Hi! - Hey there!
Welcome. - Thank you.
Hi my name is Cheri Peters,
Thank you for joining us on Teen Pathways.
Today we are going to talk about the fact that
God is crazy about you.
And I love that, I love to think about all the things that
God has done to show me that He is crazy about me.
But more importantly when I watch it happen all around me
I have a ministry now called True Step Ministries
and there are times when I go out to different places
and do the youth rallies.
I went to Alaska one time and when I went to Alaska
I flew to four different places, little tiny villages,
and I was talking to youth from all over the place,
but one of the places we went to we had to get into a Jeep
we had to drive in the interior of Alaska, which
we had to drive 2.5 hours, we were in the middle of nowhere.
We had to get out of the truck, get in a little boat,
take a little boat across the river
and when we got across the river there was a small village,
a small native village and there was a little girl named Laura
in the village and she had been abandoned by her parents
who are alcoholics and she was given to her grandparents
who then had Alzheimer's disease and went into the hospital
and so Laura ends up going from place to place
and because she's an Eskimo there's federal laws that protect
the village but also do a little bit of harm to the children
that are abandoned because nobody can take them out
and care for them cause they have to stay within the village.
And So I was looking at this little girl who looked about nine
she was so tiny and she was so abused and so abandoned
and I felt so sad for her that I hung out with her and we talked
and encouraged each other
and I took her with me everywhere I went on that trip
and what I heard from God in my prayer one night
when I was so sad that she had to live the way she lived
God told me that the reason I brought you to Alaska
is to give her some courage and some encouragement.
And I said, NO!
So we have a God that says, "You know what,
there's a little girl in Alaska in a small village that nobody
is going to walk past and I need to get you over there
and I'll do anything I can to get you over there".
And so we are going to talk about that God,
the God that says, "I don't care where you are, if you need help
and you ask Me, I will bring someone to you,
I'll bring a situation to you and I will make sure
your needs are met and your pain is comforted.
And so that's the God we're going to talk about.
Before we get into the conversation though
I want to introduce you to the folks that are here today
and are here from all over the country.
Can we start here with you?
My name is Cari Chenoweth and I'm from Medford, Oregon
and I know that God is crazy about me.
- Good, good!
My name is Gavin Sailsbery and I'm from Yakima, Washington
and I agree with you a lot, absolutely.
My name is Cherry Malott and I am from McMinnville, Oregon
and I agree with both of you.
I'm Lyle Alley and I'm from Weezer, Idaho
and I agree with everyone.
My name is Jason Henry and I'm from Sweet Home
and I'm glad to be in such an agreeable bunch.
I'm Patrick Earl and I come from Salmon, Idaho and I'm glad
to be with people that do do this and do agree with each other.
- You guys are so funny, you are funny.
So I know one story that I just love, is your story
in particular Lyle, how we met and how you got here
and in that story, I think is really clearly stated how much
God is crazy about you.
So can you say a little bit about how you got here?
Well, let's start out, I have watched the shows for awhile.
We've taped them and we had just got done moving
and we were staying with some friends
and I was interested in coming and
they were calling and I'd say that I was interested
and so you knew about it and
the next day we got home really late
our friend says, "Cheri called wanting to know,
do you want to come?" I said, "Sure!"
And it was just amazing how quick it worked out.
The part that I think is funny, on my end
is that I get a call from a woman named Sharon
that knows Lyle, that knows you and says, "You know I have this
guy that is incredible. He's a neat guy".
She told me about some mission trips you've been on and
some of the stories about that and what you could share
and that he really wants to be involved with you guys
and your ministry and I was thinking, oh, you know,
right in the middle of going back to 3ABN and doing another
season of Teen Pathways and we're going to do all this stuff
but everybody is already booked and we have all the plane tickets
and there's no way to get you on and I told her, I said,
"I'm sorry we can't do anything until maybe next season
or when we get back. I'll call him".
And after I hung up the phone with Sharon, within a few hours
somebody called and canceled and we had their plane ticket
in my hand and I said, "Oh no, what am I going to do with this
plane ticket?" and God said, "Well you're going to call Lyle".
And is was so funny to me and you weren't home
and I called Sharon, I said, "Can Lyle come tomorrow morning
can he be at the airport at seven o'clock?"
And she started laughing, she said "seven o'clock
in the morning? He's not even home yet. He would have to pack".
And I said, "Just call me back if he can because we would love
have him". And then you were at the airport
when I showed up the next morning.
See I didn't know about it until about 9:30 that night.
It was awesome! - That is funny!
And I think God is funny in that way.
- He loves to surprise us. - Exactly.
Keep us on our toes. - He loves us to be happy.
- God's really surprised me once when I was in a situation
where I didn't feel like I had any friends
at school or at church, because there was no one my age
and I prayed about it and within a week
I became friends with some really good neat people
at school and at church and so He showed me that
instead of just giving me one friend
He gave me a lot of friends.
I was just going to say that I can totally relate to that.
This last Christmas vacation in December of 97
I went to visit my dad in Florida
and I'd been there several times before, but
I'd never made contact with anybody really.
I'd visited different churches and just felt isolated.
I would've been staying at my dad's for 31/2 weeks
this vacation and I thought,
I don't know if I can endure this,
I had all ready been their a week and nothing had happened.
Lord, I really need somebody that I can pal around with
I don't care if it's a guy or girl,
I just need somebody that I can be friends with
and it turns out I went to church one week and there was
this kid there that I'd remember seeing before but never
made contact with him
and I asked if I could share a song with him
and he says, sure, so we went outside, it was nice weather,
I played him a couple songs and we ended up agreeing that
we should get together and play and what really started out as
just a musical related venture
turned into a really good friendship.
You know how you meet somebody that's kind of a kindred spirit,
and you feel like you can communicate more than just words
it's like a heart to heart kind of thing,
that's how it was and I really still feel bonded to that guy,
he's just a really good buddy pal and I know that God
did that for me because it happened right after I prayed
and just really cried to God.
- Like me, I shouldn't even be here.
I had planned to come and do this with everybody and meet everybody
and build my spiritual relationship with God
with all you guys, but I just couldn't.
The phone got disconnected, and one thing after another.
For a long time, I thought, I got to work this out
and finally after a week... - I have to interrupt though,
cause I was trying to get you a plane ticket and I called
and they said, oh the phone is disconnected
and I said no I have to get the information about the plane
and I have to get sent to him and I don't know if he's going
or where to go and all that kind of stuff
and so, that was a big deal. - And finally,
we couldn't get a hold of each other me and Cheri
so I finally just said, you know what
God, it's in your hands.
You'll let me go if I'm supposed to
and then the next day my ticket showed up.
And then the day after that I got a ride to Spokane so that
I could catch the plane and everything worked out perfectly
it just fit together just excellent.
It was such a blessing.
He's really crazy about me I know that.
I had something like that happened to me.
I was trying to get into a place called Project Patch.
I thought it was a really cool place and I needed to go there
to take care of some problems I had in my life and so,
there were about 700 kids or so trying to get into this place
and we went down and visited and I said, cool,
I want to go here and I was sitting at the dinner table once
with my parents and they said, we have a surprise for you.
Well what is it, is it something cool?
And they said, yah, you've been accepted into Project Patch.
I said, whoa, God really must love me to send me their.
- 700 applicants and how many could they accept?
I don't know maybe 19.
I just wanted to share a verse
that has always been really special to me.
Its Jeremiah 29:11. It's God saying,
I want you to know what I really think of you,
because it seems like you get confused every once in a while.
Jeremiah 29:11, it says, "for I know the thoughts that
I think towards you, says the Lord,
thoughts of peace and not of evil
to give you hope in your latter end".
It just goes on and He just talks about how,
I really like you, not only do I love you, but I like you
your cool I really enjoy your company and I want you to know
the thoughts that I think about you.
Actually David says in one spot, he said, I can't even count
Your thoughts towards me they're more than the sand of the sea.
So, even David knew that God actually was thinking about him.
David had that understanding. - You'll be enlightened too,
knowing that something that awesome and that wonderful
and that powerful has feelings for us, affection, kindness
and cares for our well-being and our happiness and wants the best
for us more than we want for ourselves
and that kind of power watching over us
helps me sleep better at night.
I rest assured that He will watch for me
and I have a verse in the Bible it's in 1 John 4:8, it says,
"He that loves not, knows not God, for God is love".
That really struck me when I first read it,
because love, everybody that I know who has loved
can't describe it, it's just this indescribable feeling,
so is God, I can't describe what it feels like when you know that
God is out there watching over me and I know He's there, because
too many things have happened for it to be coincidence.
It's just such a blessing. Praise God.
I have to tell you a story.
My husband was a brand-new Christian,
this is before he was a Christian actually.
He was raised in a Christian home but totally walked away from that
and so he saw all these miracles happening with me and he knows
that I love God and God is the most important thing in my life
and he started to really want that kind of relationship.
He said, God is very real it seems like to you.
He really wanted that.
I said, every day do one thing you don't have to pray
you don't have to do anything, but do one thing
and every day get up and ask God to just show you
how real He is and in a real personal way.
So Brad started that prayer and he's a golfer.
So one day he is out playing golf and he hits the ball
and he hits it further than anybody I know
even pro golfers, I mean, he hits it far.
But when he hits it in the wrong direction it's really awful
when you hit it that far.
So he hits it way off in the wrong direction
and it's out in this wooded area and so he says, alright
and he starts praying he says, Lord if you love me
help me to find my golf ball.
And he looks down and the ball is by his foot
and he came homelike little 11-year-old and he just said
Cheri, God loves me you wouldn't believe what He did today
He helped me find my golf ball.
And I said, If that's all He has to do for you, you are easy.
You are going to be an easy one.
But I think it's that kind of thing, God is so funny and that
it's not always in our tragedies
it's not always in great big things, that sometimes
He'll just find your golf ball.
And something silly and you'll know that He did it for you
I mean, you just know that.
- And you know that there's someone out there that loves you
and is so crazy about you that they actually died on a cross
you couldn't even tell that was a person
and they died for you and me and that's so awesome to know that.
It's just cool!
- You know one picture that I have in my mind of
of someone who knew that God was crazy about him
was Peter, because if you remember the story
of when Jesus was resurrected
and the disciples didn't really know it yet,
I don't really remember how it happened,
but they were out fishing and there was this stranger
on the beach, remember, and somebody realized it was Jesus
and as soon as Peter looked and saw that it was Jesus
he tore off his upper garments and just dove into the water
who knows how far away from the shore he was, but he just
tore into that water and just went for it.
I mean he was so excited to see Jesus and undoubtedly he
as soon as he got to land he probably ran and hugged Him.
And here is Jesus God in the flesh and what is he doing?
He's cooking breakfast for his disciples.
I just can't imagine that.
God loved them so much and He was just so crazy about them
and wanted to provide for their needs and wants and everything
that He cooked them breakfast.
- And there's someone up there that is always providing needs.
You could have something going in something messes up
and there's no way you can get to this thing that you need
or you got to get to school or something like that
and there's no one to take you or something like that
and then somehow something just comes up and it's God
He's just like, I'll put this person here at the right time
so he can get their, you know, it's like, alright!
- And I think it's so awesome that He encourages us
and loves us to talk to Him and to pray to Him
He says, "Rest your burden upon my shoulders".
Rest, rest yourself.
He talks about taking our burdens off of us and
that's just amazing you don't know many people
who live with you every single day who are willing to do that
and something that awesome, that powerful
cares for each individual like that, what an awesome being.
Two Step is a new ministry so we have very little funds
and so on the way here we had to raise money for everybody to fly
from different states and I knew how much money was going
to be left in the bank, so I prayed Lord stretch that money
so that I could feed everybody.
I mean, their parents really want them to eat.
So we got off the plane and from the time we got off the plane
till now, we have so much food that we are going to leave here
with a refrigerator that was empty when we got here
totally packed, do you realize that?
That we have above and beyond what we need and good stuff
people have made homemade soups and sandwiches and they've baked
fresh bread and so to me, I even smile and I think
we wanted junk food too and God didn't provide that.
Most people wanted junk food but we have incredibly healthy food
everywhere, everywhere!
God provides, I mean, when you need something
He's always there for you.
It's like this one time, a few years ago, me and my sister
we had these two rats and this is kind of a silly story
but we believe that God would answer our prayers
because we took them outside and were playing with them
in a shoebox and
we were playing with them and we went in the house
to get something, we forgot about them
and later on we remembered them, and we said, oh no!
I hope they're still there cause we cut holes in the little box.
We went running out there and one of them was in the box
but the other one was gone and Heidi and me felt really bad
because we loved our rats, it sounds kind of silly
but we loved them just cause they were special to us.
We prayed about it and we looked and looked and couldn't find them
and then the next day it was prayer meeting night
so we went to prayer meeting and we ask them to pray for our rat
that we would find her and we came home and we were
walking along the house and here she was sitting on the top step
with all these dogs and cats and there were owls around
and the cats and dogs were around right there
and this is a white rat and she's just sitting there
waiting for us on the rock step in front of the door.
It's just cool to know that God will answer even little prayers
if we believe. - Exactly, exactly.
To me it makes me proud of my Father.
When I think of God I think I'm so proud of you
that nothing is too small that I can't say, you know what
I know this is silly but please help me find my rat.
- It's amazing because the creator of the universe,
breather of life, creator of all of us,
can find something like a lost pet, especially one that small
you figure, how does He find time but that's not even an option,
that's putting a limit on His power.
- It says that He notices when a sparrow falls.
That's amazing and I think sometimes our greatest challenge
I know our greatest challenge is just to believe that.
Like at Christmas time at your birthday or whatever
when somebody might give you this awesome gift
or do something for you and it's just so hard to accept that
it's even harder to accept that the God of the universe,
this all-powerful being would stoop down and just
come into your life like that in those very practical,
real-life everyday ways, but He does.
- And Jason, I love what you said,
"And He likes me". - Yah!
It's like, for some reason "love" we've thrown
the word around so much that it's really tough
to put any value in it, but everybody's afraid
that they're not liked, I'm not likable and
God likes who we are. - He likes us, that's right.
We're special to God.
You think other people don't like me and I'm just an outcast
but then you look up to God and He says, you're mine,
don't say that, I like you.
It's like, okay! I won't do it again.
- Actually, I had a dream one time that I was
a prisoner in bondage and there was a whole bunch of people and
they were really abusing everybody else.
We were in a prison or jail.
It was really frightening and I saw a whole bunch of people
they were setting up chairs and the rest of them were prisoners
and they had all sorts of weapons
and somebody looks at me and says,
so what's a nice boy like you doing in here.
And all people that ran the prison came in and started
beating everybody, but the leader says,
don't touch this one, he's different.
They put me up and I climbed to the top of the stairway
and all these thousands of beams of light started coming out of me
everybody just stopped and looked at me
and I felt from my dream that God blessed me and protected me
and people could tell, they said, don't touch this one,
he's different.
He watched out for me even when it didn't matter, in my dreams.
- Like Joseph in prison. Yah, exactly,
it was just amazing! - Just from what you just said
Gavin, it makes me think of the thing in the Bible
where it talks about, that we are the light of the world.
When I get it,
when I get the fact that God is so crazy about me
then I become the light that dispels darkness for someone else
that gives hope for someone else.
What you think of that? I loved that.
- Well, that's definitely true. I mean...
If I finally wake up one day or I'm reading the Bible
and I finally understand that God really values me and
likes me like we said, then
if I'm doing something and I come across someone else's path
if Cherry and I were talking and she was down one day
and I was all psyched out about that God really likes me,
I finally am starting to understand that
and I see that Cherry maybe doesn't understand that today
then God would use me to say, hey I just want to tell you something
God really likes you.
In fact, He likes you so much that He doesn't want to just
provide for your needs He wants to provide for your wants too.
He wants to fulfill your life.
He wants you to enjoy serving Him.
So we become the light of the world.
God gives us this little blessing/present and
we can look at, we get joy,
and we can pass it on to someone else.
- It started with one person, and it just snowball effect
until we have all these people who love God,
and they want to share it with others.
It's really touching to know that
God is so influential and works such wonders
and cares so much for us that He can convert so many humans,
so many people into loving Him,
and dedicating their lives to Him, like the people at 3ABN,
they're wonderful people.
And it's just so amazing, they're just so full of love.
Reversing back to what I was saying,
the reason why people have a hard time
believing that God is crazy about them, is because a lot of times
they don't have that many people in their lives
that are crazy about them, that really like them.
I could come up to somebody and say that, God really loves you,
and they're going to say, that sounds really nice,
but until I show them that I'm crazy about them
and that's really where God has to change my heart
is I have to actually come to the point
where I can truly love someone, somebody that's maybe not
very lovable to me, but then when I can show them that,
that I like them, that I care about them, then they can say,
if he can like me then I know that there must be a God,
because this is the first time that's ever happened.
- That's why I dream of being a light for everybody.
I want Him to use me like that.
I want God to take my life and mold it with His hands
to do His will. - Can we do a praise song?
Can we do a song?
Cherry would you do special music with Jason?
- Yah, we have a song that we've been working on.
What is it called?
Battle Belongs to The Lord
This thing of accepting God's grace and His love
is kind of a battle sometimes, but even in that battle
He's already taken it upon Himself to prove it to us
and He just goes out of His way.
So that's kind of what this song is about.
And some of you, I know, know this song.
So you can just sing with us.
In the heavenly harbor we'll enter the land,
the battle belongs to the Lord.
No weapon that's fashioned against us will stand,
the battle belongs to the Lord.
And we sing glory, honor,
power and strength to the Lord,
we sing glory, honor,
power and strength to the Lord,
When the powers of darkness comes in like a flood,
the battle belongs to the Lord.
He's raised up a standard the power of His blood,
the battle belongs to the Lord.
And we sing glory, honor,
power and strength to the Lord,
we sing glory, honor,
power and strength to the Lord,
power and strength to the Lord.
I think that that amazes me too, is that sometimes
I think the battle is mine and I get overwhelmed,
and I think, I just can't do it all and I can't...
It's like I don't know what to do anymore and I can't do that.
And finally, I feel like God says to me, you know what Cheri,
I am so crazy about you, that I won the battle at the cross,
and that's what you were saying earlier, Patrick,
is I won the battle of the cross when I died for you
and every single battle from that point on is Mine.
Your job is just to be able to walk out in that light.
- Can I just read this verse? To me, this verse has
been so profound to me.
You think about Jesus dying on the cross and the nails
that went into his hands and when I read this
it kind of reminds me of that.
It's Isaiah 49:14, it says,
"But Zion," us, Zion is God's people,
"has said, the Lord has forsaken me,
and my Lord has forgotten me".
Don't we feel like that sometimes?
God has just forgotten about me, He doesn't like me.
and then this is what He says,
"Behold, I have graven you, upon the palms of my hands,
I cannot forget you; your walls are continually before me".
So, it's like...
I don't know if we really are engraved and on His hands,
but in a way we are, He can't forget us.
- That is a perfect way to end the show.
I love the fact that God has engraved us on His hands.
Now our only response to that
is to turn around and let someone else know that.
And remember, in church somebody asked me one time,
how do I share with somebody God's love?
And I prayed about it and God said,
how you share that is first learn to love people in your family.
When you can love people in your family,
people that sit next to you at your church,
then you don't have to learn to love them,
you will just do it naturally and I will send people that
need that to you every single day.
So remember, learn to love, and if you don't know how
ask God because He is standing by waiting to show you.
And remember, He's crazy about us!
Thank you for joining us on Teen Pathways.
My name is Cheri Peters and we will see you next time.