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Eric Ludy - Remember When? (Sermon) — Transcript

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0:03remember
0:04when so if you are on the staff of
0:08ellersly if you were around in the very
0:11beginnings of ellersly then even that
0:14phrase would trigger all sorts of
0:16thoughts for you uh it's a phrase that
0:21I've used and I have this one video that
0:23I created called remember when I think
0:26it was 2013 for Christmas I always would
0:29do special gift for the staff on
0:32Christmas that was not it didn't cost
0:33money it cost time and I would invest a
0:36tremendous amount of time into creating
0:38something that would have everyone just
0:41know how cherished they are and so that
0:45was a tradition that we had and so at
0:47the very end today I'm going to play the
0:50video that I made Christmas 2013 I know
0:55very strange thing to do but sort of fun
0:57and there's a lot of inside things that
1:00wouldn't make sense to the outside world
1:03which is part of the risk of it but it's
1:06also sort of part of the fun because I
1:08want to bring you into the processes
1:11that we all have in how we take this
1:14life that we live and we choose to
1:18remember as an action a discipline a
1:21behavior of the soul I think for many of
1:24us we just presume that if something
1:27good happens something significant
1:29happens in our our life we will just
1:31remember it and I'm not saying that you
1:34will forget it but I am saying you are
1:38likely to forget it it is a astounding
1:42potential that we as humans have to
1:44forget we are very good at forgetfulness
1:47we are not very good at remembering and
1:49what's that could offend some of you
1:50it's like you don't know me I could
1:51remember anything I'm not doubting it
1:54however a good remembrance is an active
1:58strategy you have to deliberately choose
2:01to remember when you don't actively
2:04engage in remembrance you forget and so
2:08that's sort of the basis of my message
2:10is I want to Freshly charge us as the
2:13church to
2:15remember when you live in a darkened age
2:18or maybe I could even say it this way a
2:19darkening age like we do today where it
2:23seems like with every passing day we
2:25erode a little more and it doesn't seem
2:28like our culture is actually correctable
2:31it's like whatever downward slide we're
2:33on seems to be really
2:35bad it's easy to focus on what's wrong
2:39and it's easy to
2:40forget what's right and also what has
2:44been right and what God has done in our
2:47life our faith that dimensionality of
2:51our being that engages with God that
2:54reaches up into the heavenlies and grips
2:56his promises and pulls them down to this
3:00Earth so that they are a reality in this
3:02realm that dimension of our being is
3:05strengthened and cultivated in and
3:07through
3:08remembrance because when you witness
3:10God's faithfulness you know what it
3:12strengthens inside of you your faith if
3:16you forget his faithfulness you know
3:19what happens inside of you your faith
3:22diminishes so don't waste the
3:25faithfulness of God in your life but to
3:27not waste the faithfulness of God you
3:29have to exercise something called
3:34remembrance the art of
3:36remembrance a skill I desire to be great
3:40at now I don't know how many of you if I
3:44were to lay out it's like tell me like
3:46five skills that you want to be a expert
3:50at I don't how know how many of you are
3:52going to come to the conclusion that
3:55remembrance is going to be one of your
3:56five especially if I trimmed it down I
3:58said no no no two
4:00two skills that you really want to be
4:02great at you know it's hard because hey
4:05I don't you know want to waste one of
4:06them on Remembrance and yet what I'm
4:08going to say is to remember well is one
4:12of the greatest things you could ever do
4:14in your life if you want to live an
4:18exuberant happy life you want to be
4:20great at remembrance if you want to grow
4:23in faith and strengthen in your
4:25relationship with God you want to be
4:27great with remembrance if you want to
4:29know know the scripture and hold on to
4:31the scripture so that when you're thrown
4:32into that prison cell you don't just
4:34sing but you can rehearse to yourself
4:36the words of the almighty you want to
4:39cultivate
4:41remembrance and so this dimensionality
4:43of our life if we were to train for it
4:45as if it were an Olympic event it would
4:48be very
4:51worthwhile so this is the uh thing that
4:54started all this I was going through
4:55something and this quote popped up and
4:58this is from ABY uh ABY Rose who's my
5:0215-year-old uh she this is her musings
5:05on Heaven is what I wrote I I have this
5:06collection of all sorts of memories in
5:09my Evernote files and somehow I came
5:11across this February 2019 she was nine
5:16and she said if everyone in history is
5:17at Judgment day it will probably be
5:19really crowded I mean we will like be
5:22standing shoulder to shoulder with
5:24everyone does Jesus ever get off his
5:26throne in heaven I hope so because if he
5:29does he won't be able to play Chase with
5:31me I will just have to play board games
5:34with him
5:35instead so what I'm probably going to do
5:38when I first get to heaven is go and sit
5:40on Jesus's lap and ask him all my
5:41questions that Daddy couldn't
5:44answer that will probably take a few
5:47hours I'll probably have a special spot
5:49in heaven where I can sit and talk to
5:51him and I won't have to wait for Jesus
5:52because he is everywhere my first
5:55question is going to be how has God
5:56always been my second question is going
5:59to be be how did he make heaven to never
6:01end and how does he make himself perfect
6:05and will I be in heaven for a billion
6:07years or
6:09more I think I'll probably cry in heaven
6:11when I think about people who are in
6:13hell since the Bible says that Jesus
6:15wipes away all the tears from our eyes
6:17maybe I'll cry a lot and he will just
6:18keep wiping away my
6:20tears
6:22so well if I'm struggling with this
6:24quote I can't imagine what's about to
6:26happen but there is something so
6:29precious
6:30about stumbling across these what we
6:33call in the Ludy family piles of stones
6:36things that I purposely set up in my
6:38life so that I will find them that's the
6:41reason I found this I'm just doing my
6:43thing and I trip over a pile of stones I
6:46look back and I know why I put that
6:48there so that I would see it so that it
6:53would cause a recall inside of me so
6:56that I would remember the preciousness
6:59of what God has done in my life not just
7:02the preciousness of my little daughter
7:04but the preciousness of what he has done
7:06in our family in my
7:09life the art of remembrance so I made a
7:12statement at the beginning that this is
7:13something I want to be really good at
7:15and it's actually one of the things I
7:17spend a great deal of time
7:19doing but I want to make another
7:21statement it's a skill that God desires
7:23all of us to be great at and I've never
7:26really thought that much about how much
7:29I
7:30remember but my entire life I mean think
7:32about one of the number one things I do
7:35here at ellersly even my daily Thunder
7:37series spiritual lessons from and you go
7:40back in history I love history I cherish
7:44history one of my big passions is to
7:46introduce the current generation to the
7:49heroes of old I don't want them to be
7:51forgotten I don't want the working of
7:53Grace in the past to be forgotten but
7:56you could take that in the big picture
7:58but it also is in the small picture if
8:00you hang out with me I'm going to say
8:01hey guys memories let's talk about
8:03memories highlights is what I typically
8:05call them let's let's talk about what
8:07God has done and it's one of my favorite
8:11exercises and I think that's because God
8:14has anointed me this way I actually am
8:18concluding that I haven't really thought
8:19about it but that's a gift that I have I
8:22love to remember so those of you that
8:25love history maybe you're called to be
8:26the same in the body of Christ in your
8:28family in your environment to constantly
8:31be rehearsing like in in Narnia wasn't
8:33it the badger that was the one with the
8:36memory and we need Badgers in Narnia we
8:39need Badgers in the body of
8:43Christ Joshua 44 through 7 then Joshua
8:47called the 12 men whom he had appointed
8:49from the children of Israel one man from
8:51every tribe and Joshua said to them
8:54cross over before the Ark of the Lord
8:56your God in the midst of the Jordan and
8:57each one of you take up a stone on his
8:59shoulder according to the number of the
9:01tribes of the children of Israel that
9:03this may be a sign among you when your
9:05children ask in time to
9:07come saying what do these Stones mean to
9:11you then you shall answer them that the
9:14Waters of the Jordan were cut off before
9:16the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord when
9:17it crossed over the Jordan the Waters of
9:20the Jordan were cut off and these Stones
9:22shall be a memorial to the children of
9:24Israel forever so a pile of Stones by
9:28the Jordan
9:29and in the generations to come when the
9:31children see this pile of stones and
9:33says what is this that will trigger the
9:36memory so that we'll never be forgotten
9:40what God did on this day 40 years have
9:44completed on the first day of the 41st
9:46year God is going to part the Jordan
9:49River and Joshua Yeshua the same name as
9:53Jesus is going to lead his people into
9:57the land of promise and this is a
9:59foreshadow of the very working of the
10:03true Joshua Jesus
10:06Christ to remember it does not happen
10:11accidentally it is a result of a
10:13purposeful
10:15strategy so for every semester that has
10:17ever been in lley history and we've had
10:19I don't know we're closing in on 5,000
10:21students that have come through I go out
10:24of my way and so does the staff to
10:26remember everyone's
10:28name don't always do a great job at it
10:30but it is a purposeful thing in every
10:32semester I have learned everyone's name
10:34even though the pronunciation of some
10:37names is rather
10:39challenging but it's a purposeful
10:41strategy people ask me all the all the
10:43time how do you always remember
10:45names it's because I want to and it's
10:48because I labor to do it and I do have
10:51my tactics and my strategies which I do
10:53not want to divulge to you right away in
10:56other words it's very purposeful how we
10:58start out ly and why we're after your
11:00names last night we went around you were
11:02all at tables and I went around and we
11:04we heard everyone's name I wanted you to
11:07pronounce your name I wanted to hear it
11:08I want to know where you're from I'm
11:09trying to put together an understanding
11:11of who you are but it's purposeful it is
11:14not accidental it's not just because I
11:17like people which I do it's also because
11:20I want to know you and that is an action
11:23of memory that is
11:27strategic so one of the things that I
11:29have done since I was a young believer
11:31in fact even before I I was uh I could
11:35say I had my fullest Awakening is I have
11:38journaled and I write a journal to God
11:41and I write down my observations my
11:43thoughts the key things that are
11:44happening and one of the things that
11:45I've always done since I was young I
11:48would say in college is I've taken and I
11:51would write down when I was a when it
11:52was a handwritten Journal I would
11:54actually draw in a little pile of stones
11:56as a symbol to me in the future that
11:58when I look back at the this journal
11:59don't forget this Eric and now in my
12:02digital version I have a digital pile of
12:05stones I mean sort of sort of ridiculous
12:07isn't it uh but you know copy paste and
12:10you know I just built myself a little
12:11pile of stones as if to say to the Eric
12:13in the future Eric in the future you
12:16don't want to forget
12:20this so I have different methods I don't
12:23know what your methods are but I have a
12:24lot of them songs poems photo albums
12:27quote collections memory trunks scraps
12:30scraps are Amy carmichel used to have a
12:32newspaper that she'd make with her
12:33sisters it was called scraps so that's
12:35what we've done with LESA and I used to
12:37do it before we were uh before we had
12:39kids and then our kids Remember That
12:41season guys we had scraps and the kids
12:43would we'd have all our main events that
12:45would happen and the kids would draw a
12:47picture of it of what took place and
12:49then we'd put it together in a newspaper
12:53and it was like our looty newspaper it
12:55was scraps and then books I don't know
12:58how many you just write books to write
13:01down what's going on in your life Les
13:03and I have written a lot of them audio
13:06dramas mhm done that too and a dboard I
13:08don't know if you've ever heard of a
13:09dboard but we have one in our kitchen
13:12and it's this screen that's on our wall
13:15and we have I think it's over 2,000
13:17pictures that are sort of curated by the
13:20Ludy family like Hudson will find a
13:22funny one and stick it up there and
13:24suddenly it's in the mix and someone
13:25comes over to visit and all the kids are
13:27like how'd that get up there uh but it
13:30is a constant rehearsal of what God has
13:32done in our life that's just sitting in
13:33our kitchen just over on replay over and
13:37over and sometimes we think it gets
13:38stuck because it keeps on having that
13:40one picture we used to have this picture
13:41I don't know how it got up there of a
13:43salon an empty Salon like a hair salon
13:45none of us even knew where it was never
13:47seen it and it was in our dboard cycle
13:49and it kept coming up like every day
13:51we'd see it twice it's like who put that
13:53there and so you know I don't I haven't
13:54seen it in years so maybe it's maybe
13:56it's gone
13:58now but the many ways we hold on to the
14:00Wonder of God's faithfulness each
14:04generation technologically we have
14:06different things to use but the key is
14:09that you proactively are laboring to
14:13remember now there's a lot
14:15of tactics and strategies that people
14:18have used and some people are better at
14:20this than others but what I want you to
14:22catch a vision for as I go through this
14:24it's very simple actually it's not a
14:26complex message it's just remember
14:30remember what God has done in your life
14:32because I can testify of what God has
14:35done in my life and it is truly
14:38astounding what God has done in my life
14:41and I'm going to just graze the surface
14:44of it this morning just as a reminder of
14:47how deep it can go I mean if that's just
14:50the surface how much more is
14:54there the supernatural reconciliation so
14:58I'm just going to I mean this is
14:59literally big picture stuff I brought
15:01some some things with me I have a audio
15:05cassette it has three tapes in it
15:08cassette tapes remember tapes some of
15:09you like no don't remember tapes uh but
15:13it's called Life with Mary a
15:15heartwarming and hilarious tale of
15:17Brotherhood it's an audio drama wrote it
15:20in 1998 so I was four years married and
15:25I wanted to capture what God did and
15:27this was before I was married
15:29back in somewhere around
15:311990 that the impossible took place and
15:35that is I was reconciled to my brother
15:38supernaturally there's no other
15:40explanation for it it is an incredible
15:42story and it's very funny but it's also
15:45very meaningful and so it's captured for
15:48all time my kids can listen to It's one
15:50of their favorite things to listen to
15:51but lesle doesn't allow us to listen to
15:53it very often we've listened to it like
15:55once because she's a character and it's
15:57an audio drama and remember Chris from
16:00uh focus on What's That adventures and
16:02odyssey she's sort of the Chris
16:04character hi I'm lesie and it's really
16:07funny I mean it's really funny but she
16:09does not like it so unfortunately we
16:11don't get to hear it very
16:14much so I have the intro for it uh and
16:18Hudson wants to use this for you know
16:19our book publishing side so this is this
16:22is classic
16:231998 uh life with Mary
16:26intro welcome to a L land a ly land
16:32Adventure Life with
16:36Mary okay now who wouldn't want to
16:38listen to
16:41that the outrageously beautiful love
16:45story so I have a book here I'm not
16:48going to tell you the name of it lest
16:49you try and find it because we do not
16:52Market it we do not talk about it we do
16:54not acknowledge its
16:57existence but in our first first year of
16:59marriage we were being asked to share a
17:00love story everywhere everyone was
17:03transfixed with what happened in the
17:05life of Eric and Lesley Looney we were
17:07married in
17:081994 and it was like a Bomb Blast went
17:11off because no one had seen anything
17:13like it a couple that waits till their
17:16wedding day to have their first kiss
17:18it's like what is that and it was a
17:22spectacle even our our very wedding
17:24ceremony itself I think it was the the
17:27guy that did the video uh people like
17:29could I get a copy of that so for $100 a
17:31pop I think he sold over 50 to 75 copies
17:36at our reception that
17:38turkey we didn't get any cut out of that
17:41right but it was such a marvelous thing
17:45that people had no grid for and to us it
17:49was just our love story and I had never
17:50heard of anyone sharing their love story
17:52I don't ask people about their love
17:54story tell me about your love story
17:55never thought of even doing that right
17:57and so but everyone was asking us to
17:59tell our story schools radios we were it
18:02was everywhere and so I didn't want to
18:04talk about our love story I know it
18:06sounds sort of rude but it's like this
18:07is just our love story leave us alone
18:09and so in 3 weeks in our spare time we
18:12sat down and wrote Our Love Story out
18:15and the next person that was going to
18:16ask I was going to take that manuscript
18:18and hit him in the face with it and say
18:19just read
18:20this and so this girl cat gets this love
18:24story reads it is impacted by it sets it
18:26on a Publisher's desk
18:29and the publisher gives us a call and
18:31says uh I just read your love story
18:34could I publish it so when someone asks
18:36it's like so how did you get into book
18:38writing well it's not the most normal
18:41way I'll just say it that way
18:45however we chronicled it we captured it
18:49and what a gift that is the the book
18:51when dreams come true is sort of like
18:53this written in longer than 3 weeks let
18:56me just say it that way when this
18:57started to go around the world which it
18:58did
18:59it was rather challenging for us because
19:01it wasn't written to go around the world
19:02it was written basically to hit someone
19:04in the face and say just read this
19:06instead of asking me this question over
19:07and over and so to see how God has
19:10leveraged even us purposefully
19:13remembering chronicling writing it down
19:16has actually significantly impacted a
19:18generation the book when God writes your
19:20love story where it ranks now I don't
19:23know but it was literally I think the
19:25second most sold book on relation ships
19:29in history at one point in time so in
19:32other words this impact that is going to
19:34come out of this simple thing known as
19:37just trusting God and living for God has
19:39been a remarkable testimony to me that I
19:41can forget by the way because there's a
19:43lot of challenge that's going to come in
19:45the upcoming years after we write that
19:47and the amount of flak that we're going
19:49to get from a world that isn't that
19:51interested in hearing about it is going
19:53to actually put somewhat of a damper on
19:56the beauty of it too for us which is the
19:58reason I didn't want to share it in the
19:59first place right which is why it's an
20:02exercise for me to go back to the purity
20:04of it to remember the beauty of what God
20:08did and to hold on to
20:11that the adoption of Harper so I'm
20:14actually not going into the story other
20:16than to say it's remarkable it's a
20:19remarkable story and so we created a
20:22video for it and we've watched that
20:24video so many times over the years that
20:26video I remember it was actually shown
20:28on the big Jumbotron C's field once at
20:32least a portion of it of Harper coming
20:33home but to Chronicle and to capture has
20:36been one of the most significant things
20:38in our life to remember the supernatural
20:41working of
20:42Grace the adoption of Kipling the
20:45adoption of kiplin isn't just bringing
20:47an incredible little boy into our life
20:50supernaturally it's it's a great story I
20:52mean it's just a great story deserving
20:54of a book all its
20:56own and yet it is also going to be this
21:00strategic maneuver of God that when we
21:03have this girl his you know Kip's birth
21:06uh mom her name is beex and she had left
21:10North Carolina because of her pregnancy
21:12and because of the awkwardness and the
21:13difficulty of it had come to Colorado to
21:16stay with a family known as the
21:19mcconahy and so when we were engaged
21:22with Becks in regards to this little
21:23baby in her womb the mcconahay became
21:27concerned about whoever this family was
21:29and they invited us over and wanted to
21:31grill us and figure out what made us
21:33tick and we fell in love with the
21:35mcconahy and Dan and Sandy and Grace who
21:38is still here I Grace are you even here
21:40right now there she is uh became a part
21:44of the foundation of ellersly and so
21:47just to see the faithfulness to see and
21:49to rehearse the Providence of God in all
21:52of these matters is just
21:54beautiful the incredible launch of
21:57ellersly you we' never seen such a fight
22:02as trying to get this off the ground
22:03lesle and I are speaking to tens of
22:05thousands of people all the time around
22:07the world and you think the devil would
22:10be upset with that which he was right
22:12but nothing quite like coming off the
22:14road and trying to focus on a few we
22:17have NE never run into something quite
22:20like that it was like all hell broke
22:22loose against us and yet the
22:24preciousness of this
22:27beginning there was something I wrote
22:29before lesle and I were
22:31married and actually before we even knew
22:33we were going to be in a relationship it
22:34was called Men of Honor and it was a
22:37vision for this and so that was 17 years
22:42before banquet night in May of 2010 May
22:4831st 2010 Joshua was
22:51there and so these precious memories to
22:54hold on to and remember the supernatural
22:57dimension ity of the life I've lived
23:01instead of just focusing on the
23:02immediate to remember and to recall and
23:05to cultivate to return to those piles of
23:08stones and say God look what you
23:13did so 2009 now this is a rare thing for
23:16me to do I I don't know if I've done
23:18this before maybe I have I can't
23:20remember but I am going to give you a
23:22glimpse into my journal okay again
23:24that's not something I do especially
23:25unedited it's like whoa and so I
23:28literally just glanc through real quick
23:30and picked a journal entry which I think
23:33is pretty special in light of this so
23:36this is in February uh February 3rd of
23:402009 uh February 2nd is my spiritual
23:43birthday and so I always am looking on
23:45my spiritual birthday to see what the
23:46special message
23:48is 2009 later this year we are going to
23:51acquire a lease on this property but
23:54I've been praying for 17 years up to
23:57this point and so we're down and so I'll
24:00always do this there's my pile of stones
24:01to tell me this is
24:03important and I'll always put like
24:05Tuesday 7:28 a.m. I'm in Dana Point
24:08California at the time so and this is
24:11what I wrote once again February 2nd was
24:13magical the entire day was distinct and
24:15full of beauty it was a stunning 80° day
24:17of sunshine in Southern California the
24:19whole Ludy troop packed up and made
24:21their way down to the Salt Creek Beach
24:23while Hudson and Harper played in the
24:25sand and Kip slept in his little
24:26bassinet lesie Annie and I I read nearly
24:28three chapters aloud of the Scottish
24:30Chiefs third chapter the name is
24:33ellersly it was a scene when Edwin was
24:36first introduced even the content that
24:38we read yesterday seemed significant to
24:40my life and calling and to this newly
24:42budding idea known to us as El Le School
24:44of Honor we met with Mike and Christa
24:47last night and thoroughly enjoyed a
24:507-hour conversation with them now for
24:53those of you that are new and don't
24:54understand the significance of that Mike
24:56and Christa share a campus with us so
24:58those his little feet kids that we
24:59prayed for that just returned home
25:01that's their Ministry this is where our
25:04Union on this campus began that
25:07night for possibly the very first time
25:09we begin to see clearly the ideas of the
25:11school of Honor in the orphan choir were
25:13jelling last night it was an
25:15extraordinary conversation that seemed
25:16to be governed by Grace a capitalized
25:18Grace I don't know if that's a tribute
25:19to Grace mccon there has been a great
25:22resistance to us communicating clearly
25:24on this on this point and to us knowing
25:27what we are supposed to be doing with
25:28our time and energies but it seemed that
25:30last night was a breakthrough over the
25:32fall we saw a change in pattern in our
25:34lives no more miscarriage of ideas the
25:36planning weekend that less than I had
25:37back in September was followed through
25:39onto a degree that before in our life
25:40was unheard of we feel strongly that we
25:43that we can plan and see God enable unto
25:45implementation and this situation needs
25:47God unto implementation we need that
25:50Bible College that's speaking of this
25:52campus that was what God was burdening
25:55us to do now if you knew the backstory
25:57on this we'd gone after this Bible
25:59College twice before and had a hindrance
26:02both times and so this was that fresh
26:06movement to say we need to go after that
26:08Bible College we're going to arrive back
26:10home after this and there's going to be
26:13a voice message waiting for us remember
26:15those old voice recorders where it's
26:16like you know it's bleeping and you push
26:18a button and it starts you know these
26:20these voice recordings and it said uh
26:24that the Bible College campus certain
26:26Dynamics were taking place and
26:29Gary who was the owner of it needs to
26:31sell get on your knees quick that's what
26:33we return to after this situation we
26:36need that bible college and Lord we are
26:37confident that we can't get it in our
26:39own strength we need you to work the
26:41deal glorify your name oh most high and
26:43do wonders and mighty exploits in this
26:46earth Psalm 1114 he has made his
26:50wonderful Works to be remembered isn't
26:53that an interesting way of saying it in
26:54other words he's doing these wonderful
26:56works but he made them to be remembered
26:58are we doing our part by remembering we
27:02don't have a lot to do in this whole
27:04schematic he's he's God he's the one
27:06that really gets it done but we do have
27:08a role it's a responsive role to his
27:13wondrous workings and that is that we're
27:15supposed to respond with Thanksgiving
27:17with gratitude and also with
27:20remembrance and so as we respond
27:23properly it cultivates the right growth
27:25and maturity in US
27:291 Corinthians 11:24 and many of us have
27:32heard this statement because in the
27:33context of that last supper uh or a
27:36reference to the Last Supper of the meal
27:38that we share in the church to remember
27:42and to rehearse the covenantal meal that
27:44we share with Jesus Christ by faith and
27:47Jesus says do this in remembrance of
27:51me the function of human memory so
27:54memory is actually something that I have
27:56taught too it's it's it's an odd thing
27:58to think how much remembrance memory is
28:01a part of my life I don't think about it
28:03until you know I actually pause and do a
28:05message on it's like huh yeah this
28:07actually is a huge part of my life so I
28:09used to teach a very advanced form of
28:12memory very complex system I don't want
28:15to say that I invented because it's a
28:17compilation of multiple systems that I
28:19put together and it you know we had I
28:23used to have a communications class and
28:25then I had an advanced communications
28:27class then these people still wanted to
28:29go further and they wanted to understand
28:30memory and how I would organize the
28:32thoughts in my brain to be able to speak
28:34without notes and how I would do these
28:36things so I said well I could teach so
28:37it's called super advanced communication
28:40and in that we were actually
28:41understanding human memory and how to
28:43maximize it and it's a very interesting
28:47thing to me we've never I I think we've
28:49taught it at ellersly a little uh but
28:52not significantly and mainly because our
28:55Focus here at ERS Ley hasn't just been
28:57on functional memory it's been on seeing
29:00Jesus Christ however if you could
29:02combine the two and learn to hold on to
29:05the things that God is investing in you
29:08what a
29:09boon so the memory of the righteous is
29:13blessed I thought that would be
29:14encouraging to some of you who are like
29:15oh boy I have a terrible memory well
29:17well look at this scripture the memory
29:20of the righteous is
29:22blessed now of course that is probably
29:25not saying it the way that I'm sort of
29:28wanting you to hear it right now but it
29:30is saying that we have a memory you look
29:32back in your history as one who was
29:34righteous and you're going to see the
29:36blessing of God that's really what it's
29:37talking about however I'd sort of like
29:39you to interpret in another way too and
29:41that is you know that poor memory that
29:43you have God would love to bless it he
29:46would love to encourage
29:49you different facets of remembering
29:52there's various ways that we can
29:53describe uh remembering but meditation
29:56is actually one of the historic ways to
29:59cultivate
30:01remembrance I I've had a lot of book
30:03projects I've had a lot of things where
30:05I've needed to go deep into
30:07recall and I don't know if you've ever
30:10seen something like a a book or a movie
30:12that was written where it's based on a
30:14true story and you're thinking how did
30:15they remember that much detail and I
30:18I've had that thought and and yet at the
30:20same time I've gone deep like when we
30:22were doing when dreams come true which
30:24is a story of our love story LESA and I
30:27spent oh I don't know what it was like a
30:29month just remembering and we created
30:31what we called a book map in every
30:34little story that we would be processing
30:36oh you remember that we would put it
30:37down and we would create now we didn't
30:39share all of that in the book but we
30:41created the moments that were most
30:43important and then we took out of those
30:45individual illustrations the moments in
30:47those illustrations that needed to be
30:48highlighted so we might be telling a
30:51story in there but we didn't need to
30:52start from the beginning of the story we
30:54could start halfway through the story
30:56get to the main gist of what we wanted
30:58to share and then move to the next story
31:00and but the process of cultivating that
31:03was extraordinary now we had our
31:05journals that we could reference and we
31:07could go back to that I just went
31:09through a I don't know what it was eight
31:11part series on my dad maybe it was
31:13longer than that but and it was called
31:15legendary and that was the same process
31:17of digging deep and saying I want to
31:20remember who my dad was cuz my dad
31:23passed away in 2021 I want to remember
31:26who he was what he did for me I do not
31:28want to forget how easy it is to forget
31:31and only remember a few big moments and
31:33if one of your moments that you're
31:34remembering isn't a positive one then
31:36you don't have a lasting positive
31:39remembrance of something that was very
31:41significant in your life to wrestle to
31:43see it from God's vantage point is of
31:45the utmost importance for us so
31:48meditation thoughtfulness memorializing
31:51that's the pile of stones
31:54consideration Deuteronomy 11:18 you
31:56shall lay up these words words of mine
31:58in your heart and in your soul and bind
32:00them as a sign on your hand and they
32:02shall be as frontlets between your eyes
32:05I mean it's sort of hard to forget
32:07something when it's on the back of your
32:08hand and it's hanging between your eyes
32:11and this is actually how God is going to
32:13set things up so that the law of God is
32:16constantly there that they are
32:17meditating upon it when they rise when
32:19they go down when they walk about that
32:22it's constantly before them huh I think
32:25we could learn a few things from that
32:27whether or not we need to stick
32:28something on the I've seen people
32:29actually stick things on the back of
32:31their hand I mean we have people in our
32:32own team I think that write things on
32:33their hand uh for for remembrance of it
32:37so whatever is effective for you is
32:40actually what you want to do it's one of
32:42the my big points that I've had over the
32:44years is like don't actually just look
32:46at how Eric does it because each of us
32:49remembers uniquely you sort of need to
32:52become an expert in how you work if you
32:54follow me around I do a lot of odd
32:57things my kids had a vote of who was the
32:59what was the term the odest of in the
33:02Ludy family was it weirdest what was it
33:06Quirk quirkiest okay well that's maybe a
33:09little better uh the quirkiest in the
33:11Ludy family and I'm thinking well I'm
33:12definitely not that I got voted second
33:15out of eight that was the second most
33:18quirky in the Ludy family we have some
33:19quirky characters in The Ludy family so
33:21I'm not sure what my kids were thinking
33:23with that one but if you watch me pray
33:26I'm going to have my eyes open and I'm
33:27going to be pacing now I was trained to
33:30be still and to bow my head and to fold
33:33my hands and then I would fall
33:35asleep that doesn't work for me and so
33:38the way I pray maximizes my focus if
33:41you've ever been talking with me in a
33:43meeting I'll get up and start pacing and
33:45I'll even have to warn you sometimes I'm
33:46going to get up and start pacing is that
33:47okay because it sharpens my focus when I
33:50pace and I move so I move constantly in
33:54my day to stay sharp in my mind that's
33:57because it work works for me if you
33:58started doing it it might totally
33:59backfire just because it works for Eric
34:02doesn't mean it works for you and so the
34:03key is for each of us to learn to
34:05cultivate this remembrance this
34:08sharpness in the way that best maximizes
34:12us the shadow box strategy so I remember
34:14hearing about someone they would build
34:16what's called shadow boxes I I've I've
34:18never built a shadow box myself you know
34:20one of those dimensional types of frames
34:22that has uh you can stick things in and
34:25arrange them and make them look all
34:26artistic and then you stick it on the
34:27wall
34:28and every time you see that it is making
34:30a statement to you of a key moment in
34:32your life we just had Wayne Weaver's
34:35birthday remember that Wayne that was
34:36pretty special and uh step Kendrick you
34:39know from the Kendrick Brothers sent a
34:40special uh video to Wayne it was really
34:43neat but he was started out in his
34:45office and behind him was a wall and
34:48it's a wall of remembrance and it's all
34:50the answered prayers that the Kendrick
34:52Brothers have experienced is all on the
34:54wall and so in their board meeting room
34:57there it is and they can just see it and
34:59constantly rehearse the faithfulness of
35:02God throughout their life I don't know
35:04what is going to work for you I remember
35:05I was going to I had this elaborate plan
35:07once that I was going to build a stone
35:09walkway and I was going to have each
35:11Stone be engraved with some Grand thing
35:14that God has done never even made one
35:16stone so sometimes they're not the best
35:18ideas because they're a little too
35:20difficult to get started like I don't
35:21even know how to engrave on Stone how's
35:23this going to work it's like okay
35:24probably the not best not the best idea
35:26for Eric now if you happen to be a stone
35:28engraver and you have your own machine
35:30for it perfect idea for
35:33you the ancient art of biblical
35:36meditation so the way that the church in
35:39the historic sense would prepare their
35:41hearts for worship was through something
35:44called biblical meditation now we use
35:46the word meditation in a very
35:48cattywampus way these days and it's sort
35:51of like transend Dental meditation which
35:52is like to empty your brain of
35:54everything and to focus on nothing and I
35:58want to say that is the dumbest thing
35:59you could ever do in your life because
36:01something is going to come in the moment
36:03you start you know opening up your brain
36:04to nothing and however biblical
36:08meditation is not emptying your brain
36:09it's
36:10focusing on Jesus focusing on his word
36:14you take one scripture and you meditate
36:15upon that scripture you're unpacking it
36:18but you're focusing with laser-like
36:20Precision into one zone of your life
36:23remembrance is based on this principle
36:25and so to actually think about let's
36:27just pick someone your father and to
36:30actually begin to think and to turn it
36:32over in your mind the things that you
36:34love about your father the memories you
36:36have with your father the the qualities
36:38in your father that are truly virtuous
36:40and wonderful you see to actually engage
36:43in doing this does something inside of
36:46you you see it does something inside of
36:48the church when we meditate on Jesus one
36:51of the the ways that I've likened it to
36:53is behind this this back wall behind me
36:56is a curtain and behind that curtain is
36:58a big window and it's a really beautiful
37:02site out that window and you can say why
37:03are you covering it well if we don't
37:05cover it then I'm back lit and that's
37:06all you're seeing and I'm just sort of
37:07some Shadow up here it's a very
37:09ineffective way to communicate however
37:11it's beautiful and you see a lake and
37:13you see the uh the trees on the other
37:15side of the lake and you you can see the
37:18mountains in the distance depends on
37:20which angle you're on you might see a
37:22like a a goose out there maybe a swan or
37:24a fox running across maybe a deer Maybe
37:27a ball eagal this is really nice
37:30right now imagine that we have the wall
37:33there and the curtain closed and I say
37:35guys I want you to say something nice
37:38about the lake and the The View we have
37:41have out the back you see because you
37:43have not beheld it because you have not
37:45seen it it feels a little strange to
37:48just say something nice I am sure it's a
37:51wonderful view you know and so we sing a
37:53song about it the wonderful view out the
37:55back window of ellersly and we sing a
37:57song about it and I want to say even
37:59though that is the most ridiculous
38:00illustration that's how actually some of
38:02us worship God we haven't personally
38:05seen it but we just know it's the right
38:08thing to do to say all sorts of nice
38:09things about them when in actuality God
38:11wants us to start by seeing beholding in
38:15our understanding cultivating through
38:17biblical meditation and then what that
38:19does is it stirs it elicits praise if I
38:23were to let's do it a different way
38:25let's imagine that I'm like you know
38:26guys I got this very cool view I want to
38:29show it to you and I open it up just a
38:31little and you get a bright light that
38:33shines through like just that uh that
38:35sun that's that's shimmering through you
38:37see a little Lake and then I close it
38:39again I go okay guys let's sing you're
38:41like oh the beautiful light I saw the
38:43Shimmer you see you're actually seeing
38:46something it's real for you and imagine
38:48I open it up a little more and you see a
38:50goose out there you know it's flapping
38:51around like oh I saw oh Lord thank you
38:54for the goose you see once you begin to
38:56see it it becomes genuine in you and if
38:59I just open that up the whole way
39:01there's no arm twist there's a beautiful
39:03sunset out there I don't need to say say
39:04something nice about the Sun that Sunset
39:07say something nice there's no need
39:09because you can't help but say something
39:11nice because it's eliciting praise
39:14within you you see biblical meditation
39:17is the entry into worship and praise
39:20however if we don't have that cultivated
39:23inside of us it can often feel rather
39:25dry and dead
39:28so the ancient art of biblical
39:29meditation readying the heart to worship
39:31blowing upon the Embers of affection
39:33inciting the Inner Man toward
39:36Praise You know the term in Psalms say
39:39law just pause consider this don't don't
39:42rush
39:43ahead cultivate this understanding see
39:48it remember the words of the Lord Jesus
39:52what a great
39:55exhortation an exercise in remembrance I
39:57could call this a personal exercise in
39:59remembrance it's sort of hard to do this
40:01for you I can only do it for myself now
40:04I have so much so much of a collection
40:07of memory in my life it's a rather
40:09intimidating to think of even trying to
40:11give you a sample because I have
40:13elaborate organization systems in my
40:15life all I have to do is click on a
40:16folder where I'm writing a book for each
40:19of my kids I have so much that I gather
40:22I have my Evernote thing where I save
40:24all the key things and I I label them to
40:27make sure that if I ever want to just
40:28remember something about one of my kids
40:30boom all these things pop up and so I'm
40:33just going to go through I have just fun
40:35things that I'll often times see this is
40:37called the attack of the Mean Old Goat
40:39that's Kip there and we were at uh lee
40:41Martinez farm and uh it's that always
40:45gets me to laugh and I love just seeing
40:47the attack of the Mean Old Goat but I
40:49put that together so that I would
40:51remember the preciousness of it the
40:54attack of the mean old goat and what's
40:56funny is I have a whole bunch of things
40:58like this one of my things I was even
41:00thinking about this morning is Josh kinu
41:02I'll send him this audio clip every now
41:04and then uh of was that first semester
41:06or was that second semester second
41:08semester where he was he was wearing a
41:10pink shirt and uh he was skipping around
41:14that's the way I always describe it and
41:15he twisted his ankle or something like
41:17that so now he had a twisted ankle and
41:19the whole body the whole uh School
41:20wanted to pray for Josh so he came up
41:23and I prayed a prayer uh to for of
41:25healing for his ankle and it is a very
41:28funny prayer and so I have this audio
41:31clip that every now and then I'll
41:32stumble across it and just send it to
41:33Josh remember
41:36this he does
41:39too uh 2013 so I'm skipping forward a
41:42lot but I here's what I I chose to use
41:44lesie used to have I forgot what it was
41:47called in the set aart magazine but it
41:48was like cute kiddo quotes or something
41:50like that so I just have some cute kiddo
41:52quotes and you'll understand why they're
41:54they're
41:55precious so here's Hudson age eight he
41:57got braces says lesle actually they are
41:59only on his two front teeth but every
42:01time I look at him now I do a double
42:02take because he suddenly looks like a
42:04teenager or at least a 12-year-old which
42:06is weird because he still acts like an
42:088-year-old he also had to have two teeth
42:10pulled which I was concerned would be a
42:12big ordeal but all I had to do was offer
42:13a reward of some new LEGOs if he did
42:15well and success was in the bag he
42:17didn't even Flinch when they gave him a
42:18shot of novacaine I wish us adults could
42:20be motivated by new LEGOs the same way
42:22when it comes to dental
42:25work this is harp at age six I have a
42:28picture of Gracie the dog down there
42:30just in case you needs some context her
42:32love language speaking of Harper is is
42:34if someone shows love and affection for
42:36her little dog Gracie this is kind of a
42:39problem for me because I don't really
42:41love dogs and I find it find it takes
42:42quite a bit of discipline to cuddle with
42:44them however when I come home after
42:46doing errands and attempt to greet
42:47Harper with a hug she steps aside and
42:49says hug Gracie first she so excited to
42:51see you so in hugging Gracie I'm
42:54actually hugging Harper with Harper and
42:56the family I'll have to become a dog
42:58person one way or another and the
43:01amazing thing is that F that's she
43:04became a dog person lesle is a dog
43:06person if you can believe it thanks to
43:08Gracie Kip age four he's catching a
43:11vision for all the great things he can
43:13do when he gets big he especially wants
43:15to be like Daddy when he gets big see I
43:17like this one the other day while we
43:19were eating breakfast he asked when I
43:21get big I I can I can I baptize people
43:23and drink root beer like
43:25Daddy if if you know anything about Eric
43:28Ludy in his pastoral role he frequently
43:30baptizes and he definitely loves root
43:31beer Eric said well I guess that sums up
43:34my life pretty
43:35well Kip age four there's a lot of Kip
43:38quotes in here Kip is the most quotable
43:40character on Earth I was Chang this is
43:42leslee writing I was changing his shirt
43:44and he said mommy do you want to push my
43:46belly button I said sure and pretended I
43:49was pushing it like a button on an
43:51electric toy after I pushed it two or
43:52three times he said don't push it over
43:54and over again do you know why I said no
43:57why and he answered because if you do it
43:59will run out of battery what a funny
44:01little
44:02guy Kipling age4 in the car the other
44:05day the kids were discussing how many
44:06inches tall they were they were
44:08attempting to determine which of them
44:09was tall enough to ride certain rides at
44:11Disneyland Kipling announced that he was
44:13going to inch himself which presumably
44:15meant count how many inches tall he was
44:17he then attempted to use his hand to
44:18measure from his toes up to his head
44:20after a few minutes of focused counting
44:22he excitedly announced to everyone guess
44:24what I'm 9 in tall he was very happy to
44:27be such a big tall
44:29boy Kipling age four the other day he
44:31was speaking in a disrespectful tone
44:34whoa bud I don't like to hear that so I
44:36told him he'd better change his voice he
44:38thought about what I'd said for a minute
44:39or two and then began talking to me in a
44:41squeaky high-pitched tone that made him
44:44sound like a cartoon character dub why
44:46are you talking that way I asked because
44:48you told me to change my voice was his
44:50matter of fact
44:53reply oh this was this is just out of
44:55lesli say I just thought that that was
44:57so precious the we used to have a whole
44:59system of Photography too which captured
45:02our kids at a whole another level and it
45:03was it's just so precious to look back
45:06and to
45:07remember so ABY age four the other day
45:10at breakfast we were all going around
45:11sharing our favorite kinds of dogs there
45:13were a variety of breeds mentioned
45:15including Bernie's mountain dogs that
45:16probably was mine cocker spaniels and
45:18muts like Gracie but when we got to ABY
45:21she confidently declared my favorite
45:22kind of a dog is a prairie dog she
45:25honestly believed these little rodents
45:26to be dogs and in her opinion they are
45:27much cuter than any other real dog out
45:30there avenly age4 her giggle is
45:33contagious every night as we are putting
45:34her to sleep she seems to get a major
45:36giggle attack the other night I warned
45:37her sternly not to giggle while I was
45:39praying for her and tucking her in she
45:41clapped her hands over her mouth and
45:43genuinely tried to stop but it was no
45:45use she buried her face in her pillow
45:46and tried to stifle her Giggles but they
45:48just kept coming it was sure I was sure
45:51this was just a simple issue of getting
45:52self-control but as I was trying to
45:54lecture her about it I suddenly found
45:56myself giggling too I was feeling a
45:58little like those characters in Mary
45:59Poppins who end up floating up to the
46:01ceiling because they couldn't stop
46:03laughing so in this time right at this
46:06exact time we're going to have two
46:07little kids in Haiti that can't really
46:09say a lot yet and so I don't have a lot
46:11of good quotes but Annie wesi who is the
46:14one that designs our magazine was down
46:17in Haiti and so she is going to create
46:19along with hearta artma this entire book
46:23of their entire memories full of
46:24pictures and all the memories and so
46:26we've been able ble to catalog all of
46:28that and remember this which has become
46:30very very precious now that Reese and
46:32Lily are at an age where they can
46:33process this but we it's just so so
46:36precious to look back and to see these
46:39things so this is 2014 Hudson age n he
46:43has so the reason I put some of these in
46:45is just to sort of see anyone that knows
46:47Hudson and sort of knows what he does
46:49now it's just really amazing to see some
46:51of these Beginnings he has written a
46:53collection of Illustrated stories which
46:55are actually quite good this is less
46:57talking one of them has a little boy
46:58daydreaming about various things he
47:00wants to be I wish I could be a pirate
47:02picture of a boy dressed as a pirate
47:04then I wish I could be a king picture of
47:06a boy dress as a king then I wish I
47:08could be an elephant picture of an
47:09elephant with a boy's face then no I
47:12want to be then lift the flap to see the
47:14next Picture Me Maybe it's just me but I
47:17think that sounds like a children's book
47:18that would actually be published today
47:21it's actually rather
47:24profound Hudson uh is is age 9 he wanted
47:27to know if he could take his passport
47:28and keep it in his room I told him no
47:30because if you lost your passport that
47:31would be bad news he paused to think
47:34about that for a minute then asked
47:35soberly would it be in the
47:37newspaper I told him it wouldn't be
47:39quite that kind of bad news another day
47:41I told Hudson that he should not write
47:42his scooter while eating a snack because
47:44it could be dangerous he confidently
47:46informed me oh don't worry I'm very
47:48talented at
47:50it Hudson recently learned about the
47:52national cow appreciation day which I
47:54had never heard of but apparently takes
47:56place every year in July he told me I'm
47:58not sure exactly what people do on cow
48:00appreciation day but I guess it's when
48:02people when everyone who loves
48:03hamburgers goes out and eats them to
48:05celebrate how good they taste I'm not
48:08sure that eating hamburgers is really
48:09the true purpose of of this national
48:11holiday in fact according to Chick-fil-A
48:12is it's the opposite but to Hudson it
48:14seemed pretty obvious that stopping at
48:16Burger King would be the best way to
48:17show his appreciation for
48:20cows Harper age seven during the first
48:23real snowstorm of the season the kids
48:24were looking out the window and really
48:26hoping for enough snow to Build a
48:27Snowman Harper informed all of us very
48:29excitedly I really hope this snowstorm
48:31turns into a blister translation
48:35blizzard Kip age five Kip caught a fat
48:37frog in our backyard and named him Fred
48:39after a few minutes of being carried
48:41around upside down by an excited little
48:43boy Fred managed to escape and began
48:44hopping around near an electrical box
48:46behind our house Kip was very concerned
48:48about Fred's safety and came running in
48:49the house yelling hurry we need to
48:51rescue Fred before he gets
48:54persecuted translation El
48:58uted Kip age five I'm going to invent a
49:00machine that buckles kids into their car
49:02seats so big people don't have to do it
49:05a hand will come out of the car and
49:06automatically Buckle me into my car seat
49:08the hand will also give me a $100 bill
49:10every time it buckles me then I will
49:12take it home and put the money in a jar
49:14then I will wait until I big per till
49:16I'm a big person use all that money to
49:18go out to other countries and help
49:20orphans I wrote an entire book in the
49:23when he was five he he just went on a
49:25wild invention spree and some of the
49:28cutest things you have ever heard are in
49:30this book it's called dubs Dandy
49:31inventions a look into the preciousness
49:33of a little boy but again just like
49:35chronicling something that is so
49:38precious that you never want to forget
49:42it so 5-year-old Kipling AKA duber he
49:46got his nickname because when he came
49:47home Harper said my baby duber instead
49:50of baby brother and so then he was D
49:52recently accompanied us to an ellersly
49:54staff meeting he was laying on the floor
49:56next to a chair coloring with some
49:58crayons when one of our staff members
49:59noticed that he had scooted underneath
50:01the chair and seemed to be coloring on
50:02the UND side of the seat she corrected
50:04him and he adamantly denied the fact
50:06that he'd colored on the chair at all
50:08later she turned the chair over to see
50:09whether there were any scribbles on it
50:11sure enough and huge scrawled cran
50:12letters was the word duber the poor
50:15little guy didn't quite think through
50:16the fact that his lie would be exposed
50:18by the overwhelming incriminating
50:19evidence he left
50:22behind Kling AKA duber was drifting off
50:25to sleep the other night when suddenly
50:27he thought of two very important
50:28questions he wanted to ask ask me mama
50:30he said sleepily I need to know two
50:32things first of all do rocket still
50:35exist before I had a chance to answer
50:36that question he fired off the next one
50:38when spiders spin webs where does the
50:40sticky stuff come from it's hilarious to
50:42see how his mind works and what he's
50:44thinking about as he's falling asleep
50:45rockets and spiders see a little boy or
50:49what it's hot this is all Kip talking at
50:52age five it's hot I need to put on some
50:54sunscream on my arms
50:57my favorite kind of snake is a Boa
50:59Constructor did astronauts used to be
51:02imaginated but now they are real I need
51:05to clean my hands can I have some
51:06antizer
51:08please looks like this jar has allergy
51:10growing in it algae oh no someone's
51:14evangelized that
51:16building vandalized our trip is coming
51:20soon I need to pack my supcase suitcase
51:23some animals like to evaporate for the
51:25winter
51:28hibernate ABY age5 she has announced
51:30that the cutest person in our family is
51:32daddy she has also started calling Eric
51:34sugar
51:36daddy because he is allowed to eat
51:38sugary treats more than the kids do she
51:40came up with that name completely on her
51:42own and it always makes him think twice
51:44before indulging in a root beer or a
51:45piece of chocolate
51:50cake ABY age five uh oh it says
51:53four-year-old ABY so age four
51:55four-year-old ABY some picked up on the
51:57phrase Mrs smarty pants she and Harper
51:59have been calling each other Mrs smarty
52:01pants when they are goofing off around
52:03or being silly the other day after Avy
52:05and Harper had been jokingly calling
52:06each other by this name Avy looked at me
52:08very seriously and asked mama who is the
52:10real Mrs smarty pants and where does she
52:12live ABY decided she wanted to meet this
52:14very intriguing and very smart person
52:16who was out there somewhere and she
52:17wondered if it happen if I happen to
52:19know Mrs smarty pants
52:22personally so this is a letter I wrote
52:24to lilyan Reese when they were down in
52:25Haiti and they're going to then I'll
52:27read you their responses they're very
52:29very precious to Daddy Lily and Reese
52:32daddy and mommy miss you so much our
52:34love for you only grows with each
52:36passing day it's like a balloon it gets
52:37bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger
52:40but it never ever will go pop Miss Annie
52:43and Miss harda are always telling us
52:45stories about you two so we sit around
52:47as a family and read the stories we
52:48laugh we love we cry and we miss you
52:50even more I can't wait to have you share
52:52with me your scriptures that you know
52:54and won't it be fun to play
52:55hide-and-seek together
52:57or how about wrestle on the floor Daddy
52:59loves to wrestle with his
53:00kiddos daddy built a stream a fountain
53:03and a pond in our backyard maybe we
53:04could Splash In The Stream and Float
53:06boats in the pond or we could jump on
53:07the jumpy Castle or dig in the sandbox
53:09or maybe you could rub Gracie the dog's
53:11tummy she would really like that or we
53:13could eat some eggs or chocolate chip
53:15cookies or even watch the dolphin taale
53:17together pretty soon the passports will
53:19be done and then we will be even closer
53:21to coming to get you I want you to know
53:23that Daddy thinks you both are two of
53:25the most special little people on Earth
53:26and I'm so excited to give you great big
53:28hugs and big juicy
53:30kisses keep praying God is working to
53:32see this through he will do it lots and
53:34lots of love Daddy so for those of you
53:37that know the story of Reese and Lily
53:38coming home it was all out war and I
53:42don't know maybe 8 to 10 times it was
53:44actually declared impossible and it
53:45could not happen and my kids it was
53:48their first big step into believing that
53:51God would do something and I remember
53:54one of my kids who I don't remember who
53:55it was that stuck a picture up on the
53:57wall was that Hudson he had a picture of
53:59Reese and Lily and it said something
54:01like they will come home soon and it was
54:04just like a faith thing so you can just
54:05imagine as a dad it's like dear Lord uh
54:08don't let this fragile Faith be
54:11crushed and so the for them to come home
54:14is literally one of the most
54:15extraordinary most important things that
54:17ever happened in our life this is the
54:20response from Lily Age 2 I love you
54:23Daddy I excited to Splash In The Stream
54:26does this sandbox have a sand crab
54:28seashells and sand crabs daddy do you
54:30like dolphins are we going to watch
54:31Dolphin Tale I'm praying for my passport
54:34to come Lily and Bubba that's what she
54:36called Rees want to go on the plane
54:38thanks for my new
54:43room thank you Daddy for our letter
54:46thank you Daddy for my balloon love in
54:48Jesus name
54:49[Laughter]
54:52amen ree AG 2 hi Daddy it's my favorite
54:56to do dolphin tail I want to fly a kite
54:59in the sky I'm going to eat rice and
55:01beans I eat my chocolate cookies I want
55:03to go and make bubbles in the bucket
55:05blow bubbles in the bucket I want to go
55:07to airplane yeah I go explore at my new
55:10house in Colorado I love you
55:12Daddy who wouldn't want to remember that
55:15and isn't it amazing how easily we
55:17forget it how quickly those precious
55:20things get buried under the silt of
55:23Life 2015 by the the way we're almost
55:26done guys I don't go very much further
55:29Avy age 6 I wonder when the Earth is
55:31going to burn up I hope it doesn't
55:32happen soon cuz I might miss our next
55:34family
55:37vacation 2016 another Avy quote
55:41describing her future husband so I want
55:43you guys to take this seriously because
55:45she is a very desirable young woman in
55:47the future right he would need to be a
55:49Christian he can't have a beard nor can
55:52he have hair that sticks up he can't be
55:55too old
55:57I think that's very reasonable I have
55:58all these guys that are trying to get me
55:59to grow a beard I mean why how I in the
56:01world would I grow a beard if my
56:03daughter is doesn't even want to marry a
56:05guy with a beard I think that's the
56:06reason she doesn't want to marry a guy
56:07with a beard is because I don't have a
56:10beard so this is Reese and Lily coming
56:13home that's the picture talk about
56:15memorializing an incredible moment if
56:17you guys have never seen the video of
56:18Reese and Lily's
56:20homecoming it is a tearjerker very very
56:24precious 20
56:2617 Kip age n why do they say the court
56:30is a germ they should just use some germ
56:32spray before they
56:35start Lily age 6 speaking to a new
56:38acquaintance if you want to meet my mom
56:40she's right downstairs her name is
56:44Mommy
56:472018 so this is ABY writing how God has
56:50helped the ludis and she's going to
56:52write about God's Supernatural provision
56:55for the wedding wedding ring for for
56:57Lesley a long time ago Daddy was going
57:00to get married to Mama and you'll notice
57:02some misspellings in here that are very
57:04cute but he did not have enough money to
57:06get her a ring because what would a
57:09wedding be without a ring so later he
57:11reached into his coat pocket because he
57:13forgot something and he found a lot of
57:18money just enough money to buy a ring
57:21and with the money was a picture of a
57:23ring I think the picture was there to
57:25make sure daddy knew was not it was for
57:26a ring and not junk
57:29[Laughter]
57:33food this is uh ABY writing a letter to
57:37Lily after she heard that she had given
57:39her life to
57:41Jesus my kids would always write a you
57:43can't see it it says Avy to you Kip
57:45would always write Kip to you when they
57:46write wrote a letter to you and at the
57:49top right it says let God even though it
57:51says got let God keep working in your
57:53life Lily I am super happy that you gave
57:56your life to Jesus when I heard the news
57:58I nearly started to
58:00cry I am so happy for you I think God
58:03will do great things in your life I
58:06think you could be the most godly woman
58:07in the world when you grow up I am proud
58:10to have you as my sister God will do
58:13miracles in you life isn't that
58:17precious remember when so I'm going to
58:21read I'm going to show you the video
58:22that I gave for the staff it was right
58:24at a crucial time where we had when we
58:26started ellersly it was all out War the
58:29devil had one agenda and that was to
58:31destroy us and if I went into the
58:33stories they are hair raising what we
58:36went through in those first three years
58:38of
58:40ellersly and so for Christmas that
58:43year I made this as a pile of stones for
58:47all of us some of it is maybe not going
58:49to translate to you but you just sort of
58:51have to go with it and understand this
58:52is what piles of stones mean they don't
58:55always make sense to everyone but they
58:57make sense to the one that put it there
58:58and that one who put it there is
59:00responsible to pass that
59:03[Music]
59:05along and I'll read it out loud with
59:08great
59:10love to our beloved
59:13staff Christmas
59:16[Music]
59:182013 remember when a retrospect
59:27remember
59:29when over 20 years ago Eric picked up a
59:32pencil and wrote down the vision from
59:33Men of
59:36Honor remember
59:39when we gathered for prayer in the rl's
59:42living room and first laid this Vision
59:44before the
59:47almighty remember
59:50when Annie first arrived at our house to
59:52care for little baby Hudson
59:57remember
59:58[Music]
59:59when we would gather outside the chapel
1:00:02and envision the next generation of Amy
1:00:04Carmichaels and Hudson Taylor being
1:00:06trained inside that building remember
1:00:09when we almost had possession of the
1:00:12campus twice only to be
1:00:16hindered remember
1:00:19when the vision for the school of Honor
1:00:21came forth and we knew we needed to go
1:00:23after the campus property with fresh
1:00:24gusto
1:00:27remember
1:00:29when Eric on a whim purchased ers.com
1:00:32for
1:00:33$800 I've only done three spontaneous
1:00:36things in my life that was one of them
1:00:38remember
1:00:39when we stood outside the chapel under
1:00:42the moon and unrelentingly asked God for
1:00:44the
1:00:45campus remember
1:00:49when Gary was finally bent to the idea
1:00:51of leasing us the property
1:00:56remember
1:00:58when beex brought us to Dan and sy's
1:01:03house remember
1:01:07when we finally met bex's best friend
1:01:13Grace remember
1:01:16when Sandy switched out Eric's chocolate
1:01:19dessert for key lime
1:01:20pie that's an inside joke you have to
1:01:23ask me about it later it's really funny
1:01:25Remember When
1:01:27Sandy first came on as Eric's
1:01:29[Music]
1:01:32assistant remember
1:01:36when that one man said elely was not a
1:01:38viable plan and remember the faith that
1:01:40God had given us to Stand Fast remember
1:01:45when Ben arrived on campus with a guitar
1:01:48in hand and a passion for discipleship
1:01:49in his heart Ben zores was part of our
1:01:52original leadership team remember
1:01:54when Hudson preached his first sermon
1:01:57from the ellersly
1:02:00stage remember
1:02:03when that February came and we were
1:02:06supposed to be without funds and somehow
1:02:08we had 32,000 in the bank that was 4
1:02:10months before Ely started remember
1:02:13when God removed the thorn from our
1:02:15midst and suddenly the floodgates of
1:02:17student applications came pouring in and
1:02:19ellersly as we known know it was formed
1:02:22remember
1:02:23when we would gather for staff meetings
1:02:26in the girlss dorm with nothing but a
1:02:27bottle of Windex and a host of Macintosh
1:02:29computers to keep us company remember
1:02:33when it was a couple days before the
1:02:35start of our inaugural semester and it
1:02:37appeared that we may not get access to
1:02:38the chapel lake house and Everett Center
1:02:41remember
1:02:43when we simply ignored the Thousand
1:02:46alarms that were sounding in our midst
1:02:47and we decided that like little children
1:02:49we would simply trust Our God remember
1:02:53when Eric first stepped out under the
1:02:55stage on May 31st 2010 remember the
1:02:58tears remember Hudson standing there
1:02:59watching Remember the keynote slide
1:03:00about the 12 young men remember
1:03:04when remember how we wrestled for the
1:03:06power of the Living God to come in our
1:03:10generation remember
1:03:13when the time came for our very first
1:03:16baptisms in the
1:03:19lake remember
1:03:22when Dan and Sandy used to actually live
1:03:25in the dorm
1:03:30remember
1:03:32when we graduated our inaugural class
1:03:35remember the
1:03:39tears remember
1:03:41when the power of Reckoning with truth
1:03:44was brought into Clear
1:03:47View remember
1:03:50when Nathan Johnson came to ellersly as
1:03:53a student
1:03:57we made the historic vote and the winter
1:03:58spring semester officially came into
1:04:00being Nathan won best laugh Sandy won
1:04:03best hair and Annie one best accent
1:04:06Belle Ben fell for one of our students
1:04:09don't get any ideas guys
1:04:12remember looking around the room at each
1:04:14other and thinking how did God get this
1:04:16group
1:04:19together oh and remember
1:04:22when Gary sat down with Eric at Alba and
1:04:25said so I'm shutting down my wedding
1:04:26business I was wondering if you're still
1:04:28interested in the
1:04:30campus let's never fail to
1:04:33remember all the trials difficulties and
1:04:36testings along the way that only made us
1:04:39stronger all the weapons fashioned
1:04:41against us that have not
1:04:45prospered all the lives that our God has
1:04:48awakened and rescued in and through this
1:04:52work and how ill equipped we are to be
1:04:55doing that which we are
1:04:57doing but above all let's never fail to
1:05:01remember how faithful he has
1:05:14been so here's the challenge of this
1:05:18this is a really simple message I know I
1:05:20could have said it with just a couple
1:05:21words instead of giving you an
1:05:23example however and maybe it's for me
1:05:26that I give the example it's to
1:05:29remember the faithfulness of God in my
1:05:32life as an individual but you have to
1:05:34recognize that when you receive arrows
1:05:37for a
1:05:38living when you are bombarded with
1:05:42challenge as part of your calling it's
1:05:46extra important to
1:05:48remember that your God has never failed
1:05:51you has never left you has never
1:05:54forsaken you and I I tell you what that
1:05:56is scratching the surface guys I wrote a
1:05:59book called Barracks 28 which is about
1:06:00the first 20 years of my marriage to
1:06:02lesie and it is a remarkable picture of
1:06:06God's faithfulness over and over and
1:06:08over
1:06:09again there is so much to remember that
1:06:13we forget and I exhort you as the Church
1:06:16of Jesus Christ to begin to
1:06:18strategically set up your life to build
1:06:21piles of stones so here's my challenge
1:06:24go spend a day
1:06:26remembering pull out some of those super
1:06:28precious stones of Remembrance in your
1:06:30life and Heap them up high in the living
1:06:31room of your soul then take a step back
1:06:34and look on the faithfulness of your God
1:06:35with fresh awe and
1:06:39wonder we'll finish with this Isaiah 251
1:06:43I it was interesting I opened up this
1:06:45this book I showed you that first book
1:06:47we wrote you know that I didn't give you
1:06:48the name to and the very beginning is a
1:06:51scripture and it's this
1:06:54one oh Lord you are my God I will exalt
1:06:57you I will give thanks to your name for
1:06:59you have worked wonders plans formed
1:07:02long ago with perfect
1:07:05faithfulness that's our God and he is
1:07:09good

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