August 18, 2023 • 29 mins
We're privileged to have Michael Blue join us for an intimate chat about his journey towards becoming a devoted disciple. Growing up, Michael had the benefit of having a father who was a personal finance advisor, and being the youngest of five children. His upbringing shaped his perspective on life and the importance of having a solid faith. We delve into his personal experiences, his struggles with balancing faith and professional life, as well as his observations about the dysfunctions within the church and other ministries.
It's not every day you get to hear about someone who has walked the path of obedience and trust in God's plan, especially when it seemed to be going against His will. Michael opens up about the difficult decisions he and his family had to make when the cost of serving overseas with International Justice Mission became too overwhelming. We engage in a thought-provoking discussion about the tension between obedience and disobedience, and how, despite appearances, it's possible to trust in God's plan.
We wrap up our conversation with Michael as he underscores the importance of acknowledging God's mercies and the strength of His grace. His life now embodies God's love for the world, a testament to his incredible journey of faith. Michael's story is truly inspiring and serves as a beacon of hope for those going through their own faith struggles. So, join us for this heartfelt discussion that will leave you pondering long after it's over. Until the next episode, keep faith and keep growing.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dan Schilling (00:07):
Hey, welcome to the Feed Sheep Podcast, where we
help you hear God's voice,follow His lead and thrive as a
disciple.
I'm Dan Schilling and I'll beone of your guides.
Now let's get into today'stopic.
Hey, welcome to the Feed SheepPodcast.
Good to be back with you andMichael, and it's always good to
be with you.
Today We've got a specialepisode.
We have a very special guestfor our interview today.
Michael Blue (00:29):
I am so excited, dan, me too, me too, because the
special guest.
Dan Schilling (00:36):
everybody is Mr Michael Blue.
Michael Blue (00:39):
Oh, it's a.
I don't know that I can becalled a special guest at this
point, but I'll take it.
Dan Schilling (00:45):
Well, you're the special and maybe not, to guess,
your co-host, but you know.
Anyway, you're still here andwe're going to have a good time.
And what I want to continue toreiterate today is we talk
through some of your story andif you're listening today, what
we really want to seeaccomplished is to see you have
a story where you're hearingGod's voice following His lead,
(01:09):
thriving as a disciple.
And so today we're going totalk with Michael about how his
journey and some of the stepshe's taken on this journey of
hearing God's voice followinghis lead and I think you're
going to agree with me, there'saspects of thriving and
sometimes it doesn't always feellike it.
I know that, michael, and Iknow the bumps and bruises and
twists and turns along thejourney, but looking forward to
(01:32):
having you share today, so yeah,well.
Michael Blue (01:35):
Thanks, dan.
I think, as we talked aboutsharing stories and doing it,
there's some reluctance, I think, in each of our hearts of
sharing stories, because we bothknow that we don't have it all
together and there's shiny partsof the story that we share and
oftentimes the uglier, rougherparts don't get shared.
(01:56):
But those certainly have comealong the way and we're still
working through them.
So the stories, I think, aremeant to say hey, we're fellow
journeyers in this.
Maybe in one area we've taken acouple of steps farther, but
maybe you've taken a coupleother steps farther.
So, as believers, you want toencourage each other with story,
you want to spur each other onto good deeds, and I do think we
(02:17):
want to be people who havelives that are worthy of
imitation and that we want to becareful there, but we do want
to be people who we can say youknow what, follow me.
I feel like I'm learning.
I'm not there, but I'm learning, and I think we're on a path of
following Jesus.
So that's hopefully what we'rebecoming as we learn to thrive
(02:41):
in these lives.
Dan Schilling (02:43):
Well and to your point.
We talked a few times.
Maybe here I'll just reiterateagain that our goal for us is to
help folks like you and I onthis journey as well.
Continue to learn, apply,multiply, become kind of our
lamb methodologies to learnhearing, to learn how to hear
God's voice, learning how hewants to speak to us through His
(03:06):
word.
We apply that truth, we seethat applied in our life in a
lot of different ways, and thenwhen we see that word applied,
then the multiply.
And so today the desire is, aswe think about the multiplying,
is that it's like seed, or itstruth, and that seed is in
(03:27):
Isaiah 55, it talks about thatHis word goes forth and it
always bears fruit, that it'sseed for the sower and bread for
the eater, and I believe ourstories can be bred for us as an
eater, to remind us of God'sgoodness.
But it's also seed for thefuture.
And so, and as you said therejust a minute ago, what we're
(03:47):
becoming, and we're becomingfaithful, it's our desire to
become faithful followers ofJesus, and so I know that's what
God's going to do, I believe,through our time today.
So let me pray for us and thenwe're going to kick off, ask you
some questions.
So, father, thanks for today,thank you for this time, just to
come before you posturing ourhearts and say, god, we know
(04:10):
that we're not perfect.
We do want to follow you whenPaul said, follow me as I follow
Christ.
We want to be ones who live alife that's worthy of being
imitated.
But it isn't because of us,it's because of you and us, that
hope of glory.
And so today I do pray that, asMichael shares and gives really
just testimony of your goodnessand how you've directed his
(04:33):
steps, and he and listen, theirfamily, just ask that your word
would go forth, encouragement tothose listening today, that
we're not special because of whowe are, we're special because
of who you are in us, and that'sour real hope.
So, thank you for this time andI pray that just the words of
our mouth, meditations of ourheart be pleasing to you.
Love you, thank you in Jesus'name.
(04:54):
And then, michael, let's getstarted.
Let's take it from the top man.
Give us the Michael Blue story.
Michael Blue (05:05):
All right.
Well, like I said, we're goingto hit some more highlights, but
there's plenty of little lightsthat we're going to talk about
as well, and actually that's alot of my stories learning
through my failures, so you'llget to hear some of those.
It's not all shiny.
Dan Schilling (05:22):
We'll get forward to it.
Let's go, yeah good Thanks.
Michael Blue (05:27):
I grew up in the youngest of five kids.
Some of you might or might notknow my father, ron Blue.
I think we've talked about hima little bit on the broadcast.
He's known, if you're of acertain age, probably in this
world of personal finance.
He wrote some books in the 80s,really, you know 90s and
whatnot, but he really he wasone of the first, with Larry
(05:48):
Brickett, who talked about andwrote about what it means to
obey God and our finances, andso we had a financial planning
company that the goal andmission was to help Christians
plan and manage their money sothat they could have more to
give away, and so that's kind ofthe ecosphere that I grew up in
.
Also, along with that camespeaking gigs, and so he would
(06:10):
go speak.
He'd speak at churches, he'dspeak at conferences, events.
I can remember going to aPromise Keepers event at the
Cowboy Stadium in Dallas wherehe got to speak and that you
know that was kind of a prettycool, cool event for a kid to
have your dad in front of Idon't know 50,000 people, man at
a stadium.
(06:31):
It's pretty, pretty neat, but Imean, and so that did, though,
kind of form my view of ministryand so as a part of that, we
knew a lot of People who startedthese organizations that you've
heard of Jesus film, you know,campus crusade for Christ Bill
Bright was a friend of my fatherand things like that.
So we kind of grew up in thisweird Eco-sphere, I guess you
(06:54):
could say, of Christian ministry.
There was a lot of really good,but the other side I saw was a
lot of dysfunction and familiesthat existed in ministry and so
kind of as a result, I think, ofliving in that atmosphere, I
had a desire to teach.
I had a kind of a poll towardspastoral ministry and ministry,
but I was honestly afraid ofministry.
(07:15):
And the problem was is I didn'tknow what my own motives were.
My fear was that I was Tryingto get into ministry because I
wanted to be famous in theChristian world.
Right, I wanted, I wanted to beknown, I wanted to stand on the
stage in front of 50,000 peopleor I wanted to start an
organization Like the Jesus filmor like campus crusade for
Christ.
(07:35):
That that has great.
Quote.
If you can't see me, I got myair quotes going.
Quote impact, yep, yes, whichwe've talked a bit about, that.
That word is a is it's not abad word, but I think it can.
It can create some falsedirection or even false sense of
importance Over things we can'treally control.
If we're honest, if we reallybelieve the Holy Spirit does the
(07:56):
work, I can't really controlimpact.
I can, I can control my effort,I can control my activities,
but impact really isn't up to me, and so if I equate my own
actions with impact, I maybe putmyself at a higher spot than I
ought to.
So anyway, that was kind of thethe.
(08:17):
My mentality is I came out ofchildhood and into adulthood was
this fear of ministry and alsothis idea that successful
ministry looked like what these,these men, that or women that
we've heard of have done, and sothat that's kind of.
That was kind of what I cameout of and how I came in into
(08:38):
marriage.
So there's there's some baggagethat I brought into marriage or
some really good things.
I came in with no debt.
I had a desire to tie that.
I had a desire to, you know,live on a budget and, and quote,
do the right things, and thatwas kind of.
I would say that was, that wasthe knee-jerk reaction, is I
lived how I was supposed to live, which led me probably, I would
(09:02):
say, into this, this next, nextjourney, which was where I
really began to wrestle with,with my faith.
Dan Schilling (09:10):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I just appreciate yourwillingness to share and and
over the years I know having.
You know my dad wasn't speakingin front of 50,000 people.
You know we I grew up simplelife farm.
You know there wasn't that.
But the folks I've been aroundin life that had notoriety or
(09:34):
grew up around, you know, withfamilies of notoriety and oh,
one is a fellow friend of ours,lawrence Funderberg.
You know play.
I worked for the basketballteam at house.
They didn't so many of them had.
There was distrust.
You know, even relationally,like why do people want to be
close to me?
You know they want to befriends with me or they want to
talk.
You know, hey, I'm friends withso-and-so, I'm friends with Ron
(09:55):
Blue or our son, and so youstart wondering what's really
going on.
So I'm interested.
You talk about, like, thedysfunction in the family.
What did you see in that andhow that kind of relates to fame
and fame.
You know how that impacted asyou as part of your story as
well.
Michael Blue (10:12):
Well, I saw a lot of these leaders who really
didn't have very goodrelationships with their
children and children whoresented ministry, and I think
you know people have terms forpastors, kids, missionaries,
kids, mks and PKs and I think alot of that is because of
experiences, but also a lot ofit is you live in this.
(10:33):
You live in this spotlight, andso your interaction with your
parents is more of how youbehave reflects on me and my
ministry, and so a lot of thediscipline, a lot of the
interaction, is to control howyou portray yourself in public.
Right, it becomes veryimportant how you look and that
(10:54):
can create a lot of resentmentin a kid because you think what
am I?
Am I just a pawn in this game?
Or you know, you're not around,you don't really know what's
going on in my life.
All you care about is thisministry.
You care about those peoplemore than you care about me, and
I think that that's a strugglethat a lot of people in ministry
go through.
(11:15):
But so you see it, a lot ofthese, you know, successful
ministries that the reasonpeople are successful ministries
oftentimes, unfortunately, isthe same reason they're
successful in business and it'stheir will and to put a ton of
time into it and put their noseto the ground and work really,
really, really hard.
And there's, you know again,working hard for Jesus is great.
(11:39):
But am I trying to controlresults?
Am I neglecting the call of myfamily?
And so I saw that and I willgive my dad a lot of credit that
they had some kind of rules inthe family.
He was home at 5.30 every night, no matter what with work.
He didn't travel more than twonights in a row, you know, it
was like three nights in a monthor something.
(11:59):
They had very set limits on howmuch he would travel, when he
would be around when he would behome, and so I do think my dad
did a good job of being around,and some of that was because of
what he saw.
So the dysfunction I would sayhappened probably more than I
witnessed outside.
Yeah, don't get me wrong, myfamily's got plenty of
dysfunction.
Dan Schilling (12:19):
But we all do right.
Michael Blue (12:20):
Join the club we all do, yeah, but that's what I
mean so I think that's what Isaw in ministry is that people
would celebrate and sacrifice,or they would sacrifice their
ministry, their families, on thealtar of ministry, yeah, and
oftentimes it was in pursuit offame, yeah, or power.
Dan Schilling (12:42):
Yeah, right.
Michael Blue (12:43):
Well, I think back to our tagline and our
lifestyle.
Dan Schilling (12:47):
We talk about hearing, following and thriving.
You know you hear the call ofGod, you follow that.
You want to help other people.
Right, I mean, you get intoministry because you hopefully
right that you're not doing itfor a fame reason, but sometimes
that starts to come with it,even on a small scale.
Right, I mean, in some waysyou're known, even if it's in a
(13:08):
small community.
That's the pastor, that's theleader, that's the, and the
downside, obviously, is thedevil's always trying to steal,
kill and destroy us.
Right, Keep us from thriving.
And if he can get you busy,even if it's in ministry,
whether it's local or nationalor international, the next thing
, you know, you can be off trackquick.
(13:29):
And so and I know, for forSharon, it's a guarding of our
heart too.
Like man, I don't want toforsake my family, so let's go
back and start talking.
The next step for you, then, istalking about next step of
family and marriage, and yeah,so we're married Kind of through
this time.
Michael Blue (13:46):
I worked as a financial planner for a few
years, went to law school,became an attorney, worked in
Dallas at a large law firm doingreal estate law, and didn't
like Dallas.
So we moved to Austin, texas,and that, and we've lived, lived
in Austin ever since.
That was in 2007 and I wasworking at a big firm there as
well.
I got to this point.
(14:07):
You know we lived a couplemiles from downtown Austin.
We just have that third kid.
We're going to church, you'retithing, we're saving.
You know we had the 529 plans.
We had the 401k going.
Like you know, we had the stepsin line and we had that
trajectory.
You know we walked to financialplans office and, like I don't
have the debt, got the savings.
You know we're, we're doingpretty good.
(14:32):
From outside I would say we kindof look like this you know,
model Christian family, but onthe inside I was.
I don't know what the rightword is.
I've struggled with it, whetherit's boredom or disillusionment
.
This illusion is probably theright word.
I was just like what, why am Idoing this?
Like yes, why?
Why am I struggling hard andfollowing all these rules?
You know, here I am having gone.
(14:55):
You know, I'm an attorney, I'vegot this high perceived view of
my own intellect, which isfalse.
But you know, you know you getto say that I went to this
professional school and I reallybelieve this stuff about God.
I mean, I, all these scientistssay this or that, and so I
really started wrestling with myfaith and saying, hey, you know
, this is not the abundant lifethat I feel like I should be
(15:17):
experiencing, not a lot of joy,a lot of Not a lot of joy, a lot
of a lot of activity, a lot ofgoing through the motions, and.
And so I just really spent sometime questioning and saying do
I believe God is who he says heis?
And as I came out through that,what I was confronted with was
my I know I say this my lack ofcare for the people that God
(15:42):
cares about.
But I might have been tithingto the church, but what I
realized is my life did notreflect that I love the same
things that God loved, meaning Ididn't.
I wasn't caring for the poor, Iwasn't caring for the orphan,
the widow, the alien, thestranger, like the world that
(16:03):
God had called us to, the.
You know, jesus came to setthose people free, set the
captives free.
And here I was, you know,giving a token to the church.
I wouldn't share my faith, Ididn't care if there was lots of
dying people around the worldwho had never heard the name of
Jesus, like I.
Just, I really didn't, I didn'thave a burden at all for it,
(16:29):
and so that was like whoa okay.
So if I actually believe these,if I've come to the point where
I'm like, okay, this is, thisis the best explanation for what
we see in the world, and notjust an intellectual experience.
I, you know that's more thanthat I get, but intellectually
there was the ability to kind ofget there and from a faith
perspective.
(16:49):
But then I say, well, if, if Ibelieve this, does my life
reflect those things.
Dan Schilling (16:56):
So let me let's just kind of catch this here
part of the story.
So how old would you say you'rehere at this point time because
you'd say you're you andMelissa been married for like 22
years.
Is that right somewhere aroundthere?
Michael Blue (17:10):
Yeah, now we've been at this point today it is
point like during the story.
Dan Schilling (17:14):
Yeah, so 22 years ago you're married, so where
were you in that journey?
You know you've got.
Obviously you have three boys.
So we kind of give us like whereare you at in the process?
You know even I think, michaeltoo, I want to love to hear what
you your journey in terms of.
You know you grew up in aChristian home, but you know
(17:35):
when, when did you begin toreally feel like you were
hearing God's voice for yourself?
You know, trying to follow him.
You know where, where did someof that start to intersect?
You know, throughout thisprocess as well, you know, were
you and Melissa walking withLord from day one?
You know, give us a little bitof that part of the story as
well.
Michael Blue (17:54):
Yeah, so this is probably 10 or 12 years into our
marriage at this point.
You know, call it 2010.
Yeah, so we got married in theyear 2000 and all of our
children were born.
Our last was born in 2009.
And so it's kind of rightaround that time.
Yeah, and I would say, yes, Imean I, as far as kind of the, I
(18:16):
wasn't rebellious, I grew up inchurch, I went to church, I
went to college and I found achurch right away and got
involved in a Bible study.
And you know, as I look back onit, the three years from my
sophomore through my senior yearin a Bible study, the same five
guys a couple of them I stilltalk to.
I had lunch with one of themlast week.
There's one of them that youknow, drew, our friend.
(18:39):
Yes, it was a really impactfultime for me and so there was,
there was definitely aseriousness about faith.
I had regular quiet times.
You know, I kind of did allthose, all of those things.
Dan Schilling (18:52):
Disciplines the other, Christian.
Michael Blue (18:53):
Yep, right.
And so, as a you know, gettingmarried and all of that was a
big part of of what we wereseeking and we both wanted.
We were both believers andwanted to have families that
were, that were.
You know a bio believing familyRight yes.
Dan Schilling (19:11):
Christ centered.
Yeah, absolutely Right.
Michael Blue (19:16):
And I think, though, a lot of, a lot of, as
I've reflected, there's a lot ofperformance in me that that
came through, you know kind of avery detailed, very ordered
type of a person, and so therewas.
You tell me I need to dosomething, and I'm going to do
it, whether I get something outof it or not, and so I've
(19:36):
wrestled through, and you know,part of my, my story is, even as
I was preparing a sermon fiveor six years ago, having this
overwhelming sense of my ownsinfulness, probably for the
first time in my life.
Wow, at what age, then?
Dan Schilling (19:50):
did you say you're what?
39, 40.
Yeah?
Michael Blue (19:54):
Yeah, Preaching an elder at our church, right, and
it was this.
I was teaching on the Pharaohdiscourse and John, John 16.
And as I was praying through it, I was praying John 17, which
is known as the high priestlyprayer, and in 16 it goes where
Jesus is talking to hisdisciples, telling them about
the Holy Spirit, how they don'tunderstand, they won't fully
(20:16):
understand until the Holy Spiritcomes.
And their response is we, nowwe get it.
We get it Now.
You're speaking plainly to us.
It's kind of the paraphrase ofwhat they said.
And you see Jesus just grabbinghis head, shaking his head, and
what I just told you, you're notgoing to get it.
And he says, as a matter offact, not only do you not get it
, then he says you're all aboutto run away and abandon me in my
(20:38):
greatest time of need.
And then he prays for them.
And this is still beforethey've that all has happened.
And he says to the father thankyou that I have not lost a
single one that you've given tome.
Yes, and just hit me.
It's like these people.
They don't understand what he'sgoing to do.
They're about to reject him andthey haven't even done it yet.
And he knows it's coming and hisprayer is I have not lost a
(20:58):
single one that you have givento me, yes, and it just it kind
of hit me that, okay, this isn'tabout my work, Like, yes, this
is about him and his work and Ireally am someone who will run
away and reject him and he stillsays no, but I'm holding on to
you, yes, and so I don't.
I don't know that that was thepoint that I was actually saved.
(21:22):
My opinion is that salvationfor many of us is a process as
opposed to a point in time.
I do think there are points intime for people, yeah, For
journeys, right, but you knoweven the fact of, well, you know
when did you get saved?
I would say, well, I don't knowthat I can pinpoint a time, but
I can tell you kind of how mylife and how God's continued to
(21:43):
come after me and change me.
Dan Schilling (21:46):
Well, I just had a local go ahead, go ahead.
Well, I just had a local pastorfriend here with, and we were
talking about this from thestandpoint of you know, we were
talking about backsliding and Isaid I don't really know that
the term you know correctly, Ithink I believe I said you were
still a sheep.
Some sheep get lost, but asheep still wants to be in
(22:10):
relationship with the shepherdeven if they're lost, even if
they.
And so at that moment you knowthat Kairos moment of time, when
you're like my goodness, likeGod's word, just like, comes
alive to you, have a revelationlike man, I need something more.
I think that's a part of thesalvation journey, right, it's
that sanctification, thatgrowing in.
(22:32):
And you were desiring thenanother.
Okay, it's not just about youknow.
You know I just did that series.
You know be, then do.
And I was telling him that this, that series, continues to plow
deep into my heart.
You know that I can't.
It's not about performance, Ican't be.
It's not about the doing, it'sgot to be about the, my sheep
here, my voice, I know them.
Which is that being.
Michael Blue (22:52):
We're gonna, I'm gonna be with him, then I'll go
do right, right, which is soimportant and my doing was not
coming out of being inside.
That's probably.
It doesn't mean I wasn't Saved,but it means that I I always I
Was out of alignment with thefather.
Dan Schilling (23:13):
Yeah, but you were doing a lot of good stuff.
I mean, you're in Bible study,you're not.
You're being a good husband.
You're not cheating on yourwife, you're not.
You're being trying to be agood dad, being around you.
I mean all the things you'redoing good things, nothing's
wrong.
Michael Blue (23:25):
You know you're not living a life of sin per se
is what we call Dave but youstill can be living a life of
sin Separated from the father,even in the midst of all these
doing good things right, yeah,and so that's kind of where when
I found myself, and and so, asI was working in law, I started
thinking, okay, if I'm startingto believe these things and I
(23:45):
want to do it, I'm here, I ampracticing law and a big law
firm just working for a bunch ofbig, rich guys or big companies
making them richer.
It's the depth.
That's probably the descriptionof a lot of our jobs.
Dan Schilling (23:58):
Yeah, it is yeah.
Michael Blue (24:01):
And so I thought, well, maybe I can you know,
quote, do good with my lawdegree.
And so I had a friend who I'dworked with at Furman Dallas.
It was worth working withinternational justice mission,
which is an internationalorganization that Really
primarily works yeah, they'reknown for their work in human
trafficking.
They also do in Africa.
At a place is police abuse ofpower and kind of help the rule
(24:22):
of law actually come into effectin some developing countries.
But so I thought, well, maybeI'll go work for for this place.
They had an opening in UgandaFor director of an office down
there in Kampala.
So I applied.
My wife was like, okay, I don'tknow about this, but okay, and
(24:43):
and and went through and you getthree young kids.
Dan Schilling (24:46):
Three young kids.
Michael Blue (24:48):
Two five and seven , yeah yeah right, we live in a
great house and in Austin andwe're really in a pretty good
spot and had a great job.
It's from an income standpointand anyway.
So they offered me a Aftergoing through the process and
look, you've never livedoverseas and we've had a lot of
(25:08):
people go overseas, get thereand say this is Really hard and
I can't do, especially withfamily.
So they said what we want youto do is go live for a year in a
fellowship Position in Nairobi,kenya will kind of all evaluate
how it works assuming it works,then we'll try to place you as
a director in an officesomewhere in the world.
(25:29):
And so we're like I don't knowso who praying about it.
I, my wife, was walking toschool one day, taking our kids
to school, and one of ourneighbors she just mentioned we
were thinking about selling ourhouse.
As we were processing this andPeople live like six or seven
houses down they happened towant to move to a bigger house,
(25:51):
which ours was a little biggerthan their house, and so they
came and looked at our housethat night, made an offer that
next morning and and so we'relike, wow, that was easy,
because we had tried a coupletimes before to sell our house
with with no lock success.
So, you know, while buyer showsup, I don't know where, by our
(26:12):
house, okay Well, maybe God'sleading us to go on this journey
.
So we sold our house, westarted to prepare to go to
Nairobi and Got pretty prettyclose as we were, you know,
contacting shipping companies,trying to figure out where we're
gonna live, kind of goingthrough all the logistical
processes, and it gotoverwhelming to a point I said I
(26:33):
don't know that we can do thiswhen we're gonna have to live.
The experience with the familyand and, and the cost, quite
frankly, became just too high,yes, and so we ended up not
going To Africa and we calledhim and said we're not gonna do
it.
So we, we, we have no house, orwe're about to have no house,
(27:01):
and so we started staying Austin.
At that point, by by anotherhouse downsized, kind of
Condense our lifestyle toministry type of a lifestyle.
I quit my job at the firm andstarted just a Private firm, was
started to pray and ask Godwhat he had, and pretty quickly
(27:21):
it became real clear to my wifeand I that God had made a way
for us to go to this Africa andhe wanted us to go and we didn't
trust him.
Hmm, hmm, you know, and wethought just disobeyed.
You know I've had lots ofpeople try to talk me out of
that, but I'm okay with that.
(27:42):
Like I think we disobey God andyes, we do sometimes, sometimes
, that's okay.
Dan Schilling (27:50):
Yeah, well, and it's not, it's not.
I just want to say this.
So, folks that are listening toyou, because we want to relate
it back.
You know, if you're listeningto we want to lay it back to
your story and you know you'regonna continue to tell more of
your story here, michael, butyou know it doesn't end there.
Right now that that act ofdisobedience or that season of
(28:11):
disobedience, whatever you wantto call it, it's not the end of
the journey, it was just a partof the journey.
And so when we talk about a Godwho is the Alpha and the Omega,
it's not like he's like oh man,you're so terrible.
Like I'm not shocked and you'renot.
We're not the first ones whodidn't obey you know.
Many, many things right and soso we can look at those big
(28:32):
moments.
But if today, the spirit of Godtells me to go talk to some
person out here for a fewminutes, I don't do it is that
level of disobedience or act ofdisobedience any more or worse?
Or then, if I don't go toNairobi, when he calls me too,
you know cuz?
Sometimes I think we like oh, Iwas so terrible, like, no, it's
.
He's a father who knows usright.
(28:53):
He knows our nature, our sin,nature in our heart, but he
doesn't.
I love the scripture.
He says that his mercies arenew every day for us.
And we're gonna take a breakhere.
I hope you were encouraged asmuch as I was by Michael's story
.
There's more to come, so tunein next time.
We're gonna continue thediscussion what God was doing
(29:15):
this season in their life andhow he was using it on their
journey to hear, oh, I have tunein next time, see you then.
Hey, welcome to the Feed Sheep Podcast, where we
help you hear God's voice,follow His lead and thrive as a
disciple.
I'm Dan Schilling and I'll beone of your guides.
Now let's get into today'stopic.
Hey, welcome to the Feed SheepPodcast.
Good to be back with you andMichael, and it's always good to
be with you.
Today We've got a specialepisode.
We have a very special guestfor our interview today.
Michael Blue (00:29):
I am so excited, dan, me too, me too, because the
special guest.
Dan Schilling (00:36):
everybody is Mr Michael Blue.
Michael Blue (00:39):
Oh, it's a.
I don't know that I can becalled a special guest at this
point, but I'll take it.
Dan Schilling (00:45):
Well, you're the special and maybe not, to guess,
your co-host, but you know.
Anyway, you're still here andwe're going to have a good time.
And what I want to continue toreiterate today is we talk
through some of your story andif you're listening today, what
we really want to seeaccomplished is to see you have
a story where you're hearingGod's voice following His lead,
(01:09):
thriving as a disciple.
And so today we're going totalk with Michael about how his
journey and some of the stepshe's taken on this journey of
hearing God's voice followinghis lead and I think you're
going to agree with me, there'saspects of thriving and
sometimes it doesn't always feellike it.
I know that, michael, and Iknow the bumps and bruises and
twists and turns along thejourney, but looking forward to
(01:32):
having you share today, so yeah,well.
Michael Blue (01:35):
Thanks, dan.
I think, as we talked aboutsharing stories and doing it,
there's some reluctance, I think, in each of our hearts of
sharing stories, because we bothknow that we don't have it all
together and there's shiny partsof the story that we share and
oftentimes the uglier, rougherparts don't get shared.
(01:56):
But those certainly have comealong the way and we're still
working through them.
So the stories, I think, aremeant to say hey, we're fellow
journeyers in this.
Maybe in one area we've taken acouple of steps farther, but
maybe you've taken a coupleother steps farther.
So, as believers, you want toencourage each other with story,
you want to spur each other onto good deeds, and I do think we
(02:17):
want to be people who havelives that are worthy of
imitation and that we want to becareful there, but we do want
to be people who we can say youknow what, follow me.
I feel like I'm learning.
I'm not there, but I'm learning, and I think we're on a path of
following Jesus.
So that's hopefully what we'rebecoming as we learn to thrive
(02:41):
in these lives.
Dan Schilling (02:43):
Well and to your point.
We talked a few times.
Maybe here I'll just reiterateagain that our goal for us is to
help folks like you and I onthis journey as well.
Continue to learn, apply,multiply, become kind of our
lamb methodologies to learnhearing, to learn how to hear
God's voice, learning how hewants to speak to us through His
(03:06):
word.
We apply that truth, we seethat applied in our life in a
lot of different ways, and thenwhen we see that word applied,
then the multiply.
And so today the desire is, aswe think about the multiplying,
is that it's like seed, or itstruth, and that seed is in
(03:27):
Isaiah 55, it talks about thatHis word goes forth and it
always bears fruit, that it'sseed for the sower and bread for
the eater, and I believe ourstories can be bred for us as an
eater, to remind us of God'sgoodness.
But it's also seed for thefuture.
And so, and as you said therejust a minute ago, what we're
(03:47):
becoming, and we're becomingfaithful, it's our desire to
become faithful followers ofJesus, and so I know that's what
God's going to do, I believe,through our time today.
So let me pray for us and thenwe're going to kick off, ask you
some questions.
So, father, thanks for today,thank you for this time, just to
come before you posturing ourhearts and say, god, we know
(04:10):
that we're not perfect.
We do want to follow you whenPaul said, follow me as I follow
Christ.
We want to be ones who live alife that's worthy of being
imitated.
But it isn't because of us,it's because of you and us, that
hope of glory.
And so today I do pray that, asMichael shares and gives really
just testimony of your goodnessand how you've directed his
(04:33):
steps, and he and listen, theirfamily, just ask that your word
would go forth, encouragement tothose listening today, that
we're not special because of whowe are, we're special because
of who you are in us, and that'sour real hope.
So, thank you for this time andI pray that just the words of
our mouth, meditations of ourheart be pleasing to you.
Love you, thank you in Jesus'name.
(04:54):
And then, michael, let's getstarted.
Let's take it from the top man.
Give us the Michael Blue story.
Michael Blue (05:05):
All right.
Well, like I said, we're goingto hit some more highlights, but
there's plenty of little lightsthat we're going to talk about
as well, and actually that's alot of my stories learning
through my failures, so you'llget to hear some of those.
It's not all shiny.
Dan Schilling (05:22):
We'll get forward to it.
Let's go, yeah good Thanks.
Michael Blue (05:27):
I grew up in the youngest of five kids.
Some of you might or might notknow my father, ron Blue.
I think we've talked about hima little bit on the broadcast.
He's known, if you're of acertain age, probably in this
world of personal finance.
He wrote some books in the 80s,really, you know 90s and
whatnot, but he really he wasone of the first, with Larry
(05:48):
Brickett, who talked about andwrote about what it means to
obey God and our finances, andso we had a financial planning
company that the goal andmission was to help Christians
plan and manage their money sothat they could have more to
give away, and so that's kind ofthe ecosphere that I grew up in
.
Also, along with that camespeaking gigs, and so he would
(06:10):
go speak.
He'd speak at churches, he'dspeak at conferences, events.
I can remember going to aPromise Keepers event at the
Cowboy Stadium in Dallas wherehe got to speak and that you
know that was kind of a prettycool, cool event for a kid to
have your dad in front of Idon't know 50,000 people, man at
a stadium.
(06:31):
It's pretty, pretty neat, but Imean, and so that did, though,
kind of form my view of ministryand so as a part of that, we
knew a lot of People who startedthese organizations that you've
heard of Jesus film, you know,campus crusade for Christ Bill
Bright was a friend of my fatherand things like that.
So we kind of grew up in thisweird Eco-sphere, I guess you
(06:54):
could say, of Christian ministry.
There was a lot of really good,but the other side I saw was a
lot of dysfunction and familiesthat existed in ministry and so
kind of as a result, I think, ofliving in that atmosphere, I
had a desire to teach.
I had a kind of a poll towardspastoral ministry and ministry,
but I was honestly afraid ofministry.
(07:15):
And the problem was is I didn'tknow what my own motives were.
My fear was that I was Tryingto get into ministry because I
wanted to be famous in theChristian world.
Right, I wanted, I wanted to beknown, I wanted to stand on the
stage in front of 50,000 peopleor I wanted to start an
organization Like the Jesus filmor like campus crusade for
Christ.
(07:35):
That that has great.
Quote.
If you can't see me, I got myair quotes going.
Quote impact, yep, yes, whichwe've talked a bit about, that.
That word is a is it's not abad word, but I think it can.
It can create some falsedirection or even false sense of
importance Over things we can'treally control.
If we're honest, if we reallybelieve the Holy Spirit does the
(07:56):
work, I can't really controlimpact.
I can, I can control my effort,I can control my activities,
but impact really isn't up to me, and so if I equate my own
actions with impact, I maybe putmyself at a higher spot than I
ought to.
So anyway, that was kind of thethe.
(08:17):
My mentality is I came out ofchildhood and into adulthood was
this fear of ministry and alsothis idea that successful
ministry looked like what these,these men, that or women that
we've heard of have done, and sothat that's kind of.
That was kind of what I cameout of and how I came in into
(08:38):
marriage.
So there's there's some baggagethat I brought into marriage or
some really good things.
I came in with no debt.
I had a desire to tie that.
I had a desire to, you know,live on a budget and, and quote,
do the right things, and thatwas kind of.
I would say that was, that wasthe knee-jerk reaction, is I
lived how I was supposed to live, which led me probably, I would
(09:02):
say, into this, this next, nextjourney, which was where I
really began to wrestle with,with my faith.
Dan Schilling (09:10):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I just appreciate yourwillingness to share and and
over the years I know having.
You know my dad wasn't speakingin front of 50,000 people.
You know we I grew up simplelife farm.
You know there wasn't that.
But the folks I've been aroundin life that had notoriety or
(09:34):
grew up around, you know, withfamilies of notoriety and oh,
one is a fellow friend of ours,lawrence Funderberg.
You know play.
I worked for the basketballteam at house.
They didn't so many of them had.
There was distrust.
You know, even relationally,like why do people want to be
close to me?
You know they want to befriends with me or they want to
talk.
You know, hey, I'm friends withso-and-so, I'm friends with Ron
(09:55):
Blue or our son, and so youstart wondering what's really
going on.
So I'm interested.
You talk about, like, thedysfunction in the family.
What did you see in that andhow that kind of relates to fame
and fame.
You know how that impacted asyou as part of your story as
well.
Michael Blue (10:12):
Well, I saw a lot of these leaders who really
didn't have very goodrelationships with their
children and children whoresented ministry, and I think
you know people have terms forpastors, kids, missionaries,
kids, mks and PKs and I think alot of that is because of
experiences, but also a lot ofit is you live in this.
(10:33):
You live in this spotlight, andso your interaction with your
parents is more of how youbehave reflects on me and my
ministry, and so a lot of thediscipline, a lot of the
interaction, is to control howyou portray yourself in public.
Right, it becomes veryimportant how you look and that
(10:54):
can create a lot of resentmentin a kid because you think what
am I?
Am I just a pawn in this game?
Or you know, you're not around,you don't really know what's
going on in my life.
All you care about is thisministry.
You care about those peoplemore than you care about me, and
I think that that's a strugglethat a lot of people in ministry
go through.
(11:15):
But so you see it, a lot ofthese, you know, successful
ministries that the reasonpeople are successful ministries
oftentimes, unfortunately, isthe same reason they're
successful in business and it'stheir will and to put a ton of
time into it and put their noseto the ground and work really,
really, really hard.
And there's, you know again,working hard for Jesus is great.
(11:39):
But am I trying to controlresults?
Am I neglecting the call of myfamily?
And so I saw that and I willgive my dad a lot of credit that
they had some kind of rules inthe family.
He was home at 5.30 every night, no matter what with work.
He didn't travel more than twonights in a row, you know, it
was like three nights in a monthor something.
(11:59):
They had very set limits on howmuch he would travel, when he
would be around when he would behome, and so I do think my dad
did a good job of being around,and some of that was because of
what he saw.
So the dysfunction I would sayhappened probably more than I
witnessed outside.
Yeah, don't get me wrong, myfamily's got plenty of
dysfunction.
Dan Schilling (12:19):
But we all do right.
Michael Blue (12:20):
Join the club we all do, yeah, but that's what I
mean so I think that's what Isaw in ministry is that people
would celebrate and sacrifice,or they would sacrifice their
ministry, their families, on thealtar of ministry, yeah, and
oftentimes it was in pursuit offame, yeah, or power.
Dan Schilling (12:42):
Yeah, right.
Michael Blue (12:43):
Well, I think back to our tagline and our
lifestyle.
Dan Schilling (12:47):
We talk about hearing, following and thriving.
You know you hear the call ofGod, you follow that.
You want to help other people.
Right, I mean, you get intoministry because you hopefully
right that you're not doing itfor a fame reason, but sometimes
that starts to come with it,even on a small scale.
Right, I mean, in some waysyou're known, even if it's in a
(13:08):
small community.
That's the pastor, that's theleader, that's the, and the
downside, obviously, is thedevil's always trying to steal,
kill and destroy us.
Right, Keep us from thriving.
And if he can get you busy,even if it's in ministry,
whether it's local or nationalor international, the next thing
, you know, you can be off trackquick.
(13:29):
And so and I know, for forSharon, it's a guarding of our
heart too.
Like man, I don't want toforsake my family, so let's go
back and start talking.
The next step for you, then, istalking about next step of
family and marriage, and yeah,so we're married Kind of through
this time.
Michael Blue (13:46):
I worked as a financial planner for a few
years, went to law school,became an attorney, worked in
Dallas at a large law firm doingreal estate law, and didn't
like Dallas.
So we moved to Austin, texas,and that, and we've lived, lived
in Austin ever since.
That was in 2007 and I wasworking at a big firm there as
well.
I got to this point.
(14:07):
You know we lived a couplemiles from downtown Austin.
We just have that third kid.
We're going to church, you'retithing, we're saving.
You know we had the 529 plans.
We had the 401k going.
Like you know, we had the stepsin line and we had that
trajectory.
You know we walked to financialplans office and, like I don't
have the debt, got the savings.
You know we're, we're doingpretty good.
(14:32):
From outside I would say we kindof look like this you know,
model Christian family, but onthe inside I was.
I don't know what the rightword is.
I've struggled with it, whetherit's boredom or disillusionment
.
This illusion is probably theright word.
I was just like what, why am Idoing this?
Like yes, why?
Why am I struggling hard andfollowing all these rules?
You know, here I am having gone.
(14:55):
You know, I'm an attorney, I'vegot this high perceived view of
my own intellect, which isfalse.
But you know, you know you getto say that I went to this
professional school and I reallybelieve this stuff about God.
I mean, I, all these scientistssay this or that, and so I
really started wrestling with myfaith and saying, hey, you know
, this is not the abundant lifethat I feel like I should be
(15:17):
experiencing, not a lot of joy,a lot of Not a lot of joy, a lot
of a lot of activity, a lot ofgoing through the motions, and.
And so I just really spent sometime questioning and saying do
I believe God is who he says heis?
And as I came out through that,what I was confronted with was
my I know I say this my lack ofcare for the people that God
(15:42):
cares about.
But I might have been tithingto the church, but what I
realized is my life did notreflect that I love the same
things that God loved, meaning Ididn't.
I wasn't caring for the poor, Iwasn't caring for the orphan,
the widow, the alien, thestranger, like the world that
(16:03):
God had called us to, the.
You know, jesus came to setthose people free, set the
captives free.
And here I was, you know,giving a token to the church.
I wouldn't share my faith, Ididn't care if there was lots of
dying people around the worldwho had never heard the name of
Jesus, like I.
Just, I really didn't, I didn'thave a burden at all for it,
(16:29):
and so that was like whoa okay.
So if I actually believe these,if I've come to the point where
I'm like, okay, this is, thisis the best explanation for what
we see in the world, and notjust an intellectual experience.
I, you know that's more thanthat I get, but intellectually
there was the ability to kind ofget there and from a faith
perspective.
(16:49):
But then I say, well, if, if Ibelieve this, does my life
reflect those things.
Dan Schilling (16:56):
So let me let's just kind of catch this here
part of the story.
So how old would you say you'rehere at this point time because
you'd say you're you andMelissa been married for like 22
years.
Is that right somewhere aroundthere?
Michael Blue (17:10):
Yeah, now we've been at this point today it is
point like during the story.
Dan Schilling (17:14):
Yeah, so 22 years ago you're married, so where
were you in that journey?
You know you've got.
Obviously you have three boys.
So we kind of give us like whereare you at in the process?
You know even I think, michaeltoo, I want to love to hear what
you your journey in terms of.
You know you grew up in aChristian home, but you know
(17:35):
when, when did you begin toreally feel like you were
hearing God's voice for yourself?
You know, trying to follow him.
You know where, where did someof that start to intersect?
You know, throughout thisprocess as well, you know, were
you and Melissa walking withLord from day one?
You know, give us a little bitof that part of the story as
well.
Michael Blue (17:54):
Yeah, so this is probably 10 or 12 years into our
marriage at this point.
You know, call it 2010.
Yeah, so we got married in theyear 2000 and all of our
children were born.
Our last was born in 2009.
And so it's kind of rightaround that time.
Yeah, and I would say, yes, Imean I, as far as kind of the, I
(18:16):
wasn't rebellious, I grew up inchurch, I went to church, I
went to college and I found achurch right away and got
involved in a Bible study.
And you know, as I look back onit, the three years from my
sophomore through my senior yearin a Bible study, the same five
guys a couple of them I stilltalk to.
I had lunch with one of themlast week.
There's one of them that youknow, drew, our friend.
(18:39):
Yes, it was a really impactfultime for me and so there was,
there was definitely aseriousness about faith.
I had regular quiet times.
You know, I kind of did allthose, all of those things.
Dan Schilling (18:52):
Disciplines the other, Christian.
Michael Blue (18:53):
Yep, right.
And so, as a you know, gettingmarried and all of that was a
big part of of what we wereseeking and we both wanted.
We were both believers andwanted to have families that
were, that were.
You know a bio believing familyRight yes.
Dan Schilling (19:11):
Christ centered.
Yeah, absolutely Right.
Michael Blue (19:16):
And I think, though, a lot of, a lot of, as
I've reflected, there's a lot ofperformance in me that that
came through, you know kind of avery detailed, very ordered
type of a person, and so therewas.
You tell me I need to dosomething, and I'm going to do
it, whether I get something outof it or not, and so I've
(19:36):
wrestled through, and you know,part of my, my story is, even as
I was preparing a sermon fiveor six years ago, having this
overwhelming sense of my ownsinfulness, probably for the
first time in my life.
Wow, at what age, then?
Dan Schilling (19:50):
did you say you're what?
39, 40.
Yeah?
Michael Blue (19:54):
Yeah, Preaching an elder at our church, right, and
it was this.
I was teaching on the Pharaohdiscourse and John, John 16.
And as I was praying through it, I was praying John 17, which
is known as the high priestlyprayer, and in 16 it goes where
Jesus is talking to hisdisciples, telling them about
the Holy Spirit, how they don'tunderstand, they won't fully
(20:16):
understand until the Holy Spiritcomes.
And their response is we, nowwe get it.
We get it Now.
You're speaking plainly to us.
It's kind of the paraphrase ofwhat they said.
And you see Jesus just grabbinghis head, shaking his head, and
what I just told you, you're notgoing to get it.
And he says, as a matter offact, not only do you not get it
, then he says you're all aboutto run away and abandon me in my
(20:38):
greatest time of need.
And then he prays for them.
And this is still beforethey've that all has happened.
And he says to the father thankyou that I have not lost a
single one that you've given tome.
Yes, and just hit me.
It's like these people.
They don't understand what he'sgoing to do.
They're about to reject him andthey haven't even done it yet.
And he knows it's coming and hisprayer is I have not lost a
(20:58):
single one that you have givento me, yes, and it just it kind
of hit me that, okay, this isn'tabout my work, Like, yes, this
is about him and his work and Ireally am someone who will run
away and reject him and he stillsays no, but I'm holding on to
you, yes, and so I don't.
I don't know that that was thepoint that I was actually saved.
(21:22):
My opinion is that salvationfor many of us is a process as
opposed to a point in time.
I do think there are points intime for people, yeah, For
journeys, right, but you knoweven the fact of, well, you know
when did you get saved?
I would say, well, I don't knowthat I can pinpoint a time, but
I can tell you kind of how mylife and how God's continued to
(21:43):
come after me and change me.
Dan Schilling (21:46):
Well, I just had a local go ahead, go ahead.
Well, I just had a local pastorfriend here with, and we were
talking about this from thestandpoint of you know, we were
talking about backsliding and Isaid I don't really know that
the term you know correctly, Ithink I believe I said you were
still a sheep.
Some sheep get lost, but asheep still wants to be in
(22:10):
relationship with the shepherdeven if they're lost, even if
they.
And so at that moment you knowthat Kairos moment of time, when
you're like my goodness, likeGod's word, just like, comes
alive to you, have a revelationlike man, I need something more.
I think that's a part of thesalvation journey, right, it's
that sanctification, thatgrowing in.
(22:32):
And you were desiring thenanother.
Okay, it's not just about youknow.
You know I just did that series.
You know be, then do.
And I was telling him that this, that series, continues to plow
deep into my heart.
You know that I can't.
It's not about performance, Ican't be.
It's not about the doing, it'sgot to be about the, my sheep
here, my voice, I know them.
Which is that being.
Michael Blue (22:52):
We're gonna, I'm gonna be with him, then I'll go
do right, right, which is soimportant and my doing was not
coming out of being inside.
That's probably.
It doesn't mean I wasn't Saved,but it means that I I always I
Was out of alignment with thefather.
Dan Schilling (23:13):
Yeah, but you were doing a lot of good stuff.
I mean, you're in Bible study,you're not.
You're being a good husband.
You're not cheating on yourwife, you're not.
You're being trying to be agood dad, being around you.
I mean all the things you'redoing good things, nothing's
wrong.
Michael Blue (23:25):
You know you're not living a life of sin per se
is what we call Dave but youstill can be living a life of
sin Separated from the father,even in the midst of all these
doing good things right, yeah,and so that's kind of where when
I found myself, and and so, asI was working in law, I started
thinking, okay, if I'm startingto believe these things and I
(23:45):
want to do it, I'm here, I ampracticing law and a big law
firm just working for a bunch ofbig, rich guys or big companies
making them richer.
It's the depth.
That's probably the descriptionof a lot of our jobs.
Dan Schilling (23:58):
Yeah, it is yeah.
Michael Blue (24:01):
And so I thought, well, maybe I can you know,
quote, do good with my lawdegree.
And so I had a friend who I'dworked with at Furman Dallas.
It was worth working withinternational justice mission,
which is an internationalorganization that Really
primarily works yeah, they'reknown for their work in human
trafficking.
They also do in Africa.
At a place is police abuse ofpower and kind of help the rule
(24:22):
of law actually come into effectin some developing countries.
But so I thought, well, maybeI'll go work for for this place.
They had an opening in UgandaFor director of an office down
there in Kampala.
So I applied.
My wife was like, okay, I don'tknow about this, but okay, and
(24:43):
and and went through and you getthree young kids.
Dan Schilling (24:46):
Three young kids.
Michael Blue (24:48):
Two five and seven , yeah yeah right, we live in a
great house and in Austin andwe're really in a pretty good
spot and had a great job.
It's from an income standpointand anyway.
So they offered me a Aftergoing through the process and
look, you've never livedoverseas and we've had a lot of
(25:08):
people go overseas, get thereand say this is Really hard and
I can't do, especially withfamily.
So they said what we want youto do is go live for a year in a
fellowship Position in Nairobi,kenya will kind of all evaluate
how it works assuming it works,then we'll try to place you as
a director in an officesomewhere in the world.
(25:29):
And so we're like I don't knowso who praying about it.
I, my wife, was walking toschool one day, taking our kids
to school, and one of ourneighbors she just mentioned we
were thinking about selling ourhouse.
As we were processing this andPeople live like six or seven
houses down they happened towant to move to a bigger house,
(25:51):
which ours was a little biggerthan their house, and so they
came and looked at our housethat night, made an offer that
next morning and and so we'relike, wow, that was easy,
because we had tried a coupletimes before to sell our house
with with no lock success.
So, you know, while buyer showsup, I don't know where, by our
(26:12):
house, okay Well, maybe God'sleading us to go on this journey
.
So we sold our house, westarted to prepare to go to
Nairobi and Got pretty prettyclose as we were, you know,
contacting shipping companies,trying to figure out where we're
gonna live, kind of goingthrough all the logistical
processes, and it gotoverwhelming to a point I said I
(26:33):
don't know that we can do thiswhen we're gonna have to live.
The experience with the familyand and, and the cost, quite
frankly, became just too high,yes, and so we ended up not
going To Africa and we calledhim and said we're not gonna do
it.
So we, we, we have no house, orwe're about to have no house,
(27:01):
and so we started staying Austin.
At that point, by by anotherhouse downsized, kind of
Condense our lifestyle toministry type of a lifestyle.
I quit my job at the firm andstarted just a Private firm, was
started to pray and ask Godwhat he had, and pretty quickly
(27:21):
it became real clear to my wifeand I that God had made a way
for us to go to this Africa andhe wanted us to go and we didn't
trust him.
Hmm, hmm, you know, and wethought just disobeyed.
You know I've had lots ofpeople try to talk me out of
that, but I'm okay with that.
(27:42):
Like I think we disobey God andyes, we do sometimes, sometimes
, that's okay.
Dan Schilling (27:50):
Yeah, well, and it's not, it's not.
I just want to say this.
So, folks that are listening toyou, because we want to relate
it back.
You know, if you're listeningto we want to lay it back to
your story and you know you'regonna continue to tell more of
your story here, michael, butyou know it doesn't end there.
Right now that that act ofdisobedience or that season of
(28:11):
disobedience, whatever you wantto call it, it's not the end of
the journey, it was just a partof the journey.
And so when we talk about a Godwho is the Alpha and the Omega,
it's not like he's like oh man,you're so terrible.
Like I'm not shocked and you'renot.
We're not the first ones whodidn't obey you know.
Many, many things right and soso we can look at those big
(28:32):
moments.
But if today, the spirit of Godtells me to go talk to some
person out here for a fewminutes, I don't do it is that
level of disobedience or act ofdisobedience any more or worse?
Or then, if I don't go toNairobi, when he calls me too,
you know cuz?
Sometimes I think we like oh, Iwas so terrible, like, no, it's
.
He's a father who knows usright.
(28:53):
He knows our nature, our sin,nature in our heart, but he
doesn't.
I love the scripture.
He says that his mercies arenew every day for us.
And we're gonna take a breakhere.
I hope you were encouraged asmuch as I was by Michael's story
.
There's more to come, so tunein next time.
We're gonna continue thediscussion what God was doing
(29:15):
this season in their life andhow he was using it on their
journey to hear, oh, I have tunein next time, see you then.
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