Overwhelm The Overwhelming

I gotta tell you, it is such a joy to be back.

And it is uh on a number of levels.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Today I really just want to share a story.

Um, it's a story of where God's taken me and taking me over the last several months.

Uh, I want to just open it this way.

Let me ask you a question.

Have you ever been overwhelmed?

And I mean really overwhelmed.

Anybody, okay.

If you haven't been, at some point in life, you will be, okay?

So, overwhelmed is where I want to start.

And I just want to just kind of share, we've got to go back to October for me to really give a good overview of it.

I had started to teach on Nehemiah, and we've been through Nehemiah here as well.

And I was just talking about how when we know Christ and we know him personally, it really opens up the opportunity for us to get very honest with God.

And when we can get real honest with God, we're bold enough and we have the opportunity to be able to ask a simple question: God, where am I broken?

Where am I broken and where do you want to fix me?

One of the attributes of this gathering of the church that I love is that you need to realize we believe with all our hearts, God loves us unconditionally.

Period.

There is nothing you can do, have done, or will do that God will not love us.

And we come to Him in that way.

Now, some of you may, there may be some here in this large of a group that are going, but you haven't seen what I've done.

You haven't been where I've been.

And all I can tell you is God has and he does, and he still loves you 100% unconditionally where you are.

We also believe with our whole heart that God came that we'd have life and life abundantly.

So God loves us unconditionally where we are, but too much to let us stay there.

Because he wants us to experience who he made us to be.

Once we get to that point, we can ask this amazing question, God, where am I broken?

And where do you want to change me?

And where do you want to fix me?

I had shared that concept and I did not know what was going to happen next.

I challenged the group I was speaking to.

I dare you to pray that prayer.

God, where am I broken?

Well, little did I know that that week I was gonna have an experience.

We were with some other couples at dinner and we were just talking about life, and I said, you know what's weird?

One of my buddies is a doctor.

I said, I've just been feeling fatigued lately, and every now and then I'll just have this split second of dizzy for just a second.

I mean, just not even a second.

And I said, it's just weird.

I said, is he said, you ought to come see me.

I said, well, you know, I've got an appointment in January, but is there any way I can just come by?

I'll wait in the waiting room and just fit me in, run some tests, tell me I'm old.

And he said, uh, okay.

So I went by and that week he ran some tests, and uh he's like, Well, look at your blood, look at this, this, this, and uh pretty much uh you're old.

That's what it is.

And I'm like, okay, and he says, but you know, there's this one test, it's a scan they can do.

It's not really all covered on insurance, about a hundred bucks, but you can get it done.

He says, You will not qualify for it because you got to have either a history in your family of this or diabetes or a smoker or 10 questions, and he said, You're not gonna have any of them, maybe one.

And I had one out of ten.

He said, So they're not gonna let you do it, but I'll write you a prescription if you want to.

I'm like, Yes.

I want to go get that done.

I want a piece of paper that says it's in my mind.

I'm just old.

I take the test, I'm on tour, I'm with a buddy of mine, I'm literally about to walk on stage in a matter of moments when I get a phone call.

And I notice it's my buddy.

I'm like, wow, Friday night, wonder what he's calling.

I'm like, hey man, what's happening?

And he's like, hey, I just got wrapping up the week here, and I just I got your results back from your scan.

And I was like, oh, okay.

It's Friday night.

I'm I'm starting to think, well, why would you call me Friday night?

And he said, Well, you remember how I told you zero is the number you want.

And one to nine is it's a yellow light, but you're okay.

But 10 to 20, you probably need to see a cardiologist.

And I said, Well, let me guess.

Since you're calling me on a Friday night, mine's between 10 to 20.

And he said, No.

And I was like, huh.

He says, Yours, yours was 697.

And I'm like, what does that even mean?

I said, so if you take the worst person ever and multiply it by 35, that's me.

And he said, Well, let me read you the comments at the bottom.

And I love these because it was from, it's a it's not a doctor that knows me, just looking at the results, it says, this heart is in the bottom 2% of all hearts.

And this is my favorite part.

A cardiac episode is inevitable and imminent.

And I'm like, so do I go to go to the ER now or what do I do?

And he's like, no, just when you get back, you need to see a cardiologist.

Went to see a cardiologist just up the street here.

I got the first appointment, and and he looks at it and he looks at me and he's looking at it.

And I'm like, okay, what does that look for?

And he's like, I've never seen a number this high before.

And if you get a number this high, you should weigh at least 400 pounds, be a chain smoker, and have a beer in both hands.

I just, and I'm like, and yet I don't.

And then he couldn't stop there because he's like, and you even look like you might work out.

And I was like, what do you mean might work out?

Just really that's where you're going with this?

So he says, you know what?

There's there's a there's a couple things that could be, this is it's not adding up.

Let's do a few more tests.

He says, let me do an echo and a stress, did the echo, and he says you should be between 50 and 60, and mine was 55.

He's like, it's perfect.

Then we did the stress test.

I rode my bike to the Y that day, and uh, did my workout.

I did, I think, 45 minutes of cardio, some weight work, rode my bike home, had lunch with a buddy of mine, went to my doctor's appointment for the stress test.

Now I don't know if I do want to find this out.

How many of you have ever had a stress test?

Oh, wow, a lot of you.

So, for those of you who haven't, you get on a treadmill and you go until your heart rate gets up and they lay you down and they take a picture of your heart in full uh workout mode.

And it took me a little bit while but I'm laying down, I'm like, whoo, okay, that was good.

And then it just kind of turned loose.

The tech was like, Oh my, oh my goodness.

Um, how much pain are you in right now?

And I'm looking just like this.

I'm like, zero.

You're like, that's not possible.

And I'm like, do I look like I'm lying to you?

I mean, okay, okay, um, well, uh, just just relax, just relax.

I'm like, I'm laying down.

How much more relax can I get?

And they said, we gotta show the doctor this, and they're scrambling around.

They go get the doctor, and they come back and they said, Okay, he's he's gonna see you middle, but we we need to walk you this other room, and they're going to help me.

I'm like, I'm good, you know.

So I walk in this other room.

A nurse runs in, she goes, Oh, wait a minute, I'm in the wrong room.

She runs out, she comes back in, she goes, No, this is the right room.

Man, they're running around like you're about to die.

And I'm like, thank you for that.

And so I'm sitting there and she takes my blood pressure and all that.

She goes, Wow, well, you know what?

It's recovering pretty well.

And then the doctor came in and he showed me the screen.

He says, You know what?

Uh I gotta show you this.

He shows me my heart.

I'm not a cardiologist, but I'm looking at it going, oh, that doesn't look good.

And uh, it was a video of it, and he said, uh, that tells me there's some major blockage here, and we got to do something like really soon.

And I said, Well, how soon do you want to do it?

He says, Well, what are you doing tomorrow?

I said, What are you doing tomorrow?

And uh he said, I'm gonna be here.

And I said, What time are you getting here?

He said, 9 30.

I said, I'll be here at 9 o'clock.

And we went in and uh he did a calf, which is they put me under and they did a little, I've got a little scar here, and uh they put a line into your heart to see what's going on.

He said, I'm gonna hopefully you'll be able to put some stents in, but there's a chance you're gonna have to have uh open heart surgery.

And I was like, Okay.

So I wake up from the calf and he's like, I'm really sorry.

He says, You got some major blockage, and you you're gonna have to have open heart surgery.

And I was like, Wow.

He says, We're gonna keep you in the hospital, you're on the list, you're you're in line, we're gonna keep you here.

If something changes, we can rush you in.

And I'm like, Wow.

I I I was not in the room when they came in, but the thoracic surgeon came in.

My wife Heather was there, and he said, Are you Mrs.

Kington?

Yes.

And he goes, she goes, What's the deal?

He said, Well, we've done the initial test.

Your husband's arteries, all four of your husband's major arteries, and you only have four.

All four of those are over 99% blocked.

Now, in case you're not good with math, there's not a lot left after 99%.

And she goes, How is that possible?

And they talked for a few more minutes, and and I'm there, and they're like, He he's he's gonna have to have open heart.

And in that moment, I'm laying there and uh getting the test done for my open heart surgery the next day.

And in that time, I had 18 hours.

18 hours.

He said, We're gonna try to take you in between three and four tomorrow.

We got three procedures before, but we're here and you're here.

If something changes, we can get you in.

And I'm like, wow, okay.

In those 18 hours, I had I guess a revelation, if you will, a little bit, but more of just a realization of what's really important because I've discovered the essentials to overcoming the overcoming.

And when we're overwhelmed, there are three essentials that I've I've experienced now that are the only three that will overwhelm the overwhelming.

And I want to share those with you.

Uh I'm sitting there and I'm realizing, I'm laying in bed, and I realize tomorrow I'm gonna go into surgery.

The most, one of the most invasive surgeries anybody can face.

And I'm about to close my eyes, and when I close my eyes, the next face I see is gonna be Heather or Jesus.

And the weight of that was not lost, and I'm like, wow.

And I don't believe a lot of people have that reality, and I believe that that was a gift because of what I experienced from that point forward.

The first essential I realized, and I'm convinced to this day, I have now experienced a physical result of prayer.

People praying.

I needed God Himself, and the way God reveals Himself, essentially, one of those essentials is through the prayers of His people.

I shared that test result with several friends and with a group of believers, and they said, We're praying for you.

When Heather was in there with Dr.

Myung and he said, she said, 99% blocked, I thought you could have a heart attack if one was 90% blocked, and he said, You can.

She goes, How is his heart still beating?

And the doctor, the thoracic surgeon, said, I don't know.

I don't know how it's beating right now.

And I can't tell you he's gonna make it through this.

And I am convinced to this day the reason I did not have a heart attack, the reason my heart was not damaged from that was because the sustaining power of prayer and God saying, I can't explain it all, but I'm gonna sustain you through this.

And yes, God could have healed me completely, but He chose to go through this, and we'll hit that in a second.

But I'll tell you this prayer became very precious and priceless to me.

And I would read and I would on Facebook look at people and their prayers and through emails and I would read their prayers over and over, and it was one of the only essentials that gave me any comfort in that time.

We had some people, some friends, some neighbors that very well-meaning, and I think they were trying to be politically correct.

They would be like, hey, we heard about you.

We're thinking about you.

And I just wrote back, hey, thanks for thinking about me, but I while you're thinking, why don't you go ahead and pray for me too?

Because I I want all the happy thoughts I can get, but I I want my name in the ear of God Himself.

And I want people praying for me.

And it was those prayers over time that I believe not only sustained me but brought me through after the surgery.

Uh they told me between, I don't know, three to four days in ICU, and between three to four days in a regular room, that's the normal recovery.

I remember coming uh into the ICU and waking up the next morning, and I remember they're like, hey, you need to try to sit up, and I'm like, okay, and I'm in a chair and I'm walking around my room, and I remember them coming later in that day going, This is amazing.

You you've hit all the marks.

There's no reason for you to be in ICU.

We're gonna move you to a regular room.

And I'm like, well, it's day one.

And they're like, no, but I mean, you're so far ahead.

We're gonna move you to a regular room.

They moved me to a regular room the next morning, right before lunch, the doctor came in and said, I this is really amazing, but you're hitting all the markers.

It looks like you're going home tomorrow.

And I said, Now, I've never had open heart surgery before.

If I need to hang out here for a couple days, I'm good.

I don't want to be at home and go, it's stopped.

Somebody stopped.

You know, I don't I don't want to be in that situation.

And uh sure enough, not even two and a half full days after open emergency quadruple bypass open heart surgery, I walked out of the hospital.

Yes, you can talk for that.

And when you have doctors telling you that, that's insane.

That never what that's not even possible.

And I'm like, yeah.

But but that's the power of what God can do through the prayers of his people.

In the same way, as as I went through that, I realized also as I'm reading all these prayers the night before, I'm uh I'm gonna face this.

And I'm gonna see Heather of Jesus.

And I woke up early that morning before sunrise, and I'm looking at Kennesaw Mountain, and the sun's starting to come up over.

And I'd ask my friend, send me verses, send me any verse that comes to your mind.

And I had over 30 people send me over 50 verses, and I'm telling you, I read every one of those multiple times.

And as I read those, I sensed that which had not changed.

The circumstances were the exact same.

They were overwhelming, they were looming, they were ominous, and yet as I read over those, I could just sense a peace.

And as I read those verses, it just kind of came over me.

And it and and Dr.

Myung came in.

It was the first time I got to meet him around 11 something that morning, and he says, Hey, I'm I'm Dr.

Myung.

I met your wife last night.

I said, Oh, great, it's nice to meet you.

He goes, How how are you doing?

And I said, Well, the real question today is, how are you doing?

Um, because I need you bringing your A game today.

And he goes, Oh, I got my A game, and I was like, Okay, he says, Well, are you ready?

And I said, Oh, I thought we were going at three or four o'clock.

He said, No, no, no, we're we're good, we're ready now.

I said, I thought you had three other procedures, and he said, Oh, no, no, those were warm-up.

This this is the main event for me today.

This is why I got up.

And I just started laughing.

I'm like, I am, I'm ready.

And they rushed out, grabbed Heather, she came in, and we're going down the hall.

And the truths that I've been reading that morning are going through my mind.

The two that stick out.

There's one in 1 Peter that says, Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

And I remember thinking, wow, and as I'll even back up a second, and I'm sorry to get them out of order, but there was one in 2 Peter that says, the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their prayers.

And I'm like, Lord, I want everybody praying.

And then as I was reading, one of the verses that was also a prayer is in Psalm 34, verse 17.

Psalms 34:17

It says, The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them, and he delivers them from all their troubles.

And this one just hit me because I'd never read it this way before.

It says, The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

And I said, Lord, my heart is literally broken, and I need your help.

And I'm praying those, and as we're wheeling down the hall, and Heather kissed me on the head for what could have been the last time ever.

Cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.

And as they're wheeling me in, and I'm laying in the OR, and the medical people are all around, and I'm just laying there.

The thought went through my mind.

I'm like, Lord, I want to see my family again.

And I I want to see my kids.

I want to see them graduate and get married.

I want to see my grandkids.

I just want to be honest, that's what I want.

But God, I want to see you too.

And I can only imagine what heaven is like, and I want to see that.

And Lord, I trust you.

And if I don't make it and I close my eyes and I open and see you, I can't wait.

Because I know you're gonna take care of them.

I trust you.

And that that went through my mind, and I'm praying in this one verse went through my mind, Philippians 1.21, for me to live as Christ and to die as gain.

And all I can tell you is the way I can describe it is perfect peace.

There's no fear, there was no anxiety.

I was just laying there, and right as that verse went through my mind, one of the medical texts is there and says, Wow.

He said, It looks like everything's set to go.

Are you ready?

And I just smiled and I went, I am.

I just closed my eyes.

What seemed like five minutes?

Was between five and six hours.

And it was it was a memory I'll never forget.

Because I'm laying there and I start to wake up and I am awake.

And if you your eyes are closed, but it's very bright, it was very bright, but my eyes are closed, and and I literally I started laughing because I'm sitting there with my eyes closed, going, I wonder which one it is.

And uh I opened my eyes and it was very bright, and I kind of got focused, and there was my wife, Heather, and I was just like, and I tried to talk, yes.

I hate that I left you in the sp suspense.

I made it, okay?

So that uh and I tried to talk and and she was there, but I was innovated, so I was like, she came and kissed me on the head, and I'll I'll not forget it because as she kissed me on the head, I I just kind of smiled and I'm wheeling down the hall.

And this is the way my brain works, and I started laughing and just saying, God, thank you.

But God, this would be it would have been if what if I'd have woken up, got my eyes open like three minutes before, before she got there, and I'm laying there and I opened my eyes, and there's some bearded medical technician there.

Who are you?

Uh Peter?

Peter?

No?

Yeah, maybe just that would have really freaked me out.

So as a in the days that followed, I I took those verses and I read them multiple times again, and I started reading, and I'll tell you kind of how to make these real in just a second, but as I looked at the truth, one day I was in Philippians again, and I just I try to read one chapter a day, and there was another verses on anxiety.

And let me just share with you that the truth is not just essential, but it is living and active.

And there are times where we can read the same verses over and over, but situationally, God will speak to us individually and intimately in a way that only his word, living and active, does.

I was in Philippians chapter 4, and it was another anxiety verse.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

It said, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God.

And I remember reading that, and God took me back to that moment where I was laying on the gurney headed into the OR.

And it was like he was showing me at that moment, Ken, that that prayer you were praying is this.

When you said, God, I want to see my family, and and I want to see them grow up, and I want to see that.

That's prayer, that's petition.

That's petitioning, saying, God, here's what my heart is.

But with thanksgiving, Ken, when you were praying, God, but I trust you.

And I want to see you, but I trust you.

You're saying, God, thank you that I'm trustworthy.

And he's he's just showing me that that was that prayer.

And then I read the next verse.

And as I sat there reading, it says, in the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, and I'm like, God, that's Yeah, that is what I had on that table in that moment.

An understanding and a peace that goes beyond what I can put into words.

It was a perfect peace.

And then I read this will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.

And I was like, Lord, you had that.

That's what you did.

And I'm not here to tell you that I've resolved it all and I figured it all out.

I'm right now dealing with what I cannot explain, other than my wife a couple weeks ago said, you need to give yourself a break.

You need to let God heal you emotionally too.

And she said, I'm looking at these online symptoms of post-traumatic stress.

She goes, I'm going to read these, you tell me how many you have.

And it was like, Yes, yes, yes, yes, no, yes, yes, no, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

And and and I didn't realize that the anxieties of my mind and dealing with that, and I know some of you have been there too, or are there as well, and yet his truth is the only essential that I know of that will overwhelm that.

And the more that I read, and the more that I memorize, and the more there's a there's a correlation between his truth and how anxiety just subsides.

And I'm going through that now.

And it really became real this past week.

I'm at a doctor's appointment and he he told me, So, do you have any pain?

And I'm like, I don't I don't know.

He says, What do you mean you don't know?

I'm like, I I feel like somebody sawed my chest open and then sewed things onto my heart.

That's what it feels like.

And he goes, Yeah, that that's normal.

And I'm like, Yeah, but I mean, I I'm okay.

I mean, it doesn't hurt, it just feels that way.

I bumped into a friend of mine who's another doctor that's retired, and he said, Man, I've been praying for you the last few months.

I said, Thank you.

And he said, You know, you really need to rest.

And I said, Well, you know, I'm pacing myself and I'm physically getting plenty of rest.

He goes, No, you need to rest mentally and emotionally.

He says, You have faced death.

You literally, he said, ten years ago, the procedure they did to you did not exist.

Ten years ago, we would have been at your funeral.

And I just sat there and went, whoa.

And that'll mess with your mind.

And I said, Wow.

And he said, You need to rest and let God heal you emotionally and mentally as well.

And I can tell you today is part of that healing for me, because several of you have prayed, and I have there's no place on this planet I feel more loved and appreciated than here.

And I want to thank you for that.

But as I prayed through that and I look at these truths, that's really the third essential, and that is people.

People who know God that are around us.

He says it this way in Galatians 6, 2, bear one another's burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ.

In Romans 12, 15, it says, weep with those who weep, and mourn with those who mourn, and rejoice with those who rejoice.

It's like, wow.

And I can tell you that that night before and since then, my wife has been in unbelievable support.

But I've had friends that came along.

Imagine her side for just a moment of being told, I can't tell you your husband's gonna make it.

And then she's having to deal with all the details of the kids, and she's in the room and she's not wanting to leave.

But my buddy Dan came in.

I'll call him Dan because that's his name.

And uh, Dan came in and she said, Dan, is there any way you can just sit with him for a little while?

And he goes, Hey, I'm here all night.

And she goes, Oh my gosh, that would be so great if you just sit with him.

There's a game, he's like, There's a game on, we're watching it.

It was the seventh game of the World Series.

We were sitting in there, one of the nurses came in with it on.

She's like, Oh my gosh, who are you for?

And we're like, Neither, it's just historic.

She goes, Okay, because you cannot get excited at all.

And I was like, Okay.

And my buddy Dan's just sitting there with me, and it really is when we're together with somebody with a burden, it lifts that burden.

It I can't put it into words other than that.

And a very the nurse came in, Joy was her name, and uh she goes, Hey, I need to prep you for surgery.

And my buddy Dan said, Hey, I'm gonna go grab something to eat.

So he walks out, and and let me tell you, having my sternum sod open was not the most painful part.

The the surgical slices to harvest the vein was not the most painful part.

The the bypass sewing onto my heart, and the it not the most the most painful part was the night before when a very professional, very sweet, large Jamaican woman named Joy came in and shaved my body from here to my toes.

I will spare you the details other than say if your name is Joy and you go, hi, I'm Joy, and I go like this, it's it's involuntary, okay?

I don't I don't mean that.

But it's those people.

And it's I gotta tell you this one real quick.

So I'm I'm shaved and I had to take a shower and do the soap, and and it was embarrassing, humiliating, freezing.

And now I'm back in bed, and and my buddy Dan comes back with a sandwich and he goes, Hey, are you ready?

She goes, Oh no, come on in, come on in.

And he comes over and sits down and he's just smiling.

I'm like, what are you smiling at, man?

And I'm trying to warm up and the game starts.

And he said, I thought Joy came in the morning.

I said, Dude, you've been waiting for an hour and a half for that, haven't you?

And he goes, Yeah, pretty much.

That was awesome.

But I but I've learned that there's a difference between caring and providing care.

And it's a heart, it's just being there with.

Now, the the staff there provided amazing care.

They really did.

But I'll give you one example of that transition and then what I experienced from my wife.

And that transition was this the first day out into a normal room, um, I'm sleeping the first night after surgery, and I just gave up on sleeping.

If you've been in a hospital, you've had that experience, where I ended up just counting because between midnight and seven o'clock, 14 people came into my room.

One woman came in at three something, she goes, Hey, we need to weigh you.

I'm like, Weigh me?

At three in the morning?

Am I a newborn?

What do you mean, weigh me?

So we weighed at three in the morning and all that.

The next night, Joe was the nurse, and and Joe, I know that they have this, okay, take the blood pressure, do this, this, this, and the last question they're required to ask is, is there anything else we can do for you?

That's on their chart, because he was very, had he had to be former military, just boom, boom, boom, and very, very detailed.

And Joe was like, okay, everything looks good.

Um, oh, is there anything else we can do for you?

I said, Joe, he goes, yeah.

I said, How would you like to be my favorite nurse of all time?

He's like, okay.

I said, Joe, two hours.

I just want to sleep for two hours in a row.

That is my dream.

I said, is there any way you can arrange everybody who's got to do something, bring them in here?

I'm not, I'm not going to sleep right now, and just get them in so I could have two hours in a row to sleep.

And he goes, Yeah.

I'm like, that'd be great.

And sure enough, within the next 20 minutes, all these people came in, did all they had to do.

And Joe comes to the end of that 20 minutes and goes, You want the light on or off?

And I'm like, off would be great.

Turn the light off.

Three hours and 20 minutes later, Joe came in and goes, Man, I'm really sorry.

I just got to do your vitals real quick.

We've got a few more people coming in, but we're gonna get in and out of here.

I'm like, that'd be great.

Came in, did everything, and they were out in under 10 minutes, and for four hours I got to sleep again.

And I'm like, he came in the next morning, he says, How you doing?

I'm like, Joe, I can't put into words how much I appreciate that.

See, he went from giving care to caring.

And and it's that relational peace.

I saw it in my wife.

Before you leave, you have to go through a class where they tell you everything that's gonna happen for the next few weeks.

They talk about taking care of the incision, they talk about the pills, they talk about all that you're gonna have to go through and the pain you're gonna have to experience.

And I'm looking through my little booklet and taking notes and making uh notes about what I'm gonna have to do, what I'm gonna feel, what's normal, and what's not.

And the woman teaching the class looks over and she goes, Oh my are you okay?

And I'm like, Oh yeah, I'm I'm good.

I'm just I'm just taking notes.

She goes, No, not you, her.

And there's my wife, and she's white, and she's like, Oh my god, oh my.

And she goes, No, I'm okay.

I'm okay.

Keep going, keep going.

And uh so she keeps going five minutes later, she goes, Are you sure you're okay?

And I'm like, Yeah, I'm good.

And she goes, No, not you, her.

And I'm just like, and I'm looking at her, I'm like, you don't have to do any of this.

I have to do this, this is what I'm going through.

And God just bumped me on the head is like, moron.

That's what caring looks like.

And see, I'm the type of guy, this is I'm an idiot, and I know that, but God is teaching me because when I'd hear the word empathetic, all I heard was pathetic.

Okay, that's that's just the way I'm wired.

And I sat there and I thought, she is feeling everything that I'm gonna have to feel, and she's feeling it right now, and my whole world changed.

I'm like, wow.

Bear one another's burdens, thus fulfill the law of Christ.

Weep with those who weep.

Weep before they weep.

Rejoice before they rejoice, rejoice with them.

I'm like, this is it.

Those essentials are critical.

I pray and hope that you'll remember these as we move forward.

Because if you're not overwhelmed, there's one day that you will be.

Or maybe you're around somebody who's overwhelmed to just remember.

And hey, I want to share these three quick steps.

One would be to pray.

I started writing a journal.

God, here's where I'm anxious.

And I have it to this day.

I'm like, for 30 days, my wife and I have been praying.

God, give us wisdom.

What's next?

Because I don't know.

I don't know.

I know that God spared me for a reason.

I want to know why.

And I don't have those answers yet.

I know I need to rest and heal emotionally, but I'm journaling.

I'm like, God, here's where I'm anxious, here's where I'm frustrated.

And I see every day, God either gives me peace or perspective or power or healing.

And I'm writing that down.

So pray and just get honest with God.

Secondly, the truth.

Beginning of the year, I started saying, Lord, I'm going to read one chapter a day.

Show me whatever you want to show me.

And in that one chapter day, Lord, I pray that you'd show me a verse, one verse a week that I can memorize.

And it has been unreal.

God's taken me through several that have given me perspective.

Consider it pure joy when you encounter trials of many kinds, knowing that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

But let perseverance have our perfect work, that you may be mature and complete and lacking nothing.

It's a process.

And I'm in the process.

I'm not there yet.

It says, rejoice in suffering.

Rejoice in suffering, because we know suffering produces perseverance and perseverance character, and character hope.

And hope does not disappoint.

And I'm like, so if I want hope, I have to persevere.

And then I read one this past week, Romans 12, 12.

It says, be joyful in hope, patient in affliction.

I don't like that verse.

But I'm living it going, okay, Lord, that's it.

Not only do I read this, I God laid on my heart that I take this every day now, and I read my chapter and I work on my verse before I turn anything else on.

And it is so tempting.

The first thing, I don't know how you are.

Mine is always okay, what's the weather?

What's that?

Emails, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I don't touch it until I try to seek ye first the kingdom of God and all his righteousness.

Everything else will take care of itself.

And and I know that's radical, but I don't.

I don't turn on a TV, I don't turn on a radio, I don't turn on my phone until I've said, God, I want your perspective first.

And then the finally, I would say, one of the greatest gifts, Justin and I had lunch, that is a gift to say, I want to be around other believers during this time.

We need each other.

And they showed at the beginning of the service these small groups.

If you're not in a group, man, don't miss that.

It is where God does some of his best works.

The essentials, prayer, truth, people.

Prayer, truth, people.

PTP.

I don't even know what that acronym means, but that's what it means.

Ask God to do that.

Pray with me.

Father, thank you.

Thank you for the gift that this is.

And Lord, I just lift up to you those who are or will be or have been overwhelmed, which is all of us.

Help us to remember these essentials through your Holy Spirit.

And realize that without you, it doesn't make sense.

So we just thank you for being with us.

And Lord, if there's anybody that doesn't know you personally, help them to see how easy that is of just going, God, I need you.

And I accept what you've done, and I believe you did what you said you'd do.

And it's only through Christ we can pray.

Amen.

I want to share one more piece with you, real quick, as I went for a follow-up visit, and I'll never forget this.

They said, Man, you're doing so great.

It's because you're in great shape.

Your lungs and your kidneys and everything is in great shape.

Everything's incredible shape except for your heart.

And I looked at her and I said, That may be the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

And she was like, Excuse me?

And I said, if that doesn't work, none of the other stuff matters.

She's like, Well, you got a point.

And let me tell you, if if we don't have our soul, our heart right, nothing else matters.

It doesn't matter how rich, famous, popular you are, it will never be enough.

But once we get that right, everything else makes sense.

And the overwhelming will be overwhelmed by the truth and prayer and people that God puts in our ways.

Thank you for letting me share.

God bless you guys.