Pete, How Were Your Barriers Removed?



 

 

Episode 116

In this episode of the Removing Barriers podcast, Pete returns to share with the world how the Lord Jesus Christ both found and saved him! We are excited to hear his testimony, especially having already heard his heart on the issue of adoption (listen to episode 106 for that wonderful interview). Pete grew up in a broken home, but through various means and encounters, the Lord reached down to save Him. Today he is an active member of his local church, inspiring everyone around him to look to Christ and to make Christ known in a lost and dying world. Join us on this continuation of the How Were Your Barriers Removed series here on the Removing Barriers podcast.

 

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Transcription
Note: This is an automated transcription. It is not perfect but for most part adequate.

But then he asked me if I knew I was going to heaven, and I’d read the Left Behind series, so I knew the right answer, and I said yes. And he challenged me, and he said, okay, spell it out. Why? How do you know you’re going to heaven? And it basically came down to tell me why you should get into heaven. I said, well, I shouldn’t because I’m a sinner.

Thank you for taking tuning into the Removing barriers podcast. I’m Jay. And I’m MCG. And we’re attempting to remove barriers so we can all have a clear view of the cross.

This is episode 116 of the Removing Barriers podcast. And this is the 32nd in the series of how were your barriers removed? And in this episode, we’ll find out how Pete’s barriers were removed when he came to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Pete, welcome back to the Removing Barriers podcast. Thank you so much. It’s a privilege to be here to share how the Lord saved me.

Great. And Pete was on the removing Barriers podcast in the episode Christian adoption of Father’s Perspective. So if you ever listen to that, you can hear another side of Pete’s amazing journey in life.

Let’s start. Tell us, Pete, what state or country were you born in? I was born right here in Virginia, United States, back in, oh, gosh, over 50 years ago. All right, we want specifics.

What type of family were you born into? Pete a broken home. My parents divorced when I was three. My dad remarried three times. Well, was married three times, ultimately. And his last wife, they just celebrated their 25th anniversary a year and a half ago before, unfortunately, he died of complications due to Alzheimer’s back in November. Mom remarried once and divorced a couple of years after that. So I always say that, you know, mom struggled at a time when being divorced was heavily stigmatized. But the one thing she really got right was she made sure we got to church. Now, as a Lutheran church, it was not a gospel preaching church. It was a familiar setting, certainly. I stood what I needed to stand. I sung what I need to sing, and I repeated what I need to repeat. But it set me on a path of faith. Cool.

Let’s go back to the divorce. You say you were six years old? Three. Three. Oh, wow. Do you remember a drastic change in your life when that happened? Did it affect you anyway? I remember, frankly, only one or two times of dad in my life at that age. We really didn’t have much relationship up until my teenage years. A weekend here or there. It wasn’t until I was in college that we spent real time together a couple of summers. He moved back here to Virginia. I spent a couple of summers with him while I was in college, working on his farm and doing various things. But no, I don’t remember that. Mom remarried in 1985. I was a teenager at the time, and me and my stepfather got along great, but it just was an ultimately unsuccessful marriage as well.

You mentioned growing up and going to a Lutheran church. Is it because your family was Lutheran or they just kind of chose whatever church was available nearby? Yes. Okay, so you have a Lutheran background. I have a Lutheran background. Mom’s side of the family had a Catholic influence, but they were not really heavy into it. My dad’s side, they’re Scandinavian, and therefore Lutheran membership goes hand in hand with what you do. And that’s the background of being a Lutheran. Cool. All right.

So tell me, Pete, was it joined the time you were going to a Lutheran church the first time you heard the gospel? How does that tie into your upbringing? I never truly heard a clear preaching the gospel. The Lutheran church has a very specific preaching methodology in terms of the church year. 13th Sunday after Pentecost. 14th Sunday after Pentecost. Third Sunday of Advent. Every Sunday has a specific number tied to a specific season, and literally the methodology and the topic to be preached was never brought back to the gospel. Certainly they talked about the Lord. Easter Sunday was still Easter Sunday. Good Friday was Good Friday, but it was not made special. It was not highlighted to the redeeming event that it is for all of us. It was just sort of thing where all I had was hope that I would go to heaven someday. Not certainty. It was a shaky hope at that because there was no clear lane or guidance. Oh, wow. And this is the I attended Luther churches all the way through college, through the mid ninety s. I attended Lutheran churches through actually through my post college time frame, at which point I moved to the Methodist church. But the true presentation of the gospel never really happened in terms of clicking things together until I read the Left Behind series. I worked my way through it in the late nineties and early 2000’s. It’s unfortunate where the Lutheran church has gone when you see where it was founded, and it’s pretty frustrating. Yeah.

Do you have siblings and stuff like that. I have one sister. Okay. Older? Younger? Older. Three years older. Okay. How does your siblings and all of that, your family dynamics, play in all of this just to get a complete background? Sure. So my sister, to her going to church was being dragged out of bed because she always wanted to sleep late. We always went to early church. That’s how I became a morning person, was mom getting me up for 830 church and going out. But my sister would always be going back to sleep after we get back from church. She and I never really had spiritual conversations. Mom would leverage religion once in a while when there was a need to control us kids. And it was not something in our house that we practiced, we prayed over dinner, but it was basically, come Lord Jesus, be our guests. Let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen. And I was like, okay, what does that even mean? And it was never explained to me. It’s just what you do. We went to church all the major holidays without fail. But in terms of establishing a true and meaningful relationship with the Lord, all it did was get me ready to attend to church for my entire life. Sundays are for church. That was how it got started. And frankly, that was the greatest success my mother had as a mother was ensuring that we got to church. Cool.

So, Pete, can you tell us if you didn’t hear it in the Lutheran church and if you didn’t hear it within your home, when was the first time that you heard the Gospel? I knew Jesus died on a cross. Right. But I didn’t have the impact of the need of salvation, not the true consequence of sins, until I read the letter The Left Behind in the late 90s.

Did you just find it in the library somewhere or did you go out and get it? I bought it. So you went out looking for this series? Well, I saw people it was so popular, I got into it. I think the 6th or 7th book came out and people at work had it and I got curious about it. So I picked up left behind. Oh, I see. And I just read through it. I knew the details academically. I knew the story, I knew the events. I could echo them very well. I’ve been blessed with a tremendous memory, so I could remember the Bible stories preached growing up Lutheran, but it didn’t mean anything to me other than I hope we go to heaven. And it wasn’t until I read through that it was a clear and concise spelling out in the book after the rapture occurs that it was made clear what being a Christian means. But even then I still had all the knowledge, but I just wasn’t there in terms of being saved.

Was it during this time of reading The Left Behind series that you came to the full realization of your sins. Did your sins become real to you while reading that, or was it afterwards? It was after it was after I read the book. I read through it. It got me thinking about what to do. Just like in the book, I prayed the sinner’s prayer, but it didn’t gel. It didn’t really take hold. You talk about people who, when you point to a specific direct moment where everything just, you know, the likes come on and, you know, you understand that you’re a sinner. You know, you can recite a prayer. Anybody can recite a prayer. You know? One, two, three. Repeat after me. Okay, here you go. It wasn’t until later on that it really clicked, and it began just an amazing journey that I’ve been on ever since.

Tell us about that time when it really clicked, when it came to that full realization of your sin. Sure. So I’m in the Navy, and it was August of 2001, and we were deployed, and I was working nights at the time, and my boss wanted me to swing by to talk to him before I went to bed. So I would work from about 06:00 at night until about 630 in the morning. I would crash for the rest of the day. My roommates are really great about it and then repeat the next 12 hours later. And my boss at the time just asked me to stop by his stateroom once. It was late August, maybe. September 2001. Early September. What he’s got for me? I’m about to go to bed, so hopefully he doesn’t have any work for me. It was a minor work issue. But then he asked me if I knew I was going to heaven. And I’d read the Left Behind series, so I knew the right answer, and I said yes. And he challenged me, and he said, okay, spell it out. Why? How do you know you’re going to heaven? And it basically came down to, tell me why you should get into heaven. I said, Well, I shouldn’t because I’m a sinner, but because the Lord has made promises, because he died on the cross for my sins and for all who accept Him, I am going in, and he has to let me in because he made a promise and he keeps his promises. And there was a couple, two or three more sentences after that that I don’t exactly recall, but it was at that time on an aircraft carrier. Everything clicked and gelled. And the next day, we started doing Bible study every day just before I went to bed. And pretty soon before the end of deployment, there was about 30 or 40 of us gathering every morning. I was still on nights the entire time getting together. The amazingness of the Lord’s plan for this was we pulled into port three or four days later. I got my first grown up Bible the only Bible I had previous to that was an NIV that I got from the Lutheran church. That was like a kiddy Bible with the kitty graphics. I mean, it was the Bible, but it had, you know, colored, you know, pictures to catch your attention. But I got my first grown up Bible in that Port Call, and the Lord’s timing is so amazing because we departed that Port Call transited in, we were heading towards the Middle East.

We just happened to be in the Middle East on September 11, which was about a week after I was saved. Wow. The amazing thing is, and I’ll never forget this, and it goes into the Lord’s plan for this again, I was working nights at the time. My roommates are really great about letting me sleep as things were developing. That day, we were on the other side of the planet, so it was nighttime when the attacks were occurring. My roommates said, hey, Pete, you ought to look at this. I rolled out my rack and saw the second plane go into the World Trade Center. That’s the image we’ve all seen right and right then I knew I was going to be very busy that night, so ran out of bed. Fastest shower in my life. I was running to my work center when my boss, the guy who led me to the Lord or challenged my faith, nearly tackles me to slow me down. And he become a significant mentor during a hard time of my life, as bosses are supposed to in the Navy. And he said, look, this isn’t going to get solved tonight. Tell everybody that works for you. He’s a boss. I’ve got people working for me. I’m somebody’s boss. Slow down, be methodical, think things through, be thoughtful. You see the Lord’s hand in not only leading me to have him as a boss, and generally he was understood within our organization on the ship to be a little bit of kind of a sideways person because I never met a born anchor Christian, really, with that depth professionally. But over time, I grew to realize this is what living your faith looks like. This is what making the right decisions in terms of shaping your behavior and acting as a Godly man looks like. And I never had that in my dad. I never had that in my stepdad. It was only through Dave that I saw it, and I’ll always be grateful to it. Sorry. It’s one of those amazing things where after he got done, got my attention, told me everything. We all formed up basically that night. We were just watching the TV, seeing how things unfold, like so many of other of us watching CNN or whatever the news organization is, as people on TV are breaking down, trying to figure things out. And I’ll never forget another one of my leaders at the time basis it were under attack. And that was when the towers fell, I was in my work center, and it was on me throughout the night to collect information into brief leadership on the events everybody else turned in because it was nighttime. And then the next morning, it was basically, okay, Pete, tell us what’s going on. And that fell to me, and it was the Lord preparing me according to his perfect plan. And it’s sort of thing I always tell my kids as I raised in the Bible, the Lord has a plan and it’s perfect. And when you look at the events that led up to my getting saved and the events that followed almost immediately afterwards, and then one of those great things that brought such tremendous comfort during a time of incredible uncertainty in our country and for us, they were deployed in harm’s way. Where when we ultimately did fly the first strikes in mid October, myself and two other believers gathered together in our work center, held hands and prayed for our pilot as they flew the initial strikes, that they would come back safe. And we didn’t know what it was going to be like. We were all young kids. Most people who deploy or deploy for the first time, it’s only a very small percentage of deploy for the second and third and fourth time. So we were learning as we go. And this was something that was even still. Nobody been through this since Pearl Harbor, and here we are. And we certainly hadn’t been in a conflict like this, so it was not what we expected, and the Lord knew it. And he got me ready and he kept us all safe. We didn’t lose anybody. Praise the Lord.

I have a question that’s kind of weird and off topic. I guess I’m just curious, though, because I know in the military hierarchy is very rank, is very important. And you said your boss led you to Christ, which most of the time in the military, that’s a no note. You don’t go to your subordinates about religious stuff because then they can report you or you can get in a lot of trouble. I guess you and the boss had that kind of relationship that he felt comfortable doing that with you. We did not. Oh, wow. This was the time going back to 2001, it was certainly not welcome, but we were not in the situation we are now. And he shared his faith. He was a man of God who made it clear to everyone around him, and you don’t want to have the stereotypical the weird Christian, the weird born and gang Christian. But Dave wasn’t weird by any means. He wore his faith the way he was supposed to, the way a man of God is supposed to. You’re supposed to act saved. And he did. And at the time it was viewed as weird and it’s still viewed as strange, but it was of the kind of thing where he understood because I saw him do it with others where if somebody didn’t want to talk about any further he shut down and left him alone. It wasn’t like he had me in his cabinet. He was telling me telling me you’re going to talk to me about this. You’re going to talk to me. It was just we built a rapport. We trusted each other. He had owned only been my boss for a month or so. But when you’re deployed on a ship there’s very little to do except talk to each other. They always say no. You’re deployed with 5000 your closest friends. It’s absolutely true. You’re never more than about 500ft away from you can only walk 500ft in one direction or so. It’s a tight knit group. Folks share a lot of opinions. Unfortunately a lot of them are ungodly. But it was the sort of thing where it’s dave knew where the line was. He asked all the right questions to make sure that he wasn’t he didn’t ask me anything because things just clicked because I don’t know I guess I would not say that he could figure out that I had a faith. I think he just figured out that I was young. Well I was young in the service. I was you know learning a lot and I guess the Lord led him. The spirit led him. I never really talked to him about it. Why he did afterwards. I guess I should have. I guess I can. But I’ve talked to him about it since and said dave just so you know I will remind him of it. He’s like oh okay that’s cool. Very low key about it. Very straightforward. A very interesting man.

Shout out to Dave who realizes that he’s just a laborer in the field and it’s the Lord who does the saving. He’s out there faithfully planting seeds and witnessing and reaching souls. Praise God for that example and praise God that he reached out to you. And I have to tell a side story about Dave just because and he would grin when I got married. It’s traditional for former officers or former people that you’ve served with to form a sword arch that you and your wife new wife walk under and they lower them each rank and the only way to pass is for a kiss. Well in the navy it’s tradition that the last rank of swords the one on the wife of the bride side pats her on her rear end. And this is a superstition. I mean I’m a Christian. I believe in the Lord and I don’t believe that there’s superstition but at the same time I’m a sailor which means I believe that there’s strange things underway. And when you see some things out there in the middle of the ocean you know there’s a God. He loves us. But he also has a sense of humor because there’s some pretty goofy things that happen. But it was Dave who got it on our wedding video, dave Smackdaron, and said, welcome to the United States Navy. And the tradition is not only it ensures sons for the sea. It’s just one of those great memories I have about Dave. So many great memories. Work related, correction, guidance, mentoring. And it’s just tremendous memories that I was blessed with. I haven’t seen him since our wedding. Well, no, that’s not true. I have once or twice, but very briefly, and we exchange Christmas cards. But it’s the impact he had in my life during the brief period that the Lord had lined up. That is just one other piece that amazes me at how the Lord has ordered my life. Either there is a God I’m the most ridiculously lucky person in the world and should be buying lotto tickets every week and winning every week, because you can’t line up the number of coincidences that have happened in my life, including where I was on 911 and that I was saved a week before, and other stuff. The brief glimpses of people coming into my life going out. You simply cannot look at this list of you were just lucky. Nobody’s as lucky as I am. I am blessed. I am tremendously blessed. And that is all the Lord. It’s certainly not me, because I’m a knucklehead.

All right, Pete. Well, before we go into this break, tell me, what were the barriers you think were preventing you from being saved earlier? I think we can guess based on the entire story, but I will let you say it. There are many there were many lack of a father. I didn’t know what a father was. Even now, with the passing of my father two months ago, I came to a realization after I was saved that I have a spiritual father who loves me more than my father ever could, both because he was a standoffish, but also because there’s no way God could love me any more than he does right this second. And that’s comforting. I didn’t know that. I didn’t know that the chaos that was my upbringing, a single parent home was abnormal, and the church that I attended smile and do everything right on Sundays, but then have an absolute confusing mess the rest of the week, where there was sure, there were standards at home, but they were not practiced. They were not preached. I know I’m jumping all over the place. I apologize. First, the barrier of being in a I’ll say an ungodly church, the lack of guidance from my parents, the lack of spiritual friends growing up, the course that set me on was not one to actively seek out anything other than just other churches as I go through life, wherever my work would take me. Yes, go to church and feel good about it, but nothing really gelling, certainly not tithing or having any kind of spiritual fruit whatsoever. It was just what you did. It was one, two, three. Repeat after me. Feel good about yourself now. We’ll see you next week, right? Okay.

So then how were those barriers removed, do you think? The fatherlessness I don’t want to say fatherlessness, but the lack of a Godly influence from your father, all of these barriers that you describe, how were they removed? How did the Gospel sink in? How did that happen for you? There was a spark, and it was a spark of interest. And it comes from mom taking us to church. And I’ll always be grateful to her for making us go, for taking us along. And it was I want to say I was dragged to church, but it was very clear that if I gave any resistance, that I would not be tolerated. But it was a spark of eternity that was planted in me. Going through confirmation, reading the Bible, understanding a little bit about what’s in the Bible, who the God of the Lutheran church is, understanding just okay, there’s got to be more to life than just what I’m doing. There’s got to be more. There’s got to be a purpose. There’s got to be something more satisfying. And because it was, I don’t say hopeless existence, I always was successful. I worked hard, I was blessed for it, but it wasn’t ever pointing to anything in a meaningful direction. And what overcame that was the spark of interest, just understanding that I wanted to know more. I had friends in high school who were born again Christians. We had a mutual interest in a Christian heavy metal band. This was the 80s hair metal bands. It was striper back in the day. And I’m really glad to see their touring again. It’s a long time ago, but it’s the sort of thing where it sparks in your mind that Jesus is more than just a story. He’s not just a character. He’s not just, you know, the nativity scene you bring out at Christmas. He’s so much more. There’s a relationship to be had. And these friends who were born again Christians at the time, I asked amongst my Lutheran youth group, the youth leader, who’s a great guy, my born again Christians seem to know so much about what God is doing in their lives. What is that about? And they say, well, it means that they accept Jesus as their personal savior. And I had no idea what that meant, no idea in high school. But it was again one of those little breadcrumbs that the Lord set out in my life, leading me on a path to prepare me, and he’s still preparing me for his plan, for what he’s got intended for my life.

Well, I have another curious question, but I will ask you on the other side of the brain, I actually do too. So you’re listening to the Removing Barriers podcast. We are sitting down with Pete, and we are finding how where his barriers remove. We’ll be right back.

Hi, this is Jay. MCG, and I would like for you to help us remove barriers by going to removing barriers.net and subscribing to receive all things removing barriers. If you’d like to take your efforts a bit further and help us keep the mics on, consider donating at removingbarriers.net/donate. Removing Barriers. A clear view of the cross.

All right, Pete, so I have a curious question because I know you personally, I know you take fatherhood very seriously. How did a lack of father in your life affect the way you father your children right now? It sets me up at a tremendous disadvantage because I don’t even know what a bad father looks like. I had no father. My stepfather, when I was a teenager, the best thing he ever did was tell me, hey, you’re getting to work. The first summer he and my mother married, he said, okay, you get the summer off, but next summer you’re getting a job and you’re working. Best thing he ever could have done is make me get a job and get to work. Because it taught me work ethic, which gave me the tools I needed to be successful in life, to work hard, to get up early. It gave me a thirst to pursue Godly fathers, to see what they do, how they raise their kids, to the point where my brother in law, one time church, one of his sons was acting up, and he was taken out to spank him. I said, do you mind if I come along just to see what it looks like? It is way before our kids came along. I just wanted to see how God, because he’s a man of God, he has a faith and God love him, he just is a great guy, and I deeply appreciate him. And it was this sort of thing where I saw Godly discipline applied in a calm, Godly manner to include reconciliation. That was not the discipline that I experienced growing up. It was, you better not do that again, or if you do, it’s going to be worse. So it just highlights the need. And that’s why I appreciate so much that my wife understands this and she knew what she was getting into, kind of. You never really can use a prayer for the baggage I was bringing, but it’s just the sort of thing where she understands that I’m a work in progress and actively supports me, seeking mentorship and praise the Lord. I’ve had spiritual mentors and Godly men come alongside almost always at the perfect time, because God just knows when I need it. The book that I get out on a retreat with a church that I don’t read until, like, literally seven years later, and then I read it, and it’s exactly what I needed to know to be a dad at the time. There’s a couple of other books that I’m working through now. It’s just a thirst to learn and to. Want to be, and I goof up plenty. Plenty. You two know my kids are not the most well behaved or responsible or obedient kids. Their work some progress, just like me. But if I’ve done anything right, it’s just like glory that my son is saved and that my daughter knows the gospel and she’s not going to stop hearing it. She can go her entire life and not ever accept the Lord, and that’s up to her. But she’s not going to leave our house without knowing what we believe. And what we believe is right and wrong and how to stay right. Thank God. Long way to answer the question. Yeah, definitely. I, too grew up in a home where a father was absent, so I know the struggle of now becoming a father and not having that fatherly example when you were growing up. So definitely!

What I was going to ask you, Pete, is if you ever let your mom know what a positive thing it was for her to at least bring you to church every Sunday and how that has yielded dividends in your life at this point. Sure. One of the churches we were members of a number of years ago, the pastor had a habit of just randomly picking people to come up and give their testimony. And he called on me a couple of times, and the Lord has gifted me to be a public speaker. You may not guess it for how I stutter here, but I’m absolutely comfortable walking up in front of people and talking about whatever the topic is. And certainly I never, ever hesitate to share what the Lord did to get me saved and when and where and how. And there was one time mom was visiting with her sister, in fact, was visiting us when Pastor had me come up and give it. And so she heard it straight off the bat. I made no bones about it. I was going to hell. But mom got me to church, and that was the first start. So she knows, she understood, she gets it.

Do you know if she’s saved? Yes. She proclaims the Lord as her savior.

All right, well, let’s go on to the difference in your life after salvation. Two, Corinthians 5:17 says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new.

After salvation, what changes were evident in your life? There was several. They were gradual. It was in, like the heavens open and the light shown over time. One, I used to swear and drink like a sailor when the time came to stop, I just made a decision one day to stop swearing. A buddy of mine who swore very little as well. And it was someone that I looked up to and I admired. And it was like, I can be smarter about what my words are than getting uncooed. And the same thing goes for drinking. Same guy doesn’t drink at all. It just got me thinking about it and realized and I have a background in alcohol. I mean, I was a bartender back before I joined the Navy, so there’s a heavy component of alcohol in my life. But when the time came, when I was dating my wife and she basically just pointed out and I wasn’t drinking a lot at the time, but when she said, hey, what do you think about stopping? It wasn’t even like it was an issue. It was like if that is what I should give up and I pray to Lord about it, it was the easiest thing to walk away from. Do I get angry and say things I shouldn’t? Of course. But the Lord has led me through a process in sanctification of becoming more like him, because I see more examples of him in Godly people through life. Just this morning the Sunday school class got together for brunch and it was amazing how many people came out and it was amazing how much we had in common to mesh when we could talk about whatever we want, not what our Sunday school teachers were teaching. It was just iron sharpening iron, good Godly, Christian people reflecting the Lord, helping and supporting and sharing the load the way we’re supposed to. And Lord willing, I’ll be that mentor as folks come alongside me.

Do you think the way your barriers were removed would be effective in reaching another person with a similar background, a similar upgrade like you? Absolutely. There is no question in my mind. And it’s not that the gospel ever gets boring or old. It just is so simplistic that even a knucklehead like me can get it where I realize I’ve done something wrong that I deserve to be punished for. And there are things that I’ve done that nobody will ever know about. But God does. And I know God does. I know God knows everything. Then he’s not God again, it goes back to you. Look at all the things that lined up in my life. I can’t look at how things line up in my life and not know that there’s something amazing that is in charge. And I don’t have to understand everything about how many angels dance on the head of a pin, or whether or not Adam had a belly button or anything. I don’t need to know any of that nonsense. I just need to know what is given to us and rejoice that there are even better things waiting for us on the other side that we can’t even comprehend. Now. It’s ironic. Today is the day that we had our beloved German Shepherd put to sleep. And Aaron and I got him on our first anniversary. So literally he was with us our entire wedding up until we had to put him to sleep. And it’s the sort of thing where it’s a point of spiritual contention back and forth, whether or not they’re animals and heaven, back and forth, back and forth. I, in my heart, believe they are not because they don’t have souls. They’re not redeemed beings. But I’ll tell you, I have hope that he’s up there running and running and running, and he’s waiting. And I know the exact look he’s going to have on his face, the dump, sideways look that German Shepherds do. And it’s one of those gifts that the Lord has given us to have peace about it. Just like with the passing of my Father. It’s a sort of thing where he professed Christ as a savior, not in a great detail. He did not live a Godly life. And am I certain? I’m not 100% certain, but I know that I trust God to be the righteous judge to make that decision and that I don’t have to worry about it, because God’s done it, god’s covered it, god’s handled it. And it just is. I’m sorry. I forgot the question. Sorry. It’s fine. That’s okay. Can the barriers that remove for me affect everyone? Absolutely. Every one of us has a spark of amazing in their lives where they can look at that is just amazing. If it’s looking up at a clear sky, seeing all the stars at night, the full moon that we had yesterday, the ocean, the mountains, the fact we have clean water or can cure a disease or have antibiotics, you compare to what we’ve been blessed with, you say, oh, we got lucky. Oh, you know, we would have figured it out. Whatever. You know what? Penicillin wasn’t just waiting for Thomas Salt to figure it out. God had a plan, and now anyway, I don’t want to sound like it’s predestination, but anybody if I can figure it out, anybody can figure it out, and I’ll leave it about.

Let me ask you this. You mentioned previously, just briefly, how you look forward to being a Godly influence on others, the way the brethren that you were at brunch with today were on you. What are some of the things that you’re doing personally in your life now to be that influence on others, to be that witness? The way Dave was to you or anyone else in terms of evangelism? What are some of the things that you’re doing in your life personally in the area of evangelism to help break down barriers to salvation and others in the lives of others? Absolutely. And it’s the simplest things, like handing out tracks. Simplest things, littlest things. I mean, I may be admitting to public littering, but I ride the Metro in every day, and on my way into work, I leave a track on my seat. On the way back home, I leave a track on my seat. Something as simple as that. When I go to a store. Not every time, but hey, I know you’re busy. Hey, here’s something. Take a minute or two when you get a chance. Best news you ever had striking up those conversations at work. It’s a little bit harder, but the first thing that goes up on my wall in the office is a replica of the Tiffany stained glass window in the Naval Academy Chapel that shows the Lord blessing and ensign as he reads his commission. I’ll take it down when they take it out of the Navy Chapel, which I don’t think they’re going to. It simply is a matter of, hey, look, this is who I am. This is what I believe in. I believe my service is blessed by the Lord. My kids. I’ll never, ever shy away from using my kids as an example of the Lord. My son. The story of being adopted, literally just yesterday, just yesterday, a guy that I worked with, Gosh 2017, works for me now. It’s a small navy. He’s like, oh, you know, it was so nice for you to adopt. I said no, it’s not. The Lord led us. The Lord led us. And then I pointed out to my daughter, said, and she was born 18 months after he was, and, oh, by the way, she was £3 1oz. Oh, wow. And wow, wow. You know, it just sparked those conversations to say, what is going on now? I don’t know where it’s going to go, but I don’t have to worry about it. I can plant the seed. I can water the seed. I can harden the seed. When the Lord’s got things planned out, when the Holy Spirit moves individuals to ask, it basically is looking for opportunities, but certainly not forcing opportunities. And that’s where I know sometimes there’s contention about, hey, you need to be beating people over the head with a big, thick King James Bible. You don’t. The Word carries itself, and by making it available, you reflect Him.

One last piece about that. And I’ll share this just as a plug for people who listen to this in terms of Christian stewardship, and that is, the Lord led me to get involved with Dave Ramsay’s financial peace program about Christian 1617 years ago. Financial management is not a direct means of evangelism, but, boy, I’ll tell you what, I give out total money, makeover Dave Ramsay’s book every chance I can for Christmas gifts. One, it’s below the ten dollar threshold that I can legally give out, and two, it points to the Lord, because the first thing that we need to be doing as stewards of God’s resources is tithing. Because the Lord, if you honor Him, he will honor you. And my point is, broke people don’t build hospitals. They don’t pave roads. They don’t provide clean water. They certainly don’t send missionaries. Yep, definitely.

All right, Pete, let’s go into a little bit of fun section to find out some of your favorites. What is your favorite scripture? Verse two, Timothy four, seven, and eight. I have fought the good fight. I have run the race. I have won the prize, and now there waits for me a crown, but not only for me, but for all the righteous who look forward to the Lord’s return and love his coming. And that is what’s going to be carved on my gravestone. It just tells me, fight the good fight. We all fight at struggle. We all have something we’re dealing with. It just happens that I’m in the Navy, but we all run a race and struggle and face challenges and barriers that we must overcome, the Lord calls us to overcome because it builds muscle, and building muscle builds effectiveness. I was just teaching the kids. We’re working our way through a Bible curriculum, the three year curriculum. We’re on year two, and they love the story of David and Goliath, and they also love grilled cheese sandwiches. And the two are directly tied because David, when he was going out to fight Goliath, he wasn’t going out to fight Goliath. He was going to bring cheese sandwiches to his brothers and Goliath got in the way. Of course, that’s a detail that you have to read the Bible to understand and appreciate. But that’s what’s the little details that are just waiting, nuggets of information, just fascinating. And that’s where two Timothy four seven eight fascinates me, where it’s it’s a struggle. God’s got a plan, but he’s a rewarder and he will bless us. And it’s not because we do things because we want to get stuff. We want to do things because he is so good.

What is your favorite Bible history? Some will concern with the Bible story, but we believe that the Bible is a historical book, and so we call it Bible history. My favorite Bible history, my favorite book is the Book of Job. A little from my background, it kind of makes sense. Had much, had a lot taken away from him, was faithful, and then had it restored. But to me, it comes to me as a history major. I’m a student of history. The fact that Job was one of the first books, if not the first book written or the first book that happened, and the fact that even then Job proclaimed, I know my savior liveth. Even that far back, human beings knew they needed someone to pay the price, that they could not pay it themselves, that there was extraordinary things they didn’t understand, that a man as righteous as Job still had to deal with sin and face the challenges that were waiting for him.

What about the most convicting scripture passage to you? There is none. Righteous? No, not one about how your good works are as filthy rags that no matter how hard I try, what I do, it’s meaningless. It’s meaningless. But while it is convicting, it’s also uplifting because we get to contribute. God invites us to serve alongside Him in his name. If he didn’t trust us, if he didn’t empower us. He’d send angels to appear to everybody. Instead we get to. But all of our good works don’t amount to a hill of beans in terms of earning our salvation. Yes, I hear you on that one.

What is the most comforting scripture passage to you? For I know the plans. I have made plans to help you, not to harm you. I believe that’s Jeremiah 20:9-11 and of course, John 10:10, I have come that they may have life and have it much more abundantly.

What is your favorite hymn of the fate? Easy. Eternal Father, strong to save, whose hand hath bound the restless wave, who bits the mighty ocean deep its own appointed limits keep, lord, hear us when we cry to Thee for those in peril upon the sea. You cannot sail the oceans without appreciating their power, their majesty. I’ve been blessed to go around the planet. I’ve crossed the Pacific Ocean in total six times, five times. It is amazingly beautiful what God has given us, but it also reminds me every time I see it, that right now, right this second, someone is fighting for their life somewhere in the world on water, and they’re going to lose it. There’s nothing we can do. They are too far away, they are too far from help. They are in a dangerous situation. And it just reminds us that I saw a Humongous accident on 95 just today coming home, but at least that person had a chance to not get in their car. Somebody out on a ship, you’re stuck, and if things go south, they go south fast, and there’s nothing you can do about it because the ocean is so vast and amazing. I think that Him is a favorite for any military person who has been on a ship. I’ve spoken to several and they all love that Him. There’s about 87 verses, one for every single. There’s one for astronauts, there’s one for submariners, there’s one for Marine, for everybody, for pilots. So everybody gets some of that. But the basis of it is we cry out because, O Lord, thy seas are so great and my ship is so small.

Who’s your favorite giant of the faith from the Bible? Wow. There are so many there are so many job who stood firm, losing everything, who maintained his attitude in spite of his friends air quotes coming to comfort him. Moses, Gideon, Peter. I’m just working my way through acts right now through David Duzak enduring word and just Peter in terms of healing the layman at the temple, just in terms of you took somebody who, like so many other Christians, I identify with him because I’m not one to keep my mouth shut but just standing firm and blurting out, lord, thou art the Christ. But also same time saying, Lord, to whom should we go? If it’s not you, where are we supposed to go? And there’s so many in between paul for suffering the way he did, to write the majority of the New Testament. Solomon early on praying for wisdom, something I do frequently, if not daily, if not hourly. Ruth for her, just hanging on. The Marines have a saying when you reach the end of your rope, tying, knot and hanging with both hands my gosh. You don’t have to go far in the Bible to seek out humongous heroes of faith. People who just were nobodies were nobodies. God didn’t take a king and make him better. God took the youngest, the smallest, and made him king. David, he took a stutterer and made him Moses. So even Saul didn’t want the job. God didn’t want him to be king initially. He did his best until he slipped up. And the only difference between him and David is Saul refused to apologize and seek the Lord’s forgiveness. And that’s a reminder. I talk to my kids frequently. We have got to be humble. We have got to seek out and apologize early, even if we haven’t done anything wrong, even if it’s perceived. So that’s your list. You know, if you want the true list, it’s in Hebrews, chapter eleven. Amen.

All right, Pete. Well, let’s wrap it up and tell us. How can barriers be removed in the life of others? Faith. Trusting in the Lord that he will keep his promises. It’s easy to say, it’s hard to do. Faith in the little things. Living a life that reflects the Lord, that is worthy of the Lord, that is worthy of being saved. Helping others, seeking out others to lift up, to inspire. Working hard. I forget who said it. I know President Reagan quoted it. Pray like it’s all depending on the Lord, work like it all depends on you, and somewhere in the middle, things will work out just fine. God honors hard work. God honors a fervency for seeking Him. Another story from Striper. Listen to one of their interviews and they’ve got a song called Reach Out, which is basically, if we reach up 1%, God’s got the other 99.99% because he’s the God of the overwhelming, he’s the God of the little things, but he’s the God of the amazing things. He has seen me through so much, and anyone who’s honest can look back and say times where, you know what? I should be in prison, I should be dead, I should be broke, I should be filling the blank of catastrophes, but I’m not. As mean as your life is. You’ve got something to be grateful to God about, and that’s really the biggest barrier of all, is your attitude, is to seek out the Lord.

Pete, thank you for joining us on the Removing Barrier’s podcast. Thank you. It’s been a true blessing.

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Apologetic argument doesn’t save people, but it certainly clears the obstacles so they can take a direct look at the Cross of Christ. -R

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