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.

Ron Meyers: 0:22

Hello, my friends, it's so good to be with you, but I have to pause just for one second. Get out of here and never come back. Wow, I had to do that. Have you ever got the hell out of your life? And it just wants to barge its way back into your life. Well, I don't let it. You know fear, doubt, anxiety, worry. Nope, we don't have time for that because we're here. God has a plan, you have a plan, I have a plan, and we will never discover what God wants us to do if we keep the hell in our life. Well, that's what this show does. It's all about helping you understand that you are a winner. You are more than a conqueror, and God has given you enough courage to keep the hell out of your life and live the life you were created to live.

Ron Meyers: 1:17

And each week we share a story, or you never know what you're going to hear. And today I have a friend of mine that was in Iraq, in Afghanistan, years ago. And what a story. What a story. Have you heard the expression are there atheists in foxholes Well over in Iraq and Afghanistan? He told me there weren't many of them atheists. That is at all me. There weren't many of them atheists. That is at all, greg.

Greg Crosby: 1:45

Thank you for your service first of all and we can't wait to hear your story. What's your story? I am. Anytime I'm getting in front of anybody and in this case today, a microphone I like to tell people that my faith is not an insurance policy. It is who I am. I was born in Wiggins, mississippi. I grew up right here on the coast and my mother actually passed away just a few months ago, and the thing about her that every single person, bar none, would tell you about my mother is that she loved every single person she met and she just exhibited the love of Christ in everything that she did. My dad he joined the Navy at an early age is a Vietnam veteran with the United States Navy.

Ron Meyers: 2:34

And did you spend some time in the military yourself?

Greg Crosby: 2:37

Yes, I am retired from the Mississippi Army National Guard and I had a period of time in the Marines for eight years. My experience is I have three years in combat. Did your faith play a part when you were overseas? I heard a gentleman say there are absolutely no atheists in foxholes. In those situations, every single person is a spiritual person and we know what is at stake in those environments and I'm getting closer and closer to thinking that's probably the case for every person that has been under those kind of conditions.

Ron Meyers: 3:12

I met a homeless couple a couple weeks ago and I was talking to them and they had this tremendous amount of faith. I said where's this faith come from? They said the way we live. We live in fear, we may be killed. So our faith is everything Kind of ties in what you just said in the military. You're out there, you live in fear. You don't know when somebody's going to sneak up or if there's a landmine out there. So you have to be prayed up every day before you go out on duty.

Greg Crosby: 3:40

Absolutely, and you have to have peace too, because you can't function in a meaningful way in those roles without having peace.

Ron Meyers: 3:48

You know and I understand now why you told me before we went on the air that there is a huge spiritual battle taking place in this world. You know good versus evil and I understand why you're such a good student with spiritual warfare. You understand the enemy. You did it in the military. You had to map out what you thought the enemy was going to do to the troops. Now you know the enemy Satan, the dark side of the world, is after us Christians. Does that make sense? Does it all tie together? It absolutely makes sense.

Greg Crosby: 4:21

Wow, the enemy is looking for your soft spot. He is looking for the easiest location that he can get the most benefit from, with the least amount of risk on his part. They're not going to attack a vigilant, battle-ready, hardened veteran who knows what to do the moment he attacks. The enemy is looking for a guard post where the guards are sleeping and joking around and they're fat and lazy and switching guard posts at the wrong time and things like that. You want to look like the least important thing on the battlefield. The enemy is looking for a soft target. They know what new looks like. They know what lazy looks like. He knows what complacency looks like.

Ron Meyers: 5:05

Does he really care for Christians in church? We can sit there in church, but if we don't do anything, if we never get out of our comfort zone, we get lazy. We go one hour a week. We're kind of a sign for the devil, aren't we?

Greg Crosby: 5:18

Exactly. You are giving the enemy an advantage. An advantage he has no concern about us. Every relationship, including yours and mine, me and my wife's, mine and my children. The principles apply to every single relationship, all the way to a geopolitical level. If we're not communicating properly and respecting each other properly, something will occur and it's going to escalate. The devil knows that If he can throw a wedge in there or find some complacency somewhere, it will be exploited.

Ron Meyers: 5:51

So are you saying for us believers, it's very important to have a relationship with Jesus, as opposed to just a knowledge of Jesus. It's critical.

Greg Crosby: 6:02

I can't say it more than that. It is absolutely critical. This understanding that I'm sharing with you right now about how important and how vital our relationship is started around 2014 or 15 in a Bible study, a year-long Bible study with two close friends. In John 15, where Christ talks about abiding, abiding in Christ is the key to that relationship. Abiding for me, if that doesn't make sense and when we say how do you abide in Jesus Christ? I'm abiding in a marriage relationship with my wife. As we speak here, I have a wedding ring on. I don't have to think about if I'm married or not. I don't have to think about if I'm married or not. I don't have to think about if I love her or not. Right now she trusts me and I trust her equally. That relationship that my wife and I have for one another with Jesus, you have to abide when we're abiding with Christ. There's not a moment of my life that I question whether Jesus loves me completely, exactly.

Ron Meyers: 7:05

Very well put. Until you absolutely believe that he's for you, not against you, you trust him. His love will never leave us, it will never forsake us. We cannot lose our salvation. When you understand that and that is on your conscious, then it just is kind of a natural flow of life. Conscious, then it just is kind of a natural flow of life. You don't go worrying if he's following me today with his little clipboard and he's going to grade me because he loves me. With that kind of thought process, it gives us the opportunity to live life how we're supposed to live, become the person he created us to be. We don't live in fear.

Greg Crosby: 7:45

Fear is not from God. Fear is not from the Holy Spirit. God doesn't fear anything. The Holy Spirit does not fear anything. Jesus didn't fear the cross for our benefit. And that fear is rooted in a part of us that we're not willing to turn over to the Holy Spirit in our daily walk. Amen, amen. I don't want you to think that there aren't things that give me fear or cause for concern, but just as soon as I recognize it as a spiritual issue, and the Lord lays that on my heart, it's time to turn it over. Whether we hold on to it or not will be our choice.

Ron Meyers: 8:23

Because the blessing of fear. If you didn't have fear in your life then you wouldn't need faith. For me that I feared the most, when I embraced him and I had Christ at my side, there was always a blessing that came out of that fear. I got stronger and it built my faith to say, wow, if I got through that, what else can I get through? And I think, as you said, as you got older in life you've realized this. But that's the beauty about abiding in Christ it all begins to make sense.

Greg Crosby: 8:53

So I want to tell you about something that happened in 2004, early 2004. And to preface that, a comment about fear and faith. Sometimes people like to say why is God allowing this problem to happen? Why did this happen? Why would God allow this? And what you said. When bad things happen, it really reveals to us how good God can possibly be. My daughter asked her friend. My 15-year-old daughter asked her friend. One day. This young lady was faulting God for an issue she was facing and my daughter said that's really Satan's fault. God is the answer to that problem and somehow or another, even Christians walking around daily, professing Christians, will blame God for their problems. Satan is the reason for our problems. God's the answer. So we need to get that out of our language. As a Christian, that's something I've learned in the last year from my 15-year-old daughter Blame Satan for your problems, not God.

Ron Meyers: 9:58

What Flip Wilson used to say. If you remember him the older people out there the devil made me do it.

Greg Crosby: 10:04

Yeah, exactly, well, you made your own choice.

Ron Meyers: 10:07

He gave you an offer, well you are a faith-filled individual and right now I just feel you've got some hope for somebody out there listening. Will you share some hope for someone out there that's struggling?

Greg Crosby: 10:19

This time in Iraq, my unit a little bit of context. We were sent over and you stage in this big, huge desert area in Kuwait it's called a marshalling area and these huge bases and there are thousands of soldiers and equipment and everything getting ready to go north into Iraq. And I was a part of a very small unit, a liaison team. Well, the situation on Iraq did not warrant a liaison team. There were 25 of us, senior command type unit. So they handed my leadership. Well, they gave them orders to go to this place, some of you will recognize, called Abu Ghraib Prison. My unit was charged with taking over the prison where this torture was happening. We were a unit of 25, and we would be. Many units would be attached to us, but we would be the command and control for the prison. The big part is getting there, okay. So we're a small unit with maybe a dozen vehicles and about 20 people. So in this marshalling area you just cannot fathom, day and night, trucks are going up the highway and they're trying to find a unit to place us with. And I was an E-4 at the time, an older E-4, because I was in the National Guard and been around long enough to know what right looks like in the military and we finally they place us with a unit. We're going to piggyback with this large transportation unit and at the appointed time and place we go out for this big briefing and this unit is tore up from the floor. They're short of ammo, they're confused. There's no offense to all you young lieutenants out there, but there's a young lieutenant in charge of a huge transportation unit. They had about 80 pieces of equipment or something of that nature, and anybody with any sense, their heart was sinking because we would, and anybody with any sense, their heart was sinking because we would. The border into the combat zone was about less than an hour from where we were, maybe 20 miles so north of us and 20 miles we would be in the combat zone and our hearts dropped. And in fact, this lieutenant looked at one of our senior officers and said you're going to be in charge of the convoy. And he's like, oh, and I won't use words here, you can fill in the blanks. But our commander was like oh, no, we're not, you're going to fix this and whatever. So what I didn't know was happening behind the scenes. We left there that was probably 7 or 8 one evening and we're going to our vehicles because we are due to push off with that unit early early the next morning, well before sunrise, and behind the scenes one of our senior commanders went to another meeting and just they threw a fit about the situation and they're trying to move people and we're just a small piece of a big pie. So he comes back and we're getting ready.

Greg Crosby: 13:32

I go out to my Humvee which is being driven by a sergeant I had a female soldier and I go out there and we're still prepping and getting ready to move out and make sure weapons are ready, all those things go out there and we're still prepping and getting ready to move out and make sure weapons are ready, all those things. And my friend was very emotional about the situation and so I sat down in the vehicle where I would be the A driver and the gunner position for this going up, and we prayed together and I did my best to calm her down and I said you need to go get some rest and just move on, okay? And so she got out of the truck. There wasn't much for her to do and when she got out of the truck I started punching the dashboard. It was like Lord, why me? Why did you? You know this and all that. So I was feeling sorry for myself and angry, but portraying confidence to her. And I'm telling you the personal inside story here.

Greg Crosby: 14:30

And so, just as soon as I got done having my fit and questioning God about you know why am I in this situation? I was reminded of my mother and her chapter that she gave us over and over and over Psalms 91, verse 11, for he will order his angels to protect you in all you do. They will lift you up in their hands so you will not slip and fall on a stone. And I had a grease pencil where we wrote notes on the windshields for the nine-line medevacs and all that. And I flipped my little visor down and I wrote that verse across the visor in my Humvee. And at that moment I knew, no matter what happened, from that minute on, god would be protecting us. And you know what? At that point I didn't care who it was, I knew God would take care of us. That was a moment, and that's before I went into the combat zone. God reminded me ahead of time of his providence in everything we do as a Christian. And the fact for me is. I know he intervenes and takes care of me in my life and I can tell you that and that's a fact to me. That's a fact as sure as you and I are sitting here.

Greg Crosby: 15:49

One day I sat down and counted how many people were praying for Greg Crosby overseas. There were 200 people that I could think of who prayed for me every day while I was over there. Later on, on missions and convoys and stuff, I would jokingly tell the guys hey, if you want to be in the truck with a guy, I'm the guy. I got 200 people praying for me and there will be a lion trying to ride with me. Not like I was a driver, I'm just one of the dudes in the truck, didn't drive all the time or nothing, but I felt like my truck was a good place to be, no matter what occurred.

Greg Crosby: 16:24

And I'll say this too, just because somebody's praying for somebody doesn't mean they won't get killed Sometimes one of the complex Realities. And it took me years at least three years after I came home to accept it. There's no reconciling with that, because the devil's alive and well. Did you lose some of your buddies? Yes, sir, I lost a very close friend. My 15-year-old daughter is named after Army Sgt. Cari Anne Gasiewicz. Sergeant Gasiewicz gave her life on the battlefield within. She was literally two weeks from coming home.

Ron Meyers: 16:56

How did it? How has that affected you even to this day? How?

Greg Crosby: 17:00

has that affected you? Even to this day, I can accept what God has for us. I wasn't able to accept it for a few years.

Ron Meyers: 17:07

Wow, no wonder your faith is so strong. Yeah, when you go through something like that there are no atheists in foxholes, no.

Greg Crosby: 17:23

In my small group at church there are things that people are dealing with and it'll come my turn to explain. I say, look, I'm kind of lucky because I've been in combat, and everybody laughs. I say I don't have to worry about that, about dying or that event. In the chow hall that day I carried a laminated picture of my family. I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at them and I said, lord, I have to get home because I've got to take care of these people. And the Holy Spirit said do you think I can take better care of them than you? You're lacking faith in God to think that I can do a better job of taking care of Susan and Savannah and Lily and Carrie Ann than I can. I can't do a better job than God. And he reminded me of that and I said okay, it's in your hands. And from that moment on I didn't have to worry about getting killed or even today I'm not worried about dying. I've done everything. I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing with respect to that, and so that's given me.

Greg Crosby: 18:35

That was a hard lesson that I learned early on and it's hard for a lot of people to grasp that level of freedom. You can't imagine what it would be like to tangle with somebody who has no fear of dying. The devil knows that we have to pray for protection from him and all. But if you are not worried about dying and as a Christian you shouldn't. We know how this war ends. We're fighting skirmishes. We know how this war ends. We're fighting skirmishes. We know how the war ends. The devil knows how it ends. That's why he's so hard at it trying to get people to change their minds. So what I want people to hear in this story is God's providence. God is the hero in that story. In my life I tell if you see me and you think, good, it is God that you're seeing, it is not Greg Crosby, it is God. That you see what I want you to understand God loves you. He absolutely loves you. John 3.16 tells us how he loves us.

Ron Meyers: 19:38

Greg, I'd like to ask all my guests. The title of the show is called Get the Hell Out of your Life. So, greg, how do you get the hell out of your life? Don't let it in.

Greg Crosby: 19:49

Don't let the hell in. All right, god has provided for us to keep Satan out of our lives. If he's in there, god will get him out. Don't let him in.

Ron Meyers: 19:59

As we go? Will you close us out? Will you pray for the listeners?

Greg Crosby: 20:04

Father, I praise you for your provisions, Father. I praise you for the design of this universe, and then I think about me being born into an original sin, father, and you caring about me before I was ever conceived. You had a plan for me. I thank you for my parents, father, that you provided me with, brought me up and pointed me to you every day the way they lived. I thank you for my church family, father. I thank you for the things you have placed in my life, father. I thank you for the difficult places along that way I have been. That pointed me back to you, father.

Greg Crosby: 20:46

Father, I thank you for the blessing of being in a sweet spot in my life right now, father, where I just enjoying the work that you have for me and enjoying the relationships around me, lord, and the blessings that you pour into our life. I praise you for all those things, father. I hope and pray, father, that what we are sharing here today is a blessing and reaches right down into a person's heart that needs to hear what we're saying about you. Father, I pray that they will do whatever it takes to find their friend. I know there's somebody in their life that they know of that can help them along this path. Lord, I pray that we are encouraging and everything that is done here today brings honor and glory to your kingdom and for your kingdom's sake, in the precious, holy name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Ron Meyers: 21:43

When I return. Are you ready for a miracle?

Speaker 1: 21:47

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

Speaker 4: 21:57

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. Visit our website, thepromoterorg, and click on the Share your Story link and submit your story. Promoterorg 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.

Speaker 1: 22:27

You're sick of being let down and you want to turn your life around. If you want to start living right, get the hell out of your life.

Ron Meyers: 22:50

Get the hell out of your life. Welcome back, listeners. I asked you before the break Are you ready for a miracle? Could a miracle? Would you like to have some peace in your life? Would you like to have some direction and get over the fear and the doubt and the anxiety, maybe even I have over 300 eyewitness accounts through my guests who got the hell out of their lives, and never in a church? And you think it's absolutely impossible? Well, I beg to differ. I've got the proof, I've got the witnesses. They got the hell out of their life when they made a decision that life had to change. They were not going to sit back anymore and take this negativity that was everywhere in their life. So they called out to Jesus, not knowing what to expect. But they got the best, because when the miracle takes place in your life, you are a new creation with a new heart, new desires. You now have a tutor, a teacher trainer, Jesus Himself , through the Holy Spirit, and when you get in touch with Jesus, things get good.

Ron Meyers: 24:03

I know, friends, I was one of those skeptic people. I got tired of church because they weren't telling me enough about Jesus. They were telling me all kinds of things I needed to do, just like that would really get me closer to Jesus. No, what gets me close to Jesus is understanding that he's already living inside of me. He can't get any closer. He just wants a day-to-day conversation, a relationship, some fun, and, yes, he lets us be ourselves. But he just wants us to be ourselves, be the person he created you and I to be, and nobody on this planet can get you to where you need to go other than Jesus. So I don't know what you've been told, I don't know what your fearful love about Jesus, but he's loving, he comes into your life and that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Ron Meyers: 24:56

When you call out to Jesus, you get the best. I mean, imagine a friend God, the creator of the universe, that comes in and takes all your sins away, past, present and future. That's true, that's the gospel. And then he gives us a peace that surpasses understanding when the hell in our life just starts pouring itself in and trying to take us off the path to our destiny. And the other thing that Jesus does is begin that intimate personal relationship with him, whether you're reading his word or you are having a conversation with him over a cup of coffee, life gets good. You find out that what you've been missing in life is someone that actually believes in you, someone that actually loves you unconditionally. That means no conditions Someone that is for you and not against you.

Ron Meyers: 25:56

Now, friends, if you don't call that a miracle, I don't know what you could call it. I know I went through that, friends. I thought it was religion, I thought it was performing all these duties, I thought I needed a second blessing or a Holy Spirit dose coming down from the sky. But what I found out? When Jesus came into my heart. The gospel verified that we are complete and lack nothing. We are ready. We are free from guilt and condemnation, and now we are ready to live a life with peace, purpose and direction. So now my only question to you are you ready to receive your miracle? You know what to do.

Speaker 5: 26:44

Ron, 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 a future. That's God's promise to you when you choose to commit your plans and future to Him Now back to Ron, as we close today's chapter.

Ron Meyers: 27:20

Remember that miracle. Call upon the name of Jesus and you will be saved and life gets good. Friends, the first thing you're going to do is feel the guilt wash off of you because you're forgiven past, present and future that's right. That's the Bible. That's the finished works of Jesus. And future, that's right. That's the Bible, that's the finished works of Jesus. And then that intimate relationship with you talking to him, with you reading this word, your mind begins to be renewed. You have a new heart, you have new desires and soon you are ready to charge hell with a water pistol. So if you want the miracle of a new life, new desires, new thoughts, new peace, new understanding, call upon the name of Jesus.

Ron Meyers: 28:09

I'll be back next week with another inspirational show available on all your favorite podcast platforms. It's called Get the Hell Out of your Life. Until next time, this is Ron Myers, reminding you that I love you, Jesus loves you, and when you get the hell out of your life, life does get good. Get the hell out, get the hell out get the hell out of your life.

Speaker 1: 28:39

Today's show is proudly underwritten by the Christmas City Gift Show. Mark your calendars for November 7th through the 9th and experience the magic inside the Christmas City Gift Show inside the Mississippi Coast Convention Center located on the beach in Biloxi, mississippi. For more information, visit ChristmasCityGiftShowcom. If you would like to be a guest and share your story of God's amazing grace, visit our website, thepromoterorg, and click the Share your Story tab button. Thanks for listening. Join us next week for another edition of Get the Hell Out of your Life Real stories, real struggles and real hope.