Episode Transcript
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(00:29):
Welcome to Healing Begins. My nameis Pastor Gail Krock, and we're going
to talk about Thanksgiving today. AndI have a special guest on the program,
Pastor Larry Sanders. Say hello,Larry, Hello, Larry. All
right now, and now he's beingfunny right off the bat. Where where
are you a pastor at? It'sin Jackson, Michigan. It's called Jackson
(00:52):
Baptist Church. It's a little churchon the hill on Dettman Street. So
how long you've been there? Ithink six years now I'm going on perhaps,
Now where were you before that?Oh, let's see, about three
or four or five years in betweenchurches. I had not had a church,
you know, in that span.So I was doing several different things,
(01:18):
one of which I was a counselorfor a drug and alcohol rehab for
six months. And I was achaplain in a women's prison down in Nipsilanti
for six months. And then Idrove around the country in a van for
a guy for about a year,all over the country. You know,
it didn't make any money, butabout baroke even doing all that, but
I had a great time, andyou know, I kept busy, but
(01:44):
I didn't have a church since backfive years prior to this church, and
then I've been in ministry now fulltime since nineteen eighty one, so without
those five years. Except for thosefive years been pastoring in one of two
or three churches, So that's along time to be a ministry. I've
(02:06):
been in ministry since nineteen eighty nine, so you and I are pretty close
to the same age. It's sofunny as pastors, we wind up doing
several things in life, don't Yes, yes, you got to be got
to be agile, yeah, tobe flexible, flexible. Yeah, So
this is a great time to talkabout Thanksgiving. You like Thanksgiving? Wonderful
(02:28):
time, wonderful time of the year. Yes, I love the turkey and
the fixings and the gravy and themashed potatoes. You like all that.
I like. I've kind of gonewith the venison now lately. Oh venison.
Yeah, venis in backstraps and mashedpotatoes. But now we're making everybody
hungry. That's listening. But wedidn't call you on this program today to
(02:52):
talk about eating food, although Ilike to do that. I hear in
this season of your life you havea lot to be thankful for, right
yes, perhaps more than ever.I have this gratitude like never before,
you know, flowing out of me, just to be alive. That's right,
(03:12):
Gail, So share with me whathappened to you, What, what
did what did you go through recently? Just take your time to talk about
that a little bit. Well,on the twenty first of October. The
medical term for it is cerebrovascular accidentdue to thrombosis of basalar artery. Like
(03:35):
it was like my basalar artery hadan occlusion. Whatever that means with cerebral
infarction, Well, I have aconclusion. I don't know what that means.
But all that means from a froma just my normal standpoint. Layman's
standpoint is I had a stroke inthe back of my head. It was
a blood clot in the back ofthe you know, the the brain steck
(04:00):
of my head, mostly like inmy neck area back there somewhere I've had
for about a decade, I guess, or more narrowing of my arteries back
there. They were aware of it, the doctors had told me that,
but nothing that anyone can do aboutthat except I was on blood pressure and
(04:21):
stating drugs and all that for along time now. So what happened the
day? Where are we at whenyou had this stroke? What was that
like? I got to the churchabout eleven o'clock in the morning on the
twenty first. I was going thereto help a fellow member, brother Eric,
who was gonna I was going tobe his assistant, and he was
(04:42):
going to hang these window treatments orwindow films in the windows for the holiday
season. Yeah. Yeah. Andthey had like a stained glass appearance with
a cross in the middle of them. They were real pretty. That sounds
beautiful. Yeah, And we hadjust got perched, and I was looking
forward to helping them because I reallyliked the idea of having those up up
(05:04):
there and letting the sun shine throughthem. So I walked into church with
a brand new hot cup of coffeeI just picked up from Johnny's there.
Oh it sounds good, Jack Coffee, Yeah yeah. And I walked in
the front door. I walked pastthe back four you there. It was
not very big church, but Isaw a little table where the ladies had
(05:27):
put on their a pumpkin, alittle bit of a pumpkin there, and
they had these little little bitty thingsyou would write a little pumpkin, you'd
write what you're thankful for on andput it in this bigger pumpkin. Did
you put something in that pumpkin?Yeah. They were going to have it
like a get together after church onthe next day, and we were going
(05:48):
to read all these you know,you were supposed to put your there.
I stopped and I wrote about eightor nine of them out. Really I
couldn't quite just put one. SoI remember, I'm grateful for my wife,
Beverly, thankful for my children.I named all of them, you
know, I got four, namedall three of my grandchildren. I said,
(06:11):
I'm thankful for coffee. As Iwas looking at my coffee, I
put I'm thankful for deer hunting,because I had already been out deer hunting
a couple of times bow hunting.And then I think I put on there,
I'm thankful for Eric, who wasright there. I could see him,
and I said, and I alsocould see our piano player. Her
name is Peggy. She's a sweetlady up in her eighties, and what
(06:33):
a what a precious help her she'sbeen. But I wrote on there,
thankful for Peggy, and I thinkthat's about all I could remember. But
one thing I didn't put in there, not that I know now I'm probably
thankful for the most and that wasmy health. Oh yeah, I didn't
(06:54):
even think that. For granted,I didn't think of that. Yeah,
I didn't think of that one.And that can change in a second.
It did, literally, So whathappened to you where? What was you
doing? Well? I took twosteps or three steps drinking the coffee walking
down the aisle, down the centeraisle, and I hadn't eaten anything that
day, and I am a prediabetic, and I also I'm always constantly
(07:20):
trying to listen to my body,you know that at my age. So
I started noticing it. I wasgetting a little dizzy while I was walking
down the aisle, and that's happenedin the past a few times. But
the room's starting to spin and Ihad to kind of sit down. I
had to sit down on the frontview and in my mind, I was
(07:45):
having what they call vertigo. Ohyeah, yeah, vertigo. And that's
what the urgent care had told meup here in Hastings. The first time
this ever happened to me, thatI had vertigo a little bit, but
it always passed within a minute.Or maybe five minutes the most. But
with that, if it doesn't stop, you get nauseous and it gets worse
and worse. But I didn't knowthat until that day. It got worse
(08:09):
and worse, and what I thoughtwould soon pass became all afternoon struggling for
me. I was miserable, butI still didn't think stroke. I still
had no thought it was a stroke. So everybody was trying to help me.
So little Peggy she ran back toher apartment there and she got a
(08:31):
blood pressure cuff and she took myblood pressure, she checked my blood sugar.
Both were normal or you know,in a good range. So the
only thing that was a little bitodd. I had broken out into a
sweat, really big sweat, andit was a rainy, chilly day,
and that was unnormal, not normal, and I started chilling, so they
(08:54):
put sweaters around me and trying tomake me feel comfortable sitting there. You
can be comfortable in a pew hard, yeah, exactly, unless it's padded,
yeah right, yeah. But Isat down there, and then I
eventually laid down there trying to tryingto get this nausea out of you know,
I started getting nauseous, so theygot me a garbage can, and
(09:16):
I was hugging that and I wasnot I hadn't eaten anything, but I
had a little bit of bial fluidthat I would dry heave, dry heaves,
you know. Anyway, I thoughtthis would only last a bit,
about, you know, fifteen minutesat the most. Maybe it turned into
hours in another hour, and thenext thing I know, I had laid
(09:39):
down, and I guess I musthave slept a little bit. And I
tried to stand up and walk atone point, and I couldn't walk.
I started staggering around like a drunkperson. So I sat down on the
opposite pew, on the front pew, in front of the pulpit, and
Eric. I looked around finally,and I could see he had already finished
(10:01):
all the windows, you know.So that's how long I had been in
there. And so anyway, everybodyhad left except for Eric, and he
was just about finished, maybe notquite, but almost. And he said
to me, I'm gonna go stepout get a bite to eat real quick,
because it's right in town. Hesaid, I'll be right back if
(10:22):
that be all right. Well yoube all right, he said, and
I said, oh yeah, I'llbe all right out I could talk.
You see, at that time hesaid I'll be fine. I still believed
this was going to pass. AndI hadn't thought of that word stroke at
all. So even though somebody hadtold me to suggest that you should go
to the to the hospital, Iknew no, I'd be there all the
(10:46):
rest of the day and it wouldbe you know, So that shows you
I hadn't thought that serious about this. So anyway, he left, and
no sooner than he left, Gail, I'm telling you, that's when this
knew you were in trouble. Iknew I was in trouble because something I
can't describe to you really just itjust came over me, like it settled
(11:09):
all over my body. It likea like a heated like a glow,
a feeling of warmth. But atthe same time, at the same time,
I'm im obile my arm, myleg. Next thing was that was
my left side and on my rightside, and noticed my leg spasm in
for a while but uncontrollably, andthen I started to slouch in the seat.
(11:35):
I couldn't I couldn't quite hold myselfup to stay upright. And I
kept fighting that try to stay upright because I knew, man, this
is serious. I don't want toI don't want to stop sitting up.
So this went on and on,and I thought to myself, this is
(12:01):
definitely a stroke, and Eric,you gotta get gotta get back here quick,
you know. And then I said, then I remember having one other
thought. I looked up at thispulpit there and I said, well,
Pastor Lary, you always said youmight die in a pulpit. Now you're
not going to die in the pulpit, but you're making to die in front
(12:22):
of the pulpit, you know,right in front of it. I noticed
that I was slouching down to theright and my I was drooling out of
the side of my mouth, andI was not being able to focus my
eyesight. And then the last thingthat scared me, This really scared me.
(12:45):
I heard myself trying to breathe,and it was like a terrible Oh,
that's not good, you know.And when I heard that, I
thought, Eric, you got toget here now, man, because I'm
about I almost said to myself,this is it. I'm going to give
up here. But I was stillsitting up when he got there. Thank
(13:07):
the Lord, he got there.He got time. Yes, and he
took one look at me and hesaid, I'm gonna call the I'm gonna
call nine one one, okay.And I all I could do was muster
a thumbs up. At least youcan do that. And I said thumbs
up. And you know, Idon't know how long it took, but
(13:30):
they got there and they I waslike dead weight, and they threw me
up on the gurney, and Iknow I must have scared him, you
know, But I got out ofthat church by those help of those people,
and they were not worried about howif they hurt me or not.
They were to the hospital. Yeah, it was. It was a matter
(13:52):
of are you saying the analyst ridewas soft? They pretty well just manhandled
me in there. And as soonas I got in there, they started
ripping my clothes or cutting my clothesoff, and and one guy had pressing
on my carotid arteries, you know, and it really hurt. But I
couldn't move, I couldn't do anything. And I remember laying there thinking,
(14:15):
this is it, This is it, that's all. But I wasn't.
I wasn't panicked in my soul,Gail was. My body was a little
bit resistant at all this pain thatthey were inflicting to try to keep me
alive, because to help you,they got to hurt you. But another
quick mini miracle on this was Ericcame running out there right as they were
(14:39):
ready to leave and slam the door, and he had my phone in his
hand and he said, I'm lockedout. Can you give me the colde?
And I couldn't talk, of course, but I I somehow with my
hand made a zero and a zeroand I won't tell you that digit,
(15:00):
okay, and then another then Ithen I gave him a signal five.
I saw the phone code, buthe he said, got it. I
got I was able to get thatcode to him in time, and that's
what how he contacted all my lovedones. Wow wow they were they were
all over the country and I wasan hour away from my wife at that
point, but thank god he gota hold of them. And anyway,
(15:26):
that began the whole episode, becausethis was a serious stroke, wasn't it.
It was very serious and I camevery near death. In fact,
the doctors and the nurses were allamazed that I did come back and that
I was discharged just two three dayslater. I think it was on Tuesday.
(15:48):
I went in on Saturday to theU of M. They they transported
me by another ambulance and I wasdischarged on Tuesday, Tuesday after noon from
you of him with no restrictions.Wow, that's America, and that's for
God's glory. Only God did this. There's no doubt in my mind.
(16:10):
So you got to really be thankfulon Thanksgiving right absolutely, for not only
Thanksgiving, but for the rest ofmy for the rest of my days.
You know, I am gonna praiseGod, I told my friend with a
little humor, I'll become a Baptishostle. Oh, every opportunity I get,
I give give God praise and andone of the things one reason I
(16:33):
know it's a miracle that this wasGod that did it. Only He could
do it. The doctors couldn't doit. The medicine they all helped to
save my life, the ambulance,everybody helped me, the first responders and
everybody. But it was only Godwho brought me back. Because they had
already told my family, my wifeand all my kids and everyone family and
(16:56):
friends that were there that don't expectmy this type of stroke. They said,
you know, just here's the threeoptions. They gave him death,
vegetative state, or number three,you'll be convalescent care the rest of your
(17:18):
life. So they didn't know aboutthe fourth option. They didn't mention the
fourth option, you know, andthat that that brings me to remember,
you know, in the Hebrew manor a shadrack mishak and a betigo,
or in the fiery furnace, therewas a fourth man in the fire.
So there was a fourth man inthe fire with you. They didn't consider
God is able, and he didthis. I guarantee you he did it.
(17:42):
I want to tell you this partreal quick before I know I could
go on and on, but Idon't know how much time I have left
it. Well, well we've gota few more men to slept. But
what is it you want to share? I want to share this this part.
I was had this horrible thing keepingme alive, keeping keep in me,
breathing ventilator. Yeah. And whenthey took that out and I was
(18:04):
able to talk, I had Ilooked up and I couldn't really see.
I could see people around, butI couldn't move my head and I could
only really look up and see Angel. She was my nurse. Angel,
I like that, and she hada mask on and all I could see
was her eyes and I she askedme some but I don't know what she
asked me. As soon as Icould talk, she was holding onto my
(18:27):
hands, and I said, thisis the Holy Spirit in me that did
this. And the Holy Spirit threwme, said Angel, I was ready
to be with Jesus. But ifyou're not ready, you won't have time
to get ready. You need tobe ready now. You need to get
(18:51):
ready. Now. Well, willyou give your chance to get ready on
this program? Well? You will? You give people a chance to pray
with you. A minute, youcan lead him in a prayer on the
air about receiving Christ and getting ready. Can you do that? Yeah?
Go ahead. I want to justsay what I told Angel. I'm telling
everyone who's listening that if you couldjust realize, no matter who you are
(19:15):
out there, no matter who youare or what you've done, Jesus is
only He's the mere mention of hisname away. If you will just say
Jesus, I believe in you,he will save you. The Bible says,
believe I'm the Lord Jesus Christ,and you will be saved. And
(19:40):
to do that means you put yourfaith in him, you trust him.
You're calling out and you know he'sright there. He was with me.
I was ready to meet him.But if you're not ready right now,
if you were to die, ifyou were to have a stroke, are
you ready to go to be withJesus? Do you know him? Have
you believed in him? There's onlytwo groups of people out there. You're
(20:03):
either a believer or you're not.You're an unbeliever. You say, well,
I don't believe that. Pastor Larry, Well, let me tell you
what Jesus said, and I'm closingwith this verse John three thirty six said,
he that believeth on the Son haseverlasting life. But he that believeth
(20:25):
not the Son of God shall notsee life. But the wrath of God
abideth on him. Could you leavehim in a prayer? Minuteary, what
will you do with Jesus? Shallwe pray? Lord? Thank you,
we praise you. We give youall the glory for what you did.
It's not just emotion now that I'mtalking, I'm talking from gratitude from my
(20:48):
heart. I've had that emotional experience, but it's not just that. It's
an experience that it's a spiritual one. And I pray if there's a anyone
in any any hour of struggle outhere listening, any struggle and they need
help, and they need someone torescue them from sin and turn their life
(21:10):
around. Lord, would they justlook up right now, see that holy
angels are watching over them, protectingthem up to now that they're they're here
by the grace of God. Andmay they turned to the God who made
them, created them Jesus and say, Jesus, I believe you went to
(21:32):
the cross, you died on thatcross, you shed your blood for me,
you rose again to give me eternallife. And I accept you.
I believe in you right now inyour word, save me a man.
Amen. That's great, Pastor Larry. I'm really glad you gave people a
chance because one of the things yousaid is that when that time comes,
(21:56):
you don't have time. You don'tboom, it's there. Yep, you
don't and it's all over and you'rean eternity. That's right. But now,
if you're breathing and listening to uson the radio or on podcasts,
you have a chance to get rightwith the Lord. So I want to
pray before I close off this program, Lord, I pray for those during
christ and Thanksgiving and even Christmas comingup that are lonely, that don't have
(22:22):
anyone. Lord, you said inyour word that you are a friend that
sticks closer than a brother, andthat you want to be our friend even
when it seems like we don't haveany friends. So Lord, I just
pray that you'll be with these personlistening today, and I asked that you
would be with them in the nameof Jesus. Amen. And I want
to say this. Maybe you gotplenty of food on your table, but
(22:45):
maybe your neighbor doesn't. This wouldbe a good time to share your food
with people that are hurting, withpeople that are in need. Maybe you
need to pick up the phone,call a mom or a dad, our
grandma you haven't talked in a while, and don't wait to accept Christ.
(23:06):
Today is the day of salvation.All you got to say is, Lord,
come into my heart, be mysavior, forgive me of my sins,
and Jesus will be there for youin May you take the time this
Thanksgiving to not only accept Christ asyour savior if you have it, but
to write down all the things you'rethankful for. May God richly blessed each
(23:32):
one of you have a good morning. One week after recording this program,
Pastor Larry Saundras passed away and wenthome to be with Jesus. So this
program is in loving memory of PastorLarry Saunders, his wife Beverly, and
(23:57):
their children are prayers are with you. Healing Begins is brought to you by
Spiritual Care Consultants located in Hastings,Michigan. At the Healing Center, we
see children and adults at no costs. We do virtual and in person sessions.
We invite you to learn more aboutus by going to www dot Spiritualcareconsultants
(24:19):
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(24:41):
then click on podcast, then lookfor Healing Begins and click on that.
Thank you so much for being afaithful supporter. May God bless you
keep you, cause us face toshine upon you and give you peace.
Thank you for listening,
Welcome to Healing Begins. My nameis Pastor Gail Krock, and we're going
to talk about Thanksgiving today. AndI have a special guest on the program,
Pastor Larry Sanders. Say hello,Larry, Hello, Larry. All
right now, and now he's beingfunny right off the bat. Where where
are you a pastor at? It'sin Jackson, Michigan. It's called Jackson
(00:52):
Baptist Church. It's a little churchon the hill on Dettman Street. So
how long you've been there? Ithink six years now I'm going on perhaps,
Now where were you before that?Oh, let's see, about three
or four or five years in betweenchurches. I had not had a church,
you know, in that span.So I was doing several different things,
(01:18):
one of which I was a counselorfor a drug and alcohol rehab for
six months. And I was achaplain in a women's prison down in Nipsilanti
for six months. And then Idrove around the country in a van for
a guy for about a year,all over the country. You know,
it didn't make any money, butabout baroke even doing all that, but
I had a great time, andyou know, I kept busy, but
(01:44):
I didn't have a church since backfive years prior to this church, and
then I've been in ministry now fulltime since nineteen eighty one, so without
those five years. Except for thosefive years been pastoring in one of two
or three churches, So that's along time to be a ministry. I've
(02:06):
been in ministry since nineteen eighty nine, so you and I are pretty close
to the same age. It's sofunny as pastors, we wind up doing
several things in life, don't Yes, yes, you got to be got
to be agile, yeah, tobe flexible, flexible. Yeah, So
this is a great time to talkabout Thanksgiving. You like Thanksgiving? Wonderful
(02:28):
time, wonderful time of the year. Yes, I love the turkey and
the fixings and the gravy and themashed potatoes. You like all that.
I like. I've kind of gonewith the venison now lately. Oh venison.
Yeah, venis in backstraps and mashedpotatoes. But now we're making everybody
hungry. That's listening. But wedidn't call you on this program today to
(02:52):
talk about eating food, although Ilike to do that. I hear in
this season of your life you havea lot to be thankful for, right
yes, perhaps more than ever.I have this gratitude like never before,
you know, flowing out of me, just to be alive. That's right,
(03:12):
Gail, So share with me whathappened to you, What, what
did what did you go through recently? Just take your time to talk about
that a little bit. Well,on the twenty first of October. The
medical term for it is cerebrovascular accidentdue to thrombosis of basalar artery. Like
(03:35):
it was like my basalar artery hadan occlusion. Whatever that means with cerebral
infarction, Well, I have aconclusion. I don't know what that means.
But all that means from a froma just my normal standpoint. Layman's
standpoint is I had a stroke inthe back of my head. It was
a blood clot in the back ofthe you know, the the brain steck
(04:00):
of my head, mostly like inmy neck area back there somewhere I've had
for about a decade, I guess, or more narrowing of my arteries back
there. They were aware of it, the doctors had told me that,
but nothing that anyone can do aboutthat except I was on blood pressure and
(04:21):
stating drugs and all that for along time now. So what happened the
day? Where are we at whenyou had this stroke? What was that
like? I got to the churchabout eleven o'clock in the morning on the
twenty first. I was going thereto help a fellow member, brother Eric,
who was gonna I was going tobe his assistant, and he was
(04:42):
going to hang these window treatments orwindow films in the windows for the holiday
season. Yeah. Yeah. Andthey had like a stained glass appearance with
a cross in the middle of them. They were real pretty. That sounds
beautiful. Yeah, And we hadjust got perched, and I was looking
forward to helping them because I reallyliked the idea of having those up up
(05:04):
there and letting the sun shine throughthem. So I walked into church with
a brand new hot cup of coffeeI just picked up from Johnny's there.
Oh it sounds good, Jack Coffee, Yeah yeah. And I walked in
the front door. I walked pastthe back four you there. It was
not very big church, but Isaw a little table where the ladies had
(05:27):
put on their a pumpkin, alittle bit of a pumpkin there, and
they had these little little bitty thingsyou would write a little pumpkin, you'd
write what you're thankful for on andput it in this bigger pumpkin. Did
you put something in that pumpkin?Yeah. They were going to have it
like a get together after church onthe next day, and we were going
(05:48):
to read all these you know,you were supposed to put your there.
I stopped and I wrote about eightor nine of them out. Really I
couldn't quite just put one. SoI remember, I'm grateful for my wife,
Beverly, thankful for my children.I named all of them, you
know, I got four, namedall three of my grandchildren. I said,
(06:11):
I'm thankful for coffee. As Iwas looking at my coffee, I
put I'm thankful for deer hunting,because I had already been out deer hunting
a couple of times bow hunting.And then I think I put on there,
I'm thankful for Eric, who wasright there. I could see him,
and I said, and I alsocould see our piano player. Her
name is Peggy. She's a sweetlady up in her eighties, and what
(06:33):
a what a precious help her she'sbeen. But I wrote on there,
thankful for Peggy, and I thinkthat's about all I could remember. But
one thing I didn't put in there, not that I know now I'm probably
thankful for the most and that wasmy health. Oh yeah, I didn't
(06:54):
even think that. For granted,I didn't think of that. Yeah,
I didn't think of that one.And that can change in a second.
It did, literally, So whathappened to you where? What was you
doing? Well? I took twosteps or three steps drinking the coffee walking
down the aisle, down the centeraisle, and I hadn't eaten anything that
day, and I am a prediabetic, and I also I'm always constantly
(07:20):
trying to listen to my body,you know that at my age. So
I started noticing it. I wasgetting a little dizzy while I was walking
down the aisle, and that's happenedin the past a few times. But
the room's starting to spin and Ihad to kind of sit down. I
had to sit down on the frontview and in my mind, I was
(07:45):
having what they call vertigo. Ohyeah, yeah, vertigo. And that's
what the urgent care had told meup here in Hastings. The first time
this ever happened to me, thatI had vertigo a little bit, but
it always passed within a minute.Or maybe five minutes the most. But
with that, if it doesn't stop, you get nauseous and it gets worse
and worse. But I didn't knowthat until that day. It got worse
(08:09):
and worse, and what I thoughtwould soon pass became all afternoon struggling for
me. I was miserable, butI still didn't think stroke. I still
had no thought it was a stroke. So everybody was trying to help me.
So little Peggy she ran back toher apartment there and she got a
(08:31):
blood pressure cuff and she took myblood pressure, she checked my blood sugar.
Both were normal or you know,in a good range. So the
only thing that was a little bitodd. I had broken out into a
sweat, really big sweat, andit was a rainy, chilly day,
and that was unnormal, not normal, and I started chilling, so they
(08:54):
put sweaters around me and trying tomake me feel comfortable sitting there. You
can be comfortable in a pew hard, yeah, exactly, unless it's padded,
yeah right, yeah. But Isat down there, and then I
eventually laid down there trying to tryingto get this nausea out of you know,
I started getting nauseous, so theygot me a garbage can, and
(09:16):
I was hugging that and I wasnot I hadn't eaten anything, but I
had a little bit of bial fluidthat I would dry heave, dry heaves,
you know. Anyway, I thoughtthis would only last a bit,
about, you know, fifteen minutesat the most. Maybe it turned into
hours in another hour, and thenext thing I know, I had laid
(09:39):
down, and I guess I musthave slept a little bit. And I
tried to stand up and walk atone point, and I couldn't walk.
I started staggering around like a drunkperson. So I sat down on the
opposite pew, on the front pew, in front of the pulpit, and
Eric. I looked around finally,and I could see he had already finished
(10:01):
all the windows, you know.So that's how long I had been in
there. And so anyway, everybodyhad left except for Eric, and he
was just about finished, maybe notquite, but almost. And he said
to me, I'm gonna go stepout get a bite to eat real quick,
because it's right in town. Hesaid, I'll be right back if
(10:22):
that be all right. Well yoube all right, he said, and
I said, oh yeah, I'llbe all right out I could talk.
You see, at that time hesaid I'll be fine. I still believed
this was going to pass. AndI hadn't thought of that word stroke at
all. So even though somebody hadtold me to suggest that you should go
to the to the hospital, Iknew no, I'd be there all the
(10:46):
rest of the day and it wouldbe you know, So that shows you
I hadn't thought that serious about this. So anyway, he left, and
no sooner than he left, Gail, I'm telling you, that's when this
knew you were in trouble. Iknew I was in trouble because something I
can't describe to you really just itjust came over me, like it settled
(11:09):
all over my body. It likea like a heated like a glow,
a feeling of warmth. But atthe same time, at the same time,
I'm im obile my arm, myleg. Next thing was that was
my left side and on my rightside, and noticed my leg spasm in
for a while but uncontrollably, andthen I started to slouch in the seat.
(11:35):
I couldn't I couldn't quite hold myselfup to stay upright. And I
kept fighting that try to stay upright because I knew, man, this
is serious. I don't want toI don't want to stop sitting up.
So this went on and on,and I thought to myself, this is
(12:01):
definitely a stroke, and Eric,you gotta get gotta get back here quick,
you know. And then I said, then I remember having one other
thought. I looked up at thispulpit there and I said, well,
Pastor Lary, you always said youmight die in a pulpit. Now you're
not going to die in the pulpit, but you're making to die in front
(12:22):
of the pulpit, you know,right in front of it. I noticed
that I was slouching down to theright and my I was drooling out of
the side of my mouth, andI was not being able to focus my
eyesight. And then the last thingthat scared me, This really scared me.
(12:45):
I heard myself trying to breathe,and it was like a terrible Oh,
that's not good, you know.And when I heard that, I
thought, Eric, you got toget here now, man, because I'm
about I almost said to myself,this is it. I'm going to give
up here. But I was stillsitting up when he got there. Thank
(13:07):
the Lord, he got there.He got time. Yes, and he
took one look at me and hesaid, I'm gonna call the I'm gonna
call nine one one, okay.And I all I could do was muster
a thumbs up. At least youcan do that. And I said thumbs
up. And you know, Idon't know how long it took, but
(13:30):
they got there and they I waslike dead weight, and they threw me
up on the gurney, and Iknow I must have scared him, you
know, But I got out ofthat church by those help of those people,
and they were not worried about howif they hurt me or not.
They were to the hospital. Yeah, it was. It was a matter
(13:52):
of are you saying the analyst ridewas soft? They pretty well just manhandled
me in there. And as soonas I got in there, they started
ripping my clothes or cutting my clothesoff, and and one guy had pressing
on my carotid arteries, you know, and it really hurt. But I
couldn't move, I couldn't do anything. And I remember laying there thinking,
(14:15):
this is it, This is it, that's all. But I wasn't.
I wasn't panicked in my soul,Gail was. My body was a little
bit resistant at all this pain thatthey were inflicting to try to keep me
alive, because to help you,they got to hurt you. But another
quick mini miracle on this was Ericcame running out there right as they were
(14:39):
ready to leave and slam the door, and he had my phone in his
hand and he said, I'm lockedout. Can you give me the colde?
And I couldn't talk, of course, but I I somehow with my
hand made a zero and a zeroand I won't tell you that digit,
(15:00):
okay, and then another then Ithen I gave him a signal five.
I saw the phone code, buthe he said, got it. I
got I was able to get thatcode to him in time, and that's
what how he contacted all my lovedones. Wow wow they were they were
all over the country and I wasan hour away from my wife at that
point, but thank god he gota hold of them. And anyway,
(15:26):
that began the whole episode, becausethis was a serious stroke, wasn't it.
It was very serious and I camevery near death. In fact,
the doctors and the nurses were allamazed that I did come back and that
I was discharged just two three dayslater. I think it was on Tuesday.
(15:48):
I went in on Saturday to theU of M. They they transported
me by another ambulance and I wasdischarged on Tuesday, Tuesday after noon from
you of him with no restrictions.Wow, that's America, and that's for
God's glory. Only God did this. There's no doubt in my mind.
(16:10):
So you got to really be thankfulon Thanksgiving right absolutely, for not only
Thanksgiving, but for the rest ofmy for the rest of my days.
You know, I am gonna praiseGod, I told my friend with a
little humor, I'll become a Baptishostle. Oh, every opportunity I get,
I give give God praise and andone of the things one reason I
(16:33):
know it's a miracle that this wasGod that did it. Only He could
do it. The doctors couldn't doit. The medicine they all helped to
save my life, the ambulance,everybody helped me, the first responders and
everybody. But it was only Godwho brought me back. Because they had
already told my family, my wifeand all my kids and everyone family and
(16:56):
friends that were there that don't expectmy this type of stroke. They said,
you know, just here's the threeoptions. They gave him death,
vegetative state, or number three,you'll be convalescent care the rest of your
(17:18):
life. So they didn't know aboutthe fourth option. They didn't mention the
fourth option, you know, andthat that that brings me to remember,
you know, in the Hebrew manor a shadrack mishak and a betigo,
or in the fiery furnace, therewas a fourth man in the fire.
So there was a fourth man inthe fire with you. They didn't consider
God is able, and he didthis. I guarantee you he did it.
(17:42):
I want to tell you this partreal quick before I know I could
go on and on, but Idon't know how much time I have left
it. Well, well we've gota few more men to slept. But
what is it you want to share? I want to share this this part.
I was had this horrible thing keepingme alive, keeping keep in me,
breathing ventilator. Yeah. And whenthey took that out and I was
(18:04):
able to talk, I had Ilooked up and I couldn't really see.
I could see people around, butI couldn't move my head and I could
only really look up and see Angel. She was my nurse. Angel,
I like that, and she hada mask on and all I could see
was her eyes and I she askedme some but I don't know what she
asked me. As soon as Icould talk, she was holding onto my
(18:27):
hands, and I said, thisis the Holy Spirit in me that did
this. And the Holy Spirit threwme, said Angel, I was ready
to be with Jesus. But ifyou're not ready, you won't have time
to get ready. You need tobe ready now. You need to get
(18:51):
ready. Now. Well, willyou give your chance to get ready on
this program? Well? You will? You give people a chance to pray
with you. A minute, youcan lead him in a prayer on the
air about receiving Christ and getting ready. Can you do that? Yeah?
Go ahead. I want to justsay what I told Angel. I'm telling
everyone who's listening that if you couldjust realize, no matter who you are
(19:15):
out there, no matter who youare or what you've done, Jesus is
only He's the mere mention of hisname away. If you will just say
Jesus, I believe in you,he will save you. The Bible says,
believe I'm the Lord Jesus Christ,and you will be saved. And
(19:40):
to do that means you put yourfaith in him, you trust him.
You're calling out and you know he'sright there. He was with me.
I was ready to meet him.But if you're not ready right now,
if you were to die, ifyou were to have a stroke, are
you ready to go to be withJesus? Do you know him? Have
you believed in him? There's onlytwo groups of people out there. You're
(20:03):
either a believer or you're not.You're an unbeliever. You say, well,
I don't believe that. Pastor Larry, Well, let me tell you
what Jesus said, and I'm closingwith this verse John three thirty six said,
he that believeth on the Son haseverlasting life. But he that believeth
(20:25):
not the Son of God shall notsee life. But the wrath of God
abideth on him. Could you leavehim in a prayer? Minuteary, what
will you do with Jesus? Shallwe pray? Lord? Thank you,
we praise you. We give youall the glory for what you did.
It's not just emotion now that I'mtalking, I'm talking from gratitude from my
(20:48):
heart. I've had that emotional experience, but it's not just that. It's
an experience that it's a spiritual one. And I pray if there's a anyone
in any any hour of struggle outhere listening, any struggle and they need
help, and they need someone torescue them from sin and turn their life
(21:10):
around. Lord, would they justlook up right now, see that holy
angels are watching over them, protectingthem up to now that they're they're here
by the grace of God. Andmay they turned to the God who made
them, created them Jesus and say, Jesus, I believe you went to
(21:32):
the cross, you died on thatcross, you shed your blood for me,
you rose again to give me eternallife. And I accept you.
I believe in you right now inyour word, save me a man.
Amen. That's great, Pastor Larry. I'm really glad you gave people a
chance because one of the things yousaid is that when that time comes,
(21:56):
you don't have time. You don'tboom, it's there. Yep, you
don't and it's all over and you'rean eternity. That's right. But now,
if you're breathing and listening to uson the radio or on podcasts,
you have a chance to get rightwith the Lord. So I want to
pray before I close off this program, Lord, I pray for those during
christ and Thanksgiving and even Christmas comingup that are lonely, that don't have
(22:22):
anyone. Lord, you said inyour word that you are a friend that
sticks closer than a brother, andthat you want to be our friend even
when it seems like we don't haveany friends. So Lord, I just
pray that you'll be with these personlistening today, and I asked that you
would be with them in the nameof Jesus. Amen. And I want
to say this. Maybe you gotplenty of food on your table, but
(22:45):
maybe your neighbor doesn't. This wouldbe a good time to share your food
with people that are hurting, withpeople that are in need. Maybe you
need to pick up the phone,call a mom or a dad, our
grandma you haven't talked in a while, and don't wait to accept Christ.
(23:06):
Today is the day of salvation.All you got to say is, Lord,
come into my heart, be mysavior, forgive me of my sins,
and Jesus will be there for youin May you take the time this
Thanksgiving to not only accept Christ asyour savior if you have it, but
to write down all the things you'rethankful for. May God richly blessed each
(23:32):
one of you have a good morning. One week after recording this program,
Pastor Larry Saundras passed away and wenthome to be with Jesus. So this
program is in loving memory of PastorLarry Saunders, his wife Beverly, and
(23:57):
their children are prayers are with you. Healing Begins is brought to you by
Spiritual Care Consultants located in Hastings,Michigan. At the Healing Center, we
see children and adults at no costs. We do virtual and in person sessions.
We invite you to learn more aboutus by going to www dot Spiritualcareconsultants
(24:19):
dot com. We also value yourfeedback and would like to hear from you.
You can email me at Gail G. A. L E. At
Spiritualcareconsultants dot com. We would liketo invite you and your family and friends
to go and listen to the pastprograms by going to Wood Radio dot com,
(24:41):
then click on podcast, then lookfor Healing Begins and click on that.
Thank you so much for being afaithful supporter. May God bless you
keep you, cause us face toshine upon you and give you peace.
Thank you for listening,
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