This new podcast and ministry are all about The Story of the Bible while integrating the stories of those who have been impacted by it. In this first episode, I will begin to share my own story and we will also start our study in the Bible book of Revelation beginning at chapter 12.
Please go to this episode's page for helpful links and other insights in the blog.
This new podcast and ministry are all about The Story of the Bible while integrating the stories of those who have been impacted by it. In this first episode, I will begin to share my own story and we will also start our study in the Bible book of Revelation beginning at chapter 12.
Please go to this episode's page for helpful links and other insights in the blog.
Hello and welcome to the story is ending podcast. What an interesting name you ask, why is it called the story is ending? Well, I will answer that question in due time by telling a story actually. And we'll get to it here in this first introductory episode. Well, my name is Mike. Mike Hansen. I live in Parker, Colorado. I love podcasting.
Unknown Speaker :I love
Unknown Speaker :using my voice. I love telling stories. I think it's so important for us to keep up story and keep up telling stories and there are very important reasons why I want to keep that in mind. So let me start by just telling you Hi, my name is Mike, I live in Parker, Colorado. I am a former hospital chaplain of many years before that I worked as a pastor for a couple of years, as well. And I have a strong passion for getting the word out about the gospel. And this is going to be a gospel based, biblical based podcast. That is going to narrow my audience quite a bit but at the same time, the way that I'm going to present things I think are going to be important for people to hear and understand, to take in because most of us, many of us know how important story is. Part of my story includes I've been married for nearly 25 years now. I have two grown children love them very, very much. In fact, there are about 10 feet on the other side of the wall for me here. This is an important season in my life for reasons I will also talk about here in the near future as well as I'd share, share my story. So why did I name this podcast, the story is ending. I call it that because I, for many years when I worked as a chaplain at my hospital, I would introduce my department. And for the last, say, 15. So about the last five years or so, I would introduce the concept of
Unknown Speaker :story. And
Unknown Speaker :I worked in a place where it was a faith based system, faith based hospital and I would have to share and I would explain, you know, why is this important to us? Why is our faith important to us? And why is faith an important part of this system that we're in? And so I would tell people that the story actually had a beginning. And you know what the story is going to have an ending. Every story indeed has an ending, doesn't it? If you didn't have a story that ended it would end up being quite boring to consume if nothing happened in the story about There weren't any changes in the story. Well, then, yeah, you wouldn't want to continue with that
Unknown Speaker :with that story.
Unknown Speaker :And so what I say and what I believe is that the Bible, there's a big backdrop happening, that there's a story that has happened before we ever got here. There's a story that will continue long after we're gone. If time continues, and it will come to an end, there will be an ending to the current story, as we know it. There's a lot going on in the background. And a lot happened before we ever got here as a people, as a church, and before Jesus ever came onto this planet, as well. So that's the reason why I call it the story is ending because I truly believe the story is coming to an end. I also believe though, the story coming to an end is not a bad thing. The story coming to an end is a very, very good thing. And it's important to get that we and I want you to be part of the story that is coming to an end. I don't want you to be outside of that story. Everybody isn't in the story. But I want you to be in the story that actually can tissues after the end of this one. That's the part that I'm doing. The reason why I'm doing this podcast, there is a bigger, larger, eternal story that is happening that will continue to happen once this story, this short story of sin, if you will, is completed. That's the power. And that's the reason why I believe this story is ending. The real story is about to begin, and then we'll be able to see what true life is like. I'll share an illustration that I think helps better understand this, at least for me, I'm not the smartest guy in the room. But I want to make sure that everybody gets that. I'm not the smartest guy. I'm going to try to use illustrations that help that helped me. Hopefully they help someone else. From my earliest age, as long as I can remember. Part of my story is I grew up in Maine. My home is the Northeast, until I left home at 18 to go into the Air Force. I lived in Maine I always knew four seasons, usually though very long winters in every year and never failed, I suppose I don't, didn't appreciate it until looking back, but it almost never failed that. I loved spring. And looking back knowing how important spring was because winter was ending these days, these last number of years for my life, I have loved spring that much more only for a short period of time I've ever lived where spring wasn't long, or it moved into a really hot summer. And so I've always enjoyed When spring comes along. In here in Colorado, so I've been here for since 2003, so I'm not on my feet here doing the math. So this year, it'll be 18 years, I believe. We're 19 years I can't remember now. Somebody helped me 2003 and now this year is 2020. So that's uh, 18 years. 2017 years. Anyway, I will have spent these many springs many seasons here in Colorado and never fails every year that I have enjoyed spring so so very much one of the things I wanted to be when I was growing up was a weatherman, a meteorologist. And unfortunately, I ran into physics and calculus, having been told before that, that I actually never even ran into calculus. I ran into physics, physics ran over me. But I never became a weatherman. But to this day, I still love the weather. I still love seeing when it transitions from snow to rain to thunderstorms. Oh, I just love that so much. That means it's getting warmer. That means the days are getting longer and the sun has more power, especially here in Colorado. And one thing I've kind of gotten and I just it just hit me this year. So what's happening right now is, as I record this, the COVID 19 Coronavirus epidemic pandemic is happening. We are doing our best as a as humanity to try to flatten the curve, as you've probably heard heard said and we're trying to mitigate the spread of this virus.
Unknown Speaker :And yet,
Unknown Speaker :we can only do so much right? We only have so much in our power that we actually can do. But you know what's happening, the grass is still turning green around here, I have a tree right outside my door here that's starting to get its buds. In other words,
Unknown Speaker :Spring is coming. We cannot stop spring
Unknown Speaker :from coming. It is impossible to stop the seasons from changing. The illustration moves into. We can't stop the story from finishing. This story is going to come to an end. There are so many indications that it is coming to an end. There are so many reasons to say that this planet in humanity cannot go on the way it is. Just the response from what has happened to this virus shows how fearful we have become when something unknown shows up. In our world. We don't see this virus we see the effects of it and people die from it. Obviously there are other people that die from other viruses and other illnesses and disease processes a lot more every year, there really is nothing we can do about the death process. There's nothing we can do about dying, we all will die one day and our stories will come to an end, all of our stories will stop, the story is going to come to an end in the history of this planet will be coming to a combination, at the very end of time. That's what I believe. And that's why I believe it is so important. It's just nothing we can do about it. The only thing we can do is decide where we're going to be in the story. That's the important part that I want us to get and what I want us to remember your story fit into the larger story is how I believe you can find your peace, your happiness, your joy, your purpose, and your mission for this life before the story comes to an end. Okay, hope you don't mind I'm going to continue with this powerful to me powerful illustration about spring, just so you can feel this as well. I want to
Unknown Speaker :Be clear that I want to share deep
Unknown Speaker :passions and joys and feelings on this as well. And so this is one way I've been able to do this. So, this last week here in Colorado, I'm going to continue with the weather in the spring thing because everybody can relate. everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. To quote Mark Twain.
Unknown Speaker :You know,
Unknown Speaker :we're so blessed to have the meteorology and the technology that shows how far out our weather can go so I've got this app Of course everybody most people do that you can see what's coming before these couple of big storms came and we had a low temperature the other day of in the single digits I think are like 13 degrees here and in April and that just sucks I hate cold never have like cold. And when I saw though, before these, these couple of storms came the forecast coming up where we had a temperature high temperature near 70 degrees. I felt such powerful joy. It was just like oh, I'm so excited. Spring is coming spring is here and that's what happens here in Colorado this time of year we have this big fight between winter and summer it seems like but what I love what I always love, is that summer wins. I guess I could say the best reason why I like spring is because it what it follows. I love what follows after spring and that is summer. I so love being outside in the warm sunshine and enjoying feeling it just bathing me with its warmth. And
Unknown Speaker :I can't tell you enough how much I love being around.
Unknown Speaker :Outside, especially on warm days I do hiking here in Colorado, I've hiked a number of 14 years. And when I'm up there on those mountains and feel that sunshine on my face. It's not overly hot, usually not here in Colorado. And it just it feels so good to be out there. And I'm just thinking ahead to this time and this is sort of a preview of what I'll be doing in the near future. With this as I'm talking about the power of the promise that Jesus is returning soon at This story is coming to an end, in that real living will happen, that there will be true relationship with our human human brothers and sisters, and the rest of creation in the near future. I am so excited about that. And it will be such a powerful moment when it does come in, I have gained some experience in
Unknown Speaker :feeling that in a deep, deep way,
Unknown Speaker :as I have grown through these last number of years as things have happened to me as part of my story, and just feeling the power and the palpable joy of that time that is coming. That to me is what fuels the reason why this is so important and so powerful for me. So let me get to why and where this this comes from. The Bible is the foundation to where the story had its origins. And Jesus is of course the central figure in all of the Bible. His story in the story brings the story meaning His story in the story brings our story
Unknown Speaker :meaning,
Unknown Speaker :there's something he said right at the end of his time here on Earth, that fuels a lot of what I'm about. And I know what so many other people are about. And a part of my story includes coming full circle back to doing this and why this podcast came into existence in the first place. I believe God has called me into doing this right now, in my story includes doing this, for however long God has sees fit for me. It started though, with a closer look at if you have your Bibles, and we're going to tell you of course, this is going to be a lot of Bible study. And one of the things that I have found is important when it comes to Bible study is to take a look at your Bible. Look at the version that you're studying, but also look at different versions. Most of us don't have access to the original languages of the Bible in the New Testament is Greek. And I didn't study Greek. I was forced enough to be able to study Greek tell you what it was not easy, but it was worth it. And but if you don't have access to the original languages I did. This was 20 something years ago now. And they I don't remember a lot of it, but there's some connections I can help with and I will work on. But I want you to open your Bibles to start with and go to the Gospel of Matthew, there are four gospels, and I would I don't want to assume everybody who's hearing this podcast knows your Bible, so I'm not going to dumb it down or anything. But the second half second, roughly a third of the Bible is the New Testament. And the first four books of the New Testament are the story of Jesus, spoken and written and I should say, in four different ways, a lot of similarities between Matthew, Mark and Luke. And then john has a different approach all together. They're all kinds of reasons for that, but I'm not positive I'll get to but they're fascinating, wonderful reasons for that anyway, towards the end of Jesus Time on earth, He said something.
Unknown Speaker :He said something that still speaks to me. And this is the part that I would like us to take a look at. And that is if you go to Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew s, that's the first of those Gospels. Go to the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 24. Chapter 24 is a lot of prophecy about what's gonna be happening at the end of time. But Jesus was very clear that there is going to be no time stamp on his second coming, he is not coming at us. He is coming at a certain date and time, but we don't know it. And he said clearly that nobody knows the day or the hour. This one particular verse, however, has a powerful stamp to it that says this. Now go to Matthew 24 and verse 14. And Matthew 24, verse 14, if you need to pause it, go ahead and whatever. And I'm going to read from the first translation I'm going to read from is the English Standard Version. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. So again, one of the principles to Bible study is to use many different versions, we are so blessed in English to be able to read so many different translations and versions of the Bible. And I highly encourage you to read verses that you like read sections that you like in many different translations, you might have a favorite. My favorite that I use right now for my study is the English Standard Version. It's a good translation. My first Bible was a New International Version, which is a great modern translation for people. And for a number of years. I use the New American Standard Bible, which is also a great, more literal translation. I can talk about the different versions of it. But anyway, this version that I found, if you have the youversion app, you have access to dozens, literally dozens have different English translations. And I found this verse not too long ago and I decided to highlight all the different English versions that I could find. And this is the easy English version, I believe is what it's called. And this one says, people will tell the good news about God's kingdom to people all over the world. People in every country will hear the true message from God, then God will cause the world to come to an end. I love the way it says, this translation at the end of the verse, then God will cause the world to come to an end, God will cause this. It is again going back to this story is coming to an end this story. We cannot change its outcome. It's happening. Jesus is going to take us off this planet if you're on his side and the winning side of the story now. Now let's start right in if you're interested in Bible study, here's another principle. first principle of Bible study. use multiple translations of a verse that you like that you want to study and talk about. Another one is to let the Bible interpret itself. That is probably really high on the list. That's probably the most important. The Bible is its own best interpreter. And so one of the ways you do this is you find words that are used out place, out place, in other places in the Bible. And so what I found also in theirs, I believe is there's no coincidences, there are no coincidences. Here's something interesting I found out and learned about this past year. There's no
Unknown Speaker :Hebrew word
Unknown Speaker :for the word coincidence. We cannot believe that God, if it's not this guy's point in his book is that there's no set if there's no Hebrew word, there's no such thing. And so, all of the if not many of the writers in the New Testament, of course, the story of Jesus all took place in a Hebrew culture. They spoke Hebrew they spoke Aramaic, which is a closely related language. There's no such word as coincidence, and I don't believe God I believe God had in his plan for me to be able to catch this. And so the word that I'm catching I'm narrowing in on here is the word testimony. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations. That is a specific word that we have heard in English that has the roots for the word martyr. It's Mark Torrijos. So this word testimony also falls and happens that same Greek word materials. Now take your Bible and go to the end of the New Testament. This is really easy to get to Revelation chapter 12, verse 11, so Revelation chapter 12, verse 11, is where we're going to read here. And this is where our the foundation to this podcast is found as well for me to be able to do this work that I'm called into right now. So Revelation, chapter 12, verse
Unknown Speaker :11.
Unknown Speaker :And they have overcome I'm sorry, have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb. And by the way, word of their testimony. For they love not their lives even unto death. I'll read that again.
Unknown Speaker :And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb,
Unknown Speaker :and by the word of their testimony for the love, not their lives, even unto death. You heard it right. You heard that word testimony in their same exact Greek word. They overcame by the word, they conquered him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives, even to death. There's different versions of this, of course, again, encourage you to use different translations of the Bible, to be able to get what this means to you and help it see a deeper meaning.
Unknown Speaker :That word testimony though,
Unknown Speaker :how did these people how did they conquer by the word of their testimony? What's another word for testimony? By the way,
Unknown Speaker :let me spend a minute with you on this.
Unknown Speaker :Because I believe this is so important for us to get so I don't want to bore you with this, but at the same time, I just think it's important for us To get this a testimony is to bear witness. When we're bearing witness to something or someone in especially in this case in Revelation 1211, we're bearing witness to Jesus by the blood of the Lamb, there's so much there. But I want to talk about the power of bearing witness to the story of what Jesus has done for our
Unknown Speaker :lives. The format that
Unknown Speaker :I'm going to do, and work on with this podcast is mostly going to be I'm going to be telling some of my story as part of the story, and I'm going to help expand on the story and teach on the story. That's the format. And eventually after I'm worked through some of my story are part of my story. I guess I want to include your story. And I want to be able to have your story included in this. So I'm going to put in this podcast over and over again a request, as I have every page posted with every episode at the bottom of the page, I'm going to encourage people to answer a couple of questions. I'll get to those questions here shortly. But it's important that we remember our story. As it is integrated into the story becomes a better story, there's a better outcome. Instead of being a hopeless story with no positive outcome that happens, our story can be changed, transformed, healed, and given positive purpose and direction with a mission. That is what I believe God has done for me. And that is why I believe God can do for you or probably already has done. And that's the part that I want us to share. And what I would like for us to be able to get to
Unknown Speaker :as this podcast moves on.
Unknown Speaker :So again, I'm just going to include these three questions here. I'm going to put them on every page. So as you're listening to this, you will see it at the bottom of the page or near the page or in the page somewhere. And I will keep this up. I want to be able to get your story included. I'll be answering these questions for myself, but there are at least two questions that maybe three I'll probably include all three. How does Your story fit into and integrate into the story. Whenever I say the story, I'm always talking about this big giant Bible story that's happening the story that's happened since before we got here. And then we'll continue after we're gone. So that's the first question How does your story fit into and integrate into the story? Second question is, what part of your story do you believe can help others in our audience with their story? And that's where mine is coming from. I believe there's so much that's happened to me that I believe can help other people. And I believe everybody else has power to be able to help someone else from their story. That's why I believe story is so powerful and so important. And then third question that may or may not always include, but how is your story been healed? And as it's been integrated into the story, let's talk about some of
Unknown Speaker :that.
Unknown Speaker :So I my background, of course, has been as a hospital chaplain, I've spent a lot of time listening to people. And lately I've been certified and I'm getting more experienced in doing life coach work, and maybe we can do some of that. can ask some questions about the story and how it's been integrated in how has your story been been healed. I do believe very strongly that someone stories, someone, the healing of anyone's story can happen as it gets integrated into the story. It doesn't mean our stories are all perfect. It just means that our stories have changed trajectory, and our stories are going to have a better ending when we integrate our story into the story. So let me at least start with part of my story when I was six years old, I still remember walking into the movie theater for this could have been one of my first movies I ever watched, in fact, as a kid, but I remember walking into the movie theater and watching the original Star Wars. That was my introduction to an epic story. I probably Of course, had many stories read to me by my mom or teachers back in the day and when I was a kid, but that was the story that has carried through for, you know, ever since I was a kid. There are so many of us 70s and 80s kids that grew up with Star Wars. And that was our introduction. To the power of the structure of story, I believe so strongly in the structure of story carries over in transcends cultures
Unknown Speaker :history.
Unknown Speaker :It does not matter to me ethnic backgrounds
Unknown Speaker :religious background, it
Unknown Speaker :does not matter where someone is from I believe every last one of us believe in live in the power of story and a good story grabs us, you know, you you start that epic story I started that epic storytelling through the movie of Star Wars. And I probably didn't catch this as we watched you know, that opening scroll that this is not the first episode but Episode Four, and not for another, you know, 20 plus years did we get the rest of that as things panned out in the 90s? And it wasn't until many many years later that I understood the power and why story grabbing grabs people. What is the reason why a powerful story gets Attention. If a story is done, well, usually there's a formula. And if if the story kind of sticks to this formula, then they will capture our attention in there's so many reasons why this formula works. And I believe the biggest reason is because it has been happening to this planet. And it's been happening to our lives. And it's an unfolding behind the scenes, and it's where we have come from. It is the origins of our humanity. And so, let me at least share with you where I found this structure. I mean, I found it through a blog post years ago, a guy named Donald Miller you probably remain not have heard of a guy named Donald Miller. I read this blog post and it really just kind of caught my attention. He had a couple of things go on in his world. And he talked about living a better story and he had a storyline conference that he did that I never really attended that I wished I did, I suppose back in the day, what do you eventually ended up doing was creating a company called story brand which is a market company and he uses the structure of story to help companies relate to customers. And you have parts of, you know, fundamentally a story is about what it's about the development of a character. It's how a character moves through and becomes a different person. That's the reason why the humanity of a story captures us. Because we relate to that,
Unknown Speaker :that character in some
Unknown Speaker :some way. But the the structure is this. It's really simple. Actually, this is again, from that blog post, there's more to it. And people have dedicated their entire lives to creating all kinds of means to bring a story about one of the let me before I get into this little structure here. Today's best storytelling I think happens through the best authors. Of course, there are all kinds of authors and of course, we probably have your own authors that tell great stories or have great stories, but in at least to me some of the best movies out there right now that Pixar movies, it seems like they hit a homerun with every single movie they create because they tell a story. So well. If you're not in love with or sympathize with, or empathize or have a connection to that character within the first three to five minutes of that story happening, then the movies failed. Basically, something happens, there is something that goes on. And so fundamentally, the structure is that there's a character who wants something that needs to overcome in order to get it. That is the whole arc of a story, right? And so you have a character who just needs to get somewhere and a character who needs to overcome to get there. And there's conflict that needs resolution and when the resolution happens, so the story is over. And so there are some key questions that are asked that I'll get into I think in a different podcast, but that's fundamentally what the good story is all all about. And so we love it when a story has a conclusion. We love it when the conflict ends, because we see it building in I have listened to I've read Through twice the Harry Potter series of books, you just read the hardcopy, at least twice, have I listened to their audio book version I've listened to. I'm a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings stories, because they introduce these characters who change and become different people. What about your story? How is your story changing? What is going on in your life? How can your story be brought into the larger story to bring that change about that is so powerful, because if our story hasn't had any real change, how can we then bring change into our lives? Well, you do that by integrating into the larger story. Once you have a purpose, then you can move your story forward in a way that you never have before. So fundamentally, that's what story to me is about. And fundamentally, that's what I want us to get to and that's why this revelation 1211 is so powerful because we overcome by telling our story and I guess I wanted to get across that this is not going to be about how do you find more information in order to give that information to someone else. So of course, there's information involved. You can't have a story without data, right? If you don't have data know things about the characters and about what's going on in that character's world, well, then you'll end up losing interest in what's going on with that character and everything that's happening in that world, right. So it's important that there is, of course, data, but there's also feeling right, there's deep feeling and emotion. If you don't connect with deeply into that story, well, then, you know, can you believe it? If I were to tell you that some people are so disinterested in their own story, that they have no interest in where it goes, and that's when we end up living a hopeless life. Now, if you take your story, and blend it into and let it be integrated into the larger story, what about the powerful things that can happen in your life, and that is where I'm going to pick up with when I start telling my story, and I'll go back and forth. Worth chronologically anyway. But I was in a place of extreme, just not extreme, but a lot of boredom. And I needed a change. And boy, did God have some plans for me and I needed to find those things with God. So anyway, that that's some of that powerful reason why story is so, so powerful. And why story is gets all of us another set of stories, if you will, that have caught my attention, probably like many of us in the last, say, 10 years. Did we understand and see that this guy CS Lewis wrote a bunch of stories called The Chronicles of Narnia. I'm not sure I'd heard of those before I probably had, but I just wasn't sure what they were. I think I heard the name Kevin season one song one time, and I didn't know what dependencies were. So eventually, I bought these books, The Chronicles of Narnia and I've actually read through these books a couple of times as well. I don't want to read the whole story to you. I'm going to read you from the very end of the last book called The the last battle I just think this captures so powerfully where we're
Unknown Speaker :headed. That story
Unknown Speaker :was going to be coming to an end. Our story is coming to an end. But the way CS Lewis describes the very end of this story is really powerful and kind of how I want to finish this up. So we're in the last pages of The Chronicles of Narnia in Atlanta is talking, of course, to the kids again, as he does throughout the whole series of books. They're going to be some names of characters here that you may not recognize, but that's okay. I encourage you to read the books.
Unknown Speaker :And the very first person
Unknown Speaker :whom Aslan called to him
Unknown Speaker :was puzzle the donkey. You never saw a donkey look feebler and sillier than puzzle did is he walked up to Aslan, and he looked beside Ashlynn as a small as a kitten looks beside a St. Bernard. Great word picture there. Elian bow down his head and whispered something into puzzles ear at which his long ears went down. But then he said something else at which the ears perked back up again. The humans couldn't hear what was What he had said either time, then as land turned to them the kids and said, you do not yet look so happy as I mean you to be. Lucy said, we're still afraid of being sent away us land. And you have sent us back into our own world so often have no fear of that set. esslyn Have you not guessed their hearts leaped with a Wild Hope with that rose within them. There was a real railway accident set as land softly your father and mother. And all of you are as you used to call it in the Shadow Lands dead. The term is over, the holidays have begun. The dream has ended. This is the morning and as he spoke, you no longer look to them like a lion. But the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And as for us, this is the end of all the stories and as we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them It was only the beginning of the real story, all their life in this world, and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover in the title page. Now at last, there, we're beginning chapter one of the great story, which no one on Earth has read, which goes on forever, in which every chapter is better than the one before. What makes that so powerful is you get the rest of the story leading up to that so many times the kids you know, come and go into Narnia. And then spoiler alert, you realize and find out that the Narnia that they were a part of was not even the real Narnia. It was a shadow of the real Narnia. The real Narnia was what they were about to discover, which was to become the beginning of their real
Unknown Speaker :story.
Unknown Speaker :Just go with me for a minute and think about what real living is about. Think about what real life should be about. Shouldn't life be that we can trust people? Shouldn't life be that people aren't gonna disappoint us shouldn't lie. Be that there is no death. I believe that fully and fundamentally my friends. And that's why this podcast is so important to me and why this new ministry is so important because I want more people to enjoy and get into that new story that is about to unfold. This story is coming to an end, my friend, I don't know how long we're going to have, I have no idea how long my life's gonna go, how long your life is going to go. I do know that our life is going to end our stories will come to a close in this planet story is going to come to a close and there are things that are going to happen that are going to bring people to a decision. And part of the mission of what I want to do here is to help make that decision a little bit easier for you. Is that helpful for you. I hope
Unknown Speaker :that brings you some hope.
Unknown Speaker :I would like to end every one of my podcast episodes with a prayer for you and for whoever gets to hear this. So if you can, let's pray together. Close your eyes by your head however you want to do it. Maybe you're out for a walk. Just pray with your arms open. God, I am I'm so appreciative of this opportunity. I'm so glad to live in these last days. I'm so glad this story has a wonderful, beautiful ending. That is hard to imagine. And yet you've given us a preview of what it will be like you've given us the hope that is going to come and be fulfilled very, very soon. Jesus, you promised you are going to come and take us home where we've along. Our story is only just beginning. These few decades that we get to live on this earth are simply a beginning to the real true living that you have for us and always meant for us humans. Life is not meant to be lived in the darkness of death and destruction and uncertainty. And so just now God help us to find a certainty in the hope and belief that this story is coming to a close in my prayers for those who are wondering if their story has any meaning or purpose or direction to it, that they could see that indeed, yes, their story does have meaning purpose and direction as we integrate our stories into yours. What a blessing it will be on that day when we see your face and I hope that brings joy to our hearts and joy to the hearts of those who listen to this podcast and hear your words from your Bible.
Unknown Speaker :We thank Jesus for hearing our prayers and being with us.
Unknown Speaker :In your name we pray, amen. God bless my friends.