shared about how to get saved and somehow confession hit me. And when I got up to pray, we asked us if we could pray. He got up. It seemed like I didn't have to tell him how many times, how long I haven't been to confession, how many sins that I did. All of that was raised. I was speaking face to face to the Lord Jesus Christ and I accepted Christ, my God. I still remember. It really hit me.
herb:But now, okay, we leave. We get in the car to go back home. So my brother-in-law is driving, I'm in the front seat. So all at once my eyes are closed and I remember when I was in a Catechism class way back, and none had said if you destroy this temple, I will raise it up in three days. And so my eyes are closed and all at once I hear in my spirit I am that temple. I now dwell within you. You will never curse my name in vain again, you will never smoke again and you'll never gamble again. And I went, I mean, I mean it, that's a lot. So my brother said are you okay? I said take me home, that's heavy. And so we got home.
herb:I get in the house and I'm pondering on what I heard. So we get in the house, my wife is sitting there and she's getting ready to go grocery shopping and she wants to play a game card. So we sit there, takes out the cards, stop playing. She smoked more than I did, but we both smoked. She was 14 when she started and I was about 17 anyways. So she lights a cigarette and takes a couple puffs, stops it, takes another one, lights it takes a couple puffs, stops it and she says something wrong with my cigarette. Give me one of yours. We smoked the same brand. I give her one of mine and I'm kind of looking at her and she lights the cigarette. It takes a puff, stops it, says there's something. This thing smells like a skunk. I'm going grocery shopping, I'm not buying cigarettes. If you wanted to buy cigarettes, you have to buy your own.
herb:Oh my God, I'm like what is going on From that day that was broken and what along? When I think about I lost friends, playing cards I lost. I mean, it was an amazing transformation in my life. But now how old were you? How old were you then? At that time I was 39. 39 years old, 39 years old.
herb:And so now, at that point, I had a two family house, a young lady and her husband upstairs with a two year old son, and one day through the week I'm kind of like, I'm thinking I'm not smoking, but maybe it's because I'm sick, because I was like, but my life hasn't touched it. She had no way and we had tried before. We couldn't quit. For now the woman upstairs comes down and she asked us if we could watch over her son watch her son for a few minutes. She had something to do, so sure, come on in there. He comes in, she goes back upstairs her husband's in the backyard washing his car or whatever and all at once she goes up and I hear you know, bang, she had a gun, she put the barrel in her mouth and she blew her head off. And I was like, of course my fears got worse, even after I accepted Christ. That week was the worst week of my life.
herb:And the best and best week of my life. And so I didn't, couldn't sleep, couldn't eat. And so now the following night I went to work, came home, I told my wife I couldn't sleep and I'm going for a walk. So a lot of things were happening because I had a rosary on my neck, very Catholic. Now it was gone and I'm getting. It's very puzzling. What's going on? So I think I'm kind of going nuts or what's going on? Yeah, exactly. So now I go out in the woods. I told my wife I'm going for a walk. I went out in the woods I love the woods anyways, I walk away out there and I stopped and I said Lord, I don't know what happened Saturday, but if this is all real, but it's taken place, I can't take anymore. You know, take me home.
herb:And I started weeping and I said I just can't take anymore. So take care of. My prayer was take care of my wife and children, but all at once. Of course I wasn't going to commit suicide, I knew enough about being a Catholic. But all at once, when I said that his presence came on me, and this presence from the top of my head, when he got to my shoulders, I couldn't feel the weight. My head went all the way down to the ground. I lost all body weight. I couldn't feel any body weight and nothing. And so I thought, oh my God, I used to watch SlyTrack.
amy:I thought I'm going to get beamed up.
herb:And I was, you know. So all at once I hear his voice and the Lord said for you are a holy people unto me. The Lord, your God. I've chosen you to be a special people unto myself. Above all the people on the face of the earth, there has never been one like you, and after you're gone, there will never be another like you. There was a purpose for your life. The enemy came to rob it, but I have sent my only son to restore it, and you are mine.
mastt:I never wept like this in all my life.
herb:I'm weaving and crying. I hear that voice. And at the end of that he said there'll never be another one like you. And so he said you are mine, you are mine. And he kept saying and then it faded.
herb:As it faded, oh, I started to feel the ground again and the lift off of me. Now I am kind of like I was afraid to turn to my right and what is going on? I walk home, my wife says how you doing? I says, okay, I went and sat in the living room. I'm taking it to myself. Now, who right? I was gonna go, maybe go see the priest and see, you know, talk to him. But then I figured he's gonna send me to the hospital and so I think, you know, now I'm hearing voices. I'm not just depressed and have anxiety, now I'm schizophrenic. I'm hearing voices, oh my God. So but the one thing about the smoke and my wife with me, I felt, you know, I just didn't feel good. Maybe that's why I didn't want to smoke.
herb:But my wife hadn't touched it nothing. So I went to bed. My daughter had been given up. She was 14. My sister that was born again, that brought us to full gospel, had got two weeks before got her a Bible. I don't know how I knew that. When she had it in the living room at two o'clock I went into her bedroom right. I go into her bedroom on the dresser, I picked up this white Bible, I go in the living room and I open it up to the Old Testament. I can't pronounce it. Even Deuteronomy, chapter seven and verse six comes out of the page and it says for thou art a holy people unto the Lord, I God. The Lord, I, god, has chosen thee to be a special people in himself. That I started shaking. I'll never forget that. But the key you know. He brings me then to 2 Corinthians 517. I look in the back of book. If a man, being Christ, is a new creature all things are passed away behold, all things become new.
herb:And from that day I lifted that Bible and I said Lord, from this day forward, whatever man says, if it's not found here, I'll not believe it. Yeah, this is your word and I'll follow it all the days of my life. I'll never forget that, this and this things about stuff, about metals and stuff that I had, I mean, gone. I mean there's no way that I'm. And so if it wasn't a Bible, I believe it and I'd changed my whole life. And then that's when, you know, I started Actually ministry right there. I started sharing what I've seen and I started sharing what I heard. I started sharing about my wife and I she was a witness to it and so my home was open and people would come and get saved, just like that. I mean I, you know, did I know scripture? No, did I don't know, I just knew what. What happened to me? Mm-hmm and I started on a journey sharing, and it got so up to that that my, my living room Became full and no room. So we had I rented the American Legion Hall in Plainville and we were there for a whole year.
herb:Saturday, saturday night, every Saturday night, we would meet there. A lot of people came, a lot of people from here came to the Lord and they found out and he came. And then one night, you know, and this was so funny because there were people, it was a bar next door and they would come in and laugh at me or whatever. Sure, I was ministry. But one guy came in and he's mocking me, whatever. And he comes in, he says come on in and by the sat in the second seat he's laughing at me and I said, I said to him I'll never forget that if you allow me to pray for you, you will experience something you never experienced in your life.
herb:It'll be better than the drink you have in your hand. Never forget that. And the guy I didn't know that he was, he had a short leg. I didn't know that he had problems, whatever, nothing, but he accepted. I prayed for him and he I don't remember if I, he accepted the Lord, but I know laid hands on him and he went flying. He went down when he got up, started running I'm on the play and you, they could tell his his Pat leg was now all the way up and his legs that came, came together.
herb:I mean he held it. He was like running back and forth. Anyways, we were there for a year. The amazing thing is one day, one Saturday night, we get there and Somebody I'd run through the place. I go in the barn, I want to see the manager, and so the lady said he's not here. I said, well, they promised me I'd have to every Saturday night. What's going on? You know, well, I'm sorry. You think one. You know they got it, so maybe you could use the back room, but there was all junk in there. Anyways, I said there, listen, you didn't rent this to me, you were renting this place to God and you know you don't deal that with God that way because he could burn that place down. That night the place burned down exactly where I was standing. Wow, I was so scared because there was an ad, there was a bar and there was a can there and the last trees. They dumped it in the garbage and it started the fire and they closed. The thing burned down.
mastt:So you got. So what happened was truly, you had a conversion Into the kingdom of light, into you know what we call born again Christian. But you came right out of darkness and so radically changed you that it propelled you into you couldn't contain it anymore. You had to share that message and you're you just like you didn't even know the evangelistic that was on you. Just, every person should be sharing Jesus anyway. But this was your beginning, forming days that you never even departed from here, even now, at this time in your life. Right, what's this hat you got on? Let's talk about that for the guys that are on camera.
herb:Oh, fbi, firm believer in Jesus, that's really. You know a lot of Christians and you know I asked a Christian guy. You know a friend Want me to get you one. Oh no, no, I won't wear that. But I'll tell you what I'm not ashamed of, lord Jesus. No and I don't care, I've had so many comments going to Walmart or yeah, yeah, whatever about had sat down with talking to people and praying for people because of that. But but, anyways, you know it, it's a tool it's a tool, whatever.
mastt:So, guys, herb is, herb is um man we've known for a while and definitely evangelist, but in those beginning days as many of you maybe, with your callings that God started you in something else and you began to feel the needs of your community. Can you pick up the story from there, as you started feeling the needs?
amy:Actually, I want to jump in here before you did that. What, what? Were you doing just briefly. Oh, what was your?
herb:profession. Okay, I had a heat. I, you know, I bought a heat treating plant in New Britain, connecticut, where you harden steel and and my partner and I well, it's a long story, but my partner, we met and anyways, he wanted to be my partner. The thing that I said to him at that time I invited him over to house him and his wife sat down after church. He had gone to church, catholic Church, and I was. Anyways, we said, sat down and said listen, I said Bob was his name, I took my Bible and I said listen, I don't know what's from this cover to the back cover of this book, but whatever it is, that's how we're gonna run the business. If you want to be my partner, if you can agree to that, you can be my partner and she's, of course, she was a Catholic and you believe in the word. So, oh, yes, and it's amazing how the Lord had me do this, because there's a lot of you little funny things that go on in business and I had to remind him a couple times.
mastt:No, okay, integrity and so it was amazing anyways, we had.
herb:We went to school at night school and he took over the shop. There was 18 men working there, the owner, it was a real miracle. He wanted me to buy the business. It came to me and he said I want you by my business. I've never, ever thought, because I was still depressed, I still had anxieties and and so he made me an offer that I had to refuse. He, there was. You know, there was a hundred and some a thousand dollars in the account already the work that was done, and there was work that was done. There was an build for about 50, some a thousand. Now he's given me all of that Right and charged me three, three hundred thousand for the, you know, for the business. I really 150,000, really so and so, and he was gonna stay with us for a year. So I bought it, we bought it. Now he got he as soon as we bought it. He was gonna stay with us for a year, about up.
herb:Two months later he was sick, he had cancer and he was a If you'd meet him on the street or meet him at the bowling alley or whatever, and the nicest guy you want to meet. But in business he was like. And so he got, maybe because he was sick. But I came in and I'd say, good morning John, what is so good about it? And he would really react. And so one day I said, listen, I'm not going to put up with this. I want to undo this, believe it. Oh, my God, he's straightened out. But what happened is that he had cancer and it wasn't bad, it wasn't good. And so at the end, finally, I was able to share with him, went to pray for him and you know, he wept and he told me he was an older man. But he told me, if I was going to start over, I would do what you do.
herb:I started at nine o'clock every morning. I had put a sign out there that we're going to go behind the vacuum furnace and pray for about five minutes or so. Just give the day to the Lord and whoever wants to come. That's where I'm going to be. That's all I said. Put that on a board. The first time I go and back at a vacuum furnace, there was three Spanish guys Didn't understand English. They're the only ones that weren't there. My partner was there and you know, a whole bunch of rest. Well, I mean, I couldn't believe it. So what I would do is just say yeah, father, and they were. Many of them didn't know what they were, but you know, probably some of them, most of them probably didn't go to church, but I shared with them and you know that we have to work for a living and that why not just to give it over to God and pray and God wash her over us. And so I would pray, say the other, then ask them if they had any needs or whatever and then we go to work every every
herb:day and so, and it was so, my two secretaries, one of them. The funny thing is that is that one of them was very kind of like an unbeliever and she was kind of a little picky, trying to pick on me. So one of the businessmen came in to see me and he was a kind of like a stern kind of a person. And so the second day comes out, we're going in the prayer and she says, mr So-and-so, he wants to see you. I said tell him you know I'll be there in five, 15, 10, five, 10 minutes. I'll be there. I'm going in a prayer right now. So she comes to see you he wants to see you now.
herb:Come to wait or you can leave. I'm going in the prayer right now. Wow, he. And she told him you know, but I was doing, and he, he was so struck with that that I would not see him unless I go pray first. And when I came out, he had, he was not happy, I could tell. But later on he sold the business to his son. He lived in Florida and he came out. He came to see me and he said I'll never forget you what you did. It left an effect in my life. But and so I've seen so many miracles there it was amazing. You know, no matter where you're, at.
amy:Because you were faithful in business with, with the integrity and how you walked, God started to continue to grow that ministry. I think that's where Matt's coming in with. You know the needs of the community.
mastt:That weighed heavily on you, so I know that shift was coming in your life.
amy:So you shifted and you actually left the business.
herb:Well, what happened there? Because the, the ministry was getting more and more. I was involved in in the business and counseling and so, and so now you know I I needed more of this real long story, but and I don't want to get into too many details no, that's fine.
herb:You need to do that. But I I figured the Lord had called me and I really didn't want to go. I was, you know, the full-time ministry and I fought it. And the more I fought it, the more I felt like he's gone and I can't feel the presence of God. Where are you, lord? And so I, I took the time to come to me and pray and I was like I couldn't, you know, I couldn't get God back on my side here. What's going on? And so I could. I loved to fish. I couldn't even fish. I couldn't do.
herb:I went to my mother. I was in Maine, and so I'm in the band. I had a band, brand new band and stuff. And I'm on my knees praying my pulse on the pond over. I had put my pole down and all at once the Lord gives me Revelation three eight. So I said, lord, if that's you when I get to my mother you know I was a little stubborn here no, you show me, lord, you show me or you remind me when I get to my mother. Sure enough, about two hours later I get over my mother.
herb:My mother was a Christian. I sit in her chair and her Bible was there Revelation three eight. I opened it up. It's. I know that works. Behold, I've said before the in open door for now has a little strength. And I read now have a little strength, but have not denied my name. Therefore I'll open the door for you. No man can shut that. And I was like.
herb:I took off, I went in the backyard there are the pines and I sat there crying. So okay, lord, so I get back and went back to Connecticut. I went to my partner. I said listen, but before that, as a matter of fact, I had spoken. You know, I had been invited to speak at a full gospel meeting and I had gone. And I wondered about Lord. I don't feel your presence. Why shouldn't? I don't know if I want to go. And so finally I did.
herb:I went, the president is there and I spoke, share my testimony with him, and I were speaking and all at once a woman comes up. She comes besides me and she's waiting, my mom talking. I ignored her. Finally she pulls my jacket and she says the Lord gave me a scripture. You know it was in 1 Peter, chapter one, verse 12. I say, okay, good, thank you, you know, mark it down. She leaves. We keep on talking All the ones she comes by. She's still there. She's there. I don't know what she wants. And she looks at me and says yes. She looks at me. She says the Lord told me to tell you to read it now. What the heck. So I opened my Bible, revelation. You know, in Peter it says you got your Bible here.
amy:I can look it up, yeah.
herb:I want to make sure I'm quoting the right one.
amy:It's, what was it.
herb:First, peter, I think, to wait, to wait. I've said before you an open door.
amy:That's not the one, wasn't it? Revelation.
herb:No, no, I don't know if it was Revelation, but it's anyways. It actually said it confirmed the call that he had called me to minister to be a minister, and I kind of oh my God, I finally took off from there. I realized that he was calling me and I finally went to Bob. I told him I'm selling, I'm giving you the business. He looked at me and so we had made. We had all new offices upstairs and the place was probably worth now around 600,000 and we, you know, brand new machines and we had a lot of and we had about 20 people working, so three shifts.
herb:So when I told him that he shared with me about his sister, his family in Canada had come and they heard me, we had a meeting, I shared with them and a lot of them got saved. One of the women had a son that had a real problem and the son was healed and she went back home and she after called her brother Bob and told her, told him that she had a dream. She saw me in the right hand of God and her brother Bob was in the left hand and she got it and Jesus bent down and he put me out and that you stayed with the business. But he went out and I believe she said to him I believe Herb's going to full-time ministry. I didn't know that, no, until later on, until later on, yeah.
herb:And so now I turned it over to him, went to the lawyer, signed it and took off from there and that day I brought brand new vehicle back. Let go everything. I took an old vehicle, I went home and it was like all at once it was like amazing, I should be my everybody, christian, my sister, you're crazy. What are you doing? No, no, it was like I was in. Oh, I was praising God.
mastt:Like a weight came off of you Everything.
herb:Because he's like timing and everything and the presence of God was awesome. I got into the house, of course, I sat with my wife, we talked about this and everything was okay, right. It was amazing. This wife of mine is an amazing woman.
amy:She is.
herb:She is something else, because I get emotional and I think about what she did, how she did it, how she let go, how she was. She saw the miracles take place as we were praying for my side one time. Blisters disappear before our eyes. Melissa's big boil on the back of her leg laid hands on it, put oil on it disappeared right before our eyes. And she knew. And so my wife was always in agreement, just like when I sold the house. That makes a big difference.
herb:When I sold the house in Plansville, god said to me you're going to move back to Bristol. And I told my wife what do you think? God said to me I have to move back to Bristol. What do you think about selling the house? And she said, okay, she went to get some rest, but I wanted to make sure. I sat in the table and I said Lord, I know. She said yes, I want to be sure she's okay with it. Lord, I need a sign, whatever. Ding dong front door. I lived in a dead end street. I opened the door. The woman came in from a real estate person. She said I don't know something about this house. I was wondering if we're thinking about putting it on the market in the near future. I came in, I told my wife to come, they offered and they looked at the house and the price. I brought it up by over a thousand. Anyways, in two weeks it was sold and cash sailed and our kids could stay until the school was over. But things like that would just automatically happen.
amy:You don't realize, I think, how much energy is expended fighting or wrestling against the will of God sometimes, and when we do that, the energy, the weight that we carry trying to follow our own path, and just resisting doesn't mean that we're bad people or we don't love God. But that call can be very and it was good that we take the time to wait and know that we're hearing God.
amy:But, man, when you say yes, that struggle ceases doesn't mean that other struggles don't come. You know, because I'm sure you faced a lot in the next 40 years of your journey. It's unbelievable.
herb:See, there's a lot of. See what happens to me often, even here. There's so many things God has done I don't know where to go. There's so much that he's done. But you know, unbelievable thing, I just talked to my grandson, noah.
herb:She had a child out of wedlock she wasn't married my youngest daughter and I took care of. We had the parsonage, but downstairs there was a room for them and so I was so close to him and you know he was, you know, dark skinned and I'll never forget one time watching Red Sox. He's laying on me and he looks at me and he says, pepper, I want to be white like you. And I said, no, are you kidding? Look at this? No, are you kidding, I want to be brown like you. He's not dark, dark. And he said really, yeah, but I was able to date. He's getting married and I've never met the girlfriend or whatever, but he's getting married.
herb:And the Lord had put on my heart to talk to him about something before giving in his girlfriend too, once you know his birthdays today. We called and he had taken time to go. He's from what? In Washington, he's in a Navy. He came to Florida to meet his girlfriend and just Spend a little time together. We know I called you know, when I called, apparently I knew that I had to talk to him and her About their wedding and said Lord, put it on my heart. And I said, oh God. And I finally, because he, I Got on the phone with my cell phone I called him back and she was there. I said tell her, put your I've put your, your speaker, on your phone. I'm gonna talk to both of you. I said, no one, you know if I fair, you know I serve in God on, but the Lord put something on my heart for you and and Hope, her name is hope, I says and I want to share it with you. I said, you know, marriage, now you're gonna look at each other and you're as love you.
herb:It's great. But after marriage, dad, you're gonna have hard times here and there and You're gonna disappoint each other here and there, but it's just like a relationship of Christ. You know there's gonna be times when things are not gonna go so so Trouble come and what do you do? You keep seeking him for the strength or do you walk away? Same thing with your marriage. And you know I was able to. She was, she thanked me for it, she I don't know if she's a Christian, but it was really so good. She and they want to come after they married, comes here. But it's amazing that I wanted to do that and how they came together from Seattle, you know, from Washington to get together and that exact time timing yeah.
herb:Yeah, so these are things you know. The the problem is so often we think about Okay, why? Why do Christian have problems? Why do we have problems? I really feel my problems got me closer to him, Not further. People draw away with problems. I draw closer because it caused me to know him. In a way.
mastt:I never knew him because that's your choice that you made, right? There's two responses, no matter what, yeah, when we're, when we're coming to Resistance, we can run the Adam syndrome, hide, run and hide, that's right away. Or be or draw closer into the protection, right, yeah, yeah, and and this is a conversation that we're gonna have to have her back again because we want to talk about some other things in another session with you if you'd come back again about the, the pantry, food pantry that you started in that ministry there, and then just how, god, why that even started, and all that, we want to talk about that in next session, if you want to come back again.
herb:This is why I say this too much yeah.
mastt:Your journey of coming into the kingdom and then how, god the call moving on. You be with the call in the early days and some of you listeners out there and viewers might be in that place where Herb was describing 40 plus years ago that you. Things could be cloudy around you, you could be. You feel the tug of God inside your heart, but when you look up, everything looks dark. You don't even know which way to go or which way to turn, and you got to be sensitive to the Lord. I guess it's a time to be alert and just listen and You'll learn to hear. If you don't know how to hear, you will learn one way or another and as you heal, hear that obedience, faith you talked about that. I mean, you did stuff you didn't even know that sometimes ignorance in that way worked out good for you.
herb:Didn't know.
mastt:Yeah, I didn't know you didn't have to have like this big Bible school degree thing and you were just sharing your heart people hit save is awesome in those early days and the call of God is like that.
mastt:In the early days you come and yeah, I believe in, yeah, sharpen your skills as you go because you don't want to hurt people in the way. But at the beginning you know You're stepping out in faith and and just man, feeling your way and and you have the naysayers. People say you can't do it. But you know what. Surround yourself with people that will speak into your calling, speak into your potential, speak into your destiny, your future, and those type of people feed your faith Because at the end of the day, it's just up to you, between you and God and making that decision to obey.
mastt:Stepping out for you look like you know, starting these groups and then they just kept going to even Leaving the business and all those kinds of things for you. That was your journey and some of you may be in a journey right now facing these similar type of things, and we definitely want to Pray. I think closes podcast with an awesome prayer, touching that thing that whoever's listening to this that this applies to is going to say you know what I feel, confident I can take my next step and what I love about your story, herb, is that it it didn't happen when you were 20, and that's okay.
amy:But God wasn't done with you and he wasn't didn't just wash his hands of you because, oh, he's too old now and I know, you know, from my perspective, 39, 40 is not old. But sometimes when you get to that point and you've got a career and you've got, you know, your family and everything, you think it's too late, it's too late that that water has already passed under the bridge, but it's never too late to follow the call of God on your life.
herb:Amen, check first Peter 1 12. I want to make sure.
amy:There's Peter 1 12. I Actually have it in the new living translation, so it's probably gonna be different and then what you're used to. But be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. If they accuse you of doing wrong, they'll see your honorable behavior. Is that the one in the business.
herb:I'm honored to God.
mastt:Maybe that one's for somebody.
herb:Somebody be careful, close and pray. Let's pray God.
mastt:Hey, you're a guest. How let's pray for those individuals the.
herb:Lord's just working with right now, father, we just thank you. Lord, you're such an awesome God they you can take a wretch like me, turn them around and Bring something out of it I never can imagine. Even as I look back at my story and the things that have done, lord, I'm drawn to tears and to see how did that ever happen? Yes, I know the flesh cannot comprehend the things of God, for the obedience in Christ will bring us into a place we never thought we'd be, and cause us to do things we never thought we could. For it's not. It's the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ in our heart, that is, should be leading every step of the way. Father, I thank you for everyone listening that they could open their hearts To visions, or without visions, we perish, lord. I pray, lord, god, that everyone listening would be able to understand that if God is for them, then who could be against them? Bless everyone, lord, that the sound of my voice in the name of Jesus.
mastt:Jesus amen, amen. So be looking for a future podcast. We're going to delve into the evangelistic side. We've just you got introduced to a journey and you'll understand why he is the way that he is, and we're going to be talking About that in another episode, so look forward to that. Thank you for joining with us. Lord bless you, amen. You.