A New Truck Filled With Jewels

A New Truck Filled With Jewels

by Anna Marie Sheffield

Transcribed from the original recording; may contain errors.

Because I got to have breakfast with a hero. Boots shared a little of his testimony with me. And I feel like the one who’s been forgiven little. It’s just so struck by, here is a man, you know, a man among many, many in our country who’ve given their lives so that I can struggle with a hero. My petty problems. I’m worried about what Jesus… you know, how He’s going to fix this one.

And yet He died for my petty problems. And He died for great men like Boots, who suffered in ways most of us will never know, so that we can be free. Jesus died so we can be free. I was struck last night when I got here…

How… Jack always uses this line and it seems to be so perfect for here, like Dizzy Dean said, you know, when he was among a bunch of preachers and he said he felt like a lion in a den of Daniels. And being here with you all is… it’s… to be with people of such great faith has been such an honor and such a beautiful thing. And it’s so humbling. It’s like… and they want me to talk to them. You know, it’s like… Each one of you has such a powerful story of what the Lord has done in your lives. And you’re so beautiful. You’re just so beautiful. He loves each of us so much. I mean, I’ve just heard little snippets of some of your testimonies. And, you know, what Jesus has done for me in my life has been powerful for me. But compared to what He’s done for some of you, it’s like… Gosh, Lord, what can I possibly have to share?

I just want to say that… Jesus is so worthy of our love. When I was 19, I was raised in a family that… An American family. My dad, too, was a World War II vet. Good man. Loving… I thought my mom was the best mom in the world. You know, I’d go to other people’s houses and nobody could compare to my mom. My mom was so great.

And I had a brother who I adored. He was about almost five years older than I was. And… But we didn’t… We weren’t… We thought we were Christians because we were Americans. You know? And… Went to church on Christmas and Easter. You know? Went… Didn’t matter which church. But I never knew God, personally. I was afraid… I believed in Him. I always believed in God. I was afraid not to. Because, you know, He might come out of heaven and squash me. And… But I didn’t know Him. And I was so empty inside. And I can remember as a little girl, just crying myself to sleep at night in the midst of this wonderful, loving family. And feeling like nobody loved me. And my mom would come and she would put her arms around me. And she’d say, “Honey, I don’t understand. Mommy loves you. Daddy loves you. Hal loves you.” And I’d say, “Oh, you don’t understand. Nobody loves me.” And she was at a loss. Because she didn’t know Jesus either. And when I was 19… Well, my brother was killed in a car wreck when I was young. And he was a senior in high school. And my family was pretty devastated from that. And a lot of things changed. And my parents both began to drink a lot.

Not during the day, but at night. They would just drink their pain away and go to sleep. And so, essentially, I lost my whole family when my brother died. And when I was 19, I met Jack. And he was this turned-on Jesus freak. I mean, he was carrying a great big Bible. And you squeeze him. And “Praise the Lord” would come out. And we were in college. And I thought, “What on earth is this all about?” But he was so cute. So I thought, “Well, you know, I’m just going to hang around with him just because he’s so cute.” And he invited me and my roommates to Bible study. And I thought that was really weird. But he’s so cute. You know, whatever. And so I got my roommates to go. And before too long, I mean, I realized that what they were saying, it made sense. But I still wasn’t sure. And so one night by myself in my front yard, I just talked to the Lord. I said, “God, if You’re who they say You are, and if You’re real, and You can fill my heart up, Jesus, I want You to come into my life.” And I didn’t feel any different. You know, I just said, “Well, okay. I’ve done it. We’ll see what happens.”

And went to school the next day. And walked up to these crazy Christians that were standing around and got their attention. I said, “Well, I did it.” I said, “What?” I said, “I asked Jesus in my heart last night.” And I mean, the minute I confessed Him before people, the Holy Spirit just came all over me. And I felt His presence on my… I mean, I knew He was real. He filled me up completely. It was just the most awesome thing.

And He just began to transform me. I had an insatiable desire for the Word of God. I could not get enough of the Word of God. I’d sit in chemistry class and put my Bible in front of my book. And, you know, instead of reading chemistry, I’d be reading the Gospel of John and crying. And my teacher, I can still see his face walking by. He’d be looking at me like, “What on earth? What is moving her so much about chemistry?” And it was just… My grades plummeted from A’s to C’s because I wasn’t studying chemistry anymore. I was studying the Word of God.

But I knew there was more because Jack had this funny language he prayed in. And, you know, these people would go to these charismatic meetings. And people would fall on the floor. And, you know, I was real analytical. And that just… I said, “Well, Lord, You know, it says here in Your Bible if you speak in tongues, you’re supposed to interpret. So what they’re doing isn’t right, Lord.” You know?

But I wanted what they had. I wanted what they had. And so one night, we went to hear Charles and Francis Hunter. I don’t know if y’all have heard them. I don’t even know if they’re still alive. But they had evangelistic ministry back in the 60s and 70s. And they had a church in Houston called the Evangelistic Temple. And every Friday night, they would have people come, like Barry McGuire. I don’t know if y’all probably never heard of him. But, you know, he was with a… What was that group? The Green Tree Rovers or something like that anyway. And he wrote “The Eve of Destruction.” And anyway, he got saved. And these young people… It was the beginning of the contemporary Christian scene. And they would come through Evangelistic Temple. And you’d just go to these free concerts. And we’d go. And people would go up for prayer and ask for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And they’d fall over. And, you know, I’d been asking and asking and asking. And nothing had happened. And so, one day I got… I was just mad. I said, “You know, they’re just faking it. I’m going to prove it to You. They’re just faking it.” And I said, “I’m going up there. And you’ll see. I’m not going to fall over.”

And Jack said, “Well, I’m coming too.” And so, I went up there. And Charles Hunter says, “Well, how may I pray for you?” And I didn’t want to say, “Well, I’m up here to prove you’re a fake.” So, I didn’t know what to say. And Jack said, “Well, we’re here. We’re going to get married. Would you pray a blessing on us?” And he said, “Oh,” he had his sweetest face. He said, “I’d love to do that.” And he put his hands up. And he didn’t even get any words out. He didn’t even touch us. And we both went over. You know, I mean, it was like a big, giant feather had knocked us to the ground. And we just kind of looked. As we were going down, I was looking at him laughing. I was like, “Okay, Lord.” And so, that night, afterwards, I said, “Okay, I’m going to go ask for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.” And I went in the room. And they were saying, “Now, just say a few words. Just say a few words. And don’t be English.” And I thought, “This doesn’t sound like God to me.” I mean, if God wanted me to have gifted tongues, He would just get in there and move my tongue around. And it would come out.

So, I just, very stubborn. And I went home. Nothing happened. And I wonder why. And so, I got down on my knees by my bed that night. And I said, “Lord, You know, I’m not going to get up until You give it to me. And if I have to stay here on my knees until I die, I’m staying here. So, You better give it to me.”

It’s taken me a few years to learn respect. Well, He blessed me so much. I mean, He opened the windows of heaven over me and poured out His Holy Spirit onto my heart, my life. And I began to pray in tongues. And heaven never stopped. And it was just glorious. And those days, that was the days, I think, you know, when the heyday of the charismatic renewal, when it first started in early 70s, late 60s. And God was, we had some awesome times with the Lord. And yet, there was so much more that God had for me. And I really didn’t know. And that scripture that Jack read this morning, I used to kind of feel left out somehow. Because when I was a brand new Christian, I’d hear all these testimonies of people that would stand up and talk about how they’d been in the gutter and God raised them up. Or they’d gotten under drugs. Or they had 10 boyfriends. Or, you know. And, I mean, I was just kind of like a sweet young thing that hadn’t had a chance to experience any of that yet. And it was my struggle to become a Christian. It was like, “Well, you know, Lord, I’m just getting out on my own. Do I really want to give that up for piety?”

You know? And so, you know, here I was a Christian. And I had this idea in my head that I hadn’t been forgiven much. Oh, boy. And it’s taken me… I’ve been a Christian now 30-something years. And I guess it took me 20 years to realize I was really a sinner. I didn’t… I was right. My mother was a Christian Scientist. And, you know, Christian Scientists don’t believe that sin is real. I don’t know how many of y’all have ever been around people like that. Sin… They think sin is like error. It’s bad thinking. And so… There’s no concept of being a sinner. And I really didn’t have that. At all. I had no consciousness that I was a sinner when I came to Jesus. I didn’t come to Jesus because I was a sinner. I came to Jesus because I was so empty. And so lonely. And so needing of His love. He just loved me. And through the years, He’s shown me what a rotten, dirty sinner I am. The older I get, the worse I act. And the more I have to be forgiven for. And, you know, just… Just yesterday, I was meditating on that. Thinking of how much He’s forgiven me. How much He’s forgiven me. And continues to forgive me.

About… Well, we had two children. I’m just kind of telling you a little bit about who I am since I’ve never met y’all before. But in 1978, our second child… We have two boys. Our second child was born. And he was born with Hyaline Membrane Disease, which now they call something different. Respiratory Distress Syndrome or whatever. But he couldn’t… His lungs wouldn’t inflate. He didn’t have some kind of a hormone that would cause him to be able to breathe. And he was a little premature. And they put him on oxygen. And every time they’d try to take him off oxygen, he would… His heart would stop and they’d have to resuscitate him. And, you know, it was a very trying time. We were young parents. And, boy, I tell you what, we were pretty ignorant, too. And God bless our children. We experimented on them in raising them. But Stevie, our youngest, he was such a miracle child. Because when he was born, he had this condition. And they’d say, you know, he’s always going to have respiratory trouble. And he’s always going to have this and that. And God, when He brought him… healed him quickly, brought him out of the hospital, he was never sick a day in his life. I mean, he never had a cold.

He never had the flu. All the things they said he was going to have, he never had. But then, when he was five, he got the flu. And then he had a relapse. And I kept saying, well, we know. We just kept praying for him, praying for him. And finally, we decided he needed to go to the doctor. And it turned out he had leukemia.

And God walked us through that time. We saw so many miracles. And those of you who have been through illness with family members, you understand the things God does in the midst of the trials and tribulations. And I really believed God was going to do another miracle on Stevie’s life and heal him. But He chose to take him home and healed him that way. And when that happened, I got really angry at God. I was so angry. I was angry for a year.

And finally, it had gotten so bad. I mean, we had left the ministry. And I didn’t want to go to church anymore. And I didn’t want to be around Christians anymore. Because most of the Christians I knew were always trying to make me feel better. And I didn’t want to feel better. I just wanted to be mad. And the only people I liked to hang out with were people who didn’t know the Lord. Because they were so…

You know, it’s like they could feel my pain. And they made me feel worse and worse, which is what I wanted to feel. You know? So I don’t know if that makes sense. But that’s kind of where I was. And… But thank God for the body of Christ. Jesus was skin on. We had Christian friends who would not leave me there. And they kept coming over and coming over. “You can’t stay out of church. You can’t stay out of church.” And I just, you know, I listened to them. And yeah. And they’d leave. And Jackie said, “Honey, they’re right.” And I said, “Oh, I’m not going. I’m not going back to church.” And he begged me to go back. And we started going to an Episcopal church in Houston. And then we walked in the first Sunday. And they were playing this song on the organ that was… I don’t remember now what it was. But it was a beautiful praise song. And I mean, the Holy Spirit just got all over Jack. And he just started to weep. And just… You could see the Holy Spirit was melting him and beginning to heal him. And that made me even madder. And it’s like, God… Because I really didn’t want to be mad at God.

But, you know, I didn’t know how to stop. And here, God was blessing him. And I said, yeah, I just figured, you know. And here I am. And there he’s getting blessed. And so I was madder. Got madder at God. And I was never going to go back. And the next weekend, he says, “Please, honey, go back for me. Just go back for me.” And okay. I couldn’t resist him. And so went back.

And God will use anything. You know, even a husband. And this particular church had an Order of St. Luke. I don’t know how many of y’all are members or are familiar. But it’s a healing ministry. And so something got me. I couldn’t tell you what in the service, whether it was the music or the preaching or the scripture. But the Holy Spirit got through my hard heart. And I went up for prayer. And these people, I didn’t know them. They didn’t know me. They didn’t know what the problem was.

But I just, they said, “How can we pray for you?” And I said, “Well.” And I was crying really hard. I said, “I’m just so angry at God. And I don’t want to be angry at God anymore. But I don’t know how to stop.” And I was just sitting there crying. And the wife had a vision. And it was really, I guess the first time I’d ever experienced a vision as a word of knowledge in my walk with the Lord. And she had this vision of a sword in my heart. And she spoke that out. And she said, “The Lord needs to remove this sword so you can heal.” And I could literally feel them, that big knife coming out of my heart while they prayed. And the pain, you know, all those, that pent-up anger and everything just kind of just came out. And the Lord began to heal me. And it was really a big turning point in my walk with the Lord. Because I realized that He didn’t just come to save me from my sin. He didn’t just come to take away my loneliness. He came for every little detail. And He cared. You know, I don’t know why Jesus didn’t heal Stevie. And he’s not standing here in ministry with us today.

I don’t understand that. But I know that Jesus cares. And I know that He works everything in our lives to the good when we’re called according to His purposes. Everything. It doesn’t matter how evil, you know, how much we go through. God transforms it somehow and heals us and heals others in the midst of it. That was just an amazing time in my life. And I fell more in love with the Lord. And then our bishop called for the Decade of Evangelism. This was in 1980? No. 90. Yeah. 1889.

And I knew without looking at him, he was going to go… He’d left the ministry. Remember, we got mad at God. And I really liked not being a preacher’s wife. I’ll tell you. We had five years of wonderful… where we could do anything we wanted. I mean, we were your typical Christian seeing ears. I mean, we’d go camping on the weekend instead of going to church. You know, we would go… We would go out to eat on Saturday night late. And, you know, I mean, when you’re a preacher’s family, you just don’t do things. Every weekend is church, right? I didn’t know that that’s… That God wanted to put that love in my heart to want to do that. You know, I was just doing it out of duty before. And so, I knew. I was like, “Oh, Lord, he’s going to respond to that call. I know it. We’re going to be back in the ministry. Oh, Lord.” And I said, “Okay, Lord, whatever.” And I looked over there. And sure enough, there he is talking to the Bishop Benitez and offering his services. “I’m yours, Bishop.” And before I knew it, we were back in the ministry. And I told him, I said, “You know, I support you 100% in what you’re doing.”

“And just do not ask me to do anything. I’m there for you. But I’m not going to teach Sunday school. I’m not going to lead Bible studies. I’m not going to be in the choir. I’m here for you. But that’s it.” Because God was still healing me.

And I can still remember, he got his first church. And I didn’t do anything. I was real quiet while I sat back in the back. And I’d slip in and slip out. One Sunday, I got… You know, it’s kind of like when the Lord… When you like to be the center of attention anyway, it’s kind of hard to sit back and be that way. You know, after a while, it gets old. It’s like, “Well, darn, nobody’s paying attention to me.” And so, you know… Like I said, God uses any motive. And I thought, “Well, I’m going to come to Sunday school.” And so, I went to Sunday school. And this woman who was teaching it, you know… I could tell she was surprised I was there.

And she said something. And I remember the Holy Spirit just got all over me. And I just stood up and started sharing whatever it was that God had given me. And it was really anointed. It was really cool. And I can still see Victoria’s face. Her mouth went…

And after church, she said to Jack, “Where have you been hiding her?” It was really funny. Do you remember that? And I knew that the Lord had called me too. It wasn’t just Jack’s calling that He had called me too. And so, you know, started getting back into doing ministry and still feeling like I’m just so in love with Jesus. And doing all these things. Ten years go by. And one day I was sitting in a restaurant. And these two women walked in. And this was maybe four years ago. Something like that. Five years ago, maybe. And in Austin, there’s a really big eclectic community. I mean, we have your new agers. You’ve got your gay couples. You’ve got your, you know, rock and rollers. You’ve got your big music thing. And you’ve got people that are tattooed from head to toe that look like lizards. And, you know, I mean, it’s really sad in a way what people are doing to themselves these days. But I love to be, I’m a people watcher. And I love to sit and watch people. And, well, one day, these two women came in. And I could tell that they were a lesbian couple. They were dressed in black. Their heads had been shaved. One woman had a green mohawk.

And the other one had, like, a little beanie of orange hair. And they were tattooed and pierced everywhere. And, but I looked in their eyes. And there was nothing there. I mean, they were so empty. They were so empty. And my heart just, it was like it was being squeezed. I just wanted to reach out to them and just say something that would get their attention and get them to know my Jesus. And I was sitting there and getting ready to go back to work, you know, and I’m, “Lord, You know, what could I say to them?” And I was thinking of all these lines. You know, what could I say? And everything came out. And it was like, yuck. It was like I had it all together. And they were so lost. And, boy, did they really need Jesus. And, you know, and all I could hear was judgmentalism coming out of me. Judgment. And I said, “Lord, what is wrong with me?” And He so gently spoke to me. And He said, “You’ve lost your first love.”

And I just sat there. And I knew it was true. I mean, I was just crushed. And I realized that my life had become busyness for Him. It had become, you know, daily doing. But as I started to look at my focus, my focus was the church. I wasn’t doing the Great Commission anymore. I wasn’t so in love with Jesus that when people looked at me, they wanted what I had anymore. All they were getting from me was condemnation, probably, judgmentalism. They’d look at me, and I didn’t have that light coming out of me anymore. And I began to think about, you know, when I was like, “Lord, how do I get that back? I don’t know. How do you fall in love again when you lose that love?” And Revelation, He talks about, “I’ve had this against you. You’ve lost your first love.” And then He tells you how to get it back. He says, “Repent.”

Go figure. Repent. Oh, and do the things you did at first. And so I was meditating. “Lord, what does that mean? What did I used to do at first?” And at first I started thinking about all the crazy things Jack and I used to do. When we were brand new Christians, we’d sit in trees and throw M&Ms at people and tell them, “Jesus loves you.” And I thought, “I don’t think that’s what He means. You know, are we supposed to climb back in trees and throw M&Ms at people and tell them, ‘Jesus’?” And I think, well, why not? You know, but I began to realize that that love that we had for Jesus and for one another was so tangible that people would see everywhere we’d go. And we’d go out to restaurants or we’d go shopping or people would see us and the neighbors. “What is it about you?” You know what I’m talking about? “What is it about you? There’s light coming out of your eyes.” And I couldn’t remember the last time anybody had said that to me. Truly, I couldn’t remember. And so I began to really pray about that and ask the Lord to help me. And He gave me this dream about my truck. I think I’ll tell that and then it’s probably time to quit, right?

I love pickup trucks. I’m a redneck girl. And I had this pickup that was a little Ford Ranger. And it was used when I got it. I got a great deal on it. And… But since it was used, I didn’t quite take the care that I normally would have with my cars before. And it was really cool because I didn’t have to wash it. You know, it wasn’t new. I didn’t have to wash it. And we lived out in the country and I’d go driving down the dirt roads and get dirt and dust on it. And I’d think, well, you know, I wash it. It’s just going to get dusty tomorrow. It’s kind of like making your bed. You’re just going to get in it that night. So what do you want to make your bed for, you know? And don’t… You didn’t hear me, guys. But… So I never washed this truck. And I didn’t know that when you don’t wash your truck, the paint starts to peel. Because it can’t take all… So I had a peeling paint truck covered with dirt. Then one day I was on my way to school and a deer jumped out the side of the road and just kind of got right up in my side view mirror and looked at me and crashed my car in and went rolling and jumped over the fence.

And so I had this big old dented door. And… But probably the best part was I love bumper stickers. And so the whole backside of my truck was plastered with bumper stickers that said, you know, “Jesus loves you. And he’s the only one who can.” No, not really. “Turn or burn.” No, not really.

But I did have this one that said, “Eternity, smoking or non-smoking.” Isn’t that a good one? I like that one. But I had about… About 20 or 30 bumper stickers on the back of my truck. And this was the way I used to witness to people. I’d get on the freeway. And I’d find somebody who had bumper stickers that said, “Goddess on board” or, you know, I won’t go into politics. But, you know, anything I didn’t agree with, I’d drive real fast and get in front of them and then I’d slow down. So they’d have to read my bumper… That was my form of witness. And, you know, I made more people mad than anything, you know. But once in a while, people would kind of catch on to what I was doing. And Meg would get in front of me and slow down. And so we’d play this, you know, bumper sticker derby all down the freeway. And I don’t recommend that. Y’all didn’t hear that either. But anyway, that was my truck. Oh, and inside my truck… Okay. We live down in the country. So you never know what you’re going to have to do at the end of the day when you go to town. So you’ve got to have extra clothes.

You’ve got to have your gym clothes. You’ve got to have extra running shoes. Because you can’t find your shoes very easily in my truck. Because there’s so many other things in there. You’ve got to have at least two or three Bibles. Because you can’t find… And then you’ve got your stuff for vacation Bible school. And then you’ve got all this stuff. And then you’ve got last week’s lunch buried in there somewhere. And so, mind you, my passenger side was full. There was no room for a person. It was all junk. That’s the state of my truck. My grandmother used to say, “You could tell the state of a woman’s mind by the condition of her purse.” I hate to think what she would have said about my truck.

Anyway, I had this dream. And in my dream, I was driving my truck. And I drove up to a beautiful university like Georgetown University. And parked it. And went inside. And when I came out, I couldn’t find my truck. I forgot where I parked it. I thought I forgot where I parked it. I looked and looked. I thought, “Someone has stolen my truck.” And I couldn’t imagine why anybody would want to steal my truck. But I was like, “They did.” And all of a sudden, this young guy shows up. And kind of like you, long hair and sandals on. And he said, “I know where your truck is.” And I knew in my dream that it was Jesus. And He knew where my truck was. And He came and said, “Come on, come on. I know where your truck is.” And He takes me to where I parked. But in place of my old, beat-up, dirty, bumper sticker-covered, trash-filled truck, it was brand new. It was a brand new Ford Ranger. Clean. No dents, no dings. No, well, one bumper sticker. And that bumper sticker said, “Prayer. Just do it.”

And I looked at my truck. And He says, “For you.” And I went, “Wow. Thank you. Wow.” And He said, “Come on, get inside.” And He opens the door for me. And I go. And I look inside first. And I turn around at Him. And I said, “Well, where’s my stuff?”

Now, mind you, I was the baby of the family. And I was kind of spoiled. So I sometimes tend to talk to God like I did my daddy. You know, “Where’s my stuff?” And He said, “Look again.” And so I looked inside. And it was clean inside. But laying on the console were three jeweled necklaces. And they were ropes. One was a rope of diamonds. And the other one was a rope of rubies. And then there was a rope of emeralds. And they were laying there. And He said, “They’re for you. Get in.” And so I got in. And I love jewelry. So I was like, He got my attention. And I’m, “Wow.” I’m still kind of looking for my stuff. But now I’m kind of not so worried about my stuff. I’m just kind of intrigued. And I’m looking. And I look down thinking, “Maybe down there would be my stuff.” And it opens up into this beautiful bedroom. Kind of like the place we’re staying right now with Judy and Bill. All this beautiful bedroom with a comfortable mattress and the beautiful quilts. And it was gorgeous. And you just wanted to go there. And I woke up. And I said, “Lord, I know that dream was from You. Tell me. What are You trying to tell me?”

And He said to me that my truck represented my life, my ministry. And in a broader sense, the church. And He said, “You know, you’re driving this old, beat-up vehicle. And you’ve got your slogans. And, you know, you’ve got your plans, your committees. You’ve got your stuff. And none of it’s working. It’s not a truck. Nobody wants to drive your truck. Nobody wants to get in your truck, you know.” He said, “Come to me. You who are weary and heavy laden, come to me. Be intimate with me. Prayer, just do it. And I will adorn you with jewels.” And those jewels, that’s the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The love that He has for us. Like a bride, in Isaiah it talks about the bride adorns herself with her jewels. He wants to adorn us so that we’re beautiful and people want what we have. And it’s by that coming away and being intimate with Him. And, you know, at the time I had this dream, I have to confess to you, I was not a person to get up in the morning and have quiet time with the Lord. I used to say, “I’m not an early morning person, Lord. You know, I’ll have my quiet time with You at night before I go to bed.”

And one day I was thinking about our men and the armed services and women and how, you know, God called us to be a mighty army. We’re not just a bride. We’re a bride with army boots on and Navy and Marine. But we, you know, we’ve got, you know, we’re a bride in army boots, right? And when you go with a service, does your superior officer care if you’re a morning person or not?

Were you in the service? Did your superior officer care if you’re a morning person or not? Did he make you get up anyway? Yeah. You know, that early morning quiet time is not just the time with Him as lovers, but it’s also training. It’s like He’s equipping us. He’s adorning us with those jewels to do battle in this world for the souls around us. And that, there’s nothing that replaces that early morning, those early morning hours. That’s when we’re the freshest. That’s when we’re the, probably some of us, that’s when we’re the least likely to depend on our own brain power because we’re not awake, you know? He can impart to us things, truths, because we’re not thinking yet, right? You know? I mean, the training time that He can do. And so I began to seek after Him once more with my whole heart and began to fall in love with Him again. And the Lord got me, for real, a new truck. Jack went down and bought me a brand new Ford Ranger. And my niece, his niece, went out. She combed every Christian bookstore and finally found one bumper sticker that said, “Prayer, just do it.” And I have that on my truck. But I have to confess, the inside did not come with jewels.

And there’s a lot of junk in there again. But I don’t do… Well, sometimes I do bumper sticker, freeway tag, but most of the time, I just try to bless people when I’m driving by them or pray for them or love them somehow. And hopefully we’ll win many to the Lord more than playing bumper sticker, freeway tag. But anyway, I want to say thank you to Boots and to those of you here who were in the armed services. How many of y’all were served in the armed services?

I just want to thank y’all so much because you’ve helped me to understand the sacrifice that Jesus gave. So much more. I just can’t even begin to tell you. I just… I thank you so much. And bless you. In Jesus’ name.