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So I got here probably about a year ago.

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Somebody gave me a book to read and it was about

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this little girl growing up in Iraq.

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Is that the right pronunciation? I don't know.

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So I read the book and here just about 10 days ago,

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I had an opportunity to meet her dad.

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So him and I sat down and we visited a little bit and I said,

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"James, you got to come tell your story to our body."

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So I'm going to ask James and Madeline Babani.

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I think it's an Assyrian name,

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but he says, "Just say it like it's Italian."

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Babani. So if James and Madeline would come up, please welcome them.

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So these guys are Assyrian Christians and they speak Aramaic.

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So I'd asked them to maybe do a prayer in Aramaic because I had James pray with me.

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I says, "James, pray with me and I'm going to pray and then you pray in Aramaic."

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Because I just wanted to hear it.

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First, I wanted to ask him because here about two years,

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three years ago, I'd asked a guy who was Muslim and he spoke Aramaic.

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I said, "Could you tell me Jesus is Lord in Aramaic?"

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He couldn't do it. He wouldn't do it.

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So that's the first thing I asked James and obviously he just rattled it off.

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I didn't understand it,

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but I thought it was cool.

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So I'm going to give her the mic and these guys are going to bless us.

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Thank you, Pastor. God bless you.

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When I woke up, I say,

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"Daddy, good morning," for Jesus.

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So good morning guys.

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God bless you church.

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We are here by the grace of God.

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We came from Colorado.

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We have our daughter, the writer,

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the book that she put there and we have our daughter,

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Sona and Steve and Charles and Ramina.

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They are here and two grandkids, Misty and Adley.

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We are so blessed to have believer in this darkness area.

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Praise the Lord for each one of us.

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Let's pray in Jesus language.

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I'll interpret.

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So sorry.

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Yeah, James will interpret.

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[FOREIGN]

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Our Father in heaven.

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[FOREIGN]

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Our God that's holy.

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[FOREIGN]

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We bless your name for this day.

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[FOREIGN]

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For those brothers and sisters that are here.

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[FOREIGN]

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You let us meet your family here.

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[FOREIGN]

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We thank you for all this time.

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[FOREIGN]

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We surrender this time in your hands.

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[FOREIGN]

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We're asking you to hide us behind the cross and you be the speaker.

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[FOREIGN]

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And especially James.

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[FOREIGN]

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In your holy name we ask.

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[FOREIGN]

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To bless this church.

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[FOREIGN]

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And give them the services that you want them to do.

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[FOREIGN]

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We thank you for the Holy Spirit that's here already.

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[FOREIGN]

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And we also thank you for this beautiful team that was worshipping here.

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[FOREIGN]

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Glory and honor to your name.

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[FOREIGN]

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In the name of Jesus Christ, the living God.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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[FOREIGN]

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[APPLAUSE]

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Just to introduce myself, my name is James Babani.

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And don't wonder why is it James in Iraq.

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So that was my dad's thought that he loved Jesse James.

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[LAUGHTER]

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So he was hoping that I will have a boy so he will call him Jesse.

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So there's Jesse James, but God said no.

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[LAUGHTER]

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He gave us three beautiful, wonderful girls.

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So sometimes we wish for things, don't get mad at God.

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He has other plan.

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So to start with my life, I was born in a Christian family.

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But I never knew Christ because I was living in the world.

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And my family were Christians, but the old-fashioned Christians.

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They don't know the Bible.

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They know the Bible, but they don't use it.

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They don't read it.

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So my grandmother, she was only one in the family, she was evangelical.

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The others, they were not.

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So she asked my dad if she can take me to church when I was five years.

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And he said, yeah, take him, he's a little kid.

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And for five years, I kept going with her.

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I fell in love with the Bible.

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I fell in love with them.

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And God gave me a voice that I was--

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I used to sing in a band when I grow up.

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So I start worshiping in the church for five years

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until my grandmother went to Australia.

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And the day she left to Australia, I left the church.

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I was like, that's it.

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And I grew up.

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I became a math teacher, graduated from science college.

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So I was a teacher, and I played volleyball for the Iraqi national team

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under the age of 18.

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So I was a coach of volleyball later.

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And then I was a singer in a band, a vocalist.

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So I did have everything.

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And I was like, why do I need God?

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That was one of the reasons I walked away from him.

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And I walked for a long time.

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In this period of time, six or seven times, I faced death.

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And every time I faced it, I was out of it so simply, but with a miracle.

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And one of them, I'll mention it, is I was eight.

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I was visiting my grandmother and grandfather.

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They lived in Iran.

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My mom is Iranian.

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My dad is Iraqi.

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So they are mixed.

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And they have on a river a tree.

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They land it on the river, and they flatten it a little

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to cross over that river.

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And that river has fast water.

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And I used to cross it every day until one day,

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I forgot my slippers were muddy.

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I got in the middle.

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I slipped, fall in the river, went all the way to the bottom.

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At that moment, I see the fish going and coming.

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And you can do nothing.

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I'm a child.

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I don't swim.

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I start crawling until I got to the edge.

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I climbed to some weeds.

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I got up.

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And I'm hanging there until some people passed, and they saw me.

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When I remember that, I used to say, I'm the luckiest man

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on the surface of this earth.

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That's how I used to think.

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I got blind in the army when a bullet passed right, touched my nose.

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So I was blind for 10 minutes.

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Then my eyes came back.

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And again, I said, I'm lucky.

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I didn't know that there was somebody beside me.

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All this time, I thought, I am lucky.

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It's me.

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It's me.

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Until God said, it's enough.

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Now it's your time to join my army.

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And this is how it started.

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During the war, the Gulf War, all of you

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know that war with 32 countries led by United States.

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And I was in Baghdad at that time.

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I took my family to the north of Iraq, where north of Iraq

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was protected by the US Army.

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So I took the family.

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I had to go back to my house.

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So otherwise, they're going to rob everything and take the house.

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And then I lose it.

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So there was the bomb.

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There was everything.

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The houses shakes.

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The ground shakes.

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And nothing happened to us.

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So we decided.

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And when I say we decided, me and my wife, we didn't ask God.

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That's the reason I want you to know that.

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We were making our own choices, our own plans.

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So we never asked him.

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We just said, let's leave Iraq.

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Because at that day, the United Nations

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forced our country and Saddam as a president

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to let the Iraqi people free so they can travel.

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Because until then, you had no right to leave Iraq.

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So we left.

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We left to Jordan.

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Eight months in Jordan, we applied for some embassies

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just to get anywhere away from Iraq.

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But all the embassies rejected us.

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So we decided to move to Turkey.

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We tried to get away, not close to Iraq.

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But Turkey is still on the border with Iraq.

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We went to Turkey.

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And we stayed there.

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It's a long story.

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But I'm just telling you the short of it.

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It didn't work there, too.

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Until our-- oh, in Turkey, the only embassy

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that accepted to have a meeting with us

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was the Australian embassy.

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And in that embassy, as long as you speak English,

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they will take you.

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And I speak it.

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My wife speak it.

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My oldest daughter, she spoke it at that time, too.

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So we're like, that's it.

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It's done.

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We're going.

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Two days before the interview, the Australian embassy

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were closed.

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At that time, I was mad at God.

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See, I never asked him.

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I never told him what should I do.

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But when these things happen, I was mad at him.

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That human being.

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So they caught us.

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They call them Jandarma in Turkish.

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That means the secret police.

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They caught us.

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They put us on a bus.

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And they took all our clothes, all our bags,

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every document we have, passport, whatever we have,

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they took it away from us.

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They took us to the border.

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And they dropped us at the border like that.

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They said, go back to your country.

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For us, that was like the end.

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We found somebody helped us to get into the city, which

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is called Dihok.

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And in that city, there's a guy, his brother

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is married to my wife's sister.

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He took us to his house.

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And we stayed with him for 15 years.

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And I still remember, because when we went there,

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I have one shirt, one jeans.

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That's it.

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Madeline has one shirt and one skirt.

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And one of the little ones, she's not here with us today,

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she was only in her underwear and T-shirt

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because it was too hot.

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So she was like that when they took us.

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They didn't care like those are kids.

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So we went and stayed with this guy for 15 days.

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And in these 15 days, the only thing they missed,

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I did have in my pocket $150.

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They didn't find it when they were searching me.

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So those $150, in Iraq, it means a lot.

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It will keep you survive for three months.

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So we went find a room.

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And in Iraq, you find those rooms

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because there's four or five families

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will live in the same house.

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Each one has one room.

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But you have one bathroom shared between all the four families.

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So you imagine the situation.

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But that's when God worked.

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In that room, all we have as a furniture was five blankets

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and a cooler box.

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That's it.

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And we are five people.

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So imagine, put yourself in that picture and think about it.

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And we both, as I told you, we were angry at God,

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and especially my wife, she was worse than me.

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At least I have some.

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But she was like, "I don't wanna hear about him.

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"Don't ever talk about him, don't ever."

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So, and really, we stopped talking about God.

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And because I was a teacher, I love reading.

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I'm crazy reading.

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So I went to my neighbor and I'm like,

265
00:13:23,960 --> 00:13:26,480
"Do you have a book I can read?"

266
00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:28,480
And they're Assyrian too, like us.

267
00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:31,760
And by the way, Assyrian and the Bible,

268
00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:34,040
they don't read the Bible,

269
00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:35,680
but they put it under the pillow.

270
00:13:35,680 --> 00:13:39,200
Because some of them, not all of them,

271
00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:41,800
mostly because they believe if you keep the Bible

272
00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:43,400
close to you, you are saved.

273
00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:45,800
You don't need to read it.

274
00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:48,880
So when I asked him, I said, "Do you have a book?"

275
00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:51,440
He said, "I have only one book if you want it."

276
00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:53,400
I said, "I don't care, just give me."

277
00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:55,240
Guess what?

278
00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:58,200
It was the Bible wrapped still in the plastic,

279
00:13:58,200 --> 00:13:59,560
not even opened.

280
00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:02,560
So I was like, "Can I open it?"

281
00:14:02,560 --> 00:14:04,800
And he was like, "Yeah, yeah, you can."

282
00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:07,480
I took it home, opened the plastic, but I didn't read it.

283
00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:10,080
I just tossed it on the blanket.

284
00:14:10,080 --> 00:14:14,680
At night, when the girl slept, me and my wife,

285
00:14:14,680 --> 00:14:18,480
and she was mad at me, why did I bring this book here?

286
00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:21,560
So I said, "I just want to read something."

287
00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:26,360
So she took it, she opened it, I didn't touch it.

288
00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:28,440
And she opened it not to read it,

289
00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:31,920
she opened it to find a mistake in the Bible.

290
00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:34,120
That was her goal.

291
00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:37,440
And the way she opened it,

292
00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:41,160
it was on the book of Acts, chapter 17.

293
00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:42,880
She just opened it like that,

294
00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:47,360
and she start reading until she got to verse 26.

295
00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:53,760
Where it says, "And he created every nation from one blood.

296
00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:59,440
And he decided the time and the place."

297
00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:00,720
Those two.

298
00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:05,360
"He decided the time and the place where you're gonna be

299
00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:11,160
so we can reach him and he's not far from us."

300
00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:14,440
When she read that verse, immediately something happened.

301
00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:17,760
I stopped her, I said, "Can you read that verse again?"

302
00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:21,920
She read that verse again.

303
00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:25,120
You know, God says, "My word is like a hammer

304
00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:28,040
that smashes the rock."

305
00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:33,480
That word was the hammer that crushed my heart

306
00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:35,800
because my heart was made of stone.

307
00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:42,480
On that night, for the first time I prayed.

308
00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:48,680
Sorry, and every time I remember this, I can't hold it.

309
00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:53,120
On that night, I prayed with tears.

310
00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:55,800
And because I didn't know how to pray,

311
00:15:55,800 --> 00:15:58,200
God gave me the prayer.

312
00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:00,640
He gave me the prayer of the tax collector

313
00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:02,000
when he went to pray.

314
00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:05,960
I said the same word, which I didn't know

315
00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:09,480
that they exist in the Bible, because I've never read it.

316
00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:11,520
That's all what I said.

317
00:16:11,520 --> 00:16:13,920
I said, "Lord, have mercy on me.

318
00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:16,160
I'm a sinner."

319
00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:21,760
I slept that night in peace.

320
00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:27,200
And by the way, the two days before that, we had no food.

321
00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:30,880
And when we used to get any kind of food

322
00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:34,020
from people help us or have mercy on us,

323
00:16:34,020 --> 00:16:35,640
we used to give it to the girls

324
00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:38,600
because they were little.

325
00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:41,080
The youngest one, she was three years old.

326
00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:44,600
So we used to give them the food and we say,

327
00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:47,200
"Hey, we can survive, I mean, but let them eat."

328
00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:50,240
In the morning, five in the morning,

329
00:16:50,240 --> 00:16:51,840
there was knocking on the door.

330
00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:54,640
I wanna show you how God works.

331
00:16:54,640 --> 00:16:59,400
And before I say that, let me tell you one thing.

332
00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:01,560
If you're going through hard times,

333
00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:03,840
don't complain.

334
00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:06,040
Rejoice.

335
00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:08,960
Be happy.

336
00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:13,960
Because you know after the thunderstorm comes peace.

337
00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:17,240
We learned that the hard way.

338
00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:21,400
On that morning, five in the morning,

339
00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:22,680
there was knocking on the door.

340
00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:24,720
And in Iraq, if somebody knock your door

341
00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:26,680
at five in the morning, don't open it.

342
00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:29,720
It's not safe.

343
00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:35,240
But for me, it was, what is gonna take?

344
00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:36,800
Our blankets?

345
00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:37,640
There are only five.

346
00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:40,040
He can take them, I'm not worried.

347
00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:42,120
I opened the door and there's a kid,

348
00:17:42,120 --> 00:17:46,660
he was between six to eight, he's this high.

349
00:17:47,660 --> 00:17:51,300
And he's carrying five Iraqi bread.

350
00:17:51,300 --> 00:17:53,620
And let me describe this bread.

351
00:17:53,620 --> 00:17:56,300
It's like a pizza, it's a circle.

352
00:17:56,300 --> 00:18:00,380
But it's as thin as if you put three papers

353
00:18:00,380 --> 00:18:02,100
on top of each other.

354
00:18:02,100 --> 00:18:04,300
So that's the thickness.

355
00:18:04,300 --> 00:18:09,300
But it's equal to two or two and a half large pizza sides.

356
00:18:09,300 --> 00:18:14,860
So it's a big one, thin, and he's carrying five.

357
00:18:14,860 --> 00:18:17,940
And because he's short, he was holding them like this

358
00:18:17,940 --> 00:18:19,600
so they won't touch the ground.

359
00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:23,940
And I'm looking at him, I'm like, who are you?

360
00:18:23,940 --> 00:18:26,940
I didn't look at the bread, I was looking at him.

361
00:18:26,940 --> 00:18:29,580
Because he's young to be outside this morning.

362
00:18:29,580 --> 00:18:31,780
And he said, oh, my mom was making some bread.

363
00:18:31,780 --> 00:18:33,820
And she said, take it to that family.

364
00:18:33,820 --> 00:18:38,160
See, we are families, many, but she picked the family.

365
00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:42,060
We took the bread and I thanked him,

366
00:18:42,060 --> 00:18:45,300
just waved to his mom, she was waiting there.

367
00:18:45,300 --> 00:18:49,460
I went to my wife and I said, honey, God send us food.

368
00:18:49,460 --> 00:18:51,560
I've never said God sent.

369
00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:54,460
On that day, I knew who sent the bread.

370
00:18:54,460 --> 00:18:55,840
I just prayed with him.

371
00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:59,900
But I got it, it's him who's sending this.

372
00:18:59,900 --> 00:19:02,500
I give the bread to that day.

373
00:19:02,500 --> 00:19:07,500
On that day, we ate only bread and water.

374
00:19:07,500 --> 00:19:09,700
And I always say it, I can't say this

375
00:19:09,700 --> 00:19:11,140
without saying the other part.

376
00:19:11,140 --> 00:19:14,700
That bread tasted like chicken, it wasn't bread.

377
00:19:14,700 --> 00:19:17,660
I don't know, because we were hungry,

378
00:19:17,660 --> 00:19:21,900
but God made it that way, it's something he did it.

379
00:19:21,900 --> 00:19:26,260
We ate that bread and we rejoiced the whole day.

380
00:19:26,260 --> 00:19:30,700
For us, it's a festival, bread and water.

381
00:19:30,700 --> 00:19:32,500
At night, we wanna go to sleep,

382
00:19:32,500 --> 00:19:35,540
my wife said to me, what about tomorrow?

383
00:19:35,540 --> 00:19:38,260
And of course, I don't know the Bible.

384
00:19:38,260 --> 00:19:40,600
So I was like, but this is what came to mind.

385
00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:44,780
See, I didn't know even the Holy Spirit, who is he?

386
00:19:44,780 --> 00:19:48,100
But he was talking while I was just listening.

387
00:19:48,100 --> 00:19:49,740
And I answered immediately, I said,

388
00:19:49,740 --> 00:19:52,500
if he gave us today, he's gonna give us tomorrow too.

389
00:19:52,500 --> 00:19:53,740
I don't know where that came from,

390
00:19:53,740 --> 00:19:55,300
but it came out of my mouth.

391
00:19:55,300 --> 00:19:58,620
We slept, five in the morning,

392
00:19:58,620 --> 00:20:00,300
somebody's knocking at the door.

393
00:20:00,300 --> 00:20:06,300
I jumped, this time, I'm thinking, the little kid is back.

394
00:20:06,300 --> 00:20:09,020
I went, no, there's a gentleman.

395
00:20:09,020 --> 00:20:11,160
He's 16, 17 years old.

396
00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:15,860
And I'm looking at his hands, not at his face,

397
00:20:15,860 --> 00:20:19,020
because I'm expecting something.

398
00:20:19,020 --> 00:20:23,220
And he had a big plastic bag, like a tube.

399
00:20:23,220 --> 00:20:27,320
It was filled with whatever you want for breakfast.

400
00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:30,120
There was apple, there was juice,

401
00:20:30,120 --> 00:20:31,540
there was cheese, there was bread,

402
00:20:31,540 --> 00:20:35,940
there was, I can't tell you, but it was filled.

403
00:20:35,940 --> 00:20:39,100
And he said the same thing, my mom sent this to you.

404
00:20:39,100 --> 00:20:42,860
This time, I know where is it coming.

405
00:20:42,860 --> 00:20:44,000
I didn't ask.

406
00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:48,840
That food lasted three days for us.

407
00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:53,620
It was enough for us to eat for three days.

408
00:20:53,620 --> 00:20:55,420
And by the way, in those three days,

409
00:20:55,420 --> 00:20:57,280
God didn't send anything else.

410
00:20:57,280 --> 00:21:00,840
And I didn't understand it.

411
00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:04,340
I was asking, because now I'm praying every night.

412
00:21:04,340 --> 00:21:07,280
So I was asking, Lord, how come you stopped?

413
00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:11,140
And I didn't know it until I start reading the Bible.

414
00:21:11,140 --> 00:21:13,020
When the manna was coming,

415
00:21:13,020 --> 00:21:18,140
he was telling them to take enough for what's for that day.

416
00:21:18,140 --> 00:21:22,900
That's when I went, oh, so that's why he stopped there.

417
00:21:22,900 --> 00:21:25,220
We had food for three days, so he said,

418
00:21:25,220 --> 00:21:27,780
they don't need more, let them finish it.

419
00:21:27,780 --> 00:21:32,160
And when it finished, God started again.

420
00:21:33,060 --> 00:21:36,220
And this time, he was more generous.

421
00:21:36,220 --> 00:21:39,500
Because my kids, they got sick,

422
00:21:39,500 --> 00:21:41,500
so we had to take them to the doctor.

423
00:21:41,500 --> 00:21:47,480
And there, what was left with me was only 50 Iraqi dinner.

424
00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:50,460
No, the dollars are gone.

425
00:21:50,460 --> 00:21:54,660
There's only 50, and 50, it's enough for maybe one day

426
00:21:54,660 --> 00:21:57,080
that you can live with.

427
00:21:57,080 --> 00:22:01,140
We went to the doctor, and for three kids,

428
00:22:01,140 --> 00:22:04,780
the charge is 15 for each.

429
00:22:04,780 --> 00:22:07,380
So I gave the 50, they're sick, I need to heal them.

430
00:22:07,380 --> 00:22:13,940
Give the 50, take a number, sit until we get to the doctor,

431
00:22:13,940 --> 00:22:16,780
and that's again, God's plan.

432
00:22:16,780 --> 00:22:19,680
The doctor was a Christian, his name was Philip.

433
00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:23,540
And he looked at me when we talked, he said,

434
00:22:23,540 --> 00:22:27,440
your language, your slang language, it's not from this area.

435
00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:31,680
Because in that city, Dohuk, they speak Arabic and Kurdish,

436
00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:36,320
and because it's mixed, so they have their own slang language.

437
00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:38,440
I said, yeah, I'm from Baghdad.

438
00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:41,480
And immediately said, oh, you're the family

439
00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:42,600
that was deported.

440
00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:45,040
He knew that.

441
00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:47,320
And I was like, yeah, we are.

442
00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:48,280
He said, okay, don't worry.

443
00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:50,600
He checked the girls, he gave me medicine,

444
00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:54,420
even the medicine he gave it from his pharmacy behind him,

445
00:22:54,420 --> 00:22:56,320
so he said, you don't need to buy it.

446
00:22:56,320 --> 00:22:57,960
Here's the medicine.

447
00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:00,160
And wrote a paper, put it in my hand, he said,

448
00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:03,680
on your way out, give it to the secretary.

449
00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:06,000
I went to the secretary, gave her the paper,

450
00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:08,560
and she opened it, she was like, wait,

451
00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:13,120
pull the 45 I paid, he says, give him back his money.

452
00:23:13,120 --> 00:23:17,040
And tell me that's not God.

453
00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:21,480
But still, he didn't stop there.

454
00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:23,840
I'm looking for a job now, I have a family,

455
00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:26,940
I need to feed them, they need to be secured.

456
00:23:26,940 --> 00:23:29,760
I went out looking for a job,

457
00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:32,480
the whole day, couldn't find anything.

458
00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:34,560
In the evening, I came back,

459
00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:37,280
and I see my wife waiting for me,

460
00:23:37,280 --> 00:23:40,480
and there was four families.

461
00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:42,480
One of the family left that day,

462
00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:44,960
so there's now an empty room.

463
00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:47,720
He was God preparing that place.

464
00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:51,280
And when I went in, she said, let me show you, come, come.

465
00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:53,440
She took me to that room.

466
00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:58,040
And it's a storage filled with whatever you,

467
00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:00,200
as a family, want.

468
00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:01,760
And it wasn't a little, no,

469
00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:05,360
there's a bag of potato, 50 kilograms.

470
00:24:05,360 --> 00:24:07,440
That's what we deal there with.

471
00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:12,440
There's 50 kilograms of sugar, 50 of rice, 50 of this.

472
00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:16,600
It's, I mean, you can live for a year on that supply.

473
00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:19,680
And I was like, where did this come from?

474
00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:21,880
I know it's God, but this way?

475
00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:25,280
And she said, remember that doctor, Dr. Philip?

476
00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:28,760
He came to the house, he asked for us,

477
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:30,400
and she went out to talk to him.

478
00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:34,400
He opened the trunk, he start unloading.

479
00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:35,800
And the first thing he ask her,

480
00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:38,120
do you have room to put these things?

481
00:24:38,120 --> 00:24:43,960
He filled that room for us, and then not only that,

482
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:48,640
he pulled 500 Iraqi dinar, put it in her hands,

483
00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:50,400
and he said, I'm your brother.

484
00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:53,040
You need more, let me know.

485
00:24:53,040 --> 00:25:00,640
That, for us, I can't describe it.

486
00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:03,640
But the only thing we said, thank you, Lord.

487
00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:08,280
We used to read the Bible together at night.

488
00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:10,160
The kids will go to sleep.

489
00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:12,360
Now we have a mattress, by the way.

490
00:25:12,360 --> 00:25:13,960
It was better than the blanket.

491
00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:18,520
But we lay on it, and there was no electricity,

492
00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:22,680
because we spent six years without electricity.

493
00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:28,040
And I noticed here, if you lose the electricity

494
00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:31,240
for five minutes, people will kill themselves.

495
00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:32,920
(audience laughing)

496
00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:34,760
Don't get mad at me.

497
00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:36,120
I've seen my neighbor.

498
00:25:36,120 --> 00:25:40,880
Yeah, he was, I'm missing the football game.

499
00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:44,080
And I'm like, I don't care.

500
00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:50,360
So we sit on the Bible, she has her Bible,

501
00:25:50,360 --> 00:25:53,040
I have my Bible, and we're laying on our face,

502
00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:56,160
just reading like that, there's one candle between us.

503
00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:59,440
And one day she asked me, she was like,

504
00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:03,880
James, I'm reading a Romans, this verse.

505
00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:05,520
I don't understand it.

506
00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:08,160
I looked at her, and I was like, honey,

507
00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:10,520
I just started reading the Bible.

508
00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:13,240
Don't expect me to give you an answer.

509
00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:15,480
Because I don't know the Bible yet.

510
00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:18,800
But we were reading like crazy.

511
00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:21,160
Like, you know, you're starving,

512
00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:23,160
and somebody put a plate in front of you,

513
00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:25,560
you don't go taking like a piece.

514
00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:28,080
No, you go like that, and you're shoving your mouth.

515
00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:30,600
That's while we were reading our Bible.

516
00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:35,000
We slept, in the morning we woke up,

517
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:36,760
and immediately she said to me,

518
00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:38,800
James, you know that verse I asked you?

519
00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:39,800
And I was like, yeah.

520
00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:41,400
And she was like, this is the answer.

521
00:26:42,360 --> 00:26:45,640
She gave me the whole explanation.

522
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:48,480
Honestly, I told her, have you seen somebody at night

523
00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:49,600
while I was sleeping?

524
00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:56,000
And she was like, no, but somebody was talking to me.

525
00:26:56,000 --> 00:27:00,200
See, at that time, I didn't know about the Holy Spirit yet.

526
00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:03,120
I'm just reading the Old Testament and going down.

527
00:27:03,120 --> 00:27:07,640
But later, we got him.

528
00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:08,960
Actually, he got us.

529
00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:15,120
So I start looking for a job, and here's my story now.

530
00:27:15,120 --> 00:27:16,320
I found a job.

531
00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:18,400
And guess where?

532
00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:19,480
In the liquor store.

533
00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:22,800
I'm not joking.

534
00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:25,720
And the first thing I did when that guy said,

535
00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:28,000
yeah, you're hired, I looked up,

536
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:29,600
and I told God, really?

537
00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:33,840
Like, you just saved me.

538
00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:36,720
You're putting me in liquor store?

539
00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:37,840
That doesn't make sense.

540
00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:40,720
See, this is human being thinking.

541
00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:43,680
I told you, whatever happened in your life,

542
00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:47,520
don't judge, don't complain.

543
00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:50,920
But ask God, why is this happening?

544
00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:54,440
He has a plan that we don't understand,

545
00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:55,800
and I'll show it to you.

546
00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:58,920
In that liquor store, I start at nine

547
00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:01,080
till 10 in the evening.

548
00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:03,280
But I noticed one thing.

549
00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:08,280
From nine to six or 6.30, no customers.

550
00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:12,120
I'm sitting there just like, there's nothing.

551
00:28:12,120 --> 00:28:16,360
I was like, okay, that doesn't make any sense.

552
00:28:16,360 --> 00:28:19,040
So I said, okay, since I have no customers,

553
00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:22,840
I brought the Bible, and from nine till six,

554
00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:24,440
I was reading my Bible.

555
00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:30,080
I didn't know that God chose that job to give me time

556
00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:31,960
so I can read his word.

557
00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:36,280
He was paying me to read his word.

558
00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:40,720
And he didn't stop there.

559
00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:43,560
I went outside on my way home,

560
00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:46,200
and there's a library, open new.

561
00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,280
It's a Christian library, and all the books

562
00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:52,160
in that Christian library were in Arabic.

563
00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:56,520
And it was built by a missionary.

564
00:28:56,520 --> 00:28:58,200
His name was William Brown.

565
00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:00,160
He was from Texas.

566
00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:02,240
We became friends, me and him later.

567
00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:04,000
So I went there.

568
00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:05,280
I love reading.

569
00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:06,600
I went into that library.

570
00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:08,760
I'm like, how do I get one of these books?

571
00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:10,480
Of course, I can't afford to buy.

572
00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:11,760
No, forget that.

573
00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:14,880
And he was like, oh, you leave your ID with us,

574
00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:16,880
and you take the book you wanna read it.

575
00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:18,120
When you finish, bring it back.

576
00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:19,520
We give you your ID.

577
00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:21,560
Oh boy, for me, that was heaven.

578
00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:23,920
I took a book first.

579
00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:27,240
I went through the books, and God touched me

580
00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:30,200
with the name or the title of the book.

581
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:35,200
It was "Peace with God," because that's what I wanted.

582
00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:37,800
And it was by Billy Graham, if you have read it.

583
00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:40,200
I took the book.

584
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:41,880
I take it home.

585
00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:43,040
I finished it.

586
00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:45,640
That's how fast I read.

587
00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:47,120
But I get what I read.

588
00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:50,280
Like, it's not like, oh, he read but doesn't understand.

589
00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:51,240
I finished it.

590
00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:53,800
Next day in the morning at nine, when I go to work,

591
00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:56,560
before I go to work, I went back to them,

592
00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:59,600
give them the book, and they wanna give me back the ID.

593
00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:01,160
I said, no, no, no, keep it.

594
00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:02,240
I'm taking more.

595
00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:05,440
I took two books.

596
00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:08,440
It depends on the size, so I know I can finish them.

597
00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:11,200
I read those two books, third day, the same.

598
00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:15,880
Make it short, they have 250 books.

599
00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:17,640
I finished them in three months.

600
00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:22,160
When I went last time there, and they were like,

601
00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:23,640
you read every book.

602
00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:27,560
So I was like, okay, I'll start from the beginning.

603
00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:31,000
So again, and went and took peace with God.

604
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:36,000
But now my brain is a library filled about God,

605
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:38,160
about Jesus, about the Holy Spirit.

606
00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:39,640
Now I know all three of them.

607
00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:45,320
That's when God start his new plan.

608
00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:47,680
See, I say it this way.

609
00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:50,200
Sometimes God doesn't work in our life.

610
00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:52,280
I learned that through my life.

611
00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:53,840
He doesn't work in our life

612
00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:55,600
because we're holding too many things.

613
00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:57,080
We don't wanna let it go.

614
00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:01,080
And God is looking at us, he's like, let it go.

615
00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:07,040
He wanna empty us from what we have

616
00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:11,040
because somebody asked me once, he said,

617
00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:13,040
if you choose a title for your story,

618
00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:15,840
what's the title you gonna choose?

619
00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:18,600
I said, oh, he chose it for me from the beginning.

620
00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:19,600
And then what is that?

621
00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:24,640
I said, he took everything from me to give me everything.

622
00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:27,480
It might be like a puzzle.

623
00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:30,640
He took everything from me

624
00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:34,280
because whatever I did have was from the world.

625
00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:38,920
Everything I had, it was from the world.

626
00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:44,480
My money, my car, my house, my family, it's from the world.

627
00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:47,720
He took that all, he said, you don't need it.

628
00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:51,160
Let me fill you now with what I have.

629
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:53,240
And he filled me with his spiritual.

630
00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:57,560
That's what I say, let go.

631
00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:02,000
If something is standing between you and God, let it go.

632
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:06,200
Because he won't work until you say, I don't want it.

633
00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:11,600
Our God doesn't force us, he loves us.

634
00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:13,600
He opened our eyes, he showed us.

635
00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:15,000
That's what he did with me.

636
00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:18,000
So when I finished all these book

637
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,680
that he was preparing it for me,

638
00:32:20,680 --> 00:32:23,120
a missionary came, at that time my wife

639
00:32:23,120 --> 00:32:25,000
used to work with that missionary.

640
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:29,440
He came to me and his name was Tawfik from Lebanon.

641
00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:33,880
And he said, and he refused to go into the liquor store.

642
00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:35,920
He stood at the door outside.

643
00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:41,040
And he said to me, James, that's not your place.

644
00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:45,080
And I know what he's saying now.

645
00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:46,640
And I told him, I was like, but you know,

646
00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:48,640
this is the only job God gave me.

647
00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:50,480
And I said it, God gave me.

648
00:32:50,480 --> 00:32:54,680
And he said, nope, you have to leave.

649
00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:58,200
So I said, okay, if I leave, where can I find another job?

650
00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:00,680
He said, you're gonna work with me.

651
00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:04,080
When he said that, I was like, okay, God, now I got it.

652
00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:09,160
I went to the owner and I told him that I found another job

653
00:33:09,160 --> 00:33:10,200
and this is the story.

654
00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:13,160
And he was like, you can go, but we need to check

655
00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:15,440
the accounts and everything.

656
00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:18,800
When we checked, that's when Satan jumped in.

657
00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:20,520
There was $100 missing.

658
00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:23,360
And I can't leave until I get that

659
00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:25,560
and I don't have that money.

660
00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:28,360
But remember how Daniel and Shadrach

661
00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:32,720
and when they went to the king of Nebuchadnezzar,

662
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:36,520
it says he gave them favor in his eyes.

663
00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:39,720
That's what God did at that moment.

664
00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:44,080
He gave me favor in the eyes of the owner.

665
00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:48,060
He looked and he said, James, I know you're not a thief,

666
00:33:48,060 --> 00:33:52,000
but it's my cousin who comes sometimes here, so go.

667
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:56,320
That's how you feel God.

668
00:33:56,320 --> 00:33:59,720
Sometimes we complain because we're going through hard time.

669
00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:03,080
Trust me, it's in the hard times when you can see God.

670
00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:06,760
You won't see him in the peaceful time

671
00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:08,600
because your eyes won't look at him.

672
00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:13,880
And that's why I say, you're having a problem, rejoice.

673
00:34:13,880 --> 00:34:17,240
Tell him, Lord, I know you're planning something.

674
00:34:17,240 --> 00:34:20,760
I might not find it today, but tomorrow I will see it.

675
00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:23,180
That's how it will work.

676
00:34:23,180 --> 00:34:25,400
So when I went with him, I was asking him,

677
00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:27,680
so what I'm gonna do for you?

678
00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:31,540
And he said to me, I have a small library.

679
00:34:31,540 --> 00:34:33,980
And you know, when he said the word library,

680
00:34:33,980 --> 00:34:39,240
for me, it was bells ringing around me.

681
00:34:39,240 --> 00:34:42,080
And I was like, yes, I will come.

682
00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:45,400
And I went, he has 150 books in the library,

683
00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:48,760
and his first thing was, I want you to read them,

684
00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:51,520
so when people come, like somebody comes and tell you,

685
00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:54,360
oh, I have anxiety, I have this, this,

686
00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:56,760
you know which book to give him.

687
00:34:56,760 --> 00:34:58,660
And I was like, yes.

688
00:34:58,660 --> 00:35:02,960
I finished those 150, maybe another three months.

689
00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:06,880
So now my brain was like, how do you say it?

690
00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:07,860
Whatever word.

691
00:35:08,700 --> 00:35:11,540
So that's when he said to me,

692
00:35:11,540 --> 00:35:13,460
James, next Sunday you're preaching.

693
00:35:13,460 --> 00:35:16,620
And honestly, this is what I said,

694
00:35:16,620 --> 00:35:19,100
I was like, me, preaching, yeah.

695
00:35:19,100 --> 00:35:22,940
And he was like, no, no, no, you're preaching.

696
00:35:22,940 --> 00:35:24,500
Prepare.

697
00:35:24,500 --> 00:35:25,940
He didn't say more than that.

698
00:35:25,940 --> 00:35:31,180
I went, and I start remembering what I read in those books,

699
00:35:31,180 --> 00:35:32,860
what I read in the Bible.

700
00:35:32,860 --> 00:35:35,540
Oh, by the way, at that time, I have finished the Bible.

701
00:35:35,540 --> 00:35:37,220
Now I'm reading the second time.

702
00:35:38,020 --> 00:35:43,020
So my first sermon was five people.

703
00:35:43,020 --> 00:35:45,380
That's the audience.

704
00:35:45,380 --> 00:35:48,460
My wife, two missionaries,

705
00:35:48,460 --> 00:35:50,720
and two workers, employees there.

706
00:35:50,720 --> 00:35:56,820
And I preached, and I finished, and I went back,

707
00:35:56,820 --> 00:35:58,820
and he came to me and he said,

708
00:35:58,820 --> 00:36:01,560
and you say you don't know how to preach.

709
00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:04,380
And that's my question, why, what did I say?

710
00:36:05,840 --> 00:36:07,940
I didn't know what I was saying.

711
00:36:07,940 --> 00:36:12,500
He smiled, I said, I know it wasn't you,

712
00:36:12,500 --> 00:36:14,040
but who is in you?

713
00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:18,220
Next Sunday, he said, next Sunday,

714
00:36:18,220 --> 00:36:20,340
prepare, you're gonna preach again.

715
00:36:20,340 --> 00:36:24,260
Now this time I have carriage, it's not the first one,

716
00:36:24,260 --> 00:36:26,860
but there was a problem.

717
00:36:26,860 --> 00:36:29,560
On the next Sunday in Iraq,

718
00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:33,160
they have a festival for one of the saints.

719
00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:35,100
They celebrate those.

720
00:36:35,100 --> 00:36:37,700
So all of them, they go to the mountains,

721
00:36:37,700 --> 00:36:40,100
so the city is kind of empty.

722
00:36:40,100 --> 00:36:42,560
And they celebrate by dancing, drinking,

723
00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:43,940
whatever you wanna say.

724
00:36:43,940 --> 00:36:47,540
So I told him immediately, I said,

725
00:36:47,540 --> 00:36:49,980
Tawfiq, just to mention to you,

726
00:36:49,980 --> 00:36:51,980
next Sunday, nobody will be in the city.

727
00:36:51,980 --> 00:36:54,420
And he's like, why?

728
00:36:54,420 --> 00:36:55,720
So I told him the reason.

729
00:36:55,720 --> 00:36:57,240
He said to me, let's pray.

730
00:36:57,240 --> 00:36:59,380
We prayed.

731
00:36:59,380 --> 00:37:03,120
And after we prayed, we went home,

732
00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:05,160
and I'm waiting for the next Sunday.

733
00:37:05,160 --> 00:37:10,160
I prepared something, but I still saying nobody will come.

734
00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:13,240
We went on Sunday, there was 40 people,

735
00:37:13,240 --> 00:37:16,920
they decided not to go, but to come to the church.

736
00:37:16,920 --> 00:37:23,720
When we say it's impossible, God says, it's possible.

737
00:37:23,720 --> 00:37:26,920
When we say I can't do it, he says, I'll help you.

738
00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:31,040
That's what we're missing in our life.

739
00:37:32,100 --> 00:37:35,200
That's when we started our ministry there.

740
00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:38,960
My wife started with 10 kids as a Sunday school.

741
00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:45,180
Those 10 kids grow up to be 150 in our house.

742
00:37:45,180 --> 00:37:48,480
Oh, by the way, let me tell you about the house.

743
00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:51,020
Remember, we were living in one room.

744
00:37:51,020 --> 00:37:53,480
Another lady came to us, she was from America,

745
00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:56,240
and she lives in Colorado, she's with the Lord now.

746
00:37:56,240 --> 00:37:59,860
She came to us and she said,

747
00:37:59,860 --> 00:38:01,680
you guys have to leave this room.

748
00:38:02,440 --> 00:38:06,080
And we were looking at her like, how?

749
00:38:06,080 --> 00:38:07,800
She said, don't worry, I'll solve that.

750
00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:09,960
She went, she came back, she said,

751
00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:12,040
I rented a house with two bedrooms,

752
00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:14,000
with two living rooms, with a kitchen,

753
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:16,400
with this, this, this, and we're looking at her like,

754
00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:17,240
for us?

755
00:38:17,240 --> 00:38:19,080
She said, yeah, it's even furnished.

756
00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:25,040
We moved there and God used that house.

757
00:38:25,040 --> 00:38:27,200
See, God don't give you something, let me tell you,

758
00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:29,600
he won't give you something if you don't use it.

759
00:38:30,720 --> 00:38:32,800
Don't think he's gonna give you health

760
00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:34,400
and you don't use it for him,

761
00:38:34,400 --> 00:38:36,520
someday you're gonna lose it.

762
00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:41,120
He gave us that house and we hold all 150 kids

763
00:38:41,120 --> 00:38:42,320
in that house.

764
00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:44,680
Imagine in your house, you have two bedrooms,

765
00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:46,880
two living rooms, a kitchen.

766
00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:49,020
Oh, and stairs going to the roof,

767
00:38:49,020 --> 00:38:51,160
because in Iraq, the roofs are flat.

768
00:38:51,160 --> 00:38:52,800
You can go there, sleep there.

769
00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:58,140
So those 150 were everywhere in that house.

770
00:38:58,140 --> 00:39:01,420
Especially when we say it's rest time,

771
00:39:01,420 --> 00:39:06,420
oh boy, you have to leave the house to have some clarity.

772
00:39:06,420 --> 00:39:10,520
And they were working, we start praying,

773
00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:14,200
now we have 150, we have only two sofas, one chair,

774
00:39:14,200 --> 00:39:15,700
and where are we gonna put them?

775
00:39:15,700 --> 00:39:18,060
So we start praying, Lord, help us.

776
00:39:18,060 --> 00:39:21,780
And while we were praying, in few days,

777
00:39:21,780 --> 00:39:23,900
somebody at the door, I opened the door,

778
00:39:23,900 --> 00:39:27,420
it's an old lady, but I can tell she's not Iraqi,

779
00:39:27,420 --> 00:39:30,640
she's a foreigner, and she was in 70s.

780
00:39:30,640 --> 00:39:34,460
And she said to me, I heard there's Sunday school

781
00:39:34,460 --> 00:39:35,420
in this house.

782
00:39:35,420 --> 00:39:39,100
And I'm looking at her like, I don't know you.

783
00:39:39,100 --> 00:39:40,580
So I was like, yeah, we have.

784
00:39:40,580 --> 00:39:42,640
And she's like, can I see them?

785
00:39:42,640 --> 00:39:44,060
I was like, yes.

786
00:39:44,060 --> 00:39:46,300
I took her inside and it was their period

787
00:39:46,300 --> 00:39:49,340
when they can play and they were everywhere.

788
00:39:49,340 --> 00:39:51,020
She just looked like that, she said,

789
00:39:51,020 --> 00:39:53,140
that's all I wanted to see.

790
00:39:53,140 --> 00:39:56,780
She went out and she pulled an envelope from her pocket

791
00:39:56,780 --> 00:39:58,340
and she said, this is for you.

792
00:39:58,340 --> 00:40:03,020
I said, like specifically for me?

793
00:40:03,020 --> 00:40:04,980
And she said, yeah, the guy who gave it to me,

794
00:40:04,980 --> 00:40:08,460
he said, don't give it only to a Sunday school.

795
00:40:08,460 --> 00:40:10,280
So that's yours.

796
00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:15,780
We opened it, there was money enough to build stools

797
00:40:15,780 --> 00:40:17,440
for all the children.

798
00:40:17,440 --> 00:40:22,220
Enough, exactly, like when I cashed it,

799
00:40:22,220 --> 00:40:24,000
the money, I went to a carpenter,

800
00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:25,420
I told him what I want.

801
00:40:25,420 --> 00:40:27,460
He said, it's gonna cost you this much.

802
00:40:27,460 --> 00:40:29,300
I'm looking, that's what God sent.

803
00:40:29,300 --> 00:40:32,920
I'm like, here's the money, do it.

804
00:40:32,920 --> 00:40:35,700
That is our God.

805
00:40:35,700 --> 00:40:40,780
We stayed like that, then the villages around us,

806
00:40:40,780 --> 00:40:42,300
they start calling us.

807
00:40:42,300 --> 00:40:44,440
They're like, we want you to come to our village

808
00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:46,120
and do the same.

809
00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:50,240
So now we have to bring people, teach them, train them,

810
00:40:50,240 --> 00:40:51,740
because we're only two people.

811
00:40:53,160 --> 00:40:57,080
So God gave us three girls and one young boy.

812
00:40:57,080 --> 00:40:59,920
We train them, we teach them, we start using them.

813
00:40:59,920 --> 00:41:03,380
In one of those villages, and you know,

814
00:41:03,380 --> 00:41:07,000
when you go to the villages, you need room to do that.

815
00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:09,660
In one of those villages, we went there,

816
00:41:09,660 --> 00:41:12,800
we paid money for the house, but that's all.

817
00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:14,440
I mean, this is what we have.

818
00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:16,840
So now we have the house, we have nothing in it.

819
00:41:16,840 --> 00:41:20,200
A man came with two of his daughters,

820
00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:24,240
and he said to us, I wanna register my kids

821
00:41:24,240 --> 00:41:26,080
in your Sunday school.

822
00:41:26,080 --> 00:41:27,760
And I was like, yeah, sure.

823
00:41:27,760 --> 00:41:29,400
But he said, I wanna see inside.

824
00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:30,580
I'm like, come on.

825
00:41:30,580 --> 00:41:33,400
He went, they're sitting all on the floor.

826
00:41:33,400 --> 00:41:36,560
And by the way, on the floor, there's no carpet.

827
00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:37,560
So think about it.

828
00:41:37,560 --> 00:41:40,000
At summer, it's boiling.

829
00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:41,600
At winter, it's freezing.

830
00:41:41,600 --> 00:41:44,440
And he looked at me, he said, no, no, no,

831
00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:46,620
you can't teach the children here.

832
00:41:46,620 --> 00:41:48,880
I'm like, that's what we have.

833
00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:50,680
That's what God gave us.

834
00:41:50,680 --> 00:41:53,960
And he said, no, I'm a principal of a school.

835
00:41:53,960 --> 00:41:56,920
How about you come there and do it?

836
00:41:56,920 --> 00:41:59,600
And you know, the schools in Iraq are owned

837
00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:00,700
by the government.

838
00:42:00,700 --> 00:42:04,440
And the government, it's not a Christian government.

839
00:42:04,440 --> 00:42:08,320
So I was like, I don't think so.

840
00:42:08,320 --> 00:42:11,640
He was like, don't worry, I'll take whatever they say.

841
00:42:11,640 --> 00:42:13,440
I mean, the blame, he said, I'll take it.

842
00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:14,280
You don't worry.

843
00:42:14,280 --> 00:42:17,400
We left that house, we went to the school.

844
00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:20,760
Now we have classes with desks, with blackboards,

845
00:42:20,760 --> 00:42:23,000
with everything we need.

846
00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:26,560
And no one opened his mouth from the government

847
00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:28,360
to tell us what are you doing there.

848
00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:31,400
That's God's favor.

849
00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:34,000
That's when we say, no way.

850
00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:35,680
God says, no, there is way.

851
00:42:35,680 --> 00:42:40,280
Just trust and I will do it.

852
00:42:40,280 --> 00:42:44,480
And to go to the second part, we stayed like that

853
00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:48,200
for more than three years, four years.

854
00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:50,260
And that's when they start sending people

855
00:42:50,260 --> 00:42:52,040
to our house to kill us.

856
00:42:52,040 --> 00:42:56,220
One of them was sent by the government,

857
00:42:56,220 --> 00:43:00,320
but God still protected us by one of the friends

858
00:43:00,320 --> 00:43:04,160
that I know there in that city, he knows him.

859
00:43:04,160 --> 00:43:07,000
So when he saw him, he asked him, what are you doing here?

860
00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:10,200
He know this is an assassin, that's his job.

861
00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:12,260
And he said, oh, I'm looking for a friend of mine.

862
00:43:12,260 --> 00:43:16,440
His name is James and I miss him so I wanna find him.

863
00:43:16,440 --> 00:43:19,520
My friend got it immediately.

864
00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:22,320
He came to my house, he said, James, leave the house.

865
00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:25,400
Because he's gonna find you anyway.

866
00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:29,980
We left, I took my wife, my three kids.

867
00:43:29,980 --> 00:43:32,840
We went to Syria, which is the country beside us.

868
00:43:32,840 --> 00:43:34,400
Sorry, I'm missing some details

869
00:43:34,400 --> 00:43:36,620
just to have time to finish.

870
00:43:38,000 --> 00:43:43,000
So to get to Syria, you have to cross a river.

871
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:44,900
It's a wide one, a little.

872
00:43:44,900 --> 00:43:46,880
It's Khabur, that's the name.

873
00:43:46,880 --> 00:43:49,460
So we arranged everything.

874
00:43:49,460 --> 00:43:51,480
Actually, the person who was taking us,

875
00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:54,300
he arranged everything, that you're gonna cross

876
00:43:54,300 --> 00:43:55,860
that river in a canoe.

877
00:43:55,860 --> 00:44:00,700
It's a long one, tiny one, and it's me, my wife,

878
00:44:00,700 --> 00:44:02,860
three girls, and two big bags.

879
00:44:02,860 --> 00:44:04,820
And I'll tell you the story of one bag.

880
00:44:05,980 --> 00:44:08,860
So when we put it in the canoe,

881
00:44:08,860 --> 00:44:11,600
there's one guy with us with a long stick.

882
00:44:11,600 --> 00:44:13,360
That's how he's leading that canoe.

883
00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:18,600
As soon as I get to the canoe, as soon as we moved,

884
00:44:18,600 --> 00:44:20,160
that's when Satan came.

885
00:44:20,160 --> 00:44:24,600
That's what he start talking to me and he's telling me,

886
00:44:24,600 --> 00:44:27,140
wait a minute, you're the only one who can swim.

887
00:44:27,140 --> 00:44:30,640
You have a wife and three girls.

888
00:44:30,640 --> 00:44:32,320
What if this canoe fled?

889
00:44:32,320 --> 00:44:35,360
Who you gonna save?

890
00:44:35,360 --> 00:44:39,700
Honestly, at that minute, I lost it.

891
00:44:39,700 --> 00:44:42,060
I stopped looking at their faces.

892
00:44:42,060 --> 00:44:43,720
Who I'm gonna save?

893
00:44:43,720 --> 00:44:45,040
That's how I was.

894
00:44:45,040 --> 00:44:48,760
But when I looked at my wife's face,

895
00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:53,660
and by the way, my wife, she's scared of one foot of water.

896
00:44:53,660 --> 00:44:55,760
She won't go into it.

897
00:44:55,760 --> 00:44:57,000
I have to drag her.

898
00:44:57,000 --> 00:45:01,280
Now we're over a river with a speed water

899
00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:04,800
and I'm looking at her and she has a piece

900
00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:07,480
I never have seen it in her face.

901
00:45:07,480 --> 00:45:09,980
She was just sitting like this enjoying her time.

902
00:45:09,980 --> 00:45:14,200
And my wisdom came or it was God maybe told me,

903
00:45:14,200 --> 00:45:16,640
he was like, shut your mouth.

904
00:45:16,640 --> 00:45:18,800
(congregation laughing)

905
00:45:18,800 --> 00:45:23,600
So I didn't say anything until we got to the shore,

906
00:45:23,600 --> 00:45:25,040
the other side.

907
00:45:25,040 --> 00:45:28,800
As soon as we got out of the cliff, I couldn't wait.

908
00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:32,440
I rushed to her, I said to her, you are not afraid.

909
00:45:32,440 --> 00:45:33,680
And she was like, why?

910
00:45:33,680 --> 00:45:36,080
I said, we were on top of the water.

911
00:45:36,080 --> 00:45:38,980
And she said, oh, you didn't see it?

912
00:45:38,980 --> 00:45:41,600
When she said you didn't see it, I was like,

913
00:45:41,600 --> 00:45:44,600
I looked everywhere, there was nothing encouraging.

914
00:45:44,600 --> 00:45:47,480
And she said, no, there was a giant hand

915
00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:50,180
holding the canoe and leading it.

916
00:45:50,180 --> 00:45:55,360
(congregation applauding)

917
00:45:55,360 --> 00:46:00,360
Honestly, fear keeps you from seeing God's hand.

918
00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:04,560
It's always there.

919
00:46:04,560 --> 00:46:07,580
When we fear, we don't see it.

920
00:46:07,580 --> 00:46:10,240
When we trust, we see it.

921
00:46:10,240 --> 00:46:12,440
I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday here

922
00:46:12,440 --> 00:46:16,120
in Idaho Falls, I told him fear is a magnifier

923
00:46:16,120 --> 00:46:21,080
that Satan use to put it in front of your eyes

924
00:46:21,080 --> 00:46:22,940
when he wanna scare you.

925
00:46:22,940 --> 00:46:25,440
So if your problem is this much,

926
00:46:25,440 --> 00:46:29,720
he brings that magnifier, it looks like giant.

927
00:46:31,140 --> 00:46:33,660
Don't give him chance to scare you.

928
00:46:33,660 --> 00:46:38,560
Now going back, now we're in Syria.

929
00:46:38,560 --> 00:46:41,120
One of the bags where you have those pictures,

930
00:46:41,120 --> 00:46:43,920
I don't know the name in English, but you're gonna get it.

931
00:46:43,920 --> 00:46:48,080
It's made of cotton or it's the whole Bible story pictures.

932
00:46:48,080 --> 00:46:50,200
Then you have a white piece, you hang it on the wall

933
00:46:50,200 --> 00:46:53,400
and stick the pictures when you're telling the story.

934
00:46:53,400 --> 00:46:55,780
Thank you, sister.

935
00:46:55,780 --> 00:47:00,140
That one, some machinery brought it to us

936
00:47:00,140 --> 00:47:01,600
when we were in Iraq.

937
00:47:01,600 --> 00:47:05,640
When we were leaving, God talked to my wife.

938
00:47:05,640 --> 00:47:08,520
He said, "You don't leave without that bag."

939
00:47:08,520 --> 00:47:13,640
Because we wanna run away, so we want only our clothes.

940
00:47:13,640 --> 00:47:16,340
But God said, "No, you have another bag, pick it up."

941
00:47:16,340 --> 00:47:19,560
And she told me, I was like, "Okay."

942
00:47:19,560 --> 00:47:23,720
When we got there, immediately they arrested us

943
00:47:23,720 --> 00:47:26,020
because it looks like the guy who brought us there,

944
00:47:26,020 --> 00:47:27,520
he did it illegally.

945
00:47:28,540 --> 00:47:31,500
So now we were trespassing in another country.

946
00:47:31,500 --> 00:47:35,500
They took us to their office,

947
00:47:35,500 --> 00:47:37,600
they called the intelligence office.

948
00:47:37,600 --> 00:47:41,100
And they called me alone and they said to me,

949
00:47:41,100 --> 00:47:42,400
"You know you're going to prison,

950
00:47:42,400 --> 00:47:44,360
"you just crossed the border.

951
00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:48,480
"And I can't talk to those people, we know who they are.

952
00:47:48,480 --> 00:47:51,060
"They'll kill you right there and they don't care."

953
00:47:51,060 --> 00:47:53,180
So I didn't open my mouth.

954
00:47:53,180 --> 00:47:56,100
That's again when God put his favor.

955
00:47:56,100 --> 00:47:58,580
The same one who arrested us said to him,

956
00:47:58,580 --> 00:48:02,220
"But sir, he has three children, he has a wife.

957
00:48:02,220 --> 00:48:05,300
"I mean, he can put him in the jail, but what about those?"

958
00:48:05,300 --> 00:48:08,580
And that colonel, he was a colonel,

959
00:48:08,580 --> 00:48:11,220
he start thinking he didn't have an answer.

960
00:48:11,220 --> 00:48:13,560
And then the same officer said to him,

961
00:48:13,560 --> 00:48:15,900
"How about I take them to my house?

962
00:48:15,900 --> 00:48:19,500
"I have an empty room, they can stay there."

963
00:48:19,500 --> 00:48:20,940
And he turned to me and he said,

964
00:48:20,940 --> 00:48:24,060
"But you promise me you don't gonna do anything crazy.

965
00:48:25,100 --> 00:48:26,620
"And I wanna protect my family,

966
00:48:26,620 --> 00:48:28,620
"I'm not gonna do anything crazy."

967
00:48:28,620 --> 00:48:30,860
I said, "No, I promise you."

968
00:48:30,860 --> 00:48:34,140
He took us to his house, they have a big room empty.

969
00:48:34,140 --> 00:48:37,980
And by the way, that room was a stable for animals.

970
00:48:37,980 --> 00:48:41,140
But they have put carpets, so when you sit there,

971
00:48:41,140 --> 00:48:43,340
the chicken will come in, the ducks will come in,

972
00:48:43,340 --> 00:48:46,180
sometimes the goat will come in and you can do nothing.

973
00:48:46,180 --> 00:48:48,700
You just, "Okay, God, thank you."

974
00:48:48,700 --> 00:48:51,460
(audience laughing)

975
00:48:51,460 --> 00:48:53,680
And we stayed for a few days.

976
00:48:53,680 --> 00:48:55,460
And of course, at all this time,

977
00:48:55,460 --> 00:48:58,540
we never stopped reading the Bible, praying,

978
00:48:58,540 --> 00:49:01,860
reading, praying, we never stopped.

979
00:49:01,860 --> 00:49:04,220
And one day I was reading,

980
00:49:04,220 --> 00:49:06,440
I was reading about King Hezekiah,

981
00:49:06,440 --> 00:49:09,460
when he got sick, close to death.

982
00:49:09,460 --> 00:49:10,980
And Isaiah said to him,

983
00:49:10,980 --> 00:49:14,660
"In three days, you're gonna enter the temple of God."

984
00:49:14,660 --> 00:49:17,460
When I read this, I stopped, I looked at my wife,

985
00:49:17,460 --> 00:49:19,140
I said, "Honey, in three days,

986
00:49:19,140 --> 00:49:21,700
"we're gonna enter the temple of God."

987
00:49:21,700 --> 00:49:23,160
And she was like, "How did you know that?"

988
00:49:23,160 --> 00:49:24,000
I said, "Here."

989
00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:26,660
She said, "How do you know it's for us?"

990
00:49:26,660 --> 00:49:29,180
I said, "God told me, that's for you."

991
00:49:29,180 --> 00:49:34,120
You can tell it's God talking, it's not you reading.

992
00:49:34,120 --> 00:49:37,380
And we waited, we prayed for that,

993
00:49:37,380 --> 00:49:42,380
we waited, on the third day, that officer came to me,

994
00:49:42,380 --> 00:49:44,500
because he's in the house, his house,

995
00:49:44,500 --> 00:49:47,580
and he said, "James, I feel sorry for you and your family.

996
00:49:47,580 --> 00:49:52,440
"I need to take you back, and I will talk to my colonel,

997
00:49:52,440 --> 00:49:55,740
"that either he set you free, so you can live,

998
00:49:55,740 --> 00:49:59,460
"you have children, or we send you back to Iraq.

999
00:49:59,460 --> 00:50:02,120
"And I know, sending back to Iraq means death."

1000
00:50:02,120 --> 00:50:06,820
But still, I said to him, "Okay."

1001
00:50:06,820 --> 00:50:08,940
Because now I have a word from God,

1002
00:50:08,940 --> 00:50:11,020
I wanna see that word that I've read.

1003
00:50:11,020 --> 00:50:15,220
So we went, he talked to the colonel,

1004
00:50:15,220 --> 00:50:17,220
and he said, "Sir, he has a family."

1005
00:50:17,220 --> 00:50:20,040
And he said the same thing he said to me,

1006
00:50:20,040 --> 00:50:22,160
and the colonel looked at me, he was like,

1007
00:50:22,160 --> 00:50:23,980
"Do you know anybody here in Syria?"

1008
00:50:23,980 --> 00:50:25,740
I was like, "No."

1009
00:50:25,740 --> 00:50:29,020
"Do you know any place, if I let you go, that you can go?"

1010
00:50:29,020 --> 00:50:30,140
I said, "No."

1011
00:50:30,140 --> 00:50:34,680
And that's when God put it in my head,

1012
00:50:34,680 --> 00:50:38,220
I said to him, "Wait, do you have a church here?"

1013
00:50:38,220 --> 00:50:40,380
And he was like, "Oh, we have a lot."

1014
00:50:40,380 --> 00:50:41,620
"Which one?"

1015
00:50:41,620 --> 00:50:46,540
Two days before we left Iraq, a visitor we have from Lebanon,

1016
00:50:46,540 --> 00:50:48,980
he used to work from the United Nation,

1017
00:50:48,980 --> 00:50:51,820
and he was a missionary at the same time.

1018
00:50:51,820 --> 00:50:54,680
He came and spent the whole night with me and Madeline

1019
00:50:54,680 --> 00:50:57,600
till morning, we didn't sleep the whole night

1020
00:50:57,600 --> 00:50:58,960
talking about the Bible.

1021
00:50:58,960 --> 00:51:03,480
And he was from a church that calls the Brethren Church.

1022
00:51:03,480 --> 00:51:06,560
That's when my mouth opened, I said,

1023
00:51:06,560 --> 00:51:09,260
"Do you have a Brethren Church here?"

1024
00:51:09,260 --> 00:51:12,440
And he was like, "Oh, it's close, right beside us."

1025
00:51:12,440 --> 00:51:14,960
I was like, "I'll take that."

1026
00:51:14,960 --> 00:51:19,080
He sent two of his police with me, we went to the church,

1027
00:51:19,080 --> 00:51:22,860
the pastor wasn't there, he has a trip to Lebanon,

1028
00:51:22,860 --> 00:51:26,060
so his assistant was there, and by the way,

1029
00:51:26,060 --> 00:51:27,580
his name was Paul.

1030
00:51:27,580 --> 00:51:31,900
And that name encouraged me when I heard it.

1031
00:51:31,900 --> 00:51:35,420
So we went in, and Paul was busy doing something,

1032
00:51:35,420 --> 00:51:38,140
it's a big church, and around that church,

1033
00:51:38,140 --> 00:51:42,080
the inside, it's all tiny rooms, like for tennis,

1034
00:51:42,080 --> 00:51:46,620
for sewing, for teaching, it's all around like that.

1035
00:51:46,620 --> 00:51:51,360
And he went to them, and actually they came to him,

1036
00:51:51,360 --> 00:51:54,040
and he knew who they are, you can tell those people

1037
00:51:54,040 --> 00:51:55,960
by their face.

1038
00:51:55,960 --> 00:51:57,800
And he said, "How can I help you?"

1039
00:51:57,800 --> 00:52:00,400
They said, "We have this Iraqi family

1040
00:52:00,400 --> 00:52:03,340
"that they're seeking refuge, and we don't have a place

1041
00:52:03,340 --> 00:52:04,720
"to put them."

1042
00:52:04,720 --> 00:52:08,160
He smiled, and by the way, don't smile

1043
00:52:08,160 --> 00:52:11,000
in front of those people, they will kill you.

1044
00:52:11,000 --> 00:52:14,680
But he smiled, and when they were like,

1045
00:52:14,680 --> 00:52:16,240
"Why are you smiling?"

1046
00:52:16,240 --> 00:52:17,980
He said, "Let me show you, come."

1047
00:52:17,980 --> 00:52:22,640
He took us right in those center where those rooms are,

1048
00:52:22,640 --> 00:52:26,840
there's a long one sealed with a lock and chain,

1049
00:52:26,840 --> 00:52:30,440
that was the only one, it was locked with a chain.

1050
00:52:30,440 --> 00:52:32,740
And he said, "Do you see these?"

1051
00:52:32,740 --> 00:52:33,760
And they were like, "Yeah."

1052
00:52:33,760 --> 00:52:38,400
He said, "Those were ruins, it was destroyed completely."

1053
00:52:38,400 --> 00:52:41,880
He said, "Three months ago, God told us,

1054
00:52:41,880 --> 00:52:45,060
"build it, fill it, make it ready."

1055
00:52:46,160 --> 00:52:48,360
He said, "And in three months, we did."

1056
00:52:48,360 --> 00:52:52,780
And he said, "At that time, we start praying,

1057
00:52:52,780 --> 00:52:53,960
"okay, God, it's done."

1058
00:52:53,960 --> 00:52:54,800
"What?"

1059
00:52:54,800 --> 00:52:56,600
"God didn't say anything."

1060
00:52:56,600 --> 00:52:59,620
But he said, "When you told me about this guy,

1061
00:52:59,620 --> 00:53:03,440
"now I know why God told us to build these rooms."

1062
00:53:03,440 --> 00:53:05,600
He opened it, we went in.

1063
00:53:05,600 --> 00:53:08,400
You go in, it's a living room with sofas,

1064
00:53:08,400 --> 00:53:09,800
chairs, everything.

1065
00:53:09,800 --> 00:53:13,360
On your right hand, there's a kitchen, complete kitchen,

1066
00:53:13,360 --> 00:53:15,040
and a bathroom on the side.

1067
00:53:15,040 --> 00:53:17,900
On the left side, there's a big, giant bedroom.

1068
00:53:17,900 --> 00:53:22,120
He said, "We were preparing it for this family."

1069
00:53:22,120 --> 00:53:25,540
I went back to my wife, I said,

1070
00:53:25,540 --> 00:53:28,140
"Honey, we're going to the temple of God."

1071
00:53:28,140 --> 00:53:32,520
And she was happy, I was happy.

1072
00:53:32,520 --> 00:53:37,520
We stayed there for three months, three or something, close.

1073
00:53:37,520 --> 00:53:43,440
And when we got there, we start, oh,

1074
00:53:43,880 --> 00:53:46,880
they were praying, I remember that back,

1075
00:53:46,880 --> 00:53:51,000
they were praying all that time for this.

1076
00:53:51,000 --> 00:53:52,640
They want that material.

1077
00:53:52,640 --> 00:53:56,280
And that's, we were like, oh, so that's why God said,

1078
00:53:56,280 --> 00:53:58,640
"Don't leave without it."

1079
00:53:58,640 --> 00:54:01,640
We gave the bag for them, they said, "It's yours."

1080
00:54:01,640 --> 00:54:04,320
And then she start having woman meetings,

1081
00:54:04,320 --> 00:54:06,840
I start teaching them the worship team,

1082
00:54:06,840 --> 00:54:09,800
I start teaching them, because they were doing some mistakes,

1083
00:54:09,800 --> 00:54:11,160
so I start training them,

1084
00:54:11,160 --> 00:54:14,200
and we spent a beautiful time there.

1085
00:54:14,200 --> 00:54:17,400
Now, here's the last thing, I'm gonna close with it.

1086
00:54:17,400 --> 00:54:18,580
How much time I have?

1087
00:54:18,580 --> 00:54:20,360
Sorry.

1088
00:54:20,360 --> 00:54:22,120
Okay.

1089
00:54:22,120 --> 00:54:24,920
I love it when they say, "Keep going."

1090
00:54:24,920 --> 00:54:30,540
No, by the way, in Iraq, this is the way.

1091
00:54:30,540 --> 00:54:33,000
In our house, we used to have a church.

1092
00:54:33,000 --> 00:54:37,100
Not only Sunday school, we started a church in the house.

1093
00:54:37,100 --> 00:54:39,020
And when here, in America, they ask me,

1094
00:54:39,100 --> 00:54:42,320
so did you have a specific time for the church?

1095
00:54:42,320 --> 00:54:46,240
I'm like, yeah, we always start at three afternoon.

1096
00:54:46,240 --> 00:54:47,600
And they're like, and the end?

1097
00:54:47,600 --> 00:54:50,040
I'm like, that's when God say, "Okay, stop."

1098
00:54:50,040 --> 00:54:53,200
(congregation laughing)

1099
00:54:53,200 --> 00:54:56,040
We don't have nobody to say, "Hey, you passed."

1100
00:54:56,040 --> 00:54:59,520
No, it's when God says, "I'm done,"

1101
00:54:59,520 --> 00:55:01,820
then we say, "Okay, you can go."

1102
00:55:01,820 --> 00:55:04,440
So I'll go back to the story again.

1103
00:55:04,440 --> 00:55:07,960
After three months or two months, something,

1104
00:55:07,960 --> 00:55:10,000
I mean, it was that much, it was a lot.

1105
00:55:10,000 --> 00:55:13,800
We were listening to the radio at night.

1106
00:55:13,800 --> 00:55:16,200
That's what we do after we read, we pray.

1107
00:55:16,200 --> 00:55:19,000
We'd listen to the news, and the news was coming

1108
00:55:19,000 --> 00:55:23,400
from a radio station, was called Monte Carlo.

1109
00:55:23,400 --> 00:55:25,640
And Monte Carlo, it's in France.

1110
00:55:25,640 --> 00:55:27,600
But this one teaches in Arabic.

1111
00:55:27,600 --> 00:55:31,320
I mean, not teach, but talk about news.

1112
00:55:31,320 --> 00:55:33,760
So on the news, they mentioned that

1113
00:55:35,580 --> 00:55:38,620
America is planning to take some of the people

1114
00:55:38,620 --> 00:55:40,620
who worked with Americans.

1115
00:55:40,620 --> 00:55:45,460
And we were working with Americans in the hub,

1116
00:55:45,460 --> 00:55:47,380
because all the missionaries we worked,

1117
00:55:47,380 --> 00:55:48,580
they were from America.

1118
00:55:48,580 --> 00:55:51,700
But we said, "No, that's the devil.

1119
00:55:51,700 --> 00:55:55,060
"He wanna stop us from continue our mission."

1120
00:55:55,060 --> 00:55:56,900
So we ignored it.

1121
00:55:56,900 --> 00:56:00,140
Next day, the same advertisement.

1122
00:56:00,140 --> 00:56:03,100
And again, we said, "No, it's from the devil.

1123
00:56:03,100 --> 00:56:04,680
"We're not gonna move."

1124
00:56:04,680 --> 00:56:06,260
Because we were serving them.

1125
00:56:06,260 --> 00:56:08,980
Now we have a mission, we're doing, reaching people.

1126
00:56:08,980 --> 00:56:11,060
I don't wanna lose that.

1127
00:56:11,060 --> 00:56:13,740
Again, now this time we got a phone call

1128
00:56:13,740 --> 00:56:16,860
from one of those missionaries who she was,

1129
00:56:16,860 --> 00:56:20,140
I mean, she used to come and support us.

1130
00:56:20,140 --> 00:56:23,140
She called and she said, "Guys, what are you waiting?

1131
00:56:23,140 --> 00:56:27,780
"Go back because on the 5th of December,

1132
00:56:27,780 --> 00:56:29,380
"you have to be at the border."

1133
00:56:29,380 --> 00:56:33,060
We prayed about it, and we thought,

1134
00:56:33,060 --> 00:56:35,460
we was like, "Okay, we'll see."

1135
00:56:35,460 --> 00:56:38,360
But before that happened, guess what happened?

1136
00:56:38,360 --> 00:56:42,260
I forgot to say that one should have been before, the radio.

1137
00:56:42,260 --> 00:56:48,160
Suddenly, the same officers, they put us in the church,

1138
00:56:48,160 --> 00:56:51,660
they came to us and they said, "You're going back."

1139
00:56:51,660 --> 00:56:56,920
And for us, that was like suicide.

1140
00:56:56,920 --> 00:57:00,020
And when we were asking like, "Why?"

1141
00:57:00,020 --> 00:57:01,820
And they're like, "That's what the colonel said.

1142
00:57:01,820 --> 00:57:03,700
"You're going back."

1143
00:57:03,700 --> 00:57:07,340
Immediately, and please just look at it.

1144
00:57:07,340 --> 00:57:10,260
Immediately, the pastor or Paul

1145
00:57:10,260 --> 00:57:13,260
called every member in the church.

1146
00:57:13,260 --> 00:57:15,020
And it wasn't a big church,

1147
00:57:15,020 --> 00:57:18,500
but there was maybe 30, 40, that number.

1148
00:57:18,500 --> 00:57:19,980
He called all of them.

1149
00:57:19,980 --> 00:57:22,420
He said, "I want you in the church now."

1150
00:57:22,420 --> 00:57:25,220
They were there in less than half an hour.

1151
00:57:25,220 --> 00:57:29,020
And he said, "We need to pray for James and Madeline."

1152
00:57:31,180 --> 00:57:36,180
They prayed the whole night, past midnight.

1153
00:57:36,180 --> 00:57:38,540
None of them went home,

1154
00:57:38,540 --> 00:57:42,260
till early in the morning, and they're still there praying.

1155
00:57:42,260 --> 00:57:48,260
At six or seven, they send the bus to take us.

1156
00:57:48,260 --> 00:57:51,980
Those people inside came out.

1157
00:57:51,980 --> 00:57:54,900
They put us in the bus and two of them,

1158
00:57:54,900 --> 00:57:58,060
Pastor Paul and another guy came with us.

1159
00:57:59,060 --> 00:58:01,140
And while we were leaving the church,

1160
00:58:01,140 --> 00:58:06,140
I noticed everybody was on their knees

1161
00:58:06,140 --> 00:58:09,780
in the middle of that place.

1162
00:58:09,780 --> 00:58:12,740
We left.

1163
00:58:12,740 --> 00:58:17,580
We got to the place where the office is.

1164
00:58:17,580 --> 00:58:21,020
And one soldier came out.

1165
00:58:21,020 --> 00:58:25,140
And he looked inside from the driver window.

1166
00:58:25,140 --> 00:58:27,760
He looked at us, looked at the people with us.

1167
00:58:27,760 --> 00:58:29,380
And then he turned to the driver.

1168
00:58:29,380 --> 00:58:31,020
He said, "Take them back."

1169
00:58:31,020 --> 00:58:38,240
We were everybody in that car jumping in the car.

1170
00:58:38,240 --> 00:58:41,980
We couldn't believe our ears.

1171
00:58:41,980 --> 00:58:44,700
The orders was to take them back.

1172
00:58:44,700 --> 00:58:47,460
And this guy take them back to the church.

1173
00:58:47,460 --> 00:58:48,900
When we made it to the church,

1174
00:58:48,900 --> 00:58:51,500
those people were still on their knees

1175
00:58:53,100 --> 00:58:57,880
until we went in and that church turned into fire

1176
00:58:57,880 --> 00:59:01,760
from praising and giving joy to God and rejoicing.

1177
00:59:01,760 --> 00:59:05,440
I just wanna show you how God is.

1178
00:59:05,440 --> 00:59:09,140
When you are there, he's with you.

1179
00:59:09,140 --> 00:59:13,720
My wife, she does that every time

1180
00:59:13,720 --> 00:59:17,740
because once a war started in the area we were living,

1181
00:59:17,740 --> 00:59:20,220
not America or those, no.

1182
00:59:20,220 --> 00:59:23,260
In the north of Iraq, there's three parties

1183
00:59:23,260 --> 00:59:25,640
like you have here, Democrat, Republican.

1184
00:59:25,640 --> 00:59:27,600
One of them is Republican.

1185
00:59:27,600 --> 00:59:29,420
The other one is Democrat.

1186
00:59:29,420 --> 00:59:32,580
And the third one was the Islamic Party.

1187
00:59:32,580 --> 00:59:36,340
Suddenly, the Democrat and Republican

1188
00:59:36,340 --> 00:59:38,160
started a war between them.

1189
00:59:38,160 --> 00:59:39,240
So they got busy.

1190
00:59:39,240 --> 00:59:40,880
Now they're killing each other.

1191
00:59:40,880 --> 00:59:42,240
Guess who set free?

1192
00:59:42,240 --> 00:59:46,880
The third party, the Islamic Party.

1193
00:59:46,880 --> 00:59:47,880
They took advantage.

1194
00:59:47,880 --> 00:59:51,440
They start killing any missionary, any Christian

1195
00:59:51,440 --> 00:59:54,100
because the others are busy

1196
00:59:54,100 --> 00:59:55,800
so they can do whatever they want.

1197
00:59:55,800 --> 01:00:02,400
That's when my wife contacted some, sorry,

1198
01:00:02,400 --> 01:00:05,540
some friends that we know them, they're strong Christians.

1199
01:00:05,540 --> 01:00:07,620
This is after we went back.

1200
01:00:07,620 --> 01:00:12,060
And she told them that we need to pray nonstop.

1201
01:00:12,060 --> 01:00:16,140
So we established what we call it a chain prayer.

1202
01:00:16,140 --> 01:00:18,140
Like I will take from six to seven.

1203
01:00:18,140 --> 01:00:20,820
My brother will take seven to eight.

1204
01:00:20,820 --> 01:00:22,880
My sister will take eight to nine.

1205
01:00:22,880 --> 01:00:25,340
So when I'm praying for one hour,

1206
01:00:25,340 --> 01:00:28,020
I know when I'm done, somebody else is starting.

1207
01:00:28,020 --> 01:00:31,220
We didn't want the devil to have a gap to go in.

1208
01:00:31,220 --> 01:00:36,440
And we did that for three days, nonstop.

1209
01:00:36,440 --> 01:00:37,340
Guess what?

1210
01:00:37,340 --> 01:00:40,560
On the third day, those two parties

1211
01:00:40,560 --> 01:00:43,960
that they were killing each other, they stopped.

1212
01:00:43,960 --> 01:00:46,480
They have peace, they joined each other.

1213
01:00:46,480 --> 01:00:48,960
They turned against the third party.

1214
01:00:48,960 --> 01:00:50,800
They vanished them completely.

1215
01:00:50,800 --> 01:00:53,720
That's our God.

1216
01:00:53,720 --> 01:00:56,800
We don't need to do it.

1217
01:00:56,800 --> 01:00:58,720
He will do it.

1218
01:00:58,720 --> 01:01:00,720
He said, "I will fight your fight.

1219
01:01:00,720 --> 01:01:01,920
"It's not you."

1220
01:01:01,920 --> 01:01:05,100
And he proved it to us.

1221
01:01:05,100 --> 01:01:07,000
So we went back to Iraq.

1222
01:01:07,000 --> 01:01:09,160
And it's a long story.

1223
01:01:09,160 --> 01:01:11,000
I don't wanna, I wanna make it short.

1224
01:01:11,000 --> 01:01:13,560
But we went back to Iraq.

1225
01:01:13,560 --> 01:01:16,320
God has prepared all the transportation

1226
01:01:16,320 --> 01:01:18,100
from the river to the city.

1227
01:01:18,100 --> 01:01:20,280
One of them, he took us.

1228
01:01:20,280 --> 01:01:21,360
He said, "I'm going to the city.

1229
01:01:21,360 --> 01:01:22,320
"I'll take you with me."

1230
01:01:22,320 --> 01:01:23,560
He took us.

1231
01:01:23,560 --> 01:01:25,060
So we made it to the city.

1232
01:01:25,060 --> 01:01:29,440
We found a family, but we had to hide in their basement.

1233
01:01:29,440 --> 01:01:32,800
Because if they knew we are back,

1234
01:01:32,800 --> 01:01:34,800
they're gonna come after us.

1235
01:01:34,800 --> 01:01:38,520
So for two, three days, we stayed in that basement.

1236
01:01:38,520 --> 01:01:43,000
And on the 5th of December, as our lady said,

1237
01:01:43,000 --> 01:01:46,120
we have a bus take us to the border.

1238
01:01:46,120 --> 01:01:50,280
And at the border, they have our names already.

1239
01:01:50,280 --> 01:01:53,960
It was the US Army has built a big camp.

1240
01:01:53,960 --> 01:01:56,120
They saw our IDs, they checked our faces.

1241
01:01:56,120 --> 01:01:58,240
They were like, "Get in."

1242
01:01:58,240 --> 01:02:01,440
That moment we had peace when we get into it.

1243
01:02:01,440 --> 01:02:02,960
They took us to Turkey.

1244
01:02:02,960 --> 01:02:06,160
In Turkey, my wife's dream came true

1245
01:02:06,160 --> 01:02:08,220
because my wife always used to pray,

1246
01:02:08,220 --> 01:02:11,660
"Lord, I wanna be me and you in a tent."

1247
01:02:12,620 --> 01:02:16,540
"And I wanna pray there for you, with you."

1248
01:02:16,540 --> 01:02:17,460
And guess what?

1249
01:02:17,460 --> 01:02:21,500
After they got us there, they have an interview with us.

1250
01:02:21,500 --> 01:02:24,500
And with the interview, and I always love to say it

1251
01:02:24,500 --> 01:02:27,760
just to show you how our God is amazing.

1252
01:02:27,760 --> 01:02:29,120
People used to ask me, they're like,

1253
01:02:29,120 --> 01:02:30,780
"James, you work with Americans.

1254
01:02:30,780 --> 01:02:33,540
"Why don't you ask them to take you?"

1255
01:02:33,540 --> 01:02:37,500
And I would always say, "No, God is using me here.

1256
01:02:37,500 --> 01:02:39,480
"Why would I leave this?"

1257
01:02:39,480 --> 01:02:42,420
Then they didn't stop, so I put a rule.

1258
01:02:42,420 --> 01:02:45,320
I said, "Okay, I'll go on one condition.

1259
01:02:45,320 --> 01:02:47,440
"If I go there without a visa."

1260
01:02:47,440 --> 01:02:50,040
And you know that's impossible.

1261
01:02:50,040 --> 01:02:53,880
I made it impossible, but nothing is impossible for Him.

1262
01:02:53,880 --> 01:02:57,020
When we went in for the interview,

1263
01:02:57,020 --> 01:02:59,100
they met one family at a time.

1264
01:02:59,100 --> 01:03:01,940
They asked us, they did everything.

1265
01:03:01,940 --> 01:03:04,700
They checked that we are the right people.

1266
01:03:04,700 --> 01:03:05,820
He called me alone.

1267
01:03:05,820 --> 01:03:06,740
He said, "Come."

1268
01:03:06,740 --> 01:03:10,460
He had in his hand five cardboards,

1269
01:03:10,460 --> 01:03:12,980
the one you can buy it from Dollar Tree,

1270
01:03:12,980 --> 01:03:15,220
but cut into pieces.

1271
01:03:15,220 --> 01:03:18,540
And on the one face, there's with a marker,

1272
01:03:18,540 --> 01:03:20,860
a thick marker, red, number one.

1273
01:03:20,860 --> 01:03:25,580
And he said, "These are yours, don't lose it.

1274
01:03:25,580 --> 01:03:27,440
"That's your visa."

1275
01:03:27,440 --> 01:03:30,100
And I'm looking at them like, "I can make those."

1276
01:03:30,100 --> 01:03:32,100
(audience laughing)

1277
01:03:32,100 --> 01:03:36,200
Honestly, but when he said that,

1278
01:03:36,200 --> 01:03:38,860
I was like, "Okay, I just turned them back."

1279
01:03:38,860 --> 01:03:42,180
There's a seal of United States on each one of them.

1280
01:03:42,180 --> 01:03:47,320
So we went to the, after the interview,

1281
01:03:47,320 --> 01:03:51,380
they take us to an area, it's all tents.

1282
01:03:51,380 --> 01:03:53,380
That's her dream.

1283
01:03:53,380 --> 01:03:55,700
We went into a tent, and by the way,

1284
01:03:55,700 --> 01:03:57,900
it was raining crazy.

1285
01:03:57,900 --> 01:04:00,800
It was mud everywhere.

1286
01:04:00,800 --> 01:04:02,820
But still, you sit in that tent,

1287
01:04:02,820 --> 01:04:05,100
the tent is going right and left

1288
01:04:05,100 --> 01:04:07,020
as if it's gonna blow.

1289
01:04:07,020 --> 01:04:10,780
She was having the best time of her life.

1290
01:04:10,780 --> 01:04:13,820
(audience laughing)

1291
01:04:13,820 --> 01:04:16,620
We slept, and in the morning, four in the morning,

1292
01:04:16,620 --> 01:04:19,580
they were like, "Whoever has card number one,

1293
01:04:19,580 --> 01:04:21,900
"step out, your airplane,

1294
01:04:21,900 --> 01:04:24,660
"we're gonna take you to your airplane."

1295
01:04:24,660 --> 01:04:25,980
And we had number one.

1296
01:04:25,980 --> 01:04:29,820
We got into the airplane, take us four hours driving

1297
01:04:29,820 --> 01:04:33,740
to the airport, American airport base,

1298
01:04:33,740 --> 01:04:35,300
and it was empty.

1299
01:04:35,300 --> 01:04:37,460
And we're sitting in the buses looking like,

1300
01:04:37,460 --> 01:04:39,180
okay, now what?

1301
01:04:39,180 --> 01:04:42,380
It took us like an hour, something, waiting in the bus,

1302
01:04:42,380 --> 01:04:47,220
then when we saw a big, giant Air France airplane landing.

1303
01:04:47,220 --> 01:04:49,620
Took us, took us to Guam.

1304
01:04:49,620 --> 01:04:51,800
In Guam, we stayed three months,

1305
01:04:51,800 --> 01:04:54,540
and I'll just finish with this,

1306
01:04:54,540 --> 01:04:57,060
and why did we go to Colorado?

1307
01:04:57,060 --> 01:05:00,380
In Guam, after they investigate,

1308
01:05:00,380 --> 01:05:02,660
do our papers and everything,

1309
01:05:02,660 --> 01:05:05,460
they were meeting with some of the families,

1310
01:05:05,460 --> 01:05:08,740
because we were like 3,000 family members.

1311
01:05:08,740 --> 01:05:10,500
Imagine how many families.

1312
01:05:10,500 --> 01:05:12,280
They all worked with Americans.

1313
01:05:12,280 --> 01:05:16,020
So they were asking the people,

1314
01:05:16,020 --> 01:05:17,660
when they go in, the family,

1315
01:05:17,660 --> 01:05:20,600
"Give us three states you wanna go to,

1316
01:05:20,600 --> 01:05:24,240
"and you can give, like, let's say, Texas,

1317
01:05:24,240 --> 01:05:26,340
"California, whatever you want."

1318
01:05:26,340 --> 01:05:30,340
So me and my wife, we don't do nothing if we don't pray.

1319
01:05:30,340 --> 01:05:33,340
We prayed and said, "God, which one should we pick?"

1320
01:05:33,340 --> 01:05:37,100
Because she had two sisters in California,

1321
01:05:37,100 --> 01:05:39,180
and she has a brother in Texas.

1322
01:05:39,180 --> 01:05:41,060
I have an uncle in Chicago.

1323
01:05:41,060 --> 01:05:43,240
So now we are like, okay, which one?

1324
01:05:43,240 --> 01:05:46,640
We prayed, and we said, "Lord,

1325
01:05:46,640 --> 01:05:51,420
"if they ask us for one instead of three,"

1326
01:05:51,420 --> 01:05:53,780
see, every family was asked for three,

1327
01:05:53,780 --> 01:05:55,900
"we're gonna give Colorado.

1328
01:05:55,900 --> 01:05:58,900
"That means you don't want us to go to the others.

1329
01:05:58,900 --> 01:06:00,240
"But if they give three,

1330
01:06:00,240 --> 01:06:03,220
"then we're gonna pick California and Texas."

1331
01:06:03,220 --> 01:06:06,420
We went inside, and this guy, after he talked to us,

1332
01:06:06,420 --> 01:06:09,960
he said, "Give me one state that you wanna go to."

1333
01:06:09,960 --> 01:06:14,820
And we looked at each other, we're like, "Colorado?"

1334
01:06:14,820 --> 01:06:16,420
And he looked at his papers,

1335
01:06:16,420 --> 01:06:18,500
because he has all our documents.

1336
01:06:18,500 --> 01:06:21,060
He's like, "You don't have nobody in Colorado."

1337
01:06:21,060 --> 01:06:25,040
And we're like, "No, we have the machineries that helped us.

1338
01:06:25,040 --> 01:06:27,060
"They were all from Colorado."

1339
01:06:28,540 --> 01:06:30,180
Her sisters got mad.

1340
01:06:30,180 --> 01:06:32,740
My uncle got mad.

1341
01:06:32,740 --> 01:06:34,020
Like, "Why do you go there?"

1342
01:06:34,020 --> 01:06:36,620
I said, "God picked it for us,

1343
01:06:36,620 --> 01:06:39,460
"and God blessed us in Colorado."

1344
01:06:39,460 --> 01:06:42,260
I'll stop here, and Pastor, if you...

1345
01:06:47,160 --> 01:06:55,220
- Well, let's pray.

1346
01:06:55,220 --> 01:06:58,300
And if you don't believe that the Lord

1347
01:06:58,300 --> 01:07:01,820
has a plan for your life, very specifically,

1348
01:07:01,820 --> 01:07:04,660
obviously, hearing James and Madeline's story

1349
01:07:04,660 --> 01:07:06,620
is pretty incredible.

1350
01:07:06,620 --> 01:07:10,900
He's a God who moves in a big way.

1351
01:07:10,900 --> 01:07:13,260
So the prayer team's gonna be over here to the right.

1352
01:07:13,260 --> 01:07:14,900
We're just gonna close with a word of prayer.

1353
01:07:14,900 --> 01:07:17,420
And please come and be prayed for.

1354
01:07:17,420 --> 01:07:22,020
If you need Jesus to direct your steps,

1355
01:07:22,020 --> 01:07:23,340
let's seek him together.

1356
01:07:23,340 --> 01:07:27,580
Father, we thank you so much for your sovereignty, Lord,

1357
01:07:27,580 --> 01:07:30,820
that our life and our very breath that's in your hand, Lord,

1358
01:07:30,820 --> 01:07:33,040
and how you direct our steps,

1359
01:07:33,040 --> 01:07:35,340
and you open and close doors, Lord,

1360
01:07:35,340 --> 01:07:37,740
that we could never even imagine, Lord.

1361
01:07:37,740 --> 01:07:40,420
And I just praise you for James and his family,

1362
01:07:40,420 --> 01:07:42,300
and as you continue to lead them.

1363
01:07:42,300 --> 01:07:45,860
And Lord, I just pray that we would have that same faith,

1364
01:07:45,860 --> 01:07:49,220
Lord, to just grow in the grace and the knowledge, Lord,

1365
01:07:49,220 --> 01:07:51,860
knowing that you know the end from the beginning,

1366
01:07:51,860 --> 01:07:54,420
and everything in between, and all the details, Lord,

1367
01:07:54,420 --> 01:07:57,540
you have penned out in your own notebook,

1368
01:07:57,540 --> 01:07:58,740
Lord, of our lives.

1369
01:07:58,740 --> 01:08:02,300
And so, Lord, would you just remind us of that, Lord,

1370
01:08:02,300 --> 01:08:05,320
that every single day is an adventure

1371
01:08:05,320 --> 01:08:07,200
with the one who created us, Lord.

1372
01:08:07,200 --> 01:08:09,300
And so we love you, we praise you,

1373
01:08:09,300 --> 01:08:11,820
and again, pray your blessing upon this family.

1374
01:08:11,820 --> 01:08:14,700
Thank you for letting them share their lives with us today.

1375
01:08:14,700 --> 01:08:16,620
In Jesus' holy name, amen.

1376
01:08:16,620 --> 01:08:17,580
God bless you guys.