Episode Transcript
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Announcer (00:01):
It's time now to get
the hell out of your life.
A weekly broadcast with realpeople, sharing real struggles,
and offering real hope.
Today's show will encourage,inspire, and empower you to face
life's challenges with a boldconfidence and renewed hope.
Now let's join our host, RonMyers, the promoter.
Ron Meyers (00:20):
Hello, my friends.
It is so good to be with youtoday.
Let me ask you a question.
Have you ever wondered if Godcould really use someone like
you?
Maybe you have thought, well,Ron, I'm not a pastor, I'm not a
preacher, and I'm certainly nota missionary.
But what if following Jesusisn't about having the perfect
(00:42):
resume?
What if it is simply aboutsaying, yes, Lord, here I am?
Today's guest, Grayson, remindsus that God doesn't call the
qualified.
His story isn't about travelingto serve people in another
country.
It's about learning to trustGod's voice, stepping outside
(01:03):
your comfort zone, anddiscovering that when you make
yourself available, God can dofar more than you have ever
imagined.
As you listen today, don't justhear Grayson's story.
Ask yourself this question:
Where might God be inviting me (01:15):
undefined
to take my next step of faith?
Let's take a listen to myconversation with Grayson.
SPEAKER_01 (01:25):
Well, I guess it
starts with my education.
So as I went to school as anadult student, and so I wasn't
able to go to college early onbecause of like finance and this
kind of thing.
And so later I got into businessand the business went well.
And so then I was able to goback to school.
I chose Bellhaven University.
And while I was there, Irealized that through the
(01:45):
process of learning from aChristian viewpoint that the
world needed to hear aboutJesus.
And it was at Bellhaven that Irealized that I needed to go be
a missionary.
I went to China.
It wasn't it's not as easy as itsounds.
Uh it took about seven years toget from the point of I know
that God wants me in China onmission to actually showing up
in China on mission.
(02:06):
Well, what was life as amissionary like in China?
I would say it was difficult.
Every the government isconstantly watching everything
you do and what you do and howyou do it.
That that was a big deal.
And then the family, you know,trying to get churches started
and trying to get the gospel topeople wasn't difficult to do,
but it was always it just feltlike always someone watching
(02:28):
over your shoulder.
So it made it made it hard.
But we were really successful.
We had about 120 students a weekcoming through our home for
Bible study at one point.
And then later we were able tosee two churches that were built
because of the people who werecoming to Christ.
Here we have a church on everycorner, it seems like.
Ron Meyers (02:48):
Now, they don't have
that church type building in
China.
How is it church?
How do you meet in China?
Is it all secret?
Is it underground?
Is it in little rooms?
What is it?
SPEAKER_01 (02:59):
Yeah, it's uh it's
really a duplicity.
It's kind of strange because thegovernment does have
government-sanctioned churches,but they do uh dictate what can
be taught and what can can besaid from the pulpit in in most
cases.
Can you give us an example ofwhat can be and can't be taught?
Yeah, in some cases, dependingon on where you are in the
country, sometimes revelation isis left out, and sometimes the
(03:22):
return of Christ is left out.
That's not true all the wayacross China in every place, but
in some places it is.
Ron Meyers (03:28):
Well, share some
highlights of the seven years in
China.
What are things that you'llnever forget the rest of your
life?
SPEAKER_01 (03:35):
Um, I I you know
it's funny you'd say that
because I have one thing thatstands out.
There was a young man, everybodyin China, just like Thailand,
they all have most Asiancountries, they all have uh
nicknames.
And so this guy's name wasVista.
And V Vista became a believer inChrist after I got to share the
gospel with him in my home.
Uh, he was one of the studentsthat was coming to our house.
(03:55):
And it was crazy.
He says to me, Grayson, wasJesus baptized in a bathtub?
And I was like, uh no, why wouldyou ask that?
And he said, because you know,you guys always baptize
everybody in a bathtub or aswimming pool or whatever.
And I said, Well, we do thatbecause, you know, the
government doesn't love the ideaof Christianity, and so that's
(04:16):
what we have to do it in.
And he said, But but Jesus wasbaptized in a river.
And I said, Yeah, you're right.
And he says, So I want to bebaptized in a river.
And I was like, Okay, but Idon't know how to make that
happen for you.
We lived in the city.
And so he came over one day andhe says, I found a place to be
baptized in a river.
I said, Okay, where is it?
And it was not close.
(04:37):
We rode our bicycles for almosttwo hours out to this, like boy,
he was serious.
He was so serious.
He's like, it really needs to bein a river.
And we were like, okay.
So we ride way out, and we'rethere's a video of it somewhere
that is crazy.
But we end up next to a river ina fish pond kind of place where
there's pond after pond afterpond.
(04:58):
And he goes, This is this isthis is a great place.
And I said, This is a greatplace.
We'll get all of our guystogether, we'll get a bus, we'll
come out here, and and we'llwe'll baptize you and in in
front of all the brothers andsisters.
And he's like, Oh, that's agreat idea.
And I said, Why don't we sitdown for a minute and just read
our Bible and just you know talkto God a little bit?
And so we pull out the Bible, westart talking, and God leads us
(05:18):
to this place where John theBaptist is baptizing Jesus, and
he says, Now is the properplace, or now is the proper
time.
And Vista looks at me and goes,Now is the proper time.
And I was like, Wow, okay, well,let's do it.
So we baptized him right thereon video in the middle of a fish
pond next to a river, and it wasgood enough for Vista and it was
good enough for me.
So I think it was just amazing,just to see the passion that
(05:42):
people have when they come toChrist in the Asian country.
Now, did you have an interpreteror could you speak Chinese?
Yeah, I spoke Chinese and hespoke broken English.
So between the two of us, wewere able to communicate very
well.
Ron Meyers (05:54):
Wow.
So God really had prepared you,I mean, to speak Chinese.
Wow.
Did you learn that here in theU.S.
before you went over, or did youjust kind of learn it there?
SPEAKER_01 (06:02):
I learned when I was
there.
Wow.
Ron Meyers (06:04):
So you're a fast
learner.
SPEAKER_01 (06:06):
Well, no, I I I
don't think I mastered it and I
was there seven years.
So wow, wow.
Ron Meyers (06:11):
Now what are some
sad stories or disappointing
stories that you think about alot that might have happened
back there?
SPEAKER_01 (06:19):
I think the saddest
story is another story about one
of our students, but ended up ina as a good story.
But the sad story is that one ofour students, pretty sure,
turned us in at one point, andthe and the the state, the the
city police came and theyinterrupted one of our worship
services, and every everyeveryone there, their IDs were
taken and recorded.
(06:40):
And so all of those students hadtheir IDs recorded as potential
threats to the government.
And so that was really sad.
And later we talked to him andsaid, his nickname was Howie.
And we said, Howie, why why didyou do this?
And he said, Well, you know, Ijust came to your house because
you guys were nice and you guysalways had food and it was just
(07:02):
a good place to go.
And I just pretended that I wasa believer.
And we're like, Why would you dothat?
He goes, Well, you know, we didI we just wanted to be around
you.
And I thought that was just avery sad thing to say.
Um, later, Howie graduated,moved to Hong Kong, got a job,
and called me, and he says, Hey,can you tell me where church is
(07:23):
in Hong Kong?
I want to go.
And I was like, Why?
And he I was like, Becauseyou're just like a fake, right?
So why would you even want to goto a church?
And he goes, Because Christiansare the nicest people on the
planet.
And I thought, wow, okay.
So so I told him, I said, Well,there's a church here.
I'll contact the people, letthem know what you did here so
that they know, you know, thatthey need to be careful.
(07:44):
But uh, you can go to churchanytime you want.
So he goes, and about a yearlater, he sent me a message and
says, I wanted to let you knowthat I was wrong for what I did,
and I'm now a believer inChrist, and I'm working in the
church, and I'm sharing thegospel as often as I can through
my business in Hong Kong.
Ron Meyers (08:01):
What's the Bible say
that we plant the seeds and it's
God that waters the seeds?
Yeah.
Wow.
That's awesome.
What a story.
So the government in China looksat Christians as potential
threats?
SPEAKER_01 (08:13):
Yeah, and I don't
understand really the even
having been there seven years, Idon't understand what the issues
are really.
Um, I think if you boil it downfor China and you say, what is
it that causes China just toget, you know, riled up, so to
speak, it would be that amassinggroups of people.
So anytime a group of people areformed, historically there's a
(08:34):
problem.
You know, we we I'm not gonnamention the different
rebellions, but there wereseveral, and they all happened
because groups of people gottogether with one idea about
something and then went afterthat idea, and it caused lots of
trouble for the government.
Ron Meyers (08:48):
Now, did they know
the name of Jesus before you
ever even introduced them toJesus?
SPEAKER_01 (08:53):
When we first
arrived in China, they they did
not.
Our city, for whatever reason,people just didn't know who
Jesus was.
So we had to explain that wholething.
However, by the time that weleft, we felt like that there
was so much work being done, andthen the schools had started
instituting like religiousclasses, and so they were
learning at least the name ofJesus.
So people were like, Oh, yeah,we heard about Jesus.
(09:15):
Man, tell us more about him.
And so, in the beginning, no,not many people that we came
into contact with knew who Jesuswas, and so we had to start with
the creator God.
So we'd go all the way back,say, Did you know that God
created heaven and earth andeverything in it?
Uh Shangdi, Trenza, Tian Di, WanWu, which is Chinese for God
created heaven and earth andeverything in it.
(09:36):
And so, and they would be like,Oh, no, we did not know this.
And then we get to talk to them.
Sometimes they're longconversations, some of them were
years.
Howie, for instance, was a threeand a half year conversation uh
before that young man decidedthat they Jesus was worth his
life.
Wow.
So they were just like spongesabsorbing what you were sharing
(09:57):
with them.
At the time, yes.
And again, regionally depends onwhere you are and what you're
doing.
Now, when you come back to theU.S.
Ron Meyers (10:04):
to raise some funds
and to visit and before you head
back, and then you see what'sgoing on here in the streets and
how people treat Jesus orchurch, what's your thoughts?
Do you say, man, I'm so luckyI'm in China.
It's so much easier than it ishere.
SPEAKER_01 (10:20):
You know, this
question, oddly enough, has come
up over and over since I've beenhere.
And I think it's because we knowthat we're not acting right.
And so those of us who arebelievers in Christ, we see the
depravity of man and we wonderwhy it's perpetuating in such a
vast way.
And and so this question hascome up over and over and over.
(10:42):
And I think that the mostimportant thing we can do is not
just to tell people how bad theyare, but to show them how good
God is.
Like I think that the thing thatwe're missing most is the glory
that God deserves.
Somehow we've missed the awe ofGod.
Like it's it's gone away fromus.
Maybe it's TV that we, you know,we have superheroes that could
(11:04):
do anything, or some of these uhshows that that some of the
young kids are watching withmagical powers, right?
And anything's possible with inthis way.
And and maybe we're just we'vejust watered down the fact that
God is the creator, God.
Like He is the one who createdheaven and earth and everything
in it from nothing.
He created from nothing.
(11:25):
No one else can do that.
There is no entity here orotherwise that can create
something out of nothing, yetour God did.
Ron Meyers (11:35):
You know, I was
talking to someone last week and
we were talking, I made astatement is so many people here
in the states they inheritchurch, they inherit tradition.
So you ask them, do they knowJesus?
Well, I grew up in a church.
My dad was a preacher, my wife,I mean, my mother, you know,
taught taught us about Jesus,but it's almost like they just
(11:58):
stepped into it because it wassomething you just did as you
grow up.
You go to China, they're hearingit for the first time.
When they hear that, do theireyes just kind of like grow and
say, This I've never heardanything like this.
SPEAKER_01 (12:11):
Yeah, on the Chinese
front, it's absolutely the way
it is.
It would be I I don't know howyou explain it really.
It is an enlightenment almost.
When they hear about it, theyget become so excited and so
interested.
That's why we had 120 kids.
We could have had more, we justcouldn't fit any more people in
our house throughout the week.
And they were coming in drovesreally because they wanted to
(12:33):
hear about this Jesus that couldtake away sin, like that could
give them the confidence thatthey would be in heaven one day,
where uh their religion and howthey grew up is just a guess.
We might, we might one day,maybe we might be in heaven.
But with uh Christianity, we'rethose of us who are Christians,
we're confident, we're sure thatthere is a heaven, Jesus is
(12:55):
there with God, and that we'regonna be seated with him one day
when we leave this planet.
Ron Meyers (12:59):
What is the
predominant religion in China?
SPEAKER_01 (13:02):
China has so many
different religions.
They have Taoism andConfucianism and this kind of
thing.
And so they kind of believe inlike this balance and equal.
They have what's called yin andyang.
We call it yin yin and yang inin China, but it's the same
idea.
You've heard it before.
And the idea is that there's aan equal balance, whether it's
(13:23):
female and male, or whether it'slight and dark, or whether it's,
you know, colors, whether it's astream and grass or trees and
sky or whatever it might be,that there's this balance that
exists, and that they're they'researching for this balance.
So what the Chinese people wantis like a tranquil life.
They want to achieve this stateor point where they are they're
(13:48):
balanced, they're they'retranquil.
And so we recognize as believersin Christ that there's only
satisfaction in Christ.
And that as you try to balanceyour life, it's not a bad idea
to try to balance things, butthat if you are really looking
for satisfaction, which is whichis what they want, is only found
in Christ.
Ron Meyers (14:08):
You know, I had a
missionary I had coffee with a
few months ago, and he and hiswife and children, they go to
Mexico.
In fact, they're going there, Ithink right now for about six
months.
And he was talking about all theincredible things that are
happening over there, evenmiracles.
And I said, Why do you thinkthat is nothing like that we
(14:29):
hear over here?
And he said something that justreally made sense.
He said, Ron, if you're here andyou have a headache, you go to
Walmart and get an aspirin.
Or you, if you if you somethingbreaks in your house, you buy a
new one.
Over where we're at, there isnothing, there is no drug stores
on the corner.
So the faith that they have inJesus, that's all they have.
(14:53):
And that's why you see so manywonderful things happening
because it's total trust anddependency on Jesus.
We're over here, heck, we canpretty much buy anything we
want.
SPEAKER_01 (15:03):
Yeah, I I think
you're right.
I think that that that isdefinitely one aspect is that
because they are in a positionof need, Americans in general
view ourselves as not needy.
And so, you know, this is thisis what the Bible says many
times in uh parables andotherwise, Jesus talks about it
quite often, is that individualswho have everything that they
(15:27):
think they need tend to notthink that they need Christ.
But in fact, the things thatthey place their trust and
belief in are fading.
And in the end, they'll be in aplace that they don't want to
be.
It won't be heaven.
Uh, I saw it on your sign outfront, the word is hell.
And so these individuals willwill not be in heaven with with
Christ.
And that's an eternal deal.
(15:48):
You know, everything we have inAmerica or in this life is
temporal.
But what the Bible uh tells usand what Jesus promises us is
that those who trust and believein him, they have an eternal
inheritance, an eternalinheritance.
So I think that I think thatit's true that in America we do
have a materialism problem uhwhere we believe that the things
(16:11):
that we have and the things wecan buy and the things that we
can even give to otherssometimes, even this, can take
our eyes off of what reallymatters, which is our
relationship with Christ.
Amen.
Ron Meyers (16:21):
So well put, so well
said.
Well, right now, this is thepodcast, as well as on some
radio stations, but it goes allover the world.
And you're an excellentmissionary, so you can speak now
to anyone listening to it, andmaybe it's the first time
they're gonna hear somethingabout Jesus.
You've got the mic.
What would you tell them?
SPEAKER_01 (16:42):
Man, uh you know,
this week, well, last week was
really an interesting week.
I got to spend time at one ofour local churches here in
Central Mississippi, and I gotto spend time at what they call
VBS, which is vacation Bibleschool.
And I would say if you've gotkids out there, they can go to
VBS anywhere in your area, youshould let them go.
Uh, that's the first thing.
But what was really interestingwas they asked me to speak to
(17:05):
the children.
And well, I don't I don'ttypically work with children.
Like that's not what what I doreally.
I usually work with youngprofessionals and professionals.
And so, and when I say workwith, meaning that my gospel
focus is to that group ofpeople, young professionals and
professionals.
So when they said you got likethird grade and second grade and
first grade, I really wasn'tsure what to do.
(17:26):
And why this is relevant is thisin that moment, I had to choose
what was the most importantthings about knowing Christ and
water them down into a way thata first, second, and third
grader could understand it.
And I realized that um there area few things that you have to
know.
And the first is that Godexisted before all things.
(17:48):
That's hard to put your headaround.
God existed before everything.
Before there was anything, therewas God.
And that God is a triune God,meaning that there are three
parts to God.
There's God the Father, the Son,and the Holy Spirit.
And God wanted to create, He's acreator God.
So he creates everything out ofnothing, including us.
He created the first man and thefirst woman.
(18:09):
Now, this man and woman, hecreated in a perfect way, in a
perfect place, and what we callthe Garden of Eden, Adam and
Eve, and some of you have heardof that before.
And then this family, thishusband and wife, this man and
woman, they broke the only rulethat God had given them.
Don't eat of the tree in themiddle of the garden.
Just don't do it, don't eat thatfruit.
(18:31):
But because they wanted to belike God, they were tempted by
Satan and they gave in and theyate that fruit, and that was the
beginning of sin for allhumanity for all time.
Well, that broke therelationship between mankind and
God the Father.
And so from that point forward,there has been this struggle or
this stress between knowing Godand wanting to please him, and
(18:56):
knowing ourselves and wanting toplease ourselves.
And in our nature as humans, wewant to please ourselves, and so
that's what we try to do.
Well, that takes us farther andfarther and farther away from
God and the relationship that hewants for us.
So, God, because he is creator,God, because he knows all
things, he, in his wisdom andlove for humanity, devised a way
(19:17):
that we could be reunited withGod the Father, and that was
through sending his son Jesus toearth.
And so Jesus left heaven, hecame to earth, he lived a
perfect life, he was born of avirgin, and he was misunderstood
from the moment he set foot intothis world.
As he grew in wisdom and he grewin understanding, he was not
(19:41):
just merely a man, but he wasalso fully God.
So as this person that sometimespeople refer to as the God man,
fully God, fully human, walks onthe earth and shares about the
future and the fact that he isthe solution to our sin problem,
it was confusing to people, andthey killed him.
They put him on a cross and theycrucified him.
(20:02):
He died on that cross, a realdeath.
He was taken down, he was putinto the grave, a real grave,
and he stayed there for threedays.
But then, miraculously, becauseof the power that only God can
have, he came back to life.
He was resurrected on the thirdday.
And for anybody who will trustand believe that these things
(20:22):
are true, they can haveforgiveness of sin, life forever
with God in heaven, and arestored new relationship with
God.
And man, I I shared that withthese little guys, and they're
like, That's incredible.
Like, are you kidding me?
They just really couldn'tbelieve it, some of them.
What a simple way to tell thestory.
Ron Meyers (20:43):
Excellent, very
good.
So Jesus is the bridge togetting us back in restoration,
reconciliation with God theFather.
That's right.
Wow.
Yes, I can see why you're themissionary.
You're and now you're inThailand.
We'll have to get into that thenext time you come back here to
the U.S.
Grayson.
If people want to follow you orsee what you're up to, even send
(21:04):
you a donation, where would theygo?
SPEAKER_01 (21:06):
If if someone's
interested in supporting us in
any way or just learning moreabout us, they can go to
globaloutreach.org.
So www.globaloutreach.org.
This is organization out ofTupelo, Mississippi.
It's what we call our sendingorganization.
Uh, they can go there and learnall about the organization, but
they can also make donationsthere.
(21:27):
Our account number is 3086.
So if you click the give and youscroll down to the box, then
you'll see give to a missionaryor a project.
And if you put 3086 in that box,it'll take you to a giving page.
Uh, the other thing for you guysis you can visit our website at
www.ormanfamily Thailand.com.
(21:49):
That's Ormond Family Thailand NoSpaces.com.
And there you'll see ournewsletter.
And our newsletter will pop upevery almost every month,
something new.
And so it'd be great for youguys to check that out if you
would.
Ron Meyers (22:03):
Before we go, there
are a couple things I like to
ask my guest.
One of them, the title of theshow is Get the Hell Out of Your
Life.
So, Grayson, how do you get thehell out of your life?
Uh turn to Jesus.
Turn to Jesus.
There's no other way.
SPEAKER_01 (22:16):
Jesus says, I'm the
way, the truth, and the life,
and no one comes to the Father,meaning God, except through me,
meaning Jesus.
So Jesus is the way.
And now, will you pray for thelisteners?
Sure.
Lord, I thank you for this timethat we've had with uh Mr.
Ron.
God, I thank you for the peopleall around the world who are on
mission, whether it's in theirbackyards or in their hometowns
(22:39):
or across the nation, and then Iand then those who are all over
the world.
We pray for those missionariestoday, that they would have
strength and courage andpersistence.
But God, we also pray for all ofthose who don't know you.
We pray, God, uh, today that umyou would move the hearts of
people to understand that uh thegospel is a simple, simple
(23:01):
gospel.
But only through your spirit andthe moving of hearts can one
believe.
And so, God, we ask that asthese listeners are listening
today, we ask you, Lord, thatyou would move their hearts to
belief.
That there would be many acrossthe world today that heard this
simple gospel and respond to itthrough your spirit.
(23:22):
God, we ask you that um thelisteners would continue to uh
listen, that they continue toponder the things that they hear
on this radio show, um, thatthey would continue to um ask
questions.
We pray, Lord, that they wouldreach out to their local
churches.
I pray, Lord, that today ifsomeone was listening and was
interested in all and anythingthat was said, that they reach
(23:43):
out to their local churches andthat they would attend uh this
coming Sunday.
Uh, we pray this all in the nameof Jesus.
Ron Meyers (23:52):
What a powerful
reminder that God is still
writing stories of redemptionthrough ordinary people.
You may never become amissionary in another country,
but every one of us has beengiven a mission.
It might be your workplace, yourneighborhood, your family, or
the person sitting alone at therestaurant who just needs
(24:12):
someone to notice them.
The question isn't whether Godhas called someone, the question
is whether we are listening.
This week I'd like to challengeyou to pray one simple prayer.
Lord, show me one person youwant me to encourage.
And then, my friend, payattention.
God has a way of putting peoplein our path at exactly the right
(24:36):
moment.
A smile, a phone call, aninvitation to coffee, or simply
listening to someone's storycould become the very thing God
uses to change a life.
Remember, the greatest missionfield may be closer than you
think.
And before we go, let me leaveyou with this thought.
Your life has purpose.
God did not create you to simplymake it through another day.
(25:00):
He created you to know him andto make his love known wherever
you are.
And if today's conversationencouraged you, would you do me
a favor?
Share this episode with someonewho needs hope.
And if God has done somethingamazing in your life, I would
love to hear your story.
Visit the promoter.org and clickshare your story.
(25:22):
Thank you so much for spendingtime with me today.
I will be back next week withanother Grace Filled episode of
Get the Hell Out of Your Lifeavailable wherever you listen to
podcasts.
Until next time, this is RonMyers reminding you: keep your
eyes on Jesus.
Keep listening for his voice,and let's keep getting and
(25:43):
keeping the hell out of ourlives.
God bless you, my friend.
Announcer (25:58):
Today's show was
produced by Ron Myers
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Hell Out of Your Life.
Real people, sharing realstruggles, and offering real
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