A Message from Steve, episode 156

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If you love a prodigal, you can discover help and hope

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for your wilderness journey right here,

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or when you love a prodigal podcast.

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And also help and hope for your own life journey.

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Today will be a little different.

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Two years ago today, October 29,

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my wonderful husband, Steve, moved to heaven.

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I miss him every day.

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I talk to him often.

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I thank God for giving me 47 years with such an amazing man.

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I was so blessed.

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And God has been so faithful to care for me,

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provide for me, and give me so many opportunities

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to keep serving him, to touch lives for him,

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and to experience his peace.

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So for today's program, I want to let you hear from Steve,

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briefly telling his own story.

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It's not a story about having a prodigal,

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though of course he did.

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But at the end of his story of finding meaning in his life,

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he tells a beautiful message that will help every person

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who has a prodigal in their life.

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So I really encourage you to listen to him.

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I really encourage you to just listen

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to this short video from Steve and be prepared

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to learn something that'll be very powerful in your life.

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One of the key lessons I learned in undergraduate school

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was that success does not satisfy.

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When I went away to college,

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I decided that my happiness in life

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would not be a result of a gift of God.

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It would be a result of my own effort.

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My dad drove me out from Rockford, Illinois,

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which is my hometown,

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and it took us a thousand miles of driving to get to MIT.

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I remember thinking, Dad, I'm gonna do well.

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I'm gonna be satisfied

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because I'm gonna achieve my objective.

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And I set some very specific objectives.

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I wanted to get good grades, no small deal at MIT.

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I wanted to be involved in sports,

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maybe leadership opportunities.

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And I thought it was a good idea

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to maybe have a few dates before I graduated from MIT.

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Well, I did very well on that objective

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and actually did very well on the other objectives,

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got better grades even than I thought I would,

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and was involved all four years on the MIT basketball team.

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Now you're probably thinking, MIT basketball?

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I don't think I've ever seen them

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in the NCAA tournament.

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No, and you never will, I'm sure,

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but I get to be on the team.

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And I did get involved in leadership opportunities,

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but you know what I discovered?

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None of them really seemed to satisfy.

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I remember an award ceremony in my senior year,

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this award that I had longed to receive

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from the beginning time that I was at MIT.

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And sure enough, I was getting it that day.

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My name was called.

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I began walking up the cement steps there

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in that same great court where dad dropped me off.

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And I was gonna receive a big silver platter

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from an officer of the university.

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I mean, this is the pinnacle of success, right?

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But it was one of the most hollow experiences

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of my entire life.

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It's almost as if those cement steps turned to wood.

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Cause I heard this distinct echo saying, so what?

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Big deal, so what?

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I thought, wow, if even in the moment of success,

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it's no big deal, it's gonna be a long life.

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I remember Jeb Magruder of the Watergate scandal

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with Richard Nixon saying a few years later

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that he had climbed his ladder of success to the top,

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in his case, the White House,

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only to discover that his ladder was propped

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against the wrong wall.

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Well, those were my sentiments exactly.

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My ladder was propped against the wrong wall.

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Well, that summer I went back to Rockford,

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kind of curious what is really the secret

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to satisfaction in life.

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And I had to go to this religious meeting.

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It happened to be sponsored by an organization

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called Campus Crusade for Christ.

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And there I got a lot more than I bargained for

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as I attended the meeting,

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because it was time with a lot of believers

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who were true followers of Jesus

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and from whom the joy of Jesus Christ just beamed.

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I was so impressed that they were experiencing peace

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and satisfaction in life far more than I was.

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Not because of success, but because of God.

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Well, after several weeks of exposure to that,

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I remember sitting on my bed at home saying,

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you know, Lord, that's what I want.

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I want a relationship with you through Jesus Christ,

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just like they're enjoying.

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Well, I didn't float off the bed,

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but my life began to change.

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And one illustration of how my life changed

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was by gaining satisfaction directly from God

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and peace directly from God.

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I went on to Harvard Business School,

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took my very first case study exam,

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never taken one of those before,

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and came out of that exam totally confident

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that I had not done well.

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Well, I dragged back to my room that day and I thought,

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oh man, I've blown my first exam in graduate school.

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And as I was sitting there in my room,

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I remember there's a verse in the Bible

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that says the fruit of the Spirit is peace.

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Well, I'm not experiencing peace.

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My heart is filled with turmoil.

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But I prayed a very simple prayer.

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I said, God, I'm not asking for any favors in the exam.

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I'm just asking for peace.

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Well, you know what?

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My heart at a moment was just filled with peace.

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And it dawned on me probably for the first time ever

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that the supernatural God of the universe

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had not only come to be a part of my life,

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but he had actually interacted with me.

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He had heard my prayer.

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He surely had many other prayers going to him at that time

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about death and about sickness

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and other sources of grief and wars.

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And yet he heard the prayer of a plaintiff student

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who didn't study properly for his exam and gave him peace.

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I'll never forget.

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So one of the key lessons I learned

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was that success does not satisfy.

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I did experience a measure of success.

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I did not experience a great deal of satisfaction.

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I want a relationship with Jesus Christ,

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experiencing peace and satisfaction in life,

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not because of success, but because of God.

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I trust Steve's message on peace has blessed you.

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If that is a need in your life right now

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and prodigals tend to disrupt our peace,

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Jesus has promised peace to us.

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Just ask him.

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And there are some good links about peace in the show notes.

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So check that out and know that next week

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we will be talking about how your prodigal is a gift.

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You say, what?

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If this is a gift,

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it's one of the worst gifts I've ever gotten.

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No, you're gonna discover next week

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how your prodigal is truly a gift for you.

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Again, we'd appreciate your liking the podcast

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and subscribing.

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God bless you.