Real Friends Podcast
Real Friends Podcast
Steven and Janet Ramlal
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Ever wondered how a small-town upbringing intersects with a childhood in Trinidad? Listen as Janet shares her roots in Atlanta, Illinois, and the musical legacy of her Assembly of God family, while Steven recounts his grandmother's extraordinary missionary journey from India to Trinidad. Their stories of resilience, cultural heritage, and faith are not only intriguing but also profoundly touching. The narrative weaves through pivotal life choices, such as Steven’s decision to attend Evangel College over McGill University, influenced by a spiritual conviction that changed his path forever.
Celebrate love, faith, and community as Steven and Janet reveal the secrets to their youthful vitality and strong marriage. Hear about their adventurous move from Michigan to Kentucky, their dietary loves—especially ice cream—and their favorite hobbies, from gardening to reading biographies. They also share personal reflections on Bible verses and the importance of a deep relationship with Jesus. The episode wraps up with a prayer that will leave you feeling uplifted and encouraged. Don't miss this enriching conversation that beautifully illustrates the power of enduring friendship and faith.
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Real Friends.
Speaker 1:Podcast oh friends, oh friends.
Speaker 3:Hello and welcome to another episode of the Real Friends Podcast. I am parishioner Matt Ridout here with lead pastor at Real Life Community Church, Chris May. Chris, hello.
Speaker 2:Hey, how's it going this morning?
Speaker 3:Doing all right. You're working hard to keep your energy level up. You have been a touch under the weather and then some lately I have yeah, it was interesting.
Speaker 2:Last week I was in the attic running wire. It was about 90 degrees outside. I was in the church attic, I should say running a wire, it's probably 110 degrees up there and I just realized something when I was up there that I'm now a grandfather so I can't do these things anymore, and so apparently I about had a heat stroke and came down spiked a fever. I ended up going on Thursday to the urgent treatment center. The following Tuesday of this week I ended up going back getting a steroid shot, antibiotics. It's just been a nightmare, but I'm old.
Speaker 3:One of us, yeah, right, one of us. Well, certainly praying for a speedy recovery. I didn't realize that it was taking you quite this long to recover from that. I remember you mentioning that at a previous service. So the lesson, as always well, maybe not always, but in this case, delegate.
Speaker 2:That's right. That's right. Young people, we need you to step up and please learn wiring. That's right, that's right Young people. We need you to step up and please learn wiring. That's right.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes please All right. Well, Pastor, why don't you introduce our guests for?
Speaker 2:today. Yeah, today it is a great pleasure to interview our good friends and longtime church folk Stephen and Janet Ramlaw. Welcome to the show today, thank you. So how long have you been at the church now, not this morning, I mean generally, oh, about 40 minutes.
Speaker 1:Six and a half years right now.
Speaker 2:So, Stephen, I actually met you before you started attending this church. That's correct. You were at another Assembly of God church in Berea and we had a sectional get-together there, and you happened to be at the church.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I'll never forget my first encounter with you. It's one of my favorite stories to tell, because I'm looking at you and I had no idea about your story where you worked or had worked or anything like that, and you were wearing a jacket like you're wearing right now. What's the logo on your jacket?
Speaker 4:It's the logo for Kelloggogg's, and it has tony the tiger, tony the tiger and it's great and the elves and yeah so kibler elves, so matthew, I I remember.
Speaker 2:I walk in and I see steven's jacket and all I can think is sweepstakes.
Speaker 2:Remember the cereal kind of sweepstakes uh-huh, sure yeah, box tops or something like that yeah, so I so, yeah, so I remember as a kid collecting those and it would take like five boxes of cereal to get like a bendy straw with their logo on it. So I'm thinking this dude has eaten a lot of cereal in his life. This man loves his Frosted Flakes. And so I kind of judged you and so, um, I, I kind of judged you, I, I, that much cereal cannot be good for you know, for the body. And so, um, come to find out. That is not the way that you got your jacket. How'd you come about your your uh, tony the tiger jacket there?
Speaker 4:oh, I have a bunch of them and, uh, every every year at kellogg's we'd get a jacket a a free jacket with a logo on it, and I was there a considerable amount of times, so I've accumulated a lot of apparel with the Kellogg's logo on it. So I have, like I don't know, know, probably eight jackets and and uh and they're great you know if there were ever a break-in at your home.
Speaker 3:Let's say that you two were on vacation somewhere. I'm just now imagining like the police coming in, setting up the tape, everything else you know, going through and investigating, taking a look around and there's just like one closet or armoire with nothing but t the Tiger and Keebler Elms jackets on them. This is too strange to not be connected to what's happening here.
Speaker 2:That's right, that's right. So what did you do for?
Speaker 4:Kellogg's. I was in charge of the food safety program for Kellogg's, so basically, so, basically, my responsibility was to make sure the food was bacteriologically safe, chemically safe yeah, you're a microbiologist. Right, I'm a microbiologist and a chemist, so I had to make sure the food was biologically safe, chemically safe, was free of foreign materials like glass and metal and plastic, and also radiologically safe. We sourced ingredients from all over the world and some places had problems with radioactive materials.
Speaker 2:I can imagine, I can guess some of those places.
Speaker 3:Having it as part of my nutritious breakfast, as the commercial would say, and then finding out later on that I was turning green. Not what you're looking for.
Speaker 2:That's not part of the balanced breakfast. That's right. No, it's certainly not so, stephen. You were a microbiologist, janet. What's your background? Educationally, work-wise?
Speaker 1:Teaching and I had gotten a degree from Evangel University in elementary education and I taught for three years classroom teaching.
Speaker 2:What grades did you teach?
Speaker 1:In that three years I had experience in one through five Okay, I'm sorry one through six, with the exception of fifth, and that's because I had a combined 1st and 2nd grade my first year. I had a 6th grade class my third year and in between I had music grades 1 to 4.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, because my minor was in music. Yeah, what do you have against 5th graders?
Speaker 3:Yeah, as soon as a kid turns 11, they just turn invisible to her, that's right. But when they turn 12, they're in again.
Speaker 2:Oh, you're back, welcome. So, speaking of Evangel, you guys met at Evangel University, which is one of our Assemblies of God colleges. That's correct, yes.
Speaker 3:And my understanding. It was absolutely love at first sight. You know freshman or sophomore year with both of you and everything just took off in that storybook fashion, right.
Speaker 2:I think that's half true.
Speaker 4:Oh, is it that much? That would be a storybook. Yeah, that would be the storybook version.
Speaker 3:Yours is a little bit more circuitous. Would that be the right word? Unique there? That would be another good adjective.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so tell us how you met there that would be another good adjective.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so tell us how you met. Well, I was two years ahead of Janet. So when I was in my junior year, the new crop of girls came in and we were in a bunch of friends that I was with. Six of us were at the table in the cafeteria watching the new crop come in, and Janet was among the new crop.
Speaker 3:Yeah, not new class of students, new crop of girls, that's college age thinking.
Speaker 4:And anyway, I saw her and I immediately knew she was the one I was going to marry. And let me back up a minute how I knew. That was when I was about nine years old. My mother sent me to the corner grocery store to get something for her. And as I was walking to the corner grocery store, a picture appeared in the sky and it was a picture of an 18 year old woman. But at the time I saw the picture, you would have been five, four or five years old anyway. Um, the picture hung in the sky for about 10, 15 seconds and then faded away. But to a nine-year-old boy, an 18-year-old girl is an old woman you know, Right.
Speaker 3:Do the hip kids still use the word cougar? I'm not sure. Yeah, and has that ever been applied to an 18-year-old? I don't know.
Speaker 4:But anyway, I didn't think much of it after that and frankly, you know, for a nine-year-old boy girls weren't a thing, you know. So I kind of put it out of my mind, didn't think about it. Every once in a while I'd wonder about it, but I never told anybody about it. So sitting at Evangel, my third year at Evangel, I saw Janet walk in to the cafeteria and I instantly recognized her from that picture, but I never told her about it. I didn't think it was my place to tell her. Anyway, I had some people, some friends of mine, some lady friends of mine, at Evangel find out about her and they came back and told me well, steve, you better forget about her, because she's dating a guy back home that's six foot four and plays the guitar and sings like Elvis and has all the Elvis moves, you know, but he doesn't have any Kellogg's jackets. No.
Speaker 4:Well neither did.
Speaker 3:Steve at this point.
Speaker 4:Anyway. So we didn't date. In fact, we met once during the time I was at Evangel, and she didn't like me because I stared at her all the time. You know, from the time she walked, every day time she walked in the cafeteria until she left, I was always staring at her.
Speaker 3:Jana, would you care to elaborate on how Steve made you feel?
Speaker 1:So when I was in the cafeteria and I would see him usually already seated at a table, I would turn my back to where he was sitting, because you did not get that same image of him in the sky Correct, and when I chose a table. I chose a table with my back.
Speaker 3:So this was not a playing hard to get move or anything like that. This was playing impossible to get.
Speaker 1:As you say at the time.
Speaker 4:So, anyway, I graduate from Evangel and I go on to graduate school. And my second year of graduate school I came back to Evangel for homecoming and we met at the homecoming game. She was off to the side, about 25, 30 feet from me, and, oh, before that, while I was away, I'd heard that she had gotten engaged to the guy back home, the six-foot four-inch guy. When I came back to the game I saw that she wasn't wearing an engagement ring, so I asked her out that same day and we went out.
Speaker 1:That morning I had written a Dear John letter because I realized and this was the Lord's leading that the fellow was. The Elvis kind of fellow was not the one for me.
Speaker 4:And the kids call him the Elvis impersonator. Mom dated an Elvis impersonator.
Speaker 1:Steve called that afternoon and asked me out and that was our first date. And then we went to church.
Speaker 2:So what compelled you to say yes at that point, after being so determined to quite literally turn your back on him?
Speaker 1:I think it was really the Lord, because I wasn't real sure who was calling me, other than I knew his name was Steve, but he talked really fast back then and I couldn't understand all he was saying. But I did understand the time he wanted to meet and that his name was Steve.
Speaker 2:And the rest is history.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, they say. I've read. There are scientific reports that say that people who are particularly tall tend to, on average, have many, many more medical bills and are unhealthier than those of us who are more our height. Not that, pastor Chris, you or Janet are particularly short for your genders, and yet neither are you tall. And then you know, steve and I have a low view of the world when it comes to that. Yeah, so I think you just wanted to be married to someone who was going to be around a lot longer. Elvis is gone. He's left the building.
Speaker 3:He left the stage.
Speaker 4:But anyway, I did not tell Janet about the vision I had until we'd been married about four years and we had our first child. And when we brought him home from the hospital I told her. I said, janet, I have something to tell you. And I said would you sit down here on the sofa? So she's sitting on the sofa with the baby in her arms.
Speaker 4:And I told her the story about seeing the picture in the sky. And she said to me you know well, we got married in 1973, and there weren't many Indian people around in 73. And so she said to me she said, well, why didn't you tell me about the dream, I mean the vision, because it would have made my decision to marry you so much easier. And my response to her was it's not my place to tell you that If this marriage was to be, then God would have to reveal his will for you in his own way, in his own time. Then she said to me she said, well, I have something to tell you. And I said okay. And she said the day you asked me out at the homecoming game, you said I broke up with my fiancé that morning and I asked her out that evening.
Speaker 2:Wow, so that is just really God's providence, I think so.
Speaker 3:It's about the fastest rebound in history is what that is as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, very true, very true. So, janet, where did you grow up?
Speaker 1:In a small town called Atlanta, Illinois.
Speaker 3:I got really confused for just a second when she started with Atlanta.
Speaker 1:Yes, and that's on Route 66, so that's part of my history too, did you grow up in a Christian home. Yes, yes, assembly of God. Oh, you did.
Speaker 2:Okay, I had forgotten that. So what was your childhood like? Lots of brothers and sisters.
Speaker 1:No one sister and she's one and a half years older. Yeah, yeah, so we were always just one year apart in school all the way through, including Evangel College. My dad was a singer at home. He wasn't professional, out doing it for a living or anything.
Speaker 2:Like he just sang in the shower and stuff.
Speaker 1:No, he sang at home. He played all kinds of stringed instruments, everything you could name pretty much.
Speaker 2:So he would have liked your Elvis boyfriend who played guitar, right? Well, perhaps.
Speaker 4:And the Lord gave.
Speaker 1:Dad some songs as well. Oh, man, and the Lord gave Dad some songs as well. Like he would have songs that he would write some of the words, but sometimes in the night he would say, you know, god would put some words or thoughts in his mind and he would write them down. So he's written several songs, gospel songs.
Speaker 3:Yeah, a spirit-filled home certainly. Yeah, a spirit-filled home certainly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely so, dad. Just to mention, dad worked at Caterpillar Tractor Company and when he would come home his way of relaxing was to get his guitar and his evenings for my sister and I and mom. We would be doing other homework and mom would be in the kitchen, whatever, but dad would be doing his relaxing thing of singing these gospel songs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you still have quite an affinity for music, right, right, you and Steve actually quite often go to different events and concerts Right, just about every week. Oh, you still are doing that, bluegrass mainly right Bluegrass.
Speaker 3:yeah, Love bluegrass music. Bluegrass country pop.
Speaker 2:Pop as well. You're a Taylor Swift fan, aren't you? No, no.
Speaker 3:He has a pop as well. Like you're a taylor swift fan, aren't you? He's got one. He's got one jacket in his closet that isn't a kellogg's jacket it's taylor swift.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's an era's tour jacket. I'm sure there's such a thing, right, right. So, steven, you did not grow up in that small town of atlanta, you grew up.
Speaker 4:In Trinidad, off the coast of Venezuela, South America.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so give us a little bit of your background and childhood.
Speaker 4:Your grandparents were both from India, correct my grandparents were from India, my parents, we were heavily influenced by the Canadian Presbyterian Church. I think one of the reasons I have such a heart for missions is because my parents, my family, has been heavily influenced by the Canadian Presbyterian Church. As an example, my father's mother came on a boat from Kashmir, india, to Trinidad and on the way to Trinidad I think she was about two years old at the time her family all died of typhoid fever on the boat, oh goodness. And none of the Indian families would take her in. The captain of the boat asked people you know, who will take care of this two-year-old child? And nobody would take care of this two-year-old child and nobody would take care of the.
Speaker 4:None of the Indian families wanted that responsibility, mainly because having it Taking on another daughter would be an added financial burden to them, because at that time if an Indian girl got married you had to provide a dowry to the husband the potential husband. So they didn't want that responsibility. But there was a Canadian Presbyterian missionary on the boat who had gone from Canada to India to learn the Hindi language and she was going to be a missionary to the Indian people in Trinidad. Now Trinidad has about 40% of the population of Indians who left India and migrated to Trinidad. So, anyway, she was on the boat going to Trinidad and she said she would take the baby. And so she took the baby as her daughter and raised her up as a daughter.
Speaker 2:And so she was not married correct.
Speaker 4:She was not married right, but one of the things that happened is because she had an Indian daughter that she adopted. It opened up the homes of Indian people to her as a white person. Because she had an Indian daughter, the Indian families would invite her to come to their home. So that was just an access road for the gospel right For the gospel right exactly, and so she was very influential in taking the gospel to the Indian people. Because of this Indian child she had.
Speaker 4:Anyway, there was a conference at her—she hosted a mission conference at her home and invited the missionaries. And my grandfather on my father's side was a preacher for minister for the Presbyterian Church and so he was invited among other ministers and he was a young man I think he was about 22 or 23 at the time and went to this home and saw this Indian girl and asked permission to court her, and then they got married and had my dad and my uncles and aunts, you know. So the Canadian Presbyterian Church had a big influence on both my father's side of the family and my mother's side of the family. So we grew up Presbyterian.
Speaker 2:So you came to the Lord through the Presbyterian church.
Speaker 4:I think I wouldn't put it that way. I think I became sensitive to the Lord through the Presbyterian church, but the impact of the gospel really came to me during a crusade that I attended with a converted Jew.
Speaker 2:This is in.
Speaker 4:Trinidad, in Trinidad, a converted Jew by the name of Lorne Fox, the meeting I went to. I think you just had a three-day crusade and I went to the meeting I think the last day and his message was on how hot is hell, you know?
Speaker 2:That's some fire and brimstone preaching right there at his desk.
Speaker 3:Yeah almost from a scientific standpoint, it sounds like exactly how hot are we talking about? Let's find out.
Speaker 4:So, anyway, I was scared about going to hell and so I accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. And about a year later, Billy Graham came to Trinidad and had a crusade, and I went to it and Billy Graham's sermon that night was on the love of God, you know. So you got a good balance Eventually.
Speaker 2:And so.
Speaker 4:I went up and accepted Jesus Christ, rededicated my life to Jesus, not out of fear of hell, but because of Jesus' love for me.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's really rich. How old were you at that point? I was 12. Wow, and so how did you get to the States there from Trinidad? What brought you here? Oh, that's another story. Steve has a lot of stories. We might have to do a two-part podcast. They're all interesting.
Speaker 4:I was getting close to graduating from high school and I'd applied to several colleges school. And I'd applied to several colleges. One was University of London in England and another one was McGill University in Canada, baylor University in Texas and a couple of others and I got accepted to all five. And I decided to go to McGill in Canada mainly because I had family up there uncles and aunts and cousins and so I wouldn't be quite alone. I didn't have anybody in the US, so I had already cabled, sent a telegram to McGill's telling them that they not only admitted me but they gave me a full scholarship to attend. This would have been in early August.
Speaker 4:A singing group came from I think it was the Evangel College, chorale came to Trinidad and they came to our church and they sang at our church, a group of about 30 students. And we're sitting there and my dad leaned over to me and said to me Steve, I think you should go to Evangel. I said but, dad, I already accepted McGill's. You know. I told McGill's I'm coming. My dad said I really think you ought to go to the banjo. The singing must have been amazing. I think it was the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I could be a part of it.
Speaker 4:Anyway, my dad said after the concert, let's go up and talk to one of the professors. So we did, we went up and talked to one of the professors. So we did, we went up and talked to one of the professors. His name was Mahoney and he said to me if you can get your. He gave me an application, said fill out the application, give it to me tomorrow. You're leaving tomorrow evening to go back to Springfield, missouri, and I'll take your application and we'll see what happens. So I did, he filled it out, gave it to him, he took it back to Evangel and about a week later I got a telegram from Evangel telling me that I was accepted.
Speaker 4:So my dad said to me that I was accepted. So my dad said to me well, I told my dad. I said Dad, yeah, I'm accepted at Evangel, but I have a full scholarship at McGill's. It makes sense for me to go to McGill's. And he said I'll tell you what he said. You go to Evangel. And he said your mom and I will pay for your Evangel thing he said your mom and I will pay for your evangel thing.
Speaker 4:Then I got a cable from Evangel about five days later telling me that they would give me a partial scholarship. So that helped, and so, anyway, that's how I ended up going to Evangel, mainly because of my dad pushing me.
Speaker 3:So just out of curiosity, so is McGill a Presbyterian college? Or Assemblies of God are religious at all?
Speaker 4:No, it's a secular college.
Speaker 3:Gotcha okay. So your dad was really moved to have you go somewhere Bible-centered at that point.
Speaker 4:McGill is one of the premier universities in Canada, kind of like Harvard or Yale. Oh wow, For the US, yeah.
Speaker 2:At that point, you know, when you attended Evangel, did you expect to maybe go back to Trinidad after graduation? Of course, yeah, that was my plan, and then the lady in the sky changed all of that, correct?
Speaker 4:Well, before we got married, we had an agreement, Janet and I, that I would go back to Trinidad for a few months and see if I could find a job. If I found a job there, she would join me.
Speaker 2:Janet, you would have moved to Trinidad. You wouldn't have done that for Elvis, you would have done that for Steve.
Speaker 3:For Steve it was a long trip to get to Evangel, but about how far from your hometown of Atlanta was Evangel?
Speaker 1:I guess about eight hours, nine hours, oh, okay.
Speaker 3:Further than I thought, but same region of the country at least. Yeah, maybe seven. Yeah, Trinidad would have been quite the interesting experience. I assume that you've been there several times since you guys have been married.
Speaker 1:Since yes, but not before. No, Not before I was married, yeah, yes, but not before, not before I was married.
Speaker 2:Yeah well, I'm certainly glad you decided to stay stateside here, and you've lived many, many different places, Steve. I know you've held positions at many different companies. What states have you lived in since you've been married?
Speaker 4:Missouri, kansas, vermont, indiana, missouri, kansas, vermont, indiana, michigan and now Kentucky.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you retired in Michigan, right?
Speaker 4:Was that?
Speaker 2:Swans. Is that who you worked for in Michigan? Kellogg's, kellogg's in Michigan. Okay, and so how did you? Why Kentucky? Because you don't have family like Wright in this area.
Speaker 1:The Lord led us here. We felt that we wanted to be where it was warmer than Michigan. That was our first reason, and it was also within a 50-mile distance of two of our children who are in the Indianapolis area. So we knew within half a day we could see them or they could come see us.
Speaker 2:So Indiana wasn't quite enough south for you, is that true? Yeah, yeah, wasn't quite enough south for you, is that?
Speaker 1:True, yeah, yeah, because it's quite cold as well. Well, it's also flat.
Speaker 2:We wanted to get to where there were some hills and you wanted some land right. And it's pretty remarkable, Stephen. You've told the story of how you found this place that you're at in Berea. Can you just share a version of that story, Not a version the truth, I guess. I'll advise you to have a version of it? Yeah, make it more interesting.
Speaker 3:Tell us the one with the flying spaghetti bombs. That's right.
Speaker 4:We were looking online for places where we might want to live and, like Janet said, we were looking for a half a day's journey from Indianapolis and I just happened to come across this one place that was for sale. I called a real estate agent and asked her about it and she sent me a bunch of pictures of the house. So we never actually saw the house before we bought it, but Janet and I prayed about it and we decided, well, we'll call a real estate agent and make an offer.
Speaker 4:So I called a real estate agent and made the offer. She said to me I cannot go to the buyer, to the sellers, with this offer. I said, why not? She said because they turned on an offer for three times as much as what you're offering.
Speaker 2:Three times much.
Speaker 4:My goodness. And they turned on another offer for two and a half times what you're offering. And the last one they turned on was for twice what you're offering. She said they'd laugh at me if I took your offer. And I said I tell you what they won't laugh at you, they would laugh at me. So take the offer. I told her we're going on a mission trip and we will be. There was an email from the realtor saying I'm so surprised the people accepted your offer, you know.
Speaker 3:Did you ever find out why they turned down the other ones and happened? To accept yours.
Speaker 4:No, I never found that out Again just the providence of God.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you just wonder, you know, who knows, did you ever learn anything about him, like maybe they heard, you were on a mission trip and you were of a similar mind.
Speaker 4:I have no idea, wow.
Speaker 3:I have no idea. That's really something it reminds me of and I promise this is long a Diane Lane movie called Under the Tuscan Sun. For those of you out there who might know this yes, it's a chick flick and it's one of my favorites.
Speaker 3:You can judge me, I don't care, it's wonderful. The main character played by Diane Lane is wanting to move to Italy for just a paradigm shift in her life and she is calculating an offer for this small villa for what she can afford. And it's not going to come particularly close to what this old woman wants to sell it for. And just as she's opening her mouth to decline the offer, they're together in person but they're outside and a bird flying overhead does its business on Diane Lane. And I don't know if it's true or it was just true for the movie, but apparently in Italy, or some Catholic faith or something, this was a sign and the old woman got all excited and accepted the offer. So you know, that's just to say. Who knows, wouldn't it be interesting to know? But it isn't also fun to imagine what it might've been.
Speaker 2:Yeah, matthew, I will just take your word for it. I now do not have to watch the movie.
Speaker 3:Thank you. I expect this part to get cut, but it's still fun the spoiler alert.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's fairly early in the movie. I was hoping you just heard about this great church in Richmond, Kentucky, and thought we have to move there.
Speaker 4:No, no. Well, while we were in Michigan during the winters, either Janet would fall or I would fall on the ice and snow. In fact, when we closed on the house in 2016, no 2014. And when we drove down to close on the house, we left Michigan. This was early April, I think. The second week of April the snow was hip deep in our front yard. And we got to the house in Michigan I mean in Kentucky and there was no snow. And I turned to Janet and I said I think we made the right decision.
Speaker 3:As a former Midwest fellow, I can hardly agree with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, we're certainly glad, by God's providence, you are here. Janet, tell us a little bit about your kids and grandkids.
Speaker 1:We have four children and they're in their 40s right now Two boys, two girls. The boys are the oldest and youngest, the girls are in the middle and we have seven grandchildren.
Speaker 2:And your kids are kind of scattered throughout the state, right yeah?
Speaker 1:As I mentioned earlier, there's two in the Indianapolis area, that's the two younger ones, the girl and the younger boy, and the older boy is in Gig Harbor, washington, and we have a daughter in.
Speaker 3:Denver, so you've got good reasons to go all over the place. You get to do a lot of traveling.
Speaker 1:Not a lot, but that's true. It's nice places to visit when we go see them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you've been married how long now? 51 years going on 51 years 51 and a half, I guess at this point Wow.
Speaker 3:Is there going to be a big 51 and a half party? I know, you had a big one for the 50th, of course, right.
Speaker 1:Well, for our 51st, we drove to Branson, which is Branson, Missouri, because that is where we had gotten married.
Speaker 2:So that's how we celebrate our 51st. Yeah, so we loved helping you celebrate last year your 50th wedding anniversary. And, janet, you wore your wedding dress Correct. Not too many ladies can still wear their wedding dress at the 50-year mark.
Speaker 3:No, and most of the ones who saw you still were able to wear yours. I want to say it's hard to look into another person's heart, but I'm going to guess they have a hard time completely forgiving you for pulling that off.
Speaker 2:I've had some comments and you guys both, and I can cut this out if you don't want me to share it, but you're both in your 70s, mm-hmm, you don't have to cut it, okay, yeah, but you both look so young and you move really, really well. You know, I see you outside. You guys just have such servant's hearts. You're pulling weeds and raking leaves and all of those things, and and how have you stayed young?
Speaker 4:you hang around young janet. Janet keeps me. Okay, she's five years younger than me, oh, okay, and jenna, what?
Speaker 3:what is your secret been that? You know be able to, you know, fit into the wedding dress today, just like you were able to all those years ago that's a good question. I mean it can't be eating nothing but Kellogg's cereal. We've already discussed that.
Speaker 2:Very, very true, but you guys eat like birds.
Speaker 1:Well, it's on the list for later what my favorite food is, and that's ice cream. So it's not because of my favorite food, but you eat fairly healthy.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 2:I do, we do.
Speaker 4:We, but you eat fairly healthy. Yes, we do. We eat fairly healthy. Yeah, not heavy.
Speaker 2:I've been with you. You do not eat heavy, so we love going to lunch together. Matter of fact, we're hopefully going to get to do that next week. And I got really excited to have an Indian friend because I thought, finally I have somebody outside of Matthew. Matthew and I share this love for this particular food, but I love Indian food. So I thought, man, here's the guy that we're going to have Indian food every week. And, man, I kind of had to twist your arm to go get Indian food, because your favorite food is what like beef stroganoff, right yeah, and barbecue and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, american food and so we went to what's Masala right. It's the Indian restaurant here and it was really funny. I was ordering the spicy, or at least medium spicy, and you're getting the food as mild as possible Extra mild.
Speaker 2:Extra, mild, extra mild, but you guys are just such great assets to our church. You are such encouragers man. I'm just so glad to have you at this church and you serve in many different capacities. Janet, you serve in our kids' department. I know you're a great help to my wife and she so appreciates you. And you brave the three to five-year-old classroom.
Speaker 1:I did.
Speaker 2:You did. Is this past tense?
Speaker 1:No, I still do. Okay, no, nikki approached me, saying that you know that's what was needed, and I knew that. So I was like, okay, I'll try it. I actually had worked in some preschools before, along with the other experience in teaching.
Speaker 2:Well, I love what you just said. There was a need and you met it, and that's really who you guys are. I mean, within reason, anything that needs to be done. If there's a need, if you're able, you are willing.
Speaker 3:Are you hinting at the fact that they weren't up there in the installation with you in the attic?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes. Now, when I said delegate.
Speaker 3:I thought maybe we should get somebody a little bit you know Right, I know who I'm calling next time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is all coming together.
Speaker 3:I'm not. No, I'm older than you. You don't get to call me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you mentioned missions. You are our missions directors and you have such a heart because particularly of your story, you know, and how you came to the Lord, and so you have such a heart for missions.
Speaker 4:Talk about the missions program here at Real Life Community Church. Well, one of the things I really like is how mission-oriented our church is. When we were looking for a church, that was not on our list of priorities, Interesting. Yeah, we had other priorities.
Speaker 2:Can I just pause and ask what those were?
Speaker 4:First of all, we were looking for a pastor that preached the word, the whole word. We were looking for expository preaching. We were looking for a pastor who would pray for his people. We were looking for a church that had vibrant worship, you know, and a church that expressed their love in tangible ways, you know, not just say they love you, but actually did really care about you Not just the pastor, but the people in the congregation, the true fellowship. So that's what we were looking for. So when we came to the church and then we found out that you had a mission program, that was you know— Kind of an added benefit yeah, icing on the cake. And then we got involved with the mission program. But we have, at this count, I think we have somewhere around 30 missionaries and missions that we support now, and for a church of our size, that is just incredible you know, so, yeah, we love being in touch with missionaries and talking to them, communicating with them.
Speaker 4:We've had some at our home. When they come here, we put them up at our house, you know, if we can. So that's been really nice to be able to do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we have kind of this outrageous goal here of giving away within about five years we hope this is able to happen 51% of what comes in in offerings. We hope to be able to give that back out into the community and into our worldwide missionaries.
Speaker 4:That's right. Yes, and that is unheard of for a church to have that kind of a goal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, by God's grace, we really hope that happens. You know, I think often as I know you guys do as well about the 3.9 billion people in our world who have virtually no access to the gospel. And I love, stephen, your heart as well. You know, yes, you have a heart to take the gospel to the nations, but you also have a heart to take the gospel to your neighborhood and to the city of Richmond, and you get that. Honestly, I remember you telling me about your father. You used to drop him off at the mall. He'd just stay for hours and go around sharing the gospel with just people, random people in the mall, not too many people do that.
Speaker 4:He was a great evangelist for Jesus Christ, one-to-one evangelism.
Speaker 2:You picked up on that. You've got quite a heart to share the gospel with people in the community. Quite a bit, yes.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we do when the opportunity comes. I'm not quite as outgoing as my dad is, I'm more introverted, but my dad would go out Any stranger he walked up to. First thing he would ask them is do you know?
Speaker 3:Jesus Christ. That's certainly the gift for some. I know that in our church a lot of what we end up what, pastor, what you preach and what we discuss and try to execute is more relational evangelism. So my guess is that you all have that in common that building a relationship and presenting the gospel, that that's a good tack for you all.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that has been the way that I've been able to reach most people that I've led to the Lord is through more relational evangelism than just putting people on the spot. Both are helpful, both work and I just think, yeah, God's gifted each of us in different ways.
Speaker 2:And now, to be sure, there are times when you're sitting on an airplane next to somebody, or you're in the grocery store, for that matter, and you're speaking with somebody you may never see again. You've got to. You know, sometimes, take those opportunities to, you know, make it as plain as possible and get to the point. That's right, that's right. So, yeah, well, it is just such a joy to have you both at the church. I want you to know, really I mean this. You two, both of you are just such great encouragers to me. Through the years We've had ups and downs here at the church Thankfully many more ups than downs but in every season you've just been in my corner and cheering me on and Nikki and I both just appreciate both of you so much.
Speaker 4:And sometimes I hold your feet to the fire. You do.
Speaker 2:You do, and I guess, just to kind of bring this to a close, I just listened to your story and I've heard so many more. I mean there's so many other stories about God's moving in your life and His providence and His healing and just all of those things. You've just lived lives of faith and you've seen the move of God throughout your entire life and I think now that your faith is just contagious.
Speaker 1:You've lived this.
Speaker 2:You have lived this out. You are true, as we like to say real followers of Jesus. It is just very evident that the Lord has moved continually in your life. You've experienced a lot of I would even venture to say miracles.
Speaker 4:Oh, yes, yes, even here at church. Yep Right, absolutely Not too long ago I was using a walker, you know, to get around.
Speaker 3:I'd actually forgotten about that. It's been a minute, you're right.
Speaker 4:It's been yeah, and then I went up for prayer and I think you prayed for me, Pastor.
Speaker 2:And you threw your walker and danced through the aisles. Yeah, almost.
Speaker 4:So you know, yeah, we've had quite a few miracles when I was born as a baby I don't know if you know this or not, but when I was about three months old, I was diagnosed with leprosy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I remember you telling me that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and my parents prayed for me. They were Presbyterians at the time. Didn't really know much about the healing power of God, except what they read in the Gospels of God, except what they read in the Gospels and they prayed for me and I was instantly healed of leprosy.
Speaker 2:Wow, well, we're going to close out in a way that we often do with our rapid-fire questions. Just some fun quick-answer questions. So, matthew, why don't you kick us off?
Speaker 3:All right, we've had a couple of these, so give me just—okay, let's see here, and I don't know which of you answered with which of these, but you can take turns. I'll start with Janet. Actually, what is your favorite book of the Bible or favorite verse?
Speaker 1:I would say Psalms, and favorite verse is Psalm 91-11.
Speaker 3:Oh, tell me more.
Speaker 1:He will give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways, and you have lived that out, haven't you?
Speaker 2:You've seen that evident in your life.
Speaker 4:Yes, and Steve. My favorite book is John. My favorite verse is Romans 8, verse 38 and 39.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it says, for I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. What a promise, what an assurance we have in Christ.
Speaker 4:You know, I've been thinking about how we serve Jesus Christ and when we worship. We often worship Jesus and love him because of what he does for us. So we love him because he first loved us. We love him because he provides healing. We love him because he's provider, and I don't think that Jesus really cares for our worship in that fashion. It would be like if I said to like if I said to Janet you know, I love you because you cook well. I love you because you take care of the house. I love you because you know you massage my back. I love you because you massage my back. I love you because you do this for me and that for me. And I imagine Janet would be saying to me I don't want you to love me for that.
Speaker 4:I want you to love me because of me. I think Jesus is the same way. He wants us to love him for who he is, and too often we just focus on what he's done for us. Once we understand and come to a comprehension of who Jesus is his majesty, his glory, his omnipotence, His sweetness, just His benevolence, and who he is as a person, If we fall in love with that, that's what he wants.
Speaker 2:That's right. We appreciate the benefits, but we love Christ for His beauty and who he is and for His qualities.
Speaker 4:Yes, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes, right, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Janet, where's your favorite vacation spot? Are you a mountains or beach gal?
Speaker 1:Mountains.
Speaker 2:Mountains.
Speaker 1:So yeah, missouri.
Speaker 2:Okay, particular part of Missouri.
Speaker 1:Well, Steelville, Missouri.
Speaker 2:Steelville.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Stephen favorite vacation spot.
Speaker 4:My favorite vacation spot is the Florida Keys. Love the ocean, okay.
Speaker 3:Enjoy them while you can right when they end up underwater. Favorite food, Steve. We know beef's strong enough for you, so I'm going to skip you. Janet, oh wait, I think.
Speaker 1:Janet said that earlier too, but we didn't get the flavor yeah.
Speaker 3:Is there a particular flavor?
Speaker 1:All flavors, if you had to pick one, if we're going to an ice cream shop right now.
Speaker 2:What are you ordering?
Speaker 1:Probably vanilla.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:I like to add berries and that kind of thing with vanilla and I also really like a vanilla ice cream cone.
Speaker 2:Stephen favorite cereal. Is it a Kellogg's cereal? Will you still eat Kellogg's after working there? We do, he might be cereal-ed out.
Speaker 3:He might be a biscuits and gravy guy at this point.
Speaker 4:Probably my favorite cereal would be Grape Nuts.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm a Grape Nuts fan.
Speaker 3:Yeah, haven't had those in ages, but sure.
Speaker 2:I have a box in my cupboard right now Janet, favorite cereal.
Speaker 3:I like Kellogg's Special K, Special K okay With vanilla ice cream on top or ice cream with that cereal on top Top yeah. Okay, how about some hobbies, and have you picked up any new ones that are Kentucky-specific?
Speaker 4:Janet liked bourbon.
Speaker 3:I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1:My hobbies are sewing, baking, gardening and playing my saxophone.
Speaker 3:Saxophone, really Alto saxophone.
Speaker 2:Why have you ever— she has You've played in here before? Yeah, yeah, yeah, we need to get. It's got to have been a little bit, I think. I would think I would remember that I've been here at the church about a time.
Speaker 3:Yeah oh yeah, we gotta. Uh, I mean I know you're busy helping nikki with the three to five year olds, but yeah, we need to get an uh offertory or something going.
Speaker 4:Yeah, steven, favorite hobbies uh, reading tinkering around the house, but I think reading is my passion. A particular genre, just biographies. A lot, a lot of biographies. A lot about the Second World War. I read a lot about the Second.
Speaker 2:World War, not fake history.
Speaker 3:Every dad gets to that point. As soon as they're, you know, either at a certain age or when their kids are a certain age, you instantly have to become a World War II buff of some level. It's just science, okay, and I'll let you two decide who wants to start. But what is a word of encouragement that you'd like to give to folks listening about their faith in Jesus or their spiritual walk in life?
Speaker 1:A verse that came to me is trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding, which is Proverbs 3, 5. And that has been true in my life, and I would encourage other people to just keep trusting the Lord with all your heart.
Speaker 2:Even when you don't understand. I love that. Yeah, I learned that verse as a child.
Speaker 1:Right, because that's what this life's all about is trusting God.
Speaker 4:I think I jumped the gun on that question. I talked about loving Jesus earlier.
Speaker 2:All right, stephen, would you just close us out in prayer and just pray for those listening.
Speaker 4:Father, we just thank you for your many blessings, but even more we thank you for who you are.
Speaker 4:You are the omnipotent Father, the one who watches over us.
Speaker 4:Your beauty is indescribable and your ways are not understandable to us.
Speaker 4:So we come before you, giving you glory and honor and praise, and we thank you, lord, for your mercy towards us, for without your mercy we would be nothing.
Speaker 4:We don't understand what you saw in us, that you would come down and interact with us and send your son to die for us. We don't understand what you saw in us because we were your enemies at one time, and yet you did the supreme act of self-sacrifice, and so we thank you for that, because without that, we would be hopeless, we would not have any chance of even surviving. Because we exist, because you continually express the will for us to exist. We live by every breath that proceeds out of your mouth, and so we thank you, lord, for this church. We thank you for the people of this church you've blessed us with and, lord, we ask for your blessing to continue to rest upon all of us. Lord, we pray for our church, lord, as we come to this crossroads of deciding about a new building and about the future of our church, the direction of our church, we just pray, holy Spirit, that you will continue to guide us, as you have in the past. We pray for your blessing upon everyone listening to this podcast. In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 2:Amen. Well, thank you both for being with us and I want to thank everybody listening, and if you'd like to be on the real friends podcast, we would certainly welcome you if you're a part of this church and so you're welcome. Probably the easiest way is to uh, to to get connected and to to sign up is just to send us an email at info at my real churchorg. Until next time, matthew, it's a joy being with you and, uh, we'll do it again soon. Absolutely Bye.
Speaker 1:Everybody Thinking about this good life Cause we know what matters.
Speaker 2:Being together Forever friends. Oh, oh friends.
Speaker 1:Oh, friends.