YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → Carl Wilkens (November 8, 2016 Chapel)

Carl Wilkens (November 8, 2016 Chapel) — Transcript

by John Brown University · 5,952 words · 795 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:04I want to start today's story with a
0:09look at Rwanda today usually when people
0:12say the word Rwanda the next word out of
0:14their mouth is genocide which is
0:16horrible imagine if that was your
0:18country I've had my Rwandan friends kind
0:21of quietly say where they're from and
0:23somebody says what's that and then they
0:25speak it a little louder and they're
0:26like oh I saw Hotel Rwanda is that where
0:29people were killing and it's just
0:32terrible to be known for that but i
0:34believe it is changing i get there every
0:37year sometimes a couple times a year and
0:39before we talk about 1994 i just wanted
0:43to give you a little peek let's see I
0:45think I loaded it up and then closed it
0:46down I wanted to give you a little peek
0:48of Rwanda today these guys were hired by
0:51the government to do a tourism film but
0:54they're not um they're not this isn't
0:58their tourism film in fact are we able
1:01to do both sound of the film and my
1:02sound simultaneously sound people um if
1:07I hit play then we could huh all right
1:11um that is plain yeah no it is not
1:17playing I love to just put it all right
1:21out in front you see my laptop and you
1:23see the world but it is this gorgeous
1:26little country where you know it's it's
1:29almost like a mystery of giraffes and
1:31volcanoes and and people people
1:35everywhere but it is an incredible story
1:38of rebirth an incredible story of
1:40forgiveness unimaginable that the lady
1:45sitting on the back of a bicycle with
1:47her hand resting on the shoulder of the
1:48peddler is the guy who killed her family
1:51those kind of relationships just seemed
1:54like well really good good sometimes
1:57mission stories and fish stories seem to
1:59grow with time but in Rwanda there's no
2:02there's no question about the healing
2:05that has taken place in the courage and
2:07the role of women in Rwanda I won't play
2:09this whole clip it's about eight minutes
2:12long but I will ask you if you wouldn't
2:15you know whether you do it at lunchtime
2:17or any
2:18other time if you just put in your
2:20search bar let's do it right up here
2:23rwanda vimeo okay and when you put
2:27rwanda vimeo you'll get you will get it
2:31is coming here you will get um am i on
2:36my network i don't want any of you to
2:38get on my network there we are bridges
2:41it'll come back you'll see the icon in a
2:43minute and you can just share be part of
2:45sharing that story because the story of
2:47Rwanda is often a story of abandonment
2:49about people not given a rip from many
2:52perspectives but I don't believe that
2:55people are just selfish self-centered
2:57don't give a rip I believe that
2:59everybody cares to certain degree but
3:02often we just don't know how to care so
3:04I'm going to try that one more time you
3:07just type in here rwanda rhonda vimeo
3:11and you will get yeah it's not the beach
3:16ball so that's good there it is you'll
3:19get this icon right here and you can
3:21share that link with people and say hey
3:23have a peek at rwanda today and what's
3:26going on in that in that little country
3:28in the center fact let's do the
3:30geography lesson real quick I was just
3:32in New York City and I was telling the
3:34students at an alternative high school
3:36in Long Island that the little country
3:38of Rwanda is slightly smaller than the
3:41metropolitan New York area you know dips
3:44into Connecticut New Jersey in the city
3:46longer it's smaller than that and it had
3:51in 1994 2500 UN soldiers imagine 2500 UN
3:57soldiers kind of spread around the
3:58metropolitan New York area and a
4:00genocide is about to start and they've
4:03got incredible reliable Intel and all of
4:05a sudden New York tells him you gotta
4:07leave it is on many fronts one of the
4:11most tragic preventable horrors of the
4:18last century so let's just do a real
4:22quick look at what we were doing there
4:24and we'll dive into a little bit 94 but
4:28we'll also dive into it today okay
4:31that's to let you know that I
4:32was a college kid once that's our
4:37wedding that's our wedding announcement
4:38wife and I got married right out of
4:40college six weeks later we moved a
4:43zimbabwean oh let's see yeah this is
4:46about eight years later our daughters
4:49were born in Zimbabwe our son came back
4:51got an MBA I was a shop teacher shop
4:53teacher / MBA and we went to Rwanda this
4:56gorgeous little country land of a
4:58Thousand Hills that you got a glimpse of
5:00we're fast-forwarding through some
5:02things right now Wednesday night today's
5:06Tuesday so just imagine tomorrow night
5:08the president's plane is shot down and
5:11the killing starts immediately
5:12throughout the country this is a
5:14well-set-up genocide a well well I had
5:21to even use the word well but if very
5:23very very intentionally designed plan to
5:28exterminate a group of people the the
5:31picture that I left out of here this
5:33morning I'm just remembering because I
5:35tried to trim down from like a normal 80
5:37pictures to just maybe 20 with you this
5:39morning so you're gonna you're going to
5:41let me just go back here for a moment
5:42and grab it on the other side I am made
5:47this graphic let's just grab it out of
5:49the high school presentation um I made
5:53this graphic probably about eight years
5:56ago when I started traveling around to
5:58schools to help people understand what
6:00this word genocide you know we're
6:02familiar with suicide and homicide and
6:04stuff never like this year has this
6:12slide made me so sad about my country
6:15about our country I've been the 20
6:19different country sharing stories of
6:20Rwanda every single country in some way
6:23or another resonates with this statement
6:24and and and we had fun unpack I say fun
6:28it was really I was fun it was valuable
6:30unpacking this yesterday with the group
6:33of you and and and this idea that
6:35there's no such place is my world and
6:37shifting our thinking from my world
6:38thinking to our world and our world
6:40would be better with you in it and the
6:42way we stop genocide is that mentality
6:45is that
6:46shift in our in our thinking so let's
6:49get back to John Brown here and so
6:53Teresa and I oh no that's my yeah was
6:56just some friends kids it's a little
6:58dangerous here so wednesday night the
7:03plane is shot down thursday a gang comes
7:08to our gate with clubs and machetes
7:12there were rumors that the belgians had
7:14shot the plane down so foreigners it was
7:17just wild chaos there with clubs and
7:18machetes we don't even know what we're
7:20putting the kids to bed in the hallway
7:21as many brick walls between them and the
7:23bullets flying outside as possible and
7:25courageously out of little mud brick tin
7:27roof homes came our neighbor ladies
7:30these ladies gathered in front of our
7:32gate and they stood between these guys
7:34with clubs and machetes and and our
7:36family I thought when I heard about it
7:39later maybe they intended to rob us but
7:41our son's best friend's grandma one of
7:44those ladies she said no they were sure
7:47they were going to kill us so wednesday
7:50night the plane is shot down within an
7:51hour lives are being taken thursday
7:54night thursday the embassy is saying
7:56we're not going we got to stay keep your
7:57head down the rebels will take over the
7:59city and in less than a couple of days
8:01they'll be too dangerous to evacuate
8:02thursday night we have this gang at our
8:04gate Friday the Embassy is saying we're
8:07leaving all of us are getting out oh I
8:10meant to tell you you know what those
8:11ladies said in front of our gate they
8:14said you can't go in there because their
8:16kids play with our kids for four years
8:19our kids have been building
8:20relationships in the neighborhood eating
8:22I don't know what running all around I
8:24always joke it was easy to find Sean in
8:27the neighborhood and and and I I just
8:33thought this is awesome for our kids in
8:35our family I never knew that those
8:37relationships might one day save our
8:39lives when somebody loves your kids
8:43that's huge there's there's very few
8:45things that that can compete with what
8:49it means to have somebody love your kids
8:51and so Teresa and I had a decision to
8:56make the embassy um
8:58head said we're leaving on Friday
9:00tomorrow Saturday and Sunday will be the
9:03last convoy out but you can't bring any
9:05Rwanda we had a young lady living and
9:07working in our home for about three
9:09years Anita she loved our kids our
9:11family had grown to include her Jan veer
9:14came in the evening as a night watchman
9:16and and they were both of the minority
9:19tribe the tribe that was targeted to be
9:21exterminated the the Tutsi people and so
9:24when the embassy says you know we're
9:25leaving but you can't bring any Rwanda
9:27Teresa and I go in the bedroom we talk
9:30we pray chisa made an interesting she's
9:34I really wish she was here with us in
9:36fact I am so tempted to just call her at
9:38work right now but I'm gonna I'm gonna
9:40hold off on that um she quiet people are
9:45so easy to underestimate us loud people
9:48don't let you underestimate us you know
9:51we're loud and we're here and and and we
9:54matter and yet the quietly you're waving
9:57at me yet the quiet people so easy and
10:01the wisdom and the courage and the
10:03strength Theresa said the other day when
10:06we were together with the group you know
10:08somebody asked what about fear and and
10:11she said you know what God gave us
10:13enough peace sometimes we think you know
10:17God will give me peace and it's like
10:19whoa no problem no God gives you enough
10:25piece at times yeah there were problems
10:27there were huge problems but enough
10:29piece to not let that fear paralyze you
10:32enough peace I'll bet you the scientists
10:35and nirala deniro people they would back
10:37this up enough piece that certain parts
10:40of your brain did not go dark as fear
10:42tends to do to our brain enough piece to
10:45be able to make a choice and she and I
10:48together in prayer we made the choice
10:51that I would stay and she would leave
10:53with the kids when you look at them they
10:56don't look terrified this was the day we
10:58actually left and you asked Lisa with
11:01her legs crossed there on the tailgate
11:02we afraid know why not cuz mom wasn't
11:05afraid this this role that women play in
11:09our lives and you know
11:11obviously the crucial one at the first
11:13moment of life and nine months before
11:16that but but the role that they continue
11:18to play in our lives right until the day
11:23we close our eyes final the gift that
11:24God has given us talk about
11:26underestimate Rwanda said after the
11:28genocide thirty percent of our
11:30Parliament seats will be filled by women
11:33in the new Rwanda it's not true it's
11:37actually because the other seventy
11:38percent were up for men and women on
11:40Election Day in Rwanda sixty-four
11:42percent of Rwanda spar lament are women
11:45that's huge yeah why not that's enormous
11:52enormous in terms of healing a country
11:55in terms of restoring trust we can never
11:58bring back the lives that were lost so
12:01our challenge is to bring back the trust
12:03and along with the trust comes the hope
12:06and so Theresa will take the kids we
12:09thought maybe for two weeks and this
12:10thing would end we didn't we didn't
12:12imagine that it would be nearly a
12:13million people and it would go on for
12:15three months she took the children and
12:19we were able to stay in touch by radio
12:21every day it was a huge an enormous gift
12:25best part of my day actually I am gonna
12:29call her
12:31let me just let me just ring she's a
12:34receptionist and so I might get a
12:38machine 509 a let's see 83 82 76 one let
12:47me dial here and I just want you to hear
12:50her voice for a minute because there is
12:54something okay I'm really like you guys
13:03have to change this recording it kind of
13:06drives me anyway guess who
13:20hmm darlin you you know what yeah she's
13:26saying hello um you can hear me yeah you
13:34know I've got you on speaker um I I I
13:39was just telling them about our choice
13:41and about prayer and about your
13:42statement about peace and and i said i'm
13:45so tempted to call teresa but I put my
13:46phone back in the pocket and then then
13:48when I thought about you know those
13:50daily radio calls I'll let you get back
13:52at work and something but can we do the
13:54radio thing with these guys for a minute
13:55so i would i would get my radio hidden
14:02in a suitcase full of barbie doll
14:04clothes I'd hook it up I didn't know if
14:07our house will be searched or anything I
14:08hooked it up to the car battery the
14:11static would come on and then I would
14:13listen for this very very special voice
14:30it was you bet babe you see tango
14:34whiskey doesn't have any I don't think
14:36she's ever touched it but but but it's
14:40her it's her initials and and her
14:44initials in radio talk our tango Theresa
14:46Wilkins tango whiskey our home station
14:48was 76 at the beginning of years ago
14:51when i started talking about Rwanda I
14:53said to Teresa I'm tired of crying in
14:56front of people i'm not going to do this
14:57anymore and very quickly i learned it's
15:01not about you Carl it's about a much
15:03bigger story and there's nothing long
15:06wrong with crying in front of people I
15:07better let you go darlin thanks thanks
15:11for joining us and i'll call you a
15:13little later these guys I think I'm not
15:16putting words in their mouth when I say
15:18they send their love
15:27thank you thanks love I'll talk to you
15:30later bye bye um seriously um this thing
15:40about cryin in front of people I'm crazy
15:43about the message and in fact for a
15:46while I was angry about some other
15:48translations and I needed to go through
15:50a journey you know I'm with the guy in
15:52Rwanda it's his first time some years
15:54ago and he's a professional photographer
15:55and and God isn't part of his life and
15:58and and he's just blown away by the
16:02country and we're down by the beautiful
16:03lake one morning if we were there making
16:06that documentary on a survivor story I
16:07was just invited to come along and and I
16:10said Paul let me read you something and
16:12I started to read to him i think it was
16:14out of Matthew in the message you know
16:17that that verse that says you're blessed
16:19when you're at the end of your rope with
16:21less of you there's more of God you know
16:23and as I'm reading this chapter to him
16:26we finish and everybody was given me a
16:29lot of they would let me do anything
16:31since I stayed there during the genocide
16:33they just were very polite and you know
16:35I could read them probably the whole
16:36book if they would have been patient but
16:38but he says to me Carl what what what
16:41were you just reading out of and before
16:44I answered you know the Bible he says
16:47was that the Bible because if that was
16:51the Bible I've been screwed all my life
16:53and I'm like whoa it's true there's this
16:59news out there so in the message there's
17:01a place after the Beatitudes when Jesus
17:03says if you will open your heart to
17:06others there's a great great chance that
17:09they will open their heart to God the
17:11Father and and some of you may be our
17:14fans with me brenny Brown that TED talk
17:17the power of vulnerability and and and
17:19what it means to open our hearts and and
17:22for some people depending on what their
17:24life story is you know that that same
17:26principle is true you simply say it in a
17:28little different words if we open our
17:30hearts to others there's a great chance
17:32that they will open their hearts to good
17:33and then as they open their hearts
17:36morta good I believe they will find
17:40they'll find God he just might not be in
17:43the names or the ways we we have grown
17:45up with but so Theresa takes the kids
17:48I'm stuck in the house for three weeks
17:51finally I get out they lift the light in
17:54the curfew a bit the roadblocks are
17:55terrible but I get to this man's office
17:58and he gives me a travel permit he in
18:01fact and i will develop quite a
18:03relationship and and at this point in
18:06the story I want to just put a couple
18:09words up here I'm a visual learner and
18:11so um finding allies among the and I put
18:16? I mean quotation mark here enemy
18:19because really who is who is the enemy I
18:23shared with a class yesterday we were we
18:27were I was skyping with a friend in
18:29Kurdistan and she told me about this
18:31group have you guys I bet somebody here
18:34it's already search bar somebody here
18:37has seen this group called preemptive
18:39love and and you come down through their
18:43website what can we do about Syria what
18:45can we do about so many places in the
18:47world and I'm when when Heidi was saying
18:49you know scroll down the page Carl down
18:52here to this picture those men in the
18:54Yellow Jackets I started to get a lump
18:57in my throat these these she says click
19:00on that story and and you know as I as I
19:04clicked on that story loving your enemy
19:07even when it's Isis yes even then you
19:12killed my friend but I've come here to
19:14feed you in every situation in the world
19:19that looks so dark and so horrible and
19:22so impossible there are these you know
19:25your light I'm not covering you up with
19:28a bushel you're gonna stand on the hill
19:30and you're gonna shine and so I met this
19:33man who was by all standards the enemy
19:37and yet he and I develop a relationship
19:40with this travel without this travel
19:42permit I couldn't have gotten to half
19:43the places I got to I went to places in
19:45the city the UN soldiers the few who
19:47remained I mentioned the 2500
19:50most all of them were withdrawn but the
19:52280 or so who remained did incredible
19:55work but they were limited to it the
19:58reason I even went to this man's office
20:00a Rwandan pastor who stayed with me in
20:03my home man of deep commitment to God
20:06and and much wisdom he said Carl if
20:08you're going to do anything outside the
20:09house you've got to build a relationship
20:12with the people in power and so he sends
20:16me out I managed to navigate the road
20:19blocks with his document he sends me to
20:22this man demas has an orphanage with 80
20:24kids people are looking for a safe place
20:27for the children and they start bringing
20:29them there it grows from eighty 180 200
20:31over 400 people and as I come in the
20:35driveway the first time the parking lot
20:36has graves in the driveway little ones
20:39who have been who are dying from
20:41diarrhea I mean some were killed at the
20:44orphanage fortunately not many most
20:47would be killed before reaching the
20:49orphanage but now they're dying from
20:51nobody should die from diarrhea so so my
20:54mission is very clear right away water
20:55is a number one priority I'm working
20:58with another colleague I worked with the
21:01humanitarian arm of the seventh-day
21:03Adventist Church it's called a dry
21:05Adventist development relief agency and
21:07one of the men that I worked with their
21:09gas equal I last night when we had more
21:12time we're telling lots of stories about
21:13this man's faithfulness and his courage
21:16but I again I couldn't have done the
21:18work without his partnership usually
21:20when we think of allies we think of
21:21friends and this man would definitely
21:23you know meet that criteria but he was
21:27also finding allies among the enemy he
21:30had more than 40 people in his home when
21:32they came to kill he would meet them at
21:34the door with the chicken he'd say
21:36Bernard your daughter's must be hungry
21:38here take these chickens now this
21:40confused me when I first heard the story
21:42because I'm like wait a minute they're
21:43killers killers are like well they're
21:46they're killers you know one hundred
21:49percent evil but you can see where I'm
21:51going huh number one I don't care what
21:55choices or decisions you have well I do
21:56care but it it what choices or decisions
21:59you made you can never completely
22:01eradicate the image of God
22:04in a person you can't and so if we
22:07believe that the good is there we have a
22:10lot better chance of accessing it then
22:13if we don't believe we look away we miss
22:15some of our most powerful allies go
22:17sequa these are three other words I want
22:20to leave with you today kind of tools
22:21and things like that respect and and I
22:26know you know even when our time is
22:27short I take time to color this there's
22:31ways our brains work that we're still
22:33figuring out and so I'm just going to
22:35make that one purple and the next one
22:40respect leading to empathy okay it'll
22:44still be purple and then an empathy
22:47leading to inclusion think about these
22:50three values and this story cacique whaz
22:54meets them with respect you can see
22:57empathy seriously I think you can see
22:59empathy flying all over the place
23:01ricocheting around you know those mirror
23:03neurons and stuff like that when you do
23:05a kind act in somebody else in it effect
23:07and the good juices flow in the brain
23:08and the brain lights up and those kinds
23:11of things the respect that you see our
23:14problem often is that we start with
23:16inclusion and then we're like well that
23:19person doesn't deserve respect it's not
23:22about them shoot you can be respectful
23:25with respectful people anybody can do
23:27that you know jesus said it's your enemy
23:29it's the one who doesn't deserve by our
23:32standards respect that really calls out
23:35from us the image of God in terms of
23:38demonstrating that respect and go sequa
23:40again and again he turned them away and
23:43I would like to believe that some of
23:45these killers were looking for an excuse
23:48to be turned away we towards the end of
23:54this three month time kisi ko and I are
23:56bringing a load of water to this largest
23:57orphanage we show up their kids were
24:00always just you know one little metal
24:02cup one drink of water we haven't been
24:04there for a couple of minutes and we all
24:06sudden are surrounded guys with machine
24:08guns and machetes and and they had
24:11warned them the day before they'd said
24:13empty the orphanage we're coming back
24:15tomorrow we don't care who tortured see
24:16the majority the minority
24:17we don't care who's here we're going to
24:19kill everybody the young brother came
24:21out of the demas who I introduced you to
24:23his young brother came out said carlier
24:25your arrival is like an answer to prayer
24:27we have a more or less three-hour
24:30standoff I honestly don't know how you
24:32measure time in a situation like that
24:35gasps equal was siphoning as slow as he
24:38could but soon he was done and and I
24:41won't get into all the details of the
24:43story at the second week of the genocide
24:47when I quit the first two weeks I'm
24:49arguing with God saying look God you
24:51wanted me to stay keep me alive that's
24:52the deal really stupid as if God needs
24:56some how to be convinced of something
24:58and and I love to get into the
25:01conversations you know sometimes we
25:02think the more people get praying for it
25:04the more more you know God is going to
25:06do something are you kidding me God is
25:10doing more than we can ever imagine the
25:12more we pray about it the more people we
25:14get involved with prey on the more
25:16likely we'll do something in the power
25:18of God because God works through people
25:21almost all the time I know we like the
25:24stories with you know like a magic
25:25invisible shield or the trigger didn't
25:27and I don't doubt those miraculous
25:29stories but when ladies are standing in
25:31front of your gate and saying to these
25:32guys with clubs and machetes totally
25:34unarmed they're saying you can't come in
25:37here or the film that came out this
25:39weekend he was one of my childhood
25:40heroes I read his book hacksaw ridge and
25:43and here he is going into battle with
25:45only his faith while others are taking
25:47lives he thinks it's a good idea to save
25:50lives the power of our choices in
25:54situation are enormous and and so I'm
25:57here at were surrounded it's like a two
26:01or three-hour standoff and oh yeah no
26:02I'm back at the two-week point hold that
26:04hold that story for a minute I could
26:06arguing with God and I say okay god you
26:09know I don't want to die but I'm gonna
26:11trust you I was really afraid of he'll
26:16be flat-out frank with you I know saved
26:20by grace but there's that little but
26:24often that comes in you get into those
26:25horrible situations and that little but
26:28just becomes huge
26:30I should pick my words better sorry um
26:36that's the problem when you don't work
26:38from a script but those doubts those
26:41doubts just those doubts become enormous
26:44I'll remember that one next time the
26:47doubts they become enormous and I and I
26:51said okay God if I if I don't survive um
26:54I know you'll take care Therese I know
26:56you'll take care of the kids and um
26:59Theresa knew she knew the risk much
27:04better than anybody um when she was
27:07three her dad was killed in a small
27:09plane crash her mom was left with four
27:11children five down to six months five
27:14years of age down to six months she knew
27:17what being a widow was like but Theresa
27:20said she had enough peace I said if I'm
27:24not going to survive I want to leave
27:25something for her and the children so I
27:27started recording cassette tapes by the
27:30time the genocide was over I had about
27:31eight hours of tapes and so I I finally
27:35five years ago wrote a little book
27:36called I'll not leave and based on those
27:38tapes to my family and copies are out
27:41there later you're welcome to help help
27:43yourself but I'm at the at the end ok I
27:48was I was just here at the orphanage and
27:52oh yeah ok so I don't feel bad about not
27:56finishing the orphanage story because
27:58you can grab the book and and you can
28:00get this story there but but I'm well I
28:04will just kind of give you the ending of
28:06the story you see these little kids and
28:08some of you who are artists please keep
28:10going and I know people will tell you
28:12you know get that practical job and do
28:14your art on the side or something if
28:16that's your passion make that your life
28:18don't don't yeah look storytelling
28:23storytelling is one of the most powerful
28:25tools we have it is it's what jesus
28:27modeled to us all the time you know the
28:29kingdom is like this guy and they ended
28:31up with pigs and no it's this lady in
28:34and she you know and any of the stories
28:36so you with those artistic skills that
28:39you're able to to help us tell the story
28:41I love Robin his work in this of
28:4340-minute film this is just a drawing
28:45out of that film it's so powerful to me
28:47those kids are looking out from the
28:49orphanage they see the men who've taken
28:51the lives of their parents and they
28:52think today is their last day one of
28:55these boys I become really good friends
28:57with Johnson and I & Johnson saw his mom
29:03get killed she when they kicked the door
29:05in and then they kicked the Bible out of
29:07his mom's hands and they took his mom
29:09she said don't you stay here don't you
29:10follow me but of course the
29:12nine-year-old followed and he looked at
29:13the crowd gathered around his mom and
29:15other neighbors about 30 of them about
29:17to be killed some were laughing
29:19somewhere smiling some were frightened
29:21he says I was looking for somebody who
29:22had helped my mom didn't cry was years
29:26later he says I woke up in the night
29:28sometimes in my pillow was soaking wet
29:30from crying in my sleep the loss that
29:34cannot be restored and is my life now
29:37going to be defined by what I lost or is
29:41it going to be defined by what I do with
29:43what remains that's one of the most
29:46powerful lessons I've learned from
29:47Rwanda these kids it did we did survive
29:50I ended up asking the Prime Minister
29:52they killed the Prime Minister the
29:53extremists put in their own one of three
29:55guys in charge of the dress and I asked
29:57him to UM to stop this Massacre and he
30:01did I have my own theories as to why he
30:04did it political reasons and such but
30:06the point is he did and I never would
30:10have asked him except a secretary
30:12suggested it there this Rwanda and lady
30:14who's sort of in the belly of the beast
30:15she's right in the middle of the office
30:17where all of this genocide for the
30:19capital city is being directed from and
30:21this lady says I tell her my problem and
30:25she the orphanage is surrounded by 50
30:27guys with guns and she says ask him he's
30:29here on a surprise visit makes no sense
30:32to me and honestly I don't think it's
30:34what I said to him that convinced him I
30:36think my being there the power of
30:40presence often when we don't know what
30:42to say or what to do we absent ourselves
30:44we don't make that phone call we don't
30:46make that visit because I don't know
30:48what to say I mean it just seems so I
30:49don't know well okay for us loud people
30:53when we don't know what to say we really
30:55should shut up
30:56but don't stay away be present so i'm
31:02back in rwanda um oh and this is a
31:05favorite and there's video clips that
31:07I'm I'm resisting from sharing with you
31:09right now but the reunion was
31:11unimaginable you guys every night going
31:14to sleep imagining the day that I would
31:16get back together with my family
31:18believing the day would come in it and
31:19it came but i'm back in rwanda and this
31:28is last summer a group of teachers and
31:30these are men and women who've confessed
31:33to killing their neighbors they're in a
31:35work program they're being given an
31:37opportunity to reinvent themselves I'm
31:41really excited to hear that here at John
31:43Brown you have a lot of international
31:45opportunities and super excited that
31:47different mission organizations are here
31:49today and this week to travel and to
31:51learn one of the greatest blessings we
31:53can have and these students i was with
31:55we're asking these two hundred men and
31:57women why they did it how they could
32:00live with themselves incredibly profound
32:03questions and interactions and to be
32:07honest i was with a group of theatre
32:09students a year and a half ago at
32:10another camp these men are burning
32:12bricks basically these people are being
32:14given bricks that will be used for
32:15schools these people are are being given
32:17a chance to reinvent themselves from
32:20from a label on their book a title that
32:22would say kill her too much smaller font
32:25it could say brickmaker they they're
32:28allowed to go on escort it to a church
32:30on the weekend in the neighborhood I
32:31asked the guy in charge do they ever try
32:34to escape and he says well no if they
32:37want to go home we give them 10 days
32:39every year to go home for a wedding or a
32:41funeral and it sounds so good but look
32:44at this and this is where we'll we'll
32:47wrap see the young lady's hand on that
32:51man's back I have to confess to you that
32:54second chance is reinventing yourself
32:57restorative justice it sounds fabulous
33:01but there was still something inside of
33:03me that said don't touch him what he's
33:06done to babies and women and grandmas
33:08don't
33:09action you know there's got to be
33:11another way but there's not if we are
33:17going to restore life restoring the
33:20kingdom it's hard and for me this is
33:24what helped me in this situation look at
33:27them right behind me I took this picture
33:29I turned around and I took that picture
33:33there they are peeking out from
33:35underneath the hedge witnessing one of
33:40the most remarkable experiments in
33:43restorative justice that I think we've
33:45ever seen in modern history I did meet
33:50that guy in prison two summers ago and I
33:56met him again this guy who was leading
34:00the killing squad the guy who killed
34:01Johnson's mother and I meant him again
34:05two months ago we won't go into his
34:09story and I'm sorry it's not in the book
34:11seriously this is part of my own journey
34:14where where the five crucial foundations
34:18that I hold as trues came back and and
34:22really helped me find a way because when
34:25I stumbled on this man in prison I was
34:28angry I was I was frustrated I was sick
34:31to my stomach but when I get really
34:34messed up there's five things that I
34:37turn to and and I will I will just share
34:41them with you if you'd like that story I
34:43did write it up just email me or
34:45facebook me and and I'll share them but
34:48I went back to these five points
34:56always that was a tough one because it's
35:04hard i think delight is is in measured
35:06by my actions or you know i measured by
35:09no I'm his child that is the one massive
35:12reason that God takes delight in me
35:21becomes my heart like nothing else
35:35I'm a little nervous here and number
35:43five
35:51and as I was recently in myself the
35:54night that I met this man who's
35:56responsible for killing more than 2,000
35:59people as I resented myself with these
36:02five truths I realized if they are true
36:06for me they have to be true for this man
36:09Greg wah so for more than a year now
36:11I've been substituting his name and it's
36:16been an incredible journey thank you
36:20very much god bless
36:22[Applause]
36:33you

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of Carl Wilkens (November 8, 2016 Chapel) by John Brown University, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 5,952 words across 795 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.