Speaker 1: 0:01

It's time now to get the hell out of your life. A weekly broadcast with real people sharing real struggles and offering real hope. Today's show will encourage, inspire and empower you to face life's challenges with a bold confidence and renewed hope. Now let's join our host, ron Myers. The promoter.

Speaker 3: 0:23

Hello, my friends, it is so good to be with you today. Well, have you had your conversation with Jesus this past week? You know the time that you get to share what's ever on your heart. I know one thing that is on a lot of folks' heart today. It's called worry, and worry has a way of consuming our thoughts, draining our energy, and it can lead us down a path of despair, concern, and it keeps us trapped in a cycle of fear and anxiety. But what if I told you today's show is going to talk about worry, of how we can get out of this cycle? What if I told you that you have the power to trade in your worry for something greater, something that can bring you freedom, peace and hope? So today, my friend, my guest, and I are going to talk about eliminating worry in our lives. My guest, I call him Big Dave.

Speaker 3: 1:25

I met him a few years ago when my wife and I, our son Jacob, went with Crosspoint Church of Gulfport to Canada, victoria Island, for a kids camp, a creative kids camp. It was awesome. In fact, it was so good. We went back for three consecutive years. Well, not only did I meet some great people in Canada, but I became friends with one guy, dave Steinberg. I call him Big Dave because he has some big ideas, because we serve such a big God, and when I met Big Dave, there was just something that connected. I think it was that Jesus in both of us. Do you remember that day, big Dave? We met and we knew there was something that God put us together for. We just knew we were going to get along, didn't we?

Speaker 2: 2:20

You know we did, and I don't even exactly remember where we met it might have been at a barbecue that the volunteers were working with but what I remember is that there was just a genuine friendship. It wasn't something that you could buy or you could order, it just showed up. It made me feel like, wow, these guys have come a long ways, they've spent their money to be a volunteer at a kid's camp and the bonus is I get to be this guy's friend. So we started corresponding and, yeah, it was that connection that I felt right away. When you have a faith in Jesus, the bond is almost automatic. The whole conversation changes when you find out you have something like Jesus in common.

Speaker 3: 3:09

Amen. We're family, we come together and hey, what a great time. And listeners what he's talking about. I went up to Victoria Island, british Columbia, with a church here in Gulfport, crosspoint Church. It was three years in a row. It was a creative art camp for kids. It was an awesome mission trip. Beautiful place, beautiful friends. I wanted Dave to be a Big Dave, to be a guest on my show today. And, big Dave, I know you've got an incredible story. You were a chaplain with a hockey team. You still may be, but let's start at the beginning. What's your story, big Dave?

Speaker 2: 3:50

Well, I grew up in a Christian home, so it kind of made things easy because I understood from the beginning. I grew up in a province called Saskatchewan, which is just north of North Dakota, and when I was 38, we were in the middle of a recession in Canada and our family moved to Vancouver Island, to a city called Victoria. I didn't really know very many people. It was a city where if you worked for the government or you were a professional or had your own business, you were fine, but a lot of people wanted to live here who just had a great education, and so it was very difficult to find work. I went from one thing to another and it just seemed like I was really having to focus on raising a family because I couldn't seem to get ahead financially. And so we did that. We have three children. They're all healthy, they are all married, they each have three children. So we have nine grandchildren, and what I've learned is that God is my provider. So whatever my circumstance is, I know that God's walking with me. Now you say, well, do you see him walking? No, do I hear him walking? No, but his word, the Bible, when I read that, he speaks to me and it is so clear. And then when I've got things that I want to talk to someone about, I can have a friend like Ron. We just reach out.

Speaker 2: 5:23

One of the things that I guess I've really enjoyed is communicating with young hockey players, and so in Canada we've got three different divisions of junior hockey training ground for the future NHL, and so as a chaplain, I decided I would communicate with these guys, with I just send them three dots, and the three dots means God bless you or I'm praying for you or just thinking about you. So there's a day it was probably eight years ago and this hockey player who was the captain of our team, was going to play in a tournament just after Christmas called the World Juniors. His name is Joe Hickens. So Joe comes by where we're having chapel and he says Dave, I'm not going to be at chapel today. And I said, oh, I said well, I'm still going to send you three dots. And he says, yeah, and I'm going to send you three dots back. So they're playing the tournament, they played three games and they're coming into the final.

Speaker 2: 6:27

I get a text from Joe and he says Dave, have you got any stress-relieving verses? And then in brackets he says or are there any? Aha, I say sure, joe, I'm going to send you the same verse that I gave you three years ago. And so I've got this card that I give out to people. And the card has a lion on the front of it and on the back is Joseph's verse.

Speaker 2: 6:58

And so, from the message, it is Philippians 4, 6, and 7. Let me just read it to you. It is Philippians 4, 6 and 7. Let me just read it to you. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns Before you know it. A sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. So I send them that verse and then I write another text. I say Joe, you're a leader, get a pen and paper, write that verse down and put it in your toolkit.

Speaker 2: 7:54

So they play the game that Canada loses to Finland and the tournament's basically over for Canada. They come home he wasn't back on the island here an hour and he calls me and says Dave, can we go for coffee? Sure. So he tells me about the tournament and he says you know, you said get a pen and paper and raise. Now I didn't have a pen, he said so. I just said it over and over again until I memorized it. I go, you stop and think of what happened.

Speaker 2: 8:19

An elite hockey player is playing, recognizes that he needs some help, sends a text to a no-name chaplain in British Columbia. The chaplain sends back a verse. The kid memorizes the verse. I had lunch with him three weeks ago. He's playing for the Los Angeles Kings organization, I think tomorrow they start training camp and he'll be trying to make the Los Angeles Kings hockey team. He remembers the verse, he remembers me, and so that's kind of a connection that he holds on to and so do I. That's just one example, ron, of how God's at work. All of that is because of God, not me.

Speaker 3: 9:11

Amen, hey, thank you. What a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing that. And one of the reasons, listeners, that I went up there with Crosspoint Church and a lot of volunteers is there was a young man here years ago at First Baptist Biloxi, ashley Austin, that felt a call to go up to Canada, victoria Island. What a place to pick beautiful and plan a church. So he and that you're part of that church, aren't you?

Speaker 2: 9:43

Crazy story. We ended up renting at a place called Bear Mountain. Two days after I move in I get a door knocker saying come to Kansas Church. We're meeting in the Westin Hotel. So I look at it and I say I wonder what kind of cult this is meeting in a hotel. And I could drive 40 minutes down to a traditional church that I'd gone to for 25 years, where I could walk two blocks to this hotel. So I'd flip it over and there's a phone number. I said I should find out who these people are. So Ashley Austin answers the phone. He says yeah, I've got time for coffee. Do you want to meet? Okay, so I meet. I've been there 10 and a half years. This last Sunday I was standing at the back of the church and I was looking at about 400 people. I thought you know, because one man said yes to God. There's now about 600 people regularly attending the church and there's one life after another that are being changed in a positive way. That's kind of how I met your friend and mine, ashley Austin.

Speaker 3: 10:59

When you said that how one man was obedient to God's calling. I know a lot of people that knew him at First Baptist, biloxi. Well, they were really disappointed when he left because they said we thought he was going to be the pastor here. God needed him in Canada. He's doing well, and that's the thing. Sometimes it doesn't make sense to our friends what God calls us to do, but we have to be faithful to the call that God places on us, don't we, big Dave?

Speaker 2: 11:31

Oh yeah, everyone has a calling and either you're going to dismiss it or you're going to avoid it, or you're going to say yes. And when you say yes, really you're teaming up with the creator of the universe. And it's a little bit I don't know what you call it, ron it's pretty serious. I don't know what you call it, ron. It's pretty serious. This faith walk is just an amazing life because it takes the pressure off. It's not about me. I can face each day knowing that God's going to lead me.

Speaker 3: 12:00

Big Dave, I remember the other day when I texted you about doing an interview with you, about doing an interview with you, would you be available? And I loved your reply to me. You said, just walking with the Holy Spirit from divine appointment to another. In other words, you get up every day, kind of like me. You just say Lord, what are we going to do? And then the day begins to develop Exactly yeah, that's the only way to have it, isn't?

Speaker 2: 12:30

it. Everyone's got a story, I guess. When I was maybe in my 20s, I came across a verse Matthew 6, 33. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you, and so you're never going to miss out on something that God wants you to have. And I think that's kind of the way it is, ron. I think if you live that way, god, what's on your mind today? Not God. Here's my list. I've got 10 things. I've only got five minutes. We're only going to cover five. See you Sunday. You know that isn't really much of a fulfilling life, whereas you take five minutes and you say, god, what's on your mind, what are you thinking today? And that's the excitement, ron.

Speaker 3: 13:23

It really is. It is the excitement, it's life with Jesus. It's forever and ever, and I love it. The first year I came up there, we were going to the favorite place to eat Everybody likes the red barn. Remember the red barn? And uh, we were eating our sandwich and Ashley, his wife April and I were talking. She said that when they moved up into Canada they talked to the landlord and the landlord said now tell me one more time why you moved up here from Mississippi to Canada. And she said well, we want to plant a church and tell people about Jesus. And this is the thing she said that I think about all the time. He looked at her and said who's Jesus? And I said you're kidding. And she said, ron, there are a lot of people here in Canada maybe the US in 10 years from now they're walking around saying who is Jesus? They never were hearing the gospel up there like here. It's on every street corner. That's something, isn't it?

Speaker 2: 14:33

Yeah, it's a reality. We do have such an openness. It's never been easier for me to talk to people about Jesus.

Speaker 3: 14:41

There's something that people hunger for, their hunger for that relationship of love, their longing for purpose in their life, their searching for what they're to do that can only come from that relationship with God through his son, jesus. And when we get around them and we have a little smile on our face and we're just excited about life, I think they can smell the aroma of love, the aroma of Jesus on us and they just have to ask us what's going on with you? Why are you so happy? I know that happens to you all the time.

Speaker 2: 15:19

The people that are listening today, most of them are still working. I remember I had a partner who was very wealthy I work in land development and we went for breakfast. He says David, how do you find these projects? And I said, okay, I'm going to make up a story or I have to tell him the truth. Okay, probably just easier to tell him the truth. So I said I wake up in the morning and I don't know what I'm going to see, but I see things others don't see. I don't know what I'm going to see, but I see things others don't see. I don't know what I'm going to hear, but I hear things that others don't hear. I said, tom, have you ever met a guy like me? He said no, never have. And that's kind of how Christians walk, or should walk, because the Bible says for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, those are the children of God. I guess that's my goal is to be one of God's children. I don't know it all for sure. I want to be a lifetime learner.

Speaker 3: 16:21

You're doing a good job.

Speaker 2: 16:22

I want the Holy Spirit to be front and center in my life, and as do you, so I guess it makes it easy for us to get to know each other.

Speaker 3: 16:32

Amen, brother, you said something earlier that you helped one of the hockey players with worry. There are a lot of people listening right now, big Dave. They're worrying. They're worrying about, well, maybe the election in the United States, maybe the prices of groceries in Canada. Everybody's worrying about something. Big Dave, you're a chaplain. I want you to speak to those individuals that are worrying.

Speaker 2: 16:57

When I get to know a hockey team. I promise them and I say, look, I am not going to hit you on the side of the head with the Bible, and usually a wall will come down because they get a lot of fear. What am I going to say? What am I going to make them do, and all those things. And so I'll give you just a little snippet of a story. You know, everything's a story in life for everyone.

Speaker 2: 17:21

So these two boys are on a bus trip. The one guy is 18 and he's going to be going to Montreal, to the Montreal Canadians training camp, and he's just broken up with his girlfriend and he's really bothered by this. And he's sitting talking to his buddy and his buddy says, hey, why don't you go and just have lunch with Dave? Just talk to Dave about it. So this guy named Scottie phones me up and, dave, can we go for lunch? I said sure, and so he says, okay, I'm really excited. I'm heading to Montreal, got training camp, but I've broken up with my girlfriend and it's just tearing me apart. I just don't know what to do, what to think or anything. I'm worried. And so I said well, here's what you can do, scott. Maybe you've never ever prayed before. But when you go to your car after this lunch and you sit in the car, all you have to do is talk to God, so you can just tell God I've got this problem, could you look after it.

Speaker 2: 18:36

So a couple weeks go by, he's in Montreal, he's home. I send him a text and I say, hey, scott, let's go for lunch. So I say, hey, how was Montreal? He said, oh, it was fantastic. They put you up in a hotel. Hey, how was Montreal? He said, oh, it was fantastic. They put you up in a hotel. Meals are great. All these people are fantastic hockey players. You know, when you said that I could just go to my car and I could talk to God, I did that and everything's fine. I don't worry anymore about that. So then, a couple of years go by and he sends me a text oh, dave, I don't think I told you I'm going to church. My life has really, really changed. Well, how did that start? Well, it started just because I was telling him look, this is a solution to your problem. You don't have to worry, you can talk to God about that. So, ron, it's maybe a little too simple, but you know it works for me.

Speaker 3: 19:36

Wow, I love it, I love it, and now I would like to have you close us out and pray for us. Everyone that's listening to this.

Speaker 2: 19:48

Okay, father, god, thank you for today, thank you for everyone that will hear this. Lord, you are wanting to get to know each one of us in our own world, with our own baggage, on our own journey, on our own journey. So I give you permission, father, to have your Holy Spirit just bless each person that's listening. Father, we all want a blessing, we all need a blessing and I pray that the needs that these people and myself and Rowan have, that we'll be able to park that and we can park it at the foot of the cross. Father, thank you for answering prayer and may the people who've listened today be encouraged to know that you still answer prayer and you still want to get to know every one of us. So I thank you for Ron and Michelle and I pray that you'll bless these people who have listened. In Jesus' name, amen.

Speaker 3: 21:09

When I return, we will unpack what we just heard from Big Dave.

Speaker 1: 21:13

You're listening to Get the Hell Out of your Life with your host, ron Myers. Real stories, real struggles and real hope.

Speaker 5: 21:24

Here's a refreshing word just for you, from John 14, 21. Jesus said those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me, and because they love me, my father will love them and I will love them.

Speaker 4: 21:39

What's your story? We're looking for stories of hope and overcoming life's struggles with God's grace. Your story validates God's love, mercy, restoration and forgiveness. We want to help you share your story with the world.

Speaker 1: 21:55

Visit our website, thepromoterorg, and click on the Share your Story link and submit your story. Your testimony of God's amazing grace will change a person's destiny for eternity. You're tired of how you're living. We'll change it. You don't like where you're headed, rearrange it. You're sick of being let down and you want to turn your life around.

Speaker 4: 22:31

If you want to start living right, get the hell out of your life around. If you want to start living right, get the hell out of your life Get the hell out of your life.

Speaker 1: 22:41

If you want to make a change, we'll make it. Thank you, thank you, Ron.

Speaker 5: 24:40

we'll be back in a moment to wrap up today's conversation. We want to encourage you today with God's promise to you. It comes from the book of Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 11. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and the future. That's God's promise to you when you choose to commit your plans and future to Him. Now back to Ron.

Speaker 1: 25:33

Get the hell out of your life is underwritten by the Christmas City Gift Show. We invite you to come shop with over 255 vendors from all over the United States from November 8th through the 10th inside the Coast Convention Center located on the beach in Biloxi, Mississippi. You can find more information at Christmasmascitygiftshowcom. Thanks for listening, and if you would like to share your story of what God has done in your life or listen to previous episodes, please visit our website, thepromoterorg. Join us next week for another episode of Get the Hell Out of your Life Real stories, real struggles and real hope.