Interview With — John 15

0:00 Decided you wanted me to give his report for him this morning. So... No. He's good. But Drew and I met this this past week.

0:06 And as we're talking, we thought we might do a little bit different of a presentation where it'll be like I'm interviewing Drew about his lead up and his trip to The Philippines. How's this thing work? Here.

0:56 Can I help? Well, it's a mic stand,

0:59 so Let's bring it here. Uh-oh. I see what happened. Yeah. Got it for longer.

1:08 Fix everything with breaking it or or hammering? So... Okay. There we go.

1:12 Oh, we have another stand. Yeah.

1:14 This one's loose. Thank you. Yeah.

1:22 That's good. Got it. I got it. I fixed it. I have two you can choose from.

1:30 So so Drew and I met and we are just kinda talking through, just the Philippine trip, but then we kinda got moved back so I could get a feel for Drew and how the lord has kinda directed him from the beginning. So, I thought it might be good for other people to hear it and be encouraged by it too. So, Drew, how did you tell me your salvation story?

1:53 That's a that's a two sided question, Scott. I'll call you by your first name. Okay. Well, the story I tell everybody else is that when I was five, I was saved at a Bible conference down in Georgia, I think. But as I've been reading scripture over the last couple of years, I have come to ask this question.

2:16 What does it mean to be saved, and how do you know that you are saved? And does being saved happen when you see fruit of the spirit's work in your life, or just when you pray the prayer as a kid? It's like, do you have just fire insurance, or do you have to see fruit or evidence of the spirit's work in your life until you're saved? So I prayed the prayer when I was five. Most of you heard that story at Jordan's wedding because we were saved together.

2:45 She was three, and I was five in the same room. Evidence of the Holy Spirit's work in my life started to be evident when I was about 21. That's when I started to pursue the Lord and a relationship with Him and started to see that fruit. So

3:05 So what happened between the five and the 21? The time you you you prayed the prayer as a as a kid to that that 21 year old mark where you felt the spirit of god moving in your life?

3:17 What happened? Well...

3:22 So what was What do mean? What was your Christian life like in between those years?

3:26 Oh, my Christian life. Well, we we were... As as homeschoolers, we were encouraged. We were told to read our Bible a certain amount of minutes a day or a couple chapters, whatever it was, and we were supposed to take notes and kind of wrote down or write down what we learned. I didn't write down.

3:42 Well, I did write down some of this stuff. Sorry, But I wasn't faithful to that, and there wasn't a real application. I didn't see the worth or the value of reading my Bible at that time. So I came to church on Sundays. I kinda did the Sunday thing, read your Bible on Sundays, and you listen to a sermon that you probably don't understand when you're 10 or see the application for.

4:04 And that was it. And then we had Bible, we had like a Wednesday family night. That was fun. We got to read the scripture and pray together. And dad used to play his 12 string guitar.

4:15 So, we would like, you know, sing some songs on Wednesday nights and do some catechism work. If you're familiar with Charles Spurgeon's catechism, we did some of that too. I was I remember one of those questions.

4:26 So so did you cheat on your Bible test in homeschool? No, I'm just kidding.

4:30 Well, we didn't have one. We didn't have one.

4:33 So what happened at at twenty one where you... Where there was a difference in your spiritual life?

4:41 Until I was 21, I had always had an excuse not to read, basically, especially when I started school and work. I'm too busy. I get up in the morning, I leave the house, and I'm gone all day until 10:30, and I just... That's all I did. When I was 21, I had stopped work to pursue something that I thought the Lord was calling me to, and that was to start my own business.

5:05 And once I quit working, the business never really went anywhere. I did it for a few months, and that was kind of it. Never heard back from any of the people that I was working with at the time. And all of a sudden, I had all this time on my hands. And I was like, okay, well, maybe I should start reading my Bible.

5:26 I was like, okay, I have all this time, not a lot to do, not working. And I was living at mom and dad's house. And so I just started reading my Bible. So it came at a time that was convenient for me. Up until that point, it was like, I'm not going read my Bible unless that's convenient.

5:43 So when I was 21, I didn't have a job and wasn't working and didn't have a lot to do, so it was finally convenient. But there's one more part to that story, coffee. So growing up, when you had quiet time in the morning, you had coffee with it. That's what mom and dad did, that's just what you did. So until you had time to drink coffee, you didn't have time to read your Bible.

6:01 So I finally had time to drink coffee and read my Bible in the morning, so I started doing that at 21.

6:05 So, now you're a Christian.

6:06 So, I'm

6:06 a Christian. Right. So, what was the span where where you really started? You getting feedback? Turn it to you.

6:17 Turn it

6:17 like to you.

6:18 Right. Is that better? Okay. So the time that you started reading the bible

6:23 You can turn down the input gain. Sorry, guys.

6:25 From the time that you started reading the bible, what was the span where you started seeing something change in your life?

6:33 Within about three to six weeks, I started hungering for the word. So I just... I started reading my bible not knowing how to read my bible or how to study it or anything like that, really. I just knew that the Lord did the work in your life and that He promises that His word doesn't return to Him void. Right?

6:53 And so I'm like, okay, Lord, I'm just gonna read your Bible. I don't know what I'm supposed to learn here, but I'm gonna trust that you're gonna do some work in my life. And so within a couple of months, month and a half, two months, it's what got me out of bed in the morning. I would go to bed thinking in the morning I get to read.

7:10 Was it Starbucks or reading?

7:11 It was reading. It was the reading. It was like I get to spend time in the Word for a few hours, and I would do that. And so it was a couple of months before I started to have that hunger, but there it was. And then I was just like, I have to keep reading.

7:27 And I don't remember thinking anything specific, like I was learning a certain lesson. It was just, I want to read my Bible. Yeah, couple months.

7:47 It was about eight months from the time I quit my job until The Philippines opportunity came up. Had the Lord not had me quit my job or started reading, I would have never taken the opportunity to go to The Philippines because it wasn't important to me. Why would I do something where I'm not gonna make money or progress forward in a worldly career or something? It doesn't make sense when you're 21 years old. That's what life's all about, right?

8:15 So unless the Lord had done that work in my life and sort of rearranged my priorities to where money wasn't the most important thing anymore, he was the most important thing, that's kind of the big shift that happened in those eight months.

8:26 Amazing what opportunities open up when you're walking with the Lord. How did the opportunity for The Philippines come up?

8:35 Like how did I hear about it? Through a prayer letter from the Eichenhaus that spring. It was like early spring, February or March or something like that. Eichenauer sent a prayer letter back to the chapel stating Faith Academy's needs for the upcoming school year. And because of my different interests and whatnot, I was like, okay, well those are two things.

9:00 So they were looking for a strings teacher, or music teacher, just kind of music, and an engineer, an audio person to run-in the theater. So at that point, those were the two things I knew how to do. I still don't know how to do anything else, but those are two things I can do or thought I could do. So I heard the Lord just saying, okay, well, now that your priorities have shifted, I'm gonna call you out over here and go do this. We're gonna test your faith for a while.

9:23 Was it immediate, like, wanna go, or was there a process in coming to that full decision?

9:29 It wasn't very long process. I heard about it. I took it home. Spent a couple days mauling it over, praying about it. And I was, at that point, just like, I kinda need to go over there.

9:42 I feel this deep something in this general area. I was like, gotta go over there. And so pretty soon after that, presented it to the elders. And they were on board for me taking what they call a vision trip. So I went over there for a month and came back, and it was just confirmed in my heart that I need to be there.

10:02 I didn't know why at the time. Well, knew. I knew what I thought was why I needed to go, to fill those two positions, that's but Something not else. Yeah. Something else entirely.

10:11 Okay. So so you arrive you arrive in The Philippines. What's your first year like?

10:17 The first... My first year, the biggest thing I can say about that is being at school, being at faith from about 06:30 in the morning until about 10:00 at night. I was at school. I didn't know how to say no to anything at that point, and I hadn't learned that lesson. So it was like, okay, sure, I can do everything.

10:36 I'm here to work and serve, so okay, let's just do it all. What I learned quickly from that was that when you're exhausted, sleep becomes more important, basically, than your quiet time. So I'm doing all of this good deeds, this good work, but my relationship with the Lord is at this point suffering, because I'm not prioritizing that. So when you only read once a week and that's on Saturdays, because you're finally home from school for a few hours until you have to go in at noon or something, I learned that lesson. So that was basically the first year.

11:07 Just a lot of stuff, new career, learning that I didn't know how to teach, learning that I didn't know how to live by myself, all that new stuff because I had just moved out from mom and dad's house. So new culture, new career, new job, and living by yourself. So that kinda summarizes the first year. A lot of work, not a lot of quiet time.

11:30 So there was a change back to prior to that awakening of of your spirit while you were spending time with the Lord. Mhmm. So so what happened? How did that change?

11:43 Well, Mr. Boss, Denzel, he kind of kept up with me every few months throughout that first year. That was very helpful because he had people go through this kind of stuff. I'm not the only one that has been through here. And so he was able to guide me into some prioritizing of quiet time and kind of keep me accountable for that.

12:04 So through the first year it was good that I had somebody here to talk to about it and keep me accountable to it, and then talk through the issues. But is that the answer to your question? Or did you want something different?

12:19 Whatever your answer is.

12:22 It didn't much change. It changed maybe the last quarter of last year. I started to see more quiet time. I tried for a while to have a quiet time at school. Because I would get up, and at that time I didn't have a car.

12:36 So I was riding with my roommate. And so it was just when he leaves, that's when I'm leaving. So he left at quarter after six. And because I was getting home so late, I wasn't going to get up earlier and read because I needed the sleep that I could get. And so instead of not having quiet time, I tried having quiet time at school.

12:52 But once you got to school, it's like emails and phone calls and other conversations and business as normal. So that was kind of in and out for a couple of months. Trying like, can I do it at school once I get there? And no, you can't. Once you walk out the door, you're done.

13:11 Unfortunately, but we'll talk more about that later, because I have more about that. So in the last quarter, started to read more, and I started to get better at living on my own and kind of planning ahead a little bit, so that I could actually get up earlier or go to sleep earlier so I could do this in the morning.

13:26 So, yeah. That is important. I can remember when the kids were young, they'd say, dad, why are you in the bathroom so long? They didn't know I was having my quiet time because that's the only place I wouldn't get disturbed. Yeah.

13:35 Probably pretty similar. Easy to get disturbed. So, at the end of that year, I know that there were some some circumstances and some working of god that that really had a dramatic change for you.

13:50 The end of the Yes. First

13:59 Oh, that happened well. That happened at the beginning of the next year. Beginning of the next year. Sorry, fast forward a few months. Okay, so I went back to school last summer, and at that point I was still engaged to Rebecca.

14:20 Kind of, oh, that was the part about the first year. People and relationships. Don't let it consume all of your time before you're married. Okay? I wasn't plugged into any of my friends there.

14:31 I didn't have any. It was either at school working or talking to her because of that long distance thing, so it was hard. But me fully present wasn't in The Philippines. It was half here and half there. So yeah, that's another thing about the first year.

14:46 I didn't have any friends. I didn't have anybody to encourage me there, or any discipling, or anything else going on. It was just work, sleep, eat, grocery shopping, and talk. So at the beginning of the second year, around the end of August, we decided to split ways. And I think that was Okay.

15:06 I wasn't upset about it. It was actually a really good thing. It was a good thing turned out to be, because at that point I had a more time to read my Bible, because I wasn't talking to her so much. So I was prioritizing that relationship. And then I was able to plug in with other single people and teachers at faith, and start seeking out mentorship from older men, because I had all this time on my hands now.

15:31 I don't like to sit at home alone much, so I like to talk to people. It turned out, during the second year when I was at faith, I was meeting with three different guys weekly, sometimes twice a week, just going through mentoring and discipling. And these middle aged guys. And so I really started to appreciate their heart and their wisdom and their knowledge. I still didn't hang out that much with the single people because I didn't learn anything from them.

16:00 Because they're my age, know as much as me. It's like, well, they're not very wise either. But I just really enjoyed spending time with the older guys and doing that mentoring and discipling. And part of Rebecca and I splitting ways was a first in many branches being cut off. So at faith, twice a year, there's what they call a spiritual emphasis week.

16:25 Okay, and there's one for middle school and high school. And during one of these, it was in the fall, it was around that same time, end of August, early October, the presenter, or the teacher, was talking about John 15 and being fruitful branches, and how God trims awfully unfruitful branches, but it hurts. And then as you read earlier in Psalm one, being that new tree, if he trims everything off, we'll talk about that later. So anyway, we were talking about that. And Rebecca going away was one of the branches that got cut off.

17:00 And then around December, so a few months later, I went through some sort of a spiritual identity crisis. So I had been studying scripture and reading, and I had this hunger for the word. And in that, the Lord was pruning off all my branches that were unfruitful. And I figured out around November, December that that was basically everything. That I thought who I was, or what I did, or how I behaved, or what I thought was important, or anything like that.

17:28 And so around Christmas time, I was talking with a friend, and I was like, I don't even know who I am anymore. I have no identity. Everything has been stripped away. And this was a good friend. She was like an older sister to me.

17:42 She lived next door. And so we're just having this conversation. And then it hit me. It's like, God is trimming off all my approval branches. And so as a result of this, I get to restart my spiritual life as a young seed, right, that is planted by the river and grows into a big young tree after years and years of maturity bearing its own fruit in its own time, like you read in Psalm one.

18:05 And part of what made me realize that that circle was coming together was that sometimes the Lord will impress something on your heart through a lot of different circumstances and conversations with completely different people and reading in scripture, or having to type up this report or something or something. And it was really like, I'm trimming off all your own fufu branches, and you're gonna be a young seed again with shallow roots, but we're gonna start growing you in the right direction. So until that was just this past December, so maybe seven, eight months ago. So from the time until I was 21 to 23 roughly, he was cutting. And it got really painful.

18:44 And so I went back to school the following week, and I was like, I don't know how to teach, I don't know how to respond to my students, I don't know how to... I don't even know how to handle life, because everything I thought I was and who I was is now gone. So it was like rediscovering or being reborn in your identity in Christ and starting to have him as your identity, not your flesh. Does that make sense? So you're trimming away that, putting on the new man, but that's a painful process.

19:09 That is. That's one I think all Christians go through at different ages. What a blessing to go through at 23. I'm sure it'll happen, know, continually Oh, learning to for sure. But but there seems to be some monumental, you know, points and often times it doesn't happen, you know, for men until they're late thirties, forties, fifties.

19:26 Mhmm.

19:27 You know, but it certainly changes your perspective.

19:29 Definitely. Definitely.

19:42 Pleasure seeking became something else entirely. Let me expand that. In the past, when you have fun, it's going out or doing something with somebody that is a fun thing to do. I think we all understand what that means. At this point, I was like, now I want to stay home and read my bible.

20:00 I want Jerry, he's one of the guys that I was studying with, he's like, he lived in the same building as I, and so he would just come up and we would just chat for hours. I would just ask him questions, fire him questions with scripture, stuff that I was reading that week, questions that I had. So that's kind of how it changed the use of my time. Was one of the big ways that I would go home and start reading. Reading scripture, reading theology books.

20:22 I'm like, I don't know anything. Chris Schroeder was talking about, were you here couple weeks ago? And he was talking about being informed. I was like, I'm completely uninformed in scripture, in anything. I have no answers to any questions.

20:32 And I would need to know those answers. And so that's how it changed the use of my time. That was one of the big ways. What was the other part of that question?

20:43 I forgot.

20:46 Priorities. The first year at faith, I was teaching music, appreciation, basically, to my 50 or 60 students. And the second year, this was really interesting, the second year, around December until the end of the year, I started to tie biblical principles into music, and started to be able to encourage the students spiritually. And they wrote me some thank you notes at the end of the year, like normal teacher stuff. And that was what the biggest thing that they hit on, was around the second or third quarter.

21:28 Like, you started to pray with us. You started to tie in music, and what does the Bible say about music, and how is it used, and okay, let's... It was like rounding out the curriculum.

21:40 Putting putting Christ here. Absolutely. It filters into everything.

21:44 It does. And it's so exciting when it happens. It's like when you're on the other side of that, you don't wanna give up this the flesh. Right? It's so attractive.

21:51 It's like I'm happy where I'm at. And then, you know, eventually you're unhappy with that, and you put on the new man, and it's so much more exciting. Your spirit is just like filled. So that was really cool. I had some I had some interesting worship times in my condo just by myself, just where my spirit...

22:09 It was like, oh, it was so cool. I don't even know how to describe it. It was an beyond word experience, but experiencing worship in a way that I've never done before. Like hands raised and all. I'm like, oh people that like a big church is like, oh yeah, praise Jesus.

22:21 You know? But I... My my hands were raised in in awe. It was so cool to experience the Lord's presence in that such of a close way. We Maybe put some of you have experience over

22:33 here if you want. Yeah.

22:35 It was really neat. It was really neat.

22:37 Yeah. It's expression of emotion and and joy.

22:39 Yeah. Definitely very much.

22:41 Interesting. Know, when you were saying from your first year, are there certain things you had to let go of, but in letting go, you got things that were much more pleasurable and fulfilling.

22:51 Yeah. And that's encouraging. It's hard to do, and you don't wanna do it. Cause you can't often process what's coming if you let go of it. You're like, here's what I've got and it's the best thing right now.

23:05 And I'm content. And that's the worst part. A lot of the we're content with what we've got right now. It's like, no, we we need... I mean, we're supposed to be content.

23:12 Don't get me wrong. But hunger hungering after after more of the Lord's spirit, more of his work in us, like, his light shine in us. I was just thinking this morning about the when, you know, when Christ came, he's the light of the world. I preached on John one a little while ago and talked about the light and the life. And it's interesting that the light...

23:29 So when Jesus came into the world and into Jerusalem, the darkness doesn't comprehend the light. His people, the world, is darkness. The darkness of sin doesn't even comprehend the light. Like it doesn't even grasp the concept of that. And this morning I was thinking in the first meeting of how inside of us there's the darkness, and there's the light, and neither side comprehend the darkness doesn't comprehend the light, and so whatever side you feed is the side that's going to

24:00 Yeah.

24:00 Be in you. Grow and have... Grow. Absolutely. And so learning that the spirit, which is the light which is in us, we often distinguish because we don't relinquish control of our spirit to him.

24:13 Right? So like that basket, see that basket analogy of covering up the light on the hill or whatever. It's like you want the light to shine and say, get out of the way. Let him shine.

24:23 Hard process, but a blessing. Right. So I know you learned other lessons while you were there.

24:41 I want to be more holy. Blah blah. I want to read my Bible. But then it's always like eyes. I'm gonna depend on me to be more righteous.

24:49 I'm gonna depend on me to read my Bible. I'm gonna depend on me to do all of these things. And so part of that process, of course, as we all know, is until you've reached your end and you realize that you have nothing to offer. And every time that you try to do something for the Lord, it's gonna fail unless you relinquish control to Him. So we will fail.

25:11 And one of the verses that stuck out to me in that time was that there is nothing in us that is good. There is nothing good in us except Him. And so if we try to do something, remember the darkness doesn't comprehend the light, and so the darkness can't work with the light. They don't go together, right? And so you have to completely relinquish control.

25:30 So self dependency in any area, whether it's teaching. Oh, so many times when I would pray before I would teach, it was just an amazing experience beforehand. And the students would get it. It's so much different versus I'm gonna teach a good lesson. I'm gonna be prepared.

25:43 I'm gonna do this. And then it just comes to nothing, it all just falls apart. So self dependency for strength, for anything, just anything is just very important, another hard lesson to learn. But the Lord won't... He'll teach you that lesson, and He'll wait to teach you until you have come to the point of no return.

26:04 Like, your hands are up. Like, I have nothing. You're like on the floor. Like, okay, Lord, do something with this because I can't. I'm done.

26:12 I won't because I'm done trying because I've tried and it fails every time.

26:19 That's a hard place to be.

26:20 It is. It is a hard place to be, but then you finally get to that point and the Lord does His work, and it's just amazing to see what he does after that point when you stop trying, when you stop trying to be righteous. And then, of course, you could like, here's another lesson I learned, trying to be righteous for my own sake. Like, I want to be righteous because it's good for me, not for him. So, like, getting the focus off of our own righteousness onto his righteousness.

26:49 Right?

26:51 That he gets the glory.

26:51 That he gets the glory. Yeah. Right. So stop trying to be righteous for your own sake. So...

26:56 That really plays into getting broken down to like not knowing, like being totally upheaved in terms of your teaching, your your daily living, and then your identity in Christ starts to come out. Mhmm. You know, interest in him and wanting his glory to be shown. Absolutely. You know, in us and not our efforts to be the focus.

27:16 Right. How did that show up for you in finances? Because I know faith Academy doesn't doesn't Yeah. Compensate the teachers.

27:25 Right. And I know So therefore, you're you're Yep.

27:28 Living by faith because you're working and not gainfully.

27:31 Right. Okay. This is a neat experience. Finance is something that I, interestingly enough, was never worried about. Excuse me.

27:42 Either going onto the field, when I was on the field, and even now as I'm looking forward. The Lord has always provided completely reliably, and in unseen ways. So finances over there, more I worried about my finances, the more broke I was. Okay? And so the less I worried about it, and I gave to others who were in need, and used God's money, we're just returning it, okay, He gave it to me to use for Himself, for His glory, His work, right?

28:16 So the more I hoarded it, the worse it was. And the more I gave, the more I received and was able to keep giving. Does that make sense?

28:24 Yes, does.

28:25 So it's like, give to me, give to me. I'm gonna hold it for myself. And then there's no blessing from above. That way, it's like, oh, give, give, give, give. Here's what I've got.

28:35 It's all everybody else's. And then that's when the Lord will start to give more. So that was a really cool thing to learn, is that the more you give, for me, was my own experience. The more you give, the more you have to give. One cool way, not necessarily in that story, But I was going to buy my plane ticket back home, like this time.

29:03 And it was getting kind of like to be the time to buy your airplane ticket. When they're they're a good price, you know, like that ninety to one hundred and something day window, and they're like, it's a good price, blah, blah, blah. It's like, okay. So I didn't actually have money to buy an airplane ticket. And I was a little nervous because I was worrying about it.

29:21 So I said, I think, Lord, I think I'm supposed to go home for the summer. Think that's what you're directing me. So I'm gonna buy an airplane ticket. I don't have the money on hand right now. So we'll see what you do.

29:34 But I'm not worried about it. I was like, okay. And the next day, no joke, the next day, an abnormal donation came in for twice the amount of the airplane ticket. So that was just one instance of, I don't actually have the money, but the Lord is going to supply that. And I'm not going to try to control it, but I'm going to relinquish that control to the Lord.

29:59 And so it was just like, okay, okay, okay, so stop worrying about it. I had a lot of those moments. I had a car over there. Thank you, Lord, for that car. But it was kind of a junker, and it was in the shop every two months for another $1,000 or $1,500 was a The blurb was keeping

30:17 you trusting him.

30:17 Yeah, absolutely. So he would never let my savings be on a certain point, because my car would break, or I'd have a disaster. It's like, okay, okay, fine. So he kept the money coming in, but only enough so that I wouldn't depend on myself, self dependency, for my well-being. So I would have $1,000 car bills, dollars 1,500 car bills, whatever.

30:41 Bills, bills, bills. And I always had enough to cover it, and I was always comfortable. All of my needs were met, always. I never once lacked in anything.

30:52 Yeah. Nobody else, I'm sure, here has had that experience. So Thinking you're getting ahead and then something drains it, but it keeps you Dependent. Provided for.

31:00 Yeah. Independent. Absolutely. I don't wanna claim my independence from god. No, thank you.

31:09 That's a hard lesson to live out. Mhmm. So in that in that dependence, how did that in learning that not being self reliant, I know that has played into how the Lord's worked through your next steps from here. Could you tell us about that?

31:29 Yeah, yeah. So as I was figuring out that I was... Oh, what's the word Chris used? I didn't know anything. I didn't have any of those answers.

32:00 And here's another random little rabbit trail. The word of God was there before anything else. So there wasn't time, there wasn't space, there wasn't matter, there was nothing else but God and the Trinity. And so His word is there. And Jesus, I figured this out, most of you know this, Jesus incarnate is the word of God in the body.

32:22 So the better you know you're the word of God, the better you know Jesus. Even though He's not actually here in His man. But you just study his word and it's getting to know him right there. He's like all of him. That is the word incarnate.

32:36 Right? So I'm like, okay. I need to know my scripture. I need to study my bible. Like, I want to do this.

32:41 I have this this urge. The spirit within me wants me to get to know Jesus. Okay? And so part of that was, okay, I felt the Lord saying, you need to go you need to go to bible college. You need to study the scripture.

32:54 Okay? And until you're devoted to that, that's the fastest way to learn, is to just have that on your mind. Have that, you know, be studying his law. Not the law of, not the Old Testament law, but be studying him day and night. Be meditating on his word all the time.

33:14 Outside of your quiet time, which is, you know, an hour in the morning. No, it's a daily thing. All day long, you're meditating. And so he said to me, not like audibly. In my heart I was like, I'm going go to Bible college.

33:29 I just want to study his word. What else is there in the world worth pursuing? There isn't really anything else worth pursuing at this point, because all just the world promises you whatever it does, and it's like it's not worth it. So I'm gonna go to Bible College. I know I'm probably not gonna get a job out of this, but I don't care.

33:48 This is the most valuable thing that there is available to me. So I'm looking at Bible College. As most of you guys know, I'm going to Emmaus in the fall for a couple years at least. But another thing, you said about the finances, that. That's where we're going with this.

34:05 Sorry, rabbit trails all around. I don't have money to go to Bible College. I don't have money for a lot of things. But as I'm not worried about it, the Lord always takes care of that. He always supplies that need, where there's a need, you know?

34:27 And so I was looking through Emmaus' scholarships and whatnot, and I was like, oh, I'm eligible for a few things, you know, try this one. And I heard back from my... What's his name? The guy that I'm working with, the admissions counselor. Thank you, I heard that.

34:47 And he said, hey, you'd be a good applicant, or you may be eligible for their Harcourt Avenue scholarship, which is they only give out five of these scholarships a year. It's a pretty big deal. It's the biggest scholarship that they have available at this college. And so he said, hey, because you've got this life experience and blah blah blah, you've already been a missionary, maybe you should apply for this. So I did.

35:10 And I got some help from the English teacher at Faith because I'm not a very good writer. So basically what you have to do for this scholarship is tell the college how good of a Christian you are without being proud about it. To sum it all up. And so praise God that he, this was several weeks in the making, and they asked me a series of questions. How do you display Christian character in the way of leadership?

35:41 And there were all kinds of those kinds of questions. Like, how you display Christian character in this area or in this area? And they didn't give any they didn't give you a box to work within. So it wasn't like one paragraph answer or 10 pages per question. It was just, hey, here you go, here's your questions, have at it.

35:59 So it took me several weeks to write it. I think it was about 10 pages long at the end. This is my report thing. How good of a Christian you are. And then, of course, as you're reflecting on yourself, you're just like, oh, how much more I have to learn.

36:14 How much more do I fail in all of these areas? Does that make sense? It's like when you're reflecting on yourself, which is terribly depressing when you're reflecting on yourself. Anyway, so he awarded me that scholarship. It was one of the ways that he's providing through that.

36:31 And then other scholarships, and so I'm paying one tenth of the total cost for tuition and room and board. I'm paying like one tenth of that price out of pocket. And even interestingly enough, the Lord has supplied the pocket for it to come from through selling my car in The Philippines. I didn't sell anything else in The Philippines, I just gave it all away. I was blessed tremendously with so much free home stuff that I wasn't gonna sell it.

36:59 Most people have garage sales, they sell the stuff when they leave. I was like, here, you can just have it all. I was blessed with it, and you can just have it. I'm not gonna make money on this because the Lord is gonna take care of me another way, and I didn't feel led to sell my stuff. That's all his anyway, so just give it to somebody else.

37:14 Give it to another brother. So since I've been home, and by home, home that's another topic entirely. What is home when you're a missionary? Since I've been back in The States, I've been working almost every day, for just about eight hours a day. Like, okay, I didn't expect that to be there, so I've been busy.

37:39 But the Lord has supplied all of the pocket for the tuition to come out of, just from the work that he supplied me while I've been here in The States. I didn't even look for the work. It just kind of fell in my lap. Here, do this, do this, do this. It's been great.

37:55 So that's another way that he's supplied for me. So through the scholarships at Emmaus, and doing work here, and selling my car. Poor guy who bought that. He knows though. He was a colleague of mine, so he knows how it goes.

38:09 And that's an interesting story, because part of the ministry that he has is he buys cars, fixes them, and then sells them to locals for half price. Like half what he paid for them. Not payment plus fixing. Just, okay, so he paid whatever it was, a couple thousand dollars for my car, and he's gonna sell it for 1,000. Doesn't matter how much he puts into it.

38:30 And so he sells it to a local, like a Filipino. That's part of their ministry, is buying and selling cars for half price.

38:37 Sounds like Lur may be preparing you for full time work or missionary work.

38:40 That's yeah, that's what I'm thinking. That's... I don't I don't feel called right now to get a job. Like your traditional forty hour week job. I'm I'm like, no.

38:54 There's something out there much more valuable than that. And that is just Christ. Is the only thing that's valuable. He's worth your time. What else is worth your time?

39:05 Right? So as I go to Bible college for a couple of years, Here's a cool story. How much time do we have? Only four minutes. I have one more time for a cool story.

39:34 Right? So you could be an eagle just because you can fly. And what else is cooler than flying and just having this big bird's eye view of everything. So I've been interested in flying since I can remember. And the last week of classes, I met a dad of one of my senior girls who was graduating.

39:55 And he was an MAF pilot for about eight years in the past, and right now runs an airport a few hours away from Emmaus. And so we get to talking. I'm like, oh, this is cool. This is cool. This is cool.

40:10 And so he offered to do my pilot training, help me with my mechanic's license. He's licensed to do all of that stuff. He'll help me with flight time. He'll get all that stuff done. And so one of the things, if the Lord works it out, while I'm at school in Emmaus, I would like to pursue my piloting license, and then eventually, possibly, this is just a dream that I have, this is a disclaimer, dream that I have, to reach the unreached people groups through missionary aviation is a dream of mine and has been.

40:43 Not necessarily missionary aviation, but aviation has been a dream of mine forever. And then the new missionary part of that is really exciting to me. So I might do that on some long weekends, or we'll see how that works out. So he's just a few hours away from the campus, but again, that's really expensive. So we'll see how the Lord provides funds for that also.

41:04 Seems like he's been providing for everything he's wanted you to walk in.

41:07 Yes, And he has so faithfully, so faithfully. And the less control I try to take, the better off.

41:12 What impressed you most about the Filipino people? The

41:19 thing that most impressed me about them was the Christians that I met there are so genuine. So genuine. And they're so out there. Like what we would consider like taboo behavior Christian or for anybody because their culture is so much different. They can do things without being judged in the same way that we are.

41:40 And so especially in the church, their whole heart is being poured out before God every week. And it's amazing to me. So I can't say for the Filipino people as a whole, but at least in the church that I went to, it was an amazing experience because they don't care if they can sing or not. But it's so genuine. It's so genuine.

42:01 And that was really moving to me, especially around, like, in the last eight months or so, when my heart has started to be genuine and this new growth. I'm just like, I love this singing. I love the Lord's people being genuine before him. And so that is that was one of the things that most impressed me. When I got there, it was like, that's cool.

42:23 But then later on, I was able to, like, participate in that and feel it in my spirit. Very freeing. Yes.

42:32 So cool. So cool. There is a couple minutes left. If anybody wanted to ask Drew a question about his trip to The Philippines or stay at The Philippines.

42:45 My refrigerator was often empty. It would echo back. I could say hello, and it would go hello. I ate mostly like once a day. It was about as much as I could have time and plan for.

42:59 It was like once a day meal. And trips to McDonald's. Very conveniently located. That

43:06 helps replace it. Right, right. Anybody have any questions they wanted to ask Drew? Did the temperature bother you?

43:16 No. No. Academy is air conditioned. So like, anytime I was at school, I was in air con. So half the time I'm cold.

43:25 My hands are cold right now. What happens when your body gets used to a tropical climate is not that you get used to the heat, you just don't even notice it anymore. So the heat and humidity, your body learns to sweat a lot more than it did before. So it learns to just get the heat out. So this past week, when it's been in the 90s and upper 90s with humidity in the hundreds, I've been working outside on a deck, and I haven't noticed that it's been hot.

43:51 So it bother me. As long as you have a fan so my apartment wasn't air conditioned. So it was often upper 90s when I would go to sleep at night, and the water tanks for the condos were up on top, and so it would be heated by the sun. So you can't even take a shower and cool down, because the water is 80 or 90 degrees. So as long as you're sitting in front of a fan, you're okay.

44:14 It's just hot, humid, still air that's a problem, but your body will adapt, and you won't even notice the heat as long as you've got some fans running. Yes. Absolutely. Thank you. Wherever you are.

44:43 Amen. That's right.

44:52 Yeah. I taught... If you don't know, I taught fifth grade through twelfth grade, strings students. I had roughly four classes a day, all different age groups. The first year, primarily, I taught music appreciation and performance.

45:18 Like how to perform, how to be on the stage, how to play musically, anything like that. And administration came to me the second year and said, okay, we need something more evidential that you're actually teaching them. We need you to have some tests. We need you to have written something to teach them. Instead of like, oh, they're progressing.

45:35 They're more musical now than they were six months ago, but who's judging that? Me. So the second year I started teaching some hit music history, some music theory, and so stuff like that in addition to music appreciation and just pieces and musicality as a whole. Do want other specific questions or is that okay? Good, good.

46:01 Mostly very, very easy. When you go to, at least at Faith Academy, you agree to, like, okay, you need to believe this, and this, and this, and this, And as long as you've got that basic stuff in common, we didn't talk a lot about doctrinal differences. It was like, oh, we're all just one community, and we believe that you're saved through faith and grace, that works, and you can't lose your salvation. This is, well, never mind. The first year, I had a co teacher who was Korean.

46:42 And that was very difficult to go through because she didn't speak English very well. And in Korea, they are taught music fundamentally different than in the Western culture. And so her idea of teaching music and my idea of teaching music were very different, and often we buttheads. But you can't even have a discussion about it because there's a language barrier. So you laugh now, but...

47:13 So I learned. I learned through that experience. So outside of that, it was very easy to get along with everybody. And in that experience, I learned to be gracious and not always just have your own ideals and think that you're always right, but just be gracious and let her do her thing. And so we figured something out, that was that we shouldn't work together, but we should be in charge of different groups.

47:38 Instead of co teaching, it's like, okay, you'll do that one, I'll do this one. You've got that one, and I've this one. So we worked through our differences. It took about six months. And even in the end, when I left a few months ago, our relationship was working, but it's still difficult to work with somebody who's from a different culture, who's teaching the same thing you are, but fundamentally different.

48:02 Time for one more question. I think one of the things that that that occurred to me in in talking through with Drew and hearing some of the things this morning and and when we had met and with Drew going to The Philippines and thinking about missionaries and supporting missionaries. According to me, I have a tenant and he's a he's a special forces guy. And I don't know if you ever saw that show, The Million Dollar Man. It was a long long time ago.

48:29 He's gotta be the $15,000,000 man. The guy has had so much training and so many broad spectrums of of you know, what he does. And... But he didn't necessarily perform all of what he was trained for at that moment or the week after. It was really building into the man to perform at a certain function in the future.

48:50 It was a lot of preparation, and he was doing things along the way, but it really preparing him. And I kinda saw this in Drew. He didn't get to share it this morning, but there were some guys a second... After some of the spiritual waking and the pruning that he started building in and and seeking to disciple. But I think a lot of what, happened with Drew there was God's working in him and preparing him for his good service, you know, for for for coming years.

49:17 And as a church, we say, okay, we're we're giving money to this missionary or that missionary. And oftentimes, we measure it by, well, how many people are hearing the gospel? How many people are getting saved? You know, what what's happening? And not unwarranted questions to to to ask, but it's not the measurement.

49:36 We we give to God, and and God displays it amongst his missionaries for their purpose at that time to build the kingdom and and prepare them for future service. And and I was really encouraged getting to talk with Drew of one God's working in your life, but also you're responding, you know, to him. Mhmm. Because we have to respond. God's always speaking to us, but sometimes we're not hearing and sometimes we're hearing and we're not caring and and we're not responding.

50:02 But but your sensitivity to to allow God to work in your life and follow along with his program. What was really encouraging and convicting?

50:26 Okay. Sure. Fine. Whatever. But it's like, be still.

50:28 Like, not just physically still. Let your mind be still. Let your heart be still. And to know, what does it mean to know that God is God? What does that even mean?

50:37 So, like, there's like a whole thing to study in and of itself, just knowing that God is God. Like, to know. Not to know, but to know.

50:46 Amen. Amen. So.