HOUSE TOP GOSPEL
House Top Gospel is a Podcast dedicated to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
“Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, Preach on the HOUSE TOPS" Matthew 10:27.
HOUSE TOP GOSPEL
Wounded Warrior, Healed Heart: Finding Jesus After Combat
This conversation with Rick Cadena, a combat veteran whose journey of faith began in the jungles of Korea and Central America, brings the spiritual landscape of warfare, trauma, and redemption to life. Though he never anticipated that his four years of military service would permanently alter his life's trajectory, Rick's candid testimony reveals how unexpected light can penetrate even in our darkest moments.
As a young radio operator in a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol team, Rick faced perilous conditions from Korea's DMZ to the guerrilla conflicts of El Salvador. His vivid recollections of combat—the whistling bullets, the mortar explosions, and most poignantly, his spontaneous cries to Jesus despite having no religious background—create a powerful backdrop for understanding his later transformation. "I didn't know anything about Jesus," Rick confesses, "I was just scared, man."
The physical and psychological aftermath of combat would haunt Rick for decades. After being medevaced following a traumatic explosion, he struggled with undiagnosed brain injury, chronic pain, and PTSD that the VA initially refused to acknowledge. His descent into substance abuse and anger represented a soul in crisis, searching for meaning and relief. "I was empty, Mike," he explains, comparing himself to an empty whiskey bottle needing to be filled.
The turning point came through unexpected encounters with faith communities, particularly at his church, where Rick found not only spiritual guidance but brotherhood in recovery groups for former addicts. His discovery of passion for playing conga drums in worship offered a new channel for expression and healing—a stark contrast to his earlier life of isolation and anger.
Most recently, while facing potential leg amputation following complications from a broken ankle, Rick experienced what he describes as divine intervention in his hospital room—curtains moving inexplicably and a gentle sensation flowing through his body that renewed his commitment to serve God regardless of physical limitation. "I can serve you with one leg. I can serve you with no legs," became his transformative prayer.
This conversation transcends a typical veteran's story, offering profound insights into how suffering, when met with faith and community, can forge resilience and purpose even from the most traumatic experiences. Rick's journey reminds us that healing rarely follows a straight path but often winds through unexpected terrain where grace appears in surprising forms.
All right yeah, All right. So it's another beautiful morning. I've got my morning voice going here, I've got my coffee right here and today we have a real special episode. I've got a longtime friend, a brother in the Lord, a military veteran, a wartime veteran. You saw Korea and El Salvador, right yeah.
Speaker 2:Central America and Nicaragua.
Speaker 1:Hey, rick, say hello to everybody. Hey, good morning.
Speaker 2:Good morning everybody. God bless you.
Speaker 1:And welcome to our humble little studio here. This is House Top Gospel, I'm Mike Gomez, and so, rick, why don't you tell us a little bit about? Well, let's start out with your military background. You were a ranger and you jumped out of airplanes and helicopters and whatnot. You saw some action.
Speaker 2:Yeah, basically I went to basic training and then jump school, paratrooper school, infantry training and after that you get my first duty assignment. They end up going to a recon school, get selected to go to a jungle school and then anyways, all through my short career in the military, I only did four years. I wanted to. As a youngster I wanted to spend my life in the military. You know, I got two brothers Vietnam and my dad World War II and five uncles Korea and Vietnam also and cousins too. There's about 13 of us that were in the military and just about everybody 11 of us were in the cease and desist action.
Speaker 1:Two, three generations, yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:Since World War II, yeah. But anyways my thing— Thank you for your service, brother. Since World War II, yeah.
Speaker 1:But anyways my thing. Thank you for your service, brother.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, brother.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and all your family. My goodness, I didn't know that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my mom has pictures in her living room black and whites and all kinds of stuff in there of the whole family, her side and my dad's side, and most of them were paratroopers and anyways.
Speaker 1:Well, I know that you escaped with your life. I mean, you saw some serious stuff, I mean you survived an explosion, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got wounded in Central America.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm sorry, don't let me get ahead of you, man. I mean, I know you started out in Korea, right?
Speaker 2:Well, it was my first deployment. This was right after Vietnam. I was in the military in 1975 to 1979. And I think it was 1976, north Korea had killed two Americans at the DMZ there in the militarized zone and they ended up killing two officers there and I got deployed there and I was on a LERP team Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol team there's only seven of us and I carried the radio, the RTO, and this is in Korea. This was my first deployment was in Korea at the DMZ. Yeah, in 1976.
Speaker 1:Korea at the DMZ, yeah, in 1976.
Speaker 2:And we're doing a lot of reconnaissance missions at the DMZ separates North and South Korea, and there was a few firefights that we had gotten into, and a few other people had too, but prior to that, though, they had a reason. Why we were there was because there was nearly a international incident when united states and south korea crossed the line at this one junction of the dmz just to chop a tree down because they were recounting each other North Korea and South Korea troops. So they crossed the line, chopped the tree down with axes. The United States did.
Speaker 1:Chopped the tree. I mean what?
Speaker 2:did they chop the tree down? For there was a couple of huge trees there, because this is Americans and South Korean troops probably maybe about 50 to 100 guys maybe I'm assuming platoon size were recounting the DMZ, the line, looking at the North Koreans. You could see them right across there.
Speaker 1:So were the trees in their view.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah they were blocking their view at one time, so they shouldn't have did this. But the American officers, from what I heard, decided to cross the line and chop the tree down so they could see better, or whatever the issue was. I wasn't there. I got deployed within 24 hours of that incident. North Korea surrounded the American and South Korean troops there, told the rest of the troops to leave, go back across the DMZ line, and they kept the two American officers there who were in charge. And since they used axes to chop the trees down so they could see the North Koreans better, north Korea seized the axes and whatever else they seized and kept the two officers there, while the rest of the americans and south koreans had to cross the line back to south korea. And they killed the two americans by, uh, cutting their heads off and, um, it's called the axe murders and uh.
Speaker 2:So anyway, I got deployed within 24 hours there and, uh, we did a lot of reconnaissance missions at the DMZ for roughly 45 days off and on during that time. How long were you there? About 60 days roughly. But I went back twice a year after that, went back twice a year for about 30 to 45 days, sometimes 60 days, and do a lot more reconnaissance missions up in there too. Operation Team Spirit been on there a few times, operation Team Spirit, but after that I was getting deployed, constantly training, constantly flying in helicopters.
Speaker 2:Like I said, shared with you the Chinook helicopters those are the ones with the two propellers on there and the back end opens up and mostly we flew in C-130 airplanes, parachuted out of them quite a bit, and then Huey helicopters was my main transport. The Huey helicopter is a lifesaver for many ground troops. Helicopter is a lifesaver for many ground troops. They provide air support and they also drop us off in the landing zone and also evacuations and medevacs and stuff like that. The Huey helicopter is a workhorse. It's like having a horse and that does everything for you out in land. And that's what the Huey helicopter was for us. It was the workhorse of the Army. I was in the United States Army, anyways, yeah, so I've been deployed a few times to the Philippines and a few incidences up in there too, but like I said Philippines, Up in the Philippines, yeah, and I've seen we used to either float up there or we fly there.
Speaker 2:We'd float up there with the Navy Been on a few aircraft carriers in my time too, and boy, those sleeping quarters are super small. When they put us in these, In the sleeping quarters there's barely enough for a skinny guy to fit into. But anyways, one of some of the best chow you ever eat, some of the best food you ever ate there. I remember, anyways, they, Anyways, we used to go up and load up on helicopters there too, on the flight deck, and we'd chop us out to different parts of the world, wherever we were at.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then you went to Central America somewhere.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've been a few times Central America too. I was up at Fort Sherman, panama. That was our main base up in there, panama, fort Sherman, panama, yeah, and there's a few Army bases there at that time during the 70s. I don't know about now, but I know at one time or another at Fort Sherman we were up in there. I was up in there, and then we would get a lot of jungle training there. In fact that, uh, one of my first jungle trainings was up there before we even started getting deployed back to central america. Um, panama has a jungle training school.
Speaker 1:There is that is that where you had your uh uh.
Speaker 2:You suffered that in the explosion I was in el salvador, yeah, but coming out of panama, uh, we would, and then sometimes aircraft carriers would carry us float up the Pacific Ocean there, and then we'd fly in on a helicopter, usually at nighttime.
Speaker 1:So what was it? A mortar fire? Was it a bomb?
Speaker 2:I'm assuming, yeah, we were getting hit with mortar rounds and RPGs and AK-47 fire from the FMLN that was against the government troops of El Salvador and also diplomats to Nicaragua, where the Sandinistas were at. There were other guerrilla groups besides. Them too were up against the government troops, which the United States was trying to assist the governments in Central America. And I don't really understand it too much at that time because I was young and now, as an adult, as I learn more about conflicts that was happening, I was involved in some of that. Before the big civil wars were starting. The United States had their hand in it.
Speaker 1:Anyways. So you were a young man back then.
Speaker 2:Oh 17, all the way to 20 years old. All the way to 20 years old, yeah.
Speaker 2:But, at this time, though at that time we were doing our recon mission, Like we were out in the bush for about almost two weeks, I'd say, because we were usually out there 10 to 14 days, roughly right around there, sometimes there to gather intelligence and a lot of training. Though, too, we did a lot of training and sometimes we would. It wasn't training, it was the real deal. So when you get, you know, I carried the radio like I was sharing before with the. I was an RTO on a seven-man LRP team L-R-R-P Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol and usually I was like the third one in the squad, as we're patrolling, anyways. But the PRC-77, we put an I in the middle and they call it the Prick-77. 77, we put an I in the middle and they call it the Prick 77, because as you're humping through the jungle, through the bush, it gets heavy, besides your own rucksack and your ammo and everything you got to carry Sure, sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the radios were a lot bigger.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it transitioned in Vietnam from the Prick 25 to the Prick 77, which the 77 had more range of communication than the 25. And so of course it's going to be a little bit heavier and plus they had a bigger one than the 77, you know and thank.
Speaker 1:God, so you're the radio man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, communication is the main thing in the bush. If you don't have communication, then you're in big trouble. So I'm sure you were a target. Yes, that's, you know. Mostly when you're pat big trouble, I'm sure you were a target. Yes, that's, you know. Most of the.
Speaker 2:When you're patrolling you're the second, third man, usually third man right around. Well, I was in a seven man team and you have a whip antenna, but I used to fold it down into my gear so you can't see the antenna while you're patrolling. So, but the enemy knows, you know. Third, fourth guy is usually the communication guy, usually even in a platoon size, you know, anyways, um, at this moment, we had gotten hit before missions before that, a couple years before that too. So you know, we're in a few firefights in nicaragua and el salvador too, but at this time.
Speaker 2:But you know, during that time though, too, mike, excuse me, some of the firefights, the first ones I was in, I, what you call it I was so scared, mike, I used to cry out to Jesus, mike, you know, jesus, get us out of this mess. You know, get us out of here, mess, get us out of here and stop the firing. And I didn't know, I didn't know anything about Jesus Christ, bro. I didn't know anything about Jesus, I was just scared man. I never was brought up in the church or nothing like that, but anyways at this one particular time, though, we got hit hard man 1979.
Speaker 2:And we're getting hit with mortar rounds and RPGs and a lot of AK-47 fire and our team I don't remember too much this is when I got wounded and next thing I know I see a bunch of flashes in front of me. Boom, we know they are explosions, you know, and they had us down pretty good, and I know the first two guys split to my right and everybody seemed like it at that time. It happened so quickly, I say I was in that firefight for about 10 minutes Seemed like forever, I'm assuming 10 minutes.
Speaker 1:Because you know what, mike, after I got wounded, I got, so they were literally shooting at you.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, and you were shooting back Whizzing, whizzing the bullets, whizzing by the grass and the leaves and the trees. And yeah, you never forget that sound man. Yeah that'll scare them, and sometimes I still hear it, you know, and I haven't slept good. Like I told you, we talk about sleep me and you and when I got out of the service I couldn't sleep for 20 years. Man, you know, I wake up every two hours and it was terrible, man, you know. But anyways, I still wake up like that sometimes.
Speaker 1:So then there was this explosion, huh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, nearby me, there was a few of them nearby, but this one really got me and I remember seemed like, oh, I don't know, just seemed like what I can, I don't remember too much mike because, uh, any, finding out later, I have a traumatic brain injury which, you know, I never knew till, uh, 2008. Anyways, I got this round, came in and blew and I feel like I got thrown in the air. Um, when I look back at it, when I try to think about it, it's like a Brown came in and blue and I feel like I got thrown in the air. When I look back at it, when I try to think about it, it's like a reminds me of a cartoon. You know, when you watch cartoons, man, you see a cartoon character flying in the air. Well, that's what it seemed like to me. After I think about it, man.
Speaker 2:But the next thing I know wow, that's the last thing I really remember about it, excuse me, and what you call it, it was twilight at that time. It was getting dark. We're getting ready to get picked up. That's where we were at. We're on our rendezvous point to go get picked up, because we already made communication for the Huey to come pick us up. But as the time was coming, we got ambushed right and then, anyways, it started to drizzle and rain prior to the ambush right, and then, because we said ambush is up too, you know, we've encountered a few people, a few troops in our ambush scenarios and anyways, at this time all I remember was I was when I sort of woke up, I guess from what I remember, I just remember I couldn't see, I was blind, my head hurt like I never had a headache like that before in my life and I was shaking like I was. I don't know, but I know they were treating me for shock at that time because one of the one of my was this out there in the field.
Speaker 2:This is right there, right then and there after it happened, but I don't remember. All I remember is an explosion, boom. And next thing I know I'm like some type of covering. I'm assuming it was a poncho liner covering us because it was raining. We had no other cover besides the trees and I didn't hear any more fire. So I'm assuming the ambush was over, whether they retreated or we retreated or just stopped altogether, and one of the NCOscos the sergeants was telling the lt, the lieutenant hey, get chico out of here. That's what they call me.
Speaker 2:they call me chico and uh, they go alt, get chico out of here, call the medevac. That's all what I would hear, but then I wouldn't hear anything else, and then it was sounding like the voice was far away and and, but he was right there attending me, somebody was, I don't remember too much man, I just know I was in bad shape, man, my head, my head hurt, mike, like never before.
Speaker 1:Um, so anyways, I uh end up, um so when you were, uh, when you said you were calling out to jesus when you were under that firefight, um, I, I think he probably heard you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, brother, because you know, yeah, because to help us and get us out of here and then you weren't walking with the Lord, but somehow, no, I wasn't.
Speaker 1:Some way or another. You, deep down in your inner self, deep down in your inner self, you just spontaneously called out to Jesus that name above all names.
Speaker 2:Above all names.
Speaker 1:yeah, you know what, when I got first, introduced to Jesus was— you know what the Bible says. What's that? The Bible says that we love God not because we love him. We love god because he loved us first. So maybe, maybe god had his, had his eye on you even before you went in I don't know I'm just throwing that out there, but you know what, though, mike?
Speaker 2:I look back at my life and the things that had happened in my life and, uh, I'm here for a reason, man, you know. Uh, maybe to help other veterans or other people that have ptsd yeah and uh and wounds and uh other things like that too. You know I I look back at it now and well you know, uh, uh.
Speaker 1:I'm sure you know this even more than I do that, uh, the suicide rate among veterans, especially around our age, is really high. I've been there. Yeah, young animals.
Speaker 2:Tell the truth, man. When I got out, I hated the government because they didn't want to help me, man, and I learned that they didn't want to help a lot of other veterans too, and you were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Speaker 1:You had a brain injury.
Speaker 2:Didn't even know it until 2008,. Man. You know, go figure, but I worked 30 straight years, man.
Speaker 1:I busted my butt, you know, working, you know, and never missed a day, you know, no matter how much I drank these factors, uh, the average veteran, you know, uh, finds himself alone, you know suffering, uh, physical, you know, ailments like post-traumatic stress or or, uh, you know, brain injuries, whatnot, and they're not getting treated for it. And it's no wonder that, uh, and then they find themselves alone and they're, they go through whatnot, and they become antisocial and wind up becoming alcoholics and then, next thing you know, they take their own lives.
Speaker 2:It's unfortunate man.
Speaker 1:And that's because they don't have what you have. You have hope in Jesus.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I seeked him. Brother man, gosh, darn man. I heard about the Lord when I was during my time in the service, by three African-American guys and anyways, I would go by base camp and they would be in a tent and playing record players and they'd be praising the Lord and they're from North Carolina and they'd be playing records and I'd come knock on the tent door at base camp whenever I would hear them and they weren't in my unit but anyways, and I'd knock on the tent door and they'd go who is this? It's Chico. I said, come on in. And they'd be praising the Lord, they're playing music record player. You know, and that's where the first time I heard about the Lord, they were Baptists, they're praising the Lord. Man, three brothers man Say Chico, you're welcome anytime man, these guys in the jungle back in the bush man, they're killers, man, when they come back to base camp.
Speaker 1:They're praising the.
Speaker 2:Lord man. But I think back about it now, 50 years later, man.
Speaker 1:They're soldiers.
Speaker 2:Wow, yeah, but look back at it now. They planted the seed and I guess God wanted me to hear that as I was walking by the tent. I know it now. I know what I'm doing here now is because of those three brothers, man, yeah, and during that time, well, cry out to Jesus Christ. And during some of these incidences that happened, man, cry out to Jesus Christ. And during some of these incidences that happened, man, you know. So, anyways, one night when I was picked up on the chopper, I could hear the chopper. I didn't really hear. I don't remember the chopper coming, I don't remember the noise, I just remember the rain hitting my face. So sometimes, when it's drizzling outside or raining and I feel it on my face, I remember back to 1979, as I'm getting medevac. Sometimes it's a feeling that I don't want to feel.
Speaker 1:Man, I said, oh, shoot like you know, they're actually uh, taking you out of there, they're taking me out of there. Finally, the medevac came.
Speaker 2:Yeah, medevac, finally came they. I guess they littered me in some type of poncho liner and they put me. I don't know what happened to my team, because after that I ended up getting out of the service a couple months later, but I ended up getting medevaced.
Speaker 1:You were then shipped to the US, right yeah?
Speaker 2:I woke up at Walter Reed Hospital.
Speaker 1:Where's that at?
Speaker 2:I believe it's in DC.
Speaker 1:Washington DC. So from El Salvador to Washington DC.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's one of the main trauma hospitals and, anyways, I trip out on this little thing too. I was in a room. I wake up, I have patches on my eyes and remember I don't remember anything. All I remember was a little bit of cover, a little bit of rain. Guy's telling me, chico, you're going to be okay. And I'm trembling, shaking.
Speaker 2:I've seen it before People going into shock, soldiers going into shock from being wounded and stuff, and I remember that type of feeling I was in Telling them. I remember LT, get Chico out of here. That's all I remember Call a medevac LT. So that's still embedded in my brain. Man, you know, lieutenant Kaplan, anyways, uh, uh. And sergeant mace and sergeant hughes, and anyways, um, I wake up in this room, mike, and uh, maybe I was awake already, I don't really remember, but I wake up and I'll have patches on my eyes and then, uh, I take the patches off and and I look at myself and I'm like in a white gown and the room is white. It's small, small, it's a small room. I thought you died and went to heaven.
Speaker 2:But this is the thing, though, man. It felt like. After a while, it felt like am I like in a freezer? Am I dead? You know, they put frozen bodies in like a refrigerator. So that's what it felt like to me too, you know. So I get off the bed, I take the patches off and I'm barefooted man and I walk into this little window, across the little room and I look outside and it's white outside and I'm thinking to myself, man, I died and went to heaven and Jesus, right all about.
Speaker 2:I went to heaven. How could a man like me go to heaven, man, the person that I was and things that I did, man you know. But anyways, I go back onto the bed. It's a little small gurney-like type thing, like they wheel you out into a surgery, right that type. It wasn't a bed bed, it was like I call it a gurney. And then I, next thing, I know, I put the patches back on my eyes and next thing, I know, when I wake up again there's a guy walking in the room and I ask him he's dressed in white too. I go and he goes.
Speaker 2:Hey, man, excuse me, he goes. Hey, you feeling okay, or something like that. I said hey, man, where am I at? He goes. What happened to me, man? He goes. Oh, you got wounded, we're taking care of you. Blah, blah, blah, I said. But I asked him hey, man, what's all that, that I die and go to heaven? He goes. No, he goes. Well, where am I at? And so he told me you're at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington DC. Where's that? At Washington DC? What the heck am I doing here? He goes. Well, I don't know, man, but I'm here to take care of you. And I said well, what's that white stuff outside? You know, if I'm not in heaven, what's that? He goes. Oh, that's snow. He goes. It's snowing out here in DC. I go snow. I just came from the jungles, from the jungle.
Speaker 2:Yeah and it's wet and raining and cold and you know, anyways, and kind of humid From the jungle.
Speaker 1:I mean you were telling me there was monkeys and tigers and all kinds of wild animals Birds and monkeys, snakes, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Now you're up at where it's just beautiful snow and it's cold man, it's cold and I'm like, okay, I didn't die and go to heaven then, but that's snow outside, okay, anyways, brother, go down the line. I'm a and it's like reviewing my life. I get out of the service. I'm mad at the world, you know, because my head hurts my spine. I didn't know I had a spinal cord injury. I didn't know I hurt my back and injured my discs and all that stuff from parachuting and doing whatever have you man, my whole body, ankles, knees, shoulders, anyways, my eyes were always burning after that, especially with the sun.
Speaker 2:I had problems with the light, even lighting inside the rooms and stuff like that, but the sun would burn, man, especially when I go to the beach. We live here in Southern California, los Angeles, east Los Angeles, pico Rivera, and I go to the beach and the sunlight reflect off the water. Ooh, it would burn my eyes, man. I guess it does to regular people too, whatever. Anyways, it would just burn my eyes. Anyways, man, I just needed something. I knew I needed something, mike, and I was empty.
Speaker 1:So we'll just fast forward a little bit. You're already now, you're discharged.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I'm discharged.
Speaker 1:You're out of the service now. Yeah, yeah, I'm discharged. You're out of the service now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 1979, I get out.
Speaker 1:And then you're dealing with your health issues now.
Speaker 2:Well, now, as I'm, you know, 68 years old now, and, yeah, it's everything like fell in dominoes all the way to now. But hey, you know what, though, man? I'm finally getting help with that man. But the main thing is, though, Mike, is when I really started getting help.
Speaker 1:All through the 80s, I partied, not partied, I just drank did drugs, yeah, so like when you came out of the service, I guess it was 80s. Now, yeah, 80s. So party hardy.
Speaker 2:I just was mad because I went for my. I went to the va in 1980 I believe it was june, I remember that and they just kicked me to the curb man. They didn't want to help me. I tell them I was having back injuries. I have these headaches on my eyes or in my ears. I got ringing in the ear I can't hear very good, and you know, my shoulders killing me and and this, and that you know, I didn't really have any health insurance. So I went to the VA and it just kicked me to the curb man. They don't want to.
Speaker 2:I get upset more, you know so, but I kept working, you know, and anyways, bad relationship, you know. And now I'm through the 90s and right about 1990 and through about 95, 96, I was like I was just empty, mike, it's like having a. It's like this is the way I can say it I got a bottle of Jack Daniels and all of a sudden it's getting empty. Well, I'm going to need another thing. You know, I got to fill it up. Fill that bottle up, man. Well, that's where my life was, man. I got to fill it up with something, man, because I'm empty, I'm mad, I'm disgruntled, and you know why can't I?
Speaker 1:It's wreaking havoc on your marriage.
Speaker 2:In my mind my marriage had broken up in 1988, 89, right around there. I don't remember too much about that, but my brain, man, I was having these bad migraines, these headaches, my eyes were burning and, you know, my back hurts but I kept humping, I kept working, man and um, finally, in the late 90s, I, finally, the two, my two girls were playing fast pitch softball and that's one of the times I heard the, the lord at the park, uh, brother willie and a dude named jesse willie yeah, willie salcedo, from calvary chapel, montebello he just recently passed away, but his daughter used to play with my daughter too and fast pitch softball and pico rivera what was he uh witnessing to you about the lord yeah?
Speaker 2:but I didn't know that. I didn't know what was happening, man, I didn't know anything. Dude, I'm like you know, I'm, and I'm at the park, you know just, and I'm sober, I've been sober since 1990. I quit everything. I said you know what I'm tired of this world, man, these people, they're fake, the party guys. And so, and after I quit, they didn't want to be around me because I wasn't doing their thing, man, and every time I I would go see them, it was ugly Dude. I'm like, what the heck am I doing here, man? Look at these people, man, they're making a mess. I didn't want this. I needed something new.
Speaker 2:So, as the late 90s finally come about, 10 years later, after that, 10, 12 years later, so I finally go to this church, and then my Kamada, linda, introduced me to different churches that she would go to. Anyways, it was kind of wild for me. Some of these churches were wild, man, woo, but anyways, I ended up at Calvary Chapel, montebello, and it was a lot of people there. I go, whoa, anyways, pastor Punch, pastor Punch Juarez, yeah, man, and anyways, so that's when I got. Wow, I don't even know the day I got saved or whatever. I didn't know nothing about that, and that's where we met.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean you met there man. You're a cool brother man. You played guitar and I was learning how to play conga drums and that's a trip on how I started playing that man it fills my heart. Now, you know, I'm not a professional, I'm just a garage conga player man. But we started a drum circle at the Long Beach VA Hospital. Man, there's drums still going to this day. We started, like in 2008. Well, I did so.
Speaker 2:When I got to Calvary Chapel, montebello, I met Pastor Noe Mendoza and he goes. He sees me walking around. I went there during the weeknight, you know weeknight and he goes. Hey, who are you man? You know checking me out. I'm a new guy on the block man. So I said I don't know man, I'll just come to check it out. He goes what do you do? I go, I'm looking for a church man. I don't know, I don. He introduced me to this, so he sort of recruited me, introduced me to it. But that's when the Lord took me, just excelled me into the Word. I can't remember too much stuff, mike, from the Word. I know because I found out in 2008 when I got sick. I got sick and I ended up neurology because I ended up having a stroke and that's when they found my brain injury at Kaiser Hospital. The neurologist was asking me she goes, hey, man, but say I was already serving God at that time in the late 90s early 2000s?
Speaker 1:Did we already know each other?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think we did. Yeah, we were serving together about that time and know each other at the church, and that's when I got introduced to the Friday night study with Armando and Marta Friday nights every Friday night. Yeah, because it was going strong. That ministry was going strong called the Quench Ministry. Remember.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was a support group for recovering addicts and alcoholics.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and any vice that you had, men and women.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that place was jumping. Yeah, oh yeah man, it was better than a nightclub man it was Rick on the conga drums.
Speaker 2:Ooh, come on now. Yeah, yeah, I know, and take the guitar. Yeah, it was fun, man, that's where a lot of people serving in worship were learning how to play in that ministry, you know, since they might not be in the main worship band in the sanctuary, but Friday night study was a place to learn how to play your instrument and give it unto the Lord, because the Lord loves a joyful heart. It doesn't matter if you know how to sing or not. If you can sing like a frog, the Lord still loves you, man, because you're there serving God. Well, god couldn't use a chicken or a jackass.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that he could man. But I look back at it now and that was so much fun and it was a learning experience for me, not just learning the Word, but learning how to serve God and worship too and to make friends. Like yourself, you know, we were all going through something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we clicked right away, away, you and me. Yeah, it's like a seatbelt man I'm sitting across the table looking at rick and for those of you that are listening, uh, rick, he's, he's got this big mustache and he's got these dark glasses and he looks like a bad dude man.
Speaker 2:Oh, man, I'm just a little.
Speaker 1:With the conga drums, you know. Just so you get a visual of who we're talking to here. Yeah, Brother, Rick, we would. After every group meeting on Friday nights, we'd go out and we'd have burgers, cheeseburgers, down the street.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, california burger, I'll put a shot out there. California burger, I'm kind of getting ahead of your talk here.
Speaker 1:I'm just going by what I remember you must be hungry, brother.
Speaker 2:Ain't nothing bad with a hamburger and french fries man.
Speaker 1:And a strawberry shake.
Speaker 2:Anybody that knows me, I love cheeseburgers, oh yeah, you can't go wrong with that man, but yeah. But you know what, though? Mike and I started learning more about the Lord, but in 2008, when I had a stroke and I wasn't all crooked or nothing like that, but I had a stroke it slowed me down tremendously and after 30 years of working, that's what stopped me from working. You know, I ended up getting disabled, and that's when I filed my disability claim with the VA. I went back to the VA because neurology at Kaiser when she showed me my. It was a small little stroke, but a stroke is still major. No matter how big or small it is. You know, it still affects your body and you caught it right away.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, you know, but by the grace of God man I'm, I recovered pretty quick man.
Speaker 2:You know I'm still recovering because I can't do the things that I used to do, unfortunately. But anyways, at that time. And now I look back at it now and I'm so glad I didn't have to work anymore. I look back at it now. So God knew what he was doing. Time to tell me hey, rick, 30 years of working, that's enough Time to take care of your body now. And so I had more time to worship the Lord and go to church, but to get my body back, you know, and my mind. And so when Kaiser Neurology found my stroke, showed me the stroke on the computer, and then she asked me if I had hurt my head at any time during my lifetime.
Speaker 2:I said no you know, I don't know what she was talking about. I said, yeah, I crashed my bike, hit my head. You know we didn't wear helmets back then. You know, and you know, I hit my head in playing football, baseball, basketball, you know all that stuff. We hit our head, come home with lumps and bumps. Man, I remember we used to sit in the back of the pickup truck. That too, yeah, man, oh, I had a few. Some of my brother's friends fell off back of the pickup truck right there on the 605 freeway back in I don't know if it was the 80s, I believe, or something like that and someone lost their kidneys. One guy got a brain injury too. Man, I'm not going to mention their names or anything, but anyways, they're from the neighborhood, anyways.
Speaker 2:So neurology shows me a picture of my stroke on the computer. Then I tell her oh, yeah, she wanted to know more about if I hurt my head back in the past. I said, oh, yeah, know more about my, uh, if I hurt my head back in the past. I said, well, yeah, I, I was wounded. I told about my military experience. She goes oh, you're military, so, yeah, she goes. That why your eye, your right eye, closes a little bit. I told about the wound I got, the explosions I was in and how we got blasted and it got medevaced. At that one time and I said, yeah, I remember I got blasted on the right side and I see a lot of flashes on the right side of the peripheral vision. Sometimes I dream about it a lot too. You know it affects me. And she goes okay.
Speaker 2:So she turned the computer around. She goes this is what I found there's a big old munch, a big old mark, this big mark from my eyebrow up to my hairline on my forehead, as big as a golf ball, bigger than a golf ball. She goes that's a, that a. That's a old injury. I call that a traumatic brain injury. She goes you got something wrong with you, man. And I said, well, what is a TBI? She called it a TBI, traumatic brain injury. I know nothing about that, man. So anyway, she goes. This is what I'm going to do for you. I'm going to give you the MRI pictures of your stroke and your TBI and a written report of what I found. She goes I want you to go to the VA and you go file a disability claim on your traumatic brain injury, because I believe this is military related your traumatic brain injury and possibly your stroke too. Because of the brain injury you can get seizures and strokes too mostly seizures, but anyway.
Speaker 2:So I did what she asked me. To that I think that next week I went to the va and filed a disability claim. I found a representative with a disabled. American veterans said I finally got my primary care at the va and they sent me to the tbi clinic and, and it took me seven years to get my 100%, permanent, total disability from the VA, I finally got it in March of 2015, from February 2008. Anyways, so now I've been getting treated for that TBI and now I understand why I was acting the way I did and why the lights and the sun and noises affect me. You know loud noises and why I was getting upset. I got a trigger mind.
Speaker 1:You might not know it, man, but I remember you told me uh, your ex said oh, there really is something wrong with you yeah, yeah this whole time I thought you were just a big yeah big donkey.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, yeah, she's you know. She knew me before I went in the Army. She said you've changed man, you know and anyways, yeah, remember, you told me that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, now I know why I didn't know. I didn't know, brother, you know. But now we know, you know. But the best thing is now you know, I have a friend that accepts me with all the disabilities that I have. I get compensated now by the VA from head to toe my eyes, my ears, my brain, you know. I got like five things wrong with my brain, you know, and my shoulders, my spinal cord. I'm a spinal cord injury.
Speaker 1:So this is all due from your service.
Speaker 2:Yeah, everything, every injury, from head to toe, legs, spinal cord, feet, ankles, shoulders, hands, everything, uh, eyes yeah, it's from military service, from, uh, all the training we did and getting wounded and uh and um, I didn't know I had ptsd, post-traumatic stress, but that goes along with a traumatic brain injury, you know. But I know more or less how to not really control it, because the Lord has helped me so much on that too. See. See, because when we're going to that Friday night study at Calvary Chapel, I want to know what Pastor Pancho's church, me and you, a lot of people, would talk about. You know, alcoholism, drugs or gambling or whatever sex or whatever it was that was hindering them. My thing was my PTSD. Well, you know what I act this way and you know, all these years I never knew. 30 years, 40 years, I didn't know, you know. But now it's my turn to help others in that type of situation.
Speaker 1:Yeah. But I share the gospel with them on that. You know, there's nothing like being in the Lord.
Speaker 1:You know, just the new life, the forgiveness, just the burden of guilt is just gone and you know we're just living a new life.
Speaker 1:And you know, as the Bible teaches us, we're pilgrims, you know we're sojourners, we're passing through. But the Christian life, a true Christian life, we can't just sit around and watch the world go by. We have to roll up our sleeves and get involved and do something to reach out and let people know how much God loves them and what Jesus has done for us to be united with him for all eternity, not just in this life, because this life is so short, I mean time is fleeting, time is passing. Tomorrow's promise to nobody. But the promise of God is that he gives us eternal life as a free gift because he loves us. So how can we just sit around and do nothing and watch the world go by, which is what, rick, you're talking about here. You know you have to get involved, you have to do something. You have to tell somebody about what God has done in your life, what God is doing in your life right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's showing me a new world, actually at my age, right now too. You know you see me limping around. You know I hurt. You know my back hurts every day.
Speaker 1:But your life, rick, glorifies the Lord. When I see you up there on the stage playing your conga drums, you know, with your shades on your big brush and everything.
Speaker 2:Well, the lights affect me, man. You know, at Calvary Chapel Renaissance, with Pastor Mark Steele, you know, they got the main stage and then they got two little stages in the back, one set for the drums, and they have another one there and they tell me, put your conga drums and your percussion stuff on there too. So I sit there but trip out on this man. You know, our sound guy Patrick just came back because he was injured in an accident. He, patrick, just came back because he was injured in an accident. He was out for almost, I think, a year, maybe longer or maybe less. I forget One of our sound guys, patrick. Anyways, when he first came back, I can't believe it. He came back. He's a miracle too, man, you know. And he was injured. He's a military, he's a veteran too, man. He was an officer in, I believe it was the air force, but anyways, we come back and he's taking over the sound. With him jesse and steve. So patrick comes by, he goes hey, ricks, what's up? So, anyways, you know, at our church, uh, for the backdrop of the wall, I played towards the wall there and our church has these two round uh lights and they have multiple colors in them that reflect the wall, one on each side of that, of the. Anyways, I was telling pat. The sound guy says, yes, how's it going? Blah, blah, he got some new glasses. Yeah, you know, the lights affect me. People wonder why I wear sunglasses, wondering why you know what you know, because I have a traumatic brain injury and the lights affect me. And now I'm going to the blind rehab center at the VA Long Beach man. So I'm a member of the Blind American Veterans Association too, man, and anyways. So I was telling Patrick about the you still look cool, though. Oh, thanks, brother, not to be cool, not to look cool, it helps me, man, I can see you, I can reach out and touch you now, man, but I'm not blind as much anymore. But anyways, uh, patrick, I the other sunday patrick's been back about two weeks now.
Speaker 2:So I was talking about the color of color he goes, hey, tell about the lights affecting me and this, and that he knew a little bit about that before he got in that car accident. So I was talking about the colored lights that were next to the stage where I play at, in the background. So when I was there Sunday playing, you know what I found right there A potted plant covering the colored lights that affect the peripheral vision on my left side of my face. And I'm there, you know we're warming up before service, you know, doing a couple songs with the worship team, and I look, I said hey, I don't see that colorful light. I go, someone put a potted plant there.
Speaker 2:It was Brother Patrick put it there because he goes, you know what, and it was him. He goes, I'll put that there. He's looking out for you, exactly, man. And that's brotherhood, though, man, that's the love of Christ. Right there he goes, and my brother's hurting with the lights, man, I don't want it to affect him, man. So he put the potted plant there, the only plant on the stage, and it's right there blocking the light from my view. And man, oh man. I said what we need to do with each other man, look out for each other, brothers and sisters. But our brothers, man, our friday night study called the lion's den, you know we know, you know, rick, let me uh.
Speaker 1:I don't mean to uh interrupt, but what you just said, how?
Speaker 2:you know, those, those little things?
Speaker 1:you know, uh, they can go a long ways, you, you know.
Speaker 1:It reminds me yesterday, when I was at the, I went to the store and I saw this, this woman pushing her cart, and I just couldn't help but notice how struggling she was pushing her cart with, uh, her groceries, you know, and she had, uh, maybe about three bags of groceries and some other things, and I just had to ask her can I help you to your car, you know? And it just spot it, just, man, she says, yes, you can help me, and I I helped her to her car and I put the groceries in her car for her and I was just so concerned I was like, wow, can she drive, you know? Yeah, but just little things like that. I mean mean, I'm not tooting my horn or anything like that, but just spontaneous acts of of kindness, you know, of concern for other peoples. It just, it just makes you feel so good and you know that it's just the love of god that's in you. You know, just doing those little things to even people that you don't know, strangers. Of course you better use wisdom sometimes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you use wisdom too, because you know what though.
Speaker 1:These days.
Speaker 2:I think back about it now too, and I said man, you know what that was my mother.
Speaker 1:Right, exactly, sure.
Speaker 2:If that was my mother, I would want an honest man to help my mother, because there are some freaks out there that do that on purpose, right To do other things.
Speaker 1:But see what would you? Maybe they're looking for a handout or something. Yeah.
Speaker 2:But what would your mother Like? They say, what would Jesus do? You know, Jesus put it in her heart.
Speaker 1:What would Jesus say I think it was, I think it was the lord that brought her attention to help her mike, yeah you know what are you gonna do, mike and it was just spontaneous.
Speaker 2:Go help her, okay, lord thank you, lord, for introducing me to her. I might not know her name, but that one little gesture might go a long way for her you know and she might, and when she goes on she might possibly say a prayer for the brother to help me load up my groceries.
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, you know, and then when I reflect back on on the BC days, you know, before Christ days, you know that was far from me, man I mean I was the most self-centered person, you know. Uh, I didn't care if I saw somebody fall down in the sidewalk or something, I'd just walk right by. Yeah, sidewalk, or something, I just walk right by, yeah, yeah. You know that's what an awful person I was before jesus came into my life, you know, yeah, and so, yeah, it just makes you feel so good.
Speaker 2:I mean, I don't know, you know, I feel so much at my, at my time of life serving god for over 20 years right now my life it seems like I love the lord more now than I did back in the year 2000, late 90s, mid-2000s. It's amazing how that feels, maybe because you know we're getting older in our age.
Speaker 1:And you know, rick. You know, as we grow in God's grace, we love him more and more. You know at first it's kind of hard.
Speaker 1:It's very challenging, especially we're struggling with our. We still have the same temperament, we still have the same bad habits, we still have what what I like to call residual sin in us. We're never going to be sinless until we get to the other side of eternity. And so we struggle. It's always a struggle, but we're growing in God's grace, and the more we serve him, the more we grow in him, the more we love him. Yeah, the more we love him, the more and more and more. And then we reflect back and, man, I'm not maybe where I want to be, but I'm sure glad I'm not where I used to be. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:And we just see that transformation power in just being united with Christ. We can't live the life that we used to live anymore because it feels so awful, it feels so repugnant, you know, to even go back and hang out in those places. I drive back through the old neighborhood and, man, it seems like it was just yesterday, but I do not miss it. I do not miss getting high and falling all over the place and acting dumb and waiting to score some pot or drugs or whatever. Man, I mean I'm just so glad that Christ, what he's doing, what he does in the believer's life, in the Christian's life, I mean he transforms us. What he's doing is he's preparing us for eternity. Man.
Speaker 2:You know eternal life.
Speaker 1:Life does not end when our time is up here in this world, when our life in this body expires. It is not the end, it is only the beginning. It's the beginning of eternity and the Bible asserts that. Whether you're a believer or not, you live forever. And if you die in Christ, then you live forever. In Christ, you are resurrected to a life of righteousness, of glory and being in his presence. But, on the other hand, if you die in your sins, you forever remain in that state, in rebellion against God. There's no hope for you. There's no, there's no help. The help is now.
Speaker 1:This is where we get the help on this side of eternity, where Christ gives you the will and the desire to change and to follow him and ultimately be like him, like helping that lady with her groceries, or helping that person that's really hungry for a meal, or going to visit somebody in jail or whatever. It is Just being the hands and the eyes and the feet of Christ on this side of eternity. You know, because it's too late when our time is up, you know it's just there's no hope for you when our time is up. I mean you've already chose your side when our time is up, you know. So the time is now. That's right, you know.
Speaker 2:And right now, you know, I look back at it now. You know, and and right now, you know, I look back at it now you know I mentioned earlier I wanted to be a. My dream was to to be a lifer in the military. Lifer means, you know, I'll do at least 20, 25 years, 30 years, whatever it is.
Speaker 2:But unfortunately I ended up getting wounded within, you know, three years of the military and I, my body, just couldn't do it anymore. But see, at that time my dream was to serve in the military, be a lifer. But as I got out, now I'm in God's army and I could do the life term as I wanted to be a lifer in the military. Now I'm a lifer in the army of the Lord. So the rest of my life, over 20 years now. So I'm in a different army, but it's the best army in the world, man, the army of the Lord. I'm a soldier for Christ. So I'm always going to be a soldier, just not a military soldier. That always be with me. I did in the military time. I'm proud of what I did. That first time, when I got out, I wasn't proud of what I did or what I saw.
Speaker 1:And then you know, rick, just recently you had a serious, serious health issue that I'd like for you to share with us. And you also mentioned that. You know, even now, as we get older, we love God more and more and we anticipate him. We just feel his presence and in our lives more and more and more. But even through our afflictions, even through our infirmities, even through our suffering and our trial, if you have a genuine understanding of how much God loves you, you still rejoice. You know, you still rejoice even in your sorrows, in your afflictions, in your loss. And just recently you nearly lost a leg. You were, they were going to amputate your leg Again.
Speaker 2:Another health issue, man and just all the brothers from church. They, you know they were praying for you, man, not just brothers, but I found out some of the sisters from church too. I'm like what? Yeah, they called me brother rick man, I said, and some came to visit me, I go, but I didn't remember their names at that time, guitar over there, your bedside, everybody's just praying for you.
Speaker 1:That's just the love of god.
Speaker 2:Well, you know it happened on april 4th of 2024. I broke my ankle. Something simple Broke my ankle in three places the tibula fibula and the Achilles, and anyways, I end up in the hospital First week. I get the surgery. They put plates and screws and stuff like that and I get an infection. I come home after 10 days in the hospital. I come home and I had a fever, go back in the hospital and all kinds of. I had like a eight uh, the bandages, the gods and stuff like that. I have a. I didn't know this at that time, but I have a at an eight inch incision on my right side of my ankle and a big uh, it's like a big circle on the inside part of my ankle and then a big slash on my achilles.
Speaker 1:Anyways I remember you had, uh, you showed me the, uh, the screws and the plates yeah, that x-ray thing I was saying yeah, they didn't.
Speaker 2:They have to break it again, or?
Speaker 2:something yeah, yeah, man, and uh. Well, the thing was see, I ended up that first week after the surgery I come home and I end up having a fever. So that means, hey, I got an infection. So I go back to the emergency room and the bandages on my right ankle it was all bloody, it was all purple and black. It was coming out of my covering. They're covering all the gauze and all the age like a cast it had on there. But the infection was coming out of it already. It was protruding. So they took all the bandages off and I showed you, I took a picture of that thing. It looked like a grape jelly. I always call it like grape jelly, like peanut butter and jelly.
Speaker 2:But it was grape jelly, it was black and purple and a little bit of yellow in there. They're ready to chop off your leg 45. They're ready to chop off your leg 45 days. I was waiting at that second hospital.
Speaker 1:What was it called again then?
Speaker 2:Osteomyelitis of the bone, because I'm a diabetic. Sometimes a wound can infect your bone. In fact, you get a bone infection. So I got it, you know. And so I have a walker from the VA. I had that since I had a stroke and they gave me a new one every couple of years. It has a seat on it from the VA. I had that since I had a stroke and they gave me a new one every couple of years. It has a seat on it.
Speaker 2:So, as I'm here at the second hospital, they're going to therapy in my walker and in my wheelchair too, and I have antibiotics. They had antibiotics for 12 to 15 hours a day and that's why I ended up getting a kidney infection too. My kidneys jacked up, but it's a lot better now, man. But anyways, this is a. This was a serious, serious time. I mean, yeah, I mean that infection kept coming out on my eight inch incision. It was ugly, mike, like all that black and grape jelly coming out of my ankle. They're treating my wound every day and they're teaching me at therapy how to walk on one leg, because they're getting ready to amputate my right leg because of osteomyelitis infection.
Speaker 2:So I'm like giving up on hope. I'm like what the heck is going on, man. So there's three doctors that come visit me every so often to check the wound. Two doctors wanted to amputate. One doctor didn't want to amputate. He kept saying wait, let's wait, let's wait. Want to amputate? He kept saying wait, well, let's wait, let's wait. So I say, about the third month I was in the hospital, um, I was waiting to get wheeled to another hospital the next day at this one particular time, um, to get my leg amputated.
Speaker 2:And I'm just fed up and I'm upset, I'm ptsd, everything, man, I'm just like, I just want, want to. You know what, dude, say something to me. I'm going to strangle you and pull your eyes out, like you know, in ranger training, man, they teach you, man, you know military training. Anyways, dude, I'm just giving up on the Lord, bro, I'm giving up, I'm just giving up hope, saying F it man, forget it, man.
Speaker 2:So all of a sudden, man, I get a visit by a brother named john and uh, from church. He comes to visit me and you know, and then, uh, uh, doctor, a doctor comes in. I don't know if I can say his name, brother, dr joey. We called him and he come in and he goes hey, dr joey. He goes, hey, I just want to check out your, your wound, ricardo, and said, okay, yeah, they already came to clean it. He goes yeah, I'm going to come check it. Though I said okay, it was an odd day for him to come, you know, and I thought, well, what the heck? So, anyways, he checks my wound, he goes oh man, okay, this infection is still coming out like running water out of a faucet, man, you know. And he goes okay, so me and John and Dr Joy were talking and stuff like that, and then I never had this done to me before by a medical professional.
Speaker 2:He holds out his hands like this. He goes all right, brothers, are we going to pray? Because Dr Joy knew I was a brother in the Lord, you know, and I had visits. People come play guitar and other brothers come and visit and, you know, pray with me. And then my roommate would say, hey, can you pray for me too? I said, yeah, brother, we'll pray for you.
Speaker 2:You know, I had like three other roommates at the time I was in the hospital for five months. I had three other roommates and they would want prayer too. Man, I were hurting too, bro, they know their sickness or injuries, whatever. And then Dr Joey holds his hands out, mike, and he goes are we going to pray, brother? So, hey, john, can you lead us in prayer? So we prayed together, and then Dr Joey leaves. I go, wow, that's a trip. I've never had a doctor pray with me. I want to pray, you know.
Speaker 2:So, anyways, that evening, mike, and it sort of brought inspiration to me. Prayer, oh man, that was cool. But just prior to that I was like man, I was just upset. They're going to amputate tomorrow, they're going to cut my leg off. I said, well, you know what.
Speaker 2:So then, after Dr Joey leaves, john leaves and I'm sitting there alone in my room and, um, you know how the curtains follow surround your bed right and uh, usually when someone walks by, the curtains move like that, you know. And uh, all of a sudden I see nobody's in the room, just me and my roommate, and he's laid up and my curtains are moved real slowly, like a. It reminded me of a woman's sundress in the summertime, when the wind blows. The dress dances in the wind like a tree branch also that that that blows in the wind, and it moves so gently like it's dancing. You know, that's the way I seen the curtains move. I don't mean in an insulting way of a woman's dress, but I, you know, like I see my sisters and my mom wear sundresses sometimes and they go outside and the wind blows and the dress just moves so gently like this. That's the way my curtains were moving. I say, hey, man, nobody's in here. I didn't think nothing of it, man.
Speaker 1:Was the window open?
Speaker 2:No, no, I'm far away from the window too. I'm on the inside part of the room, my roommate's at the window side.
Speaker 2:Oh, so it was the, the dividing curtains, yeah, the dividing curtains that divides me and my roommate. So I don't think nothing of it, man, but I look back at it now. You know, uh, that that night, that night I I thought about I go, oh is that? But anyways, right after that, the curtains moving so slowly and gently probably lasted about five minutes, man, maybe even a little bit less, I don't know, but I just, I was just amazed on how it was moving, like wow, it intrigued me, wow, why is it moving like that anyways? So maybe it was, I don't know, maybe. Well, this is, this is, this is the thing where it opened up my eye and opened up my heart. And god, wake up, rick, you know, smell the smell, the Holy Spirit, dude. And I felt this breeze. Like you go outside and you feel a breeze come through your body and it hits you real, so gently.
Speaker 2:Well, I felt this thing going like somebody blowing a gentle breeze from my head through my face. I felt that through my face and all the way through my body, from head to toe up to my feet and my ankles. Man, I'm like, oh, what is that? I don't know man. But next thing, I know man, I'm pumped up for the Lord. I'm praying all night long. They're going to amputate. Hey, go for it, man. Amputate my leg. You know what? Because I can still serve God. This is what I was saying. I told Pastor Mark this too. I might've shared this with you too. I said you know what, man, I can serve God. I can serve you with one leg. Let them amputate, I can still serve you with one leg. You know what, lord, I can serve you with no legs. You know, take both my legs. I can still serve you with both legs. If you keep my leg, I can still serve you.
Speaker 2:And I look back and I was thinking about Raider Mike at church. He's in a chair. I don't know how long he's been in a chair, but he's so faithful. He came to church every Sunday. Man, raider Mike and Ray. May he rest in peace.
Speaker 2:And then young Bobby's got a. What do you have MS muscular sclerosis? Young Bobby, he used to come in the chair. He used to push himself and I look back and I go and some of the other people have walkers and canes at church, I'm like, but they're still serving. Well, I'm wimping out man. I was mad at the world. I got to cut my leg. You know what man? Hey, rick, snap out of it. God was telling me, man, I just blew the Holy Spirit on you, man. Then I got fired up with the Lord man. The next day they came after Dr Joey left that night. Then the curtains blew and I felt that filling through my body. It felt like gentle water coming through me, man. It's the only way I can explain it. Explain, it's just like a slow, slow shower or something, just something coming through my body.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like that song um.
Speaker 2:I could feel the brush of angels wings oh, there's those are some lyrics from a song yeah I've actually felt that before I've you know in my lifetime wonderful, wonderful feeling, and then just tears just streaming down exactly, man. I was crying, doing it because the next day, when they came in, mike and I believe, like you said, don't gentle angels, feathers, feathers, brushing up against you and saying hey, hey, my brother, don't worry man we're with you.
Speaker 1:You know, and when that happened to me, I mean it was in my early days as a christ. I was a new believer. There was some funny things going on that I couldn't believe it, things that were missing I found, and just quick solutions to problems that just got taken care of.
Speaker 2:Isn't that something, man?
Speaker 1:That phenomenal experience that I have, you know, a subjective experience. Of course you know it can be questioned a lot, but I believe it was. It was god divine intervention. Brother, yes, it was just an experience from you know the uh, the, you know the eternal dimension, as it were. You know piercing through the darkness. But you know, rick, what you're sharing here is through your affliction.
Speaker 1:As the Bible says, and I believe it's in Romans, chapter five, we rejoice in our suffering, yeah, and we, we, uh. Others say that we rejoice in our tribulation and our trials, and so we wonder how, you know, it's kind of like a contradiction in terms how does anybody rejoice in their suffering? We don't rejoice for it, we rejoice in it. And whether you're a Christian or not, you will experience hardship, suffering, tribulation in this world. Jesus told us that. Yeah, jesus warned us about these things, he told us ahead of time so that we're not surprised when it comes. But he says also be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world. And if you are in christ and you have a good, solid foundation and you're convinced how much God loves you, no matter what, you will be able to get through those tribulations, those sufferings, those hardships, with victory, with joy, with peace, the peace of God, because God is with you through it. You know, and so the bible, that's what he means by suffering. We rejoice in our tribulation because it produces perseverance, which is what you're doing, rick. You're persevering, which is what christians are called to do persevere. And perseverance brings uh, what is it? Character and character. What that means is that you, uh, you're, you're tested, you're a tested person, you're a man of experience, you're a man that has grown in, in, in grace and tribulation, and perseverance and character and hope and hope is what it's all about. We have that Christian hope. Our joy, real Christian joy, is in our hope and hope.
Speaker 1:The Bible says, or God says, does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. So, in our suffering, in our trial, in our tribulation, if you are a Christian, a child of God, you should experience the love of God poured out into your heart by the Holy Spirit, in spite of our troubles, in spite of our troubles, in spite of our hardships, in spite of our suffering. And this proves to you and to the world and to those around you that God loves you and that God is real Because this is supernatural, not natural supernatural Because a natural man does not experience these things. The natural man is ready to throw in the towel, to give up. There's no hope, there's no love, there's no faith, there's no joy. There's nobody around, no other Christians around, to gather around and to pray and to be there with you and to comfort you in our hardship, because we can't do it alone, by the way.
Speaker 1:We need others. We need others in the body of Christ, in the church. That's what the church is for, by the way. The church is where we get together and we practice righteousness, we practice the gifts that God has given us, we practice our faith, we gather to hear his word and to pray with each other and to worship him. That's what the church is for, you know. And so in doing so, when we go out into the world, we are salt and light into a world of darkness. Rick, I know we've kind of gone over the hour, so, oh, sorry, man. No, no, no, we could. We could join again.
Speaker 1:Amen, another time, all right, but, rick, I want to just thank you first of all for your service thank you, brother thank you, brother, and you know, thank you for visiting us here in our humble little studio at house top gospel, and everybody out there. I hope you were blessed and uh, until we meet again. God bless you in christ and thank you for dropping in. God bless you, thank you.
